5 Ways to Find Plenty of Extra Time to Make Good Money
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:
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 this recent video 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?
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 12pm 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.
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 also: Make Extra Money Delivering Food with Doordash
Kids? Invest in Daycare
I’m all about investing in your kids. But I don’t see anything wrong with outsourcing this duty a couple of hours a day so that you can spend some time creating. The trouble with this, of course, is that you need to be making enough money to justify the expense, right?
My advice is to wait until you’ve found what it is you want to do using free time at night (I know it’s not much, Moms. But I bet you’ve got some Facebook time you could give up). Then, once the ball starts rolling and you’re producing, start shifting some of your workload to the day and find an inexpensive, reliable place to take care of your kids for a couple of hours.
Work as a Team
If you’ve got a spouse or significant other, enlist them to help out in the process. Having them on board (at least in a supportive role) will serve two purposes. For one, you’ll have their buy-in for all the leisure time you’ll be spending away. You might even convince them to give up their down time as well.
Second, you’ll be able to do much more if you’re using both skill sets and natural abilities. I think of Steve Chou, who I interviewed a few months ago. He and his wife built an online store together using their spare time. Steve handled a lot of the technical aspects, while his wife did much of the product work. Now they have a full-time business and his wife can stay at home with their kids.
If you’re making extra money on the side either through a business or through other methods, how do you find time to do it? How do you fit it all in?
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Way #6: I quit a part time job at the corner of Happy & Healthy after three years of driving across town after my full time job. I was able to use those 20-30 hours a week to save money on wants/needs across my budget by learning the savvy shopping and saving tips, tricks, treats, tweaks and tools that my customers were using to get $40 of merchandise for a few bucks and getting back even more in cash back and coupons before repeating at other stores around town, not including the crazy online scores. In total, I am saving over $1250/mo with the same time that I spent earning $500 or so after taxes, gasoline, meals and things on the go plus the unpaid travel time. The final straw was entering my W2 from Walgreens and seeing an immediate $600/year ($50/mo) reduction of my refund. Don’t wait for your ship to come in … Swim out to meet it!
We all only have 24 hours a day. So sometimes I think the question how to find time to make extra money is equal with the question how to make extra time. I spend a lot of time on TV and computer. If I put these time on other things successful, then I can ask me another question how to make extra money with my ability.
You’ve definitely got me considering the daycare idea… it’s weird, even though my kids aren’t directly bothering me (it’s not like they’re pulling on my arm or spinning my chair or something) I just feel like I can’t get anything done when they’re around.
Yes! We don’t even own a TV and we are so much more productive because of it. We used to spend so much time watching TV but now we find other ways to fill our down time.
I gave up my TV time and use that time at night towards writing my blog. I write after the kids are in bed. It is a very rewarding experience for me – because I am doing what I love to do – writing and connecting with my readers and responding to them.
Right now I work 2-3 hours/day (usually 2). After my 2 year old daughter goes to sleep. I have ENOUGH time to do client work and was also able to release a freelancing course (almost 50 lessons, design the website for it, promote, manage my students etc.).
How is this possible?
I am VERY productive. I don’t work on any stuff that doesn’t bring me money or ‘pushes’ my course forward. I use the Pomodoro technique and also have very few tasks (that matter). Of course, I don’t procrastinate, just work and do my stuff.
Weird enough, after months of agonizing since I never found the time to work, last autumn I decided to accept I cannot work 10 hours/day anymore and try to make the most of it. And, it works 🙂
It may also come down to how much money you’ll earn on the money making venture. If it’s a part time job paying $8 an hour, it may be difficult to “find” the time to squeeze in the extra 100/+ hours per month that it will take to make decent money. But if it’s a job paying $20 an hour, it’ll be a lot easier to let a bunch of things go.
It might come down to the ability to make the most money in the least amount of time. In general, I think that having some sort of side business is the better way to go. If you can find a way to make money doing what it is you’re good at, you’ll make more money–at least eventually. That’s usually hard to do in a part time job.
The other thing is that if you’re doing it as a business, you’ll have more control over your time. That’s HUGE if you’re looking to create a second income. It isn’t always the number of hours you have to put in at a venture that causes problems, but the scheduling of those hours. A business type arrangement can usually be wrapped around a busy life that includes a full time job, at least in a way that a part time job can’t.
That’s great advice about the daycare. I’m right now trying to decide what the tipping point will be for putting the peanut in daycare for 10 or so hours a week. Now that he is no longer reliably napping, it’s gotten difficult to count on writing time every day. But I’d like to have a few more regular gigs before I take that step–it’s the old Catch-22. I think I might ease into it with a few hours a week while I try to build up my client list with some of my extra time, which will also give my little guy a chance to get used to daycare.
Television has got to be one of the most terrible “time sucks” ever invented. But I will say that I will spending some of my time watching football this fall. That is one of my main weaknesses. I usually find myself getting up an hour early and writing then. It is often too hard to concentrate in the evenings, but I can answer comments and emails.