The Writers Coin

As I mentioned recently, I am getting a little bored of personal finance and I’m more interested in something bigger. Something like earning more money on the side.

I’ve tried this before, but I wasn’t thinking big enough—so I figured I would share my previous attempts at generating some alternative income.

Freelancing

I found someone looking for a person to translate a medical book about something I knew nothing about to Spanish: IBS. I estimated the job at a month or so and asked for $250. And honestly, I had no idea what I was doing. The estimate was way off and the money was probably too low.

In the end, it took me about two months and a lot of back and forth with the client. But I did manage to turn it into a regular, monthly gig to translate the doctor’s newsletter. I was happy that it turned into regular work, but I again made the mistake of underpricing. I charged him $30/month for around three to fours hours of work.

Not good—that’s around $8/work.

Month after month, I did the work and got paid my $30. And every time I dreaded it—it was boring, monotonous work. Maybe if I was getting paid more it wouldn’t have bothered me, but when I realized what I was making on a per hour basis, I knew I had made a mistake.

So I asked for more money and the client balked. Then we went our separate ways. I learned a lot about freelancing and set myself up for a better experience if I decide to freelance in the future.

Online Tutoring

This was a while ago and I don’t know how I found them, but a Canadian site called Brainmass was out there that provided help for high school and college kids for their schoolwork. You had to be accepted into the program by proving your credentials in whatever field you had experience in (I did English and Writing).

Here’s how it worked: students posted their problems or questions and you “claimed” the problem by logging in and taking it. Once you did, you posted your solution for the student. Not bad. Every job, on average, was probably worth $10–$15.

You could also contribute to a “library” of solutions. This compiled common problems that students could “check out” like a book whenever they needed it. The best part was, more than one student could check it out at any given time and you’d get paid every time.

It was rewarding and matched my schedule. Because I was in grad school I had time to sit around and claim a bunch of work. But eventually all the “problems” students had were “do my homework” or “write my paper,” which I was not about to do.

Turns out I do have morals, and I quit the program. Total income: probably around $100.

Miscellaneous

• I’ve made $10 a pop on Usertesting.com
• I’ve made around $70 referring people to ING Direct
• Adsense has made me less than $250 since I started this site
• I make some money writing for Wisebread depending on how many pageviews my articles get
• Some ads on this site make me a monthly income, but not much
• I’m an Amazon Associate, so if someone buys something via a link on my site, I get paid a minute referral fee (last year I made $70).

What I’ve Learned

I’ve been thinking too small. Everything I’ve tried so far is too much work for too little a payoff. It’s just not worth it.

It’s time to start thinking big and put a lot of energy and thought behind it instead of getting nickel and dimed. Sure, my alternative income is diversified, but the income is so minute that it doesn’t really register.

It’s not a trick questions: the answer is yes.

The tenets of personal finance are pretty simple: spend less than you earn, contribute to a retirement account or two, pay down your debt as fast as you can, and pay your credit card in full every month.

The rest is just details. And sure, there are a lot of details. I would know—I’ve been writing about them for three years. But once you have a grasp on the basics, you’re good to go.

So what happens after you’re done mastering the basics?

Three years ago, I had a lot to say about personal finance. It was exciting and empowering to take control over my finances and try to make them as efficient as possible. And I have.

Now I’m bored. I don’t care about extracting any more out of my budget. I’m all extracted out.

I’ve spent all my time on the spending side of my balance sheet and now it’s time to focus on the income.

That’s why I like Ramit’s IWillTeachYoutobeRich—that’s where his focus is and it’s a subject I think is really lacking on personal-finance sites. Growing your income gets mentioned every so often, but typically doesn’t go beyond diversifying your income.

It’s been said a thousand times: you can only squeeze so much out of what you’re making until it’s time to make more. And right now, that sounds a whole lot more exciting than finding more ways to cut my budget.

I’m eating sandwiches for lunch, using my library card for books, and using a straight razor to shave. I feel like I’ve squeezed enough.

From now on, look for more about making more money on The Writer’s Coin. I’m done squeezing.

Image by Andrew Mason

Jason over at FrugalDad was kind enough to let me run a guest post on his site. The post, entitled The Lesson Susan Boyle Taught the World, ran last week and is all about judging a book by its cover.

I was guilty of this when I wrote about MagicJack a few weeks ago for Wisebread. So the lesson behind the post may be a little cheesy and cliché, but there’s a reason why things are cliché.

I was also interviewed by the good folks over at MoneyHackers a couple of weeks ago. So if you want to know a little bit more about my blogging philosophy and where I see myself in two years, check it out.

Over the holiday break, I was talking to my cousin’s husband and we got to talking about business. How leaders effect change and what it means to be a great leader. He brought up a book I had never heard of called From Worst to First.

Here are some factoids about the book, which I’m currently reading:

• It was first published in 1999.
• It’s about Continental Airlines and their new (back in 1994) CEO, Gordon Bethune
• It’s a case study of how Bethune transformed Continental Airlines from one of the most pathetic businesses around into a respected, first-class organization.

Sounds mildly interesting, doesn’t it? But it also sounds woefully out of date—so why the hell am I reading it?

Passion.

My cousin’s husband went on and on about the book like it was the greatest thing he ever read. I mean he wouldn’t shut up about it. It stuck in my head and I made a note to myself to check it out. I went on Amazon and read the first few pages, decided it was worth a shot, and then I checked it out of the library.

He was so passionate about this book that it rubbed off on me—I wanted to know why it got him all riled up.

And so far so good—it’s got some great stories and some great advice that anyone at any level should keep in mind in their work and life.

This is not the first time I’ve gotten interested in something random I’ve never heard of. It happened with wine and Gary Vaynerchuk. And it also happened with my friend Andrew—he got me into Sir Ernest Shackleton, Coldplay, and Jobim.

I love discovering new things that other people are so passionate about. When you see that obsessed with something, regardless of what it is, I immediately want to check it out. Part of me is curious but part of me just wants to be as passionate as this person is.

And if that means being passionate about a book about Continental Airlines, then so be it.

Sometimes you will feel let down, but hopefully letting yourself get infected with someone else’s passion will expose you to new things that will enrich your life. You may even find them useful and practical.

Like this book. More on the book when I finish it, but so far I highly recommend it.