Increasing income

[serendip]

Increasing income - what can you do?

A few weeks ago, there was a comment on SS (which for the life of me I can't find now, hence the new thread) which talked about not only decreasing costs but also putting effort into increasing your income. It is very obvious of course but had quite an impact on my thinking. Since then I have:

- stopped moaning about wanting / deserving a pay rise, put my big girl pants on & gone through the process of formally requesting one. The end result being my pay has been put up 2 pay scales
- signed a retention bonus which gives me an additional 10% for this year
- set myself up to make money from my hobby rather than pouring money into it

These 3 things will give me a whopping $34K additional income this year.

Nice

 

[Jamie M]

Hey Serendip

Awesome work - that's a good result!

Cheers

Jamie

 

[ellejay]

That's a very good result. Big bonus if you can make extra money out of a hobby.

 

[Jaggannath]

A few weeks ago, there was a comment on SS (which for the life of me I can't find now, hence the new thread) which talked about not only decreasing costs but also putting effort into increasing your income. It is very obvious of course but had quite an impact on my thinking. Since then I have:

- stopped moaning about wanting / deserving a pay rise, put my big girl pants on & gone through the process of formally requesting one. The end result being my pay has been put up 2 pay scales
- signed a retention bonus which gives me an additional 10% for this year
- set myself up to make money from my hobby rather than pouring money into it

These 3 things will give me a whopping $34K additional income this year.

Nice

The first two alone now seem pretty easily achieved in retrospect (I wish I had the same option), the third one will be a delicate art so good luck!

 

[Blacky]

There have been a couple recently.

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1202041#post1202041

http://somersoft.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102085&page=2

But anyway. Good on you for taking the learnings of others and applying it to your situation. $34k/pa helps service about $400k+ of borrowings. Or at least one more ip.
I don't know what that means in %terms but anyway it's a great result and by the sounds of it, with limited additional work.

If you can make your hobby pay for itself, and you continue to enjoy doing it, all the better.

Blacky

 

[serendip]

The first two alone now seem pretty easily achieved in retrospect (I wish I had the same option), the third one will be a delicate art so good luck!

Exactly, I dare say there are people on the forum who, like me, would prefer not to have to ask for a pay rise. With a bit of luck seeing this will encourage others to do so too. 2nd one, yes, no brainer, but it's based on income at the time of the payments, so a bit more again having secured the pay increase. The third one I have been conservative with my estimates and know quite a few people successfully doing this so I think it's a reasonable estimate. On the down side it's dependant on me so never going to make a huge financial contribution but as it's my creative outlet and I'd be doing it anyway I'm pretty happy about having turned it from an expense into an income.

But anyway. Good on you for taking the learnings of others and applying it to your situation. $34k/pa helps service about $400k+ of borrowings. Or at least one more ip.
I don't know what that means in %terms but anyway it's a great result and by the sounds of it, with limited additional work.

If you can make your hobby pay for itself, and you continue to enjoy doing it, all the better.

Blacky

I'm doing feasibility on subdividing a block & building 2 houses, this should mean I can build both at the same time rather than building one, selling then building the 2nd one.

it's about 34%, the majority coming from pay rise / retention bonus.

 

[WattleIdo]

Well done serendip. You've got me thinking.
For me to get more income atm would mean moving back to the big smoke which would increase my cost of living and probably mean living in a less comfortable house/flat.
It is my plan to do that some time, though.

Can you give me a few tips on how you went about asking for a pay rise? It's very brave of you!

 

[Rolf Latham]

Excellent.


I'm a big believer in more than one stream of income, especially stuff that is recurring.

Traditional financial planning poo poos the idea and is forced to limit your potential to what you have vs what could be

Ta

Rolf

 

[serendip]

Well done serendip. You've got me thinking.
For me to get more income atm would mean moving back to the big smoke which would increase my cost of living and probably mean living in a less comfortable house/flat.
It is my plan to do that some time, though.

Can you give me a few tips on how you went about asking for a pay rise? It's very brave of you!

Moving back to Sydney was another alternative for me. I looked seriously at it a few months ago, there were 3 big issues for me. Much longer commute which would mean more time for my son in care & less time for us, house prices are crazy so I would need a significant pay increase to justify it (achievable though), moving away again from family who are a big part of our support network.

It was good timing as my role had recently changed and I needed to write up a new PD, which really isn't markedly different in complexity to my old role. We have a competency framework so I went through my current role, the relevant competencies and addressed each point. It was difficult, I'm not used to blowing my own trumpet, but having done it for one of my team last year I knew it could work. I also did some research on what similar roles were paying in the area and in similar regional centres. Though there was nothing directly comparable I was able to find a range of roles & show where mine fit in from a complexity / budget / responsibility perspective. Then I presented the PD, competency review and market rates to my boss.

 

[WattleIdo]

That's excellent. No wonder they paid you more!

 

[Gockie]

Great work Serendip!! Thanks for sharing how you asked for it as well.

 

[westminster]

Well done! So glad you put on your big girl pants and was able to use the PD, competency framework and find similar comparables to be able to put forward a great and logical request to management.

Huge kudos!!

And making money from a hobby well that is a win-win.

Congratulations

 

[knightm]

+1 this is inspirational. So many people could take this story, apply it to their own situation and get a positive result. I think it also represents a mental fork in the road serendip, where you have taken responsibility for the improvement you desired, done the work, and reaped the benefit. Congrats.

 

[chindonly]

Nice work! Besides the extra $34k, some of that will also attract a bit of additional super as well....

 

[LeoT]

There are other options. Im not saying its easy but it definitely exists.

There are certain certificates courses in tafe (short courses) that when finished will allow you to work in hospital, clinics, gps office, pathology places. Sometimes there is shift work so flexible shifts. Also work on Saturday and Sunday attract 50%-75% penalty rates.

Roles would include:

1. Blood taking in hospital and clinics.
2. Assistant in nursing. (changing bed sheet, assisting patients to mobilise, showering etc
3. Disability support worker (basically mostly baby sitting in a community house)
4. carer. Helping elderly ppl with shopping, taking to appointment, sometimes just watching tv with them to give respite to family to go out.

I have friends who when they started building their portfolio, they would have a full time job plus do something like this on side. Greatly boosted their income, especially depending how committed you are the work available is endless. They built their asset base much faster.

Leo

 

[serendip]

There are other options. Im not saying its easy but it definitely exists.

There are certain certificates courses in tafe (short courses) that when finished will allow you to work in hospital, clinics, gps office, pathology places. Sometimes there is shift work so flexible shifts. Also work on Saturday and Sunday attract 50%-75% penalty rates.

Roles would include:

1. Blood taking in hospital and clinics.
2. Assistant in nursing. (changing bed sheet, assisting patients to mobilise, showering etc
3. Disability support worker (basically mostly baby sitting in a community house)
4. carer. Helping elderly ppl with shopping, taking to appointment, sometimes just watching tv with them to give respite to family to go out.

I have friends who when they started building their portfolio, they would have a full time job plus do something like this on side. Greatly boosted their income, especially depending how committed you are the work available is endless. They built their asset base much faster.

Leo

While I appreciate this is the case & yes, there are definitely more lucrative options for a 2nd income than turning my hobby into one. I'm a single Mum and I work full time. My 4yo gets little enough time with Mummy, being in full time child care. After work during the week & on weekends are his. That's not negotiable. The beauty of my hobby is I can do it after he's is in bed. It's also creative and great balance for my brain.

 

[LeoT]

While I appreciate this is the case & yes, there are definitely more lucrative options for a 2nd income than turning my hobby into one. I'm a single Mum and I work full time. My 4yo gets little enough time with Mummy, being in full time child care. After work during the week & on weekends are his. That's not negotiable. The beauty of my hobby is I can do it after he's is in bed. It's also creative and great balance for my brain.

Hi Serendip,

Yes your right you have to find what's suitable for each individual. And when you have a young one.. I cant imagine how difficult it must be to juggle everything! Kudos to you!

Cheer

leo

 

[Redom]

Absolutely amazing work Serendip - this is incredibly inspiring.

Leo, in general (and as usual) i think you're advice is fantastic, especially early on through the accumulation phase. I've personally went about my own pursuit to increase my income and have focussed significant energy to doing it.

There are plenty of other ways to do it than slaving away though - i'm big on working smarter rather than putting in exorbitant hours to work that isnt much fun. No point working for $25 p/h when there's potential to be creative, work on passions and earn $100 p/h.

Same rules apply to property and people have that down-pat - in general the world rewards innovative/creative people. Being creative in property has earnt people on these forums incredible success, those same principles apply to different markets.

You seem to have embraced it and hit a homerun! Turning a hobby into $$$ is very creative and powerful.

As Leo always mentions, developing the mind brings success. More specifically constant learning, planning methodically, action and being creative is a great recipe for sucess.

 

[Demoivre]

Additional $650 pw, wouldn't mind that!