Building a second income

With the recession biting ever harder, there has never been a better time to look at ways of generating a second income with which to either improve your current standard of living, provide a financial buffer against uncertain times or perhaps move into a new career safely.

What you do need is time since in most cases you will be trading your time and/or experience to earn income from others.

The list of opportunities is endless, but the easiest and quickest way to move forward is to either compromise on your personal time or build on a skill that you already have that can fit around your existing job.

For example, you could consider taking a bar or restaurant job in the evenings or weekends. Alternatively, look for Saturday jobs in retail if you work a normal 5 day, Monday to Friday week. These can be tiring since your down time will be limited so should only really be considered as short term fixes to generating cash. They can also severely strain a relationship so enter this arena with care. Interim, or part time roles, may be more suitable since they involve less hours.

Next, then, is to build an income stream on a hobby or pastime. This could include photography, painting or beauty therapy or treatments or even dog walking or holiday pet care at home. These require minimal investments since you will already have the equipment or raw materials - the key here is getting your message out to the world at large that you are available. With areas like these, a portfolio of past work will help build confidence greatly. No one is going to easily trust their wedding photographs to someone whose work they have never seen!

Stepping up from enthusiastic amateur to professional should not be underestimated. People will be looking for top quality finishes and service that inspires so it should not be done half heartedly.

Another area that builds on a hobby or pastime is taxi or wedding car hire. Licences can be hard to get but an affiliation to a local taxi company can short circuit the process and also act as an introducer of business. If you own a classic car, there is a growing demand for hire for weddings, prom evenings and other events. There is almost certainly a company near you that specialises and may welcome your car as an addition.

Of course there are many opportunities to earn an income from home as an agent for an online company. Writing articles for websites through to completing online surveys can all generate cash and are not too time dependent. The earnings do not tend to be too great though, so a more manual or skill based role will probably earn you more. On the other hand, all of these opportunities may be preferable to having to save money elsewhere.

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