When I was 16 in high school I had 3 jobs (while maintaining a 3.7 and doing sports). My first job at Gymboree was to pay for my car note, car insurance, gas, and phone bill. I had a second job at a nearby retail which was my ‘saving’ money, and my final third job was tutoring 4 hours a week which was my ‘fun’ money….I still live by this similar strategy today. Bills and monthly expenses are paid through my first job as a project manager. I also use that money to make some safer investments such as 401k, IRA, etc. (discussed in Money Mondays Part 2 – Take Advantage of Company Sponsored Benefits). However, ALL the money I make from side hustles get reinvested, first back into the business then to other growth accounts. These accounts are also a bit more volatile so can make great gains but I can endure any loss, especially because I’m in it for the long term.
Get You a Side Hustle
If you don’t have a side hustle at this point…WHAT ARE YOU DOING? If you’re on social media for 2 or more hours a day and you haven’t started monetizing your time through social media or other venues, I ask again WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
Some easy side hustles that have little to no start up costs (under $500).
Lash technician, start a blog, picnic/small event service(s), advice/consultation, face painting, teach English online, teach/tutor online, even become an influencer on Instagram and use an influencer marketing platform to help you….there is so much out there. Especially in this world of COVID and social media, you can make money from your phone! Even if it is not a lot of money, go back to Part 3, small increments add up!
All the ones I listed above are side hustles that I have either started or close family and friends but of course there is an endless list…google is a great start! Search ‘profitable side hustles’ and hopefully you can find something that aligns with your values, time, and budget…
More likely than not someone is making money out there with your hobby and/or skill!
Rule of 80/20
I recently started a picnic/event business and just the other day I took the $75 profit (not much at all, you can barely buy shoes or dinner for two with this) and reinvested it in Bitcoin. Side note – I’m not here to encourage you to invest in Bitcoin, crypto, or stocks. I am here to recommend that you first, save it and go back to Money Mondays Part 3 – Investing…Start Off Small where I talk about how small savings add up overtime and investing that money. The takeaway here is that is $75 more towards my future that I can start saving towards now. If I do two picnics a week and only make $75 for each, I’ll still be investing $600 per month or $7,200 a year, for very part time work. I also made the decision to go into the business alone and not with a business partner so now my weekly profits have doubled by that one move. Now I can invest up to $14,400 a year, on just my side hustle working two days a week.
A good rule of thumb to start off with for saving and investing is the 80/20 rule. Make it a habit of investing at least $20 of every $100 you make. The more your income increases, debts are paid, etc. you can increase this amount. The reason a side hustle is great is that you are more than likely able to invest more than 20% to start off especially if you aren’t dependent on that money for bills, etc. It’ll become a pretty addicting habit once you start saving and seeing your money grow, simply by doing nothing.
<3 Happy Investing
