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If you’re like a majority of Americans, you have a dream of starting your own business. But in a tough economy that keeps many would-be entrepreneurs sidelined in their day jobs, how do you actually make the leap?

By pulling double duty: Keep your day job while bootstrapping and moonlighting a side business along your path towards proprietorship.

We spoke with several successful business owners to bring you their best tips on getting a side business off the ground.

Don’t Bring Your Side Business to Your Day Job

Across the board, the entrepreneurs we interviewed recommended keeping your day job and side business separate. Working on your own business at your full-time job can be unfair to your current employer, and can eventually cut off your major source of start-up capital: your salary.

“Don’t give your employer anything less than the best of your time, energy and effort,” says Carlos Moreno, who launched his own website design firm Auryn Creative in Tulsa, Okla. “Be 100 percent present when you’re at work, and don’t risk becoming the dead weight that gets trimmed.”

Maximize After Hours

To succeed in your side business, you have to be resourceful as to when you meet with clients. Tiffany Powell, who runs Sapphire Bookkeeping and Accounting Inc., her own Surprise, Ariz., accounting firm for small business owners while working as an accountant for a nonprofit organization, recommends meeting clients outside of normal business hours.

She says it allows her to focus on her day job. And for her, this hasn’t been a problem since her clients are also small business owners. “They want to work with their clients as well during the day,” she says.

Don’t Overlook Your Current Employer

When you’re on the verge of stepping away from your day job and building your clientele, don’t forget about courting your current company.

“You've built the relationship—hold on to it and both can benefit,” says Jessica Kane, who recently made the move from working as a marketing manager for a hotel group to working as a full-time marketing consultant in Vancouver, Wash.

When it was time for Kane’s last review at her old job, she disclosed to her employer that she was striking out on her own, and asked them to be a client. “I now get paid twice the money for half the time, and they get someone who knows their business inside and out,” Kane says.

Related Resource: Startup: What Lenders Look For in a Business Plan