Tag: work from home

4 Side Hustles to Earn Extra Cash

What’s a side hustle you ask?

Well, it’s simply a way to earn money on the side of your regular source of income.

I have had side hustles going ever since I was a teenager. It was a way for me to earn some spending money while I was still in school, and as I got older it was a way to supplement the household income to pay bills.

Now that it’s just me, I do it to supplement my widow’s pension. Plus it gives me some extra spending money to go on little trips (camping mostly) and set some aside for a double car garage. (Yes, I’m getting tired of sweeping the snow off my vehicle and not having enough space for my tools.)

The following side hustles are ones I have personally tried, and am still active in.

Note: I may receive a commission for any purchase made through my affiliate links. Or, I will receive the full purchase price for items I have designed/created.

Etsy

As an Etsy Seller since 2014, I have earned money from patterns I have designed, printables I have created, and a variety of tangible items I have made and shipped. I think my bestseller is my Weaving Sticks, which I no longer make. I do have the instructions available for how to use them however.

Etsy is perfect for you if you like to be creative, yet don’t want to pack up all of your wares every weekend. Plus, offering digital products (which is what I do now in my second shop) will earn you money while you sleep. I love waking up to find I have made a sale while I was sleeping.

How much you earn here is completely dependent on how much time you invest in product creation, shop updates (which I’m getting better at), and customer service. It’s not a “create the product then leave it” type of deal. You have to let people know what you have to offer in terms of updates, advertising (optional), and just getting the word out.

Zazzle

This is something I have only dabbled in. I have added photos to playing cards and listed them for sale in my first Zazzle Store, and have earned a few dollars over the years. Just this week I opened another store under TakeOnLifeAfter50 and now have a small number of items available.

My new store reflects where I’m at in life, and what I find joy in. I think the John Deere Mug is a good way to show the farmer in your life how much he (or she) is appreciated.

All you need is some time and good quality photos, and you can be on your way to earning passive income with your designs. Zazzle takes care of all of the order filling, shipping, and collecting of payment. You’ll be notified when one of your designs has sold and your royalties will be paid out when you reach the threshold.

HubPages

If you like to write then this is a good place to start. You will be paid a portion of ad revenue the site earns based on clicks within your articles. I have been writing on HubPages since 2011-ish, and have reached the payment threshold of $50.00 more than once.

I haven’t put a lot of time into submitting articles in the past few years, but the existing ones still earn me a little here and there. I update them occasionally, and the editors will also make slight changes (after first notifying the author) to improve the article. One of my most read articles is the one I wrote on creating and selling printables online.

I do know some authors make several hundred dollars per month, but that’s because they put in the time to add new articles and are updating what they have. As with anything, it does take some work but the monetary rewards can be plentiful.

Passive Income Planner Girl

(I am an affiliate of P.I.P.G. and will receive a commission if you purchase through my link.)

Do you dream of making your own digital planner? I want to share a course with you that I’ve taken personally and loved! The price is going up and I don’t want you to miss out!

Learn how to make a planner that works for you.

What does it look like to honour your genius and build a business from it? In Passive Income Planner Girl, you’ll learn how to turn your zone of genius into a digital planner. Then use it as a launching pad to a business full of raving fans, while honouring your desires, your personality, and your joy every step of the way.

But what if you don’t know what your zone of genius is right now? That’s okay, because Michelle and Aimee help to draw that out of you. 

A note from Michelle:

“A planner is the simplest, easiest way to say “this is what works for me, this is how I approach my life. Maybe it could work for you too.” You start to look at what makes your life work and realise “this is important! This deserves to be in a format that other people can pay money for.”

The problem is, we’re bombarded with messages of how to take care of other people. It’s all about pleasing and serving other people, so we forget ourselves. We are so disconnected from who we are and what we want. And then we get into business and it just gets WORSE.

But we believe that staying true to who you are, honouring your zone of genius is THE most powerful way to build a business. Forget who your audience is. Who are YOU? Forget what your audience wants. What do YOU want? If you start there, you’ll attract people who will follow you to the ends of the earth.

This is so much more than a course on how to make a planner. The planner gets you to take that first step.

We’ll help you embrace that you’ve always had the power to do whatever you want. Your desires matter. You can honour yourself and when you do, the world won’t break. In fact, everyone is better off when women put themselves first.

We want to see that happen in your life and business. And Passive Income Planner Girl is where we can help you start.

Join us before the price increases on August 31st. We’d love to have you!”

In Conclusion:

Finding the right side hustle for you can take time, but there’s nothing wrong with trying different things. As we grow as people we find we don’t always want to do the same thing for the rest of our lives. What we enjoyed 10 or 20 years ago isn’t necessarily what we’re going to enjoy now.

As friends come and go, so do our interests and our desires. Pick a side hustle you are going to enjoy, not one that claims to make you thousands of dollars while you sleep. If you do find one that you enjoy AND it makes you thousands while you sleep, kudos to you!

If you like what you read you can show your support by pinning this post, sharing on social media, or buy me a coffee.

Want more side hustle content delivered to your inbox once a month?

tap or click here

Back to School

Okay, I know you’re probably thinking “Whaaat?”. Actually, it’s me who’s going back to school, not my kids. Although, I do have their full support on it.

It’s not a traditional classroom or schedule by any means, but it does mean work and dedication on my part.

Let me back up just a little.

As some of you know, I am an independent author in addition to a library assistant. As my LA position is very part-time (six days a month), I am wanting to further my writing career. I love to write, and do just for the sake of writing. Sometimes I sell a book, pattern or printable, but it’s not enough to add to my nest egg. (And we all know how important having one of them is.)

Anyway, I recently became a member of the Writer’s Guild of Alberta. While perusing the Members area, I found out about a conference in Banff in October, plus some provincial colleges that offer distance learning. To add to my excitement, I realized GPRC offers writing courses. I haven’t had any formal training or education as far as writing goes, so decided to register for a couple. I mean, it can’t hurt can it?

When I told my kids about it, then made a comment about my age, they both said “You got this!”. It’s wonderful to have their support.

The photo is of my bubbles showing the topics I am including in my upcoming Reference Guide for Romance Authors.

I spent some time on the first one last night, and am working on it again today. One of the lessons stresses the use of bubbling (or mind mapping), which I haven’t done much of. My first attempt was on a loose leaf sheet of lined paper, but today I bought a larger pad of paper; simply because I ran out of room.

It’s never too late to enroll in a class, nor is it never too late to begin a writing career. Or if writing isn’t your thing, then that’s okay too. There are plenty of other career choices available if you’re not happy in your current one.

With the distance learning options available, there’s no reason why anyone can’t learn something new. And for those who are happy in your career, what about taking a crafting class? Or perhaps learn more about a hobby? The possibilities are endless. I can see myself delving a little deeper into the writing field; perhaps deep enough to earn a full time income.

Before I close this post, I am curious to know: have you changed careers or taken a course online after the age of fifty? (And for the readers who aren’t in that age group yet, do you see yourself pursuing an online education to change or expand your career ?)

I’ll keep you posted on my progress, as well as the other trials and tribulations of being over fifty. Have a great week!

Diane

Mastering Time Management

Stock image courtesy of Canva.

The week has flown by, and the weekend is already half over. The scariest part, is July is almost over. Where has our summer gone?

My work weeks never seem to be productive at home, because after spending all day on my feet I just don’t feel like doing much. I probably shouldn’t let it bother me, but it does.

I hate to admit it, but something I struggle with is time management. When I’m working my shift at the library, I seem to get a lot done in a day. But when I’m home it’s a whole different story.

I have been using a bullet journal for about a year and a half (give or take). I have tried several different layouts and have decided simple is best. Sure, the bujos on Instagram are nice to look at, but they must take a lot of time to make pretty. When I started out, I followed the pretty layouts but soon found myself spending more time journaling and planning than doing what I was supposed to be.

I borrowed a copy of Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal from my local library (yes, the one I work at) and his method is super simple. Granted it doesn’t look as fancy and colourful as others I have seen, but there’s something to be said about the simplicity.

I have added a habit tracker this month to mine, because I found myself rewriting some of the same things day after day. I stepped away from the habit tracker for several months, but found it’s something I benefit from. This way I can keep track of how often I do my morning pages, water my plants, vacuum, do laundry and so forth. Plus, I also have the bottom half of it as a health tracker. I like to keep track of how often I walk in a month, how many nights I get to bed before midnight, do my yoga/pilates and even lady days.

Not all planning and time management systems work for everyone, which is why I like the flexibility of my BuJo. I like the concept of the future log, as pictured below. I can plan the major events a year in advance if I like, then add to it each month as occasions and appointments pop up. It’s looking pretty empty right now, but it will fill up as time goes on.

In previous months, I have actually drawn out a calendar but am finding Ryder’s method much easier. The days of the month are listed, one per line, and events, holidays and appointments are added as the month goes on. It not only takes up less space, but I can see at a glance what I can schedule for when.

When it comes to the daily pages, I had been dedicating one page per day, but found some days the pages were almost empty. Now I’m filling the pages with one, two or even three days worth of tasks/notes. I haven’t been doing a task list for each week anymore, but the daily pages take care of what needs to be done each day. I’ve gotten into the habit of filling it out right before bed, or first thing in the morning. That way, I don’t miss anything.

The photo below shows a couple of entries for days earlier this month. The tenth has a list starting on the previous page, but notice what was scheduled, what was done and the notes added to the days.

I know I still have a long way to go to manage my time perfectly (or even relatively close), but having it in writing has been positive for me. I find the more things I have going on, the more I need to schedule them in. One thing I haven’t scheduled in is novel-writing time, and have thus not touched it.

My manager and I were checking out Lynda.com yesterday; an online resource for courses available to library patrons. One of the first I will be taking is on time management. Since I work from home more than the library, I really need to learn some tricks to keep my household obligations separate from my work time (side hustle). I may be doing a follow up post after I take the course, providing I find it helpful.

Do you have trouble budgeting your time? If not, what system (if any) do you use to stay on track?

Photos (Copyright Diane Ziomek 2019) were taken specifically for this post, and are intended for single use only.

%d bloggers like this: