+5k extra monthly income to fill deficit, 20 day challenge, starts now!!

[Nice_home]

Disclaimer: All ideas welcome!!!!!!!!!!!! If you have to smack some sense into me, I’m fine with that - I’m open to facing the brutal truth as needed to make progress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So my wife and I were talking about finances because our budget is minus, roughly 5k per month. Typically I would approach it from the angle of cutting the budget but we are pretty locked in/on the hook for these expenses already. I just don’t want to eat into savings and want to quickly get into the “black” so that I can have peace of mind and therefore hopefully free up more creative space in my brain (to replace the current financial stress there) for doing better and higher level work.

I’ve been looking into advice on this forum and at some point I also asked about business coaches (full thread here: Has a one on one business coach ever been "worth it" for you?). A bunch of people replied with the suggestion to just learn through this forum, and seek help here, since my budget is so low for a business coach. (Anothing suggestion was to read a lot of books - currently working on that, too.) I figured I’d try to take people up on this chance.

So I’ve got a lot of thoughts swirling, but it’s been hard to get into a flow of process and especially get into decisive action.

I currently have a website, let’s call it a niche blog, that’s earning about 100 / mo with virtually no expenses. I have considered some investing strategies that could possibly generate another 500 / mo in dividends at the level I would come in at. I’m an avid writer, just really not sure how to monetize on that front, since my writing has typically been more personal in nature. I’m also a bit of an artist and so I’ve also got this idea to “transform” things around the house, adding value to them by turning them into more artistic versions of existence, and then “flipping” those, if you will. But so far no action on that front. Especially, I don’t have a clear mind for a sales channel.

In terms of marketing, I have a lot of experience in Facebook advertising, cold emailing, SEO, conferences and networking and more general knowledge in other types of marketing. I prefer Facebook advertising out of all the marketing channels I’ve experienced thus far for reach and quality of audience.

I don’t have a ton of time to focus on my income projects, so this is totally classified as a “side-hustle” type of need for me. Hence I’ve posted around the forum on Time Management too, and received a lot of useful feedback already.

My question is, where would you go from here?? In 20 days, my wife and I will meet again to see if we’ve mutually made any progress towards the 5k deficit. Well, they don’t call it the FASTlane for nothing!

 

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[Champion]

Hey Nice_home, thanks for sharing!

Im only 26 and im not talking from experience here, only what I hear MJ talking about in his books and how I interpret the fastlane philosophy:

No matter how much you are earning, there is no way you can outrun consumption if you are not controlling and disciplining yourself on the expense side of things. This is what MJ talks about and stresses a lot in "Unscripted ".

How do you think professional athletes, movie stars, famous artists and musicians can go broke, even though they earn millions per year? --> Consumption and unadulterated spending.

My question to you is, how did this 5k deficit in your budget start? To me it sounds like a lot of money... However, I have no idea about your life's circumstances.

What I think would be really useful for us in order to help you:

- How much are you and your wife currently earning per month? What is the source of that income?
- What are the individual costs that add up to the 5k deficit per month? Can you get rid of any of them?
- What city/country do you live in and how old are you?

I think if we have some more information, some people might be able to point you in the right direction.

On a first feeling, however, I think that your problem is not earning more money for now, its cutting the fat from those 5k expenses! Everything which is not completely necessary should be removed.

Best

 

[GSF]

First thing I'd be looking for a second job/ additional income and ways to cut the expense down. Freelance/ Work evenings/ 7 days if I had to.

Some ideas with your stated skills;
Monthly Facebook ads service for other companies.
Monthly Blog writing/ set up service.
Cold email outreach service monthly for other companies.
Any kind of writing service (resumes).
Use your experience in facebook and email outreach to get clients. Reach out to past customers, friends family etc.

Don't spend time building anything. Validate it., get a paying customer then build it. Avoid anything product based with heavy marketing costs. Focus on recurring monthly services. Just get a basic landing page with an offer and a email sign up button and test it cheaply and quickly. Link it on forums, Craigslist. , Facebook groups.