They Make $500K a Year Doing This | Inbox Experiments #11

Hi, Yunus here!

Ever wondered how some remote workers are quietly earning $500k+ by juggling 5 full-time jobs? While you're grinding 60-hour weeks on your startup or small business, there's a whole community of 450,000+ "overemployed" workers on Reddit who've figured out how to deliver maximum value in minimum time.

Last week, a viral story broke about workers making $3,000+ per day from multiple jobs. My first reaction? "That's undoable!" But then I dug deeper into their strategies, and honestly, there's gold here for solo founders who want to work smarter, not harder.

Here's what I learned from studying their playbook.

The Insight: Results-Only Mindset Beats Hours-Worked Every Time

Goal → Learn productivity systems from workers who've mastered multiple high-stakes roles.

Time → 10 minutes to understand, 1 week to test the framework.

I spent time diving into the r/overemployed subreddit (450k+ members) after reading about workers earning $800k+ from 5 concurrent jobs. These aren't lazy scammers but they're hyper-efficient professionals who've cracked the code on outcome-based work.

Here's their secret: They position themselves as "consultants" who deliver results, not warm bodies filling meeting chairs.

One overemployed worker shared: "I tell them up front that I'm a 'consultant.' I won't be at the all-hands meeting. I skip daily stand-up calls. They know how to reach me if I'm needed, but I keep distance from the organization. I'll get a few tough things assigned in a sprint and solve them at some point over two weeks."

Try this

Pick one recurring task this week. Instead of daily check-ins, batch it into 2-3 focused sessions and communicate only the results.

What I Learned

Here's how the overemployed mindset can transform your solo founder workflow:

Outcome-focused communication: These workers don't report on hours worked, they deliver completed milestones. As a founder, this means updating clients/customers on achievements, not activities.

AI-powered efficiency: Many use AI tools to compress 8-hour tasks into 2-hour deliverables. One Reddit user noted: "With AI, the walls of tech are coming down."

Strategic availability: They're responsive when needed but protect deep work time. No Slack notifications during focus blocks.

Sprint-based planning: Instead of endless daily tasks, they work in 2-week sprints focusing on high-impact deliverables.

Example: A solo SaaS founder I know adopted this approach. Instead of being "always available" to customers, he now has defined response windows and batches customer support. His productivity jumped 40% while customer satisfaction stayed the same.

Source: Fortune - "Overemployed workers making $500k+ infiltrate tech startups"

Why This Matters

The average overemployed worker delivers the same quality output in fewer hours by focusing on systems over hustle. For solo founders, this means:

You can compete with bigger teams by being more efficient, not just working more hours

Energy preservation: avoid burnout by working in focused bursts rather than constant availability

Value-based pricing: when you deliver results faster, you can charge for value, not time

Better work-life balance: efficiency creates space for strategic thinking and personal time

The catch? This requires upfront system-building and clear communication about expectations. But for solo founders, investing time in this structure is really worth it.

Tool

Check out Clockify's time-blocking features to see exactly where your hours go. Many overemployed workers discovered they were only productive 2-3 hours per day anyway.

Got a productivity system that's working for you? Hit reply and share. I love featuring your workflows.

Your Turn

One-click question: What's your biggest productivity killer right now? Reply with just a number:

1. Too many meetings

2. Constant interruptions

3. Perfectionism on small tasks

4. Poor time estimation

5. Something else (tell me!)

Each reply helps me understand what productivity challenges you're facing. And yes, I read every single one.

See you next Wednesday,
Yunus 🚀