The other day I told my mother that I no longer felt motivated by money. She gave me a weird look and asked “What happened to you?”
I think the truth is I constantly need to feel challenged.
Earning money just for the sake of earning money isn’t fun. Feeling challenged in some way is fun and money is the byproduct of that.
Plus you guys, I need an animal barn. Like as soon as I can possibly get one. Those things aren’t cheap and I’m not willing to go into debt for one. So, I’ve got to start aggressively saving again while still meeting my other goals. (Like paying off my mortgage early and keeping the investments going.)
I’ve found the best way to save more money is to earn money.
Here’s How the Challenge Works
The challenge is super simple. Pick an amount of money you’d like to earn each day and then do something to earn it.
Your earnings don’t have to be immediate. (More on that in a minute.)
For me, I’d like to set the goal at $200 per day. That’s challenging but still achievable. You need to pick a goal that’s a good fit for you. If you’re just starting out it may be $20 or $50 per day. If you’re well established it could be $1,000 per day.
There’s no right or wrong here.
Some Examples for You
For many of us immediately earning that amount of extra money each day is a stretch. So the goal doesn’t have to be immediate income.
You just need to do something every day (or every week day) that has the ability to eventually produce you that set amount of money.
Example # 1 – Freelance Writer – The goal is $50/day. The first few days pitch your services to five potential clients who may eventually bring you your $50. Once you land some clients do at least $50 worth of work each day. Before the work runs dry pitch more prospects.
If you keep doing this consistently you will end up with WAY more than $50/day worth of work.
Example # 2 – Furniture Flipper – You set your goal at $75 per day. Find a great piece of furniture on Craigslist for $50. Buy it, do some minor repair work, turn around and list on Craigslist again for $150 and sell it after a little negotiation.
You reinvest your profits, find other great items, and go back listing at least one thing per day that could earn you that $75.
(Here’s some proof this is completely possible.)
Example # 3 – Direct Sales/MLM Member – Day one contact at least 10 people who could eventually bring you $100 in profit. Day two work on your social media plan that could bring you $100 in future profit. Day three consider setting up a blog that could help people find you. Day four host a party and demonstrate how your product works. Day 5 write an awesome blog post.
Example # 4 – Blogger – I know there’s a lot of interest in blogging. If it’s something you’re interested in you can mix this with other ideas too. Day one you spend 3 hours writing a long, informative post that could eventually bring you $100 in ad income. Day 2 you work on social media so more traffic comes to your blog. Day 3 you pitch companies for sponsored posts. Day 4 write a guest post for another blog. Etc.
Here’s a list of some things I could personally work on for the $200/day:
- Write $200 worth of freelance articles
- Write long blog posts that I think would do well for the long term
- Finish up my eBook that’s been sitting on my hard drive forever
- Find a company I like to sponsor one of my posts
- Try to find something on Craigslist to flip (I’m considering starting this type of side business with my brother.)
Okay, the truth is I haven’t thought of every single thing I can do yet, but that’s part of the challenge. It’s what makes it fun. You have to really think about how you’re going to reach that goal each day. And while the benefits may not immediately come your future self will be thanking you tremendously.
The whole point is to just take action! Do something every single day to get you closer to your goal.
Are you up for the challenge?
Wonderful tips. I am currently working on a nice book to give my subscribers, so it’s my priority (of course, web design clients are no.1, was lucky to actually get 5 projects to work on), will then look more into social media and also pitching more clients. I’d like to diversify and get some writing jobs as well, but I need to promote a little 😀
That sounds like great stuff to work on. You’ll be glad you put the time into the ebook!
I’m liking this and I think I am going to take up on this challenge. Just need to come up with a plan and I will let you know. Thanks!
Awesome! Can’t wait to hear what you come up with.
Hi Alexa! This is exactly what I do haha!! Now that I’m also working full time I don’t totally keep track, but before when I was strictly freelancing and blogging I always strived to make at least $100 per day. Some days, I would make over $400 which always felt incredible!
I think it’s also important to have a “why” behind why you want to make money. For me, it’s saving, paying down debt and honestly just being able to shop more (I’ll admit it, lol). For you, it’s buying a barn which is awesome!!! But I think there has to be some sort of reason to make money or else it looses it’s appeal.
Great post, and hope you have a good weekend!
I used to do this exact same thing when I first starting out too 🙂 I tried to make $100/day. I didn’t always get there but I tried. I think it feels more actionable with the daily goal.
And you’re right about needing a goal to earn more. That’s probably why I have slacked off. This time though I want to make sure everything I do I actually like doing and am not just doing it purely for money.
Thanks for the kick in the pants! I needed this today. I’m on the blogging end of things, and my next project is to increase the traffic to my site. I’ve reached my other goals for the month, and I’m ready to tackle this one. It can seem daunting to do things like this for the first time, but it’s worth it and it will only get easier.
It get SO much easier with time. Trust me. Once you find out what works just keep doing over and over. At that point it just becomes habit and you don’t even have to think about it.
This is exactly what I needed to hear. As a family, we’re working on some pretty major goals and I need to feel like I’m doing something. ANYTHING. So I’m making my list tonight.
Thank you!
Awesome!! I honestly feel like if you take action good things will follow. It might not be immediate income but money will eventually follow that action 🙂
Your example of flipping furniture is amazing! But, you live in a small town with a Walmart. How many folks are buying furniture ? Is there another town ???
I would love to find some sort of antique dealer to sell stuff too. Just a little money and get it out of the house. ; )
I can’t wait to see which challenges people take. Should be interesting.
~ C
That’s a very good point, Christie. If I do the Craigslist thing I’m going to have to find really good deals that can still be reasonably priced. The one good thing though is that I can always put stuff in my Dad’s store to sell. It’s a very country store so the furniture would have to be rustic looking to do well.
I’ll start with a small investment and see how it goes.
And the other downside for me is that there is no Craigslist in my town. I have to look at the Cincinnati site which is an hour+ away. We do have a county Facebook yard sale though which might come in handy.
Great idea, Alexa! Are you going to have a monthly check in post where people can comment on what progress they’ve made? You mentioned your mom…. How’s her blog doing?
Yes I’d love to do some check-ins for everyone who is wanting to do it and to also list out some ideas I came up with! I’ll mark it in my planner now so I don’t forget 🙂
And as far as my Mom’s blog she’s tried a couple of things but got busy with work and school and hasn’t posted as much. She’s actually on a two week vacation from work starting today and is supposed to come over this week so I can help her. I came up with a much more unique idea for her blog monetization and we’re going to work on that. (It’s something that will provide immediate income if I can get it figured out so I’ll be sure to update if I do. It should be something anybody can do. Fingers crossed that I can get it to work!)
when you have a list of financial goals to achieve budget is essential as have side hustle earnings…thanks for sharing
I like this challenge. It breaks a larger goal down into smaller achievable pieces.
I like this idea! I love setting goals/challenging myself. When you put itin a day by day perspective I think it makes it more attainable that way.
Hi Alexa!
Thanks for writing this because it seems like it came at the right time! By June I have a goal to produce $500(plus) of online income through freelancing and blogging to begin aggressively paying down my student loans.
Just last week I was telling my husband that I needed to figure out how much extra work I would need to produce in addition my full-time job. I couldn’t totally grasp the concept of how much I would need to pitch or write and translate that into a dollar sign.
Thankfully, your post has helped me see how I will need to about this! I am not new here, I’ve just been a silent follower for some time. I just wanted to thank you for this article, because it has indeed helped me!