Brian, the guy who cuts our grass began his conversation with me, “You look lovely today Ms. Friedberg.”

1. Great move to start with a compliment

Upon inquiring about Brian’s well being, he mentioned that he’s not doing too well due to his case of poison ivy.

2. Garner symathy

He went on to comment about the two big hideous brown patches in our yard where some trees were recently removed. Genially, he offered, “I have everything in my truck today to reseed the bare areas. I’m looking to offer you more services and help keep your lawn beautiful.”

3. Ask for what you want

How could I say no?

I was in a great mood, due to his initial compliment. Then, I empathized with Brian about his poison ivy. He set me up to say yes. When you are in a good mood, you tend to say “yes.” Needless to say, I agreed to the additional services. Brian made some extra cash that day, and I got some work completed I probably could have done myself for half the cost. Nevertheless, I was happy and so was Brian.

The Takeaway

I don’t think Brian went through this conversation off the top of his head. Brian had superior sales techniques, honed and practiced. He may have said to himself, I’m going to upsell every customer I see today and increase as many extra services as possible. We can all learn from Brian’s technique.

Have a success plan every day; make it specific, and detailed. Align it with your goals.

I doubt whether Brian sold extra services to every customer he saw that day, but if he succeeded with 50%, that may have yielded a few hundred extra bucks. Multiply that amount by 20 working days in a month, and he could double his monthly income!

Be a Success

There are opportunities to increase your income in every situation. By being a stellar employee and making money for your employer, you set yourself up for a raise. You don’t need to succeed 100% of the time to benefit.

Work for yourself? Set a big goal. Give yourself something great to reach for.

Improve your services, you will create additional income through excellent performance, and self marketing.

Set that goal. There are a group of bloggers taking the $30,000 Challenge, banding together to increase their blogging income this year. Whether they succeed or not, remains to be seen, but taking that pledge and setting the goal, is a step in the direction of greater wealth.

What commitment can you make to increase your income?

image credit; @Doug88888

INVEST YOUR EXTRA CASH TO GROW YOUR WEALTH

How to Make More Money Starting Now

In Part 1 of Enjoy Life and Make Money, I wrote, “One of the great challenges today is balancing your present needs and wants with those of the future.” I implored you to find out the things that make you happy and put your efforts in that direction. I went on to state that “wealth is an attitude.” If you are satisfied with your path, income, and lifestyle, you are wealthy.

But what if you want to grow your wealth more quickly? Creating some side money making gigs, to go towards saving and investing can beef up your net worth.

Today’s article touches on ways to make more money. I’ve found these “make more money” articles to be the most popular posts with my readers. And who doesn’t want more cash?

Here is an abridged list of some of my money making schemes;

• Sell lemonade
• Sell Avon
• Sell hand made shirts
• Provide tailoring for a shop (fired after one week)
• Provide individual career counseling
• Sell professional books
• Teach English in Spain
• Tutor students
• Blogging
• Sell items on Craigslist (which reminds me, I have an old bicycle gathering dust)

But, I want to go beyond the typical advice; “Find out what you are good at and then sell those services.” So in order to give you a really great and inventive list, I decided to do some hard hitting research!

Ways to Make More Money

In the fashion of great inventors, I’ve decided to steal a few great money making ideas from others, and repackage them for you; and add some of my own.

1. PT Money recommended Cashcrate.com, a clever company which claims to pay you for trying new offers. I cannot vouch for this system, but it certainly sounds like a good idea.
2. Elance.com offers online employment in a variety of areas. From their website, “If you have skills and talent and are seeking independent work online, Elance offers access to qualified clients, a virtual workplace and guaranteed pay for great work..” I’ve heard good things about this site from individuals on both sides of the trade, the sellers of services and the buyers.
3. PTMoney also reminded me of Fiverr. This is a really cool site where you can sell almost anything for five bucks. Now five dollars doesn’t sound like much, but if you create the product or service in a few minutes and sell it for $5.00 many times throughout each day, the money starts to add up.
4. Look for ads to be a focus group participant. I’ve tried this before and the pay is fairly good.
5. If you live near a medical center or research hospital, there are multitudes of research studies looking for participants. Sign up and get some free health care along with the cash.
6. Lawn care and baby sitting are frequently relegated to the younger set. If you have a lawn mower or are good with kids, put together some flyers and distribute in your district. Don’t forget to post some ads on Craigslist for greater visibility.
7. Tutors make big bucks if you are well educated and an articulate teacher. Every library or a Barnes and Noble coffee shop has men or women tutoring children in their basic subjects. Again, flyers (especially in the libraries) and Craigslist ads are great for marketing your skills.
8. Financial Highway had an abundance of methods to develop multiple income streams. This next one hit home as I spent $200.00 paying someone to haul our boxes away after we made our cross country move. If you own a truck and a strong back, consider hiring yourself out for debris removal. There’s lots of money in this one.
9. For you bloggers out there, this one has made the rounds; be a virtual assistant. There are thousands of people who work online or work remotely and have no assistant. Their days are filled to the brim with work and they frequently need some help. That’s where a virtual assistant comes in. If you’ve got decent communication skills, hire yourself out for any number of computer and related writing tasks. And there are no geographic limitations for this one.
10. Lots of folks have an extra room and would be willing to take in a room mate or just rent the room out to the occasional tourist. Now that type of money really adds up. Just make sure to screen your roomies well. After a quick online search, I came up with quite a few services which can help with process.
11. Do you like to write? ProBlogger Job Boards lists lots of writing and web related gigs. The more quickly you produce content, the more income you mke.
12. Retail is starting to pick up, with night and week end hours available. Take on a shift or two per week, get some store discounts, and boost your weekly pay.

Growing your personal wealth takes time and determination. Earn more, spend less, and invest are time tested strategies. For tips on investing your extra cash, sign up on right for my WEALTH TIPS NEWSLETTER and receive a free eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing.

Action Steps:

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

1. List 10 ways to increase your income that are realistic.

2. Choose one money making strategy and begin this week.

 How do you define wealth?

How You Turned Your Passion Into Cash

Sign up on right to get free WEALTH TIP’s Newsletter, and FREE bonus eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing!

Welcome to Part 3 of this series.

If you are just joining us, don’t miss Part 1; “Why I Freelance”

And Part 2 of this series; How to Live Well if You Work in a Low Paying Field

A commenter from part 1 asked this question:

I’d love to hear stories of folks who monetize passions that people think “don’t pay.”  It might be a great “part 2″ (or 3 or 4).

Nick from Step Away From the Mall

The integration of “doing what you love” and making money is a popular topic. There’s lots of advice about doing what you love and the money will follow. Is this always true? What if the money doesn’t follow?

What if you are doing what you love and the money isn’t following. Need some motivation? Read on about how others are are making money from their passions.

Readers, let’s hear about your experiences about “doing what you love, and making money as well.”

We are particularly interested in those experiences which started without monetary expectation, and turned into a cash flow stream.

I’ll begin by talking about my story. I began blogging to educate others with my decades of personal finance and investing experience. I had no idea there was a possibility to make money from a blog. Initially, I assumed if enough people liked my work, I would get a book contract, and then I would make money.

Well, I’m still working on the book contract…. Any publishers out there?

In the meantime, I found a love of blogging, educating, interacting with others and lo and behold, I’m making some money. The income streams come from ads, freelance writing, and hosted content. I’m lucky, as my passion and work in the investing field is lucrative and my money habits have allowed our family to grow our net worth.

Yet, there are many stories of folks with average salaries who amass great sums through their passions.

What are your stories? Write in and inspire and learn from others.

Here are a few more success stories to get you started:

I’m currently in Seattle for a work trip. While strolling along the waterfront at Pike’s Market I met Pixie, an inventive vendor. She and her husband have taken a love of creating art and crafted a full time cottage industry. They make large artwork and sell it at their booth along the water. After sold, they shrink the image, encase it in plexiglass and create smaller pieces to be used as wall art, magnets, coasters or other. Their business is simple, creative, and supports their family of 3 (without a website).  Jr. Carino and I bought 4 small pieces to use as magnets and other decoration. Her shop is on the side of the water (west). Stop by when you’re in Seattle. The art is affordable, one of a kind, and really cool!

Pixie-Pikes Market, Seattle

Mark Riddix is studying the on line world and building quite an empire. He has a wealth of resources for you. Mark is a perfect example of determination.

Crystal of Budgeting in the Fun Stuff was so determined to become a full time blogger she quit her salaried job months ahead of schedule. Read about her strategies at How I Make Money Blogging.

Jessica Streit wrote about a fascinating opportunity as a “Sample Passer Outer”, over at Budgets are Sexy. She’s one of those friendly folks who gives out free yummy samples at supermarkets; and gets PAID FOR IT! It sounds fun and diverting. Maybe this could be your passion!

Need some ideas about how to find your passion? Check out LifeHack’s Susan Baroncini Moe’s article, How to Find Your Entrepreneurial Passion and Purpose.

Ordinary Traveler talks about his big break came, in spite of the naysayers. He never believed photography, surfing, traveling, and writing could become his livelihood.

Don’t miss Part 1 of this series; “Why I Freelance“

And Part 2; How to Live Well if You Work in a Low Paying Field

image credit; Ayham Al-Hamwi

Now, it’s your turn, write in and share HOW YOU MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR PASSION.

Forward this link to others for their input!! Let’s make the comments a huge list of SUCCESS RESOURCES.

And Barb Recommends Links

In Where to Get a Loan; Help I’m Really Struggling last week I wrote about peer to peer lending for those of you who need some extra cash. Many commenters asked about my experiences as a lender. Full disclosure, I started lending to borrowers through Prosper.com in October, 2011 so I don’t have too much history to report. As of January, 2012, my annualized investment return is 7.66%. This return is quite short term and not of too much value yet, but I’ll continue to update my results as time goes on.

Prosper advertises over 10% returns which includes a quantified default rate on some of their loans.

10.69% Returns With Prosper

Why Am I Lending? Like many out there, I’m looking for a higher return for some of my portfolio. In fact, like a banker, there is a possibility of 10.69% Returns With Prosper.

Why Prosper? I read about the concept many years ago, but not until I met one of the key employees and grilled him endlessly, spoke to another large investor, Peter Renton of Social Lending Network, and read through the SEC corporate documents did I decide to invest.

What is the risk of lending in this platform? A borrower might default and you lose your investment in that particular loan. The company might fall on hard times and you lose some of your investment.

How do I compensate for the risk? I only put a small amount of money in each loan. I invest in many loans to diversify the risk. Ultimately, I will invest less than 3% of our overall investment portfolio.

How does it work? You can either automate your investing, or read about each individual case and choose which loans to fund. Want to narrow your choices even more? Set specific parameters for your loans.

Investment returns? It is too soon to analyze my returns as my dollars have been invested slowly over the last 2 months. Check out Prosper’s site to read more about lending money with Prosper. For the thorough investors, there is a link to Prosper’s Securities and Exchange (SEC) legal documents as well!

Caveat, this is not a recommendation but an introduction to an investment product. Please consult your own financial advisor before considering any investment product. As stated in my disclosure, per FTC guidelines, this website may be compensated by companies mentioned through advertising, affiliate programs or otherwise.

Barb Recommends

“I always, always, always have a “Plan B”…and a “Plan C”.  I don’t believe that your income should depend on your job.” Sandy at Yes I am Cheap

After Len Penzo highlighted Sandy’s article, Stepping Out on Faith about her decision to quit a job where she was really happy with her co workers and many aspects of her job, I couldn’t tear myself away. I got very anxious on Sandy’s behalf as she described quitting her job without having another one in place. I read through every comment and finally, the above response reassured me. Sandy had a Plan B!!!

Budgets are Sexy divulges his new mindset, Gigs for Goals – This manner of thinking helps break down what you really want and how to fund it. If you think in terms of working to pay a specific bill or for a specific item, the effort may not be worth it. What do you think?

Farnoosh Torabi talks about HOW ANYONE CAN EARN $100.00 PER HOUR. Fascinating interview, replete with motivation for all you entrepreneurs out there.

My Dollar Plan gives a list of Free or Cheap Holiday Resources. Now who doesn’t want to save money?

How My Grandma’s Lumina Make Me Over 2 Million Dollars over at Soldier of Finance. If you have one piece of advice to take today, this is it!

A Curious Thing Happened to my Credit Score When I Took on Some Debt at Moneycone. Pay attention to your credit score, you don’t know who’s watching.

Are You Ready to be a Landlord? at Krantcents. I gave up personal landlording but still keep my hand in real estate with REITs.

Barb Across the Blogosphere

Expert Blogger, Findthebest.com,  How are Financial Advisors Compensated?

Wealth Creation Series, Interview with Barbara Friedberg at Financial Cactus

Guest article Green Tip, at Sustainable Personal Finance about the merits of Cloth Napkins

Bucksome Boomer included my Penn State Scandal post in her week-end round up

Len Penzo reminded the world of my faux pas in What Not to Wear to a Business Meeting

Carnival of Personal Finance in Personal Finance Journey published my article about True Wealth

Novel Investor featured Investing Rule #1; Know Thyself

What are your thoughts on the peer to peer lending format? Would you consider lending or borrowing?

Sign up on right to get free WEALTH TIP’s Newsletter, and FREE bonus eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing!

And don’t forget to pick up my RSS feed or email subscription and follow me on twitter so you get the word immediately. 

A method to grow your blog readership is to visit other blogs and comment on their articles. The theory behind that strategy, as I learned from the Problogger 31 Days to a Better Blog is that the more recognizable you are on line the more likely others will want to visit your site and read what you have to say. Krantcents has taken this strategy to the highest level and consequently is growing his readership quite substantially.

As I was visiting some of my favorite sites, Yes I am Cheap, My Multiple Incomes,  Budgets are Sexy, and Len Penzo dot com, I found a theme. Now, this theme is not new to me, but it got me thinking. There are a group of bloggers who choose to share their net worth, debt, and spending figures.

HERE’S MY SECRET; As a natural voyeur, I find this information fascinating. I am both amazed and curious about those who share this most sensitive data, and I can’t stop reading it! On top of that, I can’t help but compare my metrics to theirs. Sometimes I come out on top and other times, not so much.

My realization was that there are advantages and disadvantages of both sharing your personal financial information on line and reading about others who disclose this sensitive information.

Advantages

For the ones who put their information out there, I’ve heard it is motivating and serves to hold them accountable. That’s what Flexo of Consumerism Commentary shared with me during my Personal Finance Luminaries interview with him. For the bloggers sharing their earnings on line, it is a source of pride that readers enjoy their articles and advertisers support them.

For the readers of these financial disclosures, we get to peek inside others’ bank and debit accounts. This fulfills the prurient curiosity in us.

Disadvantages

With such transparency on line, there is always a possibility that some evil hacker will get access to someone’s identity or financial data and use it for themselves. If you use your own identity and share this personal information, it may be a bit uncomfortable when your boss, friends, and family have all of your financial statistics.

As a reader, you might feel badly if your net worth or blog earnings don’t measure up to those of another. After all, we all tend to compare ourselves a bit with others. This comparison might also cause you to neglect some responsibilities and devote more time and effort to blogging than is appropriate for your situation.

The Takeaway

In blogging as in life, watch out for the tendancy to compare yourself with others. You create uneccessary stress by worrying about the decisions and actions of those around you. Be mindful of your own goals and objectives and don’t be swayed either positively or negatively by what you read about others’ endeavors. After all, the only one keeping score is you!

What’s your secret take on this topic? Are you a financial voyeur? Or, what leads you to share your personal data?

image credit; photoshoparam Dan

BEST MONEY TIPS FROM PEOPLE LIVING THEIR DREAMS

Just out, you must read my latest Benzinga Brain Trust column, Advice for Investors, Informed by Ben Bernanke

These past 3 days I learned scores of tips from the top personal finance bloggers in the world and I want to must pass them on to you. I want you to live a wealthy life, personally and financially and I can help you do that. For the next week I am going to divulge a tip a day that, if taken, can lead you closer to your dream life and greater wealth.

In Part 1, I explained, ”You Can’t Do Everything, But You Must Do Something”

Part 3, instructs how to “Learn from Others“

TIP 2; The Most Successful Individuals Do What They Fear; The Power of Networking

“This is the first public speech I have ever made.” Lynn Truong, Wise Bread

I ran into Lynn in the airport on the way home and exclaimed how professional and polished her presentation was. I was shocked that this was her first public presentation.

Wise Bread ranks among the top comprehensive personal finance websites. Adorable and very pregnant Lynn Truong, one of their three founders, gave an inspiring presentation today with more than 20 “Ways to make Money from a Blog”. The breadth covered everything from selling advertising, promoting other products through affiliate ads, to selling products.

There is no substitute for relentless effort

When asked how she gave a most engaging and inspiring talk, her answer was simple, “I practiced over and over again.”

Even after hours of practice, that a newbie could deliver an address so entertaining and informative was completely impressive. Now, I’ve talked about doing what you fear a lot. And as I try to be quite disciplined in my writing, I worry that maybe this type of advice is too far adrift from core personal finance information. Yet, when I first started investing, in my mid 20’s I let my fears of stocks govern my first investments, choosing only bond investments initially. Because of those fears, I left a lot of money on the table that could have been growing and compounding over time had I studied history a bit more and put some of my savings into stocks.

Fortunately for me, I continued to study investing and finance and overcame my initial fears only to grow my net worth through balanced investing.

But the caveat for me was the same as for Lynn Truong, we both spent countless hours studying and practicing that activity we wanted to perfect.

Networking is So Scary Yet Can Yield Gigantic Rewards (Financial and Personal)

Since my days as a Career Counselor at San Diego State University, many years ago, I learned the power of informational interviewing. In fact, Richard Bowles,, the iconic author of What Color is Your Parachute recommends talking to as many individuals as possible when looking for a job in order to increase your mathematical probability of finding one.

How this works is that the more individuals you speak with about your hopes and dreams, the more chance you have of coming into contact with someone who can help you. This is a key approach in making contacts, making money, and reaching your goals. In short, that is what networking is all about. It works in job search, dating, entrepreneurship, and just about any endeavor where you can benefit from learning from others.
Here’s how doing the most scary networking worked for me at the Personal Finance Bloggers Convention (FINCON).

MY GOAL: I want to grow my blog and get a book on personal finance published.

STRATEGY: Meet and talk to as many people as possible that may be able to help me. And, figure out how I can help them too.

PROCESS: I made a decision that I was going to create a videotape of any personal finance blogger from the biggest names on down to the newbies which would offer excellent personal finance tips. This would help the public by giving them access to premier personal finance information and the individual bloggers by giving them exposure.

I also decided that I was going to introduce myself to as many bloggers as I could and tell them what I liked about their sites and ask them for tips and suggestions.

THIS WAS SCARY AND DIFFICULT.

OUTCOME: I met some of the biggest names in the personal finance blogging sphere and made some wonderful contacts and was able to offer them something concrete as well; a chance for additional publicity.

EXAMPLES: I sat next to Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income, a real superstar and he was one of the most generous and expansive folks ever. Luke Landes, of Consumerism Commentary turned out to be more inclusive, warm and engaging than he was on the phone. And the multiple Plutus Award winner, J. Money from Budgets are Sexy came up to me and introduced himself. Talk about being magnanimous. I’ve been in awe of the owner of the Digiterati Life ever since before I began blogging, and she turned out to be willing to meet me for coffee and treated me like a long lost friend. Kylie Ofiu, author of 365 Ways to Make Money was more than happy to help me find a publisher for my book. Lazy Man and Money offered to help me with any tech questions I might have. Even the big television guest and author of Psych Yourself Rich, Farnoosh Torabi offered to speak with me in the future. And Tess Vigeland from American Media Marketplace suggested I call her after the conference was over. Jesse and Andrew of  Money Crashers were both warm, personable, and extremely open to collaboration.

There were scores of other bloggers I spoke with over the week-end and look forward to showcasing them in the future.

The Takeaway

Had I not forced myself to go out of my comfort zone and talk to all of these accomplished folks, I never would have had the opportunity to increase the reach of my site, develop contacts for future projects, and ask for help finding a publisher for my book.

It was hard, but I will keep you posted on how doing what I feared pays off.

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.

• Make contact with someone who can help you with your personal and/or professional life. Ask them for advice and figure out a way you can help them too.
• Remember to send a thank you note after the meeting.

For a quick overview of Investing Strategies, pick up my FREE eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing (top right of the page). If you like what you’re reading, sign up for my RSS feed or email subscription and follow me on twitter so you get the word immediately.

What scary action have you taken that led to more wealth?

image credit; job4business

Just out, you must read my latest Benzinga Brain Trust column, Advice for Investors, Informed by Ben Bernanke

LIVE PERSONAL FINANCE LESSONS FROM  FINCON

These past 3 days I learned scores of tips from the top personal finance bloggers in the world and I want to must pass them on to you. I want you to live a wealthy life, personally and financially and I can help you do that. For the next week I am going to divulge a tip a day that, if taken, can lead you closer to your dream life.

Personally, I’m at a crossroads in my own life. I have more to do in my life than I can accomplish in the amount of time available. So, I’ll let you in on a secret, these tips are for me too, to help me organize my expanse of personal and financial aspirations.

Step back this week, and let’s work on our personal dreams and see if we can take a step closer to wealth in money and life.

TIP 1; You Can’t Do Everything, But You Must Do Something

“If you say yes to one thing, you automatically say no to another. And, conversely, if you say no to something, you free up time to say yes to something else.” Suze Orman

One of my favorite presentations was a top notch tutorial about “How to Create and Sell a Product” by Adam Baker of Man vs. Debt. Adam is a credible spokesperson as he completely transformed his life going from deep debt, selling everything, to a six figure income earned from his products.

Among his inventory of products is a multipart video series detailing how to get out of debt. His comprehensive advice included recommendations to poll your audience and test your ideas, basic market research so you are giving your audience what they want. He also talked about the psychology of pricing and how $99.00 is better than $100.00 and if you are going to charge $22.00, you can probably get the same amount of sales for a price of $29.00. The abundance of information went on and on. He is an awesome resource for Selling Your Crap and getting out of debt.

The presentation was awesome, products professional and high quality. And this system is a great money making opportunity for him. And, it reminded me that everyone has a niche. A niche is something you are great at for which people will pay! Although this was Adam’s niche and he was quite successful, and there were some excellent takeaways, the key message is this; INVENTORY YOURSELF and find your niche.

Carve out a few minutes, maybe during a break at work, or when the kids are napping, and think about your own situation.

• Do you have enough money?
• Do you have enough leisure time in your life to really enjoy yourself every day?

If not, realize that something has to change.

Here’s how to get started today.

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 out the answers to these questions:

1. What do you like about your money and lifestyle?
2. What do you want more of?
3. What do you want less of?
4. Write down 3 actions you need to take to better your situation.
5. Put in your planner how and when you are going to get started. (For example, if you’re in debt, visit Man vs. Debt; if you need to learn about investing visit Oblivious Investor and check out his blog and books.)
6. Get rid of the activities that won’t get you where you want to go.

Decide how you want to focus your own time and energy. Use what you read to inspire and motivate you to action on your own goals.
No one is excellent at everything, but everyone has a talent and a dream.

Stop by next time for Part 2, The Power of Networking.

And don’t miss Part 3, Learning from Others

For a quick overview of Investing Strategies, pick up my FREE eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing (top right of the page). If you like what you’re reading, sign up for my RSS feed or email subscription and follow me on twitter so you get the word immediately.

What is your success dream?

image credit; anshumm.com

& Side Hustle Round up

News Flash; I’m nominated for a Plutus Award in the Best New Ebook Category for my ebook 20 Minute Guide to Personal Finance (download for free on the right)!! Please vote for me here! Don’t delay, voting is only open for a few more days.

I was inspired by this CNNMoney Side Hustle Series to discuss ways folks are adding to their income. In addition toways to make extra cash, it seems my readers are really interested in “How to Get Rich,” as illustrated by my 2 most popular posts this month:

14 Traits of the Rich, How Many do You Have?

Get Rich, Develop 4 Wealth Habits

The ways to make extra cash are only limited by your imagination and those that amass wealth over their lives are regularly thinking about creative ways to make more money. In fact, spend some time brainstorming and I’m sure you will come up with a few yourself. Here are some of the ways I’ve made some extra cash over the years:

• Sold Avon
• Sold books
• Invested in real estate
• Lemonade stand (well, haven’t tried this one in a few years )
• Career Counselor
• Blogger
• Garage Sale
• Author
• Sold on Craig’s list
• Taught English in Spain
• Made and sold hippy shirts
• Invested in dividend paying assets

For those creative types, Etsy offers a great opportunity to make some extra cash. In fact, a friend of mine has an adorable shop, Never Ending Knits. She showcases her knitted products and offers them for sale. It’s like having your own online store, only much easier. If you’re in the market for some knit wear, or want to see a college student’s side hustle, stop by Amy’s shop!

More Side Hustle Ideas From Across the Web

Sustainable Personal Finance-Making Money Online – 4 Decades of Deals

My Multiple Incomes–Selling Online for Income

The Penny Hoarder-How to Make $750 a Month Selling Used Books

Narrow Bridge-How I Make Money Online – Part I and Part II – A look at my successes and failures generating income on the Internet

Mom’s Plans-My Experience as a Virtual Assistant

Totally Money-Make Money From Your Clutter

Frugal Confessions-Free Oil Changes for Life: My Experience with Mystery Shopping

My Personal Finance Journey-Ebay versus Amazon-part 1

Smart Family Finance-Optimizing Your Savings Account: How to Earn Interest Like You Have Money Even When You Don’t

Master the Art of Saving-Go Ahead….Take a Peek!

Stoopid Success-How to Make Money with Sponsored Posts

How I Make Money Online – Part I and Part II – A look at my successes and failures generating income on the Internet

Now, go on and count up the number of money making strategies listed, there really are 25!

Add to the conversation, how have you made extra cash?

image credit; dan olean

For a quick overview of Investing Strategies, pick up my FREE eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing (top right of the page). If you like what you’re reading, sign up for my RSS feed or email subscription and follow me on twitter so you get the word immediately.

More Magazine has a great piece on the Kardashian’s rise to success, with tips for all!

“If someone says no, you’re asking the wrong person. Don’t get discouraged, and don’t be afraid to try new things. Get organized,” Kris Jenner

History

Kris Jenner, formerly Mrs. Kardashian, the wife of one of O.J. Simpson’s personal confidant’s and lawyer, is the muscle behind the incredible Kardashian Marketing machine. She accepted no alimony from Kardashian because she wanted to avoid a long court battle. Meanwhile, her next husband, Bruce Jenner, 1976 Olympic gold medalist was $500,000.00 in debt on their wedding day.

Her work experience consisted of being a mom to up to 10 kids, including the brood of Jenner’s, Kardashian’s, and the two between them.

Obviously, this is not a typical situation and most of you do not have wealthy famous ex’s or a debt ridden but famous new husband. Yet, the lessons to be learned from her smart business savvy apply to a multitude of marketing and wealth building strategies.

BE A MARKETING MACHINE LIKE KRIS (KARDASHIAN) JENNER

1. Success takes time, patience, and hard work; Many folks give up just before the fruits of their efforts are realized. It looks like fame and fortune came easy and quickly to Kris Jenner. Not so! She was working nonstop for 20 years prior to her notoriety. Her background includes work as a flight attendant (before marriage), Brownie leader, soccer coach, room mom and car pool driver as part of her “full time mom” duties.
2. Build on your prior experiences, no matter what the job titles are; Kris’ multitasking and follow through as a mom gave her excellent organizational skills. Although Bruce Jenner was famous when they married, he lacked a press kit, business card, or any sort of marketing plan. Even the famous need a plan! Kris saw his tremendous potential and took his lack of an organized business plan and made him into a desirable commodity.
3. How to take a product and turn it into cash; Bruce Jenner, the Kardashian family, even her daughter’s “sex” tape were all products. When packaged correctly, they became desirable commodities.  Few of us are likely candidates for a “reality television show”, yet everyone has something they can market and sell for cash. (Even your own presentation to an employer in a job search needs a great marketing plan). Marketing is key in every aspect of life, it’s how you present and sell yourself, your ideas, and your products!
4. Have a plan; Her goal was to get Jenner into a prestigious country club where he could make important “contacts” and reignite his speaking career. She used her years of hostess experience as Kardashian’s wife and created beautiful portfolios of Jenner’s Olympic finish and press clippings to easily get him accepted into the club! Step one, complete.
5. Leverage Social Media; Use twitter, facebook, four square, and LinkedIn to promote yourself, your brand and to offer great information to your followers.

Further reading from outstanding personal finance bloggers

• Centisible Life; How to Approach a Social Media Person
• Invest with Passion; Social Media Marketing
• Everyday Tips and Thoughts; Market Yourself
• Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance; What Does Patience Have to do With Investing
• Cajun Finances; Patience Can Pay Well
• Budgeting in the Fun Stuff; Make Money Blogging
• PT Money; 52 Ways to Make Extra Money
• Free From Broke; Book Review, Blueprint for How to Make Money From Your Blog

What strategies have worked for your own success?

Welcome to another edition of Blog Swap a collaborative endeavor by members of the Yakezie Network, the world’s largest network of personal finance and lifestyle blogs. Each blogger writes on the same topic. Today’s question, “If you had one financial do-over, what would it be and why?” After you finish this article, stop by, MomsPlans to read my take on the topic!

Guest contributor, Melissa blogs about learning to live a fulfilling life on less at Mom’s Plans.  She also shares restaurant deals and her family’s attempts to dine out for less than $25 a week at Dining Out Challenge.

In 2005, my first child was one year old, and I wanted to fulfill a lifelong dream of being a stay-at-home mom.  However, my husband was in the middle of a combined M.A./Ph.D. program, and though he brought in some money as a teaching assistant, it was not enough to live on.  I was stuck at my full-time job that paid fairly but was stressful.  I didn’t enjoy my job that much and I still cannot think of my supervisor at the time without cringing.  (This woman got upset—very upset—with me once because I would not share a tuna fish sandwich.  I am not kidding!)

My cousin was having some luck selling on eBay, so we decided to try our hand at selling some Baby Gap holiday sweaters we had bought the year before.  I learned how to list items and was shocked and delighted when every single item was snatched up.  I somehow found an eBay seller who had over 8,000 items in her store, and I tried to learn from her.  She worked her eBay business full-time and had two young children.   I paid attention to the money she was making, not to the fact that she openly stated that she could not spend much time with her kids because her eBay business was so demanding and that she suggested no one buy their eBay inventory on credit. 

I worked hard at my job, and in the evenings and weekends, I worked hard at my second job, eBay.  If I wasn’t at the computer, I was dragging my very patient husband and son to the mall so I could shop for kids’ clothes.  (Never mind that my husband asked me over and over again not to go into this business.)  I missed out on spending time with my son on the weekends so I could grow this business.  The first year, I made no money, but I was okay with that. 

Second Thoughts

In 2007 and 2008, I went on wild spending sprees convinced the best way to make money from my store was to invest in inventory and grow it as quickly as possible.   By mid-2008, I was 5 months pregnant with my daughter and seriously starting to reconsider the eBay business which still had not made me any money. 

By the time my daughter was born, I realized something had to give, but the damage was already done.  I was thousands of dollars in debt and any money that I made went to debt repayment.

Closing Up Shop

I straggled on for a two more years, filled with guilt and anxiety over my growing debt.  I thought I would just stay in business until the debt was paid off.  However, my third child arrived 17.5 months after my second, and there was no chance to work on the business.

Now, I have been whittling away at the debt, but I realize I will not get it all paid off.  I will have to pay “stupid tax” as Dave Ramsey says.  I hope to close my business in the next few months.  I am trying to sell off my remaining inventory at cost, just to be free of it.  Simply put, I no longer have the time or space for it.

Even now it pains me to think about the resources I put into this business, both in terms of time and money.  Looking back, I realize I was desperate, and like many desperate people, I tried to find a “quick” solution that only compounded my problems.

There is a happy ending though.  My husband is three months away from graduating, and I have finally stepped away from my job to stay home with our three kids.  I have found a new business—blogging and freelance writing, and it has already earned me much more, both in money and satisfaction, than eBay ever did.

For a quick overview of Investing Strategies, pick up my FREE eBook; 20 Minute Guide to Investing (top right of the page). If you like what you’re reading, sign up for my RSS feed or email subscription and follow me on twitter so you get the word immediately.

Have you ever sold anything on-line? What were your experiences?

image credit; liewcf