MAIN TOPIC: How Daniel Makes Money

Imagine this, you just got your Master’s degree in chemistry along with a teaching certificate and you need 3 jobs just to make ends meet; teaching at a community college, working part time at a lab, and substitute teaching at a high school. You may be thinking, wow, this guy has a masters degree so his future is set, no worries, smooth sailing ahead. I’ll admit, I kind of thought that myself.

Actually, he had no other options, because the employment market in S. California was so tight that those 3 jobs were the only way he could make a living at that time. Flash forward a couple of decades, the same guy has a well paying salaried job at a major Medical School doing exactly what he loves. Then why is he still working 3 or MORE jobs?

Today, in addition to his salaried job, he works for a temp agency doing chemistry projects on the week ends, writes books (6 at present count), scholarly articles and book chapters, lectures at national conferences, and trains others in his field. Most of these activities bring in additional income!

You may be thinking, so what. What does this have to do with me? I have no graduate degree, nor do I intend to get one, and no one cares about what I know or would pay me for anything. Plus, I hate chemistry. Anyhow, this guy must be working 24-7.

Well, you are wrong.

First off, yes, he does work on the week-end mornings. But when he gets home from work, he relaxes and watches TV, reads, or exercises. On the week-ends he has plenty of time for friends and fun. How does he do it?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Anyone can make Additional Income

Before I continue, anyone who tells you it is easy or quick to make additional income is LYING! It takes persistence, discipline, follow through, and delaying gratification. In fact, learn to welcome stress and failure, because there is no success without those situations.  This quick article will get you started on the path to make more money. Additionally, although education usually increases your ability to boost income, so does having specialized skills. You may even take for granted what you have that someone will pay for.  

Here’s how Daniel started out. Many years ago, when he wasn’t making too much money, he sent out dozens of resumes offering to speak and train others in his field of expertise. After about 1 year of letter writing, he was hired by a professional training organization to be one of their presenters. They took care of all the arrangements and sent Daniel around the country to deliver seminars and workshops for chemists. This was a nice boost to his income, even though it was tiring and he had to take vacation days from his work to make the presentations.

Simultaneously he began writing his first book. After a long time and lots of letters, that book got published. Meanwhile, he continued to grow his reputation by writing scholarly articles and presenting at conferences in his field.  Over time, he became more and more well known. His next book didn’t take quite as long to get published. And after a while more requests for training came his way.

Initially, the extra income was not too much, but he kept at it and each book delivers on-going and increasing royalties; and his speaking fees grow. Over the years, Daniel has honed his ability to make Chemistry entertaining and engaging, further increasing his opportunities!

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE ADDITIONAL INCOME:

1. List everything you can do that someone might pay for. Think creatively. I have a friend who babysits one night a week for a wealthy family and makes $15.00/hour. Do you play an instrument; know computers or social media; what about carpentry; landscaping or gardening; basic auto repair; scrapbooking; EBay selling; Spanish; or cooking? The list is endless.  
2. Advertise your services or teach a course at a community college or continuing education facility. Don’t be shy. You may think everyone can do what you do, but they cannot!!
3. Make flyers and post them around your area advertising your services.
4. Put an ad on Craig’s List and update it every week.
5. Consider advertising in the newspaper or a community paper.
6. Market, market and market yourself some more. Brainstorm the ways you can advertise your skills. DO NOT BE SHY. You are offering to help someone!      
7. BANISH these thoughts from your mind, “What if no one hires me, what if I’m no good; what if I don’t like it.” Because if you let those thoughts in, you will do NOTHING!                 

ACTION STEPS:

Get a notebook and label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it to keep all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans.

• Write your plan out IMMEDIATELY. List all of your skills, NOW.
• Make list #2, all of the ways you can market your services.
• Ignore any fear or apprehension you have.

How have you made extra money?  What worked the best for you?

YAKEZIE SHORT CARNIVAL

Check out what other personal finance bloggers are saying and be sure to stop by their websites.

7 Things I Learned Watching Honeymooners Re-runs at Saving Money Today             

It’s Called Personal Finance for a Reason at Sustainable Life Blog           

CVS Paid Us To Shop! at KNS Financial   

“Every choice you make has an end result.” Zig Zigler

Realize this universal truth and act accordingly. As long as you make a conscious choice in how you live your life, you will be content.

MAIN TOPIC: Sell Stuff & Make Money

Picture this; I’m drinking my coffee in the local café, working on my laptop, and minding my own business.  Having forgotten my standard ear plugs, I was subjected to a rather loud conversation by two moms at the next table. Normally, I’m quite adept at tuning out extraneous stimuli, but for some reason (maybe because they were rather loud), I picked up way more of their conversation than I desired. Amid the comments about Johnny’s lengthy swim practices and hubby’s golfing, mom #1 mentioned that 7 year old Sammy was interested in the keyboard, and that she really should pick one up for him. 

This is when the wheels began turning. Although I lean towards the assertive, I do attempt to attend to social conventions. Here’s the dilemma, I have a perfectly adequate keyboard sitting in the basement in the “pending garage sale” pile, do I mention it or not? (I am on a campaign to DECLUTTER, inspired by Jacob at Early Retirement Extreme and Man vs. Debt. )

MY PROBLEM: Do I mention the keyboard FOR SALE to the stranger (risking appearing nosey and aggressive), or do I leave it in the “to be sold at garage sale pile”?

You probably figured it out already, but I politely mentioned the keyboard to stranger mom #1 who took my phone number.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Was I Right or Wrong?

What do you think, was I out of line or not? My thinking was as follows, “I have a keyboard that will be sold soon and if this woman was looking for one for her son, I WAS BEING HELPFUL.”  Although, I would benefit if she bought the keyboard, she would too, as I would save her time (easily available, in her neighborhood), and money (discounted and lightly used). 

Contrast this story with Simon, a neighbor, who is so UNASSERTIVE, that he recently purchased a juicer for $150.00 at Williams Sonoma, because he worried that if he declined the purchase, the sales clerk would think he was not wealthy! And Simon thought that being thought of as poor was worse than buying an appliance he could not afford! (And Simon is by no means wealthy!) 

Every day we make choices about how we wish to spend our money and our time. Those choices add up over a lifetime and can make the difference between wealth and lack thereof. I chose to risk challenging convention a bit by offering the keyboard to a stranger, mom #1, in the hopes of making a quick $80 bucks. Did I care if she thought I was a bit quirky or out of line? Not really, I define myself by my choices and living true to my values. I saw this action as offering a “win win” proposition. If she didn’t see it that way, that was her problem. 

What do you think? What would you have done?

ACTION STEP:

Get a notebook and label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it to keep all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans.

Take a risk and be assertive in your quest for wealth. Do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do either personally or financially. Remember to be sensible, not foolhearty!

image credit: Dogdejaya 

YAKEZIE SHORT CARNIVAL

Check out these interesting personal finance articles by my blogging colleagues. 

Fixed Rate and Variable Rate Mortgages: Which is Better? at Invest it Wisely      

 9 Tips to Help You Become Financially Fit at Financially Poor           

Man Finds Contentment in 89 Square Foot House at KNS Financial    

Categories: links, investing, money management, saving, make money

Welcome to a collection of amazing articles. Each one of these posts was chosen for its innovative ideas and thought provoking topics. After digesting this wonderful menu of diverse reading desserts, you will be smarter and wealthier.

Following are links to these delicious articles and a taste of their content. Go on and indulge.

The Oblivious Investor throws in a twist with 3 Good Stocks to Buy Right Now.

“Quick reminder: The fact that a company is growing (or is going to grow) does not by itself mean that its stock is a good investment. For a stock to be a good investment, there must be reason to think that its future growth is not already reflected in its price. Said differently, for a stock to earn above-average returns, the company must do better than the market expects it to.”

The Car Negotiation Coach at Findthebestcarprice reveals How to get Paid to Drive. INGENIOUS!

“Did you know you can make money just by driving your car? You can, if you are willing to allow a company to put an advertisement on it. These advertisements, called wraps, look like they are painted right on the vehicle, but they are just really nice decals. The programs are called ‘free car’ or ‘get paid to drive’ and they pay you for advertising for their product on the side of your car.”

In Best Way to get out of Credit Card Debt Fast, Wealthpilgrim offers a new take on an old subject!

“I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I face a daunting task I waste energy and time. Sometimes I spend too much time thinking about where to start. Other times I use the shot gun approach rather than focus my efforts. When I do that, my results are diluted.”

Littlehouseinthevalley reveals  how to make a quick call and increase your spendable income in Smashing the Bills to Smithereens! I love this.

“Constantly looking for ways to reduce our monthly bills, a few quick phone calls revealed a total savings of $63 a month without reducing our services! Here’s how I, er, my husband did it with my help. I keep an excel file that lists the averages of how much all of our bills cost on each month. I have everything listed in categories, for instance under the category of CAR I included auto insurance, car payment, and gasoline. Out of a total of about 25 items (a lot, I know!) I pay on a regular monthly schedule, I went through my list and highlighted the items I thought we could save on without downgrading any of our services. Those items took only a phone call and included the phone bill, DSL service, and auto insurance for a total savings of $63 a month, or $756 for the entire year.”

Something to think about…..from Investitwisely in How Rich are you?

“In the beginning of time, every man was equally poor, or equally rich, depending on how you look at it. Then we discovered agriculture, and the surplus of food enabled specialization of labour, which gave birth to cities and to civilization. Since then, we’ve been more or less divided into three economic groups: The poor, the reasonably well off, and the ultra-rich.”

As usual, Shawn at Watson Inc. keeps me thinking with this thought provoking Millionaires Make Return to Boom Levels.

“Additionally, don’t forget who the average millionaire is. Remember that the typical millionaire is not a Wall Street titan, a corporate fat cat or a celebrity but rather a hard-working entrepreneur (32%) or professional (19%). Moreover, even though both the 14th Annual World Wealth Report and the 2010 Global Wealth report rightfully exclude primary residences in determining HNWIs, keep in mind that approximately 97% of millionaires are also home owners.”

I’m a sucker for anything “efficiency related.” Hope you enjoy this one from Myfinancialobjectives entitled Bringing Your Efficiency Home.

“What I mean by the title, is how much more could you accomplish at home if you brought the same efficiency home with you that you use at work (assuming you are more efficient at work than at home)?  I recently posted about Time Management and how an efficient time management mentality allows me to save a lot of time both at work and at home.” 

Frugalconfessions writes about the positives of keeping an eye on your spending in Financial Limits and Boundaries Breed Creativity not Deprivation. She’s definitely a “glass half full”  person.

“then I would miss out on all of the great opportunities out there. For one, I never would have learned the Drugstore Game, which led me to write six columns called “Frugal Confessions” and start this blog! Having unlimited money would have caused me to spend more of it (necessity is the mother of invention, not abundance) as I never would have discovered great tools like Craigslist, followed many of the blogs that I do with people dedicated to saving me money, learned how to invest my precious resources, save for retirement, etc. Having limits in my life has only served me, not caused me deprivation. With limits, opportunities abound—have you taken advantage of yours?”

 Get the latest word on MOTIVATION research in Management Rewired by Charles S. Jacobs, discussed at Eliminatethemuda.

“More and more the science is showing that everything we thought we knew and understood about motivation may be wrong. Contrary to our perception, providing extrinsic motivators such as bonuses, gifts and rewards or even punishments for undesirable behavior may often be detrimental to our long-term objectives. There are more effective and efficient methods to motivate and manage, the author shares, but many of these methods are counter intuitive and challenging to implement.”

Let me know if you enjoyed the tasty tidbits of financial wisdom!

 image credit Chotda

Categories: personal finance, make money

 “From the time that I can remember, I worked to make money – either baby-sitting, or one year wrapping gifts at a department store at Christmas, so I could have my own money.” Christie Hefner

Making money is a mindset. Clearly, Christie Hefner, daughter of Hugh Hefner, did not NEED to earn money at a young age, with such a wealthy father. Yet, her attitude underscores the mindset necessary to increase WEALTH.

MAIN TOPIC: HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY

In Part 1 of this series, ways to increase productivity, focus, and calm serenity were described. If you haven’t read it yet, check it out below, or here. Part 2 gets to the heart of the MONEY section of the series. Who doesn’t want more cash?

Not only is it nice to have money with which to buy stuff, but having cash and investments can reduce worry and increase security. When a bill comes due, you don’t stress over how to pay it. College comes along and you saved enough to help out your kids. No need to take out a loan to go on vacation; the cash is already available. One potential area of stress in your life-GONE!

 Money does not make life perfect, or take away all of your problems, but it definitely reduces financial stress, worry, and anxiety. And research has shown that “Money Worries” rank near the top of the list of concerns and stress.

Since age 16, I usually worked one job or more; I always had some sort of money making idea(s). At 16, I started selling AVON products door to door. In college, I made clothes and sold them to friends. Flash forward a few years (in a prior career), I was a career counselor at San Diego State University and took on additional clients on the side. In addition to his regular job, my husband consults nationally and internationally and is working on his 6^th book. On top of these side jobs, we have been investing since our mid 20’s.

 These behaviors lead to financial security and additional streams of income!

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Show me the Money

Step-by-step guide to make more money.

How do you make money?  THINK about your income sources RIGHT NOW.

• Your job
• Side business
• Targeted cost cutting to increase disposable income
• Extreme couponing
• Consulting
• Investing
• Blogging
• Selling on Ebay
• Selling on Craig’s List
• Bartering
• Overtime or extra shifts at work
• Swap meets or garage sales

Step 1:

List every way you currently make money. Go over the past year. In addition to your job, have you sold stuff on Ebay or had a garage sale? What about babysitting or consulting in your area of expertise on the side? Do you have a blog that brings in some cash? Don’t forget anything.

Step 2:

Make a list of every additional possibility you can think of to make extra money. I know you are busy with kids, family, and community responsibilities. NO EXCUSES ON THIS ONE! For now, just make the list!

Step 3:

Take a break. That’s right. Take a break. Let these ideas simmer for a bit; breaks offer renewed energy and perspective.

Step 4:

Come back and add to step 2; don’t hold back, consider any possible income source now.

Step 5:

Choose the top 2-3 money-making activities; those with the highest probability for success from step 2. Write them down.

Step 6:

Choose the 1 activity that you can implement right now. WRITE IT DOWN.

Here’s how it’s done:

Charmaine has a job and a family. She cannot take on anything else, her plate is full.

She can make more money through the JOB SHE HAS RIGHT NOW.

Her goal is to work towards a promotion and a raise! Same job, same hours> more money.

How will she do it? Be the absolute best employee. Come up with new ideas. Have a great attitude. Be creative. Become the model employee. Do every task with intention and full focus (remember MAIN TOPIC, Part 1 of this series). When at work, be in the moment, be at work, not at home, the mall, or anywhere else. This is not a quick solution, but in the long term, if you are THE BEST, you will be rewarded with a higher salary.

Joe has a job, debt, and no wife or kids. He wants more cash to pay off some bills and save for the future. He got into debt through reckless spending. JOE HAS LOTS OF STUFF. He decided to sell some of his stuff on Ebay and Craig’s list. He also offered to get rid of some of his parents stuff, for a cut of the proceeds. And before he knew it, some of his friends, and his sister, wanted Joe to sell their stuff! In fact, in several months he made a few thousand bucks, with more on the way. Joe had a bit of experience selling on line. He built on his experience, took on some clients, and sold stuff for them; for a cut of the profit. Not only did Joe develop a way to increase his income, he enjoyed his side business.

ACTION STEP:

Get a notebook and label it: “(your name) Personal Finance” and keep it by the computer. Use it to keep all of your personal finance goals, thoughts, activities, and plans.

1. Follow steps 1-6 today.
2. Tomorrow, get started. BEGIN your plan to increase your income. It will inspire and energize you.
3. Read this article from ZEN HABITS about finding your passion. If you do what you love, making money isn’t work, it’s fun.

Photo courtesy of Dark Guru

YAKEZIE SHORT CARNIVAL: Calculate your Credit Score of Free @ Canadian Finance Blog;  Saving Money for the Person who doesn’t have Time for Coupons @ Frugal Confessions; Planting a Seed of Savings @ Invest it Wisely;  Make your Money Work for You @ Financially Poor.