How To Increase Your Income

Let's go back to basics and think about the number of ways to earn money that there are nowadays.

When you analyze things down to basics, there are only 3 ways to earn money:

1. Offer a product (you create something and sell it, or buy things wholesale and sell them)

2. Offer a service (you give your time and skill in exchange for a wage paid hourly or paid by completed task, or for a commission)

3. Invest, gamble or lend money (capital), hoping that it will be repaid with interest.

Every legitimate way to make money will fall into one of these categories, and when you are looking for a new way to make some extra cash it is very useful to start out by thinking how you want to do it. Do you want the security of a job? Do you want to be a freelancer, selling your time to anyone who wants to hire you, with less security but more freedom? Do you have ideas of things that you could manufacture and sell? Do you want to be your own boss and run your own business?

If you want the freedom of making money for yourself, it is helpful to be clear in your mind whether your business is going to involve selling product or providing a service. While it is true that many businesses do both, they will usually have one or the other as their main focus.

If you are clear about exactly what you are providing on the frontline, it will help you to maintain your focus on doing the thing that makes most money for you. You can then add sidelines that are well designed to complement your main business, without being distracted into other unrelated opportunities.

For example, a hair stylist is mainly providing a service (cutting hair), but he may also sell hair care products as a sideline. The sideline produces extra income without taking up much of his time: he simply has to display a few advertisements and recommend something to his customers while they have their purses open to pay for the haircut.

A carpet store on the other hand mainly sells product. However, they may offer a carpet fitting service as a sideline, or take a commission from a carpet fitting company that they recommend.

The quickest and easiest way to earn extra money is usually to add a sideline to what you already do. Don't waste time reinventing the wheel. Do you have a business? What else do your customers want when they have bought your main product or service? Or do you have a job? What can you do that relates to your current job that would make more money for you?

You may have to be careful here because you can probably think of some sidelines that would not please your boss! Don't use company time, premises or equipment to carry on your own business.

One example is doing overtime. Another is to do something in your lunch break. Another is to use the skills that you use at work for some freelancing, if this is permitted in your employment contract. For example if you are a car mechanic, a hairdresser, a journalist or a web designer, you can very easily use your skills on weekends to make some extra money.

You can also find ways to make money from things that you are now doing just for pleasure or because they are part of your routine. If you stay home with kids, could you be minding someone else's kid too? If you love video games, could you sell them? Or could you write a manual for your favorite game? Or set up a website based around it and make money from commissions and advertising?

All of these could be great ways to make money that would be very easy for a person with a genuine interest. Just remember to start with one main focus that is something that you really want to do, and choose your complementary sidelines carefully to add to your ways to earn money.

The best ways to earn money instantly just mean finding something you can do where you will be paid ahead of time or at least, the moment you complete the work. When you need cash right now, you do not want to wait until the end of the month for a paycheck.

1. Car Wash

Some ways to make fast cash require skills and others do not. One thing that just about anybody can do for a quick boost of cash is to wash car windshields when they arrive in a parking lot or when they stop at red lights. You can charge a couple of dollars for this and it takes only a few seconds. So if you find a place with plenty of cars, you can make a good hourly rate.

Sometimes in a parking lot you can wash the whole car. This takes a little longer but it can be a good business. You will need a supply of water. You may need to have permission from the owner of the lot. In a supermarket or mall parking lot the owner is right there in the building and may give you problems if you don't ask before you start.

2. Handyperson Gardener

If you know a little about either gardening or DIY you can offer your services by the hour for all those jobs that a person doesn't have time to do themselves.

Do not waste time knocking on doors where nobody is home, where the people do not have money to pay you or where the property is already beautifully cared for. Seek out the right kind of homes in a middle income neighborhood.

People are suspicious of strangers arriving at their door offering goods and services, so if you do not prepare your potential customers ahead of time you will likely be turned away. Have some business cards printed and put them in the mailboxes of likely looking houses. Call the next day, show another card and the householder will recognize it and feel they already know you. This will be a big help in winning their trust.

When you have done this a few times, you can also mention the names or addresses of their neighbors who have hired you. They can check this out and find that you are a trustworthy person.

You may have to think about insurance for work like this, in case you damage something on the person's property.

3. Making Money Online

If you are reading this you have a computer with an internet connection so you have access to a thousand and one ways to make money online. Really, there are almost an infinite number of things you can do to earn on the world wide web.

However, many of the online business opportunities that you will see involve a long process of building websites, paying for memberships, and learning the trade over many months. These methods can be profitable in the longer term but they will not necessarily bring you cash right now.

Affiliate marketing is a way of earning money online without having so many costs. In fact there are ways to do it that are completely free. For example, you can sign up as an affiliate to sell ebooks or downloadable video training courses and then promote the products in internet forums or through article marketing. This does not involve you in any cost.

There are even ways that you can get paid instantly to your PayPal account. So affiliate marketing can be a very effective way to earn money instantly.

Looking for the best free online affiliate program? There are so many out there that affiliate marketers can join, and you can waste a lot of time and money promoting stuff that nobody wants to buy. Before you spend your time on anything, there are 5 questions you should ask.

1. Is It Really Free?

Since you are looking for a free affiliate program, watch out for hidden charges. If the site has something to sell, you should not have to pay just to promote it. They should be making their money from their customers, not from you.

Although it is illegal to make you pay just to be an affiliate (that would be a pyramid scheme), there are some sites that require you to pay for promotional tools, a copycat website or traffic. They are allowed to do that. However, it is not usually a very good deal because all of their affiliates will be using the exact same tools. You need to find your own promotion methods if you are to stand out from the crowd and make plenty of sales.

2. How Much Is The Commission?

Commission varies hugely depending on the type of product purchased. Downloadable products like ebooks, which have very low costs, usually pay 50% but may go as high as 80%. In some cases a cheap ebook will be sold on 100% commissions and the owner makes all their money on later sales to the customers.

For physical products you can expect to earn anything between 2% to 20%. Some affiliate programs such as eBay's partner network will pay you an additional fixed amount if you are referring a new customer who has not bought from them before.

3. How Are Sales Tracked?

Most sales are tracked by cookies. This is a system which places a marker on the customer's own computer when they visit through your link, so that future sales will be credited to you.

Some cookies will expire after a certain time so that if the visitor does not buy within, say, 30 days you have lost the chance to make money from them. Other cookies are will last forever ... in theory. In practice as soon as the customer deletes cookies on his computer your commission is lost. The same is true if he visits the site on another computer by typing the domain name right into his browser, and then buys. Also, if he visits the site through another affiliate's link, your cookie will normally be overwritten - the most recent affiliate gets the sale. So you are not guaranteed to get a commission from everyone who visits through your link.

Some affiliate programs track customers by their email address instead of cookies. In this case the first affiliate to refer the customer keeps him, and it doesn't matter if the customer deletes cookies. This is usually a better way to be sure of getting your commission but it is not very common. You will still lose the customer if he forgets what email address he signed up with and switches to a new one, of course.

4. Do They Pay Commissions On Repeat Purchases?

Some companies pay you for only the first purchase that a new customer makes. Others go on paying you for subsequent sales, sometimes for a limited time e.g. 6 months, and sometimes forever. Depending on what the company sells, they may have a lot of repeat purchasers so this can make a big difference to you.

Often a customer will only make a small purchase from a company the first time they use them. Bigger purchases come later when they trust the merchant. Receiving repeat commissions can mean that your commissions build up pretty much on autopilot while you continue doing the same amount of work.

5. How And When Do They Pay?

Some companies will pay you once a month by check, usually in US dollars. They may need your social security number. Some use bank wire transfer and have a list of countries they will send to. Others pay through PayPal to anybody who has a receiving PayPal account, no matter where they live.

Some programs will only pay after you reach a certain target amount of sales. Research all of this thoroughly before you start promoting, especially if you live outside the USA. You don't want to refer a lot of sales and then find you do not qualify to be paid.

These are the basic questions that you must have answers to before you spend time promoting anybody's affiliate program. It is also a great idea to test or view the product if there is a way that you can do that for free, so that you know what you are talking about when you promote it. This can also help you to find the best free online affiliate program for your own promotions.

If Affiliate Marketing is something that appeals to you then this Affiliate Marketing Step by Step Guide is one I can highly recommend. It's the one I use!

1. Consider coaching for young and adult sports teams as a second income. Though some coaching positions are often voluntary, so check first before you sign up. You will need a good knowledge of the sport, some free time in the evening and on weekends and a few vacation days if your team makes it to the playoffs.

2. If you are a great cook, or you love to bake and want to capitalize on your talent, you can do some catering on the side. We aren't talking about the full-time jobs that require many hours of preparation. We are talking about catering for small neighborhood parties or events, staffing the grille at a local cookout or baking for parties (anniversaries, birthdays). Discover more Starting a Catering Business ideas!

3. Are you creative? Do you have great ideas? Even if you don't, you can find them on the internet. You can be a party planner, suggesting themes for children's parties, buying and doing the decorating, and even hiring the entertainment the host prefers. This second income can be spun into an extended party planning service for adult parties and holiday parties as well. Discover more about becoming a Party Planner

4. Got a talent for entertaining, telling jokes, or dressing up and making faces? Can you sing, play a banjo, make party balloons or paint faces? Some things are easily learned with books or via web sites that give instructions on how to paint henna tattoos or face designs or how to make those wonderful balloon animals your kids and their friends love! You can discover more about Easy Face Painting

5. Are you a math whiz? Maybe English as a second language is something you'd like to teach at night? Or you can teach reading to adults. Perhaps you are an artist and you love to help kids get into painting? Can you tutor on weekends or in the evening? You would be helping families and making some money at the same time. Read our lens about Starting a Home Tutoring Business

6. Are you a great seamstress who can hem a skirt, change the buttons on a shirt, embroider initials on a jacket or sew an emblem on a sweater? Advertise in local newspapers and let friends know you provide this service. You will be surprised how many people are looking for this service and you can do it right in your own home.

7. Can you paint a room, trim and doors? You would be surprised what you can accomplish in a couple of hours. Without the overhead of your neighboring painting company, you can afford to charge less and you will get jobs by word of mouth. Show up on time, be fast and accurate. Let the client pick out and buy the paint.

8. If you love to knit, or make hand made articles, make some extra money by selling your items at a flea market, or church fair. Take out an ad in your local paper or place cards on bulletin boards around town. Take pictures of your best pieces. Put those pictures on fliers so people want to see what else you have to offer.

9. Sign up to hold a monthly party at your home or the home of one of your friends. Sell anything from Tupperware to candles, lingerie, Shaklee products, Amway, Avon and others. You make a percentage on everything you sell. If you have many friends you may be able to get a lot of parties lined up and sell a substantial volume.

10. It may be hard to believe, but in this mobile, busy world of ours, many people no longer have time to run those errands, go shopping, pick the kids up from lessons or sporting events, etc. You can make money driving seniors to doctor's appointments, picking up dry cleaning, going grocery shopping, and picking up the kids from events to take them home.

11. You don't have to join a limo company to make some money driving. You can afford to offer less money than the big limo companies. Be sure your automobile coverage allows you to transport others and still covers injury and accidents. If you want to drive kids to a prom or business travelers to an airport, you may need special insurance.

12. Did you know that there are lots of online 'blogs' that will pay you to post on their site? If your English and spelling are good, you can make money just by providing traffic and posts on a particular topic that interests you. It might be a celebrity gossip or news site, or a site that covers new movie releases, etc.

Looking for a way to earn money online that does not involve start up costs? Try starting a blog.

Blogs (more correctly known as weblogs) began as a form of online journal for people who wanted to write about themselves, their families, their vacations, hobbies, pets or whatever without going to the trouble and expense of setting up a static website and learning hypertext markup language (HTML). Before blogs were invented, you had to know HTML to have any kind of website.

But with a blog, everything is much easier. You can sign up somewhere like blogger.com or wordpress.com and they have templates that you can just go ahead and use out of the box. Pick a topic and a name for your blog, choose a template that you like and start writing.

Since you want to earn from your blog rather than just pouring your heart out to the world, you need to do a little thinking before you select your subject. It needs to be something that you are interested in so that you stay motivated, but there also must be related products that people are willing to pay for. Without this, nobody will want to advertise on your blog and you will not make any money.

So you need to find what is called a 'hungry market'. This is a group of people who have a problem, need or desire that can be solved by the information on your blog and the products that will be advertised there. For example, people who want to lose weight; people trying to save their marriage; keen golfers who are desperate to improve their swing.

You need to be sure that your market will be prepared to pay for the solutions that you or your advertisers offer, and not expect to get the information for free. For example people often look online to find the definition of a word they do not know, but they will not pay for that. You also need to be sure that your market has money - the more the better.

Golf is a popular topic for websites and blogs for this reason. Golf is an expensive hobby and golfers are used to spending money on equipment, club membership and information to improve their game. You can probably think of other similar money spinning hobbies.

Your blog will be found by visitors faster if it is very specific. After you have your broad subject, there are many tools that you can use for keyword research to find words and phrases that people are searching for and which do not have too much competition.

You do not have to worry too much at first about finding products to promote. You can simply sign up with Google Adsense and run their ads on your site. This saves you having to look for individual advertisers. Use the time instead to fill the blog with plenty of posts and build links to it by leaving comments on other relevant blogs, rewriting your blog posts and submitting them as articles to directories, etc.

If you do not like writing you can build a great blog that is based around photos you took, royalty free photos that you download or videos that you can embed from YouTube.

Later you can find products to promote as an affiliate and you will probably find that this is more profitable than Adsense, especially if you have an opt in form on your blog so that you can collect visitors' email addresses and keep on emailing them about the products you are promoting. But all of this takes time. Adsense is a quick and easy option while you are getting started.

Having your own blog on a subject that interests you is a great way to earn money online while having some fun at the same time. You might like to take a look at the Easy To Follow Video Tutorials Showing You Exactly How To Set Up Your Blog. All You Have To Do, Is Follow The Paint-by-numbers System Weve Put Together. Its Never Been Easier To Learn How To Set Up Your Very Own Blog. Discover more at Learn How To Blog

You may also want to take a look at how you can make money with blogs using Google Hot Trends which is the subject of our lens at How To Make Money Now

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