How to Generate Alternative Income

One of the things that we strongly encourage people to do is look for ways to produce alternative income. There are many ways that you can generate extra income so that you are not counting solely on your job to provide for you, your family, and your future.  You’ve heard the saying Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Should something happen and you lose that job (which has always happened to people but seems to be much more prevalent in these economic times), then you still have a way to make some money. And in the meantime, while you do still have your current job, you are able to do things like get out of debt faster or save and invest more so you can fund your dreams or retire comfortably.

How can I figure out an alternative income? It’s really not as hard as it sounds, and you may find that you enjoy the outcome! Some common ways people generate more income are buying a rental property or getting a paper route. Imagine being able to save all the money from your paper route to help fund your kids’ college education. Wouldn’t that be nice? Or having that rental property not only bring you some extra income each month, but also build up equity so you can sell it one day (property generally gains value over long periods of time).

Another way to get alternative income is to use something you know. If you are a computer programmer, you could write a program to make some process easier. Then you put your program up for sale on the Internet and get proceeds for making that process easier for other people.

One of our clients loved fishing. He also loved his son and spending time together. So he decided to put together a Father/Son Fishing Trip for several friends and their sons. He planned everything, put together lunches and transportation, and everyone had a great time. It worked out so well that he started a business planning these types of trips. So not only did he get to do what he loved and spend time with his son, but he started getting paid to do it! And he had the joy of helping other fathers and sons connect and enjoy time with each other.

Earning money doesn’t have to be a big chore or be unfulfilling. There are numerous ways you can use your talents, skills, and passions to make money. Just be sure that when you are considering a new venture that it is something that can sell. If you love to garden, think of ways that you could offer your gardening services to others in such a way that it is something they need or want and would be willing to pay you to do it. If you enjoy animals, consider walking dogs or grooming horses. This is something that other people may not have the time or physical ability to do, so you would be fulfilling a need of theirs.

Of course, having extra income doesn’t do much good unless you have a system of budgeting and tracking…we’ll discuss this next week so be sure to check back in to see why budgets and tracking are vital!