First, I need to say thanks to Pete for bringing me aboard Bible Money Matters! It’s a thrill to be writing for one of the very first PF Blogs that inspired me to start my own!
The ironic part of this is that I’m writing about a post to create extra income and that is exactly what I’m doing while I’m writing! As Craig mentioned previously, I too am stumbling into freelance writing – it’s a lot of fun, and a cool way to make a little side money.
So let’s take a look at a few other ways to create a little side hustle!
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Make Money Doing Something You Love
This is something my wife and I both have experience in! My wife Jen has a passion for photography, and she’s got a good eye for it! She took her hobby and gave making some money from it a shot. She started putting herself out there by taking pictures of friends and their kids. The next thing we knew, she started getting some referrals and business started to grow!
She invested money back into the business by purchasing good equipment and we ended up building a studio for her in our basement! She loves it! She figured out a way to make money at it – and that’s the best of both worlds.
I am also trying my hand at the very same thing. I’ve always enjoyed writing. I was the geek in high school and college that secretly enjoyed writing projects and research papers! The problem was, I never knew there was a way to make a little cash from writing until I discovered blogging! Now I’m beginning to make a little extra income doing something I really love to do!
Sell Stuff On Ebay – For Others
Craig wrote about making money from Ebay in his recent post. I want to expand on that idea and talk about making a little extra cash by selling stuff on ebay for others.
I started selling stuff on Ebay a few years ago and was mildly successful at it. I had a pretty good gig going for myself until I ran out of my own junk to sell and didn’t really want to shop garage sales and thrift shops to find some deals.
What’s funny though is that as I began to tell people about my Ebay success, I had friends and family asking me to sell some of their own stuff for them!
I sold a few items for them, but didn’t charge anything for it. Looking back, I could’ve charged a certain percentage of the sale and been compensated for my time.
I had a good system down and a great rating to help. All I needed was the foresight to realize that there was some cash to be had!
Start Cleaning!
Ok, so this isn’t the most appealing idea on this list, but hey – it works! My wife and I had plenty of experience doing this as well.
When we first got married and we weren’t making very much money we used cleaning as a way to help pay off debt and get ahead.
We used to clean office buildings and doctor’s offices. If you know any business owners or commercial real estate owners, approach them about who they use to clean their places. They may be looking for someone new or they might be willing to give you a shot.
It’s nothing fun, but it’s a great way to get a little cash coming in!
Sell A Multi-Level-Marketing Product
My wife has done a good job of this a few different times while we’ve been married. At one point she was selling scrapbook supplies, make-up and jewelry and making some decent money!
The problem with selling these products is that you really need to either recruit some people underneath you or get some really great referrals to keep the pipeline moving because it’s hard to keep trying to sell to the same friends and family.
But, if you have a good product and you believe in it, you’ve got a serious chance of making some great side income by selling these items.
Use Your Expertise To Make Some Side Money
Have you become a guru in a particular subject that people are interested in? Are folks willing to listen to you on a certain topic because you’re successful at it?
Use that as an opportunity to sell your expertise. You can do this by holding yourself out there as a consultant, trainer or even a part-time teacher at a local college.
As I type this, my wife is down in Florida paying a photographer some decent money to teach her everything she knows about digital photography! I told Jen that as she progresses in her field this would be a great way to make some side money – by offering herself as an expert to train and consult with other photographers who are just starting out!
So what do you think? Have you made any side income doing some of these things? Have more of your own ideas? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Congrats on the new Gig! My wife tried Avon for a while but didn’t have the drive to rock it out. That is key to any form of side income or main income for that matter. If you aren’t willing to give it 120% then you aren’t going to realize a significant increase in income.
Kyle C.´s last post ..Ally Checking Account Review
Thanks Kyle, you’re right, if you’re not committed, you won’t do what it takes to make it work – then it becomes basically a waste of time and money.
Jason @ Redeeming Riches´s last post ..10 Money-Saving Tips to Stash $10,000 – Tip #8
MLMs are too tough for me! Selling other people’s stuff on eBay isn’t a bad idea. It sounds like you were a natural; maybe you could be a reseller?
Jason @ MyMoneyMinute´s last post ..Wine On A Budget: Oak Creek
I appreciate the effort here, but these are mostly very general and obvious ideas. “Make Money Doing Something You Love”? Seriously, do you think anyone went, “My God!! I would NEVER have thought of that!” ?? Or, “Make Money Doing Something You Love”. Come on, that’s on every list we’ve ever seen, no new news there. You have a great blog and are trying to help people, but more innovative ideas would help people much more. Give them a starting point. Provide something no one else has on their blog – that’s the key. This is constructive criticism because I’m not only pointing out the cons, but providing an alternate way of doing this. Hopefully it won’t be taken as an attack, simply because my POV differs from some.
Hey Jason,
I personally love reading about finance and investment-related topics. And somewhat similar to you, I went through the educational requirements for the CFP exam (though I haven’t decided to take the exam at this point).
So going along with your points about making money doing something I love, and using my “expertise” to make some side money, and reading successful blogs such as this one, I was inspired to start my own blog. Though it’s been a slow process and I haven’t made a dime from it yet, I’m trying to learn everyday and get better at it. Hopefully it will come in time.
Cool post!
Darren´s last post ..How I’ve Managed To Stay Out of Debt
Entrepreneur – differing POV’s are great! No offense taken, and I totally agree with you. No one was surprised by “make money doing something you love”, however, just because someone has thought of it, doesn’t mean they’ve done it!
My hope is more so that people become inspired to take a leap and go for an opportunity to make money doing something they love. Of course, it’s not a new idea, but perhaps someone needs to read about an example of someone having done it so they aren’t afraid to do it for themselves.
People always say, “knowledge is power”, but I don’t believe that – knowledge in and of itself won’t do anything for you. Applying that knowledge is what creates power!
Hopefully we’ll inspire someone to take a leap and apply the knowledge to start a little income journey doing something they really enjoy.
Jason @ Redeeming Riches´s last post ..10 Money-Saving Tips to Stash $10,000 – Tip #8
yah ive had great success with ebay sales it has been a great cash cow for me……if you ever need some extra cash just sell some of your old stuff on ebay. I personally think sometimes since we’ve been online for a while we forget how it felt when we first started and we should be more understanding of others point of view…
Have a garage sale. Put clothes on consignment. Perform household services. Sell homegrown fruits and vegetables. :)
Amazon’s great too for books, movies, etc. The amount of people on Amazon is ridiculous and when I sold textbooks in college I was shocked by how many books old and new I could sell.
Austin @ Foreigner’s Finances
Austin´s last post ..The 5 Books That Changed My Money Life
Yup. Turned my hobby into a hair bow business. I’m doing something I enjoy and earning extra cash as a result.
Hi Jason,
Great post. Entrepreneur is right, this isn’t anything that’s new. That’s why it is so great! Repitition is the key. Even though people see these lists over and over again, there may be the one day they read it that they actually execute one of the ideas. That action may reinforce their belief in their ability to do it and Voila! They are on the road to producing income. I coach entrepreneurs around this very thing. Its what you already know and can do that will earn you income. Rarely is it something that you have to learn from scratch. Even if you do an MLM, their is the inner belief that the product is worth selling and can be sold by you. Where most people get hung up on is the “how”. They are usually less certain about how to go about it. When in doubt, ask. Ask someone who’s done it and try it for yourself. If at first you don’t succeed…you know the rest. Good luck!