How to Earn More Money
It doesn’t surprise me that “How to Earn More Money” was by far the most requested topic of the 26 ideas I posted on Instagram last week.
Most people need more money. Most people want more money. Life has gotten exceedingly expensive for the majority of us, and earning simply hasn’t kept pace.
The most important question I want you to answer before we even begin is this: how much is ‘more’ money, specifically? Is it $500/month? $3,000/year? $200,000/year? Does “more” mean enough for you to go on a vacation? Excellent! How much do you need to go on a vacation? Be specific!
Without answering this question, you will be wandering around searching for ‘more’ without ever really knowing where to find it or when it is ‘enough’.
So often this is the cause of perpetually feeling like you never have enough, or keeps you feeling too overwhelmed to figure out how to earn more.
Once you know how much ‘more’ means to you, the easier it is to locate which paths will help you attain it.
This post will have two parts: the first part helps you orient yourself within the context of earning, the second part is a list of earning ideas that may help spark money flowing your way.
But before any of that, let’s just sit right in the center of the reality that EARNING MONEY is simply about an exchange in VALUE.
We are absolutely not talking about your inherent value as a being on this earth which can never be measured, diminished, or destroyed by all things capitalism.
In this context, we are talking about the VALUE that the someone with the money sees in what it is you are providing, doing, or sharing with them.
In short, they value what you can provide for them more than they value keeping their money in their pocket.
Now that we have that established, let’s dive into the question at hand: how to earn more money.
When you think about the value you want to offer, you begin to see the many paths that are available for earning more money. Below are some questions that can help you explore what this might be.
Even if you did an exercise like this last month, it’s an exercise that prompts your brain to see possibility. So approach these questions with a journal and a fresh outlook. Try to answer all of them even if! your answers are not how you would choose to earn more money.
The VALUE you can offer in exchange for More Money—
How can you help someone else?
How can you help a company?
What can you do that someone else wants?
What can you do that a company wants?
What can you do that someone else needs?
What can you do that a company needs?
What can you do more easily, or more quickly, than someone else?
What can you share that benefits someone else?
What can you share that benefits a company?
If you have a hard time answering these questions, it can help to ask a friend or colleague to reflect what may be hard for you to see about this type of value you provide.
Assess your Assets
What do you know how to do?
What do you have experience doing, expertise in?
What are you good at doing that someone else doesn’t want to do?
What interpersonal and emotionally intelligent skills do you embody?
What do you have knowledge, or life experience, about that you could teach?
Your time is a valuable asset, how much extra time do you have?
What tangible resources do you own?
Your connections, networks, or support systems are an asset, which relationships have you nurtured?
The above is a necessary, if laborious! part of the process. You will be referring to your lists as you continue to explore earning options.
Below is a ‘get the juices flowing’ kind of list of various ways to earn more money, it’s certainly not exhaustive.
Various Paths to Earn ‘More Money’
If you are self-employed…
Reach new customers who will value what you currently have to offer. You likely have a variety of established ways to do this your marketing strategy, your referral network, etc. Now’s the time to implement them!
Create a new offer that meets your favorite client’s need.
Create a new service that solves a specific problem for your favorite client.
Create a new product that is exactly what your favorite client wants the most (explore this at different price points: low, medium, high). If you don’t know what this is, ask them!
If you have limited capacity or a waiting list for your service, raise your rates.
Guest teach in a complimentary business’s group offering
Get paid to speak at a conference, or to a larger audience
Start a Substack, Patreon, or other crowd-supported offer that provides value to many.
Receive sponsors or advertisers for your podcast, or affiliates for your blog
Start a monthly membership, subscription, or even an APP
Explore symbiotic affiliate relationships where you share someone else’s product or service and receive a % of sales. Offer affiliate relationships for the products you sell.
Explore royalties - collaborate or create a product that you receive a percentage of for as long as it sells. Books aren’t the only way to do this…
If you are Employed…
As for and negotiate a raise with the job you have (be sure to prepare by knowing comparable salary range. Advocate with clear examples the value you bring to your role-if you don’t have a file/portfolio of these things, start that today)
Apply for a different position within the same company that has a higher salary.
Find another company who will pay you more for the same job and has more potential for future salary increases.
Negotiate for benefits that are a less direct way of being paid: higher 401k match, paid time off, no commute (save on gas).
Other ways to Earn Money…
Rent out something you own - your car, storage space in your home, a room in your home, land (hipcamp?), something you don’t use often…
Drive for Lyft, Shop for Instacart, Helpout on Task Rabbit
Create something small and valuable that is also affordable and downloadable (a pdf, a template, a guide).
Look above at the self-employed list for additional self-generated earning ideas.
Buy an ‘ice machine’ or ‘parking lot’ type of business (I’ll let you google these… I am not recommending necessarily, just letting you know it’s one of many options)
At this point you may feel overwhelmed with all the options, or disappointed that none of them are very appealing.
Too often the overwhelm and disappointment bubble up because we want the path to earning more to be easier.
The unfortunate truth is that earning more will require a certain amount of focus, and effort, but that doesn’t mean it will be grueling!
The recipe to earning more money is fairly simple (which doesn’t mean it is necessarily easy).
Look again at how much “more” money you want / need to make. The specific number, not the illusive ‘more’.
Let’s say it’s $500/month.
Look over the above lists, braiding together your skill, someone’s need or desire, and all the possible ways you could earn more money
(you may even need to illustrate these 3 things Venn diagram style…)
Then challenge yourself to come up with 5-10+ possible paths to reach $500/month.
5 of the 10 are probably terrible ideas. 2 more of them might be tolerable but unappealing. But the other 3 may hold a spark of possibility.
This is where you begin taking your steps towards ‘more money’.
Begin working earnestly towards the 3 ideas that have possibility. Try the idea out, take the next steps!
While making ‘more money’ is necessary, I believe it’s just as necessary to be thoughtful and intentional about how we go about making it.
Just because we want to make more money doesn’t mean we abandon our desire to do so generatively rather than extractively (we’ve had enough of that for lifetimes).
I want you to generate ‘more money’ in a way that is conscious, creative, meaningful, joyful and helpful to all involved - especially you!
My hope is that this has sparked a few new possibilities and the confidence to take the next step towards earning more money.
That said, I know that taking ‘the next step’ is usually hard. That’s why I created my ‘Tending to It’ guide. It’s meant to help you complete any money related task, and that includes earning more of it! Sign up below to get a free guide that helps you take action again and again.
If you want more personalized support around earning more money you may want to explore working with me one on one. You can learn more about that HERE.