I believe there are more people than you know that aren’t exactly making ends meet. I had this conversation with the lady who prepares my taxes. She and her family are a few hundred more in debt each month, too. Families my wife and I talk with are not exactly in the black every month. Are you?
I wish I had amazing advice and information. I’m mostly calling this out because I’m curious if others are in the same boat.
How I’m trying to deal with it is that I’m trying to determine any accidental “leaks” in my expenses. For instance, I did a few calculations on some of the things I buy in a given day, like coffee, and if I stopped buying coffee out, I’d save plenty ($2 a day x 5 days= $10 a week x 50 weeks equals $500.) If you’re a latte drinker, you save even more.
Another way I’m trying to deal with it is that I’m hoping to find some smaller streams of income to add to my current job. I’m paid a decent wage at my current place of employment, and maybe if I saved like an absolute MONK, I could make things all add up, but I think the way to maintain my fairly modest lifestyle and not declare bankruptcy involves finding ways to make a few extra bucks.
I want that extra income to come from creative sources. I’d love to sell greeting cards (not one taker yet) or posters (ditto) based on my digital art.
I haven’t pushed that as much locally, and you know what? Maybe that’s because I’m like other creative types. I like creating the content, but I’m not as passionate about convincing people they should buy it. I think, like other creative people, that someone will just come along, appreciate the art, and will buy it based on its merit.
But we don’t buy products like that normally, do we? We buy because people give us incentives to buy. We buy because of convenience. We buy because of emotional impulses. And the way people who are selling things make that work is that they reduce friction. They take away reasons NOT to purchase it, and make it EASY to purchase.
So, if you’re also having trouble making ends meet, and you’ve got some products or services that you think will help grow back some streams of income, you might want to think about ways to make it easier to buy your products or services. I know I’ll be thinking about it, more and more.
But tell me, are you making ends meet? Are you doing well? Or are you hanging on?
tags: finance, budget, income, selling, promotion
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