Increasing Income
- Ask for a raise
This is one of simplest steps to take when trying to increase income. This does not take much effort other than making the ask. Before you do this, make sure you are prepared with justification on why you deserve a raise. Having documentation of what you’ve accomplished, awards, recognition, market salary, and other job offers are useful to help with the negotiation.
- Find a higher paying job
If you’ve hit a ceiling at your job or don’t want to be there any longer for any reason, then it might be time to look for another job. Since the pandemic, many employers have a hard time filling vacant positions. TheGreat Resignationworsened this issue with many workers choosing to quit their jobs due to stress and burnout. Because of this, there is an influx of jobs in almost any industry you look. This provides an opportunity for you to increase income just by being you.
- Start a side hustle
There’s an unlimited amount of side hustles out there that you can start to increase income. Is there a product you can create or have access to sell? If you don’t have a product, you can even do affiliate marketing where you market other people’s products or services for a commission. When done right, affiliate marketing can bring six-figure income.
- Sell unwanted items
The longer you live in a location, the more you will naturally collect. Some of these things, you may have only used a handful of times or maybe not at all. These items are good candidates to sell. It’s a win-win for you and the person buying the item. They get something they want while you are decluttering and making extra income. A good rule of thumb is if you haven’t used the item in more than 6 months, then you probably don’t need it.
- Rent out a room
If you live in a home or condo that has an open room, then this could be rented out to increase income. Even if you are renting, there may be a possibility to sublet (rent) to a subtenant. You should look at your lease or get permission from the landlord. It may not even need to be a room, if you have open space in your basem*nt, storage shed, swimming pool (yes, you read this right), or garage, these could also be rented out.
- Pay off debt
This could go into the reduce expenses category, but it is also worth mentioning to increase income. By paying off a debt that has a monthly payment of $500, it will bring in an extra $500 of income or $6,000 a year. You’ll want to look at the opportunity cost of paying off debt versus using the money to increase income through investing or starting a side hustle.
- Find tax deductions and credits
If you are getting a tax return every year, then you are giving the federal government a zero-interest loan to hold on to your money and return it to you the following year. We should not be celebrating this free loan but should take enough deductions and credits to either have the smallest return as possible or pay just a little.
This way, you can increase income and save more. There are free tax calculators that can help you estimate your taxes and help you adjust the allowances and taxes. It is a trial-and-error process to get it to where you are paying or receiving close to zero. It is easier to estimate this if you have a stable salary than if you have variable income.
- Rent out your car
If you have a car you don’t drive often, then you could consider renting it out. There are several services out there including Turo and Getaround that allows you to put your car up for rent. Insurance is provided by these companies and the rental amounts differ by make, model, availability, and market.
- Teach a skill
Do you have a unique skill or an unusual amount of knowledge about a certain topic? This could be turned into income. You could advertise online or locally that you are willing to teach this skill or topic. Another very popular way to teach your skill is by creating a course online through websites such as Teachable, Udemy, and Coursera. Each has their own turnkey solution to help you create your course and then marketing it.
- Hire out your skills
In addition to trying to teach your skill, you can also hire it out. Your skill doesn’t even need to be specialized. For example, are you good at staying organized, then you could help others get their house, life, or whatever it is organized. You could be a virtual assistant that can check and filter your client’s emails, book restaurant and flight reservations, etc. Many times, people get busy and don’t have time to complete routine tasks and this can be an opportunity for you. If you have a specialized skill, then this could be very valuable for you to increase income.
- Create passive income
Passive income is different from these other suggestions in that the above requires you to be active in the activity. If you don’t do it, then it doesn’t get done and you aren’t paid. With passive income, the income is produced without your active participation. Examples of passive income include creating an online course, creating an eBook, rental income, selling stock photography online, dividend stocks, and advertising on your car, etc. Creating passive income may require some work at the beginning but once established it will need little or no time from you to increase income.
Conclusion
There you have it. These are 11 suggestions on how to increase your income without a lot of effort or the need to make a large change. Because there is no ceiling to how much you can make, if you increase income, it will accelerate your journey to financial independence and make work optional.
This list is by no means exhaustive as there are infinite ways to increase income. Be creative and look around you, and you may be surprised at what you can find.
Discussing how to improve your personal finances is one of the things I discuss in myFREE Financial Independence Plan Frameworkguide that you can download below.
If you are serious about financial independence or are still thinking or learning about it, then you should get this free download. What do you have to lose? It’s FREE!
