Do you want to earn extra money? A lot of consumers are in need of some extra cash for a variety of reasons. Some require more money in order to support a new financial need. Some would like to pay off their debts a lot faster. Others are trying to increase their income to help save more for the future. Regardless of the reason why they want to earn more, there are many ways that you can increase your monthly cash flow. You can choose to sell off some of your possessions. You can try to get a second job. Or you can even try to capitalize on your hobby.
When you are looking for a second job that you will use to increase your money, finding one that you love to do is the best way to do that. After all, earning more would mean you have to spend more of your free time working. If you have to sacrifice the time that you should be resting, then it is best allotted for an activity that you enjoy doing. This is why a lot of people are finding ways to earn extra money through their hobby.
The need to earn a higher income is proven to be necessary based on statistics. According to the data provided by Gallup.com, a family of four needs $58,000 to “get by”. At least, this is based on the opinion of different American families that participated in their survey. The scary fact is, the average income of American households is currently at $52,000. And even more terrifying is the fact that a family of four considered in poverty only earns $24,000. In 2014, the number of Americans living in poverty are estimated at 45 million.
These statistics show that a lot of families really need to look for ways to earn extra money – at least, if they want to live comfortably.
5 ways you can earn more by doing what you love
Based on the article published on Forbes.com, there is a new report coming from the US Government Accountability Office that revealed how 40% of American workers have contingent jobs. These are jobs that are considered to be unsecure. While the exact definition of a contingent job is still unclear, the examples include agency temps, independent contractors, self-employed workers, part-time workers, etc.
Obviously, these people are among the households who will need to get another source of income. If they have hobbies that they can capitalize on, there are many ways that you can use it to earn extra money. Here are 5 suggestions that can be used to help you make this happen.
- Sell products. There are hobbies like cooking, baking, arts and crafts, paintings, and woodworks that can produce great products for selling. If your hobby can come up with a tangible product that you can sell, then this is one way for you to earn from what you love to do. You can sell your products to neighbors and friends. Or you can sell it online. There are people who use social networks as a platform to sell their goods. There are many websites that you can use to advertise your products like eBay, Craigslist, etc.
- Teach skills. If you are good at something, you can share that talent by teaching others how to do it. For instance, if you know how to play the guitar, you can take on students and teach them how to play. If you are good at singing, you can probably give voice lessons too. If you are a good swimmer, this is something that you can teach as well. Even your gardening skills can be taught – especially if you can come up with techniques that will make it easier to complete gardening tasks.
- Write about your skills. In case it will be difficult for you to physically teach others your skills, you can write about it. Set up a blog that will help other people learn about your skills. A lot of people have gained popularity because they set up a website that records how they display their skills. Take for instance couponing. A lot of women earned online by blogging about their experiences with coupons. They set up a website, shared with everyone their couponing techniques and then profited from advertisements on their site. The more people were interested in what they had to say, the more they earned from their online ads. This is also possible if you are a great cook. And if you can, create a video that people can watch. There are people who have earned huge amounts of money by creating vlogs. You may be the next YouTube sensation.
- Let others hire you for your talent. Believe it or not, you can earn extra money by having other people hire you for your special skills. For instance, if you have good taste when it comes to buying gifts, you can become a personal shopper. If you are good at decorating homes, you can help others as a consultant. Those who are good at arts and crafts can help friends and colleagues in wrapping gifts for Christmas. Even those who are very patient with kids can be hired to babysit or tutor young ones.
- Create events highlighting your skills. You can call out other people sharing your skills and you can host events that can capitalize on what you are good at. This is a great way to earn money and expand your network too. It may also be a great way for you to check out your competition in the skills market.
These are only a few of the things that you can do to earn extra money through your hobby.
How to make sure you can use your hobby as a source of income
According to DailySignal.com, there are less people who hold multiple jobs. They mentioned that the numbers decreased by 5%. But this is for those who are employed in two jobs. It may be because the job offers are not there. If this is true, then you may have to rely on your own skills to earn extra money.
Of course, not all hobbies can be capitalized on. You need to have the right talent that will help you get the extra money that you need to meet your financial requirements. To check if you have the right talent, here are a couple of things that you need to do.
- Check if your talent is competitive. First of all, you need to check out the competition. This is quite tricky because if the industry you want to be in is not competitive, then you might have to do some hard selling to get someone to help you earn from your hobby. In case it is competitive, you also have a lot to do to rise above the competition. Regardless of the situation, you need to test the competitiveness in the industry so you will know what strategy you will use to succeed.
- Figure out how you will market your skill. Marketing is an important part of your success. You need to figure out how you will sell your skill so people will pay you for it. For instance, if you intend to earn extra money from selling homemade cookies, you may have to give away free samples to friends and colleagues. This will be your way of advertising your product.
- Get the opinion of others. Speaking of giving away samples, this is a great way to get the opinion of others about your product. Ask them to comment on it and give you feedback. Is it good enough to sell? If there is room for improvement, maybe they can give you tips. If there is no product involved, you can ask others about how you can make your skill appealing enough to be capitalized on.
- Analyze if this is what you want to do. Remember that you will be doing this during the time that you should be resting. However, because of financial needs, you have to continue working. Some people ruined their hobbies because they forced to capitalize on it. Try to keep this from happening by thinking long and hard if you want to associate work with what you love to do.
By earning more, you can increase the chances of improving your finances. You can pay off your multiple debts, invest your money, or save for the rainy day.
