10 Ways to Earn More: Biblical Bean Counting, Pt 5

After Part Four, you should be committed to getting out of debt. But the question is how? Basically, clubbing your debt to death, building your savings seeds, planting investment crops all need to be undergirded with making more money. Duh. But making more does not necessarily mean earning more. Don’t forget the lost art of spending less. But more on that in Part Six tomorrow. For now let’s look at 10 ways to earn more money…

1. Sacrifice by working longer hours if you can. Take the inconvenient shifts if they pay more (e.g. Xmas night for waiter shifts). Work overtime. This comes with a huge sacrifice of time away from family, fun, rest, and serving your church. But if it is for a brief season, with a clear goal in mind, it’s doable.

2. Sacrifice by working more jobs. This advice is as welcome as a stick in the eye. But I’m starting with the less creative means first. Sometimes moonlighting for a time is what is needed to break the back of insurmountable debt. Also, hard work tends to make you more careful with your spending and saving and investing. That in itself can help you find money you never though you had.

3. Work smarter, multitasking multiple jobs that bring income. With the internet as our oyster, sometimes there are pearls of income hiding in the snotty data-entry work other people want to staff out. If you won a business that requires you to be present, but not always engaged in work, then in your downtime you could be making money through multitasking.

4. Ask for a raise. Crude, but effective. Don’t do this if you are new, or a slacker. But if you add value to your workplace, and you think your boss knows that, you can respectfully request a raise. Just don’t whine about why you need the money. Your boss doesn’t care. He/she wants to know how giving you more money is in the best interest of the business you work for. So offer to work harder if needs be.

5. Start another business. Don’t fall into the antiquated notion that you need to stick to what you have always done. Keep doing that and explore the possibility of branching out into new ventures.

6. Sell assets and put the money to work by paying off debt or seeding investments. Do you really need that exercise bicycle in the garage? Sell it along with everything you have to climb over to get to it, and use that windfall to slap your debt in the face.

7. Take up hobbies that could put money in your pocket. Golf, video games, and horse riding are neat hobbies for people who already have attained their financial goals. Rather than unwinding after a long week by spending money on the links, take up a hobby that may one day bring some dough into your pocket. Baking, dress-making, and carpentry are classic money makers, or at least money savers.

8. Get educated in a field that may bring in money. Do this by offering to help someone in exchange for learning what they do e.g. sowing, landscaping, computer and internet skills, design skills can all be learned by interning for free.

9. Invest in a trusted friend’s endeavors. If you have some money and are intimidated by stocks, consider putting some cash behind a small business venture that someone you know personally is starting. There are other landmines to avoid when mixing money and friends. But in some cases it may be helpful to you both.

10. Get an education in a field that may yield profit.Invest in your education. Learn skills that you can market. E.g. take a property investor out for lunch and ask for advice, take a course, read magazines and internet sites, start doing paper trades and hypothetical investments. In Part Six we examine the other side of the money-making coin: spending less!