Extra Income | OutOfYourRut.com

Selling Your Skills on the Open Market

By Kevin M

This is a weekly open forum dedicated to increasing income, cash flow and customer base, for anybody who needs to increase business or supplement a paycheck. Salaried employees, homemakers, small business owners, commissioned sales people, entrepreneurs, retirees—this is FOR you, and we’d like to hear FROM you. What works in one household or business may not work in another, but then again it might. Or it might be modified and adapted to different situations.

In Can You Barter For What You Need? we discussed using your skills and services to barter for products and services you need. You can take the same principle however, selling your skills and services direct for a cash income, and nearly everyone has one or more skills to do this. You can do this as a side business, and eventually make it full time.

”What skills could I possible sell?”

Most of us don’t think that the skills we do at work would be of much value to people on the street. Think again. Right now a lot of small businesses either can’t afford to hire someone or have had to let people go. Even though staff is reduced, the work is often still there and needs to be done.

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Day Trading: Investment Program or Career?

By Kevin M

A few weeks back a comment was placed on this site by a visitor who’s url address included the letters “tv”. Since I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting career and business ideas, I had to follow up on this profile. If he was involved in television in any way, that might be a career profile worth looking for a story in. But upon following up through his website, I found out he certainly does have a most interesting career, but one that has absolutely nothing to do with television.

His career? Day trading.

It never crossed my mind to consider day trading to be a career of any sort. I’ve mostly tended to think of it as an investment scheme of some type, and not one for the faint of heart. (That part is most definitely true—see the “Disclaimer” from his website below if you have any doubts.)

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Be Flexible in the Face of Changing Circumstances

STRATEGY #6 TO SURVIVE A DOWN ECONOMY

By Kevin M

If there’s ever been a time to adopt flexibility as a strategy, it’s now. The certainty we knew only a few short years ago is currently failing us, and our progress and even our survival may rest on our willingness to adapt to change and to new rules as much as anything else.

In 10 Ways To Survive a Down Economy (published on Christianpf.com June 1) we listed ten strategies to help you deal with the bad economy. Our topic for today, Strategy #6:

”Be flexible in your plans and ready to adapt to changing circumstances. If your job is eliminated, offer to contract or to work part time for the same company. If you develop multiple income streams, a shift to a part time arrangement may be to your advantage on a number of fronts. Be prepared to convert a negative development into an opportunity.”

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Cashing in on Seasonal Jobs and Business Opportunities

FRIDAY INCOME & CASH FLOW FORUM

Kevin M

Working a part time job or side business in combination with a full time situation can be a tough juggling act, especially over the long haul. Some people can manage it, but probably most can’t, at least not for extended periods. It’s called having a life!

But sometimes you just need a little bit of extra money. Maybe you need to build up some cash in your emergency fund, clean up some bills, cover some repairs or a major purchase, or maybe for an upcoming holiday or special event. You aren’t looking for a lifetime arrangement, just a short term burst of extra income to clean up your finances.

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Finding Profits in Pet Care

By Kevin M

Friday Income & Cash Flow ForumThis is a weekly open forum dedicated to increasing income, cash flow and customer base, for anybody who needs to increase business or supplement a paycheck. Salaried employees, homemakers, small business owners, commissioned sales people, entrepreneurs, retirees—this is FOR you, and we’d like to hear FROM you. What works in one household or business may not work in another, but then again it might. Or it might be modified and adapted to different situations.

Dog Walking and Pet Sitting

This recommendation will require you to leave your house, but typically you’ll need to go no farther than your immediate neighborhood since it’s a service you would provide to a very local clientele.

There are full time businesses devoted to dog walking and pet sitting, so you know there’s a market for it immediately. All you need to do is to tap into it, and you’ll have a built-in advantage just by being local. Remember that for a lot of people, their pets have a status as family members; to some people they’re the emotional equivalent of children. It isn’t a job they want to turn over to a stranger, so by being known and in the neighborhood, you may not have to work too hard to find clients. Once you establish clients in your own neighborhood, you can work on referrals to find more in other neighborhoods.

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Become a “Call Center” for Small Businesses

By Kevin M

Nothing contained in today’s post is likely to make you rich, but it can put some extra cash in your pocket if you’re a homemaker, retiree, currently unemployed or already working from home and looking for an additional revenue stream. It doesn’t even require you to leave your home.

Even as weak as the economy and job market are, businesses are often in need of all kinds of services. Finding out what those services are, how you can provide them and how you can market your business are all that you need.

Note to small business owners: you might consider taking someone on in this capacity as a way of freeing up your time and improving your sales process without spending a lot of money.

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Find a Part Time Job Where You Already Work

By Kevin M

Many times when we think about earning some extra money, the first thing that comes to mind is getting a part time job. But let me suggest that you consider first seeing if such an opportunity may exist where you work right now.

At the bank my wife works for, some of her coworkers, all of whom work at positions inside the bank, take weekend shifts as tellers to earn additional money, over and above their regular salary.

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Friday Income & Cash Flow Forum–EARN EXTRA MONEY SELLING FOR YOUR COMPANY

By Kevin M

Volunteer to be a part time sales rep for your company. Right now there’s a lot of anxiety out there over whether or not jobs will last; layoffs and the threat of layoffs are everywhere. It may be time to stop worrying, and volunteer for (paid) duty on the front lines.

Every company needs sales to stay in business; you may not view yourself as a “sales type”, but you may still be able to help in different ways. I can think of three ways to accomplish this:

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A Chicken in Every Yard?

By Kevin M

A news story on CNN last weekend caught my interest. “Backyard Chickens”. You just have to stop and watch a segment like that, if only to answer the nagging question, what’s up with that?

Now in typical TV news fashion, the segment moved quickly, from one bullet point to another, spending not a whole lot of time on any. The story focused on a humble looking gentleman by the name of Andy Schneider, chicken farmer-at-large (or so it appeared) and a vocal advocate of chicken farming everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

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