The hardest part about wanting to do something on the side of your day job is finding the time to actually get started and stick with a plan. I've read countless articles on founders and business leaders about what their routines are and when they feel they're most productive. I've probably read every morning routine article there is on Business Insider. Especially when I just started working and had no routine myself, it was really interesting to see what other's routines were, because they were all so different. What I realized is there's no right or wrong answer. It really depends on what works for you and when you can best fit the time in. It also depends when you personally feel most productive. Is it first thing in the morning? Is it in the evening after the juices have been flowing all day? It really depends on you. I learned that the hard way. It was pretty terrible waking up at 4:30 AM when I was experimenting with what worked best for me. This was literally me: It's …
Earning
Use These Focus Groups and Survey Companies to Make Some Extra Cash to Invest
Being able to join a focus group online or take an online survey in return for some extra cash always feels good. Before when I was looking for a job when I got out of school, my mom told me there were focus groups in the city I could join for $100 a pop. I went once and it was nice. I mean I got the $100. But it took up my whole day just to take part in the focus group. The session itself lasted on average, I would say, for about an hour and a half for the ones I did. I had to walk to the train station, take the train to the city which took about an hour, then walk or take a subway to the location, wait for it to start, join the group discussion of the focus group, wrap up it up and take the train back home for an hour. I'm exhausted just reading that over! It took so much longer just to travel than actually participate. And even when you get to the focus group, a moderator leads the discussion making it even longer. Sometimes at least from my experiences, each …
24 Ways to Make Money This Year
Learning how to make extra money can be a tremendous benefit for your financial life. It releases the burden of feeling like you always don't have enough money to save or enough to enjoy life while saving at the same time. Even if you make just an extra couple hundred bucks, it can make all the difference between you being stressed out and taking a sigh of relief. Some reasons to make extra money can be: Pay off debt quicker Save for a down payment on a house Invest in courses or books to learn more Invest in company stock to build up a net worth and retire sooner Make you feel more productive and in control of how much you make Not rely on one source of income Even if you have a full-time job, sometimes you might feel stuck or trapped in a position you despise or believe you're ready to be promoted to receive a boost in salary, and it's just not in the cards for you right now the way things are playing out. I know that feeling, because …
Pros and Cons of Coding Bootcamps
So last post I talked about how you could learn how to code in a computer programming language via online courses and in person courses. I tried to find the most highly recommended courses to date that were coming up on Google with the best feedback in terms of how the courses were taught and the outcome of the graduates. It sounds great right? Learn a skill most people don't have and provide your services in exchange for a significant jump in compensation with an above average salary. Once you have a solid foundation of coding for beginners, you can start your career as a junior programmer and make a decent amount of money. And by a decent amount, I mean something like a starting salary of $101,000 if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area or $89,000 if you're in New York City. And that's just the average. So obviously there are opportunities to make even more money. With that being said though, there's going to be a con to every pro. Everything isn't as rosy …
Coding Bootcamps that are Cheaper than an MBA
Learning a programming language is one of the most useful skills you can acquire in today's job market. Although there's a projected declining demand for programming jobs in the United States by 8% over the next decade, Fast Company argues it is still the most important job skill of the future. As our daily life becomes more ingrained with software, there's inevitably going to be more value emphasized on these skills. Personally, I think it's one of the coolest things you can learn. It's like magic. You input a command and watch it come to life. I tried learning on my own back in 2014 when I was living at home. Before I really learned what programming was, I first tried to learn CSS and HTML. A few weeks later I learned what programming actually was and realized the difference between a markup language, which is what CSS and HTML are and a real computer programming language. After those few weeks, I came across a promotion for CodeDay on Apple's homepage. I was instantly …
Why You Need to Focus on Making More Money Now
One of the biggest problems people run into is they focus a little too much on saving money. You see it all the time. With articles online about "10 ways to save money this month", "use these hacks around your house to save money", you begin to develop a myopic way of thinking. Sure, I'm guilty of writing these kinds of articles in my "Save More" section of the blog, but these are meant to be used as stepping-stones. The ways to save aren't to be interpreted as the final word on how to build your net worth. You'll never reach your goal. How are you gonna get anywhere with a $65,000 salary the rest of your life? Considering the average rate of inflation is a little over 3%, that $65,000 won't be worth much in 30 years. That's not even taking into consideration if you're planning on having a family and if you live in one of the major cities in the United States. You can't tell me you're either a. satisfied and/or b. not stressed out about your financial situation if you're …
Make $11,520 Extra This Year Playing with Cats
I was listening to a podcast episode of So Money with Farnoosh Torabi this week and came across a pretty awesome side gig from the person she was interviewing. I know, I suck, because I forget which exact episode it was. BUT, she was cat sitting part-time for her neighbors. Imagine getting paid $20 for 20 minutes just to play with a cat and take pictures to send to the owner to show everything was okay. It literally sounds like the best job ever. You know when you hear people say "do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life"? Yea, I think they were talking about this. Just think, if you were able to schedule even just 2 hours of "work" each Saturday and Sunday or some other two days of the week, you could make $240 extra that week. In only 2 days! For playing with cats! Man, if I wasn't allergic to fur, I'd be all over this, especially living in the city. There's definitely so much opportunity to chill with some cats. Maybe there's a hypoallergenic filter online. …
