SIDE-JOB SIDESHOW MORE WORKERS WRESTLE WITH DEMANDS OF MOONLIGHTING.

Byline: Evan Pondel Staff Writer

Meet Michael Mondragon: A graphic designer by day and a professional wrestler - Disco Machine - by night.

He is also a single dad and one of a growing number of Americans who are trying to make ends meet by juggling two jobs. While the pro wrestling gig is more of a passion than a vocation, Mondragon earns enough from both jobs to protect his bank account from a body slam.

``I would love it if wrestling became my financial windfall,'' said Mondragon, 36, who devotes a total of 40 hours a week to his Disco Machine alter ego. ``But I have forsaken sleep and relationships to keep my passion and graphic design business alive.''

So have millions of other multitaskers who work two jobs to net a decent income. Police officers, real estate agents, nurses, engineers and others are moonlighting to cover monthly house payments, put their kids through college or simply enhance their day-job wages.

From 2001 to 2005, the number of U.S. workers who have multiple jobs grew by nearly 3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Daniel Mitchell, a professor of public policy and management at University of California, Los Angeles' Anderson School, says there are a lot of workers who are not included in that number. Specifically, those workers who may have a second job, yet only admit to one out fear of being fired by their employer.

``The lines are blurring,'' said Mitchell, who served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Labor and the Federal Reserve Board. ``Things like Tupperware parties have existed for a long time. But there are probably a lot more jobs similar to Tupperware parties that are hidden out there.''

Melody Sanchez, 35, kept her side job as a jewelry saleswoman under wraps for years. Sanchez's fear was that her San Bernardino employer would discover she sold jewelry for Cookie Lee, a direct sales company in Irvine.

But Sanchez remedied that problem by firing herself from the jewelry job. ``I felt like I was cheating my employer because the jewelry business was taking away from my day job.''

Her advice to those mulling a second career: Keep the day job and second career as separate as possible.

That's sound advice unless a second career can eventually be parlayed into a primary source of income.

For several years, Benjamin Quo quietly tinkered with his Web site, Socaltech.com, without uttering a word to his employer. His day job was at Troika Networks, a network storage company in Westlake Village, that paid well, but would never satisfy Quo's desire to have his own business.

So every morning before work, he would update his Web site with news of venture capital deals. And every night before bed, he would put finishing touches on the site.

``I recently hit the crossover point,'' said Quo, 33, who quit his day job two weeks ago to focus his energy on Socaltech. ``And it feels great even though I no longer have the steady income.''

But most people do not have the luxury of quitting a day job to pursue a passion. In fact, in an economy in which jobs increasingly require higher levels of education, many people are having to take on extra jobs to make ends meet, said John Husing, founder of Economics & Politics, an economic consulting firm in San Bernardino.

``This is one of the consequences of the permanent loss of manufacturing jobs to Asia,'' Husing said. ``In the past, that sector was the route to upward income mobility for marginally educated workers.''

And that's why many workers are going back to school. Dan Austin was a Realtor before he decided to pursue a career in nursing. So he went back to school, became a registered nurse and now works at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley and the Heart Institute of the High Desert in Victorville. But with a daughter in college and another soon entering, Austin still sells homes.

``It is definitely hard to balance between the jobs, but I consider myself a nurse first and a Realtor second,'' said Austin, 54, whose wife is also a nurse. ``When the kids are through with school, I'd like to leave real estate and just focus on nursing.''

Second jobs aren't always intentional. Occasionally, they fall into people's laps. Bonnie Bachenheimer has been a legal secretary in Long Beach for decades. She has also been a devout practitioner of Weight Watchers, and six years ago the diet company named Bachenheimer a leader, someone who gets paid to coach people through the program.

``It's become a passion of mine,'' said Bachenheimer, who meets a couple of times a week for weigh-ins with her fellow dieters. ``But I don't consider myself a workaholic, so I take the weekends off.''

Second jobs certainly require discipline when balancing between work life and relaxation. But they also require business acumen, especially when factoring the tax implications of a second job. In some cases, the tax consequences can be so steep that it doesn't even justify having another job in the first place.

Chuck Peters, a certified public accountant with Streit & Peters in Redlands, said people making between $50,000 and $60,000 a year would face significant tax consequences if they started a second job. ``You have to understand what you're getting yourself into, and that includes the cost of workers' compensation insurance and self-employment tax,'' said Peters, whose daughter has started a small side job making jewelry.

But there are creative ways to address the taxes on a second job. Expenses to run a business are tax-deductible, and the income made off a side job can also be earmarked for a retirement contribution.

Robin Anderson is a property manager and an executive director with the Pampered Chef, a direct-sales company known for its cooking equipment. She recently broke the $100,000 mark with the latter career and continues to generate several thousand dollars with her property management business.

She has no intentions of dropping either job.

``I feel like I can empower women and men so they don't have to work minimum-wage jobs,'' said Anderson from her home in Hemet. ``I run a household; I live with my mother and partner. I never dreamed I'd be able to this. But as soon as the show (Pampered Chef) dries up, I'll be gone.''

And on to the next side job, perhaps.

Evan Pondel, [phone]

evan.pondel(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Disco Machine poses backstage at the first night of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ``All-Star Weekend 2'' show in Los Angeles. By day, the wrestler is Michael Mondragon, a graphic designer and father who's trying to make ends meet.

Shane Michael Kidder/Daily News

(2 -- color) Bonnie Bachenheimer, a legal secretary during the day, leads a Weight Watchers meeting at the Lakewood Center on a Tuesday evening as her second job.

Suzanne Mapes