Anyone provide themselves with a second income?

nichorob

nichorob

nichorob

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Joined
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London
Evening all,

I do a job I enjoy, working around 45 hours a week but receiving a fairly average wage. I enjoy a comfortable lifestyle but i'm always thinking that an extra couple of hundred pounds a month would help a great deal.

The obvious solution would be to get a part time evening job in retail / pub etc and do 12 hours or so a week after work. But I keep reading more and more about people who run their own little businesses from home which intrigues me a great deal. Things like buying and selling on eBay, matched betting and online market research which would seem to be a much nicer alternative than 12 hours stacking shelves i'm sure.

Does anyone provide themselves with a reliable second income (say £200+ a month) like this or is it too good to be true?
 
Put some money in a savings account and get interest on it. ;)

You could learn to program and sell computer programs on the internet.
 
Yeah, I run a wedding filming business and an equipment hire company. I also dabble in web design and corporate photography. Obviously because it's all "freelance" the wage differs hugely, but this month has seen an extra £2k. Probably averages about £400-500.

When I was at uni I used to ticket tout which gave me about £300 a month, but you need a wad of cash to buy tickets in the first place for that. I did bet matching as well which made me about £700 but then I got fed up and ran out of sites to sign up to (and same thing, you need a fair amount of spare cash).

I'd like to think I'll always have a 'bit on the side' as it were.
 
That's funny, i was pondering over the exact same question about an hour ago. Personally im going to dabble in abit of private 2nd hand car sales. Buy something very cheap, clean it up sell it on, even if its for £200-£300 more.
 
Energize said:
Put some money in a savings account and get interest on it. ;)

You could learn to program and sell computer programs on the internet.
Click to expand...

I wish I had some money I could save!

Funny you should mention programming, was reading this morning about a student who taught himself how to program for the new Apple iPhone / Touch in a matter of weeks. Released his first program via the new app store in iTunes and he had around 25,000 people download his app paying $5 each in the first week!

I have no programming background though. I imagine it would be a bit too much for me.

rghjones said:
When I was at uni I used to ticket tout which gave me about £300 a month, but you need a wad of cash to buy tickets in the first place for that. I did bet matching as well which made me about £700 but then I got fed up and ran out of sites to sign up to (and same thing, you need a fair amount of spare cash).
Click to expand...

Is ticket touting not a thing of the past now? Every big event seems to have a way to combat it now.

Matched betting intrigues me a great deal. But I assume you couldn't rely on it as a reliable second income as in when you have run out of sites its game over?

Damien. said:
That's funny, i was pondering over the exact same question about an hour ago. Personally im going to dabble in abit of private 2nd hand car sales. Buy something very cheap, clean it up sell it on, even if its for £200-£300 more.
Click to expand...

Thats sounds like a brilliant idea, but my technical knowledge of cars is pretty crap. I can change the oil and change a tyre but anything more technical and i'm stuck!
 
Well I just got my SIA badge so I'll be doing the doors soon for some second income. Maybe even first for a bit since I don't have a job at the moment :p
 
I'm a full time Development manager but over the last two years I've been in the process of starting my own PC service company which is starting to take off at last.. I've actually asked now to go part time but waiting for my managers decision.

The problem is that although it's nice to earn extra cash.. it's important to remember your priorities.. Making time for yourself and others is just as as important otherwise you'll end up loosing friends, being tired and not functioning correctly.. Which is what I've found...
 
Admiral Huddy said:
I'm a full time Development manager but over the last two years I've been in the process of starting my own PC service company which is starting to take off at last.. I've actually asked now to go part time but waiting for my managers decision.
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Huddy how did you go about starting the company? Online or word of mouth?

Im interested in doing the same, fancy forming a super chelmsford service :p

I dont mean to hijack the thread by the way!
 
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I have been thinking about this myself too. I work 12 hours a day and have around 10 hours free at work just browsing the internet with bordem.

Would be great if somone could recomend something, even if it just keeps me occupied, lol
 
n the first year I done my research.. costs, overheads, competiton etc. I even met up with local competitors to get an idea of what to expect. They didn't seem to mind. Then I focused on the services and products i was selling with pricing.

Once I had a workshop and bought the equipment I needed, I then distrubuted leaflets locally. Then I started advertising in Yellow pages and yell.com with a web link...

Leaflets are ongoing and I've just done a card drop too.

Advertising is expensive but I've had a lot of repeat customers which is always a good sign :) but as i said, it's been hard work and it's had an affect on family life.. which is why I have come to a crossroad ..
 
Awesome, good luck with it in the future.

My girlfriends dad is self employed in advertising so i may have to ask some favours.

Quick question, do you tend to charge hourly or just a fixed ammount for the job?

The reason i ask is looking at this, even if i did it at 3/4 the price there would definately be some motivation to get it started.

*removed, i forgot* doh!
 
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Ah yeah sorry, forget these rules.

Thankyou would be a great help, trust account okay?

Also you can have your thread back now! :p
 
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