I had a challenge for myself this month to do something different every day to make extra income. I haven’t been able to come up with that many different ways to make extra income but I have had some insights based on my experience so far.
Most of the things I’ve done to make extra money don’t pay much and don’t have much potential to make significant money. These things just take time away from other projects that have better prospects. For example, I already belong to a survey site so I might do an occasional survey for an extra $3 if I have extra time but I don’t think it is worth my time to pursue more survey opportunities. I only have so much time and mental energy available and it is best to spend that on projects that have better income potential.
Also I can see a possibility of getting bogged down by looking at all the different ways to make money that are out there. You might spend so much time trying to find the best way to make money that you never get started. Or you might try to develop several ways of making money at once which will probably lead to inferior results. This is because you don’t spend enough time on any one of them to improve your skills and become better. This is where the jack of all trades, master of none analogy applies. I think the better income potential would be in concentrating your efforts on just a couple of projects.
My main focus now is going to be on improving my blogs and websites. My secondary focus will be on working on my writing and selling it. This should work well since my secondary focus complements my primary focus. If I think of another income source that would fit with these two I might add it as well.
I’ll still have some other income streams that take a minimal amount of time and mental energy (i.e. interest,dividends, cashback).
Let me know what you think.
I have to agree that focusing and specializing your income earning skills are the way to go if you want to earn big money.The day of the renaissnce man is behind us, the factory dweller doing the same piece of work over and over is the prince of the modern world.Still a person doesn’t always have to maximize what they earn to be happy.
I wasn’t sure if I was getting my point across in this post. I wasn’t feeling too articulate in writing it. Your example is what I was talking about although I don’t feel one needs to be as specialized as the factory worker to make good money.
I think you should be focusing only on opportunities that pay you residual, passive income. Buying a CD would earn you interest income without too much hassle. Opening a bank account for the bonus would also make you a nice $50-$200 for your effort.
Wasting your time on a survey could be fine, but sometimes that certain $3/survey company sends out surveys that take an hour to finish.. In addition to that they always send out short 5 minute questionnaires which are not paid..
BB – I agree and I am going to focus more on opportunities with more potential.
I realis ethis is a pretty old pots but I only just came across it and I think it still has merit even two years on. Certainly time is a major handicap, I’m finding myself spread rather thinly across too many projects at the moment and am having to focus hard to get *any* of them done.
However I can say at the moment that investing in saving accounts etc in the current climate is a total waste of time as the average cost of living is increasing slightly faster than even the best savings accounst interest rates. Hence by simply leaving your money in an account to ‘grow’ effectivley means ‘losing’ money over time. I think maybe investing in shares etc on the other hand is a good option as everything is realy low and can, theoretically, only grow from here…
I agree that savings accounts are not a good option right now. My liquid money is in a high-interest checking account that pays 2.5%. That isn’t much but I need to keep the money somewhere and it is better than nothing.