p align=”center”>
So having landed another freelance writing gig starting in July, my income from writing sources alone will top out at about $137 per week. This officially locks it in as a source to give 1/5 of my income threshold ($32,000). I’m not gonna lie, I’m excited at the prospect, but that means there’s a whole other 4/5 to fill up before I can even hope to think about quitting my day job. I’d like to stay mobile if possible and so much of my focus has remained in online ventures. Here’s what I have so far and what I’m considering..
- Remote Customer Service Work: I’d really prefer not to have to pay for health benefits out of pocket. It’s expensive and a huge obstacle to leaving the 9-5. One possibility would be acting as a virtual call center agent part time, somewhere with health benefits, which assuming $15.00 per hour pay would fill up $300 a week in income, or about half of my needed income. I talk on the phones most of the day at my current job in Financial Services, and that background would serve me well here. There are a number of potential places to work for, but my two top candidates would be VIPdesk and GE.
- Niche Sites: Our niche site portfolio has continued to heat up, but it’s not at a point where I can rely on it to produce the needed $24.16 per day. Of course given that we earn money 7 days a week…that knocks it down to $17.26 needed per day. It’s not there yet, but given our gains in recent months I’m confident we can hit the mark.
- Beekeeping: If it sounds like something out of left field and totally unorthodox, it is. I’ve been looking to volunteer with my older brother, who currently volunteers as a beekeeper for fun in a local garden in Philadelphia. They don’t sell honey commercially, but they do make a few thousand dollars each year selling fresh honey to garden visitors. A small operation could be manageable, as bees are surprisingly resilient little creatures, and need little to no maintenance in winter months. I’m working out the number on terms of how many hives we would need to produce enough honey to sell and make it as a 1/5 job, and I’ll keep you posted as we iron things out.
- Investment Income: I currently have a dividend-focused income producing portfolio that’s outside my normal retirement savings. As of now it’s only a few thousand dollars strong, but I use it to create an income stream at some point in the future. In the mean time all dividends are reinvested and when I come across windfalls, much of it will be dedicated to debt with a token amount thrown to this fund as well. In order to produce enough income to support a 1/5 job, I’d need a good chunk of change if I want to preserve the money’s value. By current estimates, $150,000 or so. That’s a lot, but not mind-blowing, and I think I can work up to it.
Not a bad list, and a lit of progress has been made, but still not ready for that leap! Alternate income clocked yesterday at $14.67.