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Apache is functioning normally

April 26, 2024 by Brett Tams

Welcoming a new addition to the family is an exciting and joyous occasion, and preparing a nursery is often one of the most anticipated tasks for expectant parents. The nursery is not just a room; it’s a sanctuary where your little one will spend countless hours sleeping, playing, and growing during their formative years. Curating the perfect nursery involves thoughtful consideration of both functionality and aesthetics. Check out these nursery decor ideas from experts to see curated recommendations.

Nursery decor: Tips and tricks to test out

“A nursery should spark calm,” Taylor Clarke, mom and founder of Amborella Organics seed-bearing lollipops. “We do this with earth-toned colors, living plants, and objects like a star-shaped plush that remind us how magical this time of life is.” As we dive into other expert opinions on curating the perfect nursery, Clarke reminds us to not forget the magic of this stage of life.

Establish your vision

Before diving into decorating, take some time to envision the atmosphere you want to create. Consider themes, color schemes, and overall ambiance. When it comes to a theme or color palette, Bowy Lou recommends choosing something that resonates with you. “Whether it’s a nature-inspired theme, a classic color scheme, or a whimsical motif, this will guide your choices in furniture, decorations, and textiles,” the Bowy Lou team recommends. “Additionally, if you’re looking to save money, you might be able to keep an eye out on online reselling platforms such as Facebook Marketplace or thrift shops to begin gathering or collecting items that meet your aesthetic.”

Choose a calming color palette and utilize natural materials

Selecting the right color palette sets the tone for the entire room. “Opt for soft, neutral hues like pastel blues, greens, creams, light grays, or gentle yellows to create a calming atmosphere conducive to relaxation, sleep, and independent play,” Karri Bowen-Poole, founder and CEO of Smart Playrooms and Project Playroom recommends.

Ashley Morrisey with Western Sky Photography recommends considering your preferences when selecting a color palette. “You may have heard there are colors that make a room bright or enhance specific feelings, so it would make sense to choose those that add to the calm, soothing environment you want,” Morrisey begins, “but, it’s equally as true that choosing colors you love will help make the room a space you’ll enjoy spending lots of time in with your baby, and let’s be honest, you’ve got a lot of future diaper changes, feedings, play times, and bedtimes in this room.”

Embrace nature-inspired elements as well, to bring an element of texture to the room. “Incorporating furniture and decor made from natural materials like wood and cotton will evoke a sense of warmth and comfort while also minimizing exposure to harsh chemicals,” Bowen-Poole suggests. Consider adding potted plants or a small indoor garden to purify the air and further create a calming, nature-inspired environment.

Frankie Wallace, owner of LoveFrankieArt.com, echoes the importance of a balance between colors and natural elements. “Opt for soft, neutral colors such as taupe or soft grey, and choose patterns that are subtle and gentle, like small polka dots, stripes, or delicate floral prints. These create a serene atmosphere without overwhelming your baby’s delicate senses, and are also calming for parents too,” Wallace notes. “Nature-inspired accents like potted plants, botanical prints, or nature-themed wall decals are also great to incorporate. Nature has a calming effect and can help create a peaceful atmosphere in the nursery.”

Invest in quality furniture

Key furniture pieces like a crib, changing table, and storage units are essential for a functional nursery. “Incorporating vintage or heirloom pieces such as a solid wood dresser passed down from a relative, or one with a marble top discovered at an antique shop will have lasting design power over many store-bought dressers,” Darcy Oliver, founder of Darcy Oliver Design recommends. “The dresser can also act as a changing station for your baby, so be mindful of a size that could accommodate a changing pad.”

Convertible furniture, such as cribs that transform into toddler beds, offers long-term value and versatility. “Searching for the perfect crib may seem like a daunting task, but I recommend buying this item new or fairly new for safety reasons,” Oliver recommends.

Prioritize safety

Safety should be a top priority when designing a nursery. Ensure that furniture meets safety standards, anchor heavy items to the wall to prevent tipping, and eliminate any potential hazards such as loose cords or small objects that could pose a choking risk.

A comfortable crib mattress and soft, breathable bedding are essential for promoting safe and restful sleep. Choose bedding made from organic materials and avoid heavy blankets or pillows, as they can increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Add personal touches

Infuse the nursery with personal touches that reflect your style and values, like name-centric decor. Name decor is also an easy way to make the room feel personalized. “Monogramming the space above your baby’s bed is a popular design concept. The monogram makes their room even more personalized and their own,” Sara from Lizz and Roo notes. “Similar to a monogram, framing their name above their bed is a great personalization to have for them to make their room their own.”

“I remember when my son was about to be born – all of a sudden I wanted to clean and organize my house and create the perfect nursery. I posted this random information on Facebook, and immediately a consensus was formed: I was “nesting,” Crystal Waddell, president of Collage and Wood shares.

“Over the years, as my company has grown, we serve mothers all over the world who want to personalize the walls for their new baby. And when I say I get it, you now know, I totally get it. Think custom lettering, themed wooden cutouts, or your baby’s name in a giant script font, these items create that perfect personalized space for your baby and help you meet your nesting needs.”

Consider sensory stimulation

Stimulate your baby’s senses with visually engaging elements like mobiles, wall decals, and textured rugs. Soft lighting, such as dimmable lamps or string lights, creates a cozy atmosphere conducive to relaxation.

Leave room to grow

Remember that your baby will grow quickly, and their needs will evolve over time. “If the nursery will eventually morph into your child’s room, having the flexibility to change the room into the next stage is key,” Sandra Gordon, owner of Baby Products Mom, notes. “That next stage could be in a year or so when your baby-turned-toddler-turned-preschooler starts to have an opinion. Ideally, for a convertible nursery, you should be able to lift anything babyish, such as artwork, out of the room.
In other words, keep babyish items off permanent surfaces, such as pink or blue walls or carpets. But if the room will be a dedicated nursery for years to come (for your next babies), go ahead and baby-ify all you want.”

Fariha Nasir, with Pennies for a Fortune, echoes the sentiment of keeping the future in mind. “Focus on sourcing high-quality pieces that will grow with the child. Same with seating – furniture that’s marketed as nursery furniture like rockers and gliders isn’t always great quality. Getting a stylish yet comfortable armchair with a separate ottoman will provide the same comfort and functionality,” Nasir shares. “That nursing chair can later be part of a reading corner for the room in the future.”

Incorporate functionality into your nursery decor

Babies come with a lot of stuff, from diapers and clothes to toys and books. Maximize storage space with bins, baskets, shelves, and closets to keep essentials organized and easily accessible. “In small spaces, floor space is a precious commodity so get things off the floor wherever you can,” Lisa Janvrin, with Janvrin and Co, suggests. “This means installing storage and lighting on the walls. There are tons of options for floating bookshelves, side tables, and plug-in wall sconces that are adorable and functional.”

In terms of nap and nighttime routines, nightlights or dimmers can also help create a soothing atmosphere when darkness is important, Kristeen Waddell notes. “Lack of lighting is everything. Invest in blackout curtains to regulate light and promote better sleep, especially during daytime naps. However, you will want a nice overhead light for play, too,” Waddell shares.

Choose soft flooring options

Opt for soft flooring materials like carpet or area rugs to provide a comfortable and safe surface for your baby to crawl and play. “A soft rug is a must-have for tummy time and a cozy place for baby to explore the world,” Caitlin De Lay notes. “Functional pieces will grow with your child and create a calming space to bring the baby home; plus, they can all double as design accents.” Choose rugs with low pile or natural fibers that are easy to clean and hypoallergenic to minimize the risk of allergies.

Design a nursing nook

“There needs to be comfortable seating for nursing a baby, with a footstool,” Medina King, creative director of MK Kids Interiors says. “This could be in the form of a stylish rocker or a comfortable armchair with a pouffe. Parents will spend a lot of time nursing and comforting babies in the early days of their lives, so it’s important to design it around the needs and comfort of the family and parents taking care of the baby.”

Lucy Bowman, with LucyJoHome.com, agrees, noting the importance of paying the nursery proper attention. “Nurseries are a place of rest and sweet memories and deserve attention,” Bowman shares. “The perfect nursery will have a comfortable and beautiful chair for parent and child to bond.”

Don’t be afraid to get creative with nursery decor ideas

Photographer, Kristal Bean, recommends adding an accent wall for a creative touch. “You’re not limited to just a different color for an accent wall — there are endless gorgeous wallpaper and large wall decal options, too,” Bean shares. “This is a simple way to customize the nursery, and you can probably get it done over a weekend. If you’ve already fallen in love with the wall color in your baby’s room, but you’re dying to add a little something extra to the space, wallpaper on the ceiling is an unforgettable touch.”

Savanna Nave, owner of SavannaBrooke.com, reminds to not forget flair and interest. “Add interest and character by either using wallpaper, a wall treatment (board & batten), patterned curtains, or a statement rug. All of these areas are a great way to incorporate color and a fun pattern,” Nave suggests. “When adding flair, stick to your style while also making the room baby-friendly and functional. If your style is boho, incorporate some of those features into the room.”

Consider soundproofing as part of your nursery decor

Minimize disruptions and create a peaceful environment for both you and your baby by soundproofing the nursery. Install heavy curtains or sound-absorbing panels to dampen outside noise, and consider using a white noise machine to mask any sudden sounds that could disturb your baby’s sleep.

Crafting a sanctuary for you and your little one

“As the parent, you will be spending a lot of time in that room with your baby”, Nina Spears, co-founder and editor-in-chief of baby chick, explains. “In the nursery, there needs to be a designated space for the baby to sleep, to feed, and to be changed. But, make a space in the room where you can rest with the baby and enjoy, too. This room should be a space that you love, it brings you joy and makes you feel calm. Your baby won’t care what it looks like, so make it functional and comfortable for you too.”

Curating and creating the perfect nursery is a labor of love that involves careful planning, creativity, and attention to detail. By following these guidelines and infusing your unique style and personality into the design, you can create a serene sanctuary where your little one can thrive and flourish. After all, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your baby surrounded by a space that is as beautiful and nurturing as they are.

Source: rent.com

Apache is functioning normally

April 26, 2024 by Brett Tams

Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions. In this episode:

Learn how scammers deceive victims by using AI for voice cloning and learn how you can protect yourself from other AI-related fraud.

How can you protect yourself from AI-driven scams that target your finances?

What new scams are happening as technology advances?

Hosts Sean Pyles and Sara Rathner discuss the alarming use of AI in scams and the future of fraud to help you understand how to safeguard your personal security. They begin with a discussion of AI-driven voice scams, with tips and tricks on recognizing potential fraud, staying informed about scam tactics, and the importance of open discussion to empower against scammer tactics.

Then, scam expert Bob Sullivan, author of “Stop Getting Ripped Off” and host of the podcast The Perfect Scam, joins Sean to discuss the broader implications of AI technology in scams. They discuss the potential for AI to personalize phishing attacks, the ease of creating convincing fake audio, and the importance of skepticism in the face of unexpected calls. Plus: the need for technology companies to embed safeguards, the role of societal learning in approaching unexpected calls, and the importance of verifying any financial requests you receive.

Check out this episode on your favorite podcast platform, including:

NerdWallet stories related to this episode:

Episode transcript

This transcript was generated from podcast audio by an AI tool.

Sean Pyles:

We already know that our robot overlords are coming, but in the meantime, while they plot, their artificial intelligence skills are being put to use by bad actors all over the world, utilizing technology to bilk people out of their money. That includes using AI to copy someone’s voice and demand ransom for a non-existent kidnapping.

Jennifer DeStefano:

I had a full conversation with my daughter. It was interactive. There was no pause. There was no break. There was nothing that would lead me to believe that it wasn’t her. So when the mom that stepped outside called 911, she came back in and she said, “Hey, 911 tipped me off that there’s a scam where they use AI and they can replicate anyone’s voice.” I didn’t believe it. It gave me hope, but I didn’t believe it.

Sean Pyles:

Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast. I’m Sean Pyles.

Sara Rathner:

And I’m Sara Rathner. And Sean, that clip is as creepy as it gets.

Sean Pyles:

It is, and the story we’re going to hear today is as creepy and as awful as it gets as we wrap up our Nerdy deep dive into scams and identity theft and how to protect yourself from all of it so you don’t lose your life savings. Today we’re going to examine the future of the scam industry and the expanding role of AI.

Sara Rathner:

Yeah, I have to say, and I know you’ve touched on this in several of your interviews already, this is exhausting. I mean, it’s hard to listen to this and not think, yeah, no matter what, I’m screwed. They’re going to get me unless I spend all this time and effort protecting myself. And who has the time for that?

Sean Pyles:

I hear you, Sara, and it’s easy to feel somewhat defeated by all these organized criminals whose sole job is to steal our identities, which technology seems to make easier and easier for them, and to scam us in ways that we can’t even conceive of until it happens.

Sara Rathner:

I mean, I’d rather spend more time taking naps, honestly. I don’t do that enough and I’m really sleep-deprived, which is probably making me more susceptible to scams, honestly.

Sean Pyles:

Yeah, I am totally there with you. But Sara, I think we’ve also provided listeners, you included, with some really practical ways to fully arm ourselves that don’t take an undue amount of effort. And as we’ve been saying, one of the most important takeaways from this series, I think, is for everyone to realize that there is no immunity here. This stuff can happen to anyone regardless of how old you are, how much schooling you’ve had, or how much money you make, where you live. It’s a universal risk, and the more we talk about it, the more power we take away from the bad actors.

Sara Rathner:

All right. Well, the idea that AI is getting in on the action is slightly terrifying. You mentioned our robot overlords at the top of the show, and I guess they’re coming for everybody’s bank account PINs.

Sean Pyles:

If only it were that simple, Sara. AI is being deployed in sophisticated ways to manipulate our emotions, find vulnerabilities in software that we rely on every day, and generally make our lives like something out of that show Black Mirror. So in this episode, we’re going to explore things like how is AI being used in scams, what’s the deal with these AI voice scams and what hellish development might we see next in the world of scams. To start, we hear from a woman named Jennifer DeStefano. She lives in Arizona and had an experience that no one should ever go through, but that provides a window into one of the ways that scammers can reach into your heart and try to pull money from your bank account.

Sara Rathner:

All right. We want to hear what you think too, listeners. So tell us your stories of identity theft or getting scammed or share how you’re working to fight it or recover from it. Leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd Hotline at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-NERD. Or email a voice memo to [email protected]. Here’s Sean with our first guest.

Sean Pyles:

Jennifer DeStefano. Welcome to Smart Money.

Jennifer DeStefano:

Thank you so much for having me.

Sean Pyles:

So Jennifer, you experienced an AI voice scam. Can you set the scene for us? What was that day like before you got this phone call?

Jennifer DeStefano:

It was just a normal day. I had two children that were up training for a ski race and I had my daughter, she was at dance, so I was going to go pick her up and then hopefully joining my other two kids later in the weekend. So I went to pull up to the studio and get out of my car to go get her, and I got a phone call and it came in from an unknown number. Originally I was going to ignore it, but knowing that I had two of them that were practicing for a ski race and unknown can be medical, you just never know, just in case I decided to answer it.

When I answered it, I said hello, and I was getting out of my vehicle, so I had all my stuff in my hands. I was walking through the parking lot, so I had the phone on speaker and it was my older daughter crying and sobbing saying, “Mom, Mom, I messed up.” And I said, didn’t think anything of it. She ski raced for a number of years. It was a very familiar phone call. And I said, “Okay. What happened?” And she goes, “Mom, I messed up.” And I said, “Okay. What’d you do?” And then all of a sudden a man came on and he said, “Put your head down, lay back.”

And at that point I thought she got really hurt just being toboggan. So then I started to get really concerned. I’m like, “Wait, wait, wait. What’s going on? What’s happening, Bri? What’s going on?” And then this man gets on the phone as she starts saying, “Mom, help me. These bad men have me. Help me, help me, help me.” The phone, her voice starts to fade off with her crying and sobbing and pleading for me. And this man gets on the phone. He goes, “Listen here, I have your daughter.”

“You call the police, you call anybody, I’m going to pop her stomach so full of drugs and have my way with her and then drop her for dead in Mexico.”And at that point was when I had my hand on the door handle of dance, and I walked inside the room and I just started screaming for help. So fortunately there happened to be three other moms there that know me well. I was asking my younger daughter to get her dad on the phone, call her brother, call anybody. So she actually jumped up and ran over to my younger daughter to say, “Let’s go find your dad. Let’s figure this out.”

Another mom said, “I’m going to go call 911.” She stepped outside to go call the police, and the third mom sat beside me so she could hear everything the man was saying as I was trying to figure out where my daughter was, what’s going on.

Sean Pyles:

And so it’s a perfectly normal day. You’re about to get your kids after a day of them doing their activities, you get a phone call and within 30 seconds your world is turned upside down.

Jennifer DeStefano:

Completely upside down. I had no idea what was going on. I had a full conversation with my daughter. It was interactive. There was no pause. There was no break. There was nothing that would lead me to believe that wasn’t her. So when the mom that stepped outside called 911, she came back in and she said, “Hey, 911 tipped me off that there’s a scam where they use AI and they can replicate anyone’s voice.” She’s like, “It could have been a voice recording.” I’m like, “It was definitely not a voice recording. It was interactive. I was asking her questions. She was responding to me. It was not a recording.” And she’s like, “Well, they can do anything.” I’m like, “But it was her crying. It was her sobbing. I know it’s my daughter. It wasn’t a recording.”

Sean Pyles:

And what thoughts are going through your head as you’re having this conversation with what sounds exactly like your daughter?

Jennifer DeStefano:

I didn’t for a second not believe it. It wasn’t until another mom actually got my daughter on the phone and I talked to her and she reassured me that she was who she really was, and I could finally wrap my head around it. And then I finally believed her and then I knew it was a scam.

Sean Pyles:

How much time elapsed from the time that you answered the phone to when your actual daughter was speaking to you and you were reassured the phone call that you got wasn’t legitimate?

Jennifer DeStefano:

So the whole phone call actually took four minutes, but that’s where time freezes in that panic and fear.

Sean Pyles:

Right. Oh God, that’s heartbreaking. So do you know how the scammers got your daughter’s voice and maybe why they targeted you specifically?

Jennifer DeStefano:

So I had a bunch of different thoughts on that. Okay. She’s done a few interviews related to school, sports, whatnot, but that still doesn’t explain the crying and sobbing. It doesn’t explain that conversation. Her voice recording for her phone is her prepubescent voice, so it’s not her current voice. So I honestly have no idea. That’s where a lot of this, what’s scary is at first it was are they following me? Is it targeted? Do they know something? But then hearing how it had happened to a number of other people in different capacities, and you realize it’s a lot more arm’s length.

They were demanding money to be hand delivered to them. So they were making arrangements to come pick me up in a white van with a bag over my head. I had to have all the cash. They were going to take me to my daughter, and if I didn’t have all the cash, then we were both dead.

Sean Pyles:

God, how much were they asking for?

Jennifer DeStefano:

It was originally a million dollars. And then he came up with a number of $50,000 when I pushed back that that wasn’t possible.

Sean Pyles:

And to this day, it’s unclear why you specifically got this call?

Jennifer DeStefano:

I have no idea.

Sean Pyles:

Okay. And so after the phone call ended, I assume you hung up on the scammer when you realized that your daughter was safe.

Jennifer DeStefano:

So once I realized my daughter was safe, I actually had them on mute and they were furious that I wasn’t making final arrangements for a pickup. And then I picked the phone back up and I called them out and said, you don’t have my daughter, this is a scam and I’m going to make sure that this is going to come to a stop and I’m going to do anything I can to stop you. And I hung up on him.

Sean Pyles:

God, what are you on an individual or maybe even a family level doing to safeguard yourselves? Have you guys established a safe phrase that you might use to confirm your identities?

Jennifer DeStefano:

So we did create a safe word, and then it’s a lot of communication. Where are you? Who are you with? Where are you going? So that way if I do get a phone call or anybody gets a phone call, you can easily put it through the test. Does this make sense? Is this where they’re supposed to be? Is this even possible? Do you know the code word? Do you have some identifiers? If I didn’t know where my daughter was supposed to be, I wouldn’t have been able to locate her as fast as I did. And I had her brother, I had all of her siblings coming together in response to help me as well. So everybody was in full communication. You have to communicate and you have to seek help.

Sean Pyles:

Well, Jennifer, is there anything that you would like to leave listeners with?

Jennifer DeStefano:

Just awareness, have these conversations, sometimes maybe tough conversations, especially with children. But you have to have the conversations, have safe words, know where your kids are at. You have to have these conversations and make sure you safeguard your family.

Sean Pyles:

Well, Jennifer DeStefano, thank you for sharing your story with us.

Jennifer DeStefano:

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Sean Pyles:

Sara. I found this story just heartbreaking. I mean, at least they found out it was a scam before handing over money or before Jennifer offered herself up to scammers. But not everyone is so fortunate. Imagine how hard it is to say no to something like this when a loved one seems to be in jeopardy.

Sara Rathner:

Yeah, there was a piece recently in The Cut written by a journalist who knew she would never, ever fall for something like this. Don’t we all think that? And ended up handing over $50,000 in a shoebox to a stranger in a large SUV. I don’t think anybody ever sees themselves doing that. I’m glad Jennifer DeStefano didn’t let it get that far with the help of friends.

Sean Pyles:

And there’s hope that help will come from more than friends. Earlier this year the Federal Trade Commission proposed new rules that would prohibit the impersonation of individuals. It recently enacted rules that prohibit impersonating government or businesses. This proposed rule would extend to, well, us. The proposal is currently in a comment period, so if you feel so moved, go to the FTC’s website, ftc.gov, and comment.

Well, next we’re going to talk with another journalist, Bob Sullivan, who’s been covering the scam world for years now. He hosts a podcast for the AARP called The Perfect Scam and is the author of Stop Getting Ripped Off, among other books. We’re going to talk about the future of the scam world and how to protect yourself as technology continues to make it easier for the bad guys. That’s coming up in a moment. Stay with us.

Bob Sullivan, I’m so glad you could join us on Smart Money.

Bob Sullivan:

Thanks so much for having me.

Sean Pyles:

So Bob, the first question I have for you is how do I know that you are the real Bob Sullivan and not an AI-generated Bob Sullivan?

Bob Sullivan:

This is an excellent question and I’m glad that you’ve started there. You can’t, really. In fact, I did an episode on my own podcast recently where I had someone clone my voice and rather persuasively introduce the podcast, although family members pointed out to me that there were just little things that didn’t quite sound right. So either I was AI or maybe I had a bad cold or something. But it’s hard to tell, a little nasally.

Sean Pyles:

So in this series we’ve talked about identity theft, identity fraud, and the scam world, and I’m hoping that today you can give us a warning about the future of all of this and the role that artificial intelligence or AI is going to play and in fact is playing. So to start, when did we first start seeing AI being put to use in this way? Do you remember a specific AI-generated fraud or scam where you said, oh wow, this is something new?

Bob Sullivan:

Well, I have to be honest with you and say that I sit here reading emails about scams and fraud all day long, and I have not seen evidence of these kinds of things that a lot of folks are talking about right now, which is voice cloning or deep fake videos being used to fool people. Here’s a couple of things that I am worried about, however. All the data collection that we have, the criminals now have access to it and it’s going to be very easy for criminals to use that data to just really carefully craft their phishing pitches so that they’ll know exactly when you are transactional, for example.

Then they’ll know precisely when you order something from Amazon or what your zip code says about your income, and they’ll know how to attack the right person at the right time with the right message. And that’s the kind of artificial intelligence that I’m worried about, criminals using big data to essentially perfectly hone their crimes. But there’s one other thing that I’d really like to mention that enough experts have told me about that I am quite concerned about it, and that’s this idea of generative AI, where a tool like ChatGPT can engage in conversations and learn.

We have told people forever that one of the ways that they might recognize that they’re talking to a criminal over email or in chat or in a game is bad grammar or sentences that don’t quite make sense, non sequiturs. Well ChatGPT is getting very good at holding intelligent sounding conversations. Let’s start by saying it’s going to probably eliminate the bad grammar problem, but even more than that, imagine a tool that learns along the way just the right things to say to romance someone using a formula that’s been tested in the real world or the right things to say to get someone to follow the instructions for an investment scam.

I think these tools are going to learn how to carry on these conversations in ways that we’ve never seen at large scale, and that’s the kind of artificial intelligence that I’m worried about being used in scams.

Sean Pyles:

Okay. And can you talk us through how these AI voice cloning scams do work, whether they’re pervasive or not?

Bob Sullivan:

Sure. Well, I mean there are services, the fellow who did it on me signed up for a website that lets you do this for $5 a month and the first month is 80% off. So for literally one US dollar, you can upload samples of my voice or anyone’s voice and then generate for a potential scam victim, something that sounds incredibly realistic. I think the one thing that’s important to understand about what’s different about voice cloning, I don’t know if you remember the movie Sneakers, it’s one of my favorite hacker movies.

But in that movie, they basically needed a voice passport in order to enter a highly secure building, and they needed the authority figure to say things so that they could piece together cut and paste style a certain sentence, for example. So one way you might be imagining this works is someone tricks me into saying, my mother is in distress and I need you to send money to this wire account, but that’s not it. Instead, what’s powerful about AI voice cloning is with just a few sentences from me, they can extrapolate my intonation, my pausing and make me say anything.

So you don’t need a whole lot of vocabulary in order to make a really, really effective, almost fully independent voice clone.

Sean Pyles:

Well, I’d like to walk our listeners through some of the ways that fraudsters and scammers are putting this technology to work right now in ways that are shocking even to you. Can you share one or two examples that you know of that will give us a sense of just how bonkers this new era is?

Bob Sullivan:

Well, let me go back to the big data example. Foreign governments and large hacker organizations do have what would look to most people like a credit reporting agency on all of us. They have thousands of bits of data about all of us that they can use against us, and it’s data that they’ve been compiling for years. So they know what your tendencies are, they know where you shop, they know where you are. We never talk nearly enough about the theft of location data. All our cell phones are tracking devices.

And so a criminal could know when you’re walking past a store and send you a precisely timed invitation to either buy something at a discount or even worse to send you a note saying, I was just in Ireland. Bob, there’s a bank in Ireland that suddenly tried to charge a $2,000 charge to your account, say yes or no. And I would believe that message right now because I was just there. Those kinds of highly sophisticated, highly targeted crimes enabled by massive amounts of data that again can be searched now instantaneously, that’s the kind of thing that really scares me.

Sean Pyles:

And those examples are highly specific and individualized, which makes them all the more believable. So it makes it hard to trust anything that’s inbound to us.

Bob Sullivan:

Absolutely. And this is a tragedy because technology enables so many wonderful things. It is a terrible thing that we have all of these dark stories as this gray cloud around tech that’s going to prevent a lot of people from even trying to use it, and it’s going to make all of us feel just a little bit insecure because we know these sorts of bad and dangerous things can happen to us. The best example of this is in the health arena. We’re so far behind in what electronic health records could be in America right now.

When you go to the hospital, you’re laying on a gurney and there’s someone asking you over and over again, are you allergic to penicillin and you just were in a car accident. And that’s ridiculous. But because we are, I mean there’s many reasons, but a big one is we are so concerned about criminals misusing this data or companies misusing this data that we are decades behind where we could be with things like electronic health records.

Sean Pyles:

Earlier this episode, I spoke with a woman who received an AI voice scam call from what sounded like her daughter, and it of course wasn’t her daughter. But after everything settled down, she still doesn’t really understand how these people got her daughter’s voice. Her daughter isn’t really on social media, and this woman is also very unclear as to why she was targeted. So do you know how scammers are capturing people’s voices and why they might choose to target one person over another?

Bob Sullivan:

So I don’t know. I think for the vast majority of young people, it would be fairly trivial to examine a couple of TikTok videos and get enough voice sample in order to fake their voices. There are people who are not on social media and whose recorded voices aren’t in any, say, school websites or anything like that. I think they are few and far between. So I think most people should assume that a criminal could absolutely get enough audio samples of your voice to do this to you. So I can’t speak to that specific instance or why that person was targeted or why that child was targeted.

The only thing that concerns me is I don’t think we should give anyone the impression that this is happening on a widespread basis. It’s not. 99% of these kinds of calls are still being done by just human beings in boiler rooms. Nevertheless, this absolutely can be done. It can be done really inexpensively. And as I just mentioned, all of us are vulnerable to this. You’d be shocked at how much, even if you don’t have any social media, that pieces of your life have been posted by other people.

So it’s out there, and again, it takes very little, we’re talking probably less than a minute of audio in order to generate a fake you.

Sean Pyles:

What do you think we’re supposed to try to do to combat this? I mean, using me as an example, I host this podcast, you host one too. Our voices are out there just waiting for scammers to take a clip and make us say whatever they want, call our loved ones and use that voice to try to get their money. How do we fight that?

Bob Sullivan:

Yeah, you and I are screwed.

Sean Pyles:

Bob Sullivan:

Sorry. But the best, I talked to some other expert about this, so I can’t claim this advice myself, but I think it’s very good advice. At the beginning of the Photoshop era, people saw pictures of pyramids moved and weren’t skeptical of that. We just thought photographs couldn’t lie. I think nowadays for the most part, and certainly not everybody, for the most part, if you saw a crazy picture of Joe Biden riding on a camel or something, that there would be a piece of you at least that would say wait a minute, this might be fake.

There’s now an impulse that things you see might very well be faked. I’m hoping that our level of 21st century digital sophistication gets there quick enough with audio that your parents and my parents will have a predisposition to think if this is a weird phone call from Bob or Sean, it could be fake. And I think that’s the sort of learning curve we all have to go through kind of as a society.

Sean Pyles:

Well, let’s turn to some tactical ways that people can try to protect themselves. Can you tell us about the importance of things like pass keys, biometrics, other ways to authenticate that you are who you are when you get a call from someone or you allegedly call someone else?

Bob Sullivan:

I’m glad you brought that up. When it comes to voice printing in particular, there are these new technologies that are a little bit like image watermarking they’re discussing putting on voices. So you can imagine there being something even inaudible embedded in an audio phone call, which the technology company, the phone company, used seamlessly to verify that you were you, sort of like a Verisign email or whatnot. So there’s people who are working on technologies that would help with this verification. I’m not a fan of putting these really hard things onto individual consumers.

I think it’d be much better if the technology companies were forced to solve these problems because I can’t give my mom advice on how to verify how I might contact her at every platform that ever is going to exist. That advice is going to get outdated almost immediately.

Sean Pyles:

Given that we do live in this world that we are living in, I’m trying to think about ways that I can protect myself and my family. After I began doing research into 21st century scams, I established a safe phrase that if my family gets a call that alleges it’s from me and I’m in a panic, they’ll say, “Hey, what’s the safe phrase?” And I will tell them that phrase, if it’s actually me. And if it’s not, then the scammer’s going to try to divert them some other way, I’m sure.

Bob Sullivan:

I do think that’s great, and I don’t mean to trivialize any of that, but I would like to point out most people in security would say you’ve also created a vulnerability because someone armed with that phrase could easily disarm someone in your family, right?

Sean Pyles:

That’s true. Although the phrase has only been uttered in person when we agreed on what the phrase is. So we’ve tried to keep it as away from recording devices as possible to the extent that we can.

Bob Sullivan:

The only real point in my saying that was none of these things are foolproof. So it’s good to have that in mind. I think the one thing that helps all the time in the end, whatever we’re talking about here, almost inevitably, is a cover story for give me money. All of these, whatever technology we’re using, whatever the story is, in the end, there’s an ask of some kind. And stealing people against the ask is really, really important. And the best way to do that is interruption. The best way to do that is to train everybody in every circumstance, whatever is happening, to stop and talk to an independent third party, whether that be a family member or a financial professional or something.

Your son’s in jail in Europe, he needs bail money immediately, take the 15 seconds to talk to someone not involved in the situation and hear the words come out of your mouth. When you get a phone call you don’t expect, hang up and then go to the company’s website yourself and call the official published number, call the company back. That solves about 99% of these problems.

Sean Pyles:

Well, Bob, I’m asking this of all of the experts that we’re talking with for this series. So I’m going to ask you too, have you ever experienced a scam or identity theft or fraud?

Bob Sullivan:

No, but I’ve certainly been through a bunch of credit card-style identity thefts, but fortunately, knock on wood, nothing that we would consider deeply involved identity theft.

Sean Pyles:

Well, Bob, do you have any hopeful thoughts as we wrap up this series, which has been a bit of a bummer as we’ve talked about fraud and scams and people losing their life savings to technology assisted terrible people?

Bob Sullivan:

Yeah. So I spend all my week talking to people who’ve had their life savings stolen from them in all manner of speaking. It’s hard to stay optimistic. I think there’s a whole bunch of factors coming into play here. We have an aging population, many of whom thankfully have a lot of savings, they’re an easy target. And as I’ve mentioned, we have all of these tools that make it so much easier for someone halfway around the world to steal money instantly in untraceable ways. This has never happened in human history before, so this is the golden age of crime.

However, we are all talking about it now. So that’s really positive. Here’s the most optimistic thing I can tell you. Young people, software designers, engineers inside companies are now getting out of school having taken ethics classes and social impact classes and are starting to push back on their managers when they come up with tools like this. And that’s where the tide will turn is when enough people who have a grandparent who’s been a victim of a scam work at a software company and they say, we have to put this protection into this device before we release it to the world. And I do think those conversations are happening. So I am actually optimistic about that.

Sean Pyles:

That’s good to hear. And is there anything else that you wanted to mention that we didn’t touch on?

Bob Sullivan:

What we find is that a really, really big obstacle to fixing this problem is shame and embarrassment. Many, many people won’t come forward after they’ve been a victim of a crime like this because they feel stupid. I called myself stupid. All the language around scam crimes tends to focus on the individual instead of the system. Well, if you read a news story about a person who fell for a home improvement scam, that just doesn’t sound the same thing as someone who was robbed at gunpoint.

Sean Pyles:

Was the victim of a crime. That’s what happened at the end of the day.

Bob Sullivan:

They’re a victim of a crime, and we work hard on the language that we use to stress that there was a crime. There’s something about if we say, well, that person fell for this scam. Well, I would never fall for that scam. You can sort of put it at arm’s length, and that makes it a little easier to not do anything about the problem. And it takes the focus off the criminal. We kind of think the criminals are clever and sexy. But more than anything, we want to try to get away from the idea of shame because when someone is embarrassed because they are a victim of a crime, they don’t come forward.

The statistics don’t reveal the true nature and breadth of the crime. Everybody will tell you this, all this crime is wildly under reported. So however big the numbers seem to be, they’re at least double what we hear from the Federal Trade Commission and whatnot. And so anything that I can do to relieve the stigma from being a victim of crime like this, I’m all for it.

Sean Pyles:

Bob Sullivan, thank you so much for helping us out today.

Bob Sullivan:

Thanks a lot for having me.

Sean Pyles:

So Sara, after four episodes of hearing from experts and people who have experienced scams, I’m in a state of what I would call bleak optimism. The world right now is rife with scammers and their methods of duping innocent people are evolving at a rapid pace. But simultaneously, I can’t remember a time where scams and fraud were more present in the cultural conversation. Yes, it is fully a tragedy that our means of communication are so compromised that we cannot trust a call from a loved one in what seems like their most dire moment.

That really can’t be overstated. But hopefully the increased awareness of these scams will help people avoid sending money to bad actors and mitigate feelings of shame that people carry after enduring a scam. And hey, maybe one day our government will make some laws that help tamp down on the rampant scams that we’re all facing.

Sara Rathner:

And there’s this saying in journalism, if your mother tells you she loves you, fact check it. Well now you have to. So that’s the world we live in.

Sean Pyles:

If anyone contacts you at all, fact check it.

Sara Rathner:

Yeah. And text them on the side and be like, “Hey, are you calling me from jail right now?” And they’ll be like, “No.”

Sean Pyles:

I think the bottom line for everyone listening is to exercise extreme caution when you speak with anyone online and before you send money to anyone ever.

Sara Rathner:

If somebody is asking you for money and you don’t really know who they are, they are not who they tell you they are. How’s that? How’s that for general rule?

Sean Pyles:

All right. Well, for now, that’s all we have for this episode and this Nerdy deep dive about scams and ID theft and fraud. If you have a money question about any of this or anything else, turn to the Nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-NERD. You can also email us at [email protected]. Visit nerdwallet.com/podcast for more info on this episode and remember to follow, rate and review us wherever you’re getting this podcast.

Sara Rathner:

This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland. Sean helped with editing. Kevin Berry helped with fact checking, Sara Brink mixed our audio.

Sean Pyles:

And here’s our brief disclaimer, we are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.

Sara Rathner:

And with that said, until next time, turn to the Nerds.

Source: nerdwallet.com

Apache is functioning normally

April 23, 2024 by Brett Tams

Despite the obvious appeal of side hustles — more money! — they’re not for everyone. If your side hustle makes you stress out, neglect relationships, or miss opportunities at your day job, then consider it a bad idea. Side hustles are only beneficial when they help you accomplish goals without sacrificing what matters most.

Side hustles are often promoted as a simple way to generate extra cash or fulfill your passions. However, the often-ignored price tag is physical and mental strain. Not to mention the time requirement and potential financial commitment necessary to get a gig going.

Read on to find out how to evaluate your options and goals before taking on a side hustle.

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What Is a Side Hustle?

A side hustle refers to a second job or source of income that people pursue outside their primary employment. The purpose may be to earn extra money, pursue a pet project, or develop skills in a different area.

A side hustle can take various forms, from freelance work or consulting to selling handmade crafts or driving for a rideshare service. Renting out property and offering tutoring services also qualify. The point is leveraging your time and skills to pad your budget or explore a wider field than your day job allows.
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Pros and Cons of a Side Hustle

Browse the pros and cons below, and make a mental note of how many of each apply to your situation. If one side of the scales is considerably heavier, your decision may be obvious.

Pros of a Side Hustle

Here’s a breakdown of the benefits of a side hustle:

• Develop Your Career: Side hustles can provide a valuable opportunity to develop skills, gain experience, and broaden your professional horizons. By taking on projects or roles outside your main job, you may acquire new competencies to help advance your career or get a promotion. Additionally, side hustles can demonstrate initiative, entrepreneurial spirit, and versatility to potential employers, enhancing your marketability and opening up new opportunities.

• Switch Up the Norm: A side hustle allows you to break away from the routine of your primary job. This variety can be refreshing and stimulating, helping to prevent boredom and burnout. Whether you’re pursuing a different passion, exploring a new industry, or experimenting with creative projects, having a side hustle can inject excitement and fulfillment into your life outside work.

• Build Your Network: Side hustles often involve interacting with different people and communities, which can expand your professional network. Whether you’re collaborating with clients, partners, or fellow freelancers, each connection presents an opportunity to exchange ideas, learn from others, and potentially uncover new career prospects. Building a diverse network through your side hustle can provide valuable support, mentorship, and referrals in your professional journey.

• Channel Creativity: Side hustles offer a platform for expressing your creativity, passions, and interests outside your primary job. Whether it’s writing, photography, crafting, or any other form of expression, a side hustle can bring more meaning and fulfillment than your 9-to-5. This outlet can serve as a source of inspiration, relaxation, and personal growth, enriching your life beyond the confines of your main occupation.

• Increase Income: One of the most practical benefits of a side hustle is the extra money. Whether saving for a major purchase, paying off debt, or simply seeking financial security, the income from your side hustle can provide greater financial flexibility and stability. Likewise, having multiple streams of income can be a buffer against economic uncertainty and provide a safety net in case of job loss or another hardship.

Cons of a Side Hustle

On the other hand, these are the potential drawbacks of a side hustle:

• Less Time to Relax: Side hustles require time and effort, eroding your leisure time. Working 60+ hour weeks can lead to fatigue and even burnout. When juggling your day job, side hustle, and personal commitments causes you to lose sleep, your quality of life can become unsustainably low.

• Distraction from Work: A side hustle can encroach on your attention and focus during work hours. Constantly thinking about your other gig, responding to email, or taking calls while at your main job can detract from your performance. If colleagues or supervisors perceive your divided attention, this can also strain your professional relationships and undermine your credibility.

• Managing the Stress of Two Jobs: Managing the demands of a side hustle on top of your primary job and personal responsibilities can significantly increase stress. Deadlines, client expectations, financial pressures, and the need to constantly switch between different roles and tasks can elevate anxiety. Chronic stress associated with balancing multiple commitments can affect your mental and physical health over time.

• Sustainable Prices Can Be Elusive: Setting prices or negotiating rates for your side hustle services can be challenging, especially if you’re just getting started or dealing with imposter syndrome. Striking the right balance between competitiveness and fair compensation can be tricky, and you may encounter situations where clients or customers undervalue your work. Plus, breaking into a competitive market may require setting prices so low that you work at a loss for the first few months or even years. As a result, your side hustle may ding your budget instead of adding to it.

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When Does a Side Hustle Make Sense?

Several ingredients are key for a side hustle to make sense for your situation. First, it’s essential to have a clearly defined reason for pursuing a side hustle. For example, you may want to generate income, follow a creative impulse, or pave a path to a new career. This clarity of purpose will guide your efforts and motivate you throughout your side hustle journey.

Second thorough research is crucial to understanding the market, demand, competition, and potential challenges associated with your chosen side hustle. This is significant even if you don’t have financial aspirations for your other gig.

For example, if you’re interested in fitness, is your specific angle better suited for a blog or a YouTube channel? Will you create a social media presence to drive more traffic? What kind of value are you delivering to your audience?

In a different vein, if you want to become a rideshare driver, which company offers the best pay? Do you have a presentable vehicle that you’re willing to put miles on? Answering these kinds of questions will help you make informed decisions and set realistic expectations. Not doing your homework will likely bring a lack of results, monetary loss, and frustration.

Next, understand the time commitment your side hustle will require. For instance, a few hours of woodworking on the weekend is less demanding than taking a constant flow of orders on Etsy. If your schedule is already full to the brim from your primary job, family responsibilities, and personal pursuits, incorporating a side hustle can do more harm than good. Even if you work a side gig with your significant other, it’s not the same as spending quality time together.

Finally, your side hustle should fit into the larger picture of your goals and values. For instance, you might start a side hustle in order to build a $5,000 emergency fund. Or you could take a software engineering course in the evenings that will help you eventually switch careers. In any case, your side hustle should have specific benefits and point toward a defined objective. Otherwise, you’ll burn time without accomplishing much.

The Opportunity Cost of a Side Hustle

The “opportunity cost” of a side hustle depends upon the resources you invest. When you dedicate yourself to anything, you lose opportunities to engage in leisure activities, spend time with family and friends, and take vacations. In essence, the opportunity cost of a side hustle equals the value you place on other aspects of life that matter most.

Also ask yourself what is the financial cost of your side hustle? You might have to invest money to purchase materials or pay for marketing. You might also give up overtime at your primary job. That’s cash that could go into savings, investments, or paying off debt.

Likewise, your time could be going into skill development for your day job, leading to promotions or raises. Plus, your employer might sponsor specific types of professional development, resulting in free training that moves your career forward and increases your salary.

Ultimately, the opportunity cost of a side hustle varies depending on individual circumstances, goals, and priorities. It’s essential to carefully consider these factors and assess how the benefits of the side hustle compare to the time and money.

Examples of Side Hustles

While there are unusual ways to make money, side hustles are typically more accessible. Here are some side hustles that match with a range of backgrounds and skill sets:

• Freelancing: Offer services such as writing, graphic design, programming, bookkeeping, and more. You’ll take projects on a contract basis with multiple clients.

• Dog Walking: Providing exercise and companionship for dogs by taking them on walks on a regular or as-needed basis.

• Blogging: Creating and maintaining a consistent feed of valuable written content on a topic you love or have expertise in. Find out how much it costs to start and run a blog.

• Non-Medical Senior Care: Assisting elderly individuals with daily tasks (shopping, bathing, housework, etc.) and providing companionship to support their wellbeing.

• Babysitting: The tried-and-true income-generator for teenagers and adults alike. You’ll care for children in the evenings and on weekends when parents are busy or need a break.

• Personal Assistant: Providing administrative support and assistance to individuals or businesses. You’ll manage schedules, run errands, and handle correspondence. You can also be a virtual assistant and provide numerous essential services (bookkeeping, arranging travel, etc.), therefore creating a side hustle from home.

• Handyman: Offering services to repair, maintain, and improve residences. You can specialize in one or more areas: plumbing, electrical work, carpentry, or general home tasks.

• Crafting: Creating handmade goods and artwork, such as jewelry, clothing, and home décor, to sell online or at craft fairs.

• Cooking/Baking: Crafting you can eat! Get to work in the kitchen to make treats, desserts, or meal kits for sale.

• Private Tutor: Providing personalized academic instruction to students in a particular subject or skill, often on a one-on-one basis.

• Self-Publishing: Writing and publishing books or other written works independently, without the involvement of traditional publishing companies. Self-publishing is inexpensive because your work will be accessible as an ebook.

• Teaching Online Courses: Creating and delivering educational courses or tutorials on a specific topic via online platforms is another side hustle from home.

• Product Tester: Testing and reviewing products or services for companies or brands, often providing feedback and insights based on personal experience.

• E-Commerce: Selling products or services online through a website or online marketplace, which may involve sourcing or creating products, managing inventory, and handling customer inquiries and orders.

When Is a Side Hustle Not Worth It?

A side hustle may not be worthwhile because of the toll on your physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. Here are more specific ways that a side hustle can negatively impact your life:

• Burnout: Working an 8-hour job and dedicating 2 to 4 additional hours per day to your side hustle leaves little room for anything else. The demands of a side hustle can result in excessive stress, fatigue, and burnout.

• Missed Career Advancements: Devoting significant time and energy to a side hustle may detract from opportunities for advancement in your primary job. They can also keep you from visualizing a sustaining career. So if you’re in a job you don’t like, a side hustle can act as a bandage instead of a cure. It’s advisable to focus on switching vocations instead of supplementing your income through another unsatisfying side job.

• Unhealthy Lifestyle Habits: A demanding side hustle may lead to poor eating choices due to lack of time for meal prep, insufficient exercise, and disrupted sleep. Over time, these habits damage physical health and overall quality of life.

• Strained Relationships: Spending excessive time on a side hustle can strain relationships with family, friends, and romantic partners. Missing significant events or quality time with loved ones due to work commitments can lead to feelings of resentment and isolation.

• Financial Costs: Some side hustles require upfront investments of time and money, for purchasing inventory or equipment, marketing expenses, or training courses. If the return on investment does not justify these costs, the side hustle may not be financially sustainable in the long run.

• Not-So-Passive Income: Many side hustles require active participation and ongoing effort to generate income, which can limit scalability and long-term earning potential. Without the ability to create passive income streams, you’ll constantly trade time for money without achieving financial freedom.

• Neglecting Personal Growth: A side hustle that consumes all available time and energy may leave little room for hobbies or other interests. Over time, this can lead to stagnation and dissatisfaction with your lifestyle.

Side Hustle Tips

A side hustle can quickly get out of hand or detract from your life if you’re not careful. Here’s how to create a practical side hustle that serves your needs:

• Start Small: When beginning a side hustle, starting with manageable tasks or projects that don’t require a significant investment of time or resources is wise. Starting small allows you to test the waters, gain experience, and assess the viability of your chosen side hustle without taking on too much risk. As you gain confidence and experience, you can gradually expand and scale your side hustle over time.

• Play to Your Strengths: Identify your special skills, interests, and areas of expertise, and leverage them in your side hustle. By focusing on activities that align with your strengths, you’re more likely to enjoy the work, excel at it, and differentiate yourself from competitors. This approach also allows you to maximize your earning potential by offering high-value services or products that cater to a specific niche or market. Remember, this doesn’t mean you must stick to your current skill set. Your interests and abilities can also lead you to pick up new skills.

• Maintain Your Performance at Work: Balancing a side hustle with a full-time job means prioritizing high performance and professionalism in your primary job while pursuing your side hustle. To that end, it’s recommended to set boundaries for the time you dedicate to your side hustle and to manage your schedule efficiently. By maintaining your performance at work, you can preserve your job security and opportunities for advancement.

• Aim at a Goal Instead of a Job: Instead of treating your side hustle as just another job, set out to achieve specific goals or milestones that align with your long-term aspirations. Whether your goal is to generate additional income, pursue a passion project, or transition to full-time entrepreneurship, having a clear vision and purpose for your side hustle will keep you motivated and focused on what truly matters to you. By focusing on goals rather than simply exchanging time for money, you can create a more fulfilling and meaningful side hustle.

The Takeaway

Side hustles can be a bad idea when they damage your quality of life. While picking up a side gig can create more income, this result must be weighed against other priorities, including advancement in your day job, time dedicated to relationships, and alternatives that slowly but surely create passive income.

Asking yourself whether a side hustle is a good move might not be the most relevant question. Instead, you can ask yourself if a second job makes sense after developing a clear vision of the future.

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FAQ

Are side hustles risky?

Side hustles can be risky because of the opportunity cost of picking up extra work. Specifically, a side hustle can drain time and financial resources, add unmanageable stress to your life, and lead to worse quality of life because of the sacrifices required to work a second job. As a result, it’s essential to evaluate your circumstances and identify your goals before starting a side hustle.

Are side hustles a waste of time?

Side hustles can be an excellent way to generate more income, develop yourself professionally, or transition to a different career. However, they can also be a waste of time if you don’t set goals and create a realistic plan when starting. So a carefully planned side hustle that fits into the larger picture of your life can provide massive benefits, while picking up more work to simply stay busy can lead to missed opportunities in your professional and personal life.

Is starting a side hustle really worth it?

Starting a side hustle can be worth it for additional income, pursuing passions, or expanding your skill set. However, it requires careful consideration of the potential drawbacks, such as time constraints, increased stress, and the risk of hindering career advancement. Ultimately, the value of a side hustle depends on your aligning it with personal goals, managing resources effectively, and maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Photo credit: iStock/JLco – Julia Amaral

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Apache is functioning normally

April 23, 2024 by Brett Tams

Piggyback, 2nds, POS Products; G-Rate’s CEO Podcast Interview; Agency News

This website requires Javascrip to run properly.

Piggyback, 2nds, POS Products; G-Rate’s CEO Podcast Interview; Agency News

By:
Rob Chrisman

Mon, Apr 22 2024, 11:28 AM

When I was a kid, whenever I would walk by a pay phone or newspaper vending machine, I’d check the coin change slot. Or periodically check under my Dad’s La-Z-Boy… every penny or dollar counted! (Nowadays, I still get excited when I find a forgotten quarter in my own pants or backpack.) Plenty of folks at last week’s Great River Conference were trying to do the modern equivalent of that by learning about the current vendor offerings of technology, or meeting with their current vendors to see if pennies or dollars could be saved on every loan given the current $12k+ cost per funded loan. Smart and compliant speed and efficiency are critical… speaking of which, found here, today’s podcast features an interview with Guaranteed Rate’s Victor Ciardelli on the company’s goal of closing a loan in one-day and how they will get there. This week’s podcasts are sponsored by Calque. With The Trade-In Mortgage powered by Calque, homeowners can buy before they sell, make non-contingent offers, and tap their home equity to fund the down payment on their next home.

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When people say they can see miles and miles on a clear day, they aren’t wrong: the horizon is about 3 miles away, with some variation depending on your height. And whatever may lie beyond, Dark Matter Technologies is helping lenders prepare with its first annual Horizon user conference. The event kicks off Wednesday at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and will bring together hundreds of industry notables to network, get the inside scoop on Dark Matter’s innovation roadmap, and explore business trends including market growth strategies, AI, and cybersecurity. Feeling a little FOMO? Request a consultation today and your team could be working smarter with the Empower LOS, and catching some Florida sun, by this time next year.

Does it feel like your current point-of-sale vendor has lost focus on mortgage? As a mortgage-specialized partner, Maxwell is committed to giving lenders a competitive advantage in a changing mortgage market. With Maxwell Point of Sale, lenders can tailor workflows to fit the unique needs of their organization, so back-end teams can work quickly without costly interruptions. Compared to a top competitor, Maxwell Point of Sale averages a 5.9 percent higher pull-through rate from rate-lock to close. For the average lender using Maxwell POS, this equates to $42MM in additional loan volume. Schedule a call with the team to learn how Maxwell Point of Sale can start working for you, your borrowers, and your lending team quickly.

Take your accounting department from “Cost Center” to Revenue Generator” with Loan Vision & LV-PAM. Loan Vision customers report a 10 percent reduction in loan fallout, 30 percent+ decrease in days to close the books, and 20 percent+ reduction in accounting headcount. Interested in learning how Loan Vision can reduce internal costs and help you gain a competitive edge? Contact Carl Wooloff to schedule a call today.

LoanStream wants you to Spring into more business with its April Specials on Prime, Non-QM and Closed End Seconds now through April 30th, 2024. Includes 25 BPS Price Improvement on FHA/VA loans 620+ FICO (excludes DPA and CalHFA) on Prime, 25 BPS price improvement on all Non-QM loans (excludes Select) and 25 BPS Price Improvement on all Closed-End Seconds. Restrictions apply so contact your LoanStream Account Executive to learn more. Specials are valid for loans locked 4/1/2024 through 4/30/2024. Offers subject to change at any time, terms and conditions apply.

Symmetry Lending introduces its April Special for Piggyback Pricing! Enjoy a remarkable discount on Piggyback HELOC transactions until April’s end, including a -1.00 percent Spring Discount for qualified customers with a FICO score of 740+ and a draw of $200k+, equating to Prime + .25 percent margin. This offer demonstrates appreciation for clients’ support and trust. Ready to seize this opportunity? Connect with your Symmetry Lending Area Manager to formulate a plan for getting these solutions in front of your clients today!

eClosing Survey by STRATMOR

Today, Snapdocs released new industry research that found lenders using the company’s eClosing platform experience 18-day faster loan velocity than their industry peers. The survey was conducted by STRATMOR Group with data self-reported by mortgage lenders. I got a note from Michael Sachdev, CEO of Snapdocs that said eClosing technology, when paired with the right partner to scale adoption, is helping lenders set new industry benchmarks for loan processing speed, operating costs, and borrower satisfaction. So often we see vendors make claims about their product value, but this report is a good example of that validation being sourced directly from the lender users themselves.

Agency and Investor News

Last week, the Department of Housing and Urban Development issued a HUD final rule that it says will increase lender participation in the Section 184 Indian Housing Loan Guarantee program, strengthen regulations to meet growing demand, and ensure the program will remain a vital resource for Native American families for years to come. Miki Adams, president of CBC Mortgage Agency, a correspondent investor that is wholly owned by the Cedar Band of Paiutes in Utah, stated, “The Section 184 program is a vital tool for so many Native American homebuyers. The new regulations will bring more clarity and predictability to this important program, and we applaud the Administration for the improvements and their efforts to work closely with Tribal leaders and other stakeholders. There is still more that must be done to modernize the program and we look forward to working collaboratively with HUD on future improvements.”

Loss mitigation: what would you do? A borrower is out of work, is three months delinquent on their mortgage payments, has been offered a new job in another state, and will relocate within 60 days. They’re also unable to catch up on their arrears and have equity in the home. What should the servicer do? Review this and other scenarios from Fannie Mae’s March Loss Mitigation webinar and download the presentation.

Fannie Mae has launched “Mission Index,” a new initiative to sell agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that cater to socially conscious investors, aiming to attract more buyers to the market, Bloomberg reported. Fannie Mae assigns scores to MBS pools based on affordable rental housing availability, borrower location (high-poverty or rural areas), and other indicators, giving investors more visibility into the underlying mortgages and stimulate lending to underserved borrowers, potentially leading to lower interest rates for these borrowers.

Saving for a down payment is a barrier first-time homebuyers face. While there are numerous down payment assistance programs (DPA) available, it can be difficult for housing professionals to find programs that meet the specific needs of their borrower. Given the number of DPA programs in the market, there hasn’t been a consistent way to match the right DPA program to the needs of a particular borrower. To address this issue, Freddie Mac launched DPA One®, a free online solution to help DPA program providers reduce submission errors and program requirement questions from lenders by developing a single, standardized, online access point to manage their DPA program information. To learn more, read Freddie Mac’s case study about how one of Freddie Mac’s housing finance agency partners, Southeast Texas Housing Finance Corporation (SETH), is promoting affordable housing in the Southeast Texas community.

As part of a recent Fannie Mae Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey® (MLSS) special topic analysis, Fannie’s economists surveyed senior executives of mortgage lending institutions to better understand how they feel about Technology Service Provider (TSP) solutions, particularly as TSPs have become an increasingly essential part of lenders’ day to day operations. The results are in a new Perspectives blog.

Ginnie Mae announced revisions to its monthly single-family reporting requirements to include expanded Payment Default Status (PDS) reporting. The expanded PDS dataset will include loan default information, any mitigation actions taken, and the timing of those actions. For more information regarding the transition to the new reporting requirements, see All Participants Memorandum (APM) 24-06.

In Bulletin 2024-1, Freddie Mac announced changes to trust income requirements pertaining to history of receipt for trust income with pre-determined fixed payments, and documentation of continuance for all trust income types. Pennymac is aligning with these changes effective with loan deliveries on or after April 30, 2024. View Pennymac Announcement 24-36 for details.

Pennymac posted Announcement 24-37 informing it will update Conventional LLPAs effective for all Best Efforts Commitments taken on or after Monday, April 22, 2024.

Capital Markets

Investor attitudes drive investor demand, and therefore rates. So, what is driving investor attitudes? There is the escalated geopolitical uncertainty between Iran and Israel (central bankers are girding for potential oil shocks that could reignite consumer-price growth), there is rising volatility amidst fear of a potential rate increase due to sticky inflation (voting Fed members have not ruled out the possibility of a future rate hike and have urged patience for any potential easing at least until year-end), there is also cautious optimism surrounding the world economy (earnings season continues on Wall Street this week), and new economic releases are always on the docket, even if most are backward-looking (Q1 GDP, due out later this week, is expected to have risen to 2.9 percent as of the most recent estimate).

More germane to the mortgage industry, we learned last week that existing home sales were down 4.3 percent during the month of March. Meanwhile, housing starts fell 14.7 percent in March although some of the decline was attributed to weather conditions in parts of the country. In terms of the American consumer, retail sales in March rose 0.7 percent which was well above market expectations for a 0.3 percent increase. Additionally, retail sales from February were revised higher from the initial release. The 1.1 percent jump in control group sales led some economists to increase their forecast for personal consumption growth in the first quarter.

Bank economists are growing more optimistic about the outlook for credit conditions compared to the latter half of 2023, according to the American Bankers Association’s latest Credit Conditions Index. Conditions are expected to improve for a second consecutive quarter in Q2, which would mark the highest level in two years, reflecting a moderate increase in optimism. Job growth is expected to continue, inflation is forecasted to ease toward the Fed’s 2 percent target, and three rate cuts are expected by the end of the year.

This week’s highlights include month-end supply consisting of $183 billion in fixed coupons and $44 billion 2-year FRNs auctioned over tomorrow through Thursday, flash PMIs from S&P Global, new home sales, Fed surveys, durable goods, Q1 GDP, PCE, and Michigan Sentiment. No Fed speakers are scheduled with the Fed in blackout ahead of the May 1/2 FOMC meeting. The week gets off to a quiet start with one data point, Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March, due out later this morning. We start Monday with 30-year Agency MBS prices worse roughly .125 from Friday evening and the 10-year yielding 4.65 after closing last week at 4.62 percent.

Employment

radius financial group inc. is looking for an experienced Accounting Manager to lead all accounting operations. radius is a full-service retail mortgage banker that has been making mortgages better through a customer obsessed and team inspired culture since 1999. We are seeking an experienced Accounting Manager to lead all loan accounting, financial reporting, accounts payable and payroll functions. The Accounting Manager will report to the CFO and must have experience in a mortgage accounting system (Loan Vision is a plus), branch reporting and MSR accounting. Remote candidates will be considered and should send confidential inquires to Mike Clark.

Imagine a world where you, as a loan officer, aren’t stuck choosing between a broker model and a retail model. What if there was a company that blended the best of both worlds: the transparency of a broker model with the solid support of a retail banking platform? What if this company not only generated qualified local leads for you but also helped you add value for your existing realtor partners and connect with new ones? What if I told you this company is not just a dream: It’s real and it’s here to revolutionize your workflow. Please schedule a confidential Zoom meeting with Next Wave Mortgage.

TAYGO INC. presents an enticing new opportunity for a SaaS Sales Representative! This pivotal role is instrumental in propelling the success of TAYGO through selling our SaaS solutions to prospective clients. The key focus is comprehending the requirements and challenges of mortgage lenders (as well as mortgage brokers) and adeptly showcasing how our products, WEB-GO and RIN-GO, can optimize their operations and business performance. You must have a strong understanding of CRM products, their features, and the mortgage industry. You must effectively engage with prospects to understand their needs. You must also carefully monitor existing clients’ activities to identify upsell opportunities. You must have exceptional communication skills for online demos and meetings, cold or warm calls and emails. Your expertise, patience, and ability to build and maintain strong customer relationships will be vital in achieving our sales goals and ensuring customer satisfaction. Please send your resume to [email protected].

Alanna McCargo, President of the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and whom I have had the opportunity to spend some time with, will resign from public office, effective May 3. “McCargo has served in the Biden-Harris Administration since January 2021, first as the Senior Advisor for Housing Finance in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for former Secretary Marcia Fudge and then later nominated by President Biden to lead Ginnie Mae. McCargo’s confirmation, with bipartisan support by the U.S. Senate, made history as she became the first woman and woman of color at the helm of this U.S. Government corporation.”

The announcement came with the usual platitudes from Ms. McCargo about the Administration and Ginnie Mae and its “complex $2.5 trillion guarantee business” as well as others saying some very nice things about her.

Principal Executive Vice President (PEVP) Sam Valverde will serve as the Acting President upon President McCargo’s departure. Senior Advisor for Strategic Operations and Interim Chief Operating Officer Laura Kenney will assume additional responsibilities as part of this transition.

Download our mobile app to get alerts for Rob Chrisman’s Commentary.

Source: mortgagenewsdaily.com

Apache is functioning normally

April 23, 2024 by Brett Tams

Want to learn how to make $5,000 fast? Whether you’re in a rush to meet a financial goal this week or aiming for a steady income of $5,000 per month, there are several ways to make it happen. You’ll find different options, from short-term jobs that pay a lot at once to long-term ideas that…

Want to learn how to make $5,000 fast?

Whether you’re in a rush to meet a financial goal this week or aiming for a steady income of $5,000 per month, there are several ways to make it happen.

You’ll find different options, from short-term jobs that pay a lot at once to long-term ideas that bring in money regularly. And, sometimes, combining a few methods can help you reach $5,000 faster.

If you’re looking to make $5,000 fast, you’re not alone. Many people need a big amount of money quickly – for unexpected costs, important purchases, just to save up, or simply to make a stable amount of money regularly.

Best Ways To Make $5,000 Fast

Below is how you can make $5,000 fast.

1. Flip items for resale

If you want to learn how to make $5,000 without a job, then one way may be to flip items for resale.

Flipping items for resale means you buy things at a low price and sell them for more. This could be handmade goods, vintage items (like old games, cameras, clothing, etc.), furniture, sports equipment, appliances, and more.

Look for undervalued items at flea markets, garage sales, yard sales, and thrift stores, and then sell them for a profit. This job involves having an eye to spot valuable items that you think can be resold at a higher price.

You can resell items on eBay, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and more.

I have flipped many, many items for resale over the years, and I think it’s a great way to work from home and make money on your own schedule.

Recommended reading: How Melissa Made $40,000 In One Year Flipping Items

2. Freelance online work

Making $5,000 a month from home is possible by becoming a freelancer.

Freelancers are people who run their own businesses and provide services to other businesses or clients on a contract basis. As a freelancer, you might be hired for onetime projects by businesses or you could secure long-term contract work with a company.

Online freelancing jobs include:

And more.

You can find freelance gigs through networking, reaching out to possible clients through email or phone, creating a freelance listing on Fiverr, searching for gigs on Upwork, and more.

I have personally been a freelancer for years (mainly freelance writing, and, in the past, I have also done freelance social media management), and it’s a great way to earn income while still being your own boss with a flexible schedule.

Recommended reading: 16 Best Freelance Jobs & How To Get Started

This free 76-minute workshop answers all of the most common questions about how to become a proofreader, and even talks about the 5 signs that proofreading could be a perfect fit for you.

3. Pet sit and dog walk

Rover is a website that connects pet owners with pet sitters and dog walkers. You can work this job on weekends all year round or choose to be available only during the summer months – it’s flexible and up to you.

Getting started on Rover is simple. You create a profile highlighting your experience with pets and the services you offer, such as dog walking, pet sitting, and house sitting.

After setting up your profile, customers will send you requests, and you can discuss pricing with them. Rover handles payment processing, and you’ll receive payments directly into your account.

I have two close family members who are professional dog walkers, and they both love this side hustle.

Recommended reading: 7 Best Dog Walking Apps To Make Extra Money

4. Short-term rental your home

If you have a spare room in your home that you’re not using, you may want to try renting it out either on a short-term basis through Airbnb or Vrbo or by finding a long-term roommate to make extra cash.

I’ve rented out rooms multiple times before to roommates, and it’s a great way to earn extra income from unused space.

Recommended reading: What You Need To Know About Renting A Room In Your House

5. Deliver food

If you’re looking to make $5,000, finding a food delivery driving gig is a good option.

With companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Instacart, you can start earning money by bringing people their favorite food. It’s flexible too, so you decide when you work and for how long.

Delivery services like Instacart hire personal grocery shoppers, and the average shopper earns $15 to $20 per hour delivering groceries. Drivers are paid per order, and you keep 100% of your tips. You can also pick your own schedule, which means teachers can work in the evenings or weekends, or only during the summer if they prefer.

6. Sell high-value items

If you’re looking to make a quick $5,000, selling high-value items can be a smart move. Take a look around your home; you might have things you don’t need that others are willing to buy for a good price.

You could sell an old cell phone, laptop, camera, designer clothes, your car, and more.

There are many different buyers for high-value items – from people like you and me on Facebook, to pawn shops, eBay, and more.

7. Tutor

Tutors who specialize in subjects such as math, language, science, graphic design, and more help students improve in those areas.

And, some tutors can make money rather quickly, such as one who specializes in college courses or high-level exams.

Becoming an online tutor depends on the subject you want to teach. Experience in the field is usually required, but there are opportunities for beginners as well. Tutors who teach advanced subjects like calculus or college entrance exams generally earn more than those teaching simpler topics.

Tutoring rates can range from $15 to over $100 per hour, depending on the subject and where you sell your tutoring services.

8. Stock photo photography

Stock image websites are popular platforms where photographers can sell their pictures. Customers can buy royalty-free photos for personal or business use, and these images are commonly used in websites, TV shows, books, social media, and more.

One advantage of using stock photo sites is that they can generate passive income. You can take pictures, upload them, and potentially earn money from them for months or even years. You’ll earn a commission every time someone downloads your photos.

Some well-known stock photo websites include Shutterstock, iStock by Getty Images, Adobe Stock, and Dreamstime.

In the world of stock photography, quality is important, but quantity matters too. The more pictures you have in your stock photo portfolio, the more potential you have to earn money.

Recommended reading: 18 Ways You Can Get Paid To Take Pictures

9. Sell an online course

Creating and selling an online course can be a great way to make money quickly, especially if you have knowledge or skills in a high-demand area.

If you have expertise in a certain subject, you can create and sell an online course. Platforms like Teachable and Udemy allow you to develop, host, and sell your course to students. While you may not earn $1,000 immediately, having students enroll over time can generate a substantial income.

I have an online course that I personally sell, Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I have also taken many online courses, such as on helping my toddler get better sleep, speech therapy for parents, business courses, blogging courses, and so much more.

There are many different subjects you can teach in an online course, including:

Painting
Music lessons
Exercise
Parenting
Languages
Photography and photo editing
Plants and gardening
Baking and cooking
Arts and crafts

10. Rent out your unused storage space

Just like Airbnb transformed the way you can earn money from your spare room, peer-to-peer storage platforms are doing the same for your unused spaces.

If you have extra space at home, consider renting it out to local people for storage. This could be a garage, driveway, closet, basement, or attic.

While making $1,000 in a single day from this may be challenging, renting out your space can provide a steady, long-term income when combined with other income sources.

You can use a website like Neighbor to list your available space for rent, potentially earning up to $15,000 per year.

11. Sell your jewelry

If you need to learn how to make $5,000 dollars in a day, then one option is to sell any expensive jewelry that you may have.

If you’ve got jewelry you no longer wear, selling it can be a quick way to earn some cash. You might have pieces like engagement rings, necklaces, or bracelets tucked away.

Recommended reading: Where To Sell Jewelry: 12 Best Places For Extra Money

12. Flip real estate

Flipping real estate means buying homes that need fixing, making improvements, and selling them for a profit. This can be a way to make $5,000 (and well over that if you are smart and careful!).

To do this type of real estate investment successfully, you may start by focusing on making cost-effective improvements, especially in areas like the kitchen and bathrooms, and address any major structural or safety issues.

Recommended reading: 23 Best Real Estate Side Hustles To Make Extra Money

14. Sell printables

If you’re looking to make $5,000 online, selling printables is an option.

Printables are digital files that customers can download and print at home, such as grocery shopping checklists, monthly budget planners, wedding invitations, wall art, and more.

I buy printables all the time, and actively search them out at least a few times a month. And, I’m not alone – many people buy printables frequently as well!

I recommend signing up for the Free Workshop: How To Earn Money Selling Printables. This free training will give you great ideas on what you can sell, how to get started, the costs, and how to make sales.

Do you want to make money selling printables online? This free training will give you great ideas on what you can sell, how to get started, the costs, and how to make sales.

15. Help businesses with their Facebook ads

Managing Facebook ads for local businesses is an online job where you can earn at least $1,000 per month per client.

Local businesses want to expand their audience through Facebook ads, but many don’t have the expertise to do it effectively. That’s where you come in. By learning this skill, you can sell your services to small businesses and help them reach more customers online.

Plus, this can be a part-time job that you do in your spare time or even a full-time job.

16. Write an ebook

Creating your own ebook can be a way to earn money online, and you likely have knowledge to share (even if you don’t realize it!) or a good story to write about.

Platforms like Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) allow you to reach a wide audience without a traditional publisher.

Examples of genres you can write in include romance, travel, self-help, sci-fi, and more.

17. Blog

If you want to learn how to make $5,000 from home, then one of my favorite ways is to start a blog.

Now, starting a blog doesn’t instantly make you $5,000 because it takes time to set it up. However, with time and effort, some bloggers can make $5,000 a month in the future.

A blog is a website filled with articles, similar to what you’re reading now. You can start a blog on various topics like personal finance, recipes, travel, pet care, family life, and more.

You can earn money from a blog by partnering with companies for sponsorships, displaying ads, engaging in affiliate marketing (like promoting products on Amazon), and selling items such as ebooks, candles, T-shirts, and other products directly through your blog.

Blogging is my primary source of income, and I make well over $5,000 a month online. It took about six months to earn my first $100 from my blog, so getting started requires some patience. It then took me about a year to reach a monthly income of around $5,000 from blogging.

You can learn how to start a blog with my free How To Start a Blog Course (sign up by clicking here).

Want to see how I built a $5,000,000 blog?

In this free course, I show you how to create a blog, from the technical side to earning your first income and attracting readers.

18. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a way to earn money by promoting products or services online, and it’s one of my favorite ways to make $5,000 (or more) fast online.

Affiliate marketing is when someone buys a product through a referral link you share, and you earn a commission.

To start, you will want to find products you genuinely like and believe others will benefit from. Then, sign up for their affiliate program, which will provide you with a unique affiliate link. This link tracks the clicks and purchases made from your recommendation.

Recommended reading: Affiliate Marketing Tips For Bloggers – Free eBook

19. Sell on Amazon

Starting your own Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) business can be a great way to make $5,000 fast.

You can sell items from household goods to clothes, games, electronics, and more.

Selling on Amazon FBA works by you sending the items you want to sell to an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. Amazon stores these items for you until they sell on their platform.

When an item sells, Amazon handles the shipping and sends it directly to the customer. This means you don’t have to worry about packing and shipping the sold items yourself.

Recommended reading: How To Sell Items On Amazon FBA

20. Start a YouTube channel

Creating content for your own YouTube channel can be a fun way to work toward making $5,000 fast.

You can create a YouTube channel about topics such as finance, home improvement, travel, toys, pets, and more. There’s a YouTube channel for almost every interest these days.

Like blogging, this isn’t a guarantee that you’ll make money, and it will definitely take time to reach $5,000. But, it can be a lot of fun, and you get to be your own boss.

21. Buy a business that already makes income

Buying a business that’s already bringing in money is a way to possibly skip the tough start-up phase and have a business that is making over $5,000.

Now, existing businesses are typically expensive – someone has done a lot of hard work building a business over years and years, after all. They can cost anywhere from a few thousand to millions or even billions of dollars.

You can start by looking at online marketplaces like BizBuySell or Flippa. They list all kinds of businesses for sale, and you’ll see lots of options from online sites (like retail stores and blogs) to local shops (like bike shops, clothing stores, toy stores, and laundromats).

An example – I was recently in a small local bike shop, and they told me that it was for sale. They earned around $20,000 a month (I’m not sure if that was before or after expenses or anything else), and their shop was for sale for around $500,000. You got all the bikes, parts, customers, etc. with the sale. The building wasn’t owned by them, they had monthly rent and other bills to pay. I’m not going to say if this was a good or bad deal – it’s just an example of a real business that is for sale that I recently came across.

22. Consulting

Consulting is when you provide expert advice to individuals or businesses facing challenges. Consultants use their knowledge to understand problems, give advice, and help clients make better decisions from an outside perspective.

Consultants work in fields like management, finance, technology, or marketing. They focus on areas like strategy, process improvement, or restructuring to help clients achieve their goals effectively.

Here’s an example of how a consulting gig works: A company is struggling with managing its products and deliveries. They bring in a consultant who knows a lot about solving these issues. First, the consultant looks at how things are currently done. Then, they suggest better ways to store and ship items. The consultant helps put these ideas into action and teaches the company’s team how to use the new methods. Even after the changes, the consultant keeps an eye on things to make sure everything works well. This helps the company save money and makes sure that customers get what they need on time.

23. Detail cars

Starting a mobile car detailing business can be a way to earn money quickly. After all, you don’t need a lot to get started, and people are always wanting a good detailer to clean their car.

You’ll want to start by getting quality cleaning supplies like car shampoo, wax, and microfiber towels. You can then set fair prices based on what others charge nearby and promote your services on social media and with local businesses.

24. Rideshare driving gigs

Driving for a ride-sharing service like Uber or Lyft can be a way to reach your $5,000 goal quickly.

Here’s how you can work toward earning $5,000 with Uber or Lyft:

Drive during peak hours when demand is high, such as weekend nights, rush hours, or during busy events in your city.
Maximize your earnings by strategically positioning yourself in high-demand areas where there are plenty of potential riders, like near popular restaurants, bars, or events.
Take advantage of Uber’s driver bonuses, which may include incentives for completing a certain number of rides or driving during specific times. For example, you might earn an extra $10 for completing three rides in a row during rush hour.

While you won’t make $5,000 in one day, driving for a ride-sharing service can be a flexible way to earn money and work toward reaching your financial goal over time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Below are answers to common questions about how to make $5,000 fast.

What are some ways to earn an extra $5,000 quickly?

If you need to make an extra $5,000 quickly, then selling expensive items that you already own is usually the fastest thing that I recommend doing. This is because you may have expensive things in your home already – like jewelry or electronics – that you can sell and get paid for within just a few days.

Can I make $5,000 in a single day and how?

Making $5,000 in a single day is hard but not impossible. It may require a combination of having high-value items to sell or landing a big client for your freelance business. It’s about making the right move at the right time with the resources you have.

How can I double $5,000 dollars?

There are many ways to double $5,000 dollars, but it will depend on how much time you have to double your money, as well as how much risk you want to take on. Some ways will be much more risky than others, such as by investing in stocks or real estate. Due to this, it’s important to research and consider your risk tolerance before investing your money.

How can I make $5,000 in a month?

Ways to make $5,000 in a month can include freelance writing, blogging, proofreading, bookkeeping, and more.

How to make $5,000 fast without a job?

If you want to make $5,000 fast but not get a job, then the fastest thing to do is typically to sell items around your home that you already have, such as jewelry or electronics. You can also combine a bunch of different side hustles, such as freelancing, selling stuff, running a business, flipping real estate, and even small things like taking online surveys (like Survey Junkie for free gift cards).

How to make $5,000 a day online?

Some ways to make $5,000 a day online may include selling courses or other digital products. Now, this will not be an easy thing to do, and it will require a lot of hard work (as well as some luck).

How To Make $5,000 Fast – Summary

I hope you enjoyed this article on how to make $5,000 fast.

As you read above, there are many different ways to make $5,000. Some are faster than others (such as selling expensive items that you already own), and others may be more of a full-time career (such as freelance proofreading).

What do you want to do to make $5,000 fast?

Recommended reading:

Source: makingsenseofcents.com

Apache is functioning normally

April 23, 2024 by Brett Tams

Whether you’re decorating on a budget, trying to be a little more conscious of your consumption, or simply love the thrill of hunting for those amazing, one-of-a-kind finds, thrift-store shopping can be a fun and smart way to create a signature aesthetic for your home. In addition to saving money by thrifting, you can also feel good about keeping items from ending up in a landfill by giving them a second life as part of your decor. But how do you get the best deals, what kinds of pieces should you hunt for and how can you style them without your own home looking like a thrift store? We did some digging to find out.

Looking for striking home decor? This is where pros shop in Dallas-Fort Worth

The difference between thrift stores and consignment shops

Consignment and antique shops are great, but they tend to be pricier because their collections are curated. These stores do all the hunting down and fixing up for you, and that service is offset via higher price tags. While consignment shops are more likely to have highly sought after antiques from pedigreed brands, you can still certainly find hidden gems at nearly any thrift store — you just may have to put in more effort to find what you’re looking for. Balance the odds of what you want being there with the price range you’re willing to pay when deciding where to shop.

Getting what you need while giving back to the community

Many of your favorite causes run thrift shops to help fund their programs and services. Prime Thrift near Fair Park benefits American Veterans (AMVETS), Disabled American Veterans (DAV) and other local and national charitable organizations, while Out of the Closet in Oak Lawn benefits the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Genesis Women’s Shelter, a nonprofit that provides safety, shelter and support for women and children who have experienced domestic violence, operates two thrift stores: one in Oak Lawn and another in South Oak Cliff. There are four Soul’s Harbor locations throughout the metroplex, with proceeds going toward its programs to help men break the cycle of homelessness and addiction. Some of these shops even have exclusive relationships with estate liquidators, increasing your chances of finding treasures among their wares.

If you’re looking for a bit more than just decor, check out your local ReStore, which benefits Habitat for Humanity. There, you can find actual building materials, such as tile, cabinets, wood flooring, windows, doors or even vintage brick. In addition to these, they also have plenty of new and vintage home furnishings, large appliances and more. With 10 locations across D-FW, it’s a convenient alternative to big-box stores when shopping for your next home design project.

Choose your shopping days wisely

For donation-based thrift stores, Mondays and Tuesdays are typically the best days to shop, because most people tend to drop off items early in the week after spending the weekend cleaning. Signing up for emails is a great way to stay on top of the latest finds and deals, but there’s just no substitute for going in regularly. It works the same with searching online, whether it’s eBay, Craigslist, or Facebook Marketplace. “I’m a huge fan of Facebook Marketplace” says Whitney Marsh, an interior designer and business owner who furnished her Oak Cliff coffee shop, B-Side, with thrifted finds. “I also really love Souls Harbor in Waxahachie,” Marsh notes.

Whitney Marsh, an interior designer and business owner, furnished her Oak Cliff coffee shop B-Side with thrifted finds, including this handmade tile she found for less than $100.(Whitney Marsh)

Have a strategy before you start shopping

There are two ways to go about hunting vintage pieces. Either have a piece or project in mind and know what you want to pay for it, or be able to spot a good deal. This can involve researching brands, pieces, and eras to be able to find your ideal mix of quality pieces that aren’t in demand. Marsh says that’s her strategy. “I know what I like, and I also know what brands are known for quality goods,” she explains. “I definitely have a style. I’m drawn toward leather furniture, solid wood, wool rugs and unique art.”

Marsh created this seating area using chairs thrifted from Soul’s Harbor and a unique brass ship she found through Facebook marketplace.(Whitney Marsh)

For example, you may love midcentury modern (MCM) pieces, but the popularity of decor from that era means there’s more demand, and unscrupulous sellers may assign that label to random items in order to get them to sell. You may find more success by researching some favorite brands or designers from the MCM era and looking for those specifically to avoid fake listings and inflated prices. Be aware that people will list items online with a famous brand name keyword to get more hits, such as saying a “Pottery Barn-style” rug or “MCM-style lamp.” If you’re shopping in person, don’t be afraid to ask the store’s staff about an item you’re looking for; they may have something similar that just hasn’t been put out yet. Or, they might be willing to take down your name and keep an eye out for items on your list — especially if you’re a regular customer.

Simple design rules to consider

In this area Marsh designed for a client, she paired a thrifted console with a modern lamp and abstract art to create balance.(Whitney Marsh)

Once you’ve found that unique piece you’ve been searching for, how do you style it? Thrifted pieces bring character into a space, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing, says Marsh. “I like to pair thrifted pieces with more high-end textiles. I love an old leather sofa that’s worn in against a very bold luxury wallpaper.” If you buy a well-worn piece and want to play up that lived-in aesthetic, try to surround it with items that are clean and modern. Too much rusticity can end up looking like neglect. Same goes for smaller items, such as pots, frames or books — space them out in designed vignettes throughout your home instead of clustering them all together. Also, keep in mind that pairing thrifted furniture is easier when they share some similar elements. For example, mismatched nightstands look more cohesive if they are roughly the same size and color.

Thrifting can be a way to save big, depending on when and where you shop, and what you’re looking for. “I definitely shop with a specific corner or space in mind. I also really only pull the trigger on things that seem like they’re good quality and the right price,” says Marsh. But if you’re patient, persistent and know what you want and what you’re willing to pay for it, it’s just a matter of time before you find it.

Source: dallasnews.com

Apache is functioning normally

April 23, 2024 by Brett Tams

Hey, I’ve just been featured on CNBC and I want to say hello to all of my new readers. You can read the CNBC article here – I made $40,000 a month from 3 income streams during a 4-month cruise around the world—here’s how If you are a new visitor – welcome to Making Sense…

Hey,

I’ve just been featured on CNBC and I want to say hello to all of my new readers.

You can read the CNBC article here – I made $40,000 a month from 3 income streams during a 4-month cruise around the world—here’s how

If you are a new visitor – welcome to Making Sense of Cents!

I have received many emails about how I was able to afford this trip. I have a free How To Start A Blog course that you can sign up for here. I also talk about this below and how I’ve been able to earn over $5,000,000 blogging over the years.

If you want to read more about my world cruise trip, I recommend reading Around-The-World Cruise With A Kid (25+ Countries In 4 Months!).

Here are some blog posts that you may find helpful and enjoy:

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below or send me an email.

Thanks for stopping by.

-Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

—-

In addition to reading the CNBC article linked above, I also want to talk about how I grew a blog that has earned me over $5,000,000. I know I will get a lot of questions, so I figured it’s best to lay it all out right here 🙂

What started as just a hobby turned into one of the most life-changing things I’ve ever done – that’s starting my blog, and learning how to make money with it.

Since learning how to monetize a blog over 10 years ago, I have now earned over $5,000,000 from my site. This is still hard for me to believe, and I’m the one who’s lived it!

In the beginning, all I was doing was tracking my own personal finance progress as I finished school and started paying off my student loans. Blogging was a very new concept to me at the time – I heard about it from a magazine – and people were just learning how to monetize blogs back in 2011.

Most bloggers started back then with display ads and sponsored posts, but the options have only increased.

Because of all of the new ways to make money blogging, like affiliate income and selling your own products, you can make somewhat passive income as a blogger.

Passive income is my favorite way to make money because it makes blogging even more flexible and something I can do as I work from home, travel, and work whenever I want.

Blogging has changed my life for the better, and I’m now earning thousands of dollars a month doing something I love.

Learning how to monetize a blog takes work and time, but it’s 100% possible to do. I started earning money after just six months of blogging, and I didn’t even set out to make money when I created Making Sense of Cents. Just think of the potential if you start out knowing that making money blogging is possible!

Starting my blog is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my work, personal, and financial life. And, I urge anyone who is interested to start a blog and learn how to monetize it.

How I earned my first income from blogging

Many of my readers have heard this story, but I love sharing it because I started out like many of you, except I had no idea that blogs could make money. When I started Making Sense in August of 2011, I simply wanted a way to keep track of my financial progress and meet others who had similar goals.

As I started getting to know other bloggers in the community, a blogger friend of mine connected me with an advertiser who was willing to pay me $100 for an advertisement.

I couldn’t believe someone would pay me $100 to advertise on my site!

While it wasn’t a lot of money, especially considering the amount of time and work I put towards my blog in those 6 months, it was very motivating to see that something I loved doing could actually make money.

After that first $100, I started doing a lot of research on how to monetize a blog, and my blogging income quickly grew from there.

One year after I started my blog, I was earning around $1,000 a month, and I was making around $10,000 monthly two years after I started Making Sense of Cents.

My income only continued to grow, and I am still earning a healthy income from this website today.

How To Start A Blog FREE Course

If you want to learn how to monetize a blog and you haven’t started your blog, then I recommend starting with my free blogging course How To Start A Blog FREE Course.

Here’s a quick outline of what you will learn in this free course:

Day 1: Reasons you should start a blog
Day 2: How to determine what to blog about
Day 3: How to create your blog – in this lesson, you will learn how to start a blog on WordPress, and my tutorial makes it very easy to start a blog
Day 4: How to monetize a blog – this is where you learn about the many different ways to make money blogging!
Day 5: My tips for earning passive income from your blog
Day 6: How to grow your traffic and followers
Day 7: Miscellaneous blogging tips that will help you be successful

This is delivered directly to your email inbox, and you will learn how to grow a blog from scratch.

Start with a plan for your blog

Sure, you can start on a whim, and that’s kind of what I did, haha.

But, I do think that creating a plan is a good idea if you want to learn how to monetize a blog. This can help you get an organized start, identify your blog’s niche, decide on your blogging goals, find opportunities for blogging income, and more.

It wasn’t until 2015 that I finally created a blogging plan (that’s 4 years after I started!), and my blog income grew significantly after that.

I credit that growth to creating a plan!

Having a plan would have been a huge help in the beginning, and I wish I would have started with one. I probably missed some income opportunities because I had no real plan or direction in the first couple of years.

Since creating a blogging plan, I became more focused on goals and motivated toward improving and building Making Sense of Cents.

Here are some questions that you may want to ask yourself when creating a plan for your blog:

What will you write about on your blog?
How do you want to make money with your blog?
What will you do to reach readers on your blog?
What are your goals for your blog?

Thinking about, researching, and answering these questions will help guide you on your journey and help you decide what to do next.

Write high-quality and engaging blog posts

Your blog’s content is extremely important. This will be what attracts your readers, has them coming back for more, earns you blogging income, and more.

Now, you don’t need to be an expert or need a degree to start talking about a subject, but you do need to be knowledgeable or interested in what you are talking about. And, always be truthful! This will show in your writing and actually help your readers.

To write high-quality content on your blog, here are some tips:

Figure out exactly what it is that you’d like to write about and why you think the content is important. Being passionate about a subject will give you the motivation to write content that people want to read. Just think about it: If you don’t enjoy writing your content, then why should you expect someone else to want to read it?
Ask your audience what they want you to write about. Many of my best ideas come from expanding on reader questions.
Research your blog topics by reading news articles, going to a library, searching for statistics and interesting facts, and more.
If your blog posts are more personal in nature, then dig deep and share your thoughts, and be personable in your writing – your readers want to hear your story!
Write long, helpful content. Sure, some great content may only be a few hundred words, but to be as helpful as possible, long content is usually the best. My content is usually over 2,000 words, and this article is around 5,000. Now, you don’t want to just write a lot of fluff content in order to get more words in – you want to actually be helpful!
Reread your content. I used to read my content 10 times or more before I would publish it. Now, I have an editor who makes sure I’m always publishing high-quality content.

Network, network, network

If you want to learn how to monetize a blog, then networking can be extremely helpful.

Networking can mean:

Making friends with other bloggers
Attending blogging conferences
Sharing content that other bloggers have written
Following other bloggers in your niche on social media
Signing up for other bloggers’ newsletters
Joining blogging groups on Facebook

Some bloggers don’t do any of these things and purely see other bloggers as competition. I don’t believe this is the correct way to approach blogging because you will hold yourself back immensely!

Networking is important because it can help you enjoy blogging (friends are nice to have, right?!), teach you new ideas (such as how to make money blogging or how to grow a blog), make valuable connections, and more.

Keep in mind that networking is even how I earned my very first $100 blogging. My blogging friend connected me with an advertiser, which helped changed my blogging journey.

I have learned a lot about blogging from the blogging community, and the people I’ve connected with have been a tremendous support as I’ve grown my blog.

Be prepared to put in a lot of hard work

Starting a blog is relatively easy. But, growing and learning how to monetize a blog takes a lot of work.

You’ll have to:

Start a blog, design it, create social media accounts, and more
Write high-quality blog posts
Attract an audience of readers
Monetize your blog
Continue learning about blogging
And more

Even when I was just a new blogger and had no plans of making money blogging, I was still spending well over 10 hours a week on Making Sense of Cents.

When I was working my full-time day job and earning an income from my blog, I was working around 40-50 hours a week on my blog on top of my day job!

Now that I blog full-time, my hours vary. Some months I hardly work, and there are other months that I may work 100 hours a week.

It’s not easy, and there’s always something that needs to be done.

But, I absolutely love blogging, which makes the hard work a little less tough.

How to monetize a blog: 4 different ways

There are many different ways you can monetize your blog, including:

Affiliate marketing
Advertisements and sponsorships
Display advertising
Create your own product, such as an ebook, course, physical or online products, and more

You could choose to monetize your blog using all of these methods, or even just one. It’s just a personal decision.

For me, I like to be diversified and monetize in many ways, so I do them all.

Below, I am going to dive a little deeper into each way to make money blogging.

1. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing can be a great way to make money blogging because if there is a product or company that you enjoy, all you have to do is review the product and share a unique affiliate link where your readers can sign up or make a purchase.

In fact, this is my favorite way to monetize a blog. I enjoy it because it can be quite passive – I can create just one blog post and potentially earn an income from it years later. This is because even though a blog post may be older, I am still constantly driving traffic to it and readers are still purchasing through my affiliate links.

Affiliate marketing is a blog monetization method where you share a link to a product or company with your readers in an attempt to make an income from followers purchasing the product through your link.

Here are some quick tips so that you can make affiliate income on your blog:

Use the Pretty Link plugin to clean up messy-looking affiliate links. I use this for nearly all of my affiliate links because something like “makingsenseofcents.com/bluehost” looks much better than the long, crazy-looking links that affiliate programs usually give you.
Provide real reviews. You should always be honest with your reviews. If there is something you don’t like about a product, either don’t review the product at all or mention the negatives in your review.
Ask for a commission increase. If you are doing well with a particular affiliate program, ask to increase your commissions.
Build a relationship with your affiliate manager. Your affiliate manager can supply your readers with valuable coupons, commission increases, bonuses, and more.
Write tutorials. Readers want to know how they can use a product. Showing them how to use it, how it can benefit them, and more are all very helpful.
Don’t go overboard. There is no need to include an affiliate link 1,000 times in a blog post. Include them at the beginning, middle, and end, and readers will notice it. Perhaps bold it or find another way for it to stand out as well.

You can learn more about affiliate marketing strategies in my course Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing.

Advertisements and sponsorships example

2. Advertisements and sponsorships

Advertising on a blog is one of the first ways that bloggers learn how to monetize a blog. In fact, it’s exactly how I started!

This form of blogging income is when you directly partner with a company and advertise for them on your website or social media accounts.

You may be writing a review for them, a tutorial, talking about their product or company, taking pictures, and so on.

If you want to learn how to increase your advertising-income, I recommend taking my Making Sense of Sponsored Posts course.

Display advertising example

3. Display advertising

Display advertising is one of the easiest ways to make money blogging, but it most likely won’t earn you the most, especially in the beginning.

I’m sure you’ve seen display ads before. They may be on the sidebar, at the top of a post, within a blog post, and so on.

The ads are automatically added when you join an advertising network, and you do not need to manually add these ads to your blog.

Your display advertising income increases or decreases almost entirely based on your page views, and once you place the advertisement, there’s no direct work to be done.

If you want to learn how to monetize a blog through display advertising, then some popular networks include Adsense, MediaVine, and AdThrive.

Personally, I use AdThrive for my display advertising network. I don’t have many display advertisements on my blog, but it is easy income.

Sell your own product example

4. Sell your own products

Another popular way to monetize a blog is to create a sell your own products.

This could be an online product, something that you ship, and so on, such as:

An online course
A coaching program
An eBook
Printables
Memberships
Clothing, candles, artwork, hard copy books, and anything else you can think of

And the list goes on and on. I have seen bloggers be very successful in selling all kinds of things on their blogs.

What’s great about selling your own product is that you are in complete control of what you are selling, and your income is virtually unlimited in many cases.

I launched my first product about 5 years after I created Making Sense of Cents, which was a blogging course called Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing. I regret not creating something sooner because this has been an excellent source of income and has helped many people along the way.

Have an email list

If you really want to learn how to monetize a blog, I recommend that you start an email list from the very beginning.

I waited several years to start my email list, and that was a huge mistake!

Here’s why you need an email list right away:

Your newsletter is YOURS. Unlike social media sites, your newsletter and email subscribers are all yours, and you have their undivided attention. You don’t have to worry about algorithms not displaying your content to readers, and this is because they are your email subscribers. You aren’t fighting with anyone else to have them see your content.
The money is in your email list. I believe that email newsletters are the best way to promote an affiliate product. Your email subscribers signed up to hear what YOU have to write about, so you clearly have their full attention. Your email list, over any other promotional strategy, will almost always lead to more income and sales.
Your email subscribers are loyal to you. If someone is allowing you to show up in their inbox whenever you want, then they probably trust what you have to say and enjoy listening to you. This is a great way to grow an audience and a loyal one at that.
Email is a great way to deliver other forms of content. With Convertkit, I am able to easily create free email courses that are automatically sent to my subscribers. Once a reader signs up, Convertkit sends out all the information they need in whatever time frame I choose to deliver the content.

Attract readers

As a new blogger, you’ll want to find ways to attract a readership to your blog and your article.

No, you don’t need millions and millions of page views to earn a good living from blogging. In fact, I know some bloggers who receive 1,000,000 page views yet make less money than those with 100,000 monthly page views.

Every website is different, but once you learn what your audience wants, you can start to really make money blogging, regardless of how many page views you receive.

Having a successful blog is all about having a loyal audience and helping them with your content.

Even with all of that being said, if you want to learn how to monetize a blog, learning how to improve your traffic is valuable. The more loyal and engaged followers you have, the more money you may be able to make through your blog.

There are many ways to grow your readership, such as:

Write high-quality articles. Your blog posts should always be high-quality and helpful, and it means readers will want to come back for more.
Find social media sites to be active on. There are many social media platforms you can be active on, such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and others.
Regularly share new posts. For most blogs, you should publish content at least once a week. Readers may forget about you if you go for weeks or months at a time without a blog post.
Guest post. Guest posting is a great way to reach a new audience, as it can bring new readers to your blog who will potentially subscribe to it.
Make sure it’s easy to share your content. I love sharing posts on social media. However, it gets frustrating when some blogs make it more difficult than it needs to be. You should always make sure it’s easy for readers to share your content, which means your social media icons should be easy to find, all of the info input and ready for sharing (title, link, and your username tagged), and so on. Also, you should make sure that when someone clicks on one of your sharing icons the title isn’t in CAPS (I’ve seen this too many times!).
Write better titles. The title of your post can either bring readers to you or deter them from clicking over. A great free tool to write better headlines is CoSchedule’s Headline tool.
Apply SEO strategies. SEO (search engine optimization) is not something I can teach in this small section, but I go over it below in another section.
Have a clean and user-friendly blog design. If you want more page views, you should make it as easy as possible for readers to navigate your blog. It should be easy for readers to find your blog homepage, search bar, blog posts, and so on.

Now, I also want to talk about helpful resources, courses, and more that can help you to learn how to grow your page views on your blog.

Below are some of my favorite blogging resources to help you improve your traffic:

Grow through SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is how you get organic search traffic to your blog.

When you search a phrase on Google, you’ll see a bunch of different websites as the results. This is the result of these websites applying SEO strategies to their blog.

This is a great way for readers to find your blog, and SEO is important to pay attention to as you learn how to monetize a blog!

Below are some of my favorite SEO resources:

Stupid Simple SEO: This is my favorite overall SEO course, and one of the most popular for bloggers. I highly recommend taking it. I have gone through the whole course, and I constantly refer back to it.
Easy On-Page SEO: This is an easy-to-follow approach to learning on-page SEO so your articles can rank on Google. I have read this ebook twice, and it is super helpful.
Easy Backlinks for SEO: This ebook will show you 31 different ways to build backlinks, which are needed for SEO.
How To Get 50,000 Pageviews per Month With Keyword Research: This ebook shares the steps for keyword research so that you can get SEO traffic to your website.

Common questions about how to monetize a blog

Below, I’m going to answer some questions I’ve received about how to start a blog such as:

How many views do you need to monetize a blog?
How do beginner bloggers make money?
Why do bloggers fail?
How many posts should I have before I launch my blog?
How many times a week should I post on my blog?

How many views do you need to monetize a blog?

The amount of page views needed to make money blogging varies, and there is no magic number that you should be aiming for.

This is because it depends on so many factors, such as how you will monetize your blog, your niche, the number of email subscribers you have, the quality of your website, and more.

You may see success with 10,000 page views a month, or you may see success with over 100,000 page views a month. It simply depends on the factors above.

How do beginner bloggers make money?

Beginner bloggers can make money in many different ways, such as display advertising, affiliate marketing, creating their own products, and sponsorships.

You can start any of these right from the very beginning.

Display advertising is usually the easiest way to begin monetizing a blog, but the payoff is not very high, especially in the beginning when your page views are not high.

How many posts should I have before I launch my blog?

I recommend just launching your blog as soon as you have one blog post and a design. Building a huge backlog of blog posts isn’t usually needed, and it can prevent you from ever getting started!

How many times a week should I post on my blog?

The more blog posts you have, then the more traffic you may get. That’s because it’s more opportunities to show up in Google searches or share your posts on social media.

I recommend publishing a new blog post at least once a week. Anything less isn’t advised.

Publishing blog posts consistently is smart because readers know to expect regular content from you.

Why do bloggers fail?

Bloggers fail for many different reasons. These reasons may include:

Giving up too soon. It takes time to make money blogging, and sadly, many people give up just a few months into starting a blog.
Not publishing consistently. I recommend publishing content at least once a week, as described in the previous section. Some new bloggers may go months without publishing, and this will take them much longer to make money blogging as they are simply not dedicating enough time to their blog.
Not spending enough time learning about blogging. Blogging is not as easy as you may think. There is a lot to learn in order to make it work. You may need to learn about how to grow your blog’s traffic, how to monetize a blog, how to write high-quality content, and more.
Not having your own domain and self-hosting. If you want to make money blogging, I highly recommend owning your domain name and being self-hosted. The longer you put this easy step off, the longer it will most likely take for you to make money blogging. You can learn more at How To Start a WordPress Blog.

And much more. Blogging is like any business – there are things to learn, things to improve on, and more.

How do I start a blog?

If you have any other questions related to starting a blog, I recommend checking out What Is A Blog, How Do Blogs Make Money, & More. In this article, I answer more questions related to blogging such as:

How do I come up with a blog name?
What blogs make the most money?
How do you design a blog?
How many views do you need to make money blogging?
How many blog posts should I have before launching?
How do I get my blog noticed by Google?
How long until a blog makes money?
How do blogs make money?
How do bloggers get paid?

And more.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

Thanks for reading!

Source: makingsenseofcents.com

State	Average Salary for a Barber
Alabama	$49,572
Alaska	$53,033
Arizona	$50,968
Arkansas	$40,073
California	$46,632
Colorado	$50,860
Connecticut	$47,890
Delaware	$48,177
Florida	$40,869
Georgia	$46,181
Hawaii	$51,460
Idaho	$44,515
Illinois	$46,962
Indiana	$52,044
Iowa	$47,980
Kansas	$44,493
Kentucky	$42,214
Louisiana	$44,134
Maine	$45,672
Maryland	$46,693
Massachusetts	$53,224
Michigan	$42,137
Minnesota	$50,551
Mississippi	$47,266
Missouri	$45,239
Montana	$50,200
Nebraska	$45,804
Nevada	$50,144
New Hampshire	$54,449
New Jersey	$53,861
New Mexico	$50,829
New York	$60,841
North Carolina	$43,866
North Dakota	$52,473
Ohio	$49,290
Oklahoma	$44,358
Oregon	$52,559
Pennsylvania	$55,714
Rhode Island	$48,681
South Carolina	$44,791
South Dakota	$49,593
Tennessee	$47,059
Texas	$44,130
Utah	$46,849
Vermont	$60,007
Virginia	$47,628
Washington	$53,744
West Virginia	$43,029
Wisconsin	$52,882
Wyoming	$53,101

Nursery decor: Tips and tricks to test out

Establish your vision

Choose a calming color palette and utilize natural materials

Invest in quality furniture

Prioritize safety

Add personal touches

Consider sensory stimulation

Leave room to grow

Incorporate functionality into your nursery decor

Choose soft flooring options

Design a nursing nook

Don’t be afraid to get creative with nursery decor ideas

Consider soundproofing as part of your nursery decor

Crafting a sanctuary for you and your little one

Episode transcript

Check your score with SoFi

Track your credit score for free. Sign up and get $10.*

What Is a Side Hustle?

Pros and Cons of a Side Hustle

Pros of a Side Hustle

Cons of a Side Hustle

When Does a Side Hustle Make Sense?

The Opportunity Cost of a Side Hustle

Examples of Side Hustles

When Is a Side Hustle Not Worth It?

Side Hustle Tips

The Takeaway

FAQ

Are side hustles risky?

Are side hustles a waste of time?

Is starting a side hustle really worth it?

Piggyback, 2nds, POS Products; G-Rate’s CEO Podcast Interview; Agency News

Option 1: Copy and send this link

Best Ways To Make $5,000 Fast

1. Flip items for resale

2. Freelance online work

3. Pet sit and dog walk

4. Short-term rental your home

5. Deliver food

6. Sell high-value items

7. Tutor

8. Stock photo photography

9. Sell an online course

10. Rent out your unused storage space

11. Sell your jewelry

12. Flip real estate

14. Sell printables

15. Help businesses with their Facebook ads

16. Write an ebook

17. Blog

18. Affiliate marketing

19. Sell on Amazon

20. Start a YouTube channel

21. Buy a business that already makes income

22. Consulting

23. Detail cars

24. Rideshare driving gigs

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some ways to earn an extra $5,000 quickly?

Can I make $5,000 in a single day and how?

How can I double $5,000 dollars?

How can I make $5,000 in a month?

How to make $5,000 fast without a job?

How to make $5,000 a day online?

How To Make $5,000 Fast – Summary

The difference between thrift stores and consignment shops

Getting what you need while giving back to the community

Choose your shopping days wisely

Have a strategy before you start shopping

Simple design rules to consider

How I earned my first income from blogging

How To Start A Blog FREE Course

Start with a plan for your blog

Write high-quality and engaging blog posts

Network, network, network

Be prepared to put in a lot of hard work

How to monetize a blog: 4 different ways

1. Affiliate marketing

2. Advertisements and sponsorships

3. Display advertising