Step 1: Make Money
Your income is the MOST important part of the equation.
If you aren’t making any money, you can’t build wealth.
Your income drives everything.
That is why you should always be focused on increasing your income at all costs.
The more money you make, the more you’ll be able to invest and the wealthier you’ll get.
So you might be asking, how can I make more money?
Start a Side Hustle
I think everyone should have a side hustle. The first thing I would say to do is to write down a list of things you are passionate about (such as your hobbies, whatever you do in your free time, etc) and use youtube and google to figure out how you can turn that into a side hustle. Look for similar pages that talk about your passion and watch how they are doing it.
Example: If you love to cook, you could look into starting a meal prep service, or selling fancy cookies, etc
Give each side hustle you start your total focus and determination for 6 months minimum before switching to something else or quitting. You have to go all-in on it in order for any type of progress to be made.
Learn In-Demand Skills
Thanks to the rise of the internet, it’s never been easier to learn new skills that can quickly be used to make more money. You can learn the basics of most of these skills just by using YouTube and Google.
Here are some examples of in-demand skills that can be monetized:
Graphic Design
Social Media Marketing
Video Editing
Programming
Affiliate Marketing
Quickbooks/Bookkeeping
SEO
Blogging
Social Media Management
Find a Trade Job
Trade Jobs are underrated and under-appreciated in our society today. Many of the trade jobs listed below teach valuable skills that are currently in short supply. It’s not uncommon to hit the 6 figure mark with the jobs below once enough experience is gained. Additionally, most of these jobs provide paid training!
Keep in mind that the salary listed below is the average starting salary across the United States. It’s not uncommon to hit 6 figures with these jobs once enough experience is gained.
- Electrician ($56k-75k+)
- HVAC Tech ($42-65k+)
- Plumber ($51k-70k+)
- Home Inspector ($55k-75k+)
- Carpenter ($48k-63k+)
- Welder ($42k-88k+)
- Truck Driver ($57k-78k+)
- Power Lineman ($54k-84k+)
- Pipefitter ($53k-82k+)
Invest In College
If you decide to go the college route, make sure you do research into what sort of job you might want to get once you graduate. This will help you ensure the return on your investment in college is worth it. You don’t want to be the person who pays $100k for college to get a job that pays minimum wage with no real career path.
Once you determine if the return on investment of going to college is worth it or not, the next step is to try and reduce the overall cost of college.
Community College is underrated. You go for 2 years to get all of your general classes taken care of for a fraction of the cost and then transfer to a state college to take your major-specific classes.
Living off-campus with roommates is another college hack I highly recommend doing. On-campus housing is ridiculously expensive. Finding a place off-campus with a few friends is the way to go to save a bunch of money.
“If you don’t value your time, neither will others. Stop giving away your time and talents. Value what you know & start charging for it.”
— Kim Garst