Author Topic: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months  (Read 26191 times)

nktokyo

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Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« on: May 07, 2013, 06:00:18 PM »
The challenge is to create an income that covers your living costs within 6 months.

You're free to use any means you like, leverage your unfair advantages... just try not to do anything illegal.

Call it an experiment if "business" is a dirty word for you.

Anyone keen? We can use this thread as a progress/accountability log.

arebelspy

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2013, 06:07:26 PM »
The challenge is to create an income that covers your living costs within 6 months.

You're free to use any means you like, leverage your unfair advantages... just try not to do anything illegal.

Call it an experiment if "business" is a dirty word for you.

Anyone keen? We can use this thread as a progress/accountability log.

You're saying hit FI in 6 months?

Obviously you won't hit a 4% SWR level in that time, but you may not need to, many more active streams of income (a business, real estate, etc.) will give returns in the double digits.  Still, you'll probably need to build up something worth a few hundred thousand.

Not complaining (I just recently was celebrating hitting that milestone from my rentals), just pointing out that it's a high bar, one that may take longer than 6 months.

More power to you though!

What's your ideas for doing so personally, nktokyo?
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
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TLV

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2013, 08:23:40 PM »
I think the idea was more "active" income (e.g. a sidegig) rather than passive income that would constitute FI.

I already have an income that covers my living costs for the year, in only 3-4 months. It's called my job. :)

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2013, 11:30:50 PM »
I was thinking another income beyond your primary source that you could grow to above your FI number.

Different people have different amounts of free time and energy away from how they do their daily work so saying "it has to be passive/active/mixed" doesn't really make sense to me. Try something that works for you.

A lot of people I think focus on growing only passive income from saving or investing, with the long term dream of replacing their day job. What if you could replace your day job with something far more interesting to you, that still required some "work" on your part but got your out of your job and into something that was potentially more interesting or rewarding a whole lot faster. Or even if you like your job right now, it gives you something the majority of people don't have - the freedom of choice.

I've lurked on this forum for a couple of days and the advice people are giving on how play defense and grow your wealth in a steady manner is spot on. I was thinking that folk who have that down might find this interesting. Having more than one income source gives great flexibility and freedom, even if all you use it for is to grow your passive income faster.

Personally I have a few ideas that I think I might be able to turn into something... the main one is to sell software integration consulting to SME's in Tokyo, where I live. I have some developers who would do the work, I would structure it, PM, do sales and then set up some sort of ongoing maintenance deal... essentially facilitating the work of others.

This is something I've been talking about with people for a while and it's worth taking a swing at and the deals would be small enough that I wouldn't need to work full time. It seems like something I turn into an extra 50K-100K/yr income if everything lines up. I'll give it a go and let you know how it turns out.



earlyFI

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2013, 09:19:51 AM »
hello,

Been reading MMM for a while, love this stuff....

Over the past 6 months I started up a side business that now covers my monthly expenses, this allows me to save all the income from my day job, and thus build the stache faster. I am about 2-3 yrs away from full ER. I can also continue with the side business for fun and profit after ER.

I can also write off certain expenses for taxes which effectively lowers my taxes. I also enjoy the side business because I can work as much or little as I want, and I am my own boss. My overall goal is to cover my annual expenses so my savings build faster, plus have a way to create extra income for travel, etc after ER.

KimPossible

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2013, 09:50:39 PM »
I love this.  I'm in.  (And open to input)

I have one side business.  Unfortunately, I'm bringing home no profit from it, but it's one of those long term things (i.e., hopefully, we'll be able to sell it someday....)

Working on another one--it should be profitable sooner than business number one.  And also working on a few other ideas.

I'm spread too thin as it is, so it's hard to keep all the balls in the air.  Maybe this thread will be the kick in the pants I need.  :)

dragoncar

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2013, 11:25:39 PM »
Done.  It's called my job.  I'm trying to become independent of it, though :-P

TansyPants

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #7 on: May 09, 2013, 07:25:34 AM »
I'm in. Great timing on this post, btw. Currently i work part time while studying. My boyfriend works full time in the feild i'm studying and just got a *raise* of more than double my annual income. That, in combination with this post may be the kick in the pants i need to get moving and do something productive with my studies. After all, my monthly expenses are only $600/month.

KimPossible

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #8 on: May 09, 2013, 07:31:07 AM »

Over the past 6 months I started up a side business that now covers my monthly expenses, this allows me to save all the income from my day job, and thus build the stache faster. I am about 2-3 yrs away from full ER. I can also continue with the side business for fun and profit after ER.


earlyFI, if you're comfortable sharing, could you tell us a little about your side business?  I love to hear about what people are doing.

earlyFI

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #9 on: May 09, 2013, 08:48:43 AM »

Over the past 6 months I started up a side business that now covers my monthly expenses, this allows me to save all the income from my day job, and thus build the stache faster. I am about 2-3 yrs away from full ER. I can also continue with the side business for fun and profit after ER.


earlyFI, if you're comfortable sharing, could you tell us a little about your side business?  I love to hear about what people are doing.

Would love to share...

My side business is selling on online sites (Read: ebay, amazon, etsy, Craigslist etc.). I have a sister who for the past 5 years has made her living selling items online. She was kind enough to mentor me, I think I saved about 2-3 years of "learning the hard way" by learning from her. I still call her if have questions or run into problems I have never seen. I wanted to quit about 50 times, but told myself I had to try it for 1 year. The trick is knowing what to buy, or what will sell. Even though I was mentored I still made a lot of mistakes at first, buying things that wouldn't sell, or wouldn't sell for much, but I have steadily learned by trial and error, and now I feel more confident about purchasing items and have a sense for what will sell or not sell.

My goal at first wasn't to cover my monthly expenses, just to make some side money. I didn't expect to be able to cover my expenses for a long time, that happening quickly came as a pleasant surprise. In less than a year the money coming in was enough to cover my business expenses, plus my living expenses. (I admit my living expense are low) The money that comes in varies each month, some months are higher than others, but for the past 4 months I have been able to cover my living expenses after an initial investment to buy items (This took about 6 months)

I know this isn't for everyone. I had help, I have interest, I live in an area where there is a lot of opportunity for this type of business. I like being my own boss, I like thinking about how to make the business better, I have room to store inventory, etc. I have never had a job where I could control how much I made by working harder ...so this is exciting. This job does take time (buying, listing, shipping, etc) But it is like a hobby for me, I enjoy the work (for the most part).

The best part is that now I can save more money each month to build the stache. I have also found that I try to keep my expenses lower to make sure they are covered by the incoming funds. I also try to be more creative (like selling something I have, to get something I want).




Nate R

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #10 on: May 09, 2013, 08:52:45 AM »
Interesting! Do you stick to one category/type of item, or are you buying all sorts of things? (ie: Just clothing, or clothes, motorcylces, kitchen appliances, etc)

earlyFI

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #11 on: May 09, 2013, 08:59:24 AM »
Interesting! Do you stick to one category/type of item, or are you buying all sorts of things? (ie: Just clothing, or clothes, motorcylces, kitchen appliances, etc)

When I started it was mostly clothing, but as I got more experience I have branched out into whatever I can find. You never know what you are going to find, that is part of the fun, but since I like outdoor activities... that kind of gear, clothing, etc is interesting to me and I know the most about the brands and quality.

arebelspy

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #12 on: May 09, 2013, 09:11:02 AM »
I made quite a bit in college doing an electronics reselling business on eBay.

After while it just felt too much like work, it wasn't fun.

Made good money, but there are lots of ways to make money, and I wasn't a huge fan of that method.  YMMV.
I am a former teacher who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, spent some time traveling the world full time and am now settled with three kids.
If you want to know more about me, this Business Insider profile tells the story pretty well.
I (rarely) blog at AdventuringAlong.com. Check out the Now page to see what I'm up to currently.

NumberCruncher

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #13 on: May 09, 2013, 09:14:55 AM »
Interesting! Do you stick to one category/type of item, or are you buying all sorts of things? (ie: Just clothing, or clothes, motorcylces, kitchen appliances, etc)

When I started it was mostly clothing, but as I got more experience I have branched out into whatever I can find. You never know what you are going to find, that is part of the fun, but since I like outdoor activities... that kind of gear, clothing, etc is interesting to me and I know the most about the brands and quality.

Sounds like you could self-publish a book on amazon for some more income!

earlyFI

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #14 on: May 09, 2013, 09:25:56 AM »
Interesting! Do you stick to one category/type of item, or are you buying all sorts of things? (ie: Just clothing, or clothes, motorcylces, kitchen appliances, etc)

When I started it was mostly clothing, but as I got more experience I have branched out into whatever I can find. You never know what you are going to find, that is part of the fun, but since I like outdoor activities... that kind of gear, clothing, etc is interesting to me and I know the most about the brands and quality.

Sounds like you could self-publish a book on amazon for some more income!

My sister (and mentor) is doing just that, plus starting a blog! She also trains people for a fee. I like how you think!

innkeeper77

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #15 on: May 09, 2013, 10:02:27 AM »
You know what? I'm in for a go!

I am, and will be over that period, a full time college student. This means that while my earning potential is low (due to my low available time) so are my monthly expenses. I have some side gig / income ideas, and taking on two new part time jobs (and moving on from one) should mean I have a fair bit of capital to work with.

I clearly need to get to work on this! (Though I will procrastinate some due to finals..)

pka222

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #16 on: May 09, 2013, 02:45:21 PM »
Excellent idea- which I am reading as "creating a secondary income stream which covers all expenses".  As opposed to saying that the main job does that now. 
My job gives me 2.88X living costs per year (savings rate of 66%).  But bumping that to 100% with a side gig would reduce my time to FI by over 2 years.  That is a worthy goal.  I tried this approach last year, but complications, time necessary, partners and lack of a solid plan resulted in a net loss of 4-6 months of living expenses and a heck of a lesson learned.
What I need now is a investment/ biz opportunity, with a decent upside, that can be run in the 10-15 hours of time I have after work (50-60hr per week spoken for already) from a small island with a small economy- that means no ebay, no massive markets to tap.  The good bit is that 2K a month for me would be a success.  The island is a holiday destination but the tourism industry is somewhat saturated so I'm wary of going that route. 
Now I'm fishing for ideas- any of you mustachian's have one?
Cheers


KimPossible

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #17 on: May 26, 2013, 10:22:39 AM »
How's everyone doing?  Any progress to report?

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #18 on: May 26, 2013, 04:15:27 PM »
Thanks for asking!

I made a couple of bids on some high-paying consulting projects. I think this is my quickest way to do this. Our living costs are only 35K per year in Tokyo and both bids are for more than that. I have about 4-5 more in the pipeline and will update if any come through.

We're also expanding our property renovation business to become licensed buyers agents, allowing us to offer properties we don't renovate to investors for a fixed fee ($5K~15K depending on the size of the deal). I'm not sure if this counts as a separate income stream but I can see it bringing in more than my required $35K a year as a we see a lot of properties and have a decent-sized database of investors.

The last opportunity I'm sort of working on is with a friend in Australia who wants to start a one-stop shop online presence setup service for SME's. By "sort of working on" I mean "trying to make time to look into properly" because I'm super busy right now.

How's everybody else's experiments coming along?
« Last Edit: May 26, 2013, 04:18:07 PM by nktokyo »

innkeeper77

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #19 on: May 28, 2013, 09:37:32 AM »
I found a small income stream via ebay reselling. A (small, inexpensive) hobby of mine led me to a replacement part that, when purchased on ebay, was significantly more expensive than getting it on the slow boat from china. I bought this part (Merely $2 each- this is very inexpensive) for myself, and some extras to test selling them. I did so, and made a couple dollars profit from each transaction, after fees and shipping. I bought about $40 more inventory, and will be selling that again once it arrives. They should sell quickly, but even if the market dries up before I sell them all, I can still use them myself eventually.

I also purchased a large set of padded shipping envelopes, that can fit these parts and other small items. These envelopes are MUCH cheaper than what I was using before, and will significantly reduce my shipping costs for these, and other things I sell online.

Aside from online selling, I have not made much progress, but finals and moving week are over, so I have time again!

StarswirlTheMustached

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #20 on: May 28, 2013, 01:28:51 PM »
When I saw this thread, my jaw dropped; my eyes went wide as saucers; I may have sputtered, a little. You can just do that?! From a standing start? Well, there's that "outrageous optimism" MMM says I need...

I'd love to try, but have zero confidence. I tried to set myself up as a tutor (the one thing I feel qualified to do) last year, but only made 20-40$ a week. I "only" need 4 times that. (raise my rates, and get more students, right? Too bad those don't go together... and the uni offers none of the classes I was tutoring on campus over summer.)

MMMdude

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #21 on: May 28, 2013, 01:44:30 PM »
I'm an accountant and have long thought about doing taxes/books on the side.  Thing is I want to reach FI as soon as possible to get away from the accounting.   I'm not sure if it's the accounting aspect I don't like, or the rigidity of my career.  At least working from home can be done when you want and only the best customers can be chosen making it more tolerable.  Thing is - there are a fair amount of start up costs.  Need a better computer, accounting and tax software and most expensive of all is professional insurance as the Institute I am registered with will not allow one to work for themselves without insurance (even if it is $1 of income).  All told I'd be looking to outlay a few grand to get started.  I'm just too lazy to do it

Have scoured Alibaba for products to flip.  My wife and I found one that was OK.  We were netting a couple hundred a month for a few months and once product was sold, we did not restock.   This was also only sold locally via Kijiji and not ebay/amazon as shipping kind of killed the profit.

totoro

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #22 on: May 28, 2013, 02:24:15 PM »
I like this thread.  We decided to do a challenge with the kids.  We have a neighbourhood-wide garage sale weekend coming up.  Everyone gets $100 to buy stuff to resell on ebay and CL.  The one who turns it into the most gets $50 extra.  For kids, this could be a good first job. 

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #23 on: May 29, 2013, 02:46:07 AM »
I like this thread.  We decided to do a challenge with the kids.  We have a neighbourhood-wide garage sale weekend coming up.  Everyone gets $100 to buy stuff to resell on ebay and CL.  The one who turns it into the most gets $50 extra.  For kids, this could be a good first job.

Great idea.

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #24 on: June 01, 2013, 09:49:37 PM »
Thanks for asking!

I made a couple of bids on some high-paying consulting projects. I think this is my quickest way to do this. Our living costs are only 35K per year in Tokyo and both bids are for more than that. I have about 4-5 more in the pipeline and will update if any come through.

We're also expanding our property renovation business to become licensed buyers agents, allowing us to offer properties we don't renovate to investors for a fixed fee ($5K~15K depending on the size of the deal). I'm not sure if this counts as a separate income stream but I can see it bringing in more than my required $35K a year as a we see a lot of properties and have a decent-sized database of investors.

The last opportunity I'm sort of working on is with a friend in Australia who wants to start a one-stop shop online presence setup service for SME's. By "sort of working on" I mean "trying to make time to look into properly" because I'm super busy right now.

How's everybody else's experiments coming along?

Ok so some good news here.

1. I won one of the bids. It's a 50 hour on site audit to put together a proposal for a much bigger project. The audit will pay $6,000 and I'm splitting it with a developer. We're under-billing vs the value of the service because the real fish is the proposal that comes after, it will be in the $50,000 - $100,000 range with 20-30% maintenance thereafter. Work starts mid July - the client has some projects to wrap up in June.

2. I got the new license and my sales partner already completed a couple of small brokered deals. My take was about $8,000.

3. No progress to report. Too busy!

I got another paid-by-the-hour consulting gig, it'll net a couple of thousand dollars per month. I wouldn't count it here except the owner has said I might be able to keep a tab of the bill and flip it into an equity position, ie an ongoing income stream. Will let you know how that goes.

So anyway, I'm about 30% towards the goal. Exciting!

MakingSenseofCents

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #25 on: June 02, 2013, 11:04:20 AM »
I have a side income that has pretty much taken over my life. Plan on quitting my day job in 6 months and switching over to my side hustles 100%.  My side hustles are MUCH more enjoyable, and allow me to live the life that I want (something more simple, more travel, no commute, etc.).

NestEggChick (formerly PFgal)

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #26 on: June 02, 2013, 09:05:53 PM »
For all of you with successful side hustles, would you consider sharing what they are (if you haven't already)? I'm trying to get ideas, and I love hearing what other people do. It gets the brain working in the right direction.

MakingSenseofCents

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #27 on: June 02, 2013, 09:22:50 PM »
For all of you with successful side hustles, would you consider sharing what they are (if you haven't already)? I'm trying to get ideas, and I love hearing what other people do. It gets the brain working in the right direction.

Of course! I talk a ton about my side hustles on my blog  http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/extra-income

I freelance write, blog, rent an extra room in my house to my sister, and more! :)

NestEggChick (formerly PFgal)

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #28 on: June 03, 2013, 08:58:34 PM »
Thanks MakingSenseOfCents! This is helpful! Anyone else want to share?

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #29 on: June 04, 2013, 12:45:05 AM »
I consult in IT and project management, buy and trade real estate and co-run a small property buyers agency website now.

A lot of this has all come online in the last couple of years. When combined with a MMM way of managing expense it was a pretty quick rat race exit.

JamesAt15

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #30 on: June 04, 2013, 01:30:52 AM »
Is that Sleepwell Homes, by any chance?

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #31 on: June 04, 2013, 06:41:37 PM »
When I saw this thread, my jaw dropped; my eyes went wide as saucers; I may have sputtered, a little. You can just do that?! From a standing start? Well, there's that "outrageous optimism" MMM says I need...

I'd love to try, but have zero confidence. I tried to set myself up as a tutor (the one thing I feel qualified to do) last year, but only made 20-40$ a week. I "only" need 4 times that. (raise my rates, and get more students, right? Too bad those don't go together... and the uni offers none of the classes I was tutoring on campus over summer.)

You don't need to know the end income to make the first step. In fact it helps not to think too far ahead because the goal may be Everest, whereas what you have to do first is walk 100m up a small hill and see how it goes.

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #32 on: June 04, 2013, 06:48:05 PM »
Is that Sleepwell Homes, by any chance?

No, I know of that company. My business is is NZ and I primarily help Kiwi and Aussie investors get great deals. URL is here if anyone's interested.

From experience it's better to just try make a few deals and see what works for you than envisioning a "company" replete with branding, staff and all that. Companies are just a structure to make doing deals easier and (hopefully) do more of them. In the beginning just try things as an experiment.

I looked at Japan but lending is terrible, making it hard to on sell.

Praxis

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #33 on: June 05, 2013, 03:26:16 PM »
Challenge accepted.

I was actually going to do this anyway, though six months might be pushing it, I'm trying to speedrun through this.

I'm going to consider my start day to be the beginning of May if that's alright?  I'm currently saving 60% of my take-home (post tax/insurance/contributions).  So I need investment income to equal 40% of my take home, all created in six months, *not counting* existing investment income.

Bring it on.

nktokyo

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #34 on: June 05, 2013, 06:28:40 PM »
Challenge accepted.

I was actually going to do this anyway, though six months might be pushing it, I'm trying to speedrun through this.

I'm going to consider my start day to be the beginning of May if that's alright?  I'm currently saving 60% of my take-home (post tax/insurance/contributions).  So I need investment income to equal 40% of my take home, all created in six months, *not counting* existing investment income.

Bring it on.

Welcome - pick your own start day for sure. Good luck.

Praxis

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #35 on: June 05, 2013, 09:37:16 PM »
May 1st start date, so I am one month in now.  (I was doing almost exactly this already, with the end of the year as my goal date...changing it to November won't be too much harder.)

Prepare yourself for the power of extreme optimism combined with good old-fashioned cleverness.

Also, for the record, my net worth at start (including retirement funds and home equity) is almost precisely 2x my annual pre-tax income.  I am not starting from scratch, but most calculators would put me decades from retirement still.

TansyPants

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #36 on: June 06, 2013, 11:19:05 AM »
So, i'm modifying mine as i'm now looking to finish up my equine massage qualification, and also beginning work on a website for horse owners/proffesionals/enthusiasts. I'm also creating a website for a friend of mine, and willnget some equity in that. Good practice for me :)
really excited to be back working with horses again. I'd put it off for a while a i'm living in a city with a small equine population, but i recently got permission to work with some of the nyc carriage horses so i should get my case studies done pretty fast! 3 this week already and 3 more to go tomorrow :)and the going rate for this is 12 times my current hourly rate. So once qualified working on 3 horses a week will replace my entire income (holy crap that's insane.) The hope is that the websites will eventually provide passive income, and the massage will replace my current job entirely. With much more fun, fewer hours, and self management. Huzzah!

(Free cell honee likes to insert words when i hit space, and also types "p" repeatedly or not at all. Sorry for typos)

tylerherman

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #37 on: June 06, 2013, 04:44:40 PM »
I'll accept this challenge. Been looking to move into working for myself anyway, might as well get on it.

I build websites at my day job so I suppose I'll... build more websites. Well one website.

SEO and affiliate marketing has been a hobby of mine for the last couple years but I haven't taken to doing either seriously. Make a few hundred a month from a couple little sites I have. But I have a decent niche picked out and a site I can build. 6 month is probably pushing it but I think I may be able to get up to a couple K a month.

I'll consider June 1 my start date, so Dec 1 I guess I'll be bringing some extra cash. Cheers.

limeandpepper

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #38 on: June 06, 2013, 08:23:43 PM »
SEO and affiliate marketing has been a hobby of mine for the last couple years but I haven't taken to doing either seriously. Make a few hundred a month from a couple little sites I have. But I have a decent niche picked out and a site I can build. 6 month is probably pushing it but I think I may be able to get up to a couple K a month.

I'm curious, what type of content is in the couple of little sites you already have, if you don't mind me asking?

StarswirlTheMustached

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #39 on: June 07, 2013, 08:59:37 AM »
When I saw this thread, my jaw dropped; my eyes went wide as saucers; I may have sputtered, a little. You can just do that?! From a standing start? Well, there's that "outrageous optimism" MMM says I need...

I'd love to try, but have zero confidence. I tried to set myself up as a tutor (the one thing I feel qualified to do) last year, but only made 20-40$ a week. I "only" need 4 times that. (raise my rates, and get more students, right? Too bad those don't go together... and the uni offers none of the classes I was tutoring on campus over summer.)
You don't need to know the end income to make the first step. In fact it helps not to think too far ahead because the goal may be Everest, whereas what you have to do first is walk 100m up a small hill and see how it goes.
The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, eh? Worth a shot. Any money is better than the no money I'm pulling in right now-- and Lord knows, tutoring is more fun than what I'm doing right now. I've got a web site going to try and make a presence for myself and will be putting adds on Kijiji and such, and we shall see, I suppose.
Maybe I should get the SEO expert to help me with that part.

MustachianAccountant

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #40 on: June 07, 2013, 11:39:14 AM »
I'm late to the party, but I'm in! And I'll try to keep the November deadline.
I just came across a lead that could become lucrative, but I have to do some up front studying so that I know my stuff going into it. (Freelancing doing "niche" tax returns)
Plus, I have some non-lucrative "hobby hustles" that sometimes generate money.
Will post again if the lucrative opportunity pans out.

innkeeper77

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #41 on: June 07, 2013, 01:09:17 PM »
I found a small income stream via ebay reselling. A (small, inexpensive) hobby of mine led me to a replacement part that, when purchased on ebay, was significantly more expensive than getting it on the slow boat from china. I bought this part (Merely $2 each- this is very inexpensive) for myself, and some extras to test selling them. I did so, and made a couple dollars profit from each transaction, after fees and shipping. I bought about $40 more inventory, and will be selling that again once it arrives. They should sell quickly, but even if the market dries up before I sell them all, I can still use them myself eventually.

I also purchased a large set of padded shipping envelopes, that can fit these parts and other small items. These envelopes are MUCH cheaper than what I was using before, and will significantly reduce my shipping costs for these, and other things I sell online.

Aside from online selling, I have not made much progress, but finals and moving week are over, so I have time again!

Update: I have been severely delayed, due to the fact that I recently accepted a nice side job. Since that job is working for someone else, it does not fit the terms of this challenge, but I am using a large chunk of that income to buy equity in the market, as well as saving in an emergency fund, etc. Overall my expenses are less than 40% of my income, so I think that is decent for while I am still in undergrad!

I am still slowly selling on ebay, and recently posted a craigslist ad to see if I can do that locally at all (avoiding fees and shipping)

I also have another hobby, and some interesting ideas for it. I will probably spend more than I should on this, but I will be guaranteed to make some of it back without even monetizing it, and I have some interesting ideas to actually monetize it in the future in a few different ways. In addition to this, I learn a lot and therefore can justify the cost. (Total cost- under $1000 even including my wildest ideas, under $700 initially. Expensive, yes. Overly expensive? Not really) - Hint: This involves some advanced robotics. Yes I admit it is not the most mustachian hobby, but I really enjoy it, and can certainly afford it, even without ever successfully monetizing.
« Last Edit: June 07, 2013, 01:19:34 PM by innkeeper77 »

tylerherman

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #42 on: June 10, 2013, 10:36:38 PM »
SEO and affiliate marketing has been a hobby of mine for the last couple years but I haven't taken to doing either seriously. Make a few hundred a month from a couple little sites I have. But I have a decent niche picked out and a site I can build. 6 month is probably pushing it but I think I may be able to get up to a couple K a month.

I'm curious, what type of content is in the couple of little sites you already have, if you don't mind me asking?

That is like the first rule of fight club, you don't out people's sites, but I don't really care too much. A lot of mine are boring shit. I had some gardening sites I sold a while ago that did pretty well. Right now I have some sports stuff and some weight loss stuff. Not going to talk about my new site but if you want some ideas/advice you can bounce ideas off me.

It really don't matter the niche you chose, there is potential in everything, it's just a matter of finding something easy, or being willing to spend the time to break in to something harder. If you want to tackle something tough like weight loss/pharma/payday loans, you're in for a big ass challenge but even with those, there are little sub-niches that are a little easier that you can find if you look hard enough.

limeandpepper

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #43 on: June 11, 2013, 07:17:18 AM »
Thanks, Tyler! I currently have a blog but only get a few hundred per year out of it, as opposed to per month. Having said that, I do it as a hobby and I don't work as hard on it as I could if I truly wanted, so anything is a bonus really. How many page views are you getting to achieve that income, and is it mostly through things like Adsense? I'm thinking about starting another blog or website, with a view to creating income from it, hopefully by the end of this year.

tylerherman

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #44 on: June 11, 2013, 03:27:18 PM »
3500-5500ish views a month from a couple different sites. Only about $60-$100 from Adsense, kinda think of that as a last resort if no affiliate offers are working. Individual affiliate programs > amazon affiliate > adsense > media.net IMO but everyone does things differently.

limeandpepper

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #45 on: June 12, 2013, 09:36:10 AM »
I've never actually used any affiliate programs. It seems they can be a pretty good money-spinner, though, will definitely have to look into that. I'm not even using Adsense, partly because I haven't been that serious about making money off my blog, and partly because I figured I'd only get like a couple dollars a month out of it, but it sounds like I could potentially do better than that? I get about 5k page views (over 3k unique) per month, similar to your sites.

Monkey Master

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #46 on: June 14, 2013, 04:56:44 AM »
I was a little bit doubftful about Adsense and had no idea how much they would be paying. But I get between $1 and $2 per click, which really was a huge surprise. I didn't expect that and some of my friends don't even believe Google can pay that much.

The hard part is to actually have people click on the ads. Some research shows that only about 2% of visitors will actually click. But then, depending on your topic or the way you display the ads, you could get a better click rate.

Personally, I'm making about $10 a month with Adsense for 1k page views. But making money wasn't the purpose of my blog either. It is not optimised for ads and affiliate programs. But a focused website that can take advantage of Adsense could make a lot of money.

Baylor3217

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #47 on: June 16, 2013, 12:55:28 AM »
3500-5500ish views a month from a couple different sites. Only about $60-$100 from Adsense, kinda think of that as a last resort if no affiliate offers are working. Individual affiliate programs > amazon affiliate > adsense > media.net IMO but everyone does things differently.

How do you go about acquiring individual affiliate programs and how much money can be made there?

tylerherman

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #48 on: June 17, 2013, 06:56:52 PM »
3500-5500ish views a month from a couple different sites. Only about $60-$100 from Adsense, kinda think of that as a last resort if no affiliate offers are working. Individual affiliate programs > amazon affiliate > adsense > media.net IMO but everyone does things differently.

How do you go about acquiring individual affiliate programs and how much money can be made there?

Think of a product. Google the "product name + affiliate program".

If you're looking to make a side income I don't really recommend affiliate marketing unless you're 1) already an expert on a topic and like writing 2) a great writer 3) good as SEO 4) good at design and building websites 5) good at online promotion/social 6) all of the previous.

If you're totally new to all of these you'd probably make a lot more money doing almost anything else. It'll take too much time to learn how to do it right and for the time you invest you would be better off just getting a job flipping burgers. It might take you 1000 hours over the course of a year to get up to $300 a month. You could probably make 50x that if you'd spent that same amount of time working at a local business, even at minimum wage.

Because there are absolutely no barriers to entry, competition online is really fierce. Lots of easier ways to make money but its something I know so... it's what I do.

Back on topic:

Going to try to launch site at the end of the month. Not monetized in any way, about 50 pages of content. Try to have 200 pages at end of July.

Baylor3217

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Re: Create an income that covers living costs in 6 months
« Reply #49 on: June 20, 2013, 07:54:29 PM »
I guess that's why this is very hard to do as this thread has trailed of.