Tyler WebCPA

The broadcast last night was fun, a lot of great ideas and brainstorming pouring out. Thanks!

Jackie

Even if your sole reason for wanting to earn money on the side was just because you needed/wanted the money, it doesn’t mean that you can’t find something enjoyable in what you choose to do.

It is a whole lit easier though to take something that you’re doing already and then figure out how to make money from it. Work smarter, not longer.

Vin

Hey, it’s me! Vindel1985…..

I put an ad on Cragislist last night offering guitar lessons and WiFi network help and have ALREADY received a few e-mails. In less than 13 hours!

Granted, these are not big businesses that will sustain me alone, but they sure will get me earning money!

Thanks Ramit, again.

4hr

Thanks for posting the Q&A, it was great. I am wondering if it might also be good to have something more structured – it would be less interactive (bad), but perhaps more efficient and focused (good) – kind of like the difference b/w a president’s press conference and a state of the union message.

Anyway, I certainly agree with your points in this post Ramit. I do think that it can be a balancing act between deciding whether a given hour of work is better spent on advancing your career or developing a business on the side – it all depends on your situation – my present situation is that the marginal benefit of extra time spent on my career is exceeded by the benefit of developing my own side business – but it wasn’t always that way.

To Vin – Ramit is right – focusing on making the lessons fun and giving them real songs they can play immediately (or almost immediately) – most people dont really want to be able to seriously play – they just want to have fun with it and impress a few people. (you can sneak in some scales and learning too).

Kathleen

I should also have added to the above that my day job is as an executive assistant.

yohami

With barriers Im identifying whatever people tell to themselves whenever they feel fear. All of the “I want to … “but”

Whenever somebody comes with a “but”, they are finding a force that draws them back to their comfort zone. So barriers are definately not ouside. Talking about barriers rationalize them, in other words, give them a temporary existance and embeds them into the ego. While the only thing needed is, really, action.

Action leads to transformation.

Its like somebody who wants to get better at something, and they buy a book about why they suck at it. Or get a training course to so they are not as afraid of “try new stuff”. It aint going to happen. Experience is the only thing that can overcome fear, and experience isnt granted by thinking about whats holding you back.

@Nathan, it looks like you are talking about skills, more than barriers. Skills is something you have to keep working until you die, Im not calling lack of skills a barrier?

Jim Munro

Ramit, I would love to hear the story about the toilet cleaner from your quote above. What are they doing now?

Blue

More ideas for @Kathleen:

Hit up the group “themed humor” blogs where they let anyone submit designs to CafePress. The Comics Curmudgeon is a good example.

Pick a design, make a thing, make sure it’s related to whatever the commenters are talking about lately. Bonus points if it’s extra awesome. You would be surprised how much Mary Worth-related, user-generated merch that site sells.

Also–just for the record–seriously I have a Gravatar and why is it not showing up on IWTYTBR?????

Blue

I guess it depends on how much you want to make.

Click here to see pictures of people who have bought and are proudly wearing Comics Curmudgeon stuff.

(The first post in that list is Josh getting stuff from King Features… keep scrolling to see the posts about people creating, posting, and buying CC stuff. All the CC stuff is user-created–Josh doesn’t make it.)

The Broken Penny

It can be a challenge to earn money on the side while working full time, but it is worth it. Most people don’t realize how much working on side projects empowers you. It makes going to you day job a little bit easier too, because you know you have something in the works that will one day make you free. I couldn’t stand the though of working for someone else forever!

Rev John

The video had practical content. Unfortunately, I found no added value in yelling The Lord name in vain. I am sure if I did others did also.

Katya

Hi Ramit!
I missed this live broadcast @#@$@% !
Think a lot about the ways to make some money. And my question is ( if it’s not too late) what might work the best in your opinion:

1. Invent an idea and then license it.
2. To make money on the skill, that I DO NOT have, btw inspired by your blog (I can explain)

3. website (for my country) about unique travel tips to US, France ( adSense )

Thanks

And thank you for your work

Josh

Hi Ramit, nice webcast. I enjoyed it, as well as the material you’ve been putting out lately. I’m 23 and pretty new to the corporate world, but I already know that it’s not for me. I spend my days as a software developer, and spend my evenings working out, trying to teach myself how to sing(dream job is a producer/vocalist), and reading non fiction.

I am thinking of putting up a post on craigslist for JavaScript or any kind of PDF printing work ( what I’ve learned at my 9-5er the past year and a half) but i don’t know how much to charge, or even how to market myself well. I guess my fear is that I’ll end up taking on a job that I can’t finish, or end up working 10hrs for $20.

So, how can I be sure to get jobs that are in my league, per se?

Thanks for reading,
Josh

yohami

@Josh if your dream is to be a producer/vocalist stop messing up with javascript, just get a damn job on your dream field. Consider anything else outside of your leage.

yohami

@Josh I bet you didnt go to school to learn Javascript, and you dont have to sacrifice anything but your barriers. Start singing and producing right now and figure a way to make the extra cash right there.

Peter

@Katya

My question is, what do you know best and/or enjoy the most?

1. My problem with trying to invent something is the time it will take and the mindset of trying to come up with something to invent. I’ve seen it before where people get too caught up with making a big discovery. I recommend you read Ramit’s post on The Myth of the great idea

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/the-myth-of-the-great-idea/

2. Why would you want to extend the process by trying to make money with something you don’t know? What skills DO you have right now?

3. Do you travel to the US and France often? If so, this seems to most viable.

Again, you should reread Ramits post about marketing your skills, stop trying to create business and find out what skills are needed, find out what skills you have and then build a business idea from that.

@josh

Have you read Ramits and some other financial books (like Suze Ormans books) about automizing your money and paying off debt? If not, I would do so now and get that in order.

I would also recommend reading Escape from Cubicle Nation by pamela slim. Great advice on transitioning from a 9-5 job into what you want to do realistically.

While school is always a great way to start, I’ve always felt if you want to learn to do something, just find someone who has and talk with them. Do you know any professional singers and producers? Even someone in a band that has made a few albums in a studio. Take them out to lunch, talk to them, they are bound to know singing coaches and producers. Build a network and surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to do..You don’t have to quit your job and it’ll probably cost you a lunch or two. Ask if you can come in during a recording sometime.

@Maria Brilaki and @Vin:

This is far from scientific data, but my 2 brothers and I all went and bought guitars and started learning after our family friend picked it up to learn bossa nova (she loves brasil) for his wife.

Personally, as a guy, I think flat out saying “to pick up chicks” might be coming on too strong. If I were him, I would hint to it on the website. Simply listing a handful of classic songs that most guys think girls love, mixed in with a few current hits that are all the rage, would be sufficient enough.

I would also make a little promo video (which would cost nothing since almost all computers have video cameras and come with editing software). Take a day or two too write out a really easy to understand teaching method (think of a potential customer as someone whos never picked up a guitar in their life) Break everything down into bite sized chunks and then record yourself showing a few steps of your method. I would start the video with you playing an entire song, clips of you breaking it down in an easy to understand manner (about 2 or 3 sections of the song) and then playing that whole section really well. It’s the classic artist portfoliio flow where you start strong and end strong.

Peter

^^ @vin

Sorry I keep coming up with ideas!

I also think a great idea would to also stress that you’re not here to teach them to write songs…or be the next john mayer. If they want to really learn guitar offer then some suggestions for books or dvds.

But if they want to learn a song they’ve always wanted to play in a week and to impress their friends, family, girlfriend (this is where you throw that in) or some hot chick by picking up a guitar and playing a couple songs, you can help them do that.

Kal

A huge point you mentioned is in the idea of coming to terms with money. i.e. money is not evil. If you’re providing a quality service to people or businesses you deserve the pay. Position the effort as a means to a higher end than just money is the one that gets me moving toward goals much more than any other.

Josh Kohlbach

“if you want to earn money for bigger reasons — more important reasons — that vision can get you through challenging times.”

I think that’s really the key to it all right there. If you’re focusing on the money, you’ll be so short sighted you’ll forget why you started doing these things and thinking this way in the first place.

Rapidly testing, and trying to find the right thing for both you and your clients is a great approach and something that is working out well for me.

Doing little experiments makes it fun too and you get to see results straight up instead of (if you focus on the money) waiting months for your first dollar to roll into your paypal account.

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