Many people are coming to the realization that employment alone will not get them far in life. With the rising cost of living, employed people barely have enough to meet their monthly expenses such as servicing loans and paying their utility bills, let alone investing or going on holiday. This is why many are opting to start their own businesses or find other ways of making money apart from employment. Whether you have been employed for years or just for a few months, the ideas discussed in this article are great ways of making money. You may finally be able to quit employment if you are successful. However, one thing you need to understand is that you cannot just quit your job before you are sure you have an alternative source of income to fall back on. Therefore, you might have to start part-time and if all goes well, you will be able to quit your job and focus on your money-making activity.
- Stock trading
Stock trading is a great way to earn some passive income and if done right, you can make quite a lot of money from it. There are many types of securities you can invest in and you should do some research to know which one to invest in. Today, you have the option of online stock trading. You need to choose a good online platform to trade on to increase your chances of success. A good platform will provide you with tools and resources to make your stock trading journey a breeze. You can also choose to use a stockbroker to trade on your behalf when you are starting out and as you learn the ropes, you can take over and do everything yourself.
- Real estate investment
Real estate investment has a high potential of returns if you do everything right. You will need to do extensive research on the real estate market before you dive headfirst into real estate investment. Real estate investing comes in many forms including fix-and-flips, wholesaling, raw land investing, vacation rentals and traditional buy-and-hold rental properties, among others. Some of these require quite a lot of capital, while for others, you can start with whatever little money you have. It might be a good idea to start with the options with low capital requirements then use the money you make to invest in other options. With most real estate investments, you may have to wait for quite some time before you can regain your money and make a profit. You do not want to invest so much money in something only to be left struggling to meet your daily or monthly expenses as you wait to get your money back. All in all, real estate investment is an easy way to make a lot of money and in no time, you will be able to quit your job and focus all your energies on it.
- Start a blog/ YouTube channel
Are you one of those people who get thousands of likes and shares on your social media posts? Are you passionate about makeup, cooking, photography, fashion, doing product reviews or anything else? Then blogging or video content creation may be a good business idea for you to consider. The internet has brought with it many opportunities for those who are willing to try something different. You can either start a blog, or a YouTube channel, and make some good money off it. However, note that it can take a long time for your blog or YouTube channel to start making you money. But if you keep at it and keep your content unique, relevant and entertaining, you will soon have thousands or even millions of followers and it is this following that will make you money. Once you have a big enough following and your engagement levels are high, you can approach some brands that you love and request to be a brand ambassador. Many people have made a lot of money this way and there are many who are already fulltime bloggers or YouTubers.
- Start an ecommerce store
An ecommerce store is a great way to sell your wares. This could be jewelry that you make or anything else that you buy wholesale. With an online store, you do not have to worry about paying rent for your store or other such costs that come with running a physical store. If your products are good, you will soon have customers from all over the world looking for them. That is another great advantage of having an ecommerce store; your market is not limited to the people in your locality. However, you need to invest in a good ecommerce site. The best thing to do is to hire someone to design and develop the site for you to ensure that it is user-friendly and safe, as your customers will be making payments online. You should also make sure that you partner with a good shipping company to ensure that your clients’ orders arrive in good time and that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to ship the products.
- Sell your skills
Say you have been working as a real estate agent for years and you know you are very good at it. You even have clients who come looking for you even though there are several other real estate agents at the firm you work for. You can start sourcing for clients independently and see how that goes. Just make sure that you do not rub the firm you work for the wrong way. The same goes for a bookkeeper, a tax consultant, a hairdresser or any other professional. You may be surprised to find that some of your faithful clients will follow you when you leave your employer. If you already have a good track record, your clients will market your business for you and you will get many word-of-mouth referrals.
- Event planning
If you are creative, this is a great business idea that you should consider. It is not a must that you go through formal training to start your own event planning business. There is a high demand for event planners as many people want to have memorable parties; but between work and other life demands, they do not have the time or energy to put together an amazing party. There are already so many event planners, so you have to do your best to stand out if you are to make it in this business. You can choose to focus on, say, kids’ parties, weddings, or any other type of event, but that will be limiting yourself. It is better to diversify your services so that you have a wider market for your services.
While starting out, you may have to rent equipment at first. For instance, for a kids’ party, you might have to rent a bouncy castle or a play house to keep the kids entertained. But as your business grows and expands, you will be able to buy your own equipment. You may also have to hire a few people to help you out if you find yourself with too much on your hands. To be an event planner, you need to have great organizational skills in order to ensure that your clients’ events are successful and that everything goes according to plan.
- Write a book
Have you always enjoyed journaling and writing short stories for your friends and family? Do they all love your stories and look forward to the next one? Then you should probably try writing a book. Before you embark on writing a book, figure out what you enjoy writing about. Even if it seems like there are too many books already published on that particular topic, there is always room for one more. Just make sure you offer a unique perspective and not something that is overdone. You should also take your time to look for a good editor and publishing house so that the quality of the book is top-notch. Before you publish, ask your family and friends to read the book and tell you what they think of it and whether there are any changes they think you should make. Who knows? This might just be the next bestseller and just like that, you can forget about employment for good.
Conclusion
Whatever you choose to do, you need to do extensive research before you invest your hard-earned money in it. If you are thinking of starting a business, you need to know your market well so that you can adequately meet their needs. Do extensive market research, and speak to some people who are already doing it to know the challenges they face and to get advice that can make your journey smoother. You may need to go for training to gain some skills, but this is not always necessary. Look for good online resources to point you in the right direction. Life is all about taking risks. Step out of your comfort zone and see what life has to offer. What’s the worst that could happen?
