In the beginning of 2016, “How to earn more money” is a dilemma for many people. Improving your income is one of the best long-term investments you can make, and the time to begin is right now.
All of the key parts of personal finance were bound up in the single phrase, “Spend less than you earn.” In those simple five words, one can find all of the key ideas of personal finance.
There’s a call to spend less money by cutting back on one’s expenses, particularly the less necessary ones. There’s a call to have a “gap,” where one has money left over at the end of each pay period, and to do something smart with that money. There’s also a call in there to earn more money.
Most of the actions that people take toward earning more money do not have immediate results. You often have to invest a lot of time and effort into earning more money in order to see even the first small positive impact on your income levels.
Earning more can have a much bigger long-term impact on your financial state than the other options, but it requires time to implement and time to see the positive effects. You can’t just flip a switch and see results.
You need to take the long approach when it comes to earning more money. Plan ahead and put yourself in a position where greater income is a likely result, even if it means investing time and effort without immediate returns.
Need a game plan? Here are a few strategies you can implement over the coming year in order to improve your income.
Start a small, independent "Thing" on the side
There are many ways for individuals to earn more money in their spare time. Many of those strategies earn very little at first but slowly grow into greater returns over time as you build more clients. While most will never replace your main job, they’ll often earn you more than enough for the time invested if you stick with it.
One great example of this is starting a YouTube channel. At first, that YouTube channel isn’t going to be very popular. It’ll only have a few videos, which means it won’t show up often in search results, and viewers of those videos won’t be able to find much else on your channel even if they want to. But over time, as you add more and more, your videos will show up in more and more search results and you’ll have more and more content for people to see, both of which will increase your views — which directly translate into income. It builds on itself, but it takes a lot of time. The exact same thing is true for other forms of online content, such as digital photography.
Another common type of something small on the side is providing a service or selling a distinct product in your local area. These types of small businesses often grow as big as you want them to be, but again they take time to get your name and product out there in people’s hands.
These types of side earning activities can be really rewarding because you can choose ones that are in line with your personal interests. When you find the work involved to be enjoyable and it remains a spare time task, it can be a really fantastic way to spend your extra time and earn some tasks.
