> FREE ARTICLES: October 2007

How to go about earning an Extra Income

Extra Income means an income that you can earn apart from the regular income coming in from employment or normal work. This earning can be used to payoff your outstanding debts or build up a capital account or spend it on luxuries that you could only think about before. Everyone seems to want a second income but no one wants to work a second job, so the extra income is normally seen as a windfall.

When we compare income levels in different countries, it is evident that the average income per person is less than $15,000 a year--in other words, where many people are near the breadline -- Extra Income really does make people happier and improves their lifestyle.

But countries which have average income above the normal subsistence level of approximately $15,000 a year, happiness seems to be income independent. For example, an average American ranks richer than an average Indian or an Austrian, but also less happy.

Why does this happen? People always look at their income relatively with some norm or the other and the norm keeps rising all the time. And this norm is what increases the spending, more or less in direct proportion to the income. Two things drive up the norm with which people compare their incomes. One is the income that they themselves have experienced -- which habituates them to higher standards of living. And the other is the income that their colleagues or neighbors get, and which they try to outdo.

The extra income options available today are targeted to generate employment and are targeted specifically at people who can use their skills that are lying dormant to make some more money for themselves. To achieve a moderate success in generating an extra income one should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This would greatly help in selection of a most suitable way to generate extra income.

The selection process consists of logical steps. Firstly one should ask themselves of an honest opinion of their strengths, what they excel at? What do people around them keep complimenting or criticizing them on?, are they perfectionists?, For example, if you are a computer literate you could help your neighborhood in upgrades, repairs or installation of software.

The extra income can also be augmented by doing extra seasonal chores like raking leaves in the fall or clearing snow in winters. These are just a few ideas, but making an extra income augmented with self analysis will take away the need for a second job.

Today the internet and the general market have a lot of ideas for generating extra income. Network marketing in general market terms has been successful to some extent. Internet offers something similar that says affiliate marketing. The internet also offers a host of other options like writing, advertising and simple technical non-technical jobs which can highly augment your regular income. The extra income that can be earned form these opportunities depends on how good your skills in the field of your selection.

Giving yourself a Pay Raise with Extra Income

Extra Income opportunities are basically work-from-home opportunities that help augment your regular income. Many people are opting for these work-from-home opportunities for the following reasons:

1. Most people think they are losing the battle to balance work and family, time wise and income wise. If they are going to work 12 hours a day outside home and just manage to scrape the bottom of the vessel for survival, finally coming home to family too tired to spend any time with them, is it worth the effort?

2. A burning desire to be financially independent and successful by adding that extra income to their regular income with popular work-from-home opportunities.

The very fact that these extra income churning work-from-home opportunities have become popular is due to the above mentioned factors. These opportunities present a lot of flexibility in spending time with family and children, social commitments and of course financial liberation. These extra income generating opportunities also give you a chance to be your own master and work your own times.

How to find a suitable extra income generating opportunity? Here are some dos and don’ts:

1. Analyze yourself and find out what your core competency is. Marketing, Writing, Programming or anything else that you excel in.

2. Analyze what your friends and family see in you, what they praise you for and what they criticize you for. This will help in narrowing down your options.

3. Try and find out how different or relevant it is to your regular job or work that you do today.

4. Ask yourself about the job satisfaction that you have today and you might have if you get a suitable extra income generating opportunity.

5. Analyze the skills that you possess but have gone unused since you have been working. Ask yourself, if you would be comfortable bringing them out to generate that extra income?

After doing the above, research and analyze the opportunities available by talking to people who already have extra income coming their way or use the internet to find opportunities that match your skills. Make a list of opportunities in descending order of your preference with at least 5 entries.

Get going in a small way, spending about an hour a day. Try it out before you commit to something.

Analyze if you like doing the work after a period of about 1-2 months and see the extra income you earn. If you think that the work is suited to you and the work has enough potential to earn you the extra income that you were targeting for, try to spend more time and energy on it to increase that extra income. If you see that you really don’t enjoy it, shift the focus to the second opportunity on the list.

Remember these opportunities are basically work being done for other professionals and they have to be treated with professionalism and care. You cannot take them lying back and expect returns. The only advantage is that you will be doing what you love to do and get paid handsomely for it.

Extra Income through Affiliate Marketing – Part 2 of 2.

Beginners and first timers should look at something more modest than $5,000 dollars a month. Starting with a smaller objective like $50 or $100 extra income a day, at the same time learning the trade’s smaller and important nuances will be worthwhile in creating a long term and sustained affiliate marketing business.

As a goal of earning extra income of $50 a day may seem small and non lucrative, but it is achievable and affiliate marketing being a continuous learning process, it is a good place and budget to begin with. Remember, you are also learning how to do things successfully at the same time. Give it some lead time and you could substantially increase your extra income using affiliate marketing.

Keep revising your goals periodically, as often as fortnightly or monthly. Remember these goals should point in the direction of one larger single goal that you want to achieve in terms of success or in terms of amount of extra income you want to earn. Put these goals on paper and make sure they are in visible range on your table all the time. This will help focus your energy towards your goals.

A lot of literature is available on focus and goal setting by renowned and successful people like Zig Ziggler and more. Reading them would help you not only to add to your knowledge base but also to work in a better and more efficient way towards achieving that extra income goal of yours.

The next step would be the most important in your career as an affiliate marketer to earn extra income. Go out of your way and into the field to make connections and contacts with relevant and useful people in the affiliate marketing industry.

Connections to Your Future

The professional affiliate marketing people are well knit and close group of individuals connected constantly and regularly with each other. A constant stream of information is shared helping each other. All these successful marketers strongly believe that everyone benefits by learning from each others mistakes.

Getting out there to help people would be a better attitude to take rather than just looking for business, since this field of marketing works on a principle which says “Help yourself by helping others.” This is a better philosophy to follow in the long run to make long lasting friends and building a business that gives long lasting extra income. People out there will certainly help you when you are willing to help and extend the hand first.

If you can try and relate to these people, which I am sure you can, since you will be sharing the same objectives as they do in the long run of generating a good extra income, will relieve a great deal of work stress and as a result you will be able to perform better.

The moment you invest a little money in someone else’s business, you cannot be ignored. They will take you seriously and you will shine… all the time making that extra income!

Extra Income through Affiliate Marketing – Part 1 of 2.

Affiliate Marketing is the fastest growing industry on the Internet today. Extra Income made through this channel runs into billions of dollars yearly. Many people get involved in it without a solid plan for success. Indeed, many want to earn extra income using affiliate marketing, albeit without a real base plan, which is the most important reason for most being unsuccessful at it. Do you really look at any earning without understanding or planning the future of any business, be it at work or at earning extra income?

Don not be under any misconceptions, though affiliate marketing is an easy and entertaining way to earn extra income, it is serious work, and just like any other job that requires effort, perseverance, and above all, a clear line of sight and plan of action from start to finish line.

Small things like setting up your home office properly, getting up to date on know-how, setting achievable goals, making people connections, and investment in your business will ensure that you are one-up on your competition, and also make sure that you firmly stand over them.

Home Office Setup

The most important step to take before becoming an affiliate marketer is to set up your base – little home office you’ve always wanted.

You can find many resources on the internet about ergonomic design. Ergonomic because anyone intending to spend a major amount of time working on their computers need space which promotes good posture at the same time takes care of safety issues involving their office workspace.

Learning the Trade

Nobody gets into work untrained. Even when you applied for your first job, you had made sure that you are qualified and can do justice to it. Putting in a nutshell, no one hires you for giving you a free extra income without basic training.

What you need then, is to get some training on how to become a professional affiliate marketer. You can start by finding another one and check what they can do to help you. There are many professional affiliate marketers already earning a substantial extra income, who would be willing to teach you by passing o their knowledge so that you can augment the extra income they are already earning. The internet also offers a lot of resources and conference time tables which you can attend to learn.

The secret is to become a student of your own business; you will get to learn something new day after day. Now you are ready to begin by setting some realistic goals for yourself.

Goals

The major problem that plagues most affiliate marketers is that they tend to set themselves unrealistic goals by being over confident about their skills and plans. This results in becoming disenchanted very quickly due to non attainment of goals. Being realistic removes a lot of pain in this context. For example a goal of $5,000 a month realistically attainable, but a first time affiliate marketer is not likely to attain it when starting up.

Extra Income with Affiliate Marketing

Reinforcing belief in yourself can be reflected by investing in your own business of affiliate marketing. The ore you invest the more extra income you generate.

Quoting an old proverb, “It takes money to make money”, it is very apt in relevance to the business of generating extra income through affiliate marketing.

Affiliate marketing is cheap to set up, being a home business. Apart from setting up the home office itself, there are more costs involved in setting it up and get it running smoothly. Stuff like office tables, chairs and other home office accessories can get a little expensive depending on your choices, tastes and aesthetic sense.

The other costs involved will be at your induction into the affiliate marketing industry. To generate that extra income you will need to invest in finding web space, registering your own domain name and building your own website that would involve about $100 a year in recurring costs. This can be reduced by using template options for your website. Select a template that is professional looking, clean, aesthetic template and edit it to put in your information. Invest time, money and space well in quality content, although it will take a little time and patience, make sure the website is easy to read while fulfilling the needs of being an affiliate site. This will go a long way in securing more hits adding to your objective of extra income generation.

Find professional writers to do the content for your website. They are expensive but deservedly so, since they can make or break your web presence. Use their services by choice and prudence, remembering that it will ultimately affect your bottom line of that extra income you are chasing.

What you are investing today is your investment into your future and your success. Follow up your investment with zeal and commitment and there would be nothing stopping you from realizing your dreams through earning that extra income.

Rome wasn’t built in a day; your extra income business wouldn’t be either. It takes time to succeed in everything and anything. Patience and perseverance are keys to building any business. This article expectedly should have given you some insights into setting up and building a successful affiliate marketing business, and the direction you should take towards earning that extra income you have always dreamed about earning.

Keep going and it wouldn’t be long before others approach you for advice and tips on how to be successful.

Extra Income working from home

Every entrepreneur, to achieve any amount of success should be motivated. Motivation comes from passion. Every book published or e-book that deals in money making and motivation screams passion – the most important ingredient in any successful entrepreneur.

Similarly, when you think about going after that extra income, you have to create a burning passion to do so. It will keep your fire glowing for a long time, at least till the first results become apparent. After that passion at a particular level keeps in rotation, after all money is the biggest motivator.

An entrepreneur embarking upon the route of home office and extra income should strongly believe in himself and his capabilities. He/ She should be thick skinned not to be perturbed or affected in any way by others comments and opinions. People are just plain jealous. Clear conscience and belief in oneself does not seek external approval. Evidence enough that, once you are successful and start earning extra income, the negative opinions and nasty comments turn into praise. One should have the ability and courage to make independent decisions and abide by them. This would be your most valuable asset yet.

Online businesses are basically scams – popular opinion of people around you in any part of the world. Your online business needs your approval heart and soul; otherwise success will keep eluding you and so will the extra income you planned from it. If Edison did not believe, that electricity can be harnessed to light up human life; we would still be living in the dark ages, wouldn’t we?

Being flexible with working hours, being energetic, planning wisely, focusing on short-term objectives and stress control are hallmarks of a successful home business owner. If you think you lack in any of them, practice till you make these attributes a part of your involuntary senses.

Discipline to start is very important but to know where to stop is more important. Do not overwork or stress up yourself to the point of not stopping. It will only burn out your imagination and render you useless for some time to come. Making short time extra income, you will lose out on the next few dollars (ex: Burning out today may earn you $1000 today, but by not working for the next 3 days you will lose $500X3 = $1500). Work the number of hours as per the plan you carefully laid out.

Building your business is more important than earning money out of it. As your business sustains and grows, the money you earn from it automatically grows. Treat the home business as your hobby and keep abreast of it through updated information. Knowledge earned does not cost a cent here but will help in decision making in all spheres of independent life.

Last but not the least, fear of failure and not failure itself leads to most failures. Keep trying, look at failure as a part of learning and appreciate your benefit of knowledge from it. Learn fro your mistakes, a lesson we have learnt in primary school.

Giving yourself a Pay Raise with Extra Income

Extra Income opportunities are basically work-from-home opportunities that help augment your regular income. Many people are opting for these work-from-home opportunities for the following reasons:

1. Most people think they are losing the battle to balance work and family, time wise and income wise. If they are going to work 12 hours a day outside home and just manage to scrape the bottom of the vessel for survival, finally coming home to family too tired to spend any time with them, is it worth the effort?

2. A burning desire to be financially independent and successful by adding that extra income to their regular income with popular work-from-home opportunities.

The very fact that these extra income churning work-from-home opportunities have become popular is due to the above mentioned factors. These opportunities present a lot of flexibility in spending time with family and children, social commitments and of course financial liberation. These extra income generating opportunities also give you a chance to be your own master and work your own times.

How to find a suitable extra income generating opportunity? Here are some dos and don’ts:

1. Analyze yourself and find out what your core competency is. Marketing, Writing, Programming or anything else that you excel in.

2. Analyze what your friends and family see in you, what they praise you for and what they criticize you for. This will help in narrowing down your options.

3. Try and find out how different or relevant it is to your regular job or work that you do today.

4. Ask yourself about the job satisfaction that you have today and you might have if you get a suitable extra income generating opportunity.

5. Analyze the skills that you possess but have gone unused since you have been working. Ask yourself, if you would be comfortable bringing them out to generate that extra income?

After doing the above, research and analyze the opportunities available by talking to people who already have extra income coming their way or use the internet to find opportunities that match your skills. Make a list of opportunities in descending order of your preference with at least 5 entries.

Get going in a small way, spending about an hour a day. Try it out before you commit to something.

Analyze if you like doing the work after a period of about 1-2 months and see the extra income you earn. If you think that the work is suited to you and the work has enough potential to earn you the extra income that you were targeting for, try to spend more time and energy on it to increase that extra income. If you see that you really don’t enjoy it, shift the focus to the second opportunity on the list.

Remember these opportunities are basically work being done for other professionals and they have to be treated with professionalism and care. You cannot take them lying back and expect returns. The only advantage is that you will be doing what you love to do and get paid handsomely for it.

Extra Income working from home

Every entrepreneur, to achieve any amount of success should be motivated. Motivation comes from passion. Every book published or e-book that deals in money making and motivation screams passion – the most important ingredient in any successful entrepreneur.

Similarly, when you think about going after that extra income, you have to create a burning passion to do so. It will keep your fire glowing for a long time, at least till the first results become apparent. After that passion at a particular level keeps in rotation, after all money is the biggest motivator.

An entrepreneur embarking upon the route of home office and extra income should strongly believe in himself and his capabilities. He/ She should be thick skinned not to be perturbed or affected in any way by others comments and opinions. People are just plain jealous. Clear conscience and belief in oneself does not seek external approval. Evidence enough that, once you are successful and start earning extra income, the negative opinions and nasty comments turn into praise. One should have the ability and courage to make independent decisions and abide by them. This would be your most valuable asset yet.

Online businesses are basically scams – popular opinion of people around you in any part of the world. Your online business needs your approval heart and soul; otherwise success will keep eluding you and so will the extra income you planned from it. If Edison did not believe, that electricity can be harnessed to light up human life; we would still be living in the dark ages, wouldn’t we?

Being flexible with working hours, being energetic, planning wisely, focusing on short-term objectives and stress control are hallmarks of a successful home business owner. If you think you lack in any of them, practice till you make these attributes a part of your involuntary senses.

Discipline to start is very important but to know where to stop is more important. Do not overwork or stress up yourself to the point of not stopping. It will only burn out your imagination and render you useless for some time to come. Making short time extra income, you will lose out on the next few dollars (ex: Burning out today may earn you $1000 today, but by not working for the next 3 days you will lose $500X3 = $1500). Work the number of hours as per the plan you carefully laid out.

Building your business is more important than earning money out of it. As your business sustains and grows, the money you earn from it automatically grows. Treat the home business as your hobby and keep abreast of it through updated information. Knowledge earned does not cost a cent here but will help in decision making in all spheres of independent life.

Extra Income Qualifications

It’s time to ask oneself, whether they have the right qualities and characteristics to make that Extra Income. Extra Income programs do need certain characteristics to run them successfully. You have to be cutout for it. No one else can do it for you, irrespective of qualities. You need an extra income, you work off for it. Simple.

There are an awful lot of people out there al around the globe looking to make that extra income, and money matters. A few checks and realities have to be brought to the fore before you get into the rigmarole.

Meaning no offence to anyone, few people are better with a second job to supplement their regular income rather than starting up an extra income program. It’s not worth the effort for them to waste precious time and effort on the internet when the chances of their failure are great.

In today’s economy, employers have got into the habit (maybe due to hard pressed finances) of delaying raises, whereas inflation is faster to catch up with an individual. To make ends meet it has become essential that he/she looks for extra income opportunities at the earliest to ease out the current scenario and to secure a better future. Apart from paying bills, concerns of better living and growth are of paramount importance in ones life.

In conjunction, computers and internet have made it possible to bring people and work together to match their skills, interests and abilities which can be molded into the home business mould making it possible to earn that extra income without much of a fuss. Keeping the ease of setting up and starting off in mind, it is again advised not to jump. The extra income route is not for everyone.

Make sure you qualify the following attributes before thinking of the extra income route. Be honest to yourself while reading the following since this can make or break you:

1. Are you Goal Oriented? To be successful in any endeavor, one must have goals. Goals define the means and ways of achieving something. They can be set in two ways

a. The amount of extra income you want to earn in dollars.

b. The time you want to spend on a specific job to earn the dollars.

What, When, Where are three important specifics that you have to define before embarking.


2. Ask yourself

a. Can you afford the program? (The investment). There are some free startup programs also.

b. Analyze your strengths. What you are good at and enjoy doing?

c. The marketability of the program you choose.

d. How much time will it take to achieve your goals following the chosen program?


3. Courage: Instead of getting caught in analysis paralysis, get yourself enough courage to start.

4. Selection of the right program is very important. Match your strengths to the appeal of the program.

5. Have a good plan in place to market your program. Ask questions if you do not know, but a good plan is a must.

6. Do you have self motivation and perseverance to go on and on. Keep abreast and educated.

Once you honestly answer the above positively, it would not be really difficult to succeed, otherwise look for other alternatives than to delve on these opportunities.


How to go about earning an Extra Income

Extra Income means an income that you can earn apart from the regular income coming in from employment or normal work. This earning can be used to payoff your outstanding debts or build up a capital account or spend it on luxuries that you could only think about before. Everyone seems to want a second income but no one wants to work a second job, so the extra income is normally seen as a windfall.

When we compare income levels in different countries, it is evident that the average income per person is less than $15,000 a year--in other words, where many people are near the breadline -- Extra Income really does make people happier and improves their lifestyle.

But countries which have average income above the normal subsistence level of approximately $15,000 a year, happiness seems to be income independent. For example, an average American ranks richer than an average Indian or an Austrian, but also less happy.

Why does this happen? People always look at their income relatively with some norm or the other and the norm keeps rising all the time. And this norm is what increases the spending, more or less in direct proportion to the income. Two things drive up the norm with which people compare their incomes. One is the income that they themselves have experienced -- which habituates them to higher standards of living. And the other is the income that their colleagues or neighbors get, and which they try to outdo.

The extra income options available today are targeted to generate employment and are targeted specifically at people who can use their skills that are lying dormant to make some more money for themselves. To achieve a moderate success in generating an extra income one should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses. This would greatly help in selection of a most suitable way to generate extra income.

The selection process consists of logical steps. Firstly one should ask themselves of an honest opinion of their strengths, what they excel at? What do people around them keep complimenting or criticizing them on?, are they perfectionists?, For example, if you are a computer literate you could help your neighborhood in upgrades, repairs or installation of software.

The extra income can also be augmented by doing extra seasonal chores like raking leaves in the fall or clearing snow in winters. These are just a few ideas, but making an extra income augmented with self analysis will take away the need for a second job.

Today the internet and the general market have a lot of ideas for generating extra income. Network marketing in general market terms has been successful to some extent. Internet offers something similar that says affiliate marketing. The internet also offers a host of other options like writing, advertising and simple technical non-technical jobs which can highly augment your regular income. The extra income that can be earned form these opportunities depends on how good your skills in the field of your selection.

10 Reasons To Start Earning an extra income

Home based businesses to earn extra income have become widely accepted all over the world are spreading like forest fire. They have become most desirable businesses to start for apparent reasons:

Imagine how it would feel to get up at your own sweet time and not hurry to office in the regular chaos of snarling traffic all the while getting choked on pollution. And then, to begin the day as though you are fresh form home and nothing has happened. Listen to the Boss ordering you around and giving you the grind for deadlines.

Extra Income has not hurt anyone up to now, and it should not be hurting you either. If you are willing top do that extra bit of work or travel that extra mile for your boss, I am sure you will be more than willing to do so for yourself, especially if you feel that it would improve the quality of life of you and your family.

Extra Income does not come for free. It involves hard work but of the kind you would want to do. It is not hard work when you are doing what you always wanted. A little bit of inspiration could get you off the mark, wouldn’t it? Let’s get going point wise;

1. You will be your own boss with no one looking over your shoulder. Freedom of time, moment, goals, finances everything left to you.

2. Work at your convenience. Be your own time master. Flexibility benefits are more for mothers and people having other responsibilities apart from profession.

3. Flexibility to do whatever you want to do, whenever you want to do it.

4. The above factors help you to pursue your regular income job until you are sure of the extra income business. You can always switch.

5. Job security and fear of unemployment vanish.

6. Sense of pride. Make you more of a complete person who can proudly say that he/ she is an entrepreneur who has achieved something.

7. Self confidence going through the sky. This factor will help you face most hurdles in life with a lot lesser heartaches and stress.

8. Limitations of earning do not exist. You can earn as much as you want by just stepping up the speed.

9. Many countries offer tax benefits for home based businesses, since it is considered extra income. So greater credit ratings with lesser tax obligations.

10. You can retire at your own time, at 30 or at 60, it’s entirely up to you.

Success becomes a commodity which you can measure with your own yardstick rather than others, which contributes a lot to your personality and the finances through the extra income you earn. The above reasons are certainly worth a glance if you are considering being successful and independent in life.

Analyze the above points on a piece of paper before making your decision on whether you want that extra income or not.


Extra Income --- Very Welcome

Gone are the days of mid 50’s and 60’s when a family could survive upon a single income. Today the inflation and economic factors are such that survival on two incomes has become hand to mouth. Going by this trend we can very well imagine what the future holds for us. Two incomes certainly will not be enough. It’s best to prepare for the worst and expect the best instead of vice versa. Its best then to have multiple incomes flows into your finances than to have an insecure future. The concept and importance of extra income becomes all the more apparent.

People who have been well-to-do have always known and taken care of this. If one income dries up, one can always fall back upon the other streams of income, and if all go well you can only get richer, no harm in that. Ordinary and average living people have always been in a dilemma regarding this. Loss of one income really affects them adversely and it would take years of hard work before any normalcy returns. Not to mention, the rippling effects of financial distress that could cause a lot of heartburn and unwanted emotional disturbances.

Having diverse sources of income or extra income gives you a backup to fall back upon. If one source vanishes, you should not feel the difference. One should have enough time to reorganize and regroup, that’s it, and you are back on the happiness highway, safe and sound. The importance of extra income and extra sources of incomes is not lost on anyone today, therefore the want and rush.

Extra Income can be of two kinds – Linear and Residual.

Linear income is the extra income you earn on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. There is no more future commitment attached to it from your end or form the receiver’s end.

Residual income is an extra income where you work hard once and reap the fruits of it all for many years in the future. The reward for the same effort paid over and over again.

In normal course of a career, any individual earns a linear income through a job or a profession. You are earning only for the time you can spare on work on a daily basis. Some earn a higher linear income. Most smart people try to shift to residual incomes from their linear incomes through extra income routes to have a secure retirement and future. Starting with one residual extra income effort a year would be a good idea.

Internet gives a lot of options in the extra income route. One has to be careful in selecting the right one from them by recognizing the hype form the straight talking ones.

Almost all these programmes have residual income components in them. Select one and give it everything you can, when you can earn the residual from it, time to start off with the next one. All the best.