As part of my anti-resolution and to-do list, I’m on a mission to pay off my debt.
I plan to become completely debt free by the end of 2012.
In part one of this series, I made a yearly budget and calculated the savings, to cut back on excessive spending.
This is a very important part of achieving any financial goal.
But it definitely wouldn’t be as effective without increasing my income.
That’s where part two of my plan comes into play.
Find more freelance work
I love to write, and getting paid to do it is a big dream of mine. Thankfully, I already do a little freelance writing outside of this blog.
So, I will be adding more freelance writing gigs to my schedule, while continuing the ones I already have.
I also work as a monthly contributor for Yahoo! Finance. They send me assignments every few days but I hardly ever accept them because I feel my blog’s content might suffer if I stretch myself too thin.
But one thing I’ve learned recently is, the more you write and practice your craft, the better writer you become. So I will be accepting more assignments, which will increase my freelance income.
Become a tax consultant
Since I quit my seasonal job working as a tax specialist, I won’t have that income source. But I still enjoy giving tax advice to my family and friends when they need it.
I’ve decided to do a little tax consulting. I don’t have to file any returns, but I can assist others with tips, checklists and answering any tax questions.
This will make sure the tax returns are filed accurately and you get the biggest refund/pay the smallest amount of tax possible.
Having a tax consultant helps you be more involved with your financial information, without having to divulge everything to a CPA or Tax Pro.
You are in more control of your taxes while getting expert advice on the side. It’s like having an advocate in your corner against the dreaded tax man!
I’ve already taken on several jobs and I have a few more lined up. For now, I’m just charging a small flat fee, and in some cases I will be taking food as payment (which I kinda prefer anyway!). Contact me HERE to get help.
Increase traffic on this blog
I just passed the 6 month mark on this blog (yay!) so I haven’t made any substantial income yet.
My plan is to increase my traffic by continuing to write epic content, putting my heart and soul into this site and…
- Submit and publish a guest post each month
- Read and comment on other blogs daily
- Offer more giveaways
- Consistently publish posts 3-4 times a week
- Become more prominent within blogging forums/community sites (like Wise Bread)
Steps to pay down debt faster
My six part plan to pay my debt down faster includes:
- Part one – Cut excessive spending
- Part two – Increase income
- Part three – Sell stuff
- Part four – Pause saving and investing
- Part five – Bartering
- Part six – Use found money
In this series I’m separating selling items, and finding extra cash from increasing income. I want to really define and focus on each method, so I don’t blend them together and lose momentum.
With the combined efforts of part one and part two, I will be able to jump start my goal and become debt free even quicker than I originally calculated.
Check out the next post in this series.
How do you increase your income?
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