Skip to main content

Exercise and Finding More Income

Well, I've hopefully given myself enough time off so that my body can heal. I started yesterday with extremely light exercise and I am planning on working my way back up. It has taken a huge amount of self-control to not do something for these past 10 days. I feel like I am missing out somehow by not doing anything really active.

Today I am able to get out a little bit early and I plan to meet some friends this afternoon, but I will be using the time until then to work on some pet projects that have been brushed aside lately with the hope that they will eventually yield me some additional income.

My consulting work has been rather slow, of late. And the my situation with side work may well be drawing to a close so it is critical for me to find additional sources of income in the near future so that I can continue my debt repayment. Again, this is not money needed for expenses, but only to continue accelerating my plan of getting out of debt fast.

Additional Income Pain

Originally I had hoped that elance and other sites would be a good way to get additional jobs but I am finding that the difficulty I experience when browsing those sites is not terribly unique. I personally have a hard time when I have to compete with people who can afford to work doing technical or design jobs for 5 or 10 dollars an hour. That just isn't worth it for me. Apparently, this is a similar issue for other people who use these services. I'm looking for quick hit jobs that can generate income, but not tie me up for months or years into the future unless I choose to be. I like the freedom that comes with doing this kind of work on the side. But I wouldn't want to be stuck doing these side projects for main income.

Doing What Works

My personal experience is that getting clients really requires referrals (which I've had success with) and also doing high-quality work that serves as a reference. This is also doable, but can be frustrating depending on your clients. The advantage of price is simply over. There are way too many people in Asia or Eastern Europe who will do the same work for pennies on the dollar. I don't begrudge these people for doing the work; its great if they can do it. I simply need to focus on doing things that will grow my opportunities for side income rather than repeating the same cycles which lead to low levels of reward.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Buying a Lifestyle...with a Fixed-Rate Mortgage

Despite all of the back and forth about sub-prime mortgages and the housing bubble, I am feeling just fine. The reason is that when purchasing, I followed some old advice: Don't expect to flip. In general, I've been told by many people that you shouldn't buy a home unless you plan to hold on to it for 7 years or longer. If the market does well and you decide to sell, fine. But if you want to be sure not to lose money, don't buy something that you only want for a year or two. I've been in my current location for more than 3 years. I like it. And I have no intention of leaving in the short or medium term. It seems to me, that real estate, like any asset class, has its ups and downs. But as a practical point, I don't look at my home as an asset per se. Rather, I consider it to be a fixed expense that I need to survive, much like food and water. Therefore, as long as the payment is reasonable and it functions to keep me warm and sheltered and comfortable, that is a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Do Better With Your Time

Recently, I've been extremely busy with some work commitments. The interesting thing for me is that this increased work activity has really helped crystallize some of my feelings with regard to time. And these ideas are a critical part about my view on personal finance. I'm curious to know if others feel similarly. Time is money. That is, Time, in some way, contains energy. Money, is also energy. In the act of working, I am able to compound and increase the amount of money that I have. I am exchanging my time and effort and thought which are components of my work, for the productivity that I produce. And this production gets me money from my employer. However, the first dollars that I make each day, week, or month are the most valuable. Then the ones that I make at the end are the most valuable. (Forget about taxes for a minute.) The reason is, the first ones help me have a place to live and food to eat. And the last ones are the ones that I can use to really improve my life lo...
3 comments
Read more

Blogging WealthTrack: Christine Benz (Retire Early? Or not?)

 This morning I've watched an interesting video on Consuelo Mack: WealthTrack. Here, Consuelo's guest, a longtime contributor, Christine Benz, a personal finance expert from Morningstar joined Consuelo for a discussion on issues related to retirement, in particular in the current market environments. This conversation is even more interesting against the backdrop of The Great Resignation. I found Christine's advice to be particularly interesting on a couple of fronts. Her advice in dealing with talking about retirement in general, in particular for people who are in the process of thinking about retiring early gave me pause. She is considering the traditional advice of a 4 percent withdrawal rate to be dangerous and indeed, actually concerning. According to the recent research she cites, a 3% withdrawal rate is a better option. Even more than the four percent rule, I think that her comments on annuities are particularly interesting. While annuities have been given a bad nam...
Post a Comment
Read more