- A millennial in California secretly works a second job remotely so he can afford weight-loss drugs.
- He said taking Mounjaro and Zepbound helped him lose 45 pounds.
- He’s on track to make $166,000 this year and said he works no more than 60 hours a week.
Last August, George decided he wanted to try working a second job remotely – and not tell his employers that he was juggling his job.
California–The millennial missed his job financing deals in the biotech industry, he told Business Insider via email. And he thought the extra income would help him pay his rent, pay off his credit card debt and travel more.
But there was another important reason he wanted to be “overemployed”: it would help him afford weight-loss drugs.
“I wanted to start in Mounjaro and I knew I couldn’t afford to pay out of pocket without a second job,” said George, whose identity is known to BI but was not disclosed due to his fear of professional repercussions.
Mounjaro is one of the GLP-1 appetite suppressant medications that has helped some people manage their weight. The drug produced by Eli Lilly received FDA approval in 2022 as a treatment for diabetes, and last November the FDA approved Zepbound – a weight loss-specific version of the drug with the same main ingredient. Mounjaro and Zepbound belong to the same class of drugs as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy.
Weightloss The drugs have grown in popularity over the past year, but their cost has put them out of reach for some people. Zepbound and Wegovy each cost more than $1,000 per month, require weekly injections, and may need to be taken long-term to maintain weight loss. Additionally, many insurance policies do not cover them.
At the end of September, George started a second full-time remote job in the same industry. He is on track to earn about $166,000 this year from his jobs, according to documents viewed by Business Insider. Contract positions pay a total of $80 an hour, and George said occasional overtime makes up for the lack of paid vacation time. He said he only told his family and a few friends about his overemployment.
George said doubling his income had a huge impact on his life. He was able to afford Mounjaro and said he has lost 45 pounds – going from 220 pounds to 175 pounds – since he started taking it in October. This extra income also helped him pay off his credit card debt and made his monthly bills much more manageable.
“I don’t worry about every little penny anymore,” he said. “It’s been extremely liberating.”
George is part of a niche group of remote workers secretly working multiple jobs and earning well over six figures a year. These people used their extra income to pay off mortgages, save for early retirement, and take lavish vacations. While some bosses may be okay with their employees doing extra work, being caught doing so without company approval could be a fireable offense.
For George, his overuse was worth the risk.
Working Efficiently Is the Key to Avoiding Burnout as an Overemployed Worker
When George started looking for a second job, he said he knew nothing about the overemployed community or the subreddit where job jugglers share tips and tricks. He said his job search involved working with a few recruiters and staffing companies and applying for jobs on his own.
After about a month of searching, he started his second job and was able to afford Mounjaro.
Between October and the end of 2023, George paid more than $3,200 for three months of Mounjaro injections, according to a document seen by Business Insider.
But when Eli Lilly launched its new weight-loss drug Zepbound in November, it began offering discounted prescriptions of Zepbound to patients whose insurance didn’t cover the drug. George switched to Zepbound and said he now pays about $550 a month for his weight-loss medications, although that discount may expire at the end of 2024.
George didn’t have too much trouble juggling multiple jobs: He said he usually accomplished all of his work in less than 60 hours a week. Even if one of his teams goes to the office from time to time for a happy hour, he specifies that it is not obligatory.
His main advice to professional jugglers: stay on top of your workload.
“I spent some extremely late nights trying to get everything done because I hadn’t allocated the time correctly during the week,” he said.
If his overemployment regularly required him to work more than 60 hours a week, he said it would not be sustainable.
Moving forward, George said he plans to continue taking Zepbound, but is willing to try another medication if it is more affordable. He has no plans to give up his overemployment, largely because it made his recent weight loss journey possible.
“If a contract ends for any reason, I will definitely look for another one to replace it,” he said.
Do you work multiple remote jobs at the same time and want to discuss the details of your salary and schedule? If so, contact this reporter at jzinkula@insider.com.
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