$500 From Living on the Street
I recently learned that the average American that loses everything (house, car, etc.) is actually upside down an average of $500 per month.
That number just rocked me because I know that there has to be a way to get that money for the average American. Please click through to read this whole post, because I’m going to ask you to join with me in brainstorming some solutions.
Most of the people in this spot are people barely making it (or actually NOT making it) on the income from their jobs. So, the answer is “start a business.” It’s the fastest way I know to immediately get cash in your pocket.
There are two ways that you can get that cash: (1) From the business itself and (2) From the immediate tax benefits that you get.
As an example, let’s say you add up all the business deductions you can take from your legitimate business (I’ll talk more about that in another post): auto when used for business, computer, software, fax machine, cell phone use, meals (business), kids if employed in the business, home office, travel - the list goes on. There is much, much more to making sure it’s legal, but I can help anyone with that part.
So, adding it up, let’s say you come up with $10,000 worth of expenses. Actually, you probably will come up with much, much more than that. But, let’s say it’s just $10K. Then at a 40% blended tax rate, you’ve got a deduction of $4,000. Divide by 12 and that’s $330 per month.
Once you have that legitimate business (and yes! You can do that in less than a week), you can tell your employer to change your withholding so that you pay $330 less per month in taxes.
Voila! You just picked up $330 per month in additional cash in your pocket.
Now, let’s talk about the business itself. This is where I need your help. I’ve identified two biz opps that could put immediate cash in your pocket: selling on eBay and a new direct sales system that I’m personally doing. I’ll tell you more about that in two weeks.
I need more ideas! What type of business could someone start today that would get them some cash within 7 days? Let’s see if we can come up with a plan others can follow.
Thanks for you help in advance.
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Any service type business like landscaping, house cleaning, medical transcription or auto detailing should be able to produce a profit in a weeks time if aggressively promoted. Case in point. Years ago I ran into a “financial challenge” and needed to create some fast cash. What I did was I printed up fliers offering to re-paint the address numbers on curbs in front of homes. I passed out the fliers, took orders, painted, and collected the funds. It was hot, miserable work… but it DID instantly create a couple hundred per day in cash flow.
I agree with RobF. It seems that service-oriented businesses are the way to go for some quick cash. For instance, as a college student, I needed a quick infusion of cash because my student loan money for the semester wasn’t enough for all my tuition, books and required supplies. People in my neighborhood had seen me walking my great dane every day and therefore knew I was a “dog person.” Like RobF, I simply posted some signs in my neighborhood offering to walk dogs during certain time frames (time frames that just so happened to coincide with my class schedule). It didn’t take long for me to pick up two clients. The gig didn’t last very long, but it was a quick jolt of cash to get me through a tight money situation.
I can think of a few ideas. Granted, they all rely on you doing your own work (more like an “S” in the Cashflow Quadrant book), but with some creativity and ingenuity, they could probably be expanded to the B quadrant.
There’s just a few to get the creative juices flowing.
I look forward to reading what others have to say. This is a very useful topic, to be sure.
That $500 difference doesn’t surprise me a bit. When I was relying upon my job an extra $500 a month would be 20-25% of my net income, depending upon how much overtime I’m doing. I actually had a higher paying job for the region so imagine what it would mean to someone that made half of what I did.
One if the biggest problems people like this will have is getting over the fear in building a business. They know they’re on the edge of a knife and can’t afford to make a single mistake, if they do it could mean they lose their home.
As a result I think service related business are by far the best possible type of business. If they don’t have to buy an inventory they risk time and a little money, and time is the one thing they can afford to lose.
The other trick is to get paid for something right on the spot. I like the idea of going around painting numbers on curbs, for example. eBay selling is another favorite because it gets you the money right away.
I often run into the challenge with my own thinking in that I’m always looking so far ahead that I forget about today. That’s why my husband and I started our Cashflow Sunday trick. Every Sunday we talk about how we can get cash that week. That keeps me focussed on now, at least part of the time.
I’m interested to hear about your new direct sales system.
Donna, I sent you a PM.
I am also interested… any more info to share yet? (you know how much patience I have, right?
)