Diversifying your income
Oct 22nd, 2007 by Nut
I’m a big believer in this idea of making money in more than one way. The first time I heard it called “diversifying your income” was by Trent over at The Simple Dollar.
It’s why I’m out there trying to get freelance editing, writing, and proofing jobs.
But three years ago I actually made some money with a company called Brainmass. They are an online tutoring company that helped high-school students and college students with their school work.
In order to join, I had to prove that I had a Masters degree in my chosen specialty (writing, English). So it seemed legit to me.
And it was. I would get emails during the course of the day notifying me of student posts in my field. If I got to the post before anyone else, I could “reserve” it for 48 hours. I wrote out my advice or help as detailed as I could and then submit it to the student.
Every time, the student would accept and I would get credits depending on how big the task was. I think I seriously did it for six months and made around $80.
It wasn’t bad and I noticed that, if I really dedicated myself, I could make more money.
Then the lazy posts started.
“My teacher wants an essay about why Of Mice and Men is called Of Mice and Men. Pleez write it for me.”
Stuff like that. Naturally, I didn’t respond. But, increasingly, this is the type of stuff that was posted. I notified the staff and they seemed responsive—that is NOT what they wanted their site to be about.
I eventually quit working with them because part of the satisfaction of being a tutor (besides getting paid, obviously) was this idea of using my knowledge to help someone younger and greener. But once the lazy, “do it for me” stuff began, I was out of there.
But the point is that it was nice to have that extra money coming in and I am constantly on the lookout for more opportunities to combine my abilities to get some extra cash.
How do you make alternative income? And more importantly, what do you do with it? Straight into savings? Investments? Spending money?
Open an ING account and get a $25 bonus!
Who Killed the Electric Car?
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