I've never been the kind of guy that just works all the time. Life should be fun, but the fun is a whole lot more rewarding if you do the work first. You'll get a lot further in life that way too. Work first, then play. It's something I tell myself all the time, but I've never really started saying it out loud until my daughter turned 3 last month. All of a sudden, she is blossoming from a baby girl into a full-fledged toddler, and moving at what seems like light speed towards being a … [Read more...]
A Bunch of Things You Don’t Need to Start a Side Business
As I write this post, I've been running my side hustle building and managing websites (which is now a legitimate side business), for over two years now. It's gone from an idea in my head to a real source of income for my family, making over $15,000 in 2018 and on pace to make over $25,000 in 2019. This isn't baller money or anything, but it does provide an extra level of security for my family and helps us save for our daughter's college, and who knows what it will eventually … [Read more...]
Your biggest financial lever
In any system, a "lever" is something that carries a cause and effect relationship. The lever has a direct impact on the output of that system. The most simple example is the gas pedal in your car. What happens when you pull that lever (or more specifically, mash your foot on it)? It makes your car go faster. Every system has a few strategic levers you can pull to make it more effective. As expenses increase over time, we also need to make sure we're doing something to increase our … [Read more...]
Why You Should Be Using a Grocery Delivery (or Pickup) Service
When something is easy to do, can save me time, money, and alleviate a stressful activity all at the same time (like cutting cable / satellite), that thing is a golden intersection of life-hack greatness, and is absolutely something I will do forever. Online grocery sales are projected to reach $100 billion (yes billion) by 2025, which is just over 5 years as I write this post. This is one of those golden intersections of life-hack greatness. As technology has evolved in the last few … [Read more...]
How to Focus in a Noisy, Busy, Distracting, Open Office Environment
It's no secret that the open office environment isn’t as good for productivity as it was meant to be, and can actually be very distracting. I get it though. If I was running a business I would want to be efficient with my space and overhead costs as well. Unfortunately, all of this emphasis on collaboration and making more efficient use of space has resulted in people actually collaborating less, and not being able to put their head down and focus on anything. Just check out this study by … [Read more...]
Ditching Your Massive Cable or Satellite TV Bill, Updated for 2019
People ask me almost daily about "cutting the cord", or what it's like to use only high-speed internet and streaming TV, without a hefty cable or satellite bill. In short, it's awesome. I've been doing some version of this for almost 10 years, and for a couple of years I've been without cable or satellite altogether. It's been really nice to save that money, to the tune of about $100 each and every month. Last time I wrote about "cutting the cord" was a couple of years ago, and since the … [Read more...]
7 Low Cost Apps I Use to Run My Side Hustle Building Websites
I've been running Louisville Web Nerds (LWN), my side hustle where I build small business Wordpress websites in the Louisville, KY area (although I've worked in other markets as well), for a little over a year now. If you're not familiar with the concept of a side hustle, I suggest you check out the list over at Budgets Are Sexy, and think about starting one of your own. This can be a great way to express your creativity outside of your day job by following a passion, and also sock away … [Read more...]
24 Simple Ways to Save $1000 for Your Emergency Fund
What if you needed $1000 tomorrow to pay for an emergency, such as a household applicance breakdown, a vehicle issue, or something else you may be unprepared for? It's estimated that 57 million Americans have zero emergency savings, and rely on credit cards to pay for unexpected situations. This results in hundreds and even thousands of dollars of extra interest payments, and even worse, creates very poor money management habits. Today I welcome my friend James Paul from Basic Finance … [Read more...]
Eight Steps to an Organized Financial Life
With all of the different areas of personal finance we have to concern ourselves with, it quite literally pays to be organized. Today I want to welcome my friend Sarah Smith, a regular writer at personalincome.org, to talk with us about some of the best ways to get your financial life organized. Take it away Sarah! --- Some of us lack in organizational skills, but some of us don’t. But organizing ones finances is a whole other thing to deal with. Some people organize their finances on … [Read more...]
Four Ways You Might Be Wasting Money
Lately, I've been doing a lot of optimization about how to continue to increase my income vs. expenses gap. This, above all other things, is what produces wealth. Sure, you need to be able to handle that money efficiently after you save it, but if you don't save it in the first place, there is nothing to invest. Today, I welcome my friend Lucy Wyndham to talk to you about four ways you're probably wasting money in your life. Take it away Lucy! --- The first step towards mastering your … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 5
- Next Page »