Feel dissatisfied with what you are earning from your day job? Think you have the potential to earn more?
Well, the first thing to remember is that there are no quick-fix solutions or get-rich-quick schemes.
If you are looking to earn additional income to boost your earnings, you must be prepared to put in additional work.
Here are four smart ways that can help you generate additional income:
Freelancing
Put your head down to seriously ponder over the skills you possess and the services you can offer based on those skills. These must be skills for which you do not need much training or any certification.
If you are unsure, brainstorm with your friends and family who might be able to pinpoint talents that can be monetized.
Once you decide on the services you can viably offer, the next step towards generating extra money from those services, is to find clients willing to pay for them. Without paying clients, your skill set can at best remain a hobby.
Some of the ways you can search for paying clients are by leveraging your personal network, searching freelance job boards and online communities, and enlisting on reputed freelance sites such as Fiverr.
Consulting
Tap into something that you are exceptionally good at to become a consultant in that field. The first step in starting to earn from the consultation is to identify your area of exceptional expertise.
The obvious next step is to find people willing to pay, to acquire that knowledge or skill.
I know someone who is passionate about camping, and over many years of several camping adventures has acquired impressive jungle survival skills and is also a self-taught bushcraft expert. There will always be people eager to learn something they are not good at themselves.
In fact, you would be surprised to learn that there are consultants for things like planning a family trip to Disneyland or helping people select the right outfits to wear.
To start looking for prospective clients, you could begin with looking on Craigslist.
Hawking a simple service
Freelancing and consulting requires exceptional skills or knowledge on your part, for the people to be willing to pay to acquire them. However, if you are adept at selling, even simple tasks that do not require much expertise can help you find a way to boost your earnings.
You do not need training or years of experience to start offering simple services in exchange for money. Window washing, lawn care, snow removal, or pet walking are a few simple ideas that can sell quickly and work well for generating additional income without much ado.
Again, all you need is a knack to put yourself out there to make a sale, and a personal network to work on.
Flipping
Flipping stuff, or buying low and selling at a higher price, is becoming very popular to earn extra income in the last few years. People have been doing this with the sale and purchase of real estate is similar, but think much smaller at first.
Do thorough research of products that are easy to flip. I would recommend collectibles at garage sales, and clearance products at stores, to begin with.
The idea is to start small, with low-cost and low-risk products. First, earn some money selling these on eBay. Once you get the hang of it, graduate to bigger-ticket stuff.