5 Uber Smart Things to Do to Supercharge Your Rideshare Side Hustle

Posted on June 27, 2018 by Katie Evans

Uber, Lyft, and other rideshare companies can turn anyone with a driver’s license into an entrepreneur. Driving for money is a great side hustle for college students and anyone else who needs extra money.

Of the rideshare companies, Uber is the largest. As of 2018, Uber is a $70 billion company that employs 2 million drivers! According to money.cnn.com, 750,000 of those drivers are making money in the USA. The chance to choose working hours and shake off “the boss” make this is a dream career for many people.

Even if you work for a rideshare company, you are still responsible for your own profits. Not all Uber drivers are created equally, and while Uber has some guidelines, you will need to go the extra mile for your customers if you’re going to make real money.

1. Dress Appropriately

While no one at Uber is going to tell you what to wear, no one is going to get in a car with you if you look like a bum. This is not the time to wear leggings as pants or cut off shorts with a tank top. It’s not about fashion—it’s about sending the right image to your customers, and the image you want to portray is that you’re serious about your Uber gig.

Gentlemen, try wearing khakis and a polo shirt. You can also wear a button-up shirt. You don’t need to dress in a suit and tie, but do wear a shirt with a collar. Make sure you’re well-groomed, too. Save and comb your hair at the very least.

Ladies, business-casual is always trickier for us. You can sport the khakis with a polo or button-up shirt like the guys, but you can also throw on a skirt or casual dress. The idea is to look professional, and not in the “escort” sort of way.

2. Clean Your Car

If you are going to make money driving people around, you have to have a clean car. This should be a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised at the reports we’ve read online about dirty Uber cars. Ick.

The outside of your car should be clean, and the inside should be cleaner. Vacuum out your car after each job. You can find nice portable vacuums that plug into your car’s cigarette lighter, or you can use your home stick vac. I clean out my cars with the Dyson stick vac, and while it’s the best thing ever, it’s also pricey.

Make sure your car smells good, but avoid perfume air fresheners of any sort. A lot of people have allergies. Instead, work on making your car smell clean. Wipe down the inside of doors and your dashboard with interior detailing wipes. Wash your floor mats once a week or so. Become an expert at car detailing.

3. Offer Extras

The Uber drivers who make the most money offer their customers something that other drivers don’t. Sometimes it’s as simple as candy. Other times, it’s a full-scale party van.

Ridester suggests offering your passengers complimentary bottles of water. You can buy big packages of bottled water at bulk stores or have Amazon deliver them.

4. Be Friendly and Helpful Your Customers

If you’re helpful, people will leave you good tips and good reviews. Think about your customers’ needs and how you might help them. If you drive in a high-tourist area, print out a list of “can’t miss” attractions or local restaurants that deliver to hotel rooms. Keep a stack of the free coupon books in your car, too.

If you pick someone up at the airport, offer to help them with their luggage. Make sure your trunk is always clean and ready.

If you pick up a group of ladies, always get out of the car and open the car doors for them. Don’t flirt, gentlemen. This is about being courteous, not picking up a date.

Make polite conversation, unless your customer seems like he/she doesn’t want to talk. Always verify where they want to go, too—just in case. For example, we took an Uber to the Orlando airport awhile back to pick up a rental car. If our driver didn’t know we were going to the rental car pick up, she could have dropped us anywhere at the airport and we might have walked miles before finding the rental car office. Communication is important!

5. Set Reasonable Hours and Take Breaks

Any freelancer knows the importance of set work hours. But, this is even more important for Uber drivers. As you earn based on fares, there’s a temptation to work ridiculous hours. The trouble is, when you’re on the road, working too long can lead to fatigue. And, if that happens, you’re a risk to yourself and others.

You’re even at risk of coming under fire from attorneys like those found at www.ubercaraccidentlaw.com if you cause an accident. That would spell the end of your side-hustle, as well as big legal trouble for you. Even if no accident occurs, overworking could lead to burnout, and issues such as stress and anxiety. So, it’s crucial you draw lines. Anything over 9-hours per day is probably pushing the limit.

It may even be that your issues with time fall the other way. While some overwork, other freelancers struggle to motivate themselves at all. While money should be enough to get you out of bed, it isn’t always the case. Having set hours that you’re committed to working should help motivate you to reach your financial goals.

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5 Ways to Own Pinterest and Increase Your Blog Traffic after the BoardBooster Shutdown

Posted on June 26, 2018June 27, 2018 by Katie Evans

If blogging is one of your side hustles or career-boosting strategies, you might be reeling from the news that BoardBooster is shutting down. It’s sad because BoardBooster generated awesome traffic with unique tools you just can’t find anywhere else.

I won’t lie—in the first three days we turned off BoardBooster after receiving Pinterest’s nasty-gram about how using it would get our account shut down, we had a 39% drop in Pinterest views.

Then something magical happened—yesterday, our traffic hit a record high without BoardBooster! Today’s numbers are rapidly climbing, too (the screenshot was taken at noon, with 12 hours left to go for today’s count).

So, take a quick moment to mourn BoardBooster’s loss, then pick yourself up and start strategizing how you’re going to make up for the lost traffic. I’ll tell you what we’re doing, and where to get help if you need it.

1. Step up Your Tailwind Game

Here’s another of my deep confessions: I don’t like Tailwind. Other bloggers write about all this fantastic traffic they get from Tailwind tribes, but we’ve had next to no traffic from Tailwind’s tribes. But, Tailwind does have its purposes, and if you don’t already have an account, you can get a free month trial here: Tailwind Signup.

Tailwind’s Tribes are Not Even Slightly Comparable to BoardBooster’s Tribes

BoardBooster’s Tribes were awesome. You pasted your pin URLs and had an even, reciprocal exchange with the other tribe members. It was guaranteed extra traffic—most of the time, assuming the other people in your tribe had a decent amount of Pinterest views and followers.

However, Tailwind’s tribe members are fickle, so nothing is guaranteed. You can post 1000 tribe members’ pins, and they might post 5 of yours. For example, here’s the tribe repost count for two of my pins from last week. It’s enough to make me want to whip out a voodoo doll to summon BoardBooster back from the grave.

You have no control over what pins tribe members choose, and they don’t scroll far enough to see member contributions more than a day or two old. So, you have to spend time strategizing when the perfect time is to post to your tribes, and that can vary by tribe. It’s annoying.

The other thing that annoys me about Tailwind tribes is that if you want to post a couple of different images as pins to a single post, you can’t. You’ll get a warning message that you’ve already posted a pin for that post to the tribe. So how exactly are you supposed to get a lot of traffic from tribes??

I even bought one of the tribe power-ups last month—and saw less traffic than when I just had the five free tribes. My guess is tribes work better for some niches than others. If you’re a food blogger, you can probably do great with the tribes. Party on.

Use the Publisher to Promote Your Own Pins

The best feature from Tailwind is their scheduling tool which they call the “publisher.” I use it the most for our own posts, because it allows me to set an interval of how often and when a new blog post will appear on my boards—including the group boards.

The first thing I did after I realized BoardBooster was done for is I set all of the posts we posted last week to trickle through our group boards at a steady stream for the next week. That’s right—I have 8 of our posts set to post every hour during peak times for the next 8 days. We saw a HUGE traffic increase the second day of this strategy.

Use the Scheduler to Plan SOME Other Bloggers’ Pins

I read all the time about bloggers who set “a whole month’s worth of pins in 30 minutes” using Tailwind. I call BS.

To get good, solid traffic from Pinterest, you have to pin a lot, and not just your own stuff. You have to pin high-quality pins from other pinners/bloggers, too. You have to pin to multiple boards. You have to have multiple pin sessions per day. Want to know how we went from 3,000 Pinterest views in early May to 167,000+ Pinterest views by mid-June on a 3-month old blog? We pinned a lot. In fact, I’m pinning in the background right now as I write this post.

There is no magic number, but if you want to drive a steady stream of traffic to your blog from Pinterest, we’ve found it takes pinning about 50-70 pins per day between our own stuff and stuff from other bloggers. This was a lot easier with BoardBooster’s pin sourcing campaigns, but now, to get the same (or better) results, you will need to schedule 30-40 pins using the Tailwind scheduler, and manually pin a few times per day to reach the rest.

Try Tailwind’s Smart Loop

First, the truth: Tailwind’s Smart Loop doesn’t work as seamlessly as BoardBooster’s looping did. There’s a reason this feature is still in beta. But, some bloggers are finding success with it, and if you want to learn more about it, try Vanessa Kyne’s tutorial on Smart Looping.

2. Step up Your Group Board Game

Group boards can help grow your Pinterest views quickly, if you join the right group boards. We struggled at first to figure out what the “right” group boards are. The basic idea is that you find group boards that have more followers than you do, but not an insane amount of contributors.

For example, if you have about 1,000 followers, look for a group board that has 5,000 or more followers, but less than 100 contributors. The bigger the number followers, the more chances you have of having your pins seen.

Finding group boards has been a royal pain. Sure, we’ve looked through Pingroupie and found ourselves largely ignored by the bigger bloggers in our career advice niche. The best luck we’ve had in finding group boards is scrolling through other bloggers’ boards and looking for group boards to join.

If you’re reeling from BoardBooster’s loss, this is one of the first things you should do after you’ve set up a new scheduling tool. Find a dozen or so group boards in your niche, and then add a couple of broader-audience boards, too. You’ll see a traffic boost within a couple of days.

3. Try the Pinterest Strategy Master Plan

To get your head back in the game and salvage your traffic, you should consider taking Caroline Vencil’s Pinterest Strategy Master Plan. Caroline’s advice has helped us grow at a much more rapid pace than I anticipated when we started this blog in mid-March 2018. I look forward to receiving her encouraging and timely emails, and her course will make a big difference in how you think about pinning.

Seriously, before Caroline, I was taking the “five pins per day is all that matters” advice from other bloggers and getting NOWHERE with my traffic. Now, our numbers are growing faster than I could have ever imagined. The course costs next to nothing, and it’s well worth the investment: Pinterest Strategy Master Plan

4. Post Like Crazy

I know you’ve probably read that you only have to post 1-2 times per week to sustain your blog. You’ve probably also read that “content is king” from those same bloggers. Here’s the truth: Yes, you can post just 1-2 times per week, but only after you have a huge library of content for your audience to read!

If you’re a relatively new blogger, you may not have a ton of content yet, which means you also don’t have a ton of pins to hedge your bets on traffic. The more content you have out there, the more likely you’ll be found on Pinterest and elsewhere. So, if you see a traffic dip from Boardbooster’s shutdown, start writing and don’t stop for at least a month.

Give yourself a content-creation challenge. Can you post 5 posts per week? If you’re already posting 5 times, can you post 15? What would happen if you posted every day for a month? I’ll tell you what: More traffic.

I’m not saying you should post mediocre, get-you-by content, but instead, make a commitment to drive your traffic by posting and pinning more for a few weeks. It will pay off, I assure you.

5. Diversify Your Traffic Funnels

If you’re heavily mourning the BoardBooster shut down, you might be relying solely on Pinterest to draw traffic to your website. If so, you’re missing out on traffic.

We are finding success with Reddit for increased traffic, but we don’t leave it to just that platform either. Twitter, LinkedIN, Facebook, Google+, and StumbleUpon/Mix help too.

You can automate a lot of posting to Facebook and Twitter, but you’ll get more traffic if you are socially engaged on those networks. That means you have to actually comment on other people’s posts and have meaningful conversations—not just post your own stuff. It’s that whole social part of social networks, and participation is expected.

We also use Instagram, but we haven’t had a lot of luck converting our followers into traffic. It’s a work in progress, just like everything else in the small business world.

The BoardBooster Shutdown is Not the End of your Blog

The biggest thing to remember is not to give up. BoardBooster was just one of many ways to automate a function and drive traffic. We loved them, but the internet keeps buzzing, all the same. Don’t let your momentary traffic setback derail your side hustle!

RIP Boardbooster. We miss you already.

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Teaching as a Side Hustle: The Pros & Cons of Adjunct Teaching

Posted on June 25, 2018June 25, 2018 by Bre Smith

If you’re in need of a side hustle, you should consider a job as an adjunct teacher at a local college, or in the case of online classes, maybe even a distant one. The entry barriers may be fewer than you think.

Colleges generally require teachers to have a master’s degree in the subject they’d like to teach or any master’s degree plus at least 18 graduate credit hours in the subject. However, hiring committees may also consider candidates with alternative qualifications such as high school teaching experience or industry certification. Past formal teaching experience is also usually not required—the interview will likely include a follow-up teaching demo.

Here are the pros and cons of adjunct college teaching.

The Good Things About Adjunct College Teaching:

Fulfillment

If you love helping people (and especially love sharing your knowledge or skills), there’s no field as rewarding as education. Ask yourself if you’ve sought out opportunities to teach informally—perhaps by training colleagues at work, leading a Sunday school class, or volunteer tutoring. If so, you’ll probably find this work very gratifying.

Reduced Commuting Time

You generally only have to be on campus when your class meets and a bit before and after to answer student questions and/or hold office hours if they’re required by your school. Most traditional college classes meet once, twice, or three times per week, and colleges are increasingly offering more and more online and hybrid (reduced meeting time) classes to keep up with the evolving way today’s students learn.

Convenience

In the same vein as a reduced commute, much of the work—grading, preparing for class, answering student email, etc.—can be done at home. This is handy because, as we’ll discuss in the next section, you’re probably going to need a separate full- or part-time job.

The Things You’ll Want to Consider Carefully:

Low Pay

It’s no secret that teachers don’t choose their careers for the money, but unfortunately adjuncts earn the worst pay of all. They’re paid per class taught, not per hour worked. The adjunct rate of pay at the college I taught at was $1,700 per class. Classes are generally four months long (a semester), so the harsh reality is that depending on how much time your teaching duties take, you could end up making less than minimum wage. This means that for most, adjunct teaching can only be a side hustle.

What’s more, colleges often limit the number of courses an adjunct can teach per semester—the one I worked for had a cap of three per semester. You may be allowed to work as an adjunct at other schools (check with your college to make sure), but keep in mind that you might have to adjust your material to meet their requirements.

No Job Security

Adjunct teaching is contract work, so there’s no certainty about the number of classes you’ll get to teach or if you’ll even be hired next semester. Also, the full-time faculty at the college are required to teach a certain number of classes each term, so if one of their sections doesn’t fill up, a class that was originally assigned to you may be given to a full-timer at the last minute.

Possible Lack of Autonomy

In attempts to ensure uniform student experience and outcomes, your college may require everyone who teaches a course to use the same materials, exams, etc. If so, full-time faculty are usually in charge of choosing and creating these items, so as an adjunct you may feel as though you don’t have much say in how your class is taught. On the other hand, it’s easy to see how receiving a highly-structured premade course could be a blessing for first-time teachers.

Related Articles You May Enjoy

The Verdict on Adjunct Teaching Jobs

Did the cons in the last section scare you straight? Just remember that although working as an adjunct is low on financial rewards, it’s big on personal ones. While adjunct teaching is more viable as a side hustle than a way to earn a living, if you feel called to teach, it’s a great way to try out a career in education and make extra money without a big commitment. In any case, please thank a teacher in your life.

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22 Ways to Save up to $10,000 this Year, Even if You Don’t Have Time to Side Hustle

Posted on June 10, 2018June 10, 2018 by Jarell Fox

We post a lot about side hustles and making extra money through entrepreneurship, but sometimes saving money can be as good as making more money. In The Millionaire Next Door, Thomas Stanley and William Danko talk about how one of the biggest groups of self-made millionaires got that way not by making a ton of money, but rather by saving it. Can you guess which group they’re talking about?

It’s teachers. A lot of life-long teachers retire quite well, and we all know teachers earn laughable paychecks. They retire well because they know how to save, and they manage their money by making solid decisions every day.

You, too, can retire rich by thinking through your day-to-day purchases and managing your money like an adult rather than a toddler in a candy store. Here are 22 ways to save up to $10,000 this year:

1. Set a Budget

Set a budget

The number one way you are wasting money is not sticking to a budget. When pinching pennies, the best tip is to look at your bills and income to see how you can change your spending habits. You can cut everything non-essential and still not have extra cash if you don’t set a budget.

When our family moved from two incomes to one, it was a huge adjustment. But, because we sat down looked at our bills (electric, phones, and mortgage only) we could see clearly how much we had left to spend on food and gas. Nothing else! Yes, there were many nights we had Raman noodles and grilled cheese. Now we can afford the occasional dinner out (with water to drink) along with a few extras like Netflix.

2. Create a Shopping List

Create a list

Now that you set a food budget the best way to stick to it is to make a shopping list. This will keep you on your budget and keep you from impulse buying.

[bctt tweet=”Pro Tip: Use the smartphone you likely have in your pocket for more than just taking selfies–use it to make a shopping list. #savemoney #grocerybudget #manageyourmoney #iPhone” username=”perfectlyemploy”]

In fact, if you have an iPhone, all you have to do is say, “Hey Siri, put milk on my shopping list” and she will do it for you. Many smartphones have similar features. You can also text a list to yourself. While it may be strange texting yourself, it makes for a convent list.

3. Limit impulse buying

Limit impulse buying

Buying an item when you don’t need it is impulse buying. If you have a good working cell phone, there is no need to update it to a more expensive one. Instead of buying an item, try the 30-day challenge. Write the item you want on a piece of paper, along with the place you found it and its price. In 30 days if you still need the item, return and make the purchase. If you decide you do not need the item, just recycle the paper.

[bctt tweet=”Pro Tip: the vast majority of the items you need are located on the outer walls of any given store. By not venturing into the middle of the store you limit the amount of impulse buying. ” username=”perfectlyemploy”]

4. Drink Less Alcohol

Drink less alcohol

Drinking alcohol on the weekend could cost you $1000 a year, or more. If you drink and drive (Never drink and drive!) a DUI can cost upwards of $10,000 and negatively impact your career. By cutting out alcohol (or cutting back to just one drink per week), you may also cut healthcare expenses. Drinking alcohol can lead to alcoholism and cause liver disease.

5. Kick Your Soda Habit

Kick your soda habit

Sodas are a better choice of drink, budget-wise, than alcohol; however, sodas can set you back about $300 a year per person. In a family of four, that can add up to $1200 or more!

The best choice for enjoying inexpensive sodas, and improving their quality, is investing in a soda stream. You can flavor your soda any way you please and save the extra money. For example, we make cherry limeaids with by adding a couple tablespoons of cherry syrup and a squeeze of lime to carbonated water. It tastes better than anything you get at Sonic, and it costs about 15 cents for a 16 ounce serving.

Of course, switching to water saves the most money because it’s free. Add a piece or two of your favorite fruit to water for flavoring. Studies have shown that drinking more water increases your productivity and focus.

6. Cut the Cord

Cut cable

If you are still holding on to cable, it’s time to cut the cord. On average, cable bills are $100-$200 per month–that’s $1200-2,400 per year. Hulu costs $13.52, or $162 a year. Netflix is $13.99 or 167.88/year. Amazon Prime is $120 a year. DirectTV Now is $35 a month or $420 per year. You could have all four services for $870 a year and save $330.

Pro tip: if you invest in the DirectTV Now, you will not need Hulu or Netflix subscriptions–it’s just like having cable. You could save even more!

7. Use Energy Efficient Bulbs

Use Energy efficient bulbs

One cost saving a lot of money gurus overlook is modernizing your light bulbs. Often, people do not change old-style bulbs until they go out, but waiting is costing you money. LED lighting is the most energy-efficient lighting on the market, and the bulbs last 8-16 years! Energy.gov states “By replacing your home’s five most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs with models that have earned the ENERGY STAR, you can save $75 each year.”

8. Eat at Home

Eat at home

On average, eating out costs $13 per person. Eating at home averages a cost of $5 per person. That’s a savings of $7 per person, per meal! For a family of four that only eats out once a month, that’s a savings of almost $400/year.

One of our favorite cookbooks is Rachel Ray’s 365: No Repeats 30-Minute Meals. It’s a steal at just $6.99 on Kindle!

If you do eat out, make sure to look for coupons or use the in-store rewards card.

9. Drink Water While Out

Drink water while out

When we cut out our soda drinking, it also changed our bill when we saved up to go out to eat. On average, a soda at a restaurant costs about $2-3 per person. Water is free. With 2 people that is an automatic savings of $4. For a family of four, it’s $8. Alcohol is much more expensive in restaurants. It’s easier and more cost effective to skip it.

10. Watch movies at home

Watch movies at home

Waiting until a movie leaves theater can save you $10 per person. By watching at home, you can enjoy many benefits. You can wear your PJs, save on concessions, avoid rude people singing the songs or texting through the movie, and you can pause the screen at a moment’s notice. Best of all, there are no previews.

If you absolutely must see the latest move in theater, check out matinee tickets. These are tickets usually for shows that start before 4 pm and cost about $5 per person. If you choose this option, skip the concession, as it’s a money waster.

11. Brew Coffee at Home

Brew coffee at home

Let’s face it–we all know “you can’t live” without your morning cup of coffee. Starbucks coffee costs $1-$6 per cup. Dunkin Donuts is $1-$4. That’s almost $2000 a year for one cup of coffee per day. Instead, invest in a Ninja Coffee Brewer System. These systems are easy to use, and you can recreate your favorite coffee for pennies. If you are into cold brews, invest in a French Press. Enjoying your coffee at home will also save you time. You will not have to wait in line or rush out the door forgetting important items. Saving time also saves money.

12. Stash Some Cash

Stash some cash

Paying to receive cash back from a store or ATM is costing you money. Banks can charge between $1-$4 per transaction. One way to save money is to keep $20 cash on you or in a hiding spot in your car. This money can come in handy in an emergency situation or if you find yourself at a cash-only location.

13. Use your Library Card

Use your library card

If you are an avid reader, instead of spending $15 per book, you can save money by investing in Kindle Unlimited or visiting your local public library system. Kindle Unlimited costs $9.99 a month and allows you access to 1 million titles. Public Libraries are free to use as long as you renew or return your book. Switching to the library or Kindle Unlimited can save $1000s per year depending on your reading habits.

14. Capitalize on Reward Programs

Capitalize on Reward Programs

Many stores offer free rewards cards. You gain points, cash back, or free products from your normal shopping habits. There are also ways to turn your receipt into cash. Walmart has a saving catcher within its app; all you do is scan your barcode on your receipt. If they lower the price on an item, they pay you the difference.

Another great app is Ibotta. Ibotta takes a bit more work as you must add items and then scan them. Finally, you have to upload the receipt.

Pro Tip: Don’t want to carry around a bunch of rewards cards? Instead, download an app like KeyRing.

Bonus Pro Tip: by using the KeyRing app, you can share rewards cards between family members, thereby capitalizing on the number of rewards you can earn.

15. Avoid Buying a Brand-New Car

One of the biggest financial mistakes you can make is buying a brand-new car. Once you drive that car off the lot, it becomes used and decreases in value by at least 22% in the first year. For years 2-4, a vehicle loses 12% (Check out our math for yourself at USAToday.)

Our favorite place to find used cars is Carmax and Autotrader.

Pro Tip: Make sure if you use AutoTrader you check the company website for the vehicle. Many AutoTrader vehicles are added by hand and may not be updated.

16. Don’t Lease a Car. Ever.

Stay away from leasing a car

Think leasing a car can help your financial situation? Sure, the down payment and monthly payment may be lower. However, leasing is worse than buying a new car. Leasing requires you to have excellent credit, higher insurance deductibles, and you are restricted to a certain number of miles with a steep penalty for going over. Also, once again, as soon as you drive the vehicle off the lot, it becomes used. At the end of the lease, you’ve paid the car’s depreciation and then some, and you have nothing to show for it because you don’t even own the car.

Save your money and look into a used car. Buying a used car can save more than $10,000 per purchase.

17. Stop Renting

Stop renting

When you first move to a city renting is a fine choice. However, it costs you more money. Often you can expect to pay 50% more per month for a rental than a mortgage. Yes, you need good credit for a mortgage. If you are renting, it will be difficult to raise your credit score because of the extra monthly strain of the rental. It is wise to save money before moving. This way you can look into a mortgage over a rental.

Another popular housing option that is a waste of money is rent to own. Only part of your rent goes towards the purchase price of the home. You would still be better off with a mortgage where the entire payment goes to paying off the home loan. Purchasing a home over renting can save you $10,000 a year on its own.

18. Avoid an HOA Community

Avoid an HOA community

Before you buy a home, make sure you check out your new community thoroughly. Look at the tax bill for your new hone, but also check out community fees, like those charged by an HOA. Home Owners Associations (HOA) charge $200- $400 per month, and they set all kind of rules and regulations you must follow. HOAs can have amenities benefits; however, you can access the same type of amenities elsewhere and save money. Avoiding an HOA can save $2400 per year.

19. Move Out of the City

Move out of the city

You could cut costs even more by not living within city limits. Often cities charge more for garbage, electric, and water than their country or suburban counterparts. Buy moving just outside the city limits, you could save money. On average, I pay $100 less on my electric then my family members in the city, and I break the rule and have an average house temperature of 73. I do live in a smaller home, but would still pay less as I do not have the upcharge the city adds to electric and water (we have a well). I save $1200/year just by living in the country.

20. Decrease Your Cell Phone Plan

Decrease your Cell Phone plan

Are you using all of the data you pay for each month? If not you’re wasting money. Just by switching to a lower data plan, you can save $20 per month.

Pro Tip: To save on data, turn off the cellular data option on apps that don’t need it. Check your battery usage to see what the top 3-5 apps you use the most, then turn cellular data off for the rest. Also, many apps have background refresh. By turning off cellular, the app can no longer refresh unless it’s on Wi-Fi, saving your battery and your data. By living within your data plan, you could save $2,400 per year.

21. Shop around for insurance

Shop around for insurance

If you bought that used car, it’s going to need car insurance. Now is a great time to look into options. By comparing rates, you can save $1000-$2000 per year. When we changed our insurance, we doubled all of our coverage and still paid less. Also, save money by paying your insurance every six months. Yes, it can be an investment, but the $20-50 extra charge for paying your insurance monthly adds up.

Consider looking at the health insurance options your employer offers. If you have not seen a doctor in years, you may want to consider a lower coverage plan. However, if you are seeking medical attention frequently, then the higher plan may save you money in the long run by the type of coverage offered. If you lower your coverage, depending on your employment options, it could cost you $0 out of your paycheck. Looking into health care options can save $100 a month or $1200 per year.

If your employer doesn’t offer insurance, make sure you compare policies and find the best plan that fits you and your budget.

22. Stop Smoking

Stop Smoking

Smoking is not only hurting your health–it’s hurting your bottom line. If you smoke one pack of cigarettes a day, it will cost you about $3000 per year. Think vaping is better? Wrong. While vaping costs less than cigarettes, at about $400 a year, that’s enough money for a car payment. If you partake in recreational drugs (and you really shouldn’t), you are wasting money and could be missing out on potential job opportunities.

Other Posts you may enjoy:

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15 Summer Side Hustles for College Students to Make Quick Cash

Posted on May 15, 2018September 4, 2018 by Katie Evans

It’s a truth universally acknowledged that if you’re a college student, you are in eternal need of both money and resume-building activities. Your summer vacation is the perfect time to earn cash and gain skills for your resume, too.

Employers like to see that you have an entrepreneurial spirit. It shows that you can set goals, reach milestones, and manage yourself. Having a summer side hustle on your resume sets you up for fantastic, engaging job interviews that lead to the career of your dreams. Here’s a few ideas to make cash this summer:

1. Tutor

While you’re in college, information is fresh in your mind from the numerous courses you’ve been taking. That knowledge can be immediately valuable to you if you start your own tutoring business.

You can tutor fellow classmates, high school students, or even adults. It’s not hard to find customers for your tutoring business; all you have to do is advertise your services. You can advertise for free on Craigslist, or with a flyer at your local library or community center. You can also post flyers around your college campus.

If you have a few dollars to invest in advertising, try posting a Facebook ad that targets parents in your area, or place an ad in your local paper.

Online tutoring services like VIPKid also hire college students as tutors. They help children from foreign countries learn conversational English. If you like being up late at night or early in the morning, international tutoring may be a good fit for you.

2. Drive People Around with Uber and Lyft

If you have a car, put it to work for you. It only takes a few minutes to become a chauffer with Uber or Lyft. You can conduct your entire business from your phone and work only the hours you want to work.

If your parents will let you borrow their mini van, you can become an UberXL driver and make even more cash by offering a bigger vehicle to haul more people. Whatever car you drive, you will need to keep it super clean. Some Uber drivers earn better reviews by offering their customers snacks, candy, and bottled water.

Uber and Lyft drivers do best in tourist areas and big cities, but small towns need them, too. It’s a good quick-start business that you can take with you when you go back to college in the fall (if you want to).

3. Deliver Food

Take out is awesome and a major time saver—as long as you don’t have to go pick it up. You can make extra money picking up food orders for people who order takeout from places that don’t deliver.

Uber offers takeout pickup and delivery services through their app, so even if you aren’t comfortable inviting strangers into your car, you can deliver their food and make some quick cash.

Retailers like Walmart have started curbside grocery pickup services. Uber used to have a service for picking up these orders, but have announced they are discontinuing it, which leaves a lot of angry people who like their groceries delivered. These are customers just waiting for your services!

You could start a side business on your own for picking up and delivering groceries. All you need to do is post an ad on Craigslist and Facebook, or post flyers at your local community center. Make sure you have business cards ready to give customers so they can spread the word about your magnificent delivery services.

[bctt tweet=”The summer is the perfect time for college students to side hustle. Kids are out of school, so you can babysit. Neighbors go on vacation, so you can house sit. Grass grows, so mow yards. You can do this! #sidehustles #summervacation” username=”perfectlyemploy”]

4. Be a Local Tour Guide

Summer is travel season, and no matter where you live, there’s probably something of local interest that tourist flock to see. You can make extra money escorting tourists around town and showing them the sights.

You can capture a niche market in your tour with a bit of creativity. You might give a food tour of a group of local restaurants, or a shopping tour though local antique stores. You might give a tour of the best local Geocaches. Think about a unique angle you can bring to a tour of something special in your area, and you will make money by the handfuls.

You can advertise your tour services on social media, like Facebook, but you can also set up a full tour booking experience for your customers on websites like ToursbyLocals.

5. Babysit

Since kids are out of school in the summer, you can start a side hustle babysitting school-aged children with relative ease.

Parents look for babysitters who are responsible and know something about childcare, so if you are an education major, make sure to emphasize that in your advertisements. You might also consider taking a basic first-aid course and CPR certification to put parents at ease with your crisis-handling skills.

The major challenge to babysitting in the summer is keeping the kids busy. Come up with a list of activities you can do with them, and share that with parents, too. Parents may be happy to help you with supplies for science experiments and art projects, and they may be open to you taking a few field trips, too.

You can advertise your babysitting services on Craigslist, or your can sign up for Care.com. Parents look for strong recommendations for babysitters, so have family and friends give testimonials on your baby-sitting abilities.

6. Become a Senior Companion

If children aren’t your thing, consider becoming a companion to an elderly person who needs help with daily tasks like running errands and preparing meals. Healthcare majors do well in this side hustle, but anyone with a compassionate, helpful spirit can become a senior companion for the summer.

You can advertise your services on Care.com, but also try local Moose and Elks lodges, as well as your local VFW.

7. Walk dogs

Nothing makes pet parents feel more guilty than leaving their fur babies alone for 8-10 hours while they go to work. If you love animals, you can start a business walking dogs in your neighborhood and make quick cash.

You can advertise your services just about anywhere, from Craigslist to your local community center and post office. Talk to dog owners who walk past your house everyday. Mention your services at your local pet store and with local dog groomers, too.

8. House Sit

Summer vacations are an American tradition. You can earn money taking care of people’s homes and pets while their out of town by starting a house-sitting business.

Offer services like bringing in the mail and newspaper, walking the dog, and maintaining the yard. You will want to check the house daily to make sure nothing is out of place. Some house sitters live in the house while the family is out of town, so offer this option too.

You can advertise your services in the normal places: Craigslist and the local paper. Have your references ready—your customers will want to know that you are trust worthy. This is a business that does will with word-of-mouth referrals, so make sure to tell your friends and family that you’re looking for houses to sit, and to recommend you to anyone they know who is going on vacation this summer.

9. Teach ACT/SAT prep classes

If you’re going to college, it probably hasn’t been very long since you took college entrance exams like the ACT and SAT. The summer is the perfect time for high school students to prepare for these exams, which should lead you to a fantastic side business teaching high schoolers how to improve their scores.

Create a few study games for your potential students, then advertise your services on social media. Offer to teach students online through Skype or Google Hangouts, and offer a wide range of hours to fit all schedules.

10. Mow Yards

Everyone who owns a home needs to cut their grass frequently in the summer. Borrow your parents’ lawn mower and make some quick cash cutting your neighbors’ grass.

This side hustle is an oldie but goodie, since the only overhead cost is gas for the lawn mower. You can make $50-100 per hour with good time management and only work a couple days per week!

11. Clean Pools

The biggest complaint pool owners have is that they have to constantly work at maintaining the pool. Even with an automatic pool vacuum, the pool still has to be manually skimmed and cleaned every few days. The water must be checked and balanced, too.

Put on your bathing suit and start a pool-cleaning business. It’s a good summer-only job because unless you live in Florida, Southern California, or another hot state, pools are a strictly summer thing. Like mowing yards, you can make $50 per hour with good time management, but you’ll stay cool all summer.

12. Teach Senior Citizens to Use Smartphones (and other tech)

Many senior citizens have smartphones but don’t really know how to use them. Use your tech-savvy to show them how to talk to their grandchildren on Facetime and you could earn some serious cash this summer.

Seniors Citizens want to learn how to use apps, read ebooks, and take pictures with their phones, but the opportunity doesn’t stop there! You can teach seniors to use their computers, sell things online, buy things online, download eBooks to various devices—you name it!

Local places seniors gather like libraries, bookstores, and VFWs look for people to teach classes in tech, so this side hustle is yours for the asking.

13. Sell Stuff on eBay

People will buy most anything on Ebay. You can create a good side hustle buying stuff at yard sales and thrift stores and selling it online. All you have to do is browse thrift stores and yard sales, look up objects as you find them, and see how much they’re selling for on the eBay app. Choose objects that are selling for more than you can buy them and voila! You have a side hustle.

If you are truly ambitious, you can try drop-shipping as part of your online sales business. It takes a bit of research to figure out which products sell best, and the summer is a great time to think about it.

14. Sell Crafts on Etsy

If you have a talent for making things, you can start and Etsy shop for less than a dollar. Etsy is for more than quilts and t-shirts. You will find printable files and patterns, custom logos for new businesses, and even website design. Browse Etsy’s listings and think about what you could create to make someone’s life easier. The things that sell best are the things that are either highly personalized or solve a problem.

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15. Become a Virtual Assistant

If you are good with social media, have relatively decent writing skills, and are highly organized, you could become a virtual assistant for a small business.

Not every business can afford to hire a full time administrative assistant, so they outsource administrative tasks like managing Facebook pages, answering emails, and organizing files. You can find this kind of gig on places like Fiverr and Upwork, but if you could also start your own local business by placing ads on social media and Craigslist.

Bonus Side Hustle: Rent Out Your Belongings with Fat Lama

You may not have a car or a spare room, but you can still take a slice of the sharing economy this summer by renting out something almost all of us have: stuff.

Fat Lama allows you to rent out your possessions (fully insured) to people nearby and make money from your unused stuff. Your stuff doesn’t have to be fancy. You can list anything from a hammer to a chocolate fountain. However, the slightly higher value items tend to attract more rentals.

Take a look around your house or dorm for unused bikes, cameras, or projectors to start making serious money. The great thing about Fat Lama is that since you are renting, you can keep making money out of the same items (unlike eBay where once it’s gone, it’s gone) so you only really need one item that rents well to make ongoing income.

The platform is easy to use; just sign up and list your items for free. You will be notified when you have a rental request–all you need to do is approve it and arrange the handover directly with the borrower. Of course, this doesn’t need to happen at your house; if you are more comfortable meeting in a public place, you can. Fat Lama manages all the payments so there’s no need to extract cash off people either, it’s all prepaid and will be paid directly into your bank account 24 hours after the start date of the rental.

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10 Summer Side Hustles for Teachers to Make Extra Money

Posted on May 9, 2018June 21, 2019 by Katie Evans

One of the biggest perks of being a teacher is having a couple months off every summer. The first week or two feels awesome as you adjust to life without early mornings and strict routines. By about the third week, you need something to do. Why not earn some extra money this summer?

Educators are strong communicators with extensive knowledge on a variety of subjects. We’re lifelong learners, and we love to share our research with others. The world is full of excellent summer side hustles for teachers, if you know where to look.

1. Become a Freelance Writer

One of the easiest summer side hustles is freelance writing. You can find hundreds of gigs in all subject areas, and most of the time they pay rather quickly.

Freelance websites like Fiverr and Upwork are a good place to start your search, but I’ve found many gigs on Flexjobs.com. They charge a bit to view their listings, but it’s worth it to find legit, at home jobs. Look around for a discount code.

Most of the freelance writing I’ve done the past ten years has been ghostwriting. It can be as simple as writing a blog post for someone to as complicated as drafting an entire book.

2. Teach Online

Online teaching is huge! You can find jobs in and out of your subject areas just by searching indeed.com for “remote faculty” or “online teacher.” Places like ConnectionsAcademy hire certified teachers all year, but there’s a large summer demand for students trying to get ahead in their studies or those tackling complicated subjects in the summer when there’s less distractions.

If you have a graduate degree, you can teach for online colleges. Any master’s degree gives you the credits you need to teach student development courses like “Student Success Skills,” and a lot of colleges require all students to take them, so there’s a high demand for good teachers. You can find these jobs by going directly to the university’s websites.

3. Tutor Online

You can tutor for any subject online, but there’s a high demand for English language tutoring. Children and adults in foreign countries need practice with native English speakers to refine their language skills. Look for jobs on places like VIPKid and FlexJobs.com.

You might also apply to tutor at your local community college or university. Most have online tutoring services as well as on-campus tutoring. SmarThinking is always hiring tutors, too.

4. Create Online Classes

Creating classes online is amazingly easy these days. Anyone with even basic computer skills can create online courses, and people pay for them, too.

You can create a course on any topic using a lightweight learning management system like Teachable. If you’re looking for a creative outlet for your teaching skills, this is a good option, and Teachable is free to start.

The only caveat is that online, make-a-profit learning management systems are not as robust as the ones we’re used to using. You don’t have a grade book, and you have to recognize that your learners progress through your materials at their own pace. I suggest starting a Facebook group so your learners have a place to connect with you and each other.

5. Write an eBook

eBooks don’t have to be 15 chapters and 100,000-words long. You can create a small novella or tutorial ebook at around 10,000 words and make a tidy profit. The best place to publish your ebook and see returns quickly is Amazon’s Kindle store.

Kindle promises that you can create your book in as little as 5 minutes and it will show in their stores in 24-48 hours. As far as pricing, most people who do this for a living recommend pricing your book below $9.99 because Amazon pays royalties of 70% for books in this price range.

6. Start a Podcast

You can make money through advertisement, sponsorships, and even subscriptions by creating a podcast. People look to podcasts to learn about most any topic, from entire foreign languages to basic grammar. One of my favorites taught me the basics of conversational French. Très bien!

You’ll need a good microphone, but “good” means “clear,” not “expensive.” You can upload your podcast to a variety of places, from the iTunes Store to SoundCloud.

7. Become a Virtual Assistant

Small businesses don’t always need full time assistants, so they look to hire someone part time to complete specific tasks. Employers are starting to realize they can save money by hiring virtual assistants who never come into the office at all. With your strong communication skills, you could pick up a summer gig as a virtual assistant with relative ease.

Take a peek at this task list from PennyHoarder. As you can see, virtual assistants perform tasks like proofreading, light web design work, customer support, and social media promotion.

Look for this type of job on places like Fiverr and Flexjobs, but don’t be afraid to post an advertisement for your services on places like Craigslist and Moonlighting.com.

8. Become a Notary

Notaries are always in high demand because court and business documents require notarization on almost everything. You can charge what you want for your services, and we’ve seen some notaries charge more than $6 per page!

Requirements to become a notary vary from state to state. Here in Florida, the cost is about $100. Notaries attend a 3-hour course and must seek bonding by a state agent.

9. Start a Blog

Blogging can make you a good amount of money in the long term, but it takes a lot of work. You could use your summer vacation to get your blog set up and established, and look for a good chunk of Christmas spending money if you keep up with your posting, promotion, and monetization.

InMotion Hosting is my favorite for blogging. They make everything super easy, from setting up WordPress to buying your domain.

You’ll need a good topic that you can write about a couple times per week. Stay away from topics that might get you fired, like “stupid parents” or “best homework answers.” Think about a topic that you know quite a bit about and write helpful, meaningful posts each week.

[bctt tweet=”You’ll need a good topic that you can write about a couple times per week. Stay away from topics that might get you fired, like “stupid parents” or “best homework answers.”” username=”perfectlyemploy”]

10. Become a Tour Guide

If you live in a town with historical or entertainment value, you can use your presentation skills to become a local tour guide. Create your own tours and promote them online via websites like Vayable and ToursbyLocals.

You can charge what you want for your tours. An Orlando-area tour guide charges $600 for an eight-hour tour of Winter Park and Mount Dora. His calendar shows bookings, so it’s definitely a viable business venture.

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Put Your Side Hustle on Your Resume

Posted on March 4, 2018June 10, 2018 by Katie Evans

Side hustles are becoming a way of life for many of us. We consult in our industries, write blogs, teach part time—you name it. Your side hustle is giving you valuable experience and building your skill set. With any luck, you’re also building your network. You should list your side hustle on your resume in most cases. It’s too valuable not to!

List Your Side Hustle on Your Resume Just Like any other Job

In your list of work experience, list your side hustle just like you should any other job. Give yourself a title and list your duties.

The job duties you list for your side hustle are entirely your choice. For example, if you are trying to show a potential employer that you are a strong managerial candidate, you can list your small business owner duties, like expense tracking, employee scheduling (even if the only employee you schedule is you), and project management.

If you are trying to change industries, look at the duties the employer lists for the job you want and figure out how what you’re doing in your side hustle that fits the ad, and write that for your job duties. The closer you can get to the job advertisement’s language, the better your chances at scoring an interview.

If your side hustle is more in line to the job for which you applying than your full-time job, list it first on your resume. Since you are doing both jobs presently, this is completely your choice.

Choose Your Side Hustle Job Title Wisely

You can play with your title. If you do business under your own name as a consultant and haven’t incorporated, stick with “consultant.” If you write a blog, but see yourself becoming a freelance writer, call yourself a “writer.” Your side hustle gives you the opportunity to craft your story in whatever way you need to for the job you want.

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Add Your Side Hustle Skills to Your Professional Profile

Certainly by now you’ve ditched your resume’s objective in favor of a professional profile, so now is the perfect time to add the skills you’ve been cultivating in your side hustle to your professional profile. All the experience you’ve been gaining on the side should shine at the top of your resume.

Be sure to list the soft skills you gain as your own employer, like marketing and branding. If you are running your own blog, you are probably learning SEO skills. If you hire independent contractors to help you, you are adept at contract negotiations and payroll processing. These are all perfectly transferrable skills.

When Not to List Your Side Hustle on Your Resume

If your side hustle could get you fired from your current job, and you want to keep your current job, don’t list it on your resume. The world is too small to take this risk. Your new potential employer may know your previous employer, and this could spell disaster.

If your side hustle is completely unrelated to the job for which you are applying, leave it off of your resume. If you work as an accountant by day but mow yards on the weekends, the gap between the two jobs is too wide to help you in your job search.