EXTRA INCOME FOR WORKING PEOPLE

[Published in Manila Bulletin last October 2010]

If you are like most employed people, chances are, your salary, whether high or low, seems never enough. There are just so many things that you can do with your hard earned money… pay bills, pay for your child’s schooling, buy groceries, a new TV set, save for a rainy day, invest---the list is endless.

Most people need to budget their salaries to cover for basic daily expenses like food, transportation and shelter. Then hopefully, there’s enough left for savings or emergency funds. However, most of the time, salaries ran out quickly before the next payday. And that’s where it gets tricky.

When an emergency strikes and funds are low, you may be forced to take out a loan or use your credit card to cover for these extra expenses. Then you get bogged down by steep interest payments which deplete your funds more and you enter into a vicious cycle.

To get out of the vicious cycle, you can do several things. The first is to follow a strict budget or in other words, live below your means. This means trimming your expenses and sacrificing a few luxuries. If you’re a smoker, quit smoking and you’ll be able to save more (easier said than done). If you regularly take the cab, try the bus or the MRT instead. If you drink cappuccino daily from your favorite coffee shop, maybe you can go for 3-in-1 instant coffee sachets in the meantime.

But what if despite all your efforts to live below your means, your salary is still not enough, what do you do? Well, there’s a lot that you can do to increase your income. Here are a few suggestions:

Look into Your Current Salary

Try asking yourself how you can increase your current salary. Sure, you can just barge into your boss’ office and demand for a raise, but unless you have proven that you have contributed to the company’s profits and that you are indispensable, you might want to rethink this strategy. Perhaps a better approach would be to politely discuss with your boss ways in which you can get a promotion as long as you are willing to get more responsibilities, OR dazzle your boss with your great performance to get a merit increase. Most companies nowadays pay for performance.

Look into Your Current Company

Some companies have incentive programs. They give non-sales employees the opportunity to sell the company’s products and services or refer clients to earn commissions. Since you are already working for the company and you depend on the sales that come in, it would be a good idea to help the company sell more. Aside from these incentives, there may be HR programs in place that offer cash rewards such as employee of the month awards and job referral programs. One of the companies I used to work for gave Php50,000 cash prize to the Employee of the Year and their basis for giving the nice lady in accounting the recognition was perfect attendance. Not bad for coming to work on time, everyday.

Look into Other Sources of Income

Now after checking out extra income opportunities that your company offers, you can look into other sources of income. But first, it is critical that you check if you have company policies in place that disallow sideline work or businesses.

For instance, some teachers in universities are not allowed to teach in other schools.

Some companies frown on employees selling surplus clothing during office hours. Most pharmaceutical companies do not allow their Medical Representatives to join Network Marketing companies that sell herbal vitamin supplements. There’s just too much conflict of interest there. To be safe, check your company policies to prevent problems.

Now when you’ve done your due diligence and it is okay for you to earn extra income outside your company, here are several options for earning extra income:

Sell Your Products. Check out if you have items like furniture, comic books, appliances that are not being used and just gathering dust. You may want to sell this in a garage sale or on the internet. Another option is to sell products that you create. If you are good at making crafts or you can whip up delicious healthy cheesecakes, you can try selling these. Who knows, this home-based operation may just turn into a full-fledged business.

Sell Your Services. If you have hidden talents like event hosting, singing, pet grooming, dog breeding, gardening, teaching, writing, photography, web and graphics designing, you can earn extra income by offering these services. This is a cool way to turn your hobby into an income-generating venture.

Sell Other People’s Products or Services. There are many companies that need sales agents---from real estate, insurance, beauty products, vitamins, etc… If you want to sell stuff as a sideline, you first need to find out what you want to sell because it is easier to sell something you are interested in or passionate about. Next, determine who you can sell these products or services to. Are you planning to sell to office-mates, your neighbors or the internet? Once you figure this out, then you can try selling in small quantities first, before going full blast.

Get Rental Income. If you have property such as equipment, condo units, even books and videos that you do not use, you may lease it out to others. Rental income is great because you get to earn extra income and get to keep your property, as long as you lease your property out to good and honest people and you have basic securities in place.

ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES

I believe that the possibilities for earning extra income are available to us all. What I mentioned here are just some of the things that you can do to earn extra income. It’s limitless, really. All you have to do is make sure that your company is okay with you pursuing such endeavors, managing your time so that it does not affect your main source of livelihood and have fun along the way. Here’s to abundance and prosperity!