Practical Ways You Can Generate Supplemental Income
What can you do with supplemental income? Plenty! Just take your pick: place the extra money into your savings account, buy stuff you've always wanted to have, invest the extra cash, maybe pay off a few bills or build more capital. These and more are reason enough why people seek ways to earn extra money. But how can you truly generate supplemental income and attain more financial freedom? With a little imagination and creativity, you can harness what you know and what's available to help you attain this goal. Here are a few choices for you:
Work on the side.
Many people take this route especially when they are already employed. Working part-time is often the way to go if you want to earn extra without exactly disrupting your regular job.
Assess your skills, hobbies, interests and training. Find out what kind of product or service you can offer that will help you find clients. Usually, you'll find that the source of supplemental income for you is usually something that is related to your current job. Allen Bostrom, for example, was employed at Exxon when he started accepting bookkeeping jobs from clients on the side. He eventually took this experience and established Universal Accounting, a company offering bookkeeping and accounting services. Bostrom is now president of this firm.
How much you could earn: let's say you charge your clients $30 per hour of work. With just two clients for whom you'll be spending 5 hours each a month, you'll already earn a supplemental income of $300 monthly.
Sell products.
Retail is always a good way to generate supplemental income. If you have a product that can be marketed, tapping into a niche market will ensure that you have a source of extra cash. Sell seasonal products, particularly during special holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine's Day or Halloween or during special events such as birthdays, weddings, graduations or promotions.
How much you could earn: that depends on the product you'll be selling, your market and the demand. Selling baked products, for example, can earn you upwards from $50 a week. For jewelry and accessories, you can earn from a low of $75 to about $300 a month. Again, it will depend on the type of products you can offer.
Tap Internet resources.
The Internet has become not only the source of information but also of ways with which to earn and make a living. It's quite easy to find work-at-home opportunities online, jobs that you can work on part-time Some of these include:
Skill-based jobs
Someone is always looking to find skill or talent online. Individuals, professionals and small companies often use the Internet to tap available manpower. Jobs such as copyrighting, data entry, tutoring, graphics and web design, animation, even project-based jobs for professionals are often posted here. You could also look for available jobs and apply or bid for projects.
Affiliate marketing
Another excellent way to generate supplemental income is by joining an established business as an affiliate. All you have to do is promote a business or a brand, encourage a customer to buy, click or perform a specific action and you'll earn as a result.
Your earning potential with this method is unlimited, since it will be determined by how successful you are at promoting the business and getting people to participate.
Multilevel marketing or network marketing
MLM is another method that has successfully allowed people to generate supplemental income. It essentially allows you to build your own business based on an established marketing system. If you can build your network of contacts, you can earn handsomely from this business. In fact, many people have turned their MLM venture into a fulltime job because it is such a lucrative venture.