Rather than spending your time and effort looking for ways to scrimp and save, you may find it a better practice to discover ways to increase your channels of income. Believe it or not there are legitimate ways to make money online and often the process can be enlightening and fun. If you are like most people, you have a primary source of income. Usually this comes in the form of a 9-5 job. While a 9-5 pays the bills and ensures that food gets on the table, there are a lot of advantages to adding another channel of income to your life. How many people have you known that slaved at a job for years just to find themselves suddenly in the unemployment line due to a business closure or layoffs? The reality is this kind of situation is becoming more and more common as companies fall on hard times. Having multiple sources of income can often mitigate the risk associated with losing your primary source of income. Sometimes what starts out as a small source of extra income blossoming into a large supplementary cash flow.
Even if you never intend on leaving your job, having an alternative source of income can be very empowering. When the fear of risk is removed, it’s easier to negotiate the conditions that produce a more positive work experience, be that a salary request, work arrangements, additional vacation time, etc. When one breaks free of the fear of losing their job and casts off the feelings of dependence that comes with a single source of income, they gain a sense of independence, which opens the door for creativity and out of the box thinking. This ultimately benefits both you and the company you are working for.
Often there are other benefits associated with diversifying your income channels. To begin is the broadening of your abilities. Here is one example from my own experience. A few years ago when I was just starting my company I was looking for a source of additional income to supplement those months when business was slow. One day while perusing a local consignment shop, I discovered there was a large collection of used college course books that would regularly hit the shelves. This gave me an idea. I was aware that Amazon had a mobile application, which allowed me to scan a books barcode and see its list price. Armed with mobile smartphone, I hit every thrift store in town scanning the book libraries for any valuable college books. After a few stops I have a huge stack of books, all purchased for a fraction of their online selling cost. I was able to rake in a few hundred dollars a week with very little effort. The more I did this more I learned about the book selling business. I was able to optimize my efforts and It was not long before I knew which consignment shops were worth hitting and which ones were a waste of my time. I could visually scan a bookshelf and instantly recognize those books that had value and those that did not. I eventually moved out of just selling college course books and starting to recognize other opportunities like vintage books and rare first editions. This entire experience was something that got me out of the office, away from the computer and allowed me to make money all while learning about something very different then my primary trade.
Reselling books is just one of many ways to create a supplemental income. In my next post I will discuss other ways to generate supplemental income.
Accelerated Freelance is successful because we make our clients successful. Year after year we work with small business owners and entrepreneurs empowering them with tools that take their businesses to the next level. If you are ready to accelerated your business contact us for a free consultation.
Adam Chronister is co-founder of Enleaf, an award winning Web Design and Internet Marketing Firm. You can find him on Facebook Facebook and Twitter.