Three Easiest Ways to Earn More Money

I Will Teach You to Be Rich lists the three easiest ways to earn more money as follows:

1. Freelancing
2. Productizing (creating a product and selling it)
3. Getting a higher salary

I've covered all of these in one form or another in my list of 11 great ways to earn more money. But if I was forced to list my top three in order, here's how I'd rank the three easiest ways to earn more money:

1. Your career. You can do a lot to make more money from your career -- ask for a raise, get a promotion, or change jobs/companies (which usually comes with a pay raise.) In addition, the one thing I like best about this tip is that the gains are cumulative -- a 6% raise this year is on top of the 5% raise last year and on and on. They build upon each other over time and thus can have a huge impact on what you earn. The keys to being successful in this area are demonstrating that you deserve more money and marketing yourself appropriately. And remember, you'll have some years where you get minimal raises, but others where they can be much bigger. Hopefully they work together to give you a good average increase through the years of your career.

2. Create your own side business. The two best sources for what sort of business you might be able to create are 1. what you do in your current job (you could turn these into consulting, freelance, or teaching jobs) and 2. your hobbies (think bike repair, creating and selling crafts, dog sitting for pet lovers, etc.) This will take more effort for less reward than #1, but once you build up the business, you can generate a good side income. In addition, it could eventually grow to the point where it replaces your current job.

3. Maximizing your investments. This may not seem like a great way to earn more money (or grow your wealth, if you prefer since much of the gain could be in price appreciation), but it can be a significant source for growing your net worth. Simply earning an extra 1% on your investments versus what you currently get will make HUGE difference in what you earn. How do you do this? Be sure you select the proper asset allocation (4 rules for asset allocation can be found here) and you regularly rebalance your investments (more on this here, here, and here). If you've done those things and still would like to do more, the best way to do so is also the easiest: save more and do it now. Yep, TIME is actually the #1 factor in making the most of your investments. Thus the old adage, "save early and save often."

If you're interested in earning more money, I have over 360 ideas on how you can go about doing so. For instance, here are 198 money-making ideas from the early years of Free Money Finance, 82 money-making ideas from 2008, and 61 money-making ideas from 2009. Check them out if you'd like to make more money.

Comments

[20smoney]

Excellent tips. Just about everybody COULD earn more money if they had the motivation and actually made it happen. It could take one of the forms that you described above.

My blog has essentially been an experiment in attempting to create a second income stream. It's a long term process, but I'm definitely seeing growth and at the same time generating a few hundred bucks a month which is great. Hoping to turn it into a few thousand a month within a year or so.

Great post. Thanks.

[texashaze]

This is a good summary.

@29smoney - great comment in your first paragraph. I started a side business and after several years it really took off. What I learned is you can earn as much money as you want, the big caveat is that you also have to work for it. This means committing the time. There are times I pass on work simply for lifestyle reasons.

A couple of tips I have are:

-First you just need to step out and try some side work. Do anything that makes a profit or breaks even. You may find a money maker that wasn't part of your original plan.

-Remember it takes time to build a business and reputation so don't quit your day job.

-Finally, never go into debt.

[stean to]

Superb tips. It takes time and effort, but it`s worth it.

[Matt]

I agree with the premise, except one line about 'side businesses':

"...2. your hobbies (think bike repair, creating and selling crafts, dog sitting for pet lovers, etc.) This will take more effort for less reward than #1..."

This is not true at all! The reward may not be financial, but the reward of doing something you love is by far and away more important. further, I've found that pursuing something I love also gives me more pride in that which I am doing, and makes my work much more focused and goal-driven. For example, I'm putting together a website for my family tree. This won't make money (in fact, I pay for web hosting, so I'm losing it), but it a) furthers my development in PHP, Perl, HTML, and MySQL and b) provides me with a challenge for which I am constantly racking my brain, because I am so engrossed in what I'm doing.

Coming from a lower-income family and, at 24, making more money than both of my parents combined, I realize that I can be happy without making more -- I was happy when I was 12 and we were broke. I'd rather be rewarded with happiness than money, if I could only choose one of the two. If your happiness only comes through money, then the article was right about #2 above. I don't think this holds true generally.