Help. I Need Ideas From Smart People

[J.Apple902]

Hey again everyone. I've been reading Joe Mihalic's blog "No More Harvard Debt" where he aggressively paid off over $90k of business school debt in under a year. He went to all sorts of extreme measures like working second and third jobs to increase revenue.

This is something I have been thinking about, even more so after discovering Joe's writing. Right now I work 40hrs a week and make 54k. I have plenty of SL debt, enough to seriously consider picking up a weekend job. Bartending would be perfect, but I've never been trained. Plus, it's tough to waltz into bar without experience and request only the premium shifts (Friday & Saturday nights) that the experienced bartenders already quarrel over.

Sure I could go work an easy and mindless retail or merchandise position at a polo outlet or something that I fully wouldn't mind, but I feel like I'd be hating myself mentally. That typically I get paid $26/hr to do what my education is for, vs sitting in a retail store getting $8/hr. So even if i burn every single weekend working this second retail job it would be:

8 weekend days per month at $8/hr or so and therefore an extra $1152 pre-tax. In addition to the other $4000 gross per month that I make, the taxes would be around $300 for the second job, we'll call it Polo. So is it worth upping my gross salary only 20% yet forgoing 100% of free weekend days? I'm not sure if it is to me. I dunno, it seems easy for me to talk myself out of it but it's not difficult to when you'd be making less than a third of your day job.

I need ideas for more options. Plain and simple. Help.

Thanks!

[DebtFree&Broke]

You need a job that has tips along with hourly. Maybe pizza delivery (Friday & Saturday nights are still the best nights).

[snafu]

Brilliant to pay off student loans as quickly as possible. Getting that albatross gone asap means you save yourself interest and frees up dough for money making investments. What prevents you from taking a continuing educ. course at a local college or technical school's evening Bar-tending course? That credential and the tips learned could translate into the weekend job you desire with tips to boost income. What activities would you need to give-up to work retail hours over the weekend? I don't know your current position but is there any aspect that could be turned to over-time or turn small time entrepreneur?

I know the students who work in well run, mid priced restaurants earn $100. a shift in tips if they're willing to do the work. Can you hire-on as evening/weekend janitorial staff? If it get's you to your goal, anything $8. an hr with tip potential or home based business can teach you a lot on various levels.

[J.Apple902]

Brilliant to pay off student loans as quickly as possible. Getting that albatross gone asap means you save yourself interest and frees up dough for money making investments. What prevents you from taking a continuing educ. course at a local college or technical school's evening Bar-tending course? That credential and the tips learned could translate into the weekend job you desire with tips to boost income. What activities would you need to give-up to work retail hours over the weekend? I don't know your current position but is there any aspect that could be turned to over-time or turn small time entrepreneur?

I know the students who work in well run, mid priced restaurants earn $100. a shift in tips if they're willing to do the work. Can you hire-on as evening/weekend janitorial staff? If it get's you to your goal, anything $8. an hr with tip potential or home based business can teach you a lot on various levels.

Great stuff snafu. I guess I could definitely do the bartending course. See these are things that I guess I knew about but need to re-gear my mind. I wouldn't need to necessarily "give up" things on the weekends, it's just that if I begin to work 6-7 days a week I then have zero opportunity to do anything non-work. Right now to save money, and as you personally know from reading my blog [ive seen your comments], my way of saving money at night and on the weekends is sit at home and not spend. But as my father says, "If you aren't making money you're spending money". Im taking my own personal time to sit on the couch and watch Netflix rather than work a second job on the weekends and potentially the evenings too. Hence, my post.

My occupation is engineering. That is what my undergraduate and graduate degrees are in. Unfortunately this is a field where without a Ph.D., which I will most likely never obtain, you cannot really consult or make money on the side. I suppose there may be some way, but I have never heard of any colleagues doing such a thing.

And again, I think you're right. If I want to do this I need to shift my attitude from "Ugh this $8/hr sucks bc I normally make $26", to "this is $8/hr more than I would have otherwise.


Other thoughts from all you smart people out there??? Thanks!!

[breathemusic]

It's not steady income, and it would largely depend on your schedule, but what about pet sitting?

I'm just starting to take this up myself (meeting up with my first potential "client" next week!). Depending on where you live, you'd be amazed what people pay to have someone walk their dog once or twice a day, or stop by to feed their cats once or twice a day, etc.

[BMEPhDinCO]

With a MS in Engr, you can do some consulting...several research places look for people to do data analysis, stat stuff, etc. One time projects still add up!

Another thing to consider is editing - people will pay for you to help with their thesis, with papers (esp. ESL people), editing writing samples, etc. Look around online for these types of things.

Depending on what your specialty is, computer work is always around. Do you have basic web skills? Perhaps you could teach a class at the library... Or with an MS, you can teach at community colleges and a lot of them have night classes. Some universities also hire MS to teach summer classes, run labs, etc.

Although, at $26 an hour, you should be living fine without needing extra salary so make sure if you want the other income, that you apply it to debt only and don't start living larger.

Good luck!

[phantom]

I don't know what type of engineering you do, but when I hear engineer, I tend to think of an electrical engineer who can do things like program controllers to do cool stuff. If that's the case, could you do some work setting up cool automated systems for people? Perhaps home monitoring systems, custom entertainment systems, automatic watering systems, or outdoor Christmas light systems (depending on the season)?

[J.Apple902]

It's not steady income, and it would largely depend on your schedule, but what about pet sitting?

I'm just starting to take this up myself (meeting up with my first potential "client" next week!). Depending on where you live, you'd be amazed what people pay to have someone walk their dog once or twice a day, or stop by to feed their cats once or twice a day, etc.

Pet sitting? Maybe. I live in a major city (top 3), and don't work on the weekends right now so I should look into this I think.

With a MS in Engr, you can do some consulting...several research places look for people to do data analysis, stat stuff, etc. One time projects still add up!

Another thing to consider is editing - people will pay for you to help with their thesis, with papers (esp. ESL people), editing writing samples, etc. Look around online for these types of things.

Depending on what your specialty is, computer work is always around. Do you have basic web skills? Perhaps you could teach a class at the library... Or with an MS, you can teach at community colleges and a lot of them have night classes. Some universities also hire MS to teach summer classes, run labs, etc.

Although, at $26 an hour, you should be living fine without needing extra salary so make sure if you want the other income, that you apply it to debt only and don't start living larger.

Good luck!

Yeah I need to look into editing. Basic web skills yes. And I should absolutely look into teaching with my master's.

I don't know what type of engineering you do, but when I hear engineer, I tend to think of an electrical engineer who can do things like program controllers to do cool stuff. If that's the case, could you do some work setting up cool automated systems for people? Perhaps home monitoring systems, custom entertainment systems, automatic watering systems, or outdoor Christmas light systems (depending on the season)?

I work in traffic.

[esb3357]

If you have masters, most schools will let you adjunct if you have years in industry. They pay between $1,500 to $2,000 per course. Most places let you teach 2 courses a semester. That money adds up pretty quickly. If you taught 6 classes a year, you would make 9,000 extra a year. Plus it is still in your field so you would make contacts.

[sblatner]

How about tutoring? Even simple math. Parents pay a lot of money for good tutors.

[J.Apple902]

does anyone know of any tutoring sites which link private tutors to parents / students?

This is a really good idea. I could significantly increase a high school students math and or science aptitude.

[JoeP]

does anyone know of any tutoring sites which link private tutors to parents / students?

This is a really good idea. I could significantly increase a high school students math and or science aptitude.

Tutors make good money, like $40/hr. You can talk with local schools to see what it takes for them to pass your name along.

Another good source of income is housecleaning. Once you get the equipment (buckets, mops, vacuums, cleaners, etc) and a way to transport those, you can easily occupy a few nights and weekends. We know of a person locally who works with her sister, and do interior cleanings for house showings and events like guests coming over. Your expenses would be cleaners, disposables, and transportation. Then you can bank on word of mouth.

[BMEPhDinCO]

does anyone know of any tutoring sites which link private tutors to parents / students?

This is a really good idea. I could significantly increase a high school students math and or science aptitude.

Honestly, while there are sites out there, DH has made much more money advertising himself and getting word of mouth referrals. Those sites might charge $50+ per hour, but you only get 20-30% of that!

Start out at a lower value and then increase with client base, demands (ie, time, driving distance), skills, etc.

Post on craigslist, put a flier up at churches, schools, etc...some unversities let you add that to a job directory for example, or some high schools have newsletters they send out to parents.

[TheMom]

So even if i burn every single weekend working this second retail job it would be:

8 weekend days per month at $8/hr or so and therefore an extra $1152 pre-tax.
Thanks!

If you work 8 hours on 8 weekend days for $8/hour, that's 8*8*8 = $512/month. Toearn $1152/month at $8/hour and only 8 days, that's 18 hours each day. Or am I missing that you'll work after your regular job during the week as well?

[YLTL_Dan]

J.Apple - great to see your entrepreneurial spirit coming out. It'd be awesome to maximize your part-time job and even better to find a job that will help you improve your career. Have you searched around to see if there are any better full-time jobs out there? Oftentimes, your time will be better spent by improving your career rather than spending all of your energy on the side.

What if you could switch jobs and get a 20-30% raise? That'd be much better than most of the part-time jobs.