How to carve out time to start a side gig
Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/flickr
If part of your strategy to improve your finances includes bringing in some extra money, then you’ve surely asked yourself, “when am I going to find time to do this?”
Our lives aren’t getting any easier. We have our regular jobs, our families, our friends, and not to mention all that social network time we have to work in. We really are expected to do more with less time.
That’s why I think more and more each day that it’s going to be the people who can manage their time effectively, and curate the vast amount of information coming in, who will be able to get ahead in the future. Here are some strategies for finding time in your day for extra income earning activities:
Courtney Verrill
Extra money the easy way
Seek out income producing activities that don’t take you out of your normal routine. Is there something you can do on your commute to work? I know a podcaster who recorded his now popular online podcast while on his daily commute. He would get in his car, press record, and he’d have a 30 minute show produced when he got to work.
In a post by Farnoosh Torabi, she explains how you can rent out your car to make easy money when you’re not using it. She also mentions Airbnb.com (rent out your home/apartment) and mystery shopping, which you guys know I’ve tackled here before.
These are just examples though. You know your schedule or routine. What’s something you could do “on your way” so that you could bring in some extra cash?
Flickr/*嘟嘟嘟*
The 'crushing-it' hours
I have to give credit to GaryVee for this term. But let’s be honest. Many of us were crushing-it long before he said it.
What is crushing-it? To me, it’s doing whatever it takes to find time to grow your side income, land your dream job, or build your small business, etc. With the average American person, this involves giving up your TV time at night to work on what it is that you love.
Most of us work at our day jobs till 5 or 6. Then we spend a few hours with the wife and kids at dinner and bedtime. Then we normally veg out for at least 2 hours. Some even more. 8pm to 12 pm is primarily when I built PT Money.
If you’re not already using those hours to build something you love, then start taking advantage of them. Turn off the TV, log out of Facebook and get cracking on your ideas.
Shutterstock/racorn
Downsize your day job
If your day job is leaving you little time to explore other income producing activities, then consider reducing your involvement there. Back in 2007 I made the conscious decision to leave a management position to take a job with fewer responsibilities and a bit more pay.
No brainer, right? Well, some people thought it was foolish to reduce my title like that, especially since there were no guarantees of moving up in my new job. But I knew I would be happier with more free time and less stress.
Plus, and here’s the kicker, I had time to start a side project. The same month I took that new job I started PT Money. I didn’t waste the free time on more TV or video games (Well, maybe I did for a little while. Darn you, CIV3.).
I used it to build a second income. One that I was passionate about, and one that eventually turned into a full time business.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider