Mid May 2012 Blog Update

Again it was a pretty busy week around here. For the first time I actually had a post published every weekday. Sure a couple were guest posts, but hey, it’s a start. Just don’t expect that pace every week :)

Part of the reason for the extra posts was that I started to review financial software. On Tuesday I featured SpringCoin and their online debt relief software. They even helped out with an exclusive cash giveaway. Enter now if you haven’t already.

On Thursday, a guest writer started a weekly series about side hustles. Her first post of the series 3 Good Web Based Side Income Ideas For Smart Hustlers profiles some interesting ways for people to make money online.

Also just a reminder to vote for your favorite Canadian personal finance blogs. There have been over 500 votes so far, but it would be great to get even more votes.

Lately I’ve been seeing some good growth on Twitter. I was aiming for 600 twitter followers by the end of the month, but I might reach 700 by the end of the weekend. Yeah, I’m horrible at setting goals haha.

On the job front, I am meeting a potential client Thursday afternoon. It looks like a promising opportunity, but it would only be a temporary part time contract. Since someone else wants to hire me part time too, that might work out well. If those don’t pan out, another company might be ready for some marketing work in a couple weeks. If you’re looking for marketing help, be sure to contact me.

So things are looking up.

Favorite Posts On Other Blogs

As usual, every Friday I like to give a shout out to some of my favorite bloggers. I’d love to include more of you, but I don’t want to overwhelm people any more than I already do. Plus some of you are just nicer to me. Being nice goes a long ways in my books.

Start a Side Job and Make More Money Today on One Smart Dollar

Give Yourself a Raise (No Boss Required) on Married With Debt

Diversifying Income on Along For The Journey

The Hidden Ingredient in Fragrance – Phthalates on Earth and Money

How I paid off my mortgage in less than 5 years on My Canuck Buck

Our Journey to Financial Peace – April 2012 on Work Save Live

Look To The Western Sky, For A Scam on Make Money Make Cents

The eBay Series: Successful eBay Customer Service on American Debt Project

How To Buy a Used Computer on Finance Fox

Monitor Your Credit Report on The Family Finances

The Money Conversation for Couple on Money Smart Guides

How Tickets Can Affect Your Car Insurance Rates on Money Q&A

How Do You Feel About Punching a Clock? on Young Professional Finances

Staging Your Home On a Budget – Home Staging 101 on Finance Yoga

When a Recipe for Success Fails on From Shopping To Saving

Would You Work Any Job? on My Alternate Life

5 Things I Refuse to Splurge On on Femme Frugality

Embrace That You ARE in Sales on My Money Design

Our Food Fight – Month 1 Results on Budgeting In The Fun Stuff

Modest Money Around The Web

Since all you fellow bloggers are so awesome, you were kind with the mentions again this week. Thanks everyone! Here is where Modest Money was mentioned recently:

Blog round up for May 11th on My Canuck Buck

Carnivals, Mentions, & Weekend Reading #11 on Work Save Live

Personal Finance Week in Review for May 11 on One Smart Dollar

Weekly round up! on Alden Tan

Links Grow on Trees – The Running Edition on Earth and Money

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie – Mother’s Day Edition on One Smart Dollar

Best Personal Finance Writing – Week 19 on Married With Debt

Weekly Roundup on Along For The Journey

Financial Simplicity Carnival – The Mother’s Day Edition on Make Money Make Cents

Groupon is Doomed and A Few Good Links on American Debt Project

Sunday Link Charity # 23 – Mothers Day 2012 Edition! on Finance Fox

Yakezie Carnival: My Momma Told Me Edition on Well Heeled Blog

Friends of the Family on The Family Finances

Financial Carnival for Young Adults – 12th Edition on 20′s Finances

Manflu and 5000 Visitors on Savvy Scot

Weekly Roundup: Great Money Articles This Week on Money Q&A

Stretch Your Money – Weekly Blog Roundup #2 on Finance Yoga

How I Blog and PF Link Love: Fave Reads of the Week on From Shopping To Saving

Weekend Wind Down 5/12/2012 on My Money Design

What’s everyone got planned for the weekend? Anything exciting?

3 Good Web Based Side Income Ideas For Smart Hustlers

This is the start of a weekly series focused on side income hustles. We could all use some extra income on the side. So be sure to check back each week for new ideas on how you too can make some money on the side.

The web has brought us unprecedented opportunities to make an income whether full time, part time and or on the side. The trick is to know where to look, and the various opportunities available. Ever since high speed internet made a splash some years ago, along with the advent of smartphones and now tablets – all heck has broken loose in the internet web work landscape.

You see the web is powered and advanced by a few key things; content, design and optimization. In any and all its various forms, a website needs these three things to exist and flourish. And as such properly trained individuals are needed to provide these key things, but it gets even better because these three key things are an ocean onto themselves with many smaller ponds and lakes branching out into related fields. For example, with the large overall field of web optimization comes the need for individuals trained and skilled in the smaller and niche area of search engine enhancement, with design comes usability and user engagement, and with content there’s a whole slew of niche areas to go into from there.

See three specific and detailed example web based side income niche ideas below. Agree? Disagree? Tell me in the comment area.

1. Social Media Growth And Management

With social media becoming an increasingly popular method for promoting just about anything someone would want to promote, it has become a mega career field in and of itself. Anyone can put together a Facebook fan page, bu only those trained and skilled in this area can actually make a successful, active and lead generating Facebook fan page machine. Whether you’re self taught in social media or went to a fancy pants school, results are what matter to a prospective client. Can you organically grow Twitter followers? Do you have a knack for user engagement on Facebook or Google Plus? Some people are naturally gifted at social media and if you happen to be one of these individuals, make no mistake about it – your skills are in HIGH demand. Create a blog and website and put the “For Hire” shingle out as soon as you can, because there’s an army of small business owners out there who desperately need your help and will gladly pay for the help.

This is a big money maker right now and the sooner you make it known that you’re available, the sooner you will start to gain clients and make more than a side income.

2. Facebook Timeline Designer

Ever since Facebook came out with the new Timelines design, this instantly created an opportunity for smart and creative designers to put out an APB on their clients needing fresh new designs. Since the Timeline covers and corresponding profiles were completely revamped with new sizes and placement, just about every Facebook fan page owner has had to adapt. No one is immune to the change. This is a prime opportunity for any and every web designer out there, including you. Let everyone you know that you’re offering custom Timeline design covers and get the word out via your blog and social networks. You might be pleasantly surprised by the interest in this super cool service and the smart clients coming your way. But you must charge appropriately, and this is mostly determined by your demand. If you have set up some sort of client lead system and you start getting hammered with clients, then you can pretty much charge what you want. But if you don’t have a client list or a client lead system, then lowered rates are your foot in the door and you should charge what the market tells you to charge. It doesn’t matter how awesome you are as a designer, if you have no clients, it doesn’t matter. You need clients, then you can name your price. Try out different price points and see which one sticks. Then go at it – full force.

3. Real Estate Web Content Writer

Notice I didn’t just mention web content writer, but I mentioned “real estate web content writer” and there’s a reason for this. Because with the internet being as large as it is, you need to niche your way to a client base. If you go after everyone, you’ll get no one. But if you tailor your message to a very specific group of people, then you’ll know how (and where) to market to them. Take for example, real estate professionals. Where do they tend to hang out online? What social networks do they belong to? What sort of web content would they most be interested in? You see what I’m getting at, marketing all of a sudden becomes way easier and smarter. If you’re a good writer, you’re in HIGH demand. Get that website or blog up as soon as humanly possible and start getting out there on the interwebs and get your name out there. All sorts of online business owners and web publishers – need your help.

Summary

It’s all about knowing your strengths, your current skill set and how you can adapt these to the web. There are millions and millions of website and blogs on the web, and they all need your help in one area or another. Get out there and stake your claim.

Reader Questions:

What are you currently doing on the web for income? What do you WANT to do for income, that is web-based? Tell me below in the comment area.

Guest post by: Missy who owns and writes on Frugal Quack, a fun frugal blog about living more with less. When Missy is not hustling making a buck online, she loves to run by the Chicago lakefront, run nature trails, hike anywhere and everywhere she can and her favorite – jog on a local beach.

Treating Your Job As An Investment

Job Investment
Photo: 401K

The following is a guest post from Justin at The Family Finances, the story of one family’s financial journey.

Many people think of their job simply as a means to an end. In other words, it’s just something they have to do in order to pay the bills, put food on the table, and provide for their family. But let’s look at a job from another angle.

I propose that your job can and should be viewed as an investment. I can hear it now, “How in the world is my boring 8 to 5 job an investment?” Before getting into those details let’s look at what exactly an investment is. The basic definition of “investment” is placing money or capital in something that gives a return or appreciates in value. For example, when you invest in a stock you’re putting money into a share of a company in hopes of receiving dividends or that the share price will increase. You invest money in a savings account to earn interest. You invest money in your education to increase your future earning potential. Continue reading

SpringCoin Debt Relief Cash Giveaway

Lately I’ve been thinking about testing out the various financial software available. It seems like there’s some really good tools out there to help with budgeting and making better financial decisions.

One of the tools I was looking into recently is SpringCoin which is basically an online debt relief coach. Since I have some debt that I’ve been putting off paying, I figured this might be a good option for me.

Unfortunately you need to be a US citizen to use this software since it asks for the last 4 digits of your social security number to pull up your credit report. So it’s not something I’m going to be able to use myself. Continue reading

Keeping Up With The Joneses In The Digital Age

As the internet has evolved and we truly enter the digital age as a society, the biggest enemy of our personal finances has been quietly growing stronger and stronger. No it’s not inflation. It’s not government taxes. It’s something much less obvious. It’s those pesky Joneses!

It might seem innocent enough when you are on Facebook browsing through their vacation photos or reading about their great new house/car/boat/tv. Meanwhile it is pushing your savings to the edge of a dangerous precipice.

After all, you’ve worked very hard and you’re a good person. So why shouldn’t you deserve all that awesome stuff too?

Why The Joneses Are Stronger Than Ever

The problem is not that there are many more Joneses today or that they are wealthier than in the past. The real problem is how they have found more ways to infiltrate our lives.

Since we are more connected than ever, it is inevitable that those social networks include people who are wealthier or at least appear to be. Unless the Joneses in your circles are quite humble, they are bound to be mentioning things that are only attainable with a lot of money. Continue reading

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