- A Wall Street bank VP uses 'quiet vacationing' to work on his side hustle while traveling.
- The bank's four-day in-office policy is not strictly enforced, allowing remote work flexibility.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with a 42-year-old vice president at a Wall Street bank in New York City. His name and employment history are known to Business Insider but are not named to protect his privacy. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I work in tech for a Wall Street bank, and I quiet vacation. I don't do it too often — maybe once every few months.
My day job is analyzing data for traders. My salary is $250,000, and my average bonus is $75,000, so I make over $300,000 a year.
I travel to different cities and states with my laptop and cellphone, and then I work more on my side hustle than on my day job. I often go to Virginia, Atlantic City, Ocean City, or places to visit family and friends.
My company has an office policy of four days a week in person
The policy isn't strictly enforced. Since the pandemic, I've been working remotely most days.
My direct manager goes in twice a week, and initially, he'd mentioned that management had requested we return four days a week, but I brushed it off and kept going into the office once a week.
There seemed to be no pushback. My manager's seat is next to mine on the trading floor, so he knows I only go in once a week. It seems like he doesn't care because the work gets completed anyway.
I spend about zero to four hours a day working on my actual day job when I quiet vacation
Some days can vary, but most are lax, so I get about two to four hours to work on my side hustle, a male revue show called The XOTIQ Company. I don't work on my side hustle when I'm working in the office.
My bosses don't know that I quiet vacation, nor do they know that I have a side hustle. I've never missed a meeting or anything important, and that's the key. To quiet vacation successfully, understand your role and deliver exactly what your bosses want.
I complete all my assignments
I still get work done for the bank while I'm quiet vacationing. Most of my work is done in code, and I've been working on the same financial models for the past 10 years. I can copy and paste the code quickly, make a few tweaks, and have reports ready for management in a short period of time.
A project that would take someone new two days to figure out, I can usually just do in an hour.
If the bosses are looking for me, they can contact me on Microsoft Teams or via phone
I'm almost always in a place where I can take quiet calls if needed. I try to have the office communicate with me via email as much as possible to avoid having to sit through conference calls.
I don't need something like a mouse jiggler to make it look like I'm working because I work a lot with data and sometimes run programs that take hours to process. If someone asks what I'm doing, I can say I'm processing data.
It's best to find a job that requires you to spend more time working with data than with people if you want to quiet vacation
I don't need to keep in touch with my boss or colleagues unless something goes wrong, like technical issues or data delays. To make my boss think I'll be focused on my job all day, I'll have a quick call with him in the morning to discuss what we want to achieve.
I document everything so my boss and I are clear on the expected deliverables. I'm very rarely questioned about where I am.
I do the bare minimum work for my Wall Street job because the pay and bonuses aren't as good as they used to be
I wanted to work on Wall Street because of the money. I was working as an engineer before and was unhappy at my previous job. I decided that if I was unhappy working 9-to-5, I might as well get paid well.
My total compensation sounds like a lot, but the ease with which people used to get promoted and the lucrative pay packages aren't as plentiful as they used to be 10 to 15 years ago.
The work is quite unfulfilling, and even though my paycheck provides me with a decent safety net, I know my heart isn't in it.
The ideas that a lot of managers have are antiquated
Many managers are from the baby boomer generation and believe that the key to success is to work hard. My manager believes in the traditional 9-to-5 schedule and that being busy is important.
I was motivated initially, but as my income stayed stagnant over the years and we had periods where we were simply creating work for ourselves for the sake of doing work, my motivation took a nosedive.
I've hit the glass ceiling regarding financial compensation. I believe it's more important than ever for employees to start their own businesses.
I started my side hustle because I moonlit as a male stripper in business school
While in my MBA program, I felt everyone thought alike. Even on Wall Street, it seems like once people fall into a way of thinking, they stick with it their entire lives.
Stripping taught me to see life with a much more open mind. I started playing with my business idea in 2017 and booked my first party in 2018.
I didn't have to invest much money initially — just the cost of the website domain and hosting — and the business slowly started growing. Dancers find me through my website and submit their photos and phone numbers.
I'm the middleman who says, "I have this party. Let me know if you want to do it." If they say yes, I send them the party information, and the rest is between them and the client. I receive a booking fee when the client places an order online.
I'm still not at the point yet where I can quit my day job and rely on the side hustle income full time.
Hopefully, within the next year or two, I can quit my Wall Street job
Right now, my side hustle brings in around $50,000 a year. I'll feel confident once my sales increase and the numbers tell me I can quit.
On Wall Street, it's more important not to make any mistakes than to see how many hours someone can sit in an office. In my role, delivering a trader's or manager's request as quickly and correctly as possible is more important than showing "face time" in the office.
If there are meetings where they want me physically there, then I can plan my schedule accordingly. But no matter what, I always deliver on time.
Want to share your story? Email Lauryn Haas at lhaas@businessinsider.com.