Write down a list of all the things that interest you, or that could potentially interest you. Seeing these written down in front of you is an excellent way to envision potential income opportunities, and ideally, income opportunities that are aligned with your interests. For example, you may enjoy cooking, sports, writing, mathematics, automobile repair, or gardening. These can all be translated into income opportunities. Also be very aware of what you absolutely dislike doing. While sometimes it may be necessary to do activities you don’t like (especially if there is available income doing it), it is possible to leave these activities as a last resort. You may, for example, dislike writing immensely.
For example, if you are a teacher (or have experience teaching something), you can perhaps monetize this. This can be true for almost any previous experience including experience doing arts and crafts, office administration work, writing, taking care of animals, or even babysitting.
If you are a naturally talented baker for example, or have a gift for speaking one or more languages very well, you can look to monetize that. Look at your interests, skills, and experience combined to gain helpful ideas.
For example, maybe you spend several hours cleaning every day. Figure out what chores can be done less often, or assign them to someone else in your house. Childcare is in itself quite time consuming. Depending on what type of work you decide to do, you may want to consider joining a childcare coop or asking a relative to watch your children for a certain amount of time so you can devote that time to working.
You can advertise on websites like Kijiji or Craigslist, or make posters for sign-posts. You can also use your Facebook or other social media to advertise.
To advertise home tutoring, you can use a website like Kijiji or Craigslist, advertise through your children’s or other local schools, or network with local parents. For an online business, websites like Tutor. com can be helpful. Teaching is done entirely online, and you are paid an hourly rate. The catch is you must have a college degree to teach certain disciplines, and you also must be available to tutor at least five hours per week. [3] X Research source If you know another language, Italki. com can allow you to teach another language online and get paid hourly to do so. [4] X Research source
Using your online social networks can be a great way to advertise if you are just starting out. In addition, making a Facebook page for your business, which features photos of your product can be an excellent way to share what you do with your immediate friends, and hopefully generate referrals from them. Certain products also have corresponding websites on which to sell them. For example, if you do photography, websites like Shutterstock and Istock can allow you to sell images. Etsy is also a useful website for selling artwork. Sell knitting patterns on Raverly. Of course, websites like Kijiji and Craigslist can also be useful for connecting with local buyers. You can also make your own website or E-store if you are ambitious, and use online advertising (like Google Adsense) to generate traffic. Etsy. com is another venue you can use to sell homemade products. See How to Sell Crafts on Etsy for more information.
Creating a blog is fairly straightforward. You can use a website like Blogger to create a free blog, or you can use a site like Wordpress. org for a small fee of about $4 per month. It is important to know that making money on a blog can be a difficult prospect, as the amount of money you make is dependent on the size of your reader base. Freelance writing and/or editing is also a viable option. There are many websites that offer freelance writing jobs fairly quickly, like Elance, or Textbroker. These websites are suitable for those just starting out, since the pay rates are typically not exceptional. Other ways to find freelance writing work are to search freelance writing job boards, use websites like Freelancewriting. com, or even pitch article ideas to publications.
Where do you locate coupons? There are a multitude of sources. The standard location is in the Sunday paper, but printable coupons are also available online from websites like Coupon. com, or manufacturer websites for the particular item for which you are shopping. Your mobile phone can also be an excellent resource for locating coupons and matching them to sales at stores in your region. One mobile app that is particularly popular is Favado, which enables you to both locate sales in your region and print out coupons corresponding to those sales. If you are interested in pursuing couponing further, popular blogs like The Krazy Coupon Lady can offer a host of resources to get you started. [9] X Research source
Swagbucks allows you to earn Swagbucks currency for doing online activities through their website, which are then redeemable for cash or gift cards. As one example of how it works, you may choose to shop for products via the Swagbucks store (through which you can purchase products from thousands of major stores). For every dollar you spend, you would receive one Swagbuck, which is equivalent to receiving 1% cashback. Ebates. com offers a similar benefit, whereby you can earn cash back for purchases you would have normally made regardless. It is less diverse than Swagbucks (since Swagbucks allows you to make money via many online activities other than shopping), but can offer excellent deals. [10] X Research source Note that that are many sites like these two. An online search will reveal many potential options to use. Be wary of buying things you don’t need to gain benefits on these sites. Carefully consider any purchase first to decide if you really need it, then determine its lowest cost.
You will need to create a block of time each day to allocate towards whatever money making opportunity you choose to pursue. To do this, write down your current daily routine for each day of the week (or as close to it as you can accurately represent), with the associated times for each activity. Try to find an empty time — or at least a less busy time — during which you can work on your new job.
Observe yourself for a day. You may realize you spend an hour on Facebook everyday for example, or two hours watching TV. While eliminating these activities completely is probably unwise (downtime and social time are important), you can perhaps cut both of these activities in half. The newly freed-up time can be allocated to more productive activities.
This can be done at any time that is appropriate for you. If you are using daily goals, setting aside ten minutes at night to plan the next day can be a useful strategy. Keep your list of goals somewhere that is clearly visible. It will keep you focused on the tasks you need to be doing and away from the tasks you don’t need to do.
