Earning Money: Picking The Right Route

Who doesn’t want to earn more money? It’s a constant issue wherever we go and whoever you are. Whether it’s all about slashing your bills or trying to find the best discounts, we’re all after a way to keep a few extra pennies to ourselves. For those moms and dads and anyone who’s after a way to make some extra money, the things that come to mind are usually taking a job on the side, which means working late into the night for little money for something you don’t enjoy doing. It’s difficult, but that’s not to say that it’s impossible to earn a good amount of money on the side. There are two ways to do it when you're busy enough as it is; the freelance route, and the investment route. Let’s break it down.

The Freelance Route

The thing about going freelance is that for many people, it’s not just a sideline to earning some more money, but people are slowly making it their only source of income. Why? Because a lot of people find that doing freelance work is proving to be far more lucrative than the full-time job they're already doing. If you hit your stride, you could earn more by working at home than going to work. And as so many people have found, the perks of working at home tend to outshine the problems associated with the morning commute. What could be better than getting out of bed and casually switching on the computer that’s a 30-second “commute” away? If this sounds like your type of work, here are some ideas to try.

Online Surveys

An ideal method of work for the busy parent who needs a job they can do while their youngest child is trying to climb all over them! You can find plenty of online questionnaires that ask you for your opinion on products or your shopping habits. They pay per survey, which has its benefits as you get paid for the work you do, and the work isn’t front loaded or targeted.

Online Admin

Companies like Pactera almost exclusively hire people to work at home for short-term and long-term projects. These jobs are much like working in an office, and the work is as mind-numbing, but as a means to work at home in a relaxed environment, it certainly has a lot more perks. These companies usually pay monthly, and they usually require some sort of background in the related work. But if you’ve got the experience of working in an office, it’ll serve you well.

Blogging

Ads and affiliate links in a website are how bloggers make their money. If you start a successful blog site based on your own area of expertise, this could be a very good way of earning money while also working on a passion project. While this sounds like the ideal combination of doing what you love with earning money, it’s not as simple as that, and can take some time to get the blog up and running while doing it around your existing commitments. If you are willing to invest the time and energy into it, it could be worth your while!

Setting Up Your Own Business

Much like blogging, setting up your own business needs to be in relation to something you really care about, because this will help see you through difficult times, of which there will be many. Depending on where you look, the stats for small businesses and startup companies failing vary and can be as high as 90%. But, if you can do it around your existing commitments, there can be a time where you can devote yourself to the business properly, and end up being very successful.

Utilizing Your Expertise

The internet is a wealth of possibilities if you are an expert in something. You can use sites like Etsy to sell your designs if you're on the crafty side, or you can set up your own eBay selling empire. You could tutor someone online, be it adults or children, via sites like Kaplan, or by setting up your own site. Or you could make the most of Skillshare to teach an online course. If you have the expertise, especially in a niche subject, it can be a very useful way to earn.

The Investment Route

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As working freelance might prove to be a logistical nightmare for some, investments might be a better way to earn money. The big difference with investing is that you need a portion of money upfront, and depending on your own personal circumstances, you may not have money to spare, in which case you could go freelance to earn that extra money if time allows. As far as a breadth of investment opportunities are concerned, here are three wide-ranging ones.

Investing In Property

An extremely common way to make an extra bit of cash is buying property and then renovating it before selling it on. The phenomenon of buy to let, where you rent the property out to tenants sounds like a good way to make money on the surface, but it is a lot of time as well as money. Depending on the caliber of the tenant, it could be a difficult relationship, and one with a lot more hassle than you had bargained for, as well as you being responsible for the property, which means that if there are a lot of problems, it can cost quite a bit to get fixed. So, if you do opt for a property, it’s best to make sure it’s one that is as modern as possible. The other approach would be to buy a home and renovate it before selling it on. This means that if you are looking for a quick buck, you could buy it, renovate it and sell it on within six months. This does mean a lot of work though.

Invest In Cryptocurrency

The rise of online monies like Bitcoin has shown what the internet is capable of, and there are facilities which will accept Bitcoin now, but depending on your view of the situation, it could prove to be very lucrative, or it could be a risky venture. The way to earn this money is done by being a Bitcoin miner, which requires you to have a computer powerful enough to process transactions on an online ledger, called the Blockchain. It is advisable to do your research before venturing into this, as there are many people and businesses who have taken advantage of this so it can be a potentially crowded market. But there isn’t just Bitcoin, there is Litecoin, Zcash, Monero, and the list goes on.

Looking At Gold

The price of gold can vary, but there are many forms of buying gold, from bullion to ETFs (exchange-traded funds), or unit trusts. And with any major investment, it’s best to keep your eye on the value of it and invest when the time is right. The value and stocks can be temperamental, but gold doesn’t move with other assets like property would, so it’s worth doing your research.

As far as making money is concerned, there are numerous ventures you can go down, and whether it’s making money on the side, or spending your time looking at the stocks, it can take up quite a bit of your time. So you need to decide if it’s worth you taking up so much of your time to make this money. If you're a busy parent, would running a business suit your needs? Or would renovating a property take time away from your family? The options are there but think first.