Develop Skills To Increase Your Income: Goals 411
Yes, it is possible to increase your income. You need to sit down and think about what current skills you have. It might be helpful to make a list of your skills and assess what type of side jobs you might be able to take on with the skills you have.
There is more than just working on your skills to increase your income. You also have to consider some other points before you start working on your skills. If you are focused on the thought that "I need cash now", you need to make a commitment to yourself. When you are working a side gig, there are going to be times when you may not want to work. Perhaps you would rather go out with your friends than sit at home and work, but you need to be committed to earning more income.
Tips to Consider When Beginning a Side Job
There is more than just working on your skills to increase your income. You also have to consider some other points before you start working on your skills. If you are focused on the thought that you need more money right now, you need to make a commitment to yourself. When you are working a side gig, there are going to be times when you may not want to work. Perhaps you would rather go out with your friends than sit at home and work, but you need to be committed to earning more income.
You must set goals for yourself. If you do not have goals, how do you know what you are working towards? Not only should you set goals, but you also need to give yourself deadlines. The goals that you set for yourself must be realistic and attainable. If you set unrealistic goals for yourself, you may not be able to reach them.
Use The Internet To Your Advantage
When you are working on skills to increase your income, one of the first items to consider is using the internet to your advantage. The online market place is an amazing way to sell your items or your services. There are so many sites where you can sell just about anything. I really mean anything. There are upscale sites that only sell designer clothes. There are sites for baby clothes, home goods, electronics, and even books. If you have it and you do not want it, you can sell it. This is an area where you really need to develop skills to sell items.
The items that you want to see may be collecting dust, or may not be in the most pristine shape. You must have an understanding of what will sell on which sites. You could be selling the same item in two different places (do not do this for real...I am just using this as an example) and it will not get a second glance on one site but have a ton of hits on another. The key is understanding the traffic to all the various sites. You may have to do a little research to figure it out.
Next, you need to take pictures. You really need to work on these images. Remember, your entire goal is to sell the item, so you need to market it on the site. Everyone wants to see a picture of the item. Would you want to buy something without seeing it first? I surely would not. So, you have to take great pictures to post.
You are also going to write a description. Here is your chance to really sell the item. Sure, you could list the details in plain language but it might not encourage anyone to buy it. Put some pizzaz in your writing. Do not lie about the item. You always want to be honest about what you are selling but that does not mean you cannot add some sparkle to it.
Maybe the internet is not your thing and you do not have time to work on those skills. You can still sell all of your unwanted items. Garage sales and resale shops are a great way to sell those items off the internet. While you do not have to take photos or write a dazzling description of your item, you still need to sharpen your garage sales skills.
Before you put your items out for sale, take a drive around to other garage sales and just take a look at how they are set up. You quickly learn what looks good and what does not. Remember, you want to make your sale inviting. You cannot sell items if people do not show up to buy.
You should make sure whatever items you put out for sale are clean. Make sure you pay attention to the weather forecast. Rain and sweltering hot days do not encourage anyone to come out to buy your old stuff. Also, you may want to consider teaming up with a partner. This can double the items you have for sale and bigger sales tend to attract more people.
Teaching
Whether you are a teacher by trade during your regular 9 to 5, or you just have some skills or gifts that you are able to teach others, there are ways that you can earn extra money. In some cases, you do not even have to work on your skills to increase your income because you are already using them. There are many ways you can earn extra income by using teaching skills.
You can provide child care or babysitting during the summer months to earn extra income when school is not in session. You could even do this during the school year in the evening or on weekends. Parents are always looking for someone reliable and trustworthy to stay with their kids so they can get things done or even go out on a date night.
You could work as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher. Educators are in high demand for this type of teaching and much of the work can be done online. There are a number of different sites where you can work as an ESL teacher. As a teacher, you are used to creating lesson plans. You may be able to turn your lesson plans into online courses. There are sites where you can choose a topic and create a course. Some of these sites even promote your courses for a percentage of your sales. You can also choose to promote yourself.
Writing
Another area where you can consider where you may already have the skills to increase your income is freelance writing and editing. If you have an above-average ability to write, you may be able to do some freelance or contract work on the side. There are several websites where you can find various topics on which to write.
You may be able to find writing topics in your field, or in other areas of interest to you. You could write articles, blogs, opinion papers, or even advertisements. You may find work as a ghostwriter. You should make sure you understand the details of how your name will or will not be used before you do the work. The work you are able to find is related to your skills and writing ability. You may have to provide a sample of your writing to secure work.
Maybe writing is not in your wheelhouse, but correcting other people's writing is. Then perhaps freelance editing is more your speed. There are many companies looking for contract editors. You can look directly for companies that may need someone to edit for them, or you can use a website that will help you find editing work. The more experience that you have editing, the more you can charge for proofreading.
Driving
Do you enjoy driving around in your car? Well, how about you drive around in your car while picking up people and dropping them off? In this case, the ability to drive is all you need to have skills to increase your income. Ok, yes, you need a reliable, safe, and clean car. You need a smartphone, car insurance, and a clean driving record. If you have all of those things, then you are well on your way to being able to drive for Uber or Lyft as a side hustle.
Have you ever had a conversation with your Uber driver? I have many of them. They all love their job driving people around. I have even talked to many of them that were making so much money driving that they quit their full-time job and now they drive for a living. Do not get me wrong, you have to enjoy driving your car. You have to know that you might get stuck in traffic and have to deal with a few jerks now and then.
All in all, if you have the time, it is a great way to earn extra income. If you can figure out the times, or the places where there are fewer drivers, you can make the most money. It is simple supply and demand. If there are a lot of drivers in one area, then the price for drivers goes down. However, if there are few drivers and a lot of people need rides, then the price for drivers goes up. You want to find the time and place where you can make the most money.
Survey Savvy
This is a fairly easy way to make some extra cash from home. You can definitely make some extra cash by filling out online surveys, but you are not going to become a millionaire doing this. If you want to increase your income a little and not spend a lot of effort doing it, this is the gig for you. You do not really need to have any skills to increase your income in this way. You just need to know how to find the surveys and the best way to get them.
You should also know that this is not a fast way to get some extra cash. It does take time for your earned money to build up. There are a number of websites where you can sign up to take surveys. Some of them will email you when there are surveys available for you to take. Remember, this will not get you rich quickly, but it could be a good way to save up for something big you want to buy at the end of the year.
Budgeting Skills
Ok, so this one does not actually bring more money in, but that does not mean it will not increase the amount of money you have to spend. When you work on your budgeting skills to increase your income, you will be surprised at what you can accomplish. While budgeting may seem simple, it does take a little bit of skill to handle it properly.
At the most basic level, budgeting is having an understanding of how much money you earn and how much money you spend. When you spend more money than you earn, you are not saving any money and you are most likely digging yourself a debt hole.
When you see in black and white how much money you are spending and in what categories, it can help you see where you need to make some changes in your spending. Maybe you did not realize that you are spending $30 a week at your favorite coffee shop.
When you go there every day of the week, it adds up quickly. That is about $120 per month you could save simply by making your coffee at home. You do not even know that you can cut that expense until you see it as a line item in your budget. Do yourself a favor and write down all the items on which you spend money each month.
Sharpen Your Saving Skills
Similar to budgeting skills, this one is not going to bring more money into your bank account. However, it can give you the skills to increase your income because you are increasing the amount of money that you are saving. If you have a high interest yielding savings account, your money can grow. The more money you have in your account, the faster it can grow.
Above I mentioned that you could save $120 per month by no longer buying coffeehouse coffee every day. What would happen if you stop eating out? Ok, maybe that is a bit extreme. But, what if you only eat out on the weekends? That means you eat breakfast at home, pack your lunch, and then eat dinner at home. Do you know how much money you could save by doing that? And I am just getting started with all the ways you can save money.
Those are fairly easy ways to cut spending. Do you have a gym membership that you do not use? If so, cancel it. I did and now I have an extra $120 per month in my savings account. It took me five minutes to save that much money per month. How much can you save just by making simple changes?
If you are interested to start saving, take a look at the suggestions down below:
Conclusion
There are so many ways you can use your skills to increase your income. Honestly, I have only scratched the surface in this article. All you have to do is a little online research and you can find so many other ways to increase your income. Do not just take my word for it, go ahead and look for yourself and start earning extra income.