With Christmas creeping its jingly head around the corner, a few of us might be hunting down the back of the sofas and shaking our wallets in hope of a rattling sound. Times are tight for a lot of people, but if you’re organised it’s easy to generate a second income stream. If you really just take five minutes to assess your lifestyle, there are ways of fitting everything in.
Second jobs, or securing freelance work, if only for a temporary period, is also a great way to get back on your feet and can also be a great confidence booster. Whether you’re just looking to gain experience for a career change or to pay off your bad credit credit cards, here are some great ways of quickly gaining a little extra cash:
1: Freelance Consultancy
This sounds a lot more professional than maybe it is. Freelance consultancy is essentially offering your knowledge in a particular industry, usually on a short term or contractual basis. Usually you’ll be involved in creative or administrative processes, helping to analyse ways of improving a particular business or their goals. You could even set up your own consultancy business and take on work on an ad hoc basis. The worst that can happen is that you have to turn down work if you’re too busy. Try setting up a three page website, note your working history and areas of expertise and f you have time, SEO the project to rank high in Google for your particular keyword or phrase. You’ll be surprised at the amount of enquiries you’ll get.
2: Think Of How You Can Make Money From Your Hobbies
What are your hobbies? What do you enjoy doing and what have you been doing a long time? You might be a great guitarist, a painter or a fitness freak. For example if you’re a photography student, start offering your services as a cheap alternative to a professional photographer or if you love keeping fit you might be able to motivate others as a personal trainers. If you invest a lot of time in your own hobby it’s likely you’ll be financially rewarded for that effort you’ve put in, should you wish to go out there and show what you can do!
3: Blogging
Blogging has turned bedroom bound geeks into millionaires. You do not even need a great deal of internet or technical knowledge in order to set up a blog. Just start writing about what you know. An ideal place to start is writing your opinions on a particular topic you’re passionate about. Writing frequently is the key and if you’re honest in your approach and what you write about, you’ll quickly gain a following. The blogging world is changing and because of search engine optimisation, digital marketing agencies are now paying some guest bloggers in order to exchange for sponsored reviews or high quality content to be published on their site. A site with thousands of unique visitors a day can also make a sizeable revenue stream through banner or Google advertising.
4: Buy and Sell Through Ebay
Grab your UK credit cards, make a few bargains purchases on eBay and then sell those products for a higher amount! It really is that simple. If you work 9-5, this is something you can easily fit into your everyday life by spending an hour or so each evening to update your listing and then you can send your sold items off at the weekends. You might be a dab hand at spotting a bargain product in an industry you know a lot about, or alternatively you can find great eBay bargains through site such as no bids or fat fingers which list items without bids and misspelt items respectively. There was a story recently of a guy who bought his first eBay item for 1p and went on to make $1 million! It is possible, you just need to keep an a good eye on what’s happening.
5: Have A Clear Out
This is the quickest and easiest way of making money in times of need. It’s also a great way of getting round to doing something that most people hate doing. Get into your attic or cellar, clean out those cupboards and really take a look at things you’re keeping. It could just be dusty stacks of money sitting unused in a cupboard. When you’ve found a number of items you no longer need, you might choose to hold a boot sale, an open house, or in relation to the point above, start your own eBay nicks and nacks store. There’s a home and enthusiast for every item, so stop hoarding and start selling!
Scott is a writer who would also suggest carol singing to this list, providing you can hold a note, unlike him.
