Work

3 Cheap Hobbies That Can Also Bring in Cash

January 28, 2020 By Trey LaRocca Leave a Comment

When it comes to the monthly budget, wiggle room is hard to come by for most people. Whenever a new expense comes up, we are always looking for what we have to go without to compensate. Well, what if you didn’t have to sacrifice anything to have an extra date night? What if that new yoga membership didn’t mean you have to give up post-work drinks on Friday? All this is possible, and you may be able to pull it off with your own cheap hobbies! To show you how this is possible, here are some cheap hobbies that can make you money.

Driving Around

DO you have a comfortable car, and enjoy cruising around your area? Uber and Lyft have become mainstays for side-hustlers. Sign up for an account, grab some snacks and drinks for the back seat, and earn that extra dough! Be careful about this one, and make sure you have the right vehicle. Certain higher-end vehicles depreciate heavily with mileage, and the loss you’ll take on that can compound with premium gas expenses to rapidly make this one not worth it. Older reliable cars that just barely make the year/make/model requirements for the apps are the best option. these have already depreciated, and are probably cheaper to fix. Bonus points if you have a hybrid!

Cooking

Got some skill in the kitchen, and need some extra fun-money? Not only can being a good cook save you cash on eating out, it can also be monetized by selling the food you make! You can sell homemade snacks to coworkers, cater for parties, or even work on the side as a private cook. There are options here for all skill levels, as dealing some easy pastries at work doesn’t take too much expertise and will make you an office favorite. The more you can make, the more money you can bring in, and this one is very easy to work around your own schedule.

Tutoring

Do you have a degree in a high-demand field, and love to teach? Tutors can make great money on the side using online sites like Varsity Tutors or even Craigslist. You can also become a part-time staffed tutor at local educational institutions for a more reliable workload. Usually a degree is required, which elevates the pay past your usual side hustle. Tutoring holds an extra special spot on this list, as you are earning money by helping educate your community. Not only are you providing better for yourself or your family, you’re also giving back to those around you. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Sorry! You Can’t Actually Start a Business for Free

September 26, 2019 By Flanice Lewis 1 Comment

If you have dreams of entrepreneurship, don’t quit your day job just yet. As lovely as it would be, you can’t start a business for free. Here are only a handful of the fees you’ll incur to get started.

Federal Requirements

The Employer Identification Number (EIN) is one of your first steps to starting a business. To request a number for your business, you will fill out an SS-4 on paper or online at the Internal Revenue Services website. Completing the process online takes a few minutes and is free. You will receive an email with an official letter providing your EIN, which you need to keep in a safe place. You need this number to file your federal income taxes whether you’re a sole proprietor or larger entity. This number is also essential when you open a business bank account. Your financial institution will need your EIN to report any income, such as interest earned, to the IRS.

Trademarks and patents are additional costs you have to consider. They can be extremely expensive, primarily because you will more than likely need legal advice. Make sure you factor all of your needs while registering to protect your intellectual property.

State Requirements

Your next step is to register the name of your business with your state. Each state has different requirements, but a good number of them allow online filing. There are fees to register your business name, your tax status, and your trade name – “Doing Business As.” In some states, you need to register with your county for taxes too. If you plan to incorporate as a limited liability corporation, there may be additional fees. Prepare to spend two to three hundred dollars upfront, and around one hundred dollars every year to keep your business active.

You may have additional conditions based on your type of business. For example, if you plan to work in real estate in Florida, you have several requirements. You must apply, get fingerprinted, take the required courses, and pass the licensing exam within two years. These can add on over two hundred dollars, depending on your class format.

Other Costs

Keep in mind that all of these costs are before you started working in your business. We haven’t gotten to the intangibles yet. In our technology-driven world, you will need a website. Domains can run from $3 to $12 per year, depending on the site. Namecheap.com tends to have the best prices over GoDaddy and others. If someone else owns the web address you want, it could cost you hundreds or thousands to buy your specific domain.

Luckily, you can use a template to build your website. When you build your website through Wix or Squarespace, you may end up paying more because you’re purchasing through a third party. However, it is far less time consuming because coding can take a long time. Plus, the templates you can choose are attractive and come formatted for different devices.

Some other intangible costs to consider are marketing and branding. Do you want to have sponsored posts on Instagram? Are you selling insurance by having your face on a bench at a bus stop? Perhaps you want custom t-shirts or polo shirts with your logo and slogan? Your budget and preferred method will determine how much you spend.

I know this sounds like a lot, and it is. However, if you want to own your own business, think of it as an investment. Plus, all of the fees incurred that are directly related to your business are now tax writeoffs. Does that change your perspective?

How to Expedite your Business Loan Application?

How Much Money Do I Need to Start a Business?

Side Businesses You Can Start With Little Cash

How Mindfulness at Work Helps Your Health … and Maybe Even Your Bank Account

July 8, 2019 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

Mindful working encompasses a variety of different practices. It includes ways to practice mindfulness throughout your work day. This allows you to stay present, centered, and calm regardless of what’s going on around you. Mindful working also means that you approach your career path with intention even as you stay grounded in the moment.

Mindfulness at work has a variety of health benefits. We see those benefits when practicing mindful working. Moreover, you might think that slowing down at work would negatively impact your career. However, mindful working can actually lead to a better work life and possibly even more money in your bank account.

What Is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a really trendy term. In fact, it’s become quite controversial. Mindfulness is one form of meditation practice. There is certainly a whole art to meditation. Therefore, if you want to dig deep into mindfulness, then you may wish to take courses and learn more.

That said, the concept of mindfulness is really a very simple one. It’s the practice of staying aware of all things happening inside of you and outside of you in the present moment. It’s awareness without judgment.

In other words, you may never stop having random thoughts, but with mindfulness, you become aware of those thoughts. Over time, the thoughts hold less power. You can watch them occur without reacting.

What Is Mindfulness at Work?

Mindful working simply means taking the concept of mindfulness and apply it to your work life. There are two key aspects to this:

Practicing mindfulness in your day-to-day work life
Taking a mindful, intentional approach to career planning

Daily Practices in Mindful Working

If this is something that interests you, then the majority of your effort will be in the first aspect: practicing mindful awareness every day at work. Additionally, you’ll practice mindfulness when you’re outside of work but find thoughts of work intruding on your mind.

When You’re At The Office

Examples of this at work mean that you:

Set a daily intention upon arrival to remain as present as possible throughout the day.
Single task instead of trying (and failing) to multitask.
Take breaks to breathe, focus on what’s around you, and clear your mind.
Practice gratitude throughout the workday.
Tune in to your body to check for stress and reactivity, pausing to ground yourself accordingly.

You also implement a variety of different techniques to limit distractions. You turn off all of the notifications on your devices so that they aren’t constantly pinging at you. Perhaps you have a “closed-door” time each day at the office when coworkers aren’t to interrupt you. As much as possible, you create a schedule and setting that enhances your ability to do one thing at a time with complete focus.

When You’re At Home

These days, work doesn’t take place from 9-5. Maybe you work from home. Or perhaps you work from an office, but your job calls upon you to answer emails at all hours. Mindful working means that you find a way to delineate “work time” and “rest time” even though that’s a challenge.

If you never turn off, then you’re stressing your body and mind. This isn’t healthy, and it isn’t productive. People need downtime to replenish their internal resources. Without that time, you end up running on empty. You’re not giving your best self to the job or the other things in your life.

Therefore, you find ways to be completely present at home or with friends when that’s where you are. You limit contact with work during out-of-office hours. If you work for yourself, you still create “out of office” hours when you can wind down. You practice meditative and centering exercises to train your brain that it doesn’t constantly have to think about what’s going on at work.

Planning Your Career Intentionally

Mindfulness is about staying in the present moment. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t apply it to planning out your career. In fact, approaching your career trajectory with mindfulness can greatly improve your job satisfaction as well as your overall quality of life.

This simply means that you actively schedule times to think about your work plans. For example, you might do a monthly review of your goals for the year and an annual review of your long-term goals. During those times, you focus intensively and intentionally on planning out your next steps.

Outside of those times, you practice just being in the moment, knowing that you’ve got a plan in place, so you don’t have to worry. People worry about their jobs constantly. They worry about what’s next, how the economy will affect their job security, whether or not they’re moving up in their work, how to get more business … This distracted mind isn’t healthy, and it isn’t productive.

Benefits of Mindful Working

Mindful working offers a vast array of benefits. More than anything else, you should see a better state of mind, which in turn leads to some terrific physical health benefits. But you may also find that working more mindfully improves your career, too, which allows you to earn more money over time.

Mental and Physical Health Benefits

Research has shown that mindfulness offers benefits that include:

Better concentration and working memory
Better sleep
Faster, more effective task completion
Fewer headaches, GI problems, and physical aches
Increased self-awareness
Less preoccupation with regrets or worries
Less reactivity
Lower blood pressure
More capacity for joy in daily life
Reduced conflict with others
Reduced stress
Symptom relief for depression and anxiety

Career and Financial Benefits

Benefits of mindful working may include:

Better work-life balance
Decreased likelihood of burnout
Doing your job better because you’re more focused
Improve co-worker relations
More job satisfaction
New, fresh ideas for problem-solving
Renewed sense of appreciation for your work
You run your job; your job doesn’t run you

Mindful working means that you’ll make choices that are right for you. This improves your relationship with your career. In turn, this can mean better career advancement, which could mean earning more money.

Moreover, it also means that you are happier with what you have. Therefore, even if you don’t technically earn more, you may be happier with your earnings. If you’re happy at work, then you’re less likely to engage in spending to “make up for” not enjoying your job.

Fewer Teens Have Time For Summer Jobs

July 5, 2019 By Amanda Blankenship Leave a Comment

Summer jobs used to almost be a right of passage for teenagers. However, only one-third of teens (ages 16 to 19) held a job over the summer. In the early 2000s, at least 60 percent of working-age teens held a summer job. So, what is causing teens to bail on working during summer vacation?

Why Fewer Teens Have Summer Jobs

One reason teenagers simply aren’t seeking out summer jobs is time constraints. About 45 percent of teens are enrolled in summer classes (up from 10 percent in 1985).

“Families are focusing now on education — getting good grades and being college-ready,” Ellen Davis, president of the National Retail Federation Foundation, stated. “Students are also focusing on athletics. A lot of teenagers are opting out of the workforce, and many of them aren’t finding their first job until they graduate from college. That has huge implications, not only for businesses who are trying to hire young people but also for young people who aren’t learning the skills they need to be successful in the workplace.”

Because of this, many businesses are searching for older workers to fill the positions that may normally be filled by teens. In summer 2000, 24 percent of the food service workers were teenagers. Last year, that fell to just 19 percent, while food service workers 55 and older rose 4 percent (from 8 to 12). This has led to companies like McDonald’s to partner with AARP to fill seasonal roles.

Other large employers, like Walmart, are still attempting to appeal to teenage employees though. The retailer has begun to offer SAT and ACT prep courses to teen employees. These courses may usually hinder teens from working, however, with it being scheduled and backed by the company, scheduling conflicts won’t occur.

It is still up in the air as to whether the trend will continue to swing downward in the years to come. One thing is certain though, teens are focusing on school and sports more than nailing down a job (and money of their own).

Readers, what do you think about this? Should teens have summer jobs or should they be more focused on school?

Begging On The Side Of The Road

May 6, 2019 By Guest Writer 12 Comments

By Brad H.

Have you ever seen those guys on the side of the road at freeway off-ramps or busy cross streets holding up a sign that reads something like “No Job. Hungry. Will work for food or money” and wondered who they were? At least some of them are like me because I was there once.

It was a few years ago when I had gone through a acrimonious divorce and lost my job at the same time. The combined result was that I found myself both homeless and penniless and wondering how I was going to survive.

I made the decision to stand on the side of the road with a sign asking for help. It wasn’t a proud moment, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. At the time, it was one of the few ways that I could earn money to advance myself to a better place.

Begging on the Side of the Road Isn’t Easy

When I began, I assumed that I would work for the food or money, but it soon became apparent that I would earn most of the money from people generous enough to give me a few dollars. Most days nobody would offer me actual work even though I offered with each donation given. It also became apparent that you could earn a decent amount doing this. I usually left with over $100 in my wallet after a day holding a sign.

I would get work offers from time to time and I always took these when offered them. The work varied, but usually was manual in some way. I always worked for what the person offered and most times this was fair.

Earning money this way came at a price. It doesn’t take long to realize that standing on the side of the road asking for help makes most people really uncomfortable. It may not seem like a big deal, but it takes a lot of energy and stamina to keep going when you know that most people would rather that you not be there and disrupt their drive.

I did not waste the money that people gave to me. I was able to save enough to get an apartment, get a job and get myself back on my feet.

I’m not sure I could have gotten out of debt without the help of others. I ended up doing something that I never imagined I would need to do, but sometimes when life throws curve balls you need to make tough decisions. I would never encourage someone to stand by the road if they didn’t need to, but I would also not discourage someone from doing so if that is what they need to get back on their feet.

Do you have a story about saving money or earning money that you’d like to share? We’d love to hear about it.

Photo credit: Steven DePolo

Can You Drive for Uber With a DUI?

April 23, 2019 By Kathryn Vercillo Leave a Comment

You don’t have to have a perfect driving record to drive for Uber. However, you do have to have a relatively clean driving record. In other words, if you have a couple of speeding tickets then most likely you’re still going to meet their minimum driver requirements. However, can you drive for Uber if you have a DUI? The short answer is no, but there is a little bit more to it than that.

Uber Checks Your Driving Record

To drive for Uber, you and your car both have to meet some minimum requirements. For example, you need to have a 4-door vehicle, rather than a 2-door car. Additionally, you need to have a minimum of one year of driving experience. Once you’ve met all of the minimum requirements, Uber will do a final background check on you. There are two parts to this background check: your criminal record and your driving record.

A DUI might show up on your criminal record or your driving record. Therefore, there are two potential chances for Uber to screen you out as a driver based on having a DUI. This is important to know because some people wonder if they can drive with Uber if they get their DUI expunged from their record. Doing so isn’t a bad idea, but it will only erase the DUI from your criminal record. The DUI will still show up on your driving record. Therefore, Uber will still see that DUI when they screen you as a potential driver.

If Your DUI Was More Than 7 Years Ago, You Should Be Okay

According to Uber’s official policy, they look at the past seven years of your driving record. Therefore, if you had a DUI 8 or more years ago, then it shouldn’t affect your ability to drive for Uber. Similarly, Uber checks your driving record for fatal accidents and a history of reckless driving. Sometimes people make mistakes when they are young, so if you have a very old DUI but haven’t had any issues since that time, then you should be fine.

That said, it’s unclear whether Uber strictly follows that “7-year rule” in every state. Some states clear your record after seven years. In other words, if Uber pulls your driving record in certain states, then all they will see is information for the past seven years. However, each state’s rules are different for how long a DUI remains on the record. In many states, including California, a DUI stays on the record for 10 years. Uber reportedly only checks the last seven years, but if they pull your California driving history, they’ll see a DUI on there anytime in the past decade. At least one Reddit user reports that they were able to drive for Uber in California with a DUI that was older than seven years but hadn’t expired off of the 10-year record, yet.

Some states have even stricter rules when it comes to DUI records. For example, in Florida, a DUI stays on your record for 75 years, which is effectively your entire driving lifetime. Similarly, DUIs never go off of your record in Alaska. That said, Uber probably isn’t going to reject a driver who had a DUI 20 years ago and has had a clean driving record ever since. After all, the reason they look at your driving record is simply that they want to make sure that their drivers are safe to be on the road.

A Criminal DUI May Never Go Away

There is one more important thing to understand about that time frame for getting a DUI off of your record. The laws are about how long the DUI stays on your driving record. However, they aren’t the same as for your criminal record. If you got convicted of a felony DUI, then you are legally considered a convicted felon. Uber has a policy against hiring convicted felons of any kind. Therefore, if you have a felony DUI on your criminal record, then you can’t drive for Uber, even if that DUI happened decades ago. If you have an old DUI like that and you want to drive for Uber, then it might be to your benefit to try to get that DUI expunged from your criminal record.

What if I Get A DUI While Driving for Uber?

If you are already an Uber driver and you get a DUI, then the chances are that you’re not going to be able to continue driving with Uber. They periodically check the driving records of current drivers. Therefore, they’ll see that DUI. It isn’t safe for their drivers to drive around drunk (whether or not they’re on the clock at the time) so they won’t allow you to keep driving for them if you get a DUI.

Of course, you may get a DUI then go to court and have the charges dropped. If that happens, then you can contact Uber. If you can prove that you never actually got convicted of a DUI, then it’s the same thing as never having had one, and Uber will likely allow you to resume driving for them. Therefore, it may be worth it to go to court if you get a DUI.

Uber Got In Legal Trouble For Allowing Drivers with DUIs

In the past, Uber has gotten into legal trouble for their failure to carefully screen their drivers for DUIs and other violations. For example, in 2017, they lost a nearly $9 million lawsuit in Colorado. State officials there found that the company had at least 50 drivers who violated the minimum rules including felony convictions, driving without a license and DUIs. This is just one example of a state where Uber has gotten in trouble for this. Therefore, they’ve cracked down more in recent years. They’re more careful with the initial background check. Furthermore, they check their driver’s current records more frequently than they did in the past.

DUI Rates Lower in Uber Cities

One of the things that Uber is quick to point out is that despite the legal problems with their drivers, Uber tends to reduce DUI rates overall. In 2014, they reported that DUI arrests were down 10% in Seattle since Uber came on the scene. The conclusion they draw, of course, is that if people can easily Uber home from the bar, then they won’t take the chance on drunk driving. Uber frequently offers deals, promotions, and collaborative opportunities to further reduce drunk driving on holidays including New Year’s Eve.