Side Hustles

Apache is functioning normally

Saturday, I posted what I thought was an amusing anecdote. I told how I’d bought some treats from a young girl’s bake sale, but she’d been woefully unprepared to take my money and give me change. I meant the story to be comic relief, but quite a few GRS readers found it unamusing — and, in fact, thought I came off as something of a jerk. Oops.

In retrospect, many people raised valid concerns (though some folks were making mountains out of molehills). I was something of a jerk. To make amends, today I want to provide a frame of reference so you can see where I’m coming from (not that this excuses my behavior), and I want to provide some tips for parents with entrepreneurial kids.

I was a grade-school entrepreneur
As I’ve mentioned many times, I always do what I can to support young entrepreneurs — that’s why I bought the goodies from the girls last week in the first place. I believe strongly that kids should be encouraged to make and sell things, and even start their own kid-sized businesses. I probably feel this way because I was a grade-school entrepreneur.

Apache is functioning normally

A few weeks ago, I shared a monster list of ways to make more money. These weren’t cheesy chores or slimy scams, but legitimate ways a person could earn extra income if they needed. Most of the suggestions were drawn from GRS reader stories, from my friends’ lives, or from my own experience. They’re ways real people make real money when times are tough.

After I posted the list, though, I had a few people send e-mail or leave comments asking, “Why bother?” They wanted to know why I constantly harp on boosting your income.

It’s been nearly three years since I preached my complete “cash-flow” sermon. Today I’m going to preach it again. This will be review for long-time readers (or for folks who’ve read Your Money: The Missing Manual). For everyone else, one of the core tenets of the Get Rich Slowly philosophy is this simple truth: To build wealth, you’ve got to spend less than you earn. It all boils down to cash flow.

Make more money: How to supercharge your income

Nearly every morning, I get up early to go exercise at the local Crossfit gym. While I wait for it to open at 6:30, I do laps around the cold, dark parking garage with my friend Dan. Sometimes we talk about money and how to make money.

This morning, for example, Dan asked, “Do you ever feel like you’re not going to make it financially?”

“I used to,” I said, “I worried about it all the time, but not anymore. I have things under control now. A lot of that is because I learned how to make more money.”

Blogging: A Demanding Task with Few Rewards?

Last week, a reader named Matt sent me an article from Chicago Business about how bloggers are quitting what they call a demanding task with few rewards. It’s a fascinating story that explores some of the problems with blogging as a money-making enterprise.

The article suggests several reasons that blogs and bloggers fail:

  • Blogging isn’t as lucrative as people imagine.
  • Blogging takes too much time.
  • Bloggers aren’t willing to share their personal lives.
  • Bloggers run out of material.
  • It’s easier to reach people via Facebook or Twitter.

Leaving aside Twitter and Facebook, all of these are valid concerns.

Getting paid to tell lies: Mystery Shopping as a frugal hack

Two persistent rumors about mystery shopping:

  • It’s a scam.
  • It’s not a scam — and you can get rich doing it!

Allow me to set these rumors to rest:

  • Mystery shopping is not a scam. (Well, sometimes it is. More on that later.)
  • You won’t get rich, but you can make a little extra — plus get free stuff.
  • You should never pay for mystery shopping info.

My daughter Abby has been doing “shops” for a decade, and I’ve done them off and on for six years. We’ve gotten free steaks, hotel rooms, oil changes, booze, pet food, lodging, nights at a casino, rental cars, and molten chocolate cake.

Why Financial Freedom Is All About Options

While the traditional definition of financial freedom is that you have enough in investments, savings, and passive income that you don’t have to ever work for money again, it can also mean that you reach a point where you don’t stress out about finances. Unless you’re a bit eccentric and nerd out about numbers, you’d

The post Why Financial Freedom Is All About Options appeared first on MintLife Blog.

Hostels for adults: Spend travel money where it counts

When I was 23, I stayed at my first (and last) Ritz Carlton, in Palo Alto. It was only a stop on a string of fabulous business hotels from which I’d collected small bars of soap and shoe shine mitts: The Breakers in Palm Beach, Hotel Nikko Beverly Hills, the Pierre and the Plaza and the Waldorf-Astoria and three different W Hotels in New York City — I could go on. Fan-freaking-tastic.

I loved it, but as I was traveling on business, I rarely got to experience much more than the heady delight of opening the door to a room that cost way more than my shoes (even my nicest shoes). I wasn’t paying the bill, ultimately; but I would have to pay out of pocket for things such as:

  • minibar purchases ($7 for a candy bar at the W?)
  • phone calls (before the days of ubiquitous cell phones, I think I spent $14.98 for one call)
  • valet tips (evidently $5 is a starting rate at these fancy places)
  • breakfast ($10 for granola, $12 if you want milk)

Now that I’m an adult traveling on my own dime, I stay at hostels.</