Did you ever have a lemonade stand, babysit, mow yards, or hold garage sales of your things when a child?  At an early age, most of us find that we want to find ways to make our own money that we can spend as we desire. We also learn that the ability to make money is dependent on certain factors like skill, talent, education, experience, and resources.

It boils down to everyone is their own business, offering their talents, skill, education, and experience to employers who are willing to pay what we believe is a fair exchange for our time to lend our brand to their enterprise. However, as time goes on, there is an issue of wanting to increase that pay scale with merit increases,

What are you doing to enhance your brand to be worth more money to your employer or to be promoted?

Investing in you, as a business, means either more education in your field, an advanced degree, possibly experience with a new technology or industry, or even moving to another part of the country where more opportunities abound.  Yet, often these paths also require more revenue to follow them.

Here are a few ways to consider adding some revenue:

• Freelance – offer to do things on nights and weekends
• Tutor –  assist young students with learning or adults with subjects that you are confident in helping
• Sell Stuff – collect items that you no longer need or want to trade for something different and post them online
• Coach – offer your athletic skills to competitive clubs or youth programs