One of my major goals for 2013 is to further develop multiple streams of income. There are many ways you can make money aside from a full time job. First, its important to recognize that although many of us may have a Mon-Fri 9-5, there are just as many people who work full time but different hours. This creates different opportunities as the time at which you are able to work on other income streams can effect what you choose to pursue.
What you can do on the side for additional income is almost limitless and certainly cannot be listed in full in a single blog post, however, I can share some of what I am working on to hopefully point you in a direction or stimulate you to think of what you want to do.
Degrees and Debt/It’s All Tech- These are two of the website I am currently a part of. It’s All Tech is much more established then DandD since it does have a handful of years advantage, but the plan is to continue the growth of both sites with additional writers, exclusive content and brand growth. Partnerships are a big push for 2013 for both sites as developing relationships with other sites and businesses is crucial for success.
Building these sites took a small investment of cash, but a big investment of time and effort. IAT has been a growing project with numerous design and usability enhancements along the way. DandD is just starting out and with cost being a concern the investments for improved technology and features will grow with the site over time.
Do you have a niche you want to write about? If so, blogging might be a great way to develop your writing, improve your networking and explore a hobby/interest you really enjoy while working to turn a profit from it. Niche sites are a great way to start and if you really get good at it, you can branch out by consulting/deigning for other people who want to start their own sites!
Fiverr-This is a great website to make a little bit of extra income on the side. While it might not sound like much, each gig is $5 there is potential to make a lot more! As you begin to sell gigs your rating will improve and you will grow to new seller levels. At this point you can expand you gigs to add +$5, +$10 or +$20 for additional services or speedy delivery. Before you know you might be doing a quick gig for $25! Gigs range from just about everything from singing, to graphic design, to art and more. Fiverr takes $1 as their cut, which is reasonable leaving you with $4 per gig. Explore some of the unique talents you have and offer your services on Fiverr, you would be surprised how quick people may start buying your services!
mTurk-MTurk is an Amazon website which allows you to perform various online work while getting a small financial reward. They pay is small, sometimes fifty cents but can range up to a few dollars and more. Jobs on MTurk are called HITs and an example of a better on is answering AskVille questions which were not answered by AskVillers in 4 hours. Each week the person who answers the most is paid $100+2 cents per question, and the 29 people after the leader make anywhere between $13 to $97.
While large sums of money from MTurk is rare, if you find yourself sitting online with nothing to do except play Facebook games you might want to check out MTurk and rack up a bit here and there, before you know it you can transfer the funds to your Amazon Payments account and use it towards purchase or cash out.
Etsy/Ebay/Craigslist-These shouldn’t be new to anyone, well maybe Etsy. Selling stuff is a great way to make money, no shocker there. The issue here is the time it takes, so if you have the time reselling might be great for you. There is a fantastic blog I have followed, ReCraigslist, where you can explore how to get stuff and resell it for a profit on Craigslist. If you arent looking to expand to that level, you can always do a spring cleaning and collect items around the house that have been collecting dust. A yard sale first might be easy, then whats left over start pushing online.
Etsy is a unique platform. Its geared towards the self made artist who wants to sell their crafts online. I have known people who Pinterest-to-Etsy. That is, they find craft projects they enjoy on Pinterest, then sell their work on Etsy. Many people like these projects, but don’t have the time to do them and would gladly pay reasonable prices to support your business while getting the nice look they desire.
Real Estate- This one might not be as widely applicable, but its something I am involved in so I thought I would share. A few years ago I took the real estate salesperson license course and passed the exam a while later. Since this took place during my senior year of college, I was not too focused and then right away started Grad school, so I got a late start on putting my real estate license to use. More recently I have found the time to apply towards Real Estate and am seeing the rewards. The expenses have been rather high, upwards of a four-to-five thousand dollars now, but so will the rewards, if I continue the effort I have.
Real estate may not be for everyone, but I am finding that it fits me very well. I enjoy the experience of helping people buy and sell their homes. I also enjoy the marketing experience and the concept of “selling yourself”. For my marketing material I learned fast that this can be expensive so I work to include ad spots on most of my material for a local business to off-set my cost of printing and mailing to target areas. This has worked well for me and the businesses and has even turned me a profit on just the marketing material in some cases.
Real estate is not an easy field to start in and does require upfront capital to start. you are basically a contractor to the agency so they may provide certain things but you are mostly on your own to make your business. It has a great entrepreneurial feel to it which I enjoy and you might too. Also, depending on where you work in real estate, you can make your start up expenses back in just one transaction.
The key with any of these or other income streams in maintaining the discipline to continue working on them on a consistent basis. If you have to create new content to keep readers or website visitors coming back then I recommend devising a schedule that you stick to for tasks such as writing, commenting, social media time, interacting with other sites, etc. Do your best to stay on this schedule and over time it will get easier and more routine.
Good luck with the whole multiple incomes thing. I started looking into multiple incomes about July last year and so far it is no where near as rewarding as I though it would be in terms of the money side. I have however made a heap of great new friends on the process and have learned a heap about internet marketing.
@MonsterPiggyBank Agreed, I cant say anything that I am gaining is at a level I thought it would be (except for Real Estate). I hope to be able to really focus on it more this year as I will have completed my masters program in May and that will open up A LOT of time for me nights/weekends.
So we know that you’re doing the blogging things, but what else do you think that you might do so that you can bank your day job’s cashola? Curious!
@yesiamcheap Aside from @DegreesandDebt and itsalltech I am a Realtor (http://www.exitwithedgar.com). In addition, I do smaller projects such as a the craigslist/ebay selling, Fiverr and mTurk when time permits and I also do freelance tech support work for personal and small offices in the local community. I try to diversify income streams as much as possible. My Major problem, which I am trying to alleviate and perfect the process in 2013, is dabbling in many things but not following through with all of them or slowly putting in less effort over time. This is almost like I am cheating myself so in 2013 I am trying to condense, focus, compromise and achieve.
@yesiamcheap Forgot to mention that I am also a fitness nut and promote a fantastic meal replacement system called @ViSalus (http://eroth.myvi.net). Although there isnt much financial reward at this time for me (unless I promote in higher numbers) but if/when I get three or more I can get credit towards my own purchases, which will save me money. Plus, after the results I have been able to attain from these meal replacements and all the research I did to find the best one, I am more then happy to tell people about it!
I’ve been interested in real estate for a while, but haven’t had the time to take a course. I feel like it’s something I’d be pretty good at because I have a passion for helping people and think real estate is exciting and a good investment (wouldn’t be like I was “selling” something I didn’t believe in). Glad to have found your blog, thanks for stopping by mine!
@StudentDebtSurvivor I’d be more then happy to answer any questions you might have about getting into Real Estate and/or EXIT Realty as I found them to be the best nationwide Realtor with great benefits and tools! Just shoot me an email if interested.
I know there are a few people who make good money on Fiverr but I can’t ever see doing that myself – I’d rather focus on finding work elsewhere and branding myself. Good luck on your income-earning pursuits this year!
@eemusings Thanks for reading! Fiverr is a nice way to make a bit of money with little time constraints. In my monthly recap in Feb for Jan you can see I did pretty good this month, surprisingly, with Fiverr!