side gig – Wicked Retirement

Top 5 Easy Ways to Make Extra Money I've experimented with many ways to make an extra few bucks. I love money. These are the top 5 ways to make extra money in my honest opinion. 1. Start a Blog Everyone is an expert or passionate about something, whether you’re a dog lover, play golf, love to volunteer, like to cook, coach kids, handyman (or woman) there are many ways to expand your love of something. Blogs are easy to set up, fun to do and people are looking for down to earth options and ideas on how to do things. Most recently, I renovated a bathroom in our house. I found a few great blogs that showed me how to demolish, replace the toilet and vanity. It was a great resource for someone who was experienced and I didn’t have to go and hire someone to do it, so I saved a lot of money in the process. Blogs give you a voice on the internet and once you create trust people will come back and more people will come and visit. It takes time sure I would but if you focus on a particular subject that you love to discuss there are others of the same mind that will find you. How do you make money? There are many ways to monetize your blog; Google Ads – make money when people who come to your blog and click on an ad. Amazon Affiliate – if someone buys a product you recommend and link to you get a percentage of the sale Sell a product – develop a guide or e-book (i.e. how to renovate your bathroom) Be an affiliate – there are lots of products that others have made (ebooks and courses) that you can sell and make a percentage of the profits. In general, you want to sell something that you have used or read and would recommend. It's about building trust so you don’t want to sell something just to sell it. You always want to sell something that provides value to your readers. There are many great resources to get started making a blog. I’ve tried many courses but the best one is here. The owners of Create and Go share Simple straightforward methods with no gimmicks. It takes work, time and patience but well worth it. The best part is after its well established it will make money on its own with little or no work. Now that is a real passive income! Check out their courses here. 2. Sell your Stuff There are lots of places to learn about how to be a minimalist (hey maybe that’s your blog), I’m not suggesting becoming one, but boy there is certainly some satisfaction in clearing out stuff that you haven’t touched in a year or more. Most recently I’ve sold items that have totaled over $2000 just by cleaning out the garage. Old bikes, skis, rollerblades, stereo equipment, speakers, a coffee maker, tools I never used and even suitcases. How do you make money? You can sell them on Craigslist or Kijiji (Canada) for free. eBay is an option as well, but then you get into shipping and fees to sell them. My kids now have realized the value of reselling and they sell gently used clothes they have to a local store who resells good clothing. My daughter sold two sweaters last week for $18 she couldn’t have been happier. As you get older you want to start to downsize anyway, you might as well and get rid of your “stuff” now and make some money from it right? 3. Sell on Etsy If you’re at all crafty or handy Etsy is a great way to sell items. I sell speaker suitcases on Etsy and they do quite well. The trick to me is to sell something that doesn’t cost much to ship. The more expensive it is to ship the harder it is to sell as the price is significantly more. In my case (ha ha get it?) the suitcases are large and expensive to ship so selling them locally at flea markets and Christmas shows. How do you make money? Etsy takes a small percentage of the sale but provides you with a venue that accesses millions of potential buyers. So if you make jewelry, 3d print items, woodwork, knit, crochet or any other item, Heck I’ve even seen Bullet Shell Magnets on Etsy. Check out Etsy here https://www.etsy.com 4. Resell stuff I love old things, antiques, stereos, vinyl records etc. I really enjoy going to Garage sales, flea markets, and Auctions locally. The neat part is you never know what you're going to find and in most cases, I always find something cool and unique that I know others will like. There some great ways to find these items online and very cheap. MaxSold Estate Sales is a great resource to buy things locally and if you find something unique you can then turn around and sell it for a profit. Most recently my daughter and I went and purchased some old cast iron pans. I mean these things were old. We cleaned them up and because they were used so much and are indestructible they were well seasoned compared to new ones you can buy. We bought 3 and made $20 on each one for a total of $60 bucks. Easy money for doing something we love and get paid to do it. How do you make money? See above Check out MaxSold here. http://maxsold.com/ 5. Uber or Lyft If you love driving and have some extra time Uber or Lyft are amazing ways to make a quick buck. You need to get your car certified and get a security check done. It's an amazing way to make money. I did this as well and really enjoyed it. Friday and Saturday nights are the most profitable but the beauty is it's totally flexible. If you have an hour or two to spare you can drive and make some extra cash. If everyone is gone for the day you can drive for the day. NOTE: I drive a Jeep which is a pig on gas the more economical your car on gas is the better. How do you make money? Just sign up and Uber and Lyft and they will send you everything you need. You need to make sure your car is clean and give a good impression to your riders for better reviews but I can’t think of an easier way to make an extra income and get paid fast. A friend at work drives just Friday and Saturday nights and he makes on average $500 a weekend. That’s an extra $2000 a month. Find them here https://www.uber.com https://www.lyft.com/ Conclusion I’ve done all of these, so I’m speaking from experience and quite frankly I love them all. These are all things anyone can do. Is there a time requirement but hey nothing is for free, the point is if you can find something you like and enjoy doing why not profit if from it and save for retirement at the same time? Heck maybe even retire earlier. If you like this post please share. If you like the blog and would like to start your own I always recommend Alex and Lauren's Create and GO courses. They are well thought out and provide excellent value. You get lifetime access and they are always updating the content to reflect any changes. If you are looking for other recommendations head over to the resources page where I recommend only properties I've tried and recommend. 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