Taking the Plunge

Well folks, here we are. It’s the halfway point in August, children have headed back to school, parents are recovering from vacations, and the population in general is hoping for cooler weather now! (at least where I live, it’s been ridiculously hot.)

As the new school year begins, children are eager to start a new adventure. University students are looking forward to their semester, some with dread (shout-out to the grad students out there!). While we often focus on the New Year as a time for new beginnings, the beginning of the school year is just as much a new beginning as the New Year is.

And I am making a new beginning this month. A big, scary, exciting beginning.

You see, when my summer job ended this month, my husband and I decided that I would not go back to work. Full time freelancing it is! This is a temporary experiment, but if it goes well I will not go back to work full time as a teacher.

Those of you who know me, know that not having something to do is absolutely insane for me. I can’t just sit and do nothing. I’m just no longer working a 9-5 job, with bosses and co-workers and rules and stuff.

I’m full time freelancing. And hopefully it works out. Last year I was able to actually pay rent a couple of months from my freelance income, but being a full time student and having two jobs, freelancing was way too hard emotionally and physically. This girl needs her sleep! So I stopped all my income streams except for one job to focus on finishing my Masters and getting my big girl job.

At the beginning of this summer I slowly began to re-start my income streams. It’s slow going, but of course it was the first time around too. Only this time, it’s lot more scary. I mean, before it was ‘extra’ income to go toward debt repayment, retirement, and savings. Now, it’s gotta pay the bills for real.

He seems awfully cheerful for an octopus...

I once heard (possibly on Pinterest) about the octopus method of income. Meaning, you need to create multiple income streams, so if one has a bad month or quarter, you still have 7 more to fall back on. While I don’t have 8, I do have a few up my sleeve.

Here’s the plan:

• ·         Editing and Proofreading: I’ve reopened my gigs on fiverr. So far I’ve had a few takers, and they are pretty easy. The difference on fiverr this time around though, is I’m not offering APA specific editing. I did last time around and that was the bulk of my work.  Unfortunately, that opened me up to being asked to write term papers for people, not just edit them. I actually contacted the advising professor of a doctoral student who solicited paper writing services from me. If I had to write all my papers for my degrees, you can suck it up and write them too. The upside to now is that most books are quite a bit longer than term papers, so I get a larger payout per job.
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• ·         Etsy: My etsy shop has been hugely neglected. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I got on there and updated. Now that I have more time, I plan to get a lot of sewing done, and post a lot of it on etsy. I’m convinced that while you really want to do a quality job and post amazing, wonderful creations on etsy, it’s also a numbers game. The more items I get up on there, the more likely it is that people will see my work, the more likely I am to find buyers. Right now this isn’t a huge focus of income for me, but it is there.
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• ·         Teaching Lessons: At the beginning of the year,  I posted on takelessons as a sewing and knitting teacher. I’ve gotten a few students, but these students tend to want to learn one skill and then are good. It’s a good temporary income for me. If I can get a few more students, and have them leave positive reviews, it will hopefully lead to more students. I’ve even had people contact me through this venue to inquire about seamstress services such as hemming and custom making skirts.
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• ·         Writing- I’ve been looking at various ways I could make a little money off writing. I’ve loved writing since I was a very young child and have always done it. Most of my writing is what I would consider “closed door” writing, never to been seen by actual people. But, in past years (thank you university) I’ve found I quite enjoy writing for other people as well. Hence the blog. I would like to move the blog to a better platform, and potentially connect it with a shop so I no longer have to rely on etsy for online sales. I’ve also started drafting some tutorial type articles to post on fiverr, and have even submitted some to takelessons for their blog series. Now that I have more time, I will be researching other venues and start submitting to them in the hopes of bringing in a few dollars here and there from something I already am doing.
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• ·         Arbonne- I’ve become an Independent Consultantfor Arbonne this summer. And I LOVE IT. It allows me socialize, and share about some wonderful products that I use and love as well. It helps my little introverted self meet new people, and it will get me out of my house on a regular basis, because let’s face it, I could sit at home and knit and sew and edit and write all day. No matter how introverted you are, that’s not exactly healthy. And I seriously have fun doing the spa parties. Seriously.

And there it is. The multiple income stream plan. It has already led to some blog posts being written, and I’m sure it will be a grand adventure. It might work out beautifully, and I never have to go back to work, or it might be a bit of a flop and I will go back to teaching in a couple months. We will just have to see. 

June Hustling- Some Old and then Some New Tricks

Back in April I wrote a little post about trying out hustling. I haven't stopped since then, but decided I probably shouldn't keep blabbing about my personal finances online all the time. BUT I did conclude that if something new works, and works well for me, I should happily share it so others may try it out and see if it works for them.

June, the best month ever for hustling so far. Even with a break that lasted an entire week in the middle of it. I made over $300 in hustling for June.

First off, I cashed out in Swagbucks. I had enough to cash out $150, but only took out $100. This was so we could have a little extra money to work with while on our vacation (aka souvenir yarn). So that counts toward this month's hustling income, even though it took well over a year for me to reach that point. Swagbucks is not a get rich quick scheme, it's more of a drop in the bucket each day will eventually fill the bucket earner.

Second, I kept going with Fiverr. I truly believe that the longer I'm on Fiverr, and I do my absolute best on every gig I get, that the positive reviews and word of mouth will help my 'business' grow. I've had several repeat customers, and new ones come in weekly. Sometimes they come in daily.

I also adjusted my pricing on fiverr to better reflect my skill set, as well as pay me better for my time. I was a little nervous to do this, just like I was with the Etsy shop, but I did it. If anything I'm getting more business after the price raise.

Finally, my big money maker this month: Tutoring.

Yes, tutoring. I used to tutor and it was a terrible experience. This time around has been much better so far. Why? Because I set a price and said it was non-negotiable. Of course, I was nice about it, making sure I clearly stated my qualifications so they know why they are paying what they are paying. The client is much older than my previous ones, so the client could sign the contract on their own, as well as the parents signing the contract. (Yes, I have a tutoring contract. It protects me from having a repeat of the original tutoring disaster.) I also feel like when I explain a concept, the client actually understand that sometimes you just have to learn something because it's expected, or that it seems like something useless but really you will use it all the time as an adult. (For example- pythagoreon theorem vs. times tables... one I don't even really remember what it was, the other I use at least weekly if not more.)

After gaining this client, I did the math and found out that if I were to take on a couple more clients at the current rate, I wouldn't necessarily have to get a day job upon completing my degree requirements (lab hours and the like, all done in July). However, tutoring can really wear on a person, so proceed with caution. Start with one or two clients to see how much you really like it. And if you need advice, shoot me a message and I will give you all you can get.

How do I find tutoring clients? Care.com. No joke. I have looked into tutoring companies but the thing I don't like about them is that they take a cut of the money. And I'm not into that. Especially since every single one I looked at said I had to charge $X to start, and then if I build up a client base then I could start charging more after approval, or something. And that $X? Well, let's just say I'm making more per hour in my assistantship as a graduate student.

My First Month Trying Out Hustling : Does it really pay to Hustle?

Yes. It does. However for me, I can't claim you can live off of your hustling income quite yet. I mean, I just wanted to see what would happen is all. (Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links.)

First off, I need to tell you one of the major components of making as much as I did hustling was PRAYER. I kid you not.

My husband and I are basically living paycheck to paycheck right now, and I've been scrimping and scrabbling to save and get some debt paid off. (My student loan is still in it's 'grace' period, so the more I pay off now, the less interest I have to pay later.) We got our emergency fund set up a couple months ago using the tax return, and it has not and will not be touched until an actual emergency occurs.

I pray almost constantly that we will be able to save money. That we will be smart with the money we have. And that opportunities to make some extra money will present themselves and that we will recognize them and take those opportunities. I feel like all of this extra income from April is a direct result of the prayers I've been making about finances.

Mind you, I don't want to get rich quick. I don't want this extra money to go buy a lot of yarn or a puppy or a motorcycle. I want to be able to live providently, get our debts paid off, and be able to live without the worry of finances always looming over our heads.

So; here it is, the Hustling Income Total for April was $200. And that is a lot for us. It's half of our monthly rent, three months of credit card payments, a month of groceries!

How did I do it? One word: fiverr.

Ok, not all of it came from fiverr, but a decent amount of it did. I heard rumors about fiverr and decided I might as well give it a go. See if it's the real deal and what not. So, I signed up, created a gig and didn't give it much thought. Less than 24 hours later I had not one, but two gigs. And they just kept coming. In all, I completed 9 gigs in the three weeks that were left in April. Totaling $88. I got paid to read! Serious dream come true for me.

Besides fiverr, I sold things on Craigslist, eBay, and even on Ravelry. Little items here and there that weren't being used (like extra yarn and a hair straightener), but they all added up.

Finally, I babysat. Just once, but it was enough to make up a good 25% of the months hustling income.

What about swagbucks and eBates ? While I use those regularly (daily in the case of swagbucks), I don't count that money yet because it's not in my bank account. It really bothers me that a lot of bloggers will make posts about how to make extra money, but they don't mention that sites like Swagbucks make you wait until you reach a certain level to cash out. So if you're hard up for money to make rent, and you sign up with one of those sites, wouldn't you be frustrated with the blogger who said you could make cash quick with them? I would be. So I'm not going to be that blogger. I'll count that money when it makes it to my account, thank you very much.

Grand total for April: $200.