…or starting a whole new career/business.

It’s really, really, really simple.

Do what you love.

I’ve read a lot about how to earn extra money or work from home in websites and books and magazine articles and frankly, most of the ideas sound poorly researched, risky, not very profitable, hard to market, and drudgery. We all know that desperate feeling of wishing we had a few extra bucks to help pay for car repairs, medical bills, or to get out of debt. Taking on a side business may be the answer.

Have you ever noticed that what is work to some people is a joy to others? I’ll give you an example. I was getting my hair cut a few weeks ago and I commented to the woman that she must get awfully tired standing all day.

She said she did.

I said I had worked in retail in my college days and just came home and plopped on the couch exhausted.

Do you know what she said? She said she loves to garden. That when she got off work she loved to be able to go out and pull weeds, dig, plant, trim. It was her re generator. For me it would have been pure punishment.

People love different things, people hate different things. Find a match for yourself and you probably have the makings of some extra money.

Let’s say you love carpentry. And you love kids. Start a birthday party business where kids come to your garage or backyard and you teach them how to make something simple yet fun (funny is best.) Have a table set up for the cake and presents (the customer brings all this) and you cash in. You might get a local hardware store to sponsor part of your costs–you’ll handout coupons for the store…A few hours of work and you could make a nice chunk of change. And have some laughs.

Let’s say you are retired or unemployed. And you are very organized, very good at getting things done, and very reliable. Add to that that perhaps you have some general knowledge about car repairs, home repairs, etc. You could easily market your services to busy professionals (particularly doctors) to take care of taking their car in for repairs, staying at their house to wait/supervise repairmen or installers, running errands of all sorts. One doctor I know wished he could find someone to research investment properties for him–without working with a high-pressure agent. Print up an attractive flier, rubber band it to a roll of Lifesavers and pass them out where doctors (and their office managers) hang out. Leave a basket at the deli where they eat–with a fee for the deli owner. See if you can get them into doctor’s lounges in hospitals and outpatient surgical centers.

These are just two examples. If this is something you want to do start by making a long, long list of everything you like to do, from brushing your teeth to sending out birthday cards.

I guarantee you that something you like to do is the very thing that someone else either doesn’t have time to do, doesn’t know how to do, needs help with, or hates to do. Services that focus on “green” living or on serving the elderly and their caretaker families are really hot right now.

If you have found interesting ways to earn extra income please share your experience.

Face Your Dream, Embrace Your Loves

NOW HERE’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES:

“To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?”
Katharine Graham