Increase Income – This is How to Do It

I never expected to make a decent income, so as a result, I didn’t take the steps I needed to take in order to increase my income. This became a nasty vicious cycle. When I found myself $17,000 in credit card debt with absolutely no income, I decided that I was going to make a change. I decided to get good with money. I got my finances in order, listed out all my debts, started keeping track of my expenses, sticking to a budget, and throwing chunks of money at the debt. It took me about two and a half years to get out of debt, making roughly $30,000 per year.

Then I decided I was ready to earn more money.

I had never thought about earning more because I didn’t think it was possible for me. This is a classic example of a fixed mindset. Once I decided I wanted to change, I set about figuring out how I was going to do it. I’m still in the process of doing it, and I’m documenting my journey along the way.

Stick with it! I had a habit of starting something, working at it for a little bit, and then giving up when I didn’t see the immediate results I wanted. I identified this pattern in myself and made steps to change it. The challenge with building a side business is making the decision to keep going even when it’s difficult or choosing to direct energy elsewhere.

An example of pushing through to success is my online eBay business. I started my eBay business back in 2017 after taking Ramit Sethi’s course “Earn $1k” which cost $997 and I challenged myself to earn back the full cost of the course in one month. I made the symbolic gesture of putting down the money for the course and set a deadline for myself. It was a point of no return and I had thirty days to make it happen. The information in the course was invaluable, but in the end, it was my own action that would make the difference. I watched video tutorials on youtube to figure out how to set up my eBay storefront. I stayed up nights listing items after coming home from my full time job. I knew I had to have at least 200 items listed in order to have a shot at earning my target of $1,000, so I just put my head down, used what I had, and listed. I set up flat lays on the hardwood floor in my living room, used a bedroom lamp for extra lighting, and I snapped pictures with my phone. Night after night, I would shoot, measure, and write out my listings long hand on a yellow legal pad. Then I would upload slowly to my computer, looking forward to clicking the “list now” button and getting one step closer to my goal.

I dug around my house for more items to list. I started by going through my closet for unused clothes in good condition. Then I moved on to my shoes and handbags. Finally I ended up digging through old bedroom closets for hidden treasures. I unearthed two unused autoharps and checked comparative sold listings. I was shocked to discover that similar brands had recently sold for upwards of $200 – $300 dollars. I shot, measured, and listed those two auto harps and by the end of the month had sold them both, which pushed me to a grand total of $1,078.10.

This was an amazing income stream and I felt proud and satisfied that I was able to make my goal. I enjoyed reselling and I still source and list items on eBay occasionally, but the biggest downfall is that this business is tied to a physical location: I must be in the location of the item in order to ship it out. I might consider using a Third Party Logistics service to ship my items, but for now ebay is just a hobby that generates a bit of extra cash.

I know that I’ve earned this kind of money before and my goal now is to earn this money (and more!) in a way that’s not tied to my physical location or time. I know how to do this – the challenge now is just to go out and DO IT!

Here’s the process that I’m using to prime myself to increase my income:

Step 1 – Believe it’s possible!
I know that it’s possible to increase my income. Now the challenge is to see in my mind exactly what it would look like to bring in more money. What would it look like to increase my income? How would it feel to wake up? How would I actually sit down and do the work? How would it raise my standard of living? This activity is sometimes called scripting or future pacing. Here’s a snippet of an “Ideal Day” that I wrote out in my Money Journal:

Ideal Dream Day in My Life:
I wake up in the house that I own with my husband. I walk down to our kitchen and make myself a cup of tea. Our house is clean, tidy, luxurious, spacious, and well-maintained. Together we create a feeling of peace and harmony. I feel overjoyed, thankful, and satisfied with all that I have. I walk out onto the patio and turn on a fan for a breeze. I look out over the pool and wide green lawn. I am calm, centered, and secure in my connection to my creator. I then go inside and joyfully connect with my family. We adore being together. I feel blessed and stimulated to make $xxx,xxx from home. I do a few hours of work in my comfortable office and am able to handle my business in a manageable amount of time. I have the opportunity to travel as I want and I only travel in a way that serves our family. We love to get into the Jeep and drive to the beach. I love getting into my dry, spacious, luxurious, gas efficient car to go to the gym or supermarket. My body feels lithe, lean, and healthy. I love connecting with my husband and kids, and taking luscious vacations to Aruba, Curacao, France and cruises. I am thankful and happy and accept all that is around me.

Step 2 – Decluttering – Get Rid of Everything that Doesn’t Serve You.
In order to welcome more money, I must make room for it! Clutter can be both mental and physical. To release mental clutter, make a list of all your money thoughts and beliefs, especially the negative money associations. If you have any negative memories or feelings about money, now is the time to write them down, identify them, and let them go. When I did this exercise, I remembered a few times when I didn’t make the best choices with money. (the time I overdrafted my checking account on the first day of college, the time I overdrafted my checking account last month…) Subconsciously, I realized that this had developed into a narrative that I wasn’t good with money and didn’t deserve any more. When I identified this memory, I was able to forgive myself for past mistakes, acknowledge that I had done the best I could back then, and then give myself permission to make better choices now with the information I have now.

Step 3 – Don’t take it personally!
This goes along with releasing clutter. When challenges come, and they will come, it’s important not to take anything too personally. I’ve had to make adjustments when they were needed, but I try not to take feedback or comments too seriously. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and when it doesn’t serve the greater good, I simply let it go.

Step 4 – Take Action – Just start!
This is probably the most important step. Just take action! I have decided what I want and now the next step is just to do it! My method is to take at least one step in the direction of the life I’m designing for myself. I find that as I start moving, the next steps become clear. It’s easy to fall victim to analysis paralysis, but a good cure for that is simply deciding to take action.

Step 5 – Assess and Adjust
Assessing what has worked and what doesn’t work – celebrate what has worked and make a plan to improve what hasn’t worked. I like to do this on Sunday night as I plan the week ahead. I keep track of all the actions I’ve taken throughout the week. I identify my best “income producing” actions and then figure out how to do more of this and other actions that will bring in income.