HOW TO DIVERSIFY & GROW YOUR INCOME

Reaching your financial goals and never having to worry about money is something we all aspire to. It gives you financial stability, enables you to save for emergencies, helps you pursue your dreams, and save for the future. It is also key to living a comfortable life.

So, whether you have a 9-5 job or are an entrepreneur and searching for ways to grow your income, this article is for you.

Use it to earn extra money and reach your financial goals.

START A BLOG

Blogging is one of the most effective ways to earn extra cash. If you do it right you can make thousands of dollars per month and reach your money goals. However, you have to put in the work because growing your audience and ensuring people value your content takes time. Nevertheless, once you build brand authority and become a trusted source for specific information, there is no limit to how far you can go.

So, start a blog and work on your content strategy. Pick a niche and decide what sort of content you would like to produce. Consider your target audience and choose a topic that resonates with them. Curate content that interests them and adds value to their lives.

Keep your content interactive and highly engaging. Create how-to guides, complete guides, reference guides, infographics, and so on. Incorporate images and videos in your strategy to capture attention and retain it.

Interact with your audience and ask them to share their thoughts in the comments section. Ask them what they would like you to write about in your next article. Ask about their recent challenges or the sort of information they wish they had easy access to. Cater to their needs and help them meet common challenges.

Aim to become a thought-leader and build industry authority to get the attention you need. Answer questions on Quora, Reddit, or Stack Exchange to prove credibility and show how knowledgeable you are in your field.

Optimize your blog for SEO to ensure you appear on search engines. Share your blog URL across social media platforms to increase traffic and grow your readership.

Hire a web designer on Upwork or Fiverr to design your blog or use WordPress.

Once you grow your audience, monetize your blog. Get into affiliate marketing. Identity and join the best affiliate programs. Add affiliate links on your site or within your content and get paid on commission.

Choose a company that allows you to recommend products or services that are in line with your business. Make sure you only recommend services or products that you have experience with or ones you trust to build trust and retain your audience. Don’t just endorse products for the sake of money because that’s how you lose trust.

Some of the best affiliate programs to join are Amazon Affiliates, CJ Affiliates, eBay Partner Network, ClickBank, and ShareASale.

You can also monetize your blog via membership sales, display ads, or sponsored content. The secret is to pick a niche and stick to it. This builds trust and makes it easy for people to trust your content or the type of products you recommend because they know that you are an expert in your field.

Another option is to answer professional questions on Justanswer, Experts123, or HelpOwl and get paid for it.

WRITE EBOOKS

eBooks are a great way to earn passive income and meet your goals. So, write your first eBook and sell it on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, iBooks Author, Gumroad, Smashwords, or e-Junkie.

The best way to succeed is to create quality content and use the right platform. So, decide what you want to write about and determine whether or not it’s something people will enjoy reading. Consider your target audience. Who are you writing for? What sort of information do you want to share? And How does it benefit your audience?

Know who you are writing for to curate quality content and ensure success. For example, if you are a marketing expert, target freelancers or small businesses. Share useful tips on building brand awareness, reaching a bigger audience, converting leads into buyers, and growing the business.

If you are a life coach you can target different kinds of people and help them improve their relationships, professional lives, as well as their way of thinking. Focus on helping your readers find fulfillment in their daily lives, discovering their purpose, and living to the best of their abilities.

Find out what your audience enjoys reading and come up with an effective content strategy. For example, if you have a blog, reach out to your followers and ask them about their favorite books.

Aim to add value into the reader’s life with your book to ensure sales and get more readers for upcoming publications.

Your book title and cover are key to attracting your audience and increasing sales. So, come up with a compelling title that raises curiosity and gets people interested in finding out what it’s all about.

Design your book cover with Canva or hire a graphic designer on Fiverr to speed up the process.

Promote your eBook on social media, your business website, or blog. Tell your friends and followers about it. Mention what it’s about and highlight a few things they’ll benefit from it.

If you don’t enjoy writing or don’t have the time to perfect your writing skills, hire a ghostwriter on freelancing sites and get your eBook ready in no time. Search for reliable writers on Fiverr, iWriter, FlexJobs, Upwork, or BloggingPro. The best thing about hiring a ghostwriter is that you get complete rights to your eBook and use it whichever way you like.

CREATE AN ONLINE COURSE

Online courses are one of the most lucrative businesses to venture into. Countless people are earning millions of dollars from online courses and you can too.

If you are a teacher, have decent coaching skills, or enjoy creating educational content, this side gig is for you. Identify one thing you are great at and turn it into an online course. Find out how your audience will benefit from it to ensure success.

Consider your existing audience or define your target audience to succeed. Answer key questions; What sort of training do I want to offer? Who is my target audience? And How am I going to get people to purchase my course?

Go to Udemy, Teachable, or Skillshare and search for popular courses. Compare them with your top skill to generate ideas. What sort of content are students searching for? Which courses have more student enrollments? And Which ones have higher ratings and reviews?

Go through the course content. What sort of information does each course cover? How does it benefit students? And What does the instructor promise?

Next, focus on the comments section. What are students saying about the course? Are they happy with the content? How did the course transform their lives?

When you do enough research, create a course that people will be interested in. The kind that will benefit your students in some way and help them meet specified goals.

Use giveaways and discounts to encourage people to enroll. Give free access to your membership site, premium content, your eBook, and other helpful resources to everyone who enrolls.

Create exciting offers that raise interest and add value to people’s lives.

Aim to enroll 30 students in your first course and give them the best experience.

If your students find value in your content, they will promote your course and tell their friends about it.

Create your first online course with Udemy, Skillshare, Teachable, Kajabi, Thinkific, or Podia for free.

SELL A SERVICE

Become a freelancer. Identify your top skill and monetize it. Consider your interests and passions. What are you passionate about? What do you enjoy doing? And What is one thing you do better than anyone else you know?

List all your interests or passions and compare them to your skills. Sell a service that you are great at and one that you enjoy to succeed. Don’t turn your skill into a business if you don’t enjoy it because that is how most people fail.

Choose something that you are not only great at but that you’ll enjoy doing years down the line. Something that you are willing to continue doing when you are not getting paying clients.

If you want to turn your passion into a business, aren’t as good at it as you desire to be, but are willing to learn and continuously improve, advance your knowledge. Enroll in free online courses and improve your skill. Practice what you learn and complete your course to see the desired results.

Some of the best platforms that offer free courses that will help you cultivate your skill are Udemy and EdX.

Watch YouTube videos to advance your knowledge and constantly improve.

You can also invest in a paid course to up your skill and become an expert. Look for high-ranking courses on Udemy, Udacity, EdX, or Coursera, enroll and start learning.

Once you cultivate your skill or get comfortable with your abilities, offer freelancing services. Open a freelancing account on Fiverr, Upwork, SimplyHired, PeoplePerHour, Guru, or other reputable platforms. Add your top skill and offer related services.

Add a professional image and a compelling description to pique interest and command attention.

Add links to your portfolio site if you have one and client reviews and ratings.

Find out how fellow freelancers are charging to ensure you set your price right. Come up with an effective pricing strategy to attract attention, cater to different needs, and reach your goals. It’s advisable to start with a lower price since you are starting. So, focus more on getting your first client, growing your customer base, and building your work portfolio. You can increase your rates and charge as much as you want once you have an impressive portfolio.

Other lucrative freelance services to consider are bookkeeping, transcription, content marketing, data entry, writing, blog editing, web design, and social media marketing.

START AN ECOMMERCE STORE

Start an eCommerce store and sell your products online. If you are great at taking photos, creating art, have unused items at home or other quality products you want to get rid of, open your store.

Design your store with WooCommerce to give it a professional touch and ensure overall success. The best thing about using this plugin is that it is open-source, scalable, and customizable. It comes with lots of interesting features such as a secure payment gateway, integration with other software, good customer support, a modern interface, access to customer reviews, and so much more.

You can also add as many products as you like and incorporate different payment methods, for example, PayPal, Stripe, and Bank Transfers.

Add your store URL on your website, blog, and business social media pages. Tell your followers about it and invest in paid ads to reach more people and increase traffic.

You can also build your online store with other reputable eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, Squarespace, Etsy, Ecwid, or OpenCart.

Optimize your site for SEO to appear on search engine results pages and boost sales. Use Instagram Stories to attract a bigger audience and increase conversion rates.

Leverage influencer marketing to sell more products and reach your sales goals. Incorporate other effective strategies to promote your store and grow your customer base. For example, run an online contest, offer giveaways, upload promotional videos on YouTube, send free samples of your product to prospects, use Google ads, add your store URL on marketing materials, and mention your product launch on Reddit.

LEARN A NEW SKILL

Learn a new skill and monetize it. Learn anything you want and turn it into a reliable source. Identify one thing you wish to study and turn it into a side hustle. Recall that dream you once had and pursue it.

Use MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses to cultivate your new skill. Gain access to millions of free courses. Choose one that suits your needs, complete the course, and monetize your new skill.

Research the highest-paying freelancing jobs and start learning. Some of the lucrative side jobs to consider are copywriting, search engine optimization, videography, software development, graphic designing, web designing, tutoring, marketing, and mobile app development. Pick one you are comfortable with.

Once you decide which new skill to master, choose your learning platform. Put in your best efforts, follow the advice you get, practice what you learn, and complete the course.

Invest in a paid course and get certified to gain a competitive advantage and make it easy for prospects to trust working with you. Add your certificate to your online portfolio or website.

The best thing about getting certified is that it proves credibility, makes you employable and keeps you one step ahead of the competition.

So, make sure you work with reputable sites to meet your goals.

Some of the best online learning platforms to look into include Canvas, Udemy, EdX, Coursera, Udacity, Khan Academy, and LinkedIn Learning. Most of these platforms offer free courses as well. So, you can enroll in a free course first and determine whether or not the platform is right for you. Upgrade to a paid course once you are happy with the course content and quality.

Prices vary depending on what you want to learn, the instructor, and the platform you choose. Expect to pay as little as $10 per course or as much as $100 per course.

START INVESTING

Become an investor to make your money work for you and continuously grow your income. Open an investment account and deposit a certain percentage of your earnings weekly or monthly. Use the money to invest in something you believe in.

If you are starting, invest in low-risk investments with high returns. For example, stocks, bonds, fixed annuities, and peer-to-peer lending.

Invest in real estate and start building your wealth. Buy and sell office buildings, apartments, or houses. Flip properties or buy properties sold below their market value, renovate them and sell them at a higher price.

Join a real estate training program to evaluate properties, identify good deals, avoid getting cheated, apply for a license, and succeed.

Find the best real estate programs on Kaplan, Real Estate Express, Skillshare, or Udemy.

Invest in Real Estate Investment Trusts or REITs. REITs allow you to earn money from real estate investments without buying, managing, or financing the properties yourself. They offer high-yield dividends and are a great way to diversify your portfolio.

Some of the best REITs to invest in are Office REITs, Residential REITs, Health Care REITs, and Lodging REITs.

Invest in cryptocurrency for high returns, quick asset transfers, and to avoid bank transactions. Invest in the best cryptocurrencies to ensure profits. For example, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and Binance Coin.

Make smart investments to avoid losses and grow your wealth. Get a financial advisor to help you manage your money wisely and ensure profits. Your financial advisor will recommend high-yield investments, help you set realistic goals, weigh risks, and avoid losses.

Use the best investing platforms to learn about investing, ensure profits, and avoid losses. Some great platforms to consider are TD Ameritrade, Robinhood, SoFi, Acorns, J.P Morgan, and nutmeg.com

BONUS

Create free tutorials on YouTube and earn as much as $10 000 or more per month depending on your watch hours and the number of views.

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