Have you heard of the “overemployed” trend? It is an emerging phenomenon in the remote work era where someone secretly works two, sometimes three, or even more full-time jobs at once. They juggle multiple calendars, double-book meetings, and scramble to deliver just enough output to keep each role alive.

For some people, overemployment is framed as a clever hustle, a way to outsmart companies and dramatically increase income. For others, it is an outright scam. A recent cautionary tale is the case of Soham Parekh, a software engineer who reportedly secured high-paying roles at 19 startups simultaneously while delivering almost nothing. He was eventually exposed when a founder publicly called out the behavior, triggering broader conversations about trust, ethics, and remote work.

I can admire the drive of people who genuinely want to work more and earn more. Wanting to maximize your income is not the problem. The issue is how you do it.

When you are hired as an employee, there is almost always an exclusivity clause in your contract. At a minimum, you are expected to dedicate normal business hours to one company. In many cases, you are legally prohibited from working for another employer at the same time. Overemployment, by definition, often means breaking those agreements and hoping no one notices.

So the real question becomes this: Is there a way to increase your income without sacrificing your integrity?

I believe there is.

In my book, The Liberated Consultant, I call this approach Strategic Overbooking. It is the concept of intentionally taking on more than 40 hours of paid work at once, typically by stacking consulting contracts that rely on the same expertise and often serve clients in different time zones.

At first glance, overemployment and overbooking may sound similar. In practice, they are fundamentally different.

The biggest distinction is your role. As an independent consultant, you are not an employee. You operate under a business-to-business contract. You are not selling your time in exchange for supervision. You are selling outcomes, expertise, and delivery.

Because of that structure, employers have limits on how they can direct and control your work. They generally cannot dictate your exact working hours, micromanage your process, or restrict your ability to take on other clients. What they can expect is responsiveness, professionalism, and results.

If I take on two major consulting contracts at once, it matters far less that I am working precisely from 9 to 5 and far more that I am reachable, available for key meetings, and consistently delivering high-quality work on schedule. I am committing to deliver for both clients, not to pretend that one is my entire professional life.

Behind the scenes, strategic overbooking can be intense. It may mean working early mornings and late evenings. It may mean putting in hours on weekends. It often requires careful calendar management and the occasional reschedule. It can also mean reusing frameworks, templates, or deliverables across clients when the work is nearly identical, while still tailoring the final output to each situation.

From the client’s perspective, none of that should matter. What they see is timely communication and strong results.

Most consulting firms already assume that independent consultants have other clients. This is normal. What they care about is whether you answer emails, show up prepared, and hit deadlines. The moment responsiveness or quality slips, trust erodes quickly, and that is when problems start.

I have seen consultants get intoxicated by the income potential of multiple contracts and overextend themselves. The warning signs are easy to spot. Missed meetings. Slow replies. Sloppy work. A constant air of stress. The consultant who is always late, always rushing, and always doing the bare minimum before bouncing to the next call.

Done wrong, overbooking can end your independent career just as fast as it accelerates it.

Done right, clients would never even suspect you have another engagement.

The key is knowing which projects are good candidates for overbooking. In general, look for remote-only roles, low-complexity work, and projects with minimal meetings. You also need strong personal systems, batching similar tasks, protecting deep work time, and maintaining reliable availability across clients.

Overbooking is not meant to be a permanent lifestyle. You will burn out if you try to sustain it indefinitely. It is a sprint, not a marathon. Used intentionally, it can help you self-fund a business launch, stack cash quickly, or reach a financial milestone in a fraction of the time.

That is the difference between overemployment and strategic overbooking. One relies on secrecy and broken agreements. The other is built on transparency, structure, and delivery.

If you want to learn more, visit LiberatedConsultant.com.