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Thanks for coming back to read part 3, the last of the series “Creative Ways To Make More Money”.  If you missed Part 1 and Part 2, now would be a good time to read those to lay the foundation for this article.

1. Go Out on Your Own

What are you currently doing for your day job?  Could you be a consultant? Do you have any skills that you are proficient at and complimented on? What do people go to you for advice on?   Figure out your unique skill set and then teach others how to execute what comes naturally for you.

You can create online seminars or webinars, tutorial classes, Skype consultations, courses or arrange to meet people one on one. Don’t worry about credentials and certificates unless they are legally required for your particular area of expertise. In this day and age, most people want RESULTS from people they TRUST.  If you really feel like that certification or degree will make you feel better, at least “fake it til you make it”. That’s not to say, lie. PLEASE DON’T MISREPRESENT YOURSELF, as there is no faster way to lose potential customers than dishonesty.

What I mean is, “DO THE THINGS THAT ESTABLISHED PROFESSIONALS IN YOUR FIELD DO” and then after you are a rockstar {insert your profession here} you can always get certified later on (I bet you won’t feel the need to prove yourself anymore though after the client list grows)!

2. Blogging

I think EVERYONE should register a domain name for themselves and every person in their immediate family.  You don’t need to be fancy or creative, in fact, if it’s available, the best domain name to register is your firstandlastname.com.  If that is taken, try to come up with an alternative, but make sure you own it.  I use Siteground and have been thrilled so far.  I pay less than $100 per year for makingitpaytostay.com and the WordPress hosting fees.

Having the rights to the domain name of your own name is priceless.  You never know when you might start a business (if you haven’t already), become famous (or infamous) or the parent of someone who might be famous.  Once you purchase a domain name, you might as well find a hosting service and start a blog.   You may find that once you have the technicalities set up, that blogging is a release that brings you joy.  You may choose to keep your blog private and for family members only, which is great, but you can still take advantage of monetizing your blog. If you want to make an income from blogging, you need to pick a niche and run with it.  Find something that comes naturally to you, pick a topic on a favorite hobby or subject and then just write.  Keep writing content and publishing fairly consistently and your blog will grow.  You can monetize immediately by setting up Google Adsense ads in your sidebar.  There are many more lucrative opportunities than that, though.

If you take the Making It Pay Lifestyle course, I’ll provide many opportunities to make money through affiliate marketing.

For instance, you can make $248.50 per person who signs up for The Making It Pay Lifestyle Course through your affiliate link. Contact me to become an affiliate!

Here are some other ways I’ve made more money on my blog:

Tomoson is a service that matches thousands of companies and their products with bloggers!  They will send you free stuff and sometimes additional compensation for trying and reviewing their products.  Only pick items that are something you can see yourself using every day, will help your life and the life of others or will reduce time and money spent for your readers.  There are a million products out there to get for free and review, but only pick ones that might resonate with your readers.  I try to keep mine to health and wellness, money and time-saving products and things that make managing my household easier.  You probably won’t see me posting a review for diapers, because my children are out of that stage. You can even start a REVIEW BLOG where your main objective is reviewing products for people.  That’s a great way to get a lot of stuff for free, thus reducing your overall expenditures. Then sell the stuff if you don’t love it for a profit!

Activate is a service that offers sponsored post opportunities.

Izea is free to join or you can pay a nominal monthly fee for unlimited bids on tweets and blog posts.  You can easily make extra cash through Izea, about $10-$20 a week just by sending out a few tweets.  That takes about 5 minutes, tops.  Easy cash!

3. Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is selling other companies goods or services and making a commission off of those sales.  This has been, by FAR, my most lucrative area of blogging.  I’ve heard the complete opposite from other bloggers, so I guess it depends on your niche and readers.  You can be an affiliate for almost everything now. You can sign up directly with certain companies OR through an affiliate network.

My favorites (the ones I’ve made the most money with) are:

• • Shareasale
  • Commission Junction
  • Magic Links
  • Flex Offers
  • Ultimate Bundles 
  • Awin

4. Start a Store on eBay

Go read How to Quadruple your money in 1 Day on eBay for some motivation before you start your store.  If you start a store, you get perks like extra discounts and clout.   Start selling stuff you don’t need anymore and once you’ve exhausted the extra stuff from your home, you can try thrift stores.  OR, forget the used products altogether and hook up with a drop ship company. Then you don’t even handle the merchandise.  Ebay‘s phone app is WONDERFUL.  I take pics as I’m doing my listing, I speak my description instead of typing it out and then click a few more buttons and my listing is good to go.  If you have friends or family members who want to unload but don’t want to list, hit them up for their old stuff and split the profits with them!  I’ve done this with family members and it’s a win – win – win – win.  They get money, I get money, they get rid of clutter, someone else gets what they want.

5. Researching

Google “researching freelance jobs” or “work at home researcher” and you’ll come up with all sorts of great opportunities.  If you are logically driven and love chasing rabbit trails, this job is for you.  If not, you may be better suited for the next suggestion.

6. Freelance Writer

If you’re a decent writer, you don’t need to be a bestseller to make a great living.  In fact, you don’t even need to publish a book! Businesses of every sort need great writers.  Whether you write articles for websites and blogs or do copywriting or press releases, legal writing or poetry, you can get paid for your contributions as a freelancer.

7. Graphic or Website Design

Have an artistic talent hasn’t been earning you a cent?  Get paid for your eye for good design!  Design Crowd and 99designs.com allow designers to compete over projects and then the winner gets paid.

FREELANCER is another site I’ve come across for a HUGE variety of jobs available, but be wary of people trying to scam you. It doesn’t always happen, but if it sounds fishy, RUN!

Try Fiverr for selling almost ANYTHING to people for $5 or MORE!  Seriously, I’ve used this and sold lists of the best thrift stores in Pittsburgh, guides to healthy eating and more.  If you can read and write, come up with SOME service or gimmick that you can set on automatic with Fiverr!  I also USE the services for logos, blog tweaks, graphics and neat coding that I don’t want to do myself.

These are just a sampling of the opportunities to create side income. Making money online and from the comfort of your home (or anywhere with wifi access) has NEVER BEEN EASIER or more accepted.  The possibilities are only limited by your imagination and determination.

Now, I bet some of you are thinking, “This is great Sherri, it sounds do-able, but I can’t QUIT, I need the BENEFITS!”  I get it, I really do.  When my husband and I were first married, my employee benefits package was more robust than his and I was worried about quitting.  It all worked out because he ended up switching jobs and now has an AMAZING benefits package, but I realize that was not our doing, that was a blessing from God.  If you or your spouse are worried about benefits, there ARE MANY options out there for the self-employed or small business owner.  Here are a few that I’ve heard great things about and hopefully you can research which of these choices might be a great fit and affordable for you to take the leap in thinking about flexible income.

Healthcare:

Christian Healthcare Ministries

Samaritan Ministries – A family insurance plan usually never exceeds $405 monthly.

My Christian Care Medi-Share

If none of these sound good to you, call your current health insurance companies (and their competitors) and ask them to give you quotes.  You may not need as much coverage as you think, and if you’re able to set up an HSA account, you’ll get tax benefits from your savings. Want more alternatives? Check out this comprehensive post on health insurance options.

A few more resources to get you started:

Still not convinced that working from home is for you?  I encourage you to read this article on 12 Reasons Why It’s Better To Be Self-Employed.

Want more technical help on the nuts and bolts of actually going out on your own?  Check out the Small Business Association’s page on Self Employment and Independent Contractors.

Independent contractors get some GREAT tax benefits too!  Click here to find out how many and some of the most exciting ones.

Want to know exactly how I make over $60,000 per year while working 15 hours per week from home? That’s what I teach in The Making It Pay Lifestyle Course. Click here to learn more.