How to Make More Money… And Make Your Money Work for You
It’s one of the first questions people ask when they’re in financial strain or crisis. This flawed thinking makes sense initially… If I don’t have enough, I just need to make more…
Seems logical.
The problem is that expenses ALWAYS rise to meet income.
So you’re still on the hamster wheel – it’s just a bigger wheel… with more bling on it.
Financial fulfillment comes from getting control of spending. Millionaires spend everything they make – but they spend it strategically. They spend into smart investments, into opportunities to create passive income, and into funding their future selves and all their dreams… they don’t spend it on expenses in the ways most people do.
The reality is most of us were never taught how to be strategic with our money or that we could make it work for us.
Most were never taught about money at all.
So it’s no surprise, especially within our consumer-laden culture that we are spending in ways that is hurting our current and future stability, security, and happiness.
That’s why it’s not all about earnings (though I’ll tell you 2 ways you can increase your income below). High income earners are spending more than 60% of their earnings on luxury expenses and even low income earners are spending at least 40% on luxury purchases.
Those percentages are huge and if itemized on a financial inventory sheet, and calculated to show annual and lifetime values would be shocking.
“Making money is easy. It is. The difficult thing in life is not making it, it’s keeping it.” – John McAfee
In the CURBS method I teach – which is all about getting your spending under control, (that I lay out step by step in the Mindful Money course) – you itemize and uncover every thing. You get a clear financial picture of where you are now – both income and spending. And for most of my students, it is truly eye-opening.
But in a good way. In a way that motivates them to dig into this new system of modern wealth building and get a handle on their life. Not just financially, but in every way.
Two Ways to Increase Your Income
When you go through this process and get a clear picture of your finances, you can see where adjustments need to be made.
And sometimes that really is in earnings. Sometimes, you have cut your expenses to as low as they can go and see that there is a gap. Luckily… there are ways to increase your income to cover that amount – once you know what it is.
As I explain in this video, there really are only 2 ways to increase your income
1. Increase Your Value
If you’re an employee, the only way to increase you income is to prove your value. You can ask for a raise based on performance, but you need to have a clear sense of your value to the company and their bottom line. Business is all about money. So you have to know what our value is to the marketplace, know your skills and abilities, and be able to articulate your value to the right people in relation to how you are either impacting profit increase or minimizing expenses.
And you need to know about money so you can communicate how your value affects the business bottom line. For some this means taking the time to increase their knowledge base, hone their skills, or add to their current repertoire of ability to prove their worth and value to the company as it relates to the business’ goals. Have confidence in your skills and value and learn how to communicate those effectively while asking for a raise. If you don’t ask, you might never get!
2. Add New Revenue Streams
Sometimes one job isn’t enough. You can’t get a raise right now or you’ve hit an income ceiling where you’re currently at. Either way, if you find yourself at a stalemate with your primary stream of income, you have to look at different revenue streams – even temporarily – to bridge the gap in your income.
This is where the side hustle comes in.
It has never been easier to add an additional revenue stream to cover the earning gaps you’re facing.
Special talents outsourced on freelance sites or through your network of word of mouth can create amplified income for relatively low and flexible time commitments. I know people that have taken one day a week to drive an Uber, others who have rented out rooms through Airbnb, or running errands through a local service.
This is a good opportunity to be creative – sometimes a small time investment combined with a smart money system, you’ll be able to strategize both your income and your expenses to cover the gap, get out of debt, and start building some real wealth for the kind of future you deserve.
Combine additional income with some smart expense slashing strategies that you can download in this PDF from my Accelerated Debt Elimination (ADE) program and start gaining control over your finances – once and for all!
