I've been racking my brain on how to earn more money outside of my main job. I'm in a relatively non-demanding full-time 9 to 5 but, having just started, am not currently in a position to negotiate pay. I also currently live extremely minimally; I live with family and ride a motorbike rather than own a car.
At this stage, I'm open to any suggestion. Long and short-term strategies. Here are a few I've tried already:
- Working as a hospital filing clerk at night, i.e. returning bulky patient records to storage. Result: Treated like dirt by managers. The people I worked with ranged from pleasantly quirky to having genuine mental health problems.
- Working in a clothes shop on weekends, i.e. folding clothes into plastic bags. Result: Many temporary workers were let go after a temporary period, quite disorganised and frantic work; unreliable.
- Selling artwork and trading sundries online, i.e. desperate eBaying. Result: Massive timesink. Though satisfying for other reasons, it works out to a fraction of minimum wage (even when shifting items worth £300+).
- Medical transcription, i.e. get sent dodgy .wavs of doctors talking and typing it out. Result: The pace necessary to even scrape minimum wage was unrealistic, and I'm generally about 80wpm.
- Weekend warehouse work, i.e. picking and stowing Amazon orders. Result: Pay is fine, but damaging in just about every other way.
Things I am considering trying:
- Remote/home-based programming work, especially centering around statistics packages. Obstacles: I only have quite specific knowledge, so it's hard to find job matches.
- Writing projects. Putting practical knowledge into an e-book for sale, or a monetisable blog. Obstacles: I'm not sure there isn't anyone who isn't already doing this. Potentially a dead-end.
- Online tutoring. English language and maybe one or two other subjects. Obstacles: Only as much work as you can find.
- Investing. Obstacles: This is really only in the long-term, and I don't have quite enough to put away yet.
Am I barking up the wrong tree by even thinking about this? Should I just be searching for a better paid job for the future?
One of my work colleagues is golf buddies with a millionaire.
One of the ways he earns extra money on the side is by putting his name on the waiting list for the new Bentley 4x4. It costs £10,000 to go on the waiting list and people, usually footballer's wives, will pay you for your place so they can queue jump. So far he has done this on five occasions for £40,000 a pop, so he's made a profit of £150,000 from simply selling on a place in the queue. The only downside to this is that when you reach the top of the queue you are committed to buying the car so it's only really something you can do if you have about £200,000 to spend on a new Bentley if you haven't been able to sell your queue position.
>>11921 >Should I just be searching for a better paid job for the future?
I have sometimes considered a second job, but in reality I know that it would end up affecting my primary job, because I would be fucking knackered all the time and the (small) amount of extra cash wouldn't be worth it.
Gaining new skills in your current job would be the way I would go, but I certainly understand the thought process you have gone through with this.
To be honest, that's going to happen to you in any unskilled temp job. If the pay's decent you should probably just get used to it.
Have you tried delivering stuff on your bike? I hear Deliveroo isn't terrible pay, considering. The advantage is you can do it whenever you feel like it.
I get letters and calls from various dealers about these waiting lists, which is odd as I'm definitely not a millionaire. I don't know if someone uses my name when they go look at Ferraris or something, but it happens all the time.
>>11922 When you're a millionaire you can do that kind of shit though - once you have a bunch of money, its quite easy to make some more - the OP isn't anywhere near that position.
Get your SIA badge and do a door on the weekend mate. It's easy money if you're able to talk to people respectfully and thrive in the somewhat macho atmosphere.
I've got a few years experience in the security industry, and I recommend it on the side. Don't do it full time though or you'll go a bit mad.
>>11923 >What is it that you really, really want to do?
I have a pretty strong sense of direction. I'm lucky in that my day job also relates to (or at least is a path to) my 'dream career'. At the moment, I'm saving to live and study as a postgraduate in the EU for a while.
>>11924 >Have you tried delivering stuff on your bike? I hear Deliveroo isn't terrible pay, considering.
This is a good shout. I was bitten by the bug a year ago, so riding the bike is a pleasure, even through rain and heavy traffic. I'd have to remove my own top box and replace it with their godawful thing on the weekends, but I could make it work.
Do you know how your mates find students? What websites should I use? Are there any particularly lucrative subjects to teach?
>>11928 >It's easy money if you're able to talk to people respectfully and thrive in the somewhat macho atmosphere.
Also a good shout. I could probably get by, but I'm put off by the bouncers and nightlife in my area. I imagine other security jobs are more difficult to come by? The dream would be some sort of university or hospital security.
