Maximizing part-time income

[dereleek22]

All, just looking for a bit of guidance.

I am currently a full-time employee at a technology company and a part-time graduate student. Luckily, I have the luxury of a small inheritance to pay for education rather than taking out loans. As MMM has recommended, this money sits in Vanguard index funds until I need chunks of it each quarter.

However, living and working in California, I find myself hogtied by the constraints of the cost of living here (I am originally from the more budget-friendly state of Alaska). In my spare time from work and school, I try to pick up side work writing resumes, doing manual labor or applying for obscure scholarships to offset the cost of living.

I have read posts about some of the most lucrative careers out there, but it is challenging to field a career or position change mid-Masters degree. I feel my current employer's supportiveness of attending school is, for now, a reason to stay until my MBA is complete a year from now.

At any rate, do any of you have advice for how I can maximize my return on the labor I'm providing, at either my current full-time job or my side work? I am working very hard, but I feel as though there has to be a better way to transform the hours and hours of daily work into greater numbers of greenbacks. Any feedback would be immensely helpful. Thanks for reading.

[phred]

in generic terms what kind of full-time work do you do, and what kind of pt-time work?

[dereleek22]

The most applicable skill that I have is writing. Similar to another post that's floating around at the moment, my most prominent skill is writing, as my undergraduate work was in journalism. Since I am somewhat of a wordsmith, I decided resume writing would be a good outlet for it. I currently don't have any additional skills in coding, software, etc., or special skills that are particularly related to business (accounting, legal, etc.).

My current position is in Operations at a corporate office. My job isn't all that taxing and I do have some down time during the day. I work 40 hours a week in the office, and attend class/work on school for 15-20 hours a week. I'm looking for something to fill that 10-20 hour niche that I have available throughout the week that won't burn me out but also get me some of the breathing room in my pocketbook that I'd like for saving and re-investing.

I noted that in the other related post one suggestion was online tutoring -- I suppose I could apply this skill to working with students. Consulting on the side, as you've indicated, is also a possibility. My concern would be generated demand, which you've stated is essential to maximizing a side job. Are there other options available?

[warfreak2]

As MMM has recommended, this money sits in Vanguard index funds until I need chunks of it each quarter.

Hold the boat, stock index funds are not a good place for money which you're going to need within the next few years.

[sheepstache]

Are there any trade magazines related to your industry that you could write for?  Or some kind of technical writing?  It seems like connecting your writing with some specific area you're familiar with would be the way to position yourself in a niche.

Also, if you are planning career moves in a year, you could do worse than research and make networking connections related to that.