One of the central tenants of Next-Level Income’s “Make-Keep-Grow” strategy is how to MAKE more money. In today’s world, one of the easiest ways to do this is through a service-based side gig.

Let’s use my wife as an example. She was an architect at a large firm that focused on large public and commercial projects. When we decided that we would like an additional income stream to fuel our investments, she began to do side projects in the residential and rehab space. Within 2 years she was making enough money from her own side business that it grew larger than her “day job” and she quit to focus on doubling her business. 

This is a path that a lot of professionals can follow, or even improve upon with systems and automation. Imagine if you could start a side gig that produced another stream of income that was then automated or managed by someone else? Pretty cool right?  

Personally, I feel like I’ve always had 2 “jobs”. I raced bicycles from the time I was 14 to the time I was 37. The training and racing took anywhere from 5-80 hours per week. While I was racing during my time as a medical device representative, I would train 5-15 hours per week, race 1 night during the week and every other weekend. If you add up the weekly training time, travel, extra sleep, etc. It was a 20-30 hour endeavor and I was working 60-80 hours per week! When I quit racing to focus on scaling my real estate investment business, it was easy to convert these hours during early mornings, nights and weekends to my new endeavor. My wife used the same strategy, working the “morning shift” from 5-7AM and working nights after the boys went to bed. 

So the question is how do you find the time to do this? If you are a professional and work 40-60 hours a week, you’re probably thinking, “I don’t have the time to start a side gig.” The first step to making this work is deciding that it is important enough for you to commit to. If you are committed to earning an extra $50,000 a year to invest in real estate to provide financial independence for your family, you need to focus on your own “WHY” so that you don’t quit when times are tough (because they will be).

Now we can address how you find this time: 

#1. Wake Up Earlier

I decided that if I got up 30-60 minutes earlier, I could go to bed at 9-9:30 PM instead of 10:00 PM and be productive in the morning. I started getting up at 4:30-5 AM and working for 90 minutes straight. We cancelled cable/satellite TV and I didn’t have the option to watch my favorite news show anymore, so I now read a business/self-improvement book for 30 minutes before bed every night.

Total = 1.5 hours per day for an additional 10 hours per week.

#2. Stop Watching/Reading The News, Social Media, And Gossiping

This might include watching TV, surfing social media, meeting friends for coffee and gossiping/complaining. Eliminate those options (take social media off your phone/computer, cancel cable, focus on productive relationships, not those that complain and talk about others, eliminate drama from your life). I found that when I looked at my life, I would put my boys to bed at 8:30 and sit down on the couch to watch news/sports until 10PM and didn’t do anything productive. I cancelled cable and added 60 minutes of productivity to my evenings.

Total = 1 hour per day for an additional 5+ hours per week.

#3. Treat The Weekends Like A Work Day.

I’m not suggesting that you work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, but what if you work 2-4 hours each day on the weekend? Get up like it’s a weekday and work for 2 hours before your family gets up. Take turns with your spouse watching the kids so that you can focus on your life’s work and have family time. Or just work an extra day during the weekend.

Total = an additional 4-16 hours per week.

David Goggins (look him up) talks about the “40% Rule”; When you think you’ve reached your limit, you’re probably at about 40% of what you’re capable of achieving. Using that rule, the typical 40 hour work week (that most people think is their limit) makes me believe that we are probably capable of being productive 100 hours per week. Maybe that’s a little extreme for you, but if you take the total savings above you get a weekly 20-30 hours per week. This is enough time to not only start, but also run a business. If your partner is on board as well, you are easily looking at a total of 40 hours per week where you can develop an additional income stream that is equal or greater than the job that you are currently in.  

If you like these suggestions and want to have a plan to supercharge your life as you go into the New Year, check out Craig Ballantyne’s podcast on our show and get a free copy of his book “The Perfect Day Formula,” or his new book, “The Perfect Week Formula.”  If you’d like to learn how I used the Next-Level Income strategy to build a portfolio of passive income investments, go here to get a copy of our free book.