There comes a time when looking at your finances that you might ask yourself, “Do I have an income problem?” This typically happens when you’ve cut down all of your expenses or you’ve trimmed them down as much as possible and you still aren’t making headway on your financial goals, paying off your debt, and saving money into your savings account.
So, when do you know if you have an income problem and what can you do about it?
Like, I said, if you’ve cut back on your spending as much as possible, and I want you to know that you need to be really REALLY honest with yourself here… and you can’t make ends meet, you likely have an income problem. Meaning your income is too low to pay your bills and save money.
If this is you, you need to prioritize increasing your income and I know this can be scary, it might make you feel anxious, or maybe, just maybe it will make you feel alive and on fire like, “Now is MY TIME to finally start making the money I am destined to make.”
There are many ways to increase your income, some are quick and some take time. Some also take an investment of either time, energy, or money…many times it takes all 3.
Perhaps you’ve found yourself drowning in debt, but you’ve also made changes to be more responsible with your money…so, you are looking at paying down your debt aggressively and saving money. You’ve promised yourself that you are no longer going to overspend. First, this is great if this is what you are now committed to doing!!
Second, you might need to pick up a second job, or side hustle, and/or sell things to pay off that debt quickly. However, Selling items is a bandaid- it’s not a long-term fix for bringing in money unless you are doing it as a job of buying items low and selling them high. So, this might not be an income problem in the future, you are just making needed changes now, great job by the way, and once your credit card debt or high-interest car loan is paid off, you will be sitting pretty well with your income and expenses.
But, let’s say you realize that you are low-income and you really want more out of life in terms of increasing your income. Perhaps you went from a dual-income household to a single-income household and now you really need to cut expenses and increase your income. How do you do that?
You can ask for a raise at work! Seriously, I recorded an entire podcast episode recently on this very topic, on my podcast, Financial Mission, it is episode 61, you can take a listen here, https://www.buzzsprout.com/2143456/14711379
You can invest in yourself, by taking courses, on-the-job training, and furthering your education through books, schooling, podcasts, etc to be more employable, to get a promotion, to be able to obtain a higher-paying job.
You can start a biz on the side, like I have. I started a photography biz and now my coaching biz WHILE working full-time! I have been able to cash flow both of these businesses because I am against taking out debt for my biz (at least at this time). Now, this likely won’t help your income problem in the beginning, you’ve heard the saying, “It takes money to make money”, but if you already have the tools and equipment or things needed to start a biz, you can get a side biz going pretty reasonably cheap these days and grow it from there.
If you are good at assisting people and good with technology or social media, you could be a VA or Virtual assistant. You likely already have a computer or laptop so you really don’t NEED a whole lot else to start becoming a VA.
You could start a dog-walking or pet-sitting biz, this would take VERY MINIMAL money to get started! My husband rents out party tents, all we need are the tents, a couple extra pairs of helping hands, and we are good to go.
If you are like me and have a camera and know a little bit about how to take decent photos, you could start a photography biz. Now, you might need to do some sessions for free to grow your portfolio first, but then you can start charging pretty early on!
There are so many other biz ideas with low start-up costs. With starting a biz or even in your personal life purchases, there are SO MANY THINGS you can say you need or want….but are these things truly a NEED or can you get by for a while without buying them?
You can go back to school or take some courses to further your education while working. I’ve done this! This is a great way to increase your income potential in the future.
Again, your income will likely need to increase if you’ve cut back on your spending as much as possible and you still find yourself needing more money to pay your bills and reach your financial goals.
Or maybe you can pay your bills and expenses and even save some money with your current income but you know you want more. More savings, giving more to charitable causes, growing your biz, or buying a lake home (this is me!) then focus on increasing your income to meet your next-level financial goals.
Making and wanting to make more money isn’t a bad thing. We just need to be mindful of how we are choosing to spend our money.
If you aren’t sure if you have an income problem, message me, I’d love to figure this out with you!
xoxo
Jess Wayne
