February 2019 | That Girl On Fire

Minimalism And Money: Peas And Carrots

Minimalism and money are two things that go hand-in-hand.

And while you might think that the notion of having fewer things, or maintaining more simplicity in your life has little to do with the way you manage your cash – you’d be wrong.

In fact, minimalism has everything to do with money. Minimalism is about the re-evaluation of priorities.

It’s about understanding our internal motivators, what brings us joy – and of course, what doesn’t – and cultivating spaces around us (physical, digital and psychological) that are conducive to a life more full of shiny feelings instead of shiny things.

As humans, we have very precious and finite energy stores, yet we spend so much of it on keeping up appearances. We reach for conveniences because we’re too time-poor to even have time to think about how time-poor we are, and we’re so used to being bombarded with products, subscriptions and offers that oftentimes we don’t even notice we’re being lured in until we’re within the predatory grasp of the sale.

This all comes at a major cost. Not just to our health and ability for self-awareness, which I truly believe erodes over time with too much clutter and overwhelm – but to our financial wellbeing. People think it’s expensive to be a minimalist. I think it’s expensive not to be one.

For many years, I have lived a life that is fundamentally minimalist, both in how I keep “earthly possessions” in the physical world around me, but also how I view situations and problems, treat others and prioritise things that matter to me. The benefit of this on my wallet has been enormous, so here’s how I apply minimalism to my everyday:

I don’t buy what I don’t need. Genuinely.

As in, I rarely buy material things ever – and when I do, I go through a rigorous thought process beforehand. Do I need this? Will it solve a long-term need? Is there something I already own that could do the job? Could I rent, or borrow this instead? Will it hold, or even grow in value (should I choose to sell it later on)? Rarely do things I want to purchase tick all of those boxes, and so I can filter through a lot of ‘nice-to-haves’ in order to find what I really do need.

Intentional spending gives you breathing room to properly, and fully, evaluate. It exercises your brain to think critically about things it is programmed through predatory advertising to normally have no say in, and affords you the benefit of time and purpose to help you conserve your money for things that are worth the exchange. That makes them all the more worthwhile when they come around.

I reuse and find other uses for the same item.

Many items are, by design, multipurpose. We just often don’t believe, or see it.

Certain oils are great for the hair, skin and for cooking. A myriad of cleaning products and laundry detergent can be created from simple soap bars and white vinegar. Jars can be used as storage and then pulled out for decoration later on. Toothpaste is good for everything from dental hygiene to burns to jewellery cleaners.

When you see the potential for second lives for your items, you negate the need to have something specialised for every purpose.

This clears space but also keeps your bank account looking pretty full, especially when you consider how brands typically markup niche product ranges. And when you couple this with being less wasteful, like bringing your own jars, bags and pouches when shopping, you’ll see just how damn expensive, and limiting, packaging can be.

I keep things simple online as much as offline.

My digital life is as simple as my physical one. Everything is neatly collated and categorised, and the second I’m finished with something, there’s no archive or memory bank – into the bin it goes. I love holding onto memories, but if I’m honest with myself, I find more solace in feelings instead of things.

I’ve realised that if my nature is to archive something away, then the likelihood of seeing it again before at least another year or two is very low. And besides the fleeting chuckle of looking at a physical photo of a day in my life I cherish, there’s not much else that happens other than I put it back away. So, for files I really love, I keep them in a single cloud folder on my Drive, but mostly, I don’t keep a hold of anything but money.

Because I used to work in the media, I like to stay informed and aware. But when there are hundreds of companies vying for my attention with their updates, I’ve learnt not to feel guilty about subscribing only to a select few media platforms I know and trust. This is the same with entertainment.

There’s something very satisfying about having clarity and direction in what you allow to burn through brain cells every day. It’s kind of like sitting on a bridge on a highway, watching the clouds move when all the cars are frantically speeding on the lanes underneath and around you.

And while some of these things cost, because we absolutely should be paying for ethical, impartial journalism, and really good entertainment, what I get is way more valuable than any subscription fee. I’m afforded the luxury of staying present and in-the-know without the constant, mind-numbing noise of literally everything else I don’t care about, but that I’d undoubtedly be ground down to spend on.

I throw complexity out the window when managing money.

People sometimes say to me a little sheepishly “I only have a few bank accounts where I store my money.”

Well, that’s a couple more than I have. I don’t believe that there’s a complex formula to saving your money as a minimalist; at least not one I know anything about. I have a personal banking account for everyday transactions, a business account for anything related to my business (which makes tax time a dream), a bonus interest rate savings account for anything that’s not applied to the portion of our primary home loan that’s set up as an offset, and a credit card.

Managing my money day-to-day is simple, because why make it hard – and hard to remember? I pay my regular cost of living, business and maintenance bills, I shelve 70% into savings and investments (through separate investment accounts) and I live on the rest. I carry cash very infrequently, because I like having my money where I can see it, and I don’t have complicated insurance structures set up. They’re simple, run-of-the-mill things because that’s all I need.

Money management should be habitual and repeatable; with the same actions happening over and over every month. It’s the only place mundanity will help you thrive, whether it’s saving up or paying debt down. Make it muscle memory.

I keep a simple investment portfolio.

Much like my daily money management processes, my investments tick along just as simply. I pick investments that I understand and don’t require me to be very hands on – because at this stage in my life, I can’t be.

Property is one that requires a lot of upfront work, but significantly evens out, minus the occasional maintenance job, and shares – particularly the kind we like, ETF’s and LIC’s – are all bought, traded and managed online, with easy reporting when we want a clear overview of how our holdings are performing. We set up reinvesting automatically upon purchasing new shares because that’s extra work we can take off of our shoulders, and we don’t need to draw our investments as income right now.

Superannuation is managed from the one account (if you’ve got multiple accounts – combine, combine!) and I contribute concessionally to the tax-deductible cap (which is $25,000 for people who are self-employed). This is a regular part of my savings schedule every month.

Because we are long-term investors interested in growth (two-dimensional investments that grow in value and pay out income), rather than defensive assets (just paying out income, like the high-interest savings account above, which earns interest on the base amount deposited), the simplicity around our investments helps us to stay on top of it and make contributing habitual.

Maybe later, I’ll look into seed investing in startups and real estate investment trusts (REITS), but right now, we’re only interested in things we can easily manage and keep an eye on. Applying minimalism to the stage of life we’re at when it comes to our investments helps us to stay focused and make it a priority.

If it all became a bit too overwhelming, we’d probably sit back and stop, which would mean we’d be missing out on our investment’s most important moneymaker: time.

Ultimately, we’re hardwired to feel a lot of guilt and fear for missing out. We want all the things. All the content. Knowledge. Experiences. But what we forget is that a lot of that stuff doesn’t even apply to us, and it certainly doesn’t fulfil us. It drains our energy as much as our wallet. In a way, this makes us compliant and easier to persuade – moving us further away from what we really want.

Minimalism and money just makes cents. Going through the process of streamlining and cutting out crap is one of the most powerful things you can do for your finances. Looking after your money by looking after your time, and guarding your surroundings, is so easily forgotten – but so easy to put back in place.

February 28, 2019/0 Comments/by Michelle

Financial Independence

We Didn’t Start The FIRE: Our Journey To Financial Independence

To start off our financial independence story, I’m going to take you back to a smaller version of me.

Still as curly-haired, still as gappy-toothed, but much less wrangled by the world. I would read books widely and voraciously (thanks for making reading such a big part of our lives, Mum), and had a particular penchant for books about magic, mystery and grown-up women kicking ass.

On the latter side of things, this usually came in the form of stories of young women entering the workforce for the first time.

They were well-educated, worldly, ambitious, strong-minded and unafraid to take risks and meet challenges head-on. Mostly, they were university grads, working an internship in a fabulous company – climbing up the career ladder to success, perhaps falling in love en route, wowing their boss, befriending the “uncool” colleague, and sparring with a major competitor (always female… why?!).

I wanted to be her. Not her, as a person, but what she represented. I wanted more than anything to work. I was hungry for professional grandeur. I was a diligent student, I enjoyed learning, I enjoyed the routine and the discipline and as someone who, despite a rebellious streak, tends to want to please people inherently – working was the perfect environment.

So, I studied hard, thought long about what I wanted to do, and eventually got my degree with a number of other voluntary professional achievements that would bolster my graduate applications.

As I turned out, I wouldn’t need to apply for much. I was offered a job with an events company right before I finished Uni – which was hell on earth, and I left within the month. Imagine being thrown to the wolves with zero training to organise a huge national conference, and then being asked two weeks into the job why no-one was signed on as a speaker yet. I bowed out pretty in a pretty undignified way from that gig.

Enter stage left the little voice in the back of my head: “Imagine having to feel that anxious for forty years?”

Be quiet, I told it. That’s not a good example, it wasn’t the right job. You don’t even want to work in events. That’s not what you studied. It was a stop-gap.

Next, a job as an editor that came after a writing internship. Difficult work, difficult people (that’s high-fashun for you) but rewarding. And there’s that little voice again: “Wow, I can’t believe you have to work this hard for forty years.” Again, I silenced it. Not a good example, remember – I won’t be here much longer. I’m cutting my teeth writing and I’ll overlook everything else for now.

Then, a dream job. Amazing boss, a revolutionary startup in the technology sector, an opportunity to build a team and solve a genuine problem to improve the lives of other people.

And what a ride it was for the next two years (I often credit this job to most things I know about leadership, growing ideas, communicating well and pivoting well from bad or stressful situations). Follow that by a few different roles within another startup, all with great learning experiences and relationships of its own.

But still that voice. “People die at 70, you know? Like, the time you’re supposed to retire. People die. You never know. Crazy that we all just accept that, right?”

Yeah. Right. Actually, yeah! Right! Cue emotional breakdowns in my living room at 10pm at night if I wasn’t too exhausted by the workday, sobbing into my husband’s arms. To me, there was just no other option. You work. You work. You work, says the robot. You must work until you’re old. And I didn’t like it, nor understand it. Something about it turned my stomach.

As a little bit of background, my husband and I had been good with money up to this point. This is not a typical story of being terrible with it, living with the silent marriage-ruiner; unsecured and personal debt, and making bad financial decisions.

Since we’d been together, we’d be saving routinely and often. By the stage of said emotional breakdowns, we had just moved into the home that we had bought in Sydney’s inner-west fringe (with a 20% deposit) during the peak of the property market in 2017, we were salary sacrificing for super, we had a nice little share portfolio ticking away, we had paid for our second-hand, but very nice Mazda CX7 in cash and were also about to cash-flow our new kitchen, and some of our wedding.

So my concerns weren’t about having enough money. In fact, it’s never really been about money at all.

Rather, it was the emotional weight of the longevity of work. It was the unknown of my future – what would happen to me, or my husband, my family, or even children we might have? Why wouldn’t we want to maximise our time and the hours in our day to enjoy the things we loved, now, rather than wait until “the golden years” later?

No-one could anticipate where we’d all be – and considering the known statistics on how people’s health and energy deteriorates by that age, being dependent on something external and out of my control to get there felt just so… illogical. But to my knowledge, there was no other way – and so I emotionally, and begrudgingly, just accepted it for many years. We had been saving and investing – but for a retirement we believed was out of reach for many decades yet.

When I first found out about FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), I remember the warmth in my body, radiating and heating upwards from my toes to my head. It was Mr. Money Mustache’s blog and it was a passing recommendation made to me from one of the smartest people I know; an old colleague, and now (along with his wife) a good friend.

I remember reading his words, his maths, his reasoning, and just… everything clicked. The rest of that day (sorry old boss) I got my hands of every piece of material I could about him. Every podcast, every interview, every TED talk, every everything. And that was Pandora’s Box. It was the tip of the iceberg in terms of what the financial independence, retire early community was putting out there. There were bloggers! Women! Like me! My age! My income! Doing it (or already having done it).

FIRE opened up a world of possibility that defied the typical ideas of working for the exchange of time for money. It gave people, like me, a sense of control and financial empowerment. It gave people a tangible timeline, it allowed them to find abundance in simple things, to shake off the consumerist coat they were sweating in, and find joy in their daily work – knowing it wasn’t going to be forever.

For many, it allowed them (as they wound down to their financial independence date) the opportunity to volunteer, travel and work to completely better the life or someone else, without fear of lack of a paycheck. It allowed them to spend more and more time with their children, enjoying the little developmental things their children did that they otherwise never would have been around to notice; or relish in those important final days in a parent’s, or a friend’s, life.

Some people decided to keep working. Some had the flexibility to take time off to search for a job they had always wanted to do, but had never had the time to apply or network for. Others started their business, knowing it might not be profitable for a year or even more, and not worried about that in the slightest. Some filled their days gardening, turning a hobby into something they could monetise, or even not at all. But that beautiful notion of choice is inherent in all of these.

And something I have come to believe that every human fundamentally deserves. Because sure, we technically can do all of those things outside of a full-time job. But when you factor in the commute, the energy-sapping day, the after-school routine, the random life admin you only have time for outside of office hours and weekends… how much time do you really have? Not opportunistically. Not “make it a priority and just do it if you’re that unfulfilled”… how much time do we really have?

In 2018, I started my copywriting and communications business, Wordy and Smith. And to say that starting a business is the best thing I’ve ever done in my career would be an understatement. It is absolutely incredible. I love my work, I love how I have total control of my time, who I work with and what I earn. But that little voice you read of earlier? Still there. Loud and clear.

So it’s also incredible in another way. It proved to me that I was on the right track, and that my feelings and discontent with work were valid. That I don’t want to be spending my time working, beyond another decade at the most – but at least I can really enjoy the journey to get me there.

How does my husband factor into all of this? He’s not quite as emotional as I am, but this is certainly something he’s excited for. Did I get him onto the financial independence bandwagon? Yep. Did he teach me a lot about money management on the way, though? You bet he did. We complement each other in a lot of ways, and we’re now completely dedicated to this journey. He might have taken a little longer than me to come around, but what matters is he’s here now – and he’s really excited for the future of being financially free (he even has a few business ideas he’s mapping out).

We didn’t start the FIRE, but you know what they say, FIRE always spreads with a spark.

Hopefully this is yours. Welcome to our journey to complete financial independence.

February 27, 2019/1 Comment/by Michelle

Money Tips

The Definitive List of Doable Side-Hustles You Can Start Today

I sing to the high heavens about side hustles.

They are powerful ways to up-skill, fill your time productively and of course, bring in a few extra dollars outside of your regular income. If your day-job is wrangling kids around town, a side hustle can still be one of the most flexible ways to earn supplemental income and help contribute to the family’s finances.

I’ve always had side-hustles, although for a long time; I considered them my day-to-day job. Before the mighty side-hustle became a coined, worldwide phenomenon, I was a baby-faced university student running from one gig to the other in order to save aggressively, fund holidays and make rent.

A patchwork of both virtual and physical gigs across the spectrum was, in a way, my full-time job – outside of studying and drinking, of course.

So when the Internet exploded with side-hustle popularity (including thousands of blogs about how to *$TART EARNING MILLION$ WITH DA ULTIMATTE $$$IDE HU$$TLE TODAY!!*), I felt like the Oprah of the movement. By that stage, I actually was in full-time employment, but I had still been keeping the mighty side-hustle going on for the most part.

There really is very little that beats the feeling of receiving money separate from the expected monthly deposit of your regular job. It’s an addictive feeling – and to say it can supercharge your savings goals is the understatement of the century.

So without further adieu, here’s my definitive list of doable side-hustles that you can start today. It doesn’t include things like blogging, and starting a business – because the reality is – those don’t generate money straight away. And if you’re reading this, I presume you want those dollar bills to start rolling right now.

Instead, these are things that require low overheads, not a huge amount of skill and you can start immediately. Happy side-hustling!

Pet-sitting and dog-walking:

My personal favourite. If you love a puppers or two, this one’s for you, as well.

There are an estimated 24 million pets in Australia (which is almost on par with the amount of people in the country, according to the last census) – and with a large majority of these people working, going on holiday or having to run to interstate for emergencies, there’s a lot of furry friends needing companionship.

Some will ask you to have their pet in your home, some will prefer you to go to theirs (residing there, in some cases), and some just ask for you to take them for a little jaunt around the neighbourhood. You set your own rates and availability, and people contact you asking if you’re around. Normally, you arrange a meet and greet beforehand, so they can see how the animal responds to you (and check you’re not a psychopath) which is on your own time, but once everyone is happy – they book you in.

Finding work: PawShake, MadPaws, list your dog-walking services and a bio of you on a site like Gumtree, or chuck up a flyer in your local area.
Rates: It varies. I charge around $20 for a dog-walk, $50 for an overnight stay and around $30 per visit either going to them, or them staying with me.
Tips: Don’t do this if you genuinely don’t like animals. They’re intuitive little things and they’ll know you don’t dig ‘em, which is a waste of time for all involved. If you’re renting, check your by-laws around having pets (or do it… but know you might lose your bond) and be careful with any of your existing pets – you can’t assume they will like every animal that comes barging into their territory.

Babysitting:

Oh, baby. This one’s a goodie. Do your civil duty of giving exasperated parents a break of an evening, or help with the afternoon school run when they’re still hanging out trying to meet deadlines at work. Kids, for the most part, are great fun. I love their creativity and unique way of thinking, but again, you have to love this demographic to enjoy this kind of work. Fun fact: I once babysat for a couple in the UK who, when I asked them where they were off to that night, actually replied: “Nowhere. We’re having sex but we needed help with the kids because they always run in on us when we try any other time.” I decided we’d all go get ice-cream very far away that day.

Meet the children beforehand, because some kids require much more time than others, and side-hustling isn’t meant to be stressful. I don’t babysit too much anymore as my copywriting business, Wordy and Smith, and copywriting for Wordfetti keep me pretty busy, but if I do, I’ll ask to meet up with the kids and the parents in a relaxed park setting, so we can sit down and chat properly. It gives me a great opportunity to see how the kids interact with their parents and each other in an environment that’s very exciting for them and that’s usually a great indicator of how they’ll behave with me.

Finding work: FindABabysitter, JuggleStreet, BabySits, BabySittersNow. If you are into the nanny thing (and looking for a more full-time gig), I met Michelle from MiniNannyAgency at one of the workshops we did at Wordfetti and highly recommend having a chat with her – she is such a gorgeous human.
Rates: Around $25 to $30 an hour is an average rate, but this will vary on things like age, experience, what’s required of you (i.e. are you going to be hanging out with babies and toddlers, or self-sufficient early teens).
Tips: If you don’t have the patience of a saint, this one isn’t for you. Kids are unpredictable, emotional and sometimes unreasonable little human beings, and they needs lots of love and attention. This isn’t a “do it whilst doing something else” kind of gig. Also note that you will probably need need police clearance.

Paid surveys and market research:

Opinions are like… you know what. Everyone has one, and sometimes businesses will pay for yours. There are a variety of ways to go about this, whether it be short, paid online surveys, or in-person, roundtable market research discussions. The latter are much better paid, but often only run in major capital cities or work hubs, and you need to attend in-person for an hour or more. All have stringent pre-qualification protocols, so this isn’t something you’d want to depend on for regular side-hustle income… although I’m pretty sure I made about $5,000 over a six-month period a few years back. Just got lucky, I guess!

Online surveys are just a series of questionnaires, taking between five and fifteen minutes to complete. Market research can be interviews, taste-tests, or a business launching a new product and wanting to run the way they market it past a focus group first. They might show you variations of different ad campaigns, or different photos of the product prototypes to see how they make you feel. Writing down: “This tub of chocolate mousse makes me feel sad” feels strangely right – and even more so when they hand you your cash-filled envelope at the end of the session.

Finding work: PureProfile, PaidFocusGroups and MyOpinions.
Rates: Online surveys can be anywhere from 50c to a couple of dollars, depending on the time you are allocated to spend on it. Market research is much better paid, and they often reimburse you for your travel. Expect anywhere from $60 to $120 for an hour and a half’s session. More frequently they are paying with gift cards nowadays, but these can still be redeemed at major supermarkets and chains.
Tips: My friend Lucinda who originally got me into market research (who has an ah-maz-ing candle business FYI) told me, anecdotally, that they prefer female participants between the 24-35 age range as they have the most purchasing power in Aussie households. That’s not to say they aren’t looking for a wide range of profiles but, you know, inside scoop and all that.

Selling stuff around the home:

If you’re not on the KonMari, joy-sparking bandwagon, where have you been? Aside from being super popular, the concept of minimalism is very powerful when it comes to tidying up your personal finances. I first read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up a number of years ago, and as the title would suggest, it literally changed my life. I now keep things very simple and uncluttered in my home, in my work and in my accounts. Making no space for mess and complexity has made so much space for everything else.

One of the key ways to do that is to declutter – and then stop filling your home up with more stuff you don’t need. Go through drawers, under beds, through cupboards, bookcases, boxes, garages, cars and everything else with a nook or cranny, and pull out everything you haven’t been using for more than a year. Ask yourself genuinely: Do I need this? Will I use this? Do I already have one of these? Does it make me happy? If not – list it up for sale. People will often come round to pick them up, handing over their cash, and that saves you a trip to the charity shop bin and helps the environment.

Finding work: Gumtree, eBay, Facebook Marketplace and specialist sell sites (I’m currently trying to sell my wedding dress on one).
Rates: The general rule of thumb is to ask yourself what you’d be prepared to pay for an item if you needed it. You can also look at how much similar items have gone for, because the age old adage says that something is only worth what the market is willing to pay.
Tips: Be prepared to negotiate on price, and to have a degree of your time wasted. Don’t plan your day around someone promising to come around and pick something up, because you have a 50/50 chance they’ll show. Never ever meet up with buyers in unknown and unpopulated places, and if they’re coming round to collect something, use language that suggests you are not home alone (i.e. “yes, we will be home / we should be free then.”) I also ask buyers ahead of time not to bring big notes because I can’t break them and don’t store cash at home. Cashless societies for the win!

Freelancing with your skills:

This one I love on so many levels, because it’s essentially where my business sprouted from. We humans are pretty talented, multi-faceted beings, and at some stage of other, we’ve probably picked up a few key skills that we can use to help someone who either doesn’t have the time or know-how to do themselves. Whether it be writing, graphic design, SEO, digital marketing, web development, public relations, consulting, coaching, event planning, sales, virtual assisting, calligraphy, illustration or managing social media accounts, there’s likely someone out there willing to pay for your skills.

This is the kind of side-hustle that you can start today, as long as your niche doesn’t have huge overheads (like buying product or equipment, as in the case of catering or recording and animating videos). Things that also require huge software subscriptions (Adobe) aren’t ideal if you don’t already have them. Freelancing is great because it offers total flexibility and freedom, and in this game, word-of-mouth travels fast. It’s where almost all of my new leads come from – businesses telling other businesses that I’m a pretty top chick, or my existing clients reaching back out with a new project.

Finding work: Upwork, Freelancer, Fiverr – or specialist sites for your niche. You can also ask in your network, through somewhere like LinkedIn, whether anyone needs help in a specific field for an upcoming project.
Rates: Most charge per hour, but it depends on the field and specialty and your level of experience – so there’s no one-size-fits-all rate. You can always work out your salaried hourly rate by taking your salary, dividing it by the amount of work-weeks in your working year, and then dividing that by how many hours in your work-week (or, you know, using a calculator like this). Someone who is salaried at $60,000 would earn $28.85 per hour (assuming 52 weeks in their working year and 40 hours per week).
Tips: You’re likely dealing with people who have, to some extent, deliverables and KPIs – and they’re engaging your expertise with the expectation that you can deliver as you have said you can. Managing clients can be a big learning curve if you don’t have experience in client-facing roles. Goal-posts can change, people can sometimes be unreasonable under pressure and invoices can be paid late. But these things can be navigated around and with experience and the right upfront processes in place, they get much easier.

Driving:

Broom, broom said the little cash-loving car. Ride-sharing has surged in popularity over the last five years (literally pulling certain people around the world out of poverty), but it remains pretty controversial for reasons of safety and corporate responsibility. Still, if you have a car, and spare time, it can be a nice little income generator for you. I recently found out about Shebah through the Lady Startup Summer Series of podcast interviews, and fell in love. They’re a business doing amazing things and it’s female-only, so if that’s a worry for you, this is a great way to be involved in the process.

Many of these apps even have options nowadays where you can only pick up and drop off people travelling on your normal route. So if you’re heading into work or to a social event, and fancy making a cheeky bit of cash, you don’t have to go out of your way to do so. If you’re into the driving economy, you can also sign up to deliver food, which also has the added benefit of earning you tips and gratuities. Full disclosure: I have never done either of these (but friends have), mainly because a.) Sydney is Satan’s playground for drivers and b.) my husband routinely reminds me that if we ever did food delivery, he’d have to take a personal “bite-tax” out of every one. I don’t imagine we’d last long when all of our reviews came back with: “You ate some of my dinner you drongos!”.

Finding work: Uber, Shebah, GoCatch.
Rates: Finder have a decent calculator for Uber, and on their website, Shebah say: “you keep 85% of your fares, and enjoy higher rates than other rideshares. You earn more during peak times, and fares are inclusive of GST and tolls!”
Tips: Obviously there are safety concerns for women driving strangers around, especially at night – but platforms like Shebah combat this (and honestly, if you haven’t listened to George McEncroe being interviewed on the Lady Startup Summer Series, you’re missing out). Shebah also offer a free financial planning session to all drivers. You’ll get more fares in the capital cities but you have to be comfortable with city driving – and I’m not so convinced on their GPS efficiency, either.

Renting out a car, garage or room:

Never before has the concept of short-term leasing on someone else’s space or assets been so attractive. We live in an age where the cost of ownership is damn high, and you’re ‘in’, the cost of maintenance is just as astronomical. It makes sense for both owners and renters to utilise and benefit from unused or idle assets, and this can take the form of a spare room, a garage or a car.

Car sharing, garage sharing and room-sharing can come at a fraction of the cost of buying or owning outright (and saves them all the ongoing maintenance and management fees), so it’s a very attractive proposition. You call the shots with how you want to offer your assets, including short-term leasing, or, if you have a separate granny flat or home office, as a long-term commercial lease. Garages are great if you have a two-car space, but one car, and live in an area where street parking is difficult or expensive. Before we bought our own car, we regularly utilised the services of Car Next Door and found it to be a great way of getting around when we needed more convenient transport, like for food shopping.

Finding work: AirBnB, Car Next Door, Spacer, Just Park.
Rates: AirBnB depends on the area, type of property, whether you’ll be vacating completely or sharing the space and any other perks (like breakfast or a gift pack). You can look at other places in the same area for a better comparison. Car Next Door sticks to about 33 cents per kilometre and will charge a membership fee depending on usage amount. Garage sharing services take a cut of any bookings, and prices vary by location, ease of access and level of privacy.
Tips: AirBnB has experienced a significant decrease in bookings, at least in Sydney where we live. Many other AirBnB hosts have commented on how few bookings they receive than they used to; but Christmas is always a pretty safe bet. As always, good reviews are golden so try and help your guests or borrowers to have a great experience.

A weekend job:

There’s no shame in doing a little bit of extra weekend work for cash. I’d still happily do anything I did pre-university today, although I unfortunately know a lot of people in my professional circle who wouldn’t. That’s a shame, in my opinion, because it’s not only a great way to boost your income on a guaranteed basis, but you’ll meet some awesome people and learn new skills at the same time. Whether it be barista work, waiting tables, helping at a shelter or sanctuary drive, pool cleaning, handing out flyers at brand events, car-washing, working for a catering company on weekends or doing some admin and reception work – it’s all excellent income opportunity.

Finding work: Go and call up local cafes, offices and shelters and chat to the managers (stay clear of their busy times!). Hand in your resume or pop up flyers for pool cleaning and car washing in your local area.
Rates: You shouldn’t be getting paid any less than minimum wage in your country. In Australia, it’s $18.29 an hour, or $694.90 a week. From July 1 it will rise to $18.93 an hour, or $719.20 a week.
Tips: Be persistent, and try and avail yourself of a weekend if you can. This is really when most places, or 9-5 workers will need your services.

Mystery shopping:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: acting as a mystery shopper to visit a particular shop and provide feedback on everything from customer service, floorplan, product layout, dressing room aesthetic and cleanliness. You take all of this personal intel and write it up in a detailed report that needs to be sent back to the agency within a day – so there is a timeliness component to the task.

There’s two components to mystery shopping remuneration – one is the fee, and the second is the goods you buy that you get to keep (although sometimes you need to buy it with your own cash upfront, keep the receipt and they reimburse you). This can be great if you need something from that store anyway. I’ve heard about Kikki K’s $200 mystery shopping initiative, which is pretty generous – but I’ve personally never done it.

Finding work: Seek, MysteryShopping, The Realise Group.
Rates: On average, around $20 in a flat-fee payment, and then the cost of product. This can be capped, though, so keep that in mind.
Tips: Try and take jobs for shops you actually need to visit – otherwise you’ll end up with a bunch of extra stuff you don’t need (unless you plan on selling it for less than RRP – triple whammy).

Tutoring or translating:

Bit of a whizz in school? Got a knack for maths, science or English? Busy, working parents in your area who could use a hand with their kids homework and study need YOU. Now, this is unlikely to be the hardcore tutoring stuff (like, parents who want their kids to come top 1% of the country in their exams) because this requires either being a teacher or understanding the curriculum requirements deeply, but a little help with basic homework will suffice.

The same goes for parents who want their kids to be able to learn a different language that you natively speak. For this, you’ll want to have your own BYO language learning book so you have some kind of structure to your sessions, and leave plenty of time for back-and-forth practice.

Finding work: Speaking to local parents at a community meetup or pop flyers up, TutorFinder, Upwork for translation jobs.
Rates: Around $25 per hour is reasonable, with each session lasting 1-2 hours.
Tips: You want to be good with kids and be able to engage them in order to help them learn. Some parents will expect you to provide a police or Working With Children check at your own time and expense.

Rent-a-hand:

TaskRabbit’s mission statement of “find jobs you love, at rates you choose, make a schedule that fits your life” sums up the whole rent-a-hand gig economy movement. There’s virtually nothing humans aren’t willing to outsource when it comes to things they don’t want to do, so it’s worth scrolling through the jobs just for the laughs alone. You can filter by things that are nearby, and things you genuinely love to do (like organising people’s bathroom cabinets. I think I’d do that for free).

Finding work: TaskRabbit, AirTasker.
Rates: Variable (but negotiable), and the better your reviews, the better your chances of being able to do so.
Tips: Don’t do anything you don’t know how to do (or aren’t licensed to – like plumbing or electrics). Exercise general, everyday caution when going into people’s homes.

With all of these, approach with an opportunist mindset. I’m an opportunist, and this has always served me well. Ultimately, the more you get out there – the more you will find. With some of the lower-priced jobs, take that thinking of: “I don’t want to to head out today for $15”, and consider instead the opportunity cost of not doing it. What else could you find when getting out that will lead to more long-term earning potential?

You might not want to start with all of them, because there is a portion of time you’ll need to dedicate in setting up your profile, and applying for a few initial jobs (you’ll find you get less work in the beginning – but once you build up those testimonials, my experience now is that the offers often come to me). Instead of applying, I vet through around 15 offers for different things per week, and pick whatever I have the time and capacity for.

Remember, if you’re in Australia (as most of these links are for), our taxation system basically lumps all earnings into the same bucket: income. You will need to declare this income at tax-time and your tax payable will be calculated by your marginal tax rate.

If you don’t feel confident in lodging and declaring this income, it is highly recommended that you speak with a personal taxation specialist. There is also a consideration of whether you’ll be running this as a hobby, or a business – in which case, you may need an Australian Business Number (ABN). The Australian Business Register has a good ABN entitlement tool (so you can check your eligibility) but if in doubt, run it past aforementioned accountant.

February 26, 2019/0 Comments/by Michelle

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