Category Archives for Make Money
4 Factors That Can Sink Your Small Business
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Sally. Sally is the blogger behind TinyApartmentDesign.com, a blog about design, living well, and simple, tiny spaces. Enjoy!
Done right, small business ownership has been a path to economic mobility and career success for many aspiring Americans.
This weekend’s WSJ article provided one example of how franchise restaurant ownership has provided a path for hardworking people to increase their income while owning their own business. Small businesses of all kinds have been a major source of wealth for Americans, but they have their own risks that someone who is making the transition from employee to business for the first time may not always consider.
Before beginning any business, a management plan will help keep the following factors in check.
Inventory
If you keep inventory of a product, one of the first things you will need to learn very quickly is exactly how much inventory you need, what the right items are and when to stock them. For example, a swimsuit retailer needs to know the average numbers sold in each size from XS to XL or 00 to 16, the most popular colors, and the brands that will sell. If you haven’t done your market research, you may end up at the end of a six-month selling season with hundreds of bikinis that are now considered “last season” and in colors that are no longer popular in the coming season. In the case of the restaurant owner, it’s been said that the mark of a good chef and owner is when the daily special is sold out. 50 pounds of uneaten Bluefin tuna at the end of the night just means lost revenue for the owner (or maybe tons of spicy tuna specials the next day).
Labor
It’s hard to be realistic about your labor needs with no prior experience, but owners will need to determine how much help they can utilize fully. If workers have nothing to do, and you don’t have the time to train the time, then their labor is eating into your margins. Conversely, if you don’t have enough hands on deck, your product and reputation can suffer much more quickly than it can be repaired. Preventative measures help- hire extra help when you expect extra sales.
Taxes
I’ve owned a few very small businesses and never hired a CPA until last year. I now see that having my CPA around from the beginning would have forced me to keep more organized records, account for expenses and revenue more consistently, and saved me in taxes owed. His fee is trivial in comparison to the peace of mind I have that there is second set of eyes on my records, and he is motivated to save me more in order to keep me as a returning customer. With payroll and regular expenditures, small business owners will do best when they keep organized, clear records from the outset.
Resources
There are so many resources available to small business owners to help them grow and manage their companies. Need more referrals? Try your local Chamber of Commerce. Not sure what product to order for next season? Attend your industry conferences and webinars on industry trends. Need to update your online strategy? Hit the blogs for tons of marketing ideas and referrals to trusted developers and social media marketing firms.
Your small business has the potential to become your path to financial independence, but you’ll have to stay involved and active in every part of your business as it grows.
How about you all? Have you ever started a small business before? If so, what were some of the primarily factors that either enabled or prevented it from growing?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://www.freeimages.com/photo/1336617
Turning Your Job Into An Investment
The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Kevin Mercadante, who is a professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of his own personal finance blog, OutOfYourRut.com. He has backgrounds in both accounting and the mortgage industry.
Job insecurity has become a way of life in recent years.
Even if you’re doing a good job, it’s sometimes not enough to keep you from facing a layoff. The only security any of us have anymore are the skills that we have – the talents and abilities that give our work value to our employers. That being the case, you can turn your job into an investment by actively working to improve your skills, and to build new ones.
This is more important than it’s ever been. Unfortunately, employers no longer train their employees. This is because training costs money, and in the cost cutting mania that has overtaken the American workplace, there simply seems to be no time or money for it. To keep your skills sharp, you have to invest some time – and maybe even a little bit of money – making it happen on your own.
Resolve to spend some outside time on job improvement
Most of us have more time on our hands than we realize. The “problem” is that much of our non-working hours are filled with watching TV, web surfing, “staying connected” on cell phones, or participating in extracurricular activities.
What if you were to devote three or four hours out of that time to either improving an existing work-related skill, or developing a totally new one?
Considering that most people are unwilling to make this kind of investment of time and effort, doing so could put you on the cutting-edge of employment skills.
Develop a set of skills that you would like to either improve on or build from scratch, and then begin budgeting the time that you will need – out of your leisure time – to learn them. Sure, you need time to deal with the stress of the work week, but giving yourself an upper hand with new skills might go a long way toward relieving work stress by itself.
Learn what you can about the Big Picture in your field or industry
A lot of people come into work, do their job, and then go home. They don’t concern themselves with what’s going on in the Big Picture. From an employer’s standpoint, the Big Picture is anything that affects the environment that the business operates in. This can include economic conditions, regulatory environment, market preferences, and competition.
By spending some time educating yourself on these issues, you can develop a birds-eye view of your company’s business, and see it the way your employer does. Even more important, if you can begin developing work-related strategies that are consistent with those big picture issues, you can rise up above the rank-and-file in your company. Think of this as the skill of awareness.
Take a course or two
If there is a specific skill that you think is critically important either to your ability to retain your job, or to be promoted, consider taking a course in that subject that will help you to acquire the skill.
They’re all kinds of skills that you can develop that can help you with this. For example, a public speaking course can help you be better speaker, and maybe even to lead meetings and other group sessions. This will position you as a leader, not the least of which because most people are deathly afraid of speaking before groups.
Taking a course in a job specific computer program or application can also increase your value to your employer, or even to future employers. Businesses today are all about technical skills, and the more you can acquire, the more valuable you will be to your employer.
Acquiring skills on the Internet
Not all skills require a classroom setting. You can use the Internet to learn all kinds of new skills. This can include researching those skills and finding out where you might be able get online training. But you could also check out YouTube and see if there any videos posted that will help as well.
Sometimes all you need is a working knowledge of the given skill – you don’t necessarily need to be an expert. Even more important, is the ability to take a given skill and find a way to efficiently apply it to your job. If you happen to stumble across a new skill that can help your company – but that your company is unaware of – you can also position yourself as an innovator.
It’s mostly a matter of being out and about, and willing to experiment with what’s out there. In this way you virtually win by default, because most of your coworkers aren’t going there.
Invest in relevant software
Think of a common software application that’s important in your business, where you may want to position yourself as an expert. Identify what that software is, buy copy of it, and spend your spare time not just learning it,but mastering it!
In virtually every company, there are people who know how to use software programs. But there are very few people who are experts in the application, who know the specific nuances that can help the employer. By spending some off-hours time working with a software application, you may be gaining the kind of knowledge that will make you indispensable to your employer.
Never overlook the obvious when it comes to software programs There are common applications, such as Excel, PowerPoint and various graphics programs, where you can position yourself as an expert. If you can find ways to take these common programs and use them in a way that will provide tangible benefits for your employer, you could become one to go-to people on the job.
Take a parallel part-time job
Sometimes the best way to learn a new skill is baptism by fire – that is, you just have to get out there and do it. One of the best ways to do it is through a part-time job. Considering that most employers frown on their employees taking positions with direct competitors, you’ll probably be better off to try to find part-time work for a company that is in a related business, but is not a direct competitor
And since part-time work is generally more casual than full-time, you’ll probably have a better opportunity to learn the skills from the ground up.
Certain skills simply lend themselves better to hands-on experience. Sales is an excellent example. If you think that developing sales skills will help you in your job, or make you more valuable to the employer, consider taking a part-time sales position, and see where it leads.
You may even find that the more casual atmosphere of a part-time position makes it easier for you to learn a new skill, particularly one as challenging as sales, if you’ve never done that kind of work before. Since you won’t be relying on the sales income, you will be able to master the skills under less stressful circumstances.
Turning your job into an investment is all about building a portfolio of skills. The more that you have, and the better you are at them, the higher your market value will be – either to your current employer, or to a new employer in the future.
How about you all? Have you invested your personal time and money to gain valuable skills for your career? How so?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/eflon/4541692312/sizes/n/
Encourage Your Teens to Develop Their Own Jobs This Summer
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
The worst job I ever had was when I was 16 and worked at McDonald’s. One manager was only 19, and he routinely became super stressed. (Think Bridezilla of McDonald’s.) I was often booked double shifts on the weekend, working from 5 a.m. until 8 or 9 at night.
I did make money, but I didn’t learn anything. Every task a worker had to do was carefully orchestrated and scripted by McDonald’s, even to the way the condiments were to be placed on the burger.
My son is going on 10 now, so he won’t be getting a job anytime soon, but when he does, I don’t want him to get a job working at a restaurant or fast food joint. Instead, I want him to get a job that will teach him skills and increase his chances of making a livable income when he graduates.
If you’re a parent of a teenager who wants to work a summer job this year, encourage them to avoid the typical teenage jobs and instead find one that will help them succeed later in life.
Let Them Help in Your Business
If you own a business, consider letting your child work for you. (Assuming you and your child get along and can work well together.)
I recently listened to a speaker who owns a company teaching parents and children how to develop better relationships. He goes around the country speaking, and he also has informational CDs that he sells on his website. Starting when his son, Casey, was 14, Casey had the job of receiving the shipments of CDs, unpacking, and inventorying them. When he was a bit older, he started traveling with his father. Now that he’s 20, he regularly goes on stage with his dad and also presents.
Not only is he helping his father and earning money that way, but he’s learning so many skills that will suit him in any job he pursues–business management, public speaking, etc. Who knows, he may one day take over the business from his father.
Likewise, Dave Ramsey is grooming one of his daughters, Rachel Cruze, to take over part of his business when he retires.
Of course, you don’t have to have a business that makes millions of dollars or requires you to travel throughout the United States to have your child help you. I’m a freelance writer and virtual assistant as well as a blogger. When my son is old enough, if he has an interest, he could learn how to keep the books for me (since my bookkeeping is relatively simple) or he could learn how to do the behind-the-scenes work on my blog. Even having him go through my many e-mails I receive every day and deleting the spam or non-important messages would be a great help.
If you have a business, there is likely a task your child could help you with, if you’re open to it.
Let Them Create Their Own Business
As parents, I think one of the best things we can do is teach our children how to have an entrepreneurial spirit. Before the age of regular fast food and restaurant visits which spawned so many mindless fast food jobs, kids used to get their own paper route, or babysit, or mow lawns.
While finding a paper route now might be hard, teens could certainly babysit or offer lawn maintenance when they’re off for the summer.
When I attended a community college, one young man in my class had started cutting neighbors’ lawns when he was 14. His business grew so much that by the time he was 19 and in class with me, he was working full-time, owned a business truck and equipment, and had two part-time employees under him. This gig could have easily turned into his career.
Of course, teens have many options available to them beyond the traditional teen entrepreneur jobs. If your teen is skilled on the computer, he could land a job as a programmer, website developer, blogger–the list goes on and on.
Many of these jobs offer lucrative pay, and with a bit of intuition, skill, and training, your child could make a nice income this summer while learning entrepreneurial and personal skills.
Even better, many of these jobs that teens create for themselves are mobile. The 14 year old who starts an Etsy business can easily move that growing business with her when she goes away to college. Rather than working in the college cafeteria, she can continue to grow her business and make a good side income to help pay her way in college.
How to Get Your Child Started on an Entrepreneurial Job Path
If you and your child would like to avoid low paying, low skill developing restaurant and retail jobs, there are some steps you can take to find the best job for your child:
1. Determine what your child likes to do and what interests her. Perhaps have her fill out a list of things she likes to do and then see what jobs she could create that are related to her interests. You may even have her take a personality test to see what areas she is strongest in. Is she a people-person extrovert, or is she an introvert who works better in solitude, for example.
2. Have him take courses, if necessary. If your child wants to create a computer programming job, maybe he first needs to take a course or two. Or, if he already has an idea for a business based on a skill he has, he may want to learn more about running a business. (This can often be done entirely online. For instance, the Small Business Association offers a 41 minute online course, “Young Entrepreneurs: An Essential Guide to Starting Your Own Business.”
3. Launch the idea, and don’t be afraid of failure. Your teen may worry about failure, which is natural. As long as she isn’t investing a great deal of money, let her understand that failure happens. You might remind her of how many times famous people like Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison failed before they obtained success.
If your child fails, that may just be because she hasn’t hit upon the right business idea yet or because her business model needed to be tweaked.
4. Grow the business slowly. Many adults fail at business because they try to grow their business too quickly and spend too much money. Encourage your child to grow his business slowly and to stay out of debt. For instance, if he is starting a lawn mowing service, let him “rent” your mower and pay a small fee until he’s saved enough money from his jobs to buy his own equipment.
Most teens are out of school for the summer now and have time on their hands. Rather than encouraging them to get jobs at the local mall or restaurants, where they will likely learn and earn very little, encourage them to develop their own jobs.
Learning to develop their own jobs and find a need in the community that they can fill is an invaluable skill, which will serve them well throughout their career lifetimes. Plus, the real world skills they learn working for themselves can be used for the rest of their lives.
How about you all? When you were a teen, did you work a traditional job as I did, or did you create your own entrepreneurial job? What will you encourage your children to do?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/76657755@N04/
Are Franchise Businesses Worth the Money?
The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Kevin Mercadante, who is a professional personal finance blogger, and the owner of his own personal finance blog, OutOfYourRut.com. He has backgrounds in both accounting and the mortgage industry.
Starting your own business is scary.
A lot of would-be entrepreneurs try to take some of the fright out of it by investing in a franchise operation. Franchise operations can improve the chances of business success, but they often do so at a high price. So, are franchise businesses worth the money?
It’s actually a mixed bag. You can easily make a six figure income from the better established franchises, such as McDonalds, Wendy’s and Chick-fil-A. But, franchise operations aren’t for everyone.
The Pros of Franchise Businesses
If you’re looking to start a new business, investing in a franchise is like going into business with a senior partner who knows the ropes, and has already developed a model for business success.
Some of the advantages that a franchise offers include:
Corporate marketing. This is the biggest, and perhaps most underrated, aspect of business success. Franchises often come complete with marketing packages, including advertising, that will keep customers coming in your door. You’ll have to pay to participate in that marketing, but the results will be pretty close to guaranteed.
Brand recognition. Brand recognition is the single biggest obstacle for every new business. You’re coming out on the street as the new guy on the block, and you need to develop a reputation it order to create a viable customer base. When you invest in a franchise, the brand recognition is already there. This enables you to have a customer base virtually from the get-go of your business.
Management template. With a franchise, there’s no guesswork when it comes the management. The franchise already has a management template in place, and all you need to do is go through the steps. There’s no need for trial by fire. That will save you both time and money.
Location, location, location. The more successful franchises have the location thing down to a science. They know exactly where to locate an operation for success.
Financing. Getting a bank loan for a business start-up is close to impossible. Large franchises typically offer financing packages that will remove the need to depend upon the banks.
So far, investing in a franchise sounds perfect. But read on.
The Cons of Franchise Businesses
Just as there are giant positives to investing in a franchise, there are negatives of equal proportion.
Upfront capital plus debt. It can be more expensive to invest in a franchise than to start a business from the ground up. This is because the franchise has a large dose of goodwill, as listed above. Your chances of succeeding with a franchise are far greater than if you start a brand-new business, but you’ll be paying a heavy financial price for those advantages. A McDonald’s franchise for example, can cost a total of $2.2 million, including $750,000 upfront.
You’re self-employed, but you’re really not. If you’re looking to be truly self-employed, investing in a franchise may not get you there. It’s something of a hybrid – from a standpoint of capital, you’re certainly self-employed. After all, it’s your money you’re putting into the franchise. But as far as running the day-to-day operations, your largely locked into the franchise management plan.
Our way or the highway. The larger and more successful franchises have very specific operating plans. If you can’t work within the prescribed framework, the franchise can be terminated. Franchises need to maintain companywide standards, so there’s very little room for individual creativity or expression.
Failure is not an option. Franchises don’t like failing operations. If your franchise is struggling to survive, your affiliation with the company could end in short order.
Are You Suited to Run a Franchise Business?
Apart from the pros and cons of franchise participation, you have to seriously consider whether or not you have the personal profile to make it in the franchise business. Not everyone can, and you have to be completely honest with yourself in determining whether or not you have what it takes to make a franchise work.
You must be entrepreneurial. Even though there is a lot of top-down control in franchises, you still need to be an entrepreneur at heart. That means you have to know how to run the place, how to deal with people, and how to manage scarce resources. If you’ve never been self-employed before, investing in a franchise could become a disaster.
You must have a sales persona. When you are running a franchise operation, you’re typically dealing heavily with the retail public. There is an element of sales involved in this, that includes at a minimum, a high level of comfort in dealing with people. If you prefer to work in a quiet office by yourself, you’ll be doomed to fail in a franchise operation.
You must be a “Yes man/woman”. This gets back to the top down control issue. Even though you own the franchise operation, you’re still subject to control from the top. Franchise operations have strict standards and procedures that they insist on maintaining in order to maintain the integrity of their outlets company-wide. You have to be prepared to accept that arrangement, and to make it work within a tight framework.
You must have minimal personal obligations. This relates mainly to your life outside of your work. Even though franchises have success templates, you will still be required to work an ungodly number of hours, particularly during the first year or two of operations. If you have heavy family, social, and recreational obligations outside of work, a franchise may not work for you. In most cases, investing in a successful franchise requires a complete commitment of your time.
People can make serious money investing in a franchise. But you have to understand what you’re up against – the benefits you will gain measured against the price that you will pay in all forms – and be ready to do your part.
How about you all? Have you ever considered starting a franchise business, or know of someone that did? What was your/their experience like?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/wfyurasko/4003382676/sizes/n/
Earn Extra Money With A Side-Gig
The following is a post by MPFJ staff writer, Derek Sall. Derek is the owner of the blog, LifeAndMyFinances.com, where he teaches people how to get out of debt, save money, and become wealthy.
When I was 24 years old, I was working 1,400 miles away from home and decided that I wanted to move back to be close to family. Jobs were not easy to come by, and I did not have a large enough bank account to just quit my job and drive back home to Michigan.
It was at this point that I decided to start a side-gig that would hopefully provide enough money for me to make the move without many issues financially. With just an extra $1,000 a month, I could survive and wouldn’t need to accept a crappy job just to survive in my hometown.
If you’re trying to figure out a side-gig to start that might be appropriate for you, below are several ideas. Enjoy!
Making Extra Money With a Blog
After doing a little research online, I decided that I would start a personal finance blog.
It was my field in college (even though I wasn’t actively using this degree at work) and I felt that I was fairly gifted at writing, so I figured that I would just give it a shot and see what would happen.
Starting a blog was not easy. I knew nothing about building a website and I had absolutely no clue how to market it, but because I enjoyed writing about personal finance, I just struggled my way through it and was hoping that readers would just straggle in along the way. Well, somehow it worked. After 6 months of making practically nothing (I think my total earnings was somewhere around $5.21), something just clicked and the money started pouring in. That seventh month was about a hundred bucks, and then the next month was $300, then $500. By the end of the first year, I was earning a fairly consistent $1,000 and was on my way home to be with my family. Fast forward three years and I am still earning a healthy income with this venture.
Keep in mind that this is not an easy venture, but there is still some money to be made in the blogging world. Some of the hot blogs right now are personal finance, cheap crafting, and traveling.
Detailing Cars
My nephew was recently asking me how he could get through college without taking out any loans. Jobs for a 19 year old often pay less than $10/hr. and they don’t come with many hours per week. I had a simple answer – detail some cars. Through church, he has plenty of connections and could soon be making a couple hundred bucks a week just by cleaning, vacuuming, and waxing a few cars. If you have a passion for keeping your car clean, maybe you wouldn’t mind cleaning a few other cars for a hundred bucks here and there.
Mowing Lawns
If there is one thing that people often don’t enjoy doing, it’s mowing their lawns. If you really want to make some money, undercut the other mower businesses in your area and charge $15 or $20 per mow. By mowing just 5 extra lawns in your neighborhood, you could earn an additional $400 a month! That’s pretty decent for pushing a lawn mower a few hours a week.
Tutoring
This is another great way to earn some cash in your spare time. Since parents have fewer and fewer hours in their day, they are willing to pay a qualified individual some good money to help their child with his/her homework each day, especially if they are struggling in a certain subject area. If you are good with children and have a few degrees under your belt, perhaps you could step in and help a few kids each day. At $15 or $20 per hour (or sometimes more), you could be making some serious cash in no time!
How Much Will This Really Help Your Budget?
When you’re only making $400 extra a month, how much will this really help your budget? Do you want the short answer to this question? A LOT.
Think about it. How much extra money do you have each month now? Maybe an extra $100? With another $400, that means that you’ll have $500 of disposable income each month. You have just increased your funds each month by 5 times what you were making before! Put this money toward your bills and they will vanish incredibly fast. Invest it in the market and you will soon have thousands of dollars instead of just hundreds. No matter how tiny the amount of money, it can make a much bigger impact than you think.
How about you all? Have you ever thought about starting a side business to help with your finances? What options have you tossed around?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/5296559285/
Use Twitter Effectively With These 5 Tips
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer Shondell Varcianna of Call Me What You Want Even Cheap and Varci Media. Enjoy!
With over 300 million users, the massively popular micro-blogging social media site, Twitter, can be a great online marketing tool.
Once you sign up, it gives you access to a vast pool of potential customers for free. It provides the easiest way to reach out to customers, since every tweet goes to all your followers. Tweets are easy to create and each tweet takes less than a minute to write and post. And since each post is limited to 140 characters, you can be specific and direct with your followers without offending them.
Like any marketing program, Twitter can be an effective marketing tool only if you know how to use it to your advantage. Here are 5 tips on how to use Twitter effectively:
1. Tweet useful info as often as you can
At any instant, hundreds of other businesses in your niche could be vying for user attention.
So, in order to get noticed, you need to participate actively. This means you should tweet as often as you can. If you do not have a variety of useful content to tweet, you can tweet and re-tweet the same tweet several times a day with slight modifications. If you have nothing to tweet of your own, you can re-tweet other users’ tweets. Being actively present ensures an audience of loyal followers who will not only wait for your tweets, but also re-tweet your tweets, which will expand your reach to other users who are not your followers.
2. Follow your existing and potential customers
It’s not only celebrities who like to have legions of followers; everyone likes to have hundreds of followers on social media sites. They will be happy to be followed even if they have nothing to say. So, you should seek out and follow your existing and potential customers. In return, they will repay you with their support and loyalty. Your more loyal followers will follow your tweets religiously and retweet your tweets frequently, which is a great way to attract more followers. It goes without saying that the more people you follow, the more followers you will have. So, don’t just wait for people to follow you; take the initiative in following other users. You will have nothing to lose and only to gain.
3. Follow people and businesses in your industry
Twitter is a great place to get the information and news that you need to keep abreast of the latest developments in your industry. Individuals and businesses that have come up with innovative ideas and products often spread the word through social media sites like Twitter. So, you should actively seek out people and businesses in your niche and follow them and encourage them you follow you back. This generates awareness of your Twitter presence and can attract new followers. Following competitors can even lead to collaborations, which can give you access to their large base of customers and create new avenues of opportunities.
4. Place links in your tweets
Instead of just relying on your Twitter account for other people to find you, you should actively direct potential followers and customers to your website or blog. The easiest way to do this is to place a link in your tweets and on your home page. Other social medial sites like Facebook and LinkedIn allow you to put links to your Twitter account in your status. You should use that to your advantage. Also consider including your Twitter account in your e-mail signature so that it will go out with every e-mail that you send, to expand your reach.
5. Hire someone to manage your Twitter account
If you want to make Twitter an effective marketing tool, then you should consider hiring someone to manage it for you. Whoever you hire should be an expert in internet marketing with knowledge of SEO and other techniques. Their job should be to create and post interesting and attractive tweets, follow other users’ tweets and determine if they have any relevance to your business, search for potential customers and follow them, communicate with followers, review the tweets written by your employee before sending them out, to ensure that the tweets going out of to your followers are accurate and correctly presented.
How about you all? How have you used Twitter to grow your business? What was the strategy that worked best for you?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of Slava
Diversify for a Successful Online Side Hustle
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
Side hustles can be a great way to stretch a family’s income or to find ways to pay for perks a family couldn’t normally afford such as a vacation. Side hustles can also be a great way to drum up some extra money to invest for the kids’ college funds or to invest in your own retirement.
For twenty-somethings just out of college, side hustles can be a great way to pay down debt. Joe Mihalic of No More Harvard Debt dug his way out of $91,000 in student loan debt in part by renting, “his spare bedrooms to strangers through Craigslist and starting a side business doing landscape work” (CNNMoney) to supplement his “six-figure management job.”
My Side Hustle Experience
As a stay-at-home mom who needs to help supplement the family income, I love side hustles. I started my first side hustle in February, 2010, when I started freelance writing for a personal finance blogger. Then, I got another side hustle submitting a different personal finance blogger’s articles to finance carnivals.
The carnival submission side hustle quickly mushroomed until I had over 20 clients. The job required several hours of work each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. For about 18 months, everything went smoothly, and I raked in the money.
During that time, I naturally shed a few clients because, as a mom to three young children, my work had grown to more than I could handle, at least if I wanted to be present in my kids’ lives.
But then, the online environment began to change. People worried that carnivals might look like link farms to Google and that their blogs may be penalized. I lost a few clients when they decided the potential risk wasn’t worth the reward.
And then I got competition–a lot of competition. Smart people looking for a fairly easy side hustle set up their own carnival submissions service at a lower price, and slowly my clientele faded away. Now, three and a half years later, I only have a few carnival submission clients left.
In addition to my freelance writing work for other bloggers, I found work occasionally writing posts for companies and bloggers. For some time, I could count on making about a one fourth of my monthly income that way. But again, business dried up. One blogger that I worked with got out of the blogging business. Google began to penalize blogs, so that also dried up business.
Now, most of my income comes from freelance writing, virtual assistant work, and social media work.
My Tips for Those Looking to Create a Side Hustle
Based on my three plus years experience, I have some advice for those looking to start a side hustle:
1. Make sure you have a savings account. Many start their side hustle because money is tight. I would recommend that even if that is the case, you should set aside some money in a savings account every month. If I had it to do all over again, I’d set aside 25% of my income each month from day one. I’m doing that now, but I should have been doing that much earlier so I’d be more financially secure if a side hustle dries up (as it inevitably seems to do in the online world).
In addition, remember that as a freelancer, income is not always dependable. I have one client who doesn’t pay me until 30 days after I submit my work. Many others pay me as soon as my posts are submitted. Occasionally clients fall on hard times and payment is delayed, sometimes for months. If you make it a habit to set aside a certain percentage of your earnings, you’ll always have money in the savings account to smooth out the ebb and flow of income and jobs.
2. Create as many side hustles as you can comfortably. The online world is dynamic and always changing. Decisions Google and social media sites make can affect your jobs as well. A few years ago, bloggers did whatever they could to grow their Facebook account, and now, most of those bloggers are frustrated because only 1 to 2% of their followers see their status updates. A few years ago, content was king, but now in the era of Pinterest, photos are just as or more important.
You never know what new social media sites will take off or what changes will affect your business. The more side hustles you can create, the better. My carnival submission service has been almost eradicated as has my sponsored post writing side hustle. However, I still have my freelance blog writing, virtual assistant work and social media work. If I had relied on just one way to make money, I may very well be out of job right now.
3. Watch for trends and learn new skills. Even if you have a profitable side hustle now, always keep an eye out for changes in the online environment. If you can be one of the first to master something new in the online sphere like Pinterest, you can make a healthy side hustle. Just look at some of the most successful bloggers that you know. Many of them started eight or more years ago when blogging was relatively new and there wasn’t so much competition.
4. Cultivate relationships. As you work with others, strive to cultivate relationships. Support those you work with by following them on social media and sharing their work. The stronger you can make these relationships, the more likely they can help you if you need it. For instance, one freelance writer lost a large client. She contacted some people she currently worked with as well as those she had previously worked with, and within two days she had jobs that would replace the income she lost.
5. Excel at your work to get word-of-mouth referrals. In the same vein, you can also cultivate relationships by doing excellent work. Though taking on more work than you can handle can be tempting, balance your work load so that you can do excellent work with all of your clients. This can lead to word-of-mouth referrals, which can help you find new jobs.
6. Have an exit strategy. There may be the day when you no longer want your side hustle. Maybe your debt is paid off or your traditional job is requiring more time or your family is growing. Whatever the reason, having an exit strategy is important. How will you leave your business? Are you able to sell it to someone else or a company? Will you just close up shop one day? If so, how long will closing up shop take?
A side hustle can grow so much that it generates enough to replace the income from your traditional job and can then become your full-time job. Or, it can be something that you do on the side for a limited amount of hours a week while your kids are sleeping or on the weekends. Whichever type of side hustle you choose, keeping these tips in mind will help you successfully grow, and keep, your side income flowing.
How about you all? What advice would you have for someone just beginning a new online side hustle?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/refractedmoments/
Is Relocation Financially Worthwhile?
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
My husband and I have been scraping by on his small post-doc salary and my freelance writing income for 18 months now. We’re deep in the trenches and figure we have another 18 months to go before my husband can finally get the university research job that we’ve both been dreaming of–so he can finally start in his career after more than 10 long years of school and post-doc work, and me, so we can finally have a salary that covers expenses for our family of 5 and offers a little bit extra.
Then, this winter we learned that my husband’s mentor might be moving 16 hours away for a better job, and he asked my husband if he would like to move with him. The next few weeks were a flurry of discussions and calculations. Was moving so far away worthwhile?
If you find yourself, like we did, contemplating a long distance move, there are many variables to consider.
1. How much will you be making?
Will the new job give you more money or less? Don’t automatically assume that a job where you will make less is a deal breaker. If the cost of living in the area is less, you may do just fine with a reduction in salary.
Also be aware that some national companies pay the same rate for a certain position, no matter what area of the country you live in. Your company might pay $50,000 for your position whether you live in Nebraska, where the cost of living is relatively low, or in San Francisco, where earning $50,000 may cause you to live close to the poverty level because the cost of living is so high.
2. What is the chance of job advancement?
Sometimes, taking a lower salary is worthwhile if you have a good chance at job advancement and salary increases in the future. Likewise, taking a job that pays more initially but offers only slight chances of advancement and income increases over the years should be considered carefully. Upward mobility is something most employees are looking for.
3. Could this be a spring board for another (better) job with a different company?
Will the new job give you skills and knowledge that will make you more attractive to other companies? In the academic world, landing your first, tenure-track position job is often the most difficult. Once you land one and prove yourself there, you make your chances of finding another job in a different area and institution better. That is one reason why my husband was considering the move.
Look at your own career field and the potential job in particular. Will relocating and taking the job help you be able to move to a different company and earn more?
4. What is the cost of living comparison?
Another important consideration besides income is the cost of living. CNN Money has a handy cost of living comparison calculator that lets you input your current city and the city you are considering moving to. You enter what your current salary is, and the program will tell you how much you will need to earn equivalent in your new city as well as the percentage price difference in groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health care.
For example, if you are considering moving from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco, CA and you are currently making $50,000, you would need to make $93,118 in San Francisco to experience a similar financial lifestyle because the cost of living is so much higher. (The big shocker–housing is 274% more expensive in San Francisco than Omaha.)
5. Is public transportation available?
We live in the suburbs of Chicago, currently, which enables us to remain a one car family. I have the car all day for running errands and driving the kids to extracurricular activities. My husband takes public transportation. That saves us a great deal of money because we don’t have to have a second car and the loan payments, repairs, maintenance, insurance, gas, and plate registration. We also don’t have to pay for parking downtown, which is expensive.
The town we were considering also has a good public transportation system, so we won’t have to spend more money there. If we were instead considering a town without a good public transportation system, we would have to calculate how much more per month we would have to pay for the luxury of owning two vehicles.
6. How many free things are there to do in the area?
As a family, we like to have fun on the weekends. If we live somewhere with plenty of free and low cost activities, we save a significant amount of money. The town my husband was considering moving to is close to a university, so there are many free and low cost activities.
While this might not initially seem like an important consideration, if you’re looking at living in the new location for several years, you’ll want to be active and engaged in the community. If you have to fork over large amounts of money to do so, your budget will take a hit.
7. How much will it cost to go home?
If you’re close to your immediate and extended family, will the move you’re contemplating take you closer or farther from home? Right now we’re only 3 hours away from extended family and friends, which is a fairly easy car drive, considering traffic. If we move, we’ll be a 17 hour drive away. Since we’re a family of 5, hopping a plane once or twice a year is likely not an option since it will cost too much. How often do we want to make the 17 hour car drive, and how often will friends and family come down to visit us?
If you’re not close to family and friends at home, this isn’t an issue, but if you are, don’t discount the real power of homesickness. Many people take jobs far away and incur expenses such as paying for a long-distance move and selling their homes only to want to return to the area they left in a year or two.
8. How much will the move cost?
Some employers will pay for your move or at least a portion of your move. Others don’t.
While it might seem silly to include the cost of moving in your calculations, it is important. If you’re considering a long distance move as we were, your expenses for moving an entire household can really add up. Using online tools, I estimated our 1,000 mile move would cost us at least $6,000, and that’s after some serious decluttering and selling of worn out furniture that we wouldn’t take along.
If you’re moving a large household, you could easily pay four figures (or more, sometimes) to move your items. Is this something you can pay for? Can you sell everything and furnish your new place with new or used items?
Deciding to make a long distance move is never easy. There are many variables to consider, and some may be in conflict with others. As for my husband and me, we’re still up in the air with our decision, though we’re leaning toward staying put for now.
How about you all? Have you made a long distance move for work? What other variables did you consider? Was your move better for you financially or career-wise?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/86435488@N00/33495908/in/
How Much Are You Willing To Spend On A Hobby?
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Grayson Bell. Grayson, who runs the finance blog Debt Roundup, is a fan of personal finance, brewing beer, and working on cars.
Having a hobby is an important part of life. As schedules and days get jampacked with activities, you should remember to take time for yourself every once in a while. I realize this could be hard to do, but it really does do wonders for your mindset. Hobbies are a great way to break away from the time crunch and enjoy life a little more. Just don’t overdo it and spend too much time on your hobbies, as that can become unproductive.
Though hobbies allow you to break away from the daily grind, they can also cost money. There are a handful of great hobbies which don’t cost any or very little money, such as reading or hiking. No matter your favorite hobby, you might have to part ways with some of your hard earned money to enjoy them. This begs the question “how much are you willing to spend on a hobby?”
The Hobby Breakdown
I have had quite a few hobbies over the years. Some were inexpensive and others cost me a pretty penny. After my son was born, I decided to focus my attention on the hobbies that gave me the most enjoyment. Here are my three favorite hobbies that I still partake in today.
Playing Hockey
I have been a hockey player for close to 15 years. I started playing after I realized that soccer wasn’t keeping my interest any longer. Hockey is a sport that I love and follow. I have played both ice and roller hockey for different leagues and teams across my home state. It has really been an enjoyable experience and continues to this day.
I currently play hockey in an adult league almost every weekend. I have been in the league for 5 years and I really enjoy it. The fees to play are relatively low at $60 per season. I have all the required equipment and don’t have to buy any new gear each season. The $60 is well spent in my opinion as I get a high level of enjoyment out of playing, interacting with other players, and getting the exercise.
Brewing Beer
Brewing beer is an awesome hobby, but it can be expensive. I have written about my fascination with brewing beer and why I do it. When I talk with others that have thought about it, I can usually get them to try it out. Any hobby that allows you to create something from scratch and enjoy it later is a winner in my book.
The best part about brewing beer is the networking. Well, that, plus drinking the beer! The home brewing scene is large in my state. I have met and interacted with many dedicated homebrewers. The passion and drive of these individuals is what motivates me to brew the best beer I can. Not only have I gained friends, but experience as well.
The big downside to brewing your own beer is cost. It can be expensive to get started brewing beer. There are kits at some stores that can get you started, but they tend to have a weak flavor profile. If I am going to take a month to create a drink, then I want a full bodied taste. It cost me about $120 to get started with my first batch. Each consecutive batch costs me about $30 for 40 finished beers. These costs all depend on the beer style and ingredients involved.
Working on Jeeps
My passion for mechanics has grown strong over the years. I learned to work on cars from my brother, who has a great skill with most machines. Once I got out of college, I decided to start working on cars to not only to increase my knowledge, but also pursue an interest. It was the “two birds with one stone” type of scenario.
In the past 5 years, I have had three Jeep Wranglers at my disposal. I bought two from Craigslist and another from my brother. The Craigslist Jeeps were bought, fixed up, then sold for a profit later down the road. This wasn’t a business for me, but more of a challenge to see if I can fix them. One Jeep came to me completely dead. I bought it for a low price, which made me feel like I stole it. The price was ridiculously low. The reason was the owner had no idea what was wrong with it and didn’t have the funds to fix it.
I swooped in, bought it, and two weeks later it was purring like a cat. Yes, the two weeks in between were long and tiring for me, but they were also rewarding. I ended up rewiring the entire Jeep, but the end result was quite fulfilling. I paid cash for two Jeeps and financed another one as an experiment, which was paid off in less than four months. I still own one today and plan on keeping it for some time. My total between three Jeeps is close to $15,000.
My Reasoning
Many ask me why I spend so much on my hobbies. My simple answer is that I feel the money is well spent. My return on investment is high. If you love investing or business, then you know that ROI accounts for something. I calculate the ROI on hobbies by measuring my happiness. You typically won’t get money back with your hobbies, but they can make you happy. That is how you can measure it. I also look at what my hobbies can teach me. I have learned a valuable skill with working on cars. I can use that skill anywhere. The other two just bring me joy and that is all I need after a rough day. An escape from a stressful world can be immeasurable.
OK, now you know how much I spend on my hobbies. What about you? How much are you willing to spend on a hobby or hobbies?
***Photo courtesy of http://cdn1.debtroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/brewing-beer.jpg
How to Balance Your Side Gig with Your Full-Time Job
The following post is by MPFJ staff writer, Melissa Batai. Melissa is a freelance writer who covers topics ranging from personal finance to business to organics to food. She blogs at Mom’s Plans where she shares her family’s journey to healthier living and paying down debt.
If you read personal finance blogs, you’ve likely heard many of the bloggers urge you to create a side gig as a way to generate extra money to pay down debt, create an emergency fund, and save for retirement. Besides bringing in extra money, a side gig can be a great way to express yourself. You may be able to do something creative that you’re not able to do at your full-time job.
However, make no mistake that having a side gig is a lot of work. You likely will get exhausted, especially if your side gig grows and you’re working more hours than you planned. Yet, whether you plan to keep your side gig as a part-time job or to eventually grow it enough that you can leave your full-time job, there are strategies you can use now to help you manage wearing two hats and working 50 to 70 hours a week.
My Side Gig Experience
I quit my full-time job three years ago to stay home and care for my three children. At the time, I had two children under 3 and another in elementary school. The plan was that once all the kids were in preschool/school, my side gig of freelance writing and virtual assistant work would become my full-time job. Only life often has a way of going differently than planned.
This year, I started homeschooling the kids. Honestly, I had no idea how much time homeschooling three kids would take. Most days we’re working on school from about 8:30 a.m. to 2 or 3 p.m. every day. It truly is like a full-time job–without pay. In the evenings and weekends, I work at my side gig. Most of the tips that follow are from my own experience as I learn to juggle working 20 to 30 hours a week at my side gig with full-time homeschooling.
Know When You’re Most Productive
We all have times when we’re most productive. Some people do their best work early in the morning before the stress of the day has had a chance to wear on them. Others work best in the evenings or late at night. What time are you most productive?
Know this, and you can make juggling your side gig with the rest of your life much easier. I’m not an early morning person. I tried several times to get up around 5 a.m. to get a post or two written before my kids wake up, but that didn’t happen. Instead, I stared bleary-eyed at the screen and perhaps got half a post done. What I did get done was not of the quality I preferred.
Now, I set aside work time from 7 to 9:30 p.m. During that time, I have clear thoughts and the posts just flow. After 9:30, I’m generally too tired, so I switch to easier tasks like doing SEO work for my own blog or commenting on social media.
Chances are your side gig requires some tasks that require your concentration and other tasks that you can do when you’re not necessarily on top of your game (like my SEO work). Save the lighter work for when you’re getting tired.
Make a Schedule and Stick to It
Some people function by simply attacking their work without a plan, but that isn’t true for the majority of us. Instead, we need a schedule to keep us on track.
We all have the same amount of time available to us at any given time. According to Tony Schwartz of the Harvard Business Review, we need to make our routine, our tasks, automatic, so we don’t have to take energy to remember everything we have to do. Schwartz says he trains his clients who are trying to get more done in their day to create rituals–“highly specific behaviors, done at precise times, so they eventually become automatic and no longer require conscious will or discipline” (Harvard Business Review).
Schwartz has used this tactic himself, stating, “Over the past decade, I’ve built a series of rituals into my everyday life, in order to assure that I get to the things that are most important to me–and that I don’t get derailed by the endlessly alluring trivia of everyday life” (Harvard Business Review).
Utilize a To Do List
If I don’t have a to do list, I tend to peter away my time. I hop from task to task without getting much done.
Now, every night before I go to bed, I make a list of everything I need to do for my side gig the next day. I may not get to all of it, but I usually accomplish the majority of tasks. The to do list works as a map for me to help me manage my time.
When I’m in the midst of working, if I get an important e-mail or need to note something in my calendar, I don’t take the time to do it right that moment. Instead, I add it to my to do list and get back to my work. Then, when I’m tired, I can add items to my calendar.
Limit Social Media Time
Is it just me, or can you find yourself wasting an hour or two perusing Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest? While these social media channels can be a great way to learn new things and connect with others, they can also be supreme time wasters.
I found that I was spending way too much time on social media. Now, I work for 30 minutes without distractions and then reward myself with a 5 to 10 minute break, often to peruse social media. When my time’s up, I start another 30 minute concentrated work cycle before I get another 5 minute break. By limiting my social media time, I found I could get a lot more done during my side gig hours.
Give Yourself Down Time
If you’re working a full-time job (or caring for your kids full-time) plus running a side gig, burn out is a real possibility. One of the best ways to avoid burnout is to give yourself down time.
I used to try to work every week night and then for most of the day on Saturday and Sunday. I found that Saturday was not usually a productive day because I was tired of working endlessly. Rather than sacrificing my Saturday, I started giving myself Friday night completely off. I read a book, I watch a movie with my husband. . .Friday night is my night for relaxing. By doing this, I find that both Saturday and Sunday can be productive because I’ve had a rest.
Another thing I do is to stop work by 9:30 p.m. so I have an hour or so to relax before I go to bed. If I try to work right until bedtime, I have trouble falling asleep.
Make sure to build some margin in your life. You likely have a side gig because you want to improve your financial life. Make sure in the process of doing so that you don’t neglect your own needs as well as your family’s needs. Take some time to relax, exercise, prepare healthy foods, and spend time with your family and friends. You’ll be fresh and ready to work hard again if you take a break regularly.
How about you all? Are you working full-time and juggling a side gig? If so, what tips would you add to this list? What’s your best advice for juggling both responsibilities?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
***Photo courtesy of http://www.idpinthat.com/edit/?url=http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4023/45268661