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May 2017 Income Reports Roundup

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Income Reports Roundup

There are so many great financial blogs on the internet that we all can learn from. All of them provide great advice and deserve some recognition. Andrew and I want to give that recognition by starting a new series highlighting some of the other financial blogs around the web. After some thought we decided that I should write these highlights around their latest income report (Some blogs are a month behind compared to when I post this article). These income reports show exactly how others are making money. Hopefully this will give you some amazing ideas on how you can expand your own little empire.

I want to highlight people from all phases of their financial freedom journey. This is why you will find big wigs like Pat Flynn and Michelle Schroeder on this list but you will also find lesser knowns such as Nadya from Living Off Cloud. I also want to show a wide variety of how people are making their extra money. You will read of people using affiliate marketing, dividend income, niche websites, and so on.

I look forward to updating this list every month for all of us to learn something new together. This list will not be the same every month as I might find a different blog with something new to share. As always, I am open to suggestions.

Oh yeah! Do not forget to keep up to date with Andrew’s Income report by reading his May 2017 Income Report!

Alright, enough with my rambling. On to the income reports!

Pat Flynn – Smart Passive Income – $102,915.99 (April 2017)

Compared to March, Pat had a rough month. He dropped from a $212,111.33 income in March to $102,915.99 in April. That sounds horrible but he explains that in March they launched two new online courses, Smart From Scratch and Power-Up Podcasting that gave their income a surge. In April, that surge settled and he is now back to normal numbers.

In April, Pat made most of his money from affiliate marketing such as Bluehost and Market Samurai. He also makes money through books sales, consulting, his podcast, niche sites. It looks like Pat has also made it into the software and WordPress theme development business as well. Just off of his Smart Podcast Player Licenses and the SPI Pro Them from StudioPress he made a whopping $12,706.32.

Pat really has diversified since I started following him a few years ago. Seeing what he is accomplishing really motivates me to diversify Wallet Squirrel!

Michelle Schroeder – Making Sense of Cents – $120,104.93 (May 2017)

I found Michelle’s blog about three months ago and check in on her updates a couple times a week. Michelle provides excellent content that highlights real life events allowing her readers from all walks of life to connect. Each month I check in for her income reports they have gone up and up. Sadly in May she broke that streak by bringing in $120,104.93 compared to $131,448.35 in April. This is still really impressive even if her numbers dropped slightly.

In May Michelle made just over half of her income from affiliate marketing such as Bluehost and Ebates. Another major income source is from her Making Sense of Affiliate Marketing Course. This course helps bloggers increase their income by tapping into their own blogs affiliate marketing potential.

Andrew and I have talked about creating a course ourselves but have not yet sat down together to bring that to life. Have you thought about creating one yourself? What is holding you back?

Stefan Sharpe – Millennial Budget – $11.06 (May 2017)

Stefan had an awesome May! He is our first of several income reports that focus on making extra money each money from dividends. Dividend income is special to us at Wallet Squirrel because dividends are at its roots. This is why Andrew started the blog a couple years ago.

Stefan was able to double his dividend income compared to his February report where he made $5.78. He made a killing after purchasing PAYX, Paychex Inc. This purchase brought in an extra $4.60 in May alone.

Keep up the good work Stefan! Learn more about what dividends are and dividend investing.

Investment Hunting – $47.58 (May 2017)

Now, to be fair, this is not an income or dividend report from Investment Hunting. This is his month four report on how his experiment with Lending Club is going. I thought I would share Investment Hunting’s story here because it is looking like a great way to earn some extra money. Lending Club is a lending network that is funded not by the banks but by regular people like you and I.

Investment Hunting started his experiment by investing $5,000 into people on the network. He had a really good month in May by getting a total of $158.38 back. This included receiving back $110.77 in principal and $47.58 in interest. Throughout the four months he has made $134.27 off of the interest.

Andrew has a great article on getting started with this unique way to invest, Lending Club Review, My Experience With Them.

Lanny and Bert – Dividend Diplomats – $275.54 (Bert’s May 2017)

Lanny and Bert are, “Two 20 something dudes who are blogging about #Investing, #Frugality, Passive Income & attempting to Reinvest Our Dividends to Financial Freedom!” Just like Andrew and I, they are two best friends that are striving for that ultimate goal of financial freedom.

This month Bert shares his dividend income summary for the month of May. He and his family (his wife contributes as well) made an amazing $275.54 in May. This is a 61.90% compared to May 2016 or a 14.41% increase if you take out his wife’s portfolio who hadn’t joined the cause yet last year.  Either way, this is some impressive growth!

Bert’s wife was the biggest reason for the enormous increase of income in May. We are only as strong as the woman next to us, right Bert? I must say, my wife helps out so much in the background so I can be a part of Wallet Squirrel for which I am so thankful for.

Keith Park – DivHut – $584.38 (May 2017)

Keith is another one of our featured dividend income gurus. All in all he had a very strong May 2017 compared to May 2016. He increased his dividend income by 11.3% compared to last year. This helped him rake in $584.38 just off of dividends. That is really impressive!

Overall in 2017 he has made $2,672.69 just off of dividends. This really goes to show you that dividend income can help bring in some extra income for your family. It seems like he has a really healthy curve of growth going. Let us all hope that this growth continues for Keith in the second half of 2017.

Keith shows that dividend investing can be very beneficial. If you are interested at getting started here is Andrew’s Dividend Investing Strategy.

Nadya – Living Off Cloud – $1,672.04 (May 2017)

Nadya is new on my radar for bloggers to follow. Her blog really caught my eye because of all the niche sites she manages. It is really impressive that she is able to keep up four niche sites. She does not name her sites by name but gives them a code name instead such as Elephant, Horse, Rat, and Honeybee.

What really intrigued me is that she does not make these sites from scratch like most people, she has purchased them! I did not notice this until I realized that she mentioned that she has just paid off the Elephant site after purchasing it. She was able to pay it off by using its own income. Way to go Nadya!

Overall she made $1,672.04 in the month of May. This income mainly came from her Elephant and Horse websites through Amazon affiliate and Adsense.

Check out some more Affiliate Marketing sites in Andrew’s, 50 Amazon Affiliate Website Examples article.

Sarah Brooks – The Frugal Millionaire – $2,716.75 (May 2017)

Like Nadya, Sarah is another new blogger on my radar. I really liked her site, it is very clean and well organized. The only thing that really annoyed me was that little ad at the bottom of the screen in the blog post that stayed with you no matter where you scrolled. I guess that might be why she made $356.09 just off of ads in May!

Sarah makes most of her income off of affiliate sales, totaling $2,232.70 in the month of May. This is very impressive as we do not come even close to that. It makes me wonder what Andrew and I can do to get Wallet Squirrel to that level. Well done Sarah! Keep up the good work!

Outcomes

I personally learned a lot from my research to find other bloggers to write about. Looking at what other people are do has me think about where I focus my energy when working on Wallet Squirrel. Lately I have been so focused on SEO items. Which is good and we are seeing massive organic traffic growth. Now I am thinking that I need focus on marketing and getting more people to the site.

Hopefully these income reports give you some more ideas on where real people are making more money and what the next steps are for your site.

Do not forget to take a look at our comprehensive list on ways to make more money in 2017.

Fluid App Review – Make Money Renting Your Stuff Out Instead of Selling It

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I stumbled upon the Fluid App also known as Fluid Market a few months ago after a friend, Matt Holmes of Handshaking.com, told me about it. It’s an app that lets you rent out your stuff for money instead of selling it. Since then I’ve been using the app and testing it for this Fluid App Review.

What is the Fluid App?

Fluid Market is a Start Up making some big waves in Denver. They have essentially created an online marketplace (through the app only) that people can rent items from other people.

Think Craigslist, but instead of selling your items, you rent them out for money. Or you can rent items you only need once, like a carpet cleaner, instead of buying one. This is what it looks like.

Fluid App Review Infographic of Screenshots

The idea being, if you only need an item once like you want to rent a scooter for the day. You can find one on Fluid, see how much it is per hour/day and contact the owner to rent it. You pay everything through the app so you’re not actually exchanging money with other people. Take that Craigslist!

My Experience Using the Fluid App

If you’re like me, you’re thinking “This looks like an awesome way to earn more money, but I don’t want other people damaging my stuff”. I was nervous too, I’ll admit that. Their $1 Million insurance policy helped me feel a little bit better, but still, it’s my stuff and I don’t want to deal with insurance hassles, so I started small for the Fluid App Review.

I searched around my 583′ square foot studio apartment for stuff that was valuable enough people would want to rent, but I didn’t mind getting banged up a bit. Not that it would, but again, I was hesitant.

The ONE thing I found was my Clothing Iron. I figured someone in the area may need a clothing iron, so what the hell.

I Downloaded the Fluid App and Created an Account

To start my Fluid App Review, I downloaded the app from the android store (it’s also on the Apple Store). At first, it was a bit slow and clunky. However, it’s gotten SO much better from what it was a couple months ago. Someone in their tech support is doing something right. Plus it’s a StartUp up, so I’m sure they’re constantly updating and improving it.

After downloading the app, I get a screenshot like this

Fluid App Review - Log In / Sign In Screen

It gives you the option to use an email or Facebook, I selected email only. I’m sure there’s a social component to the app that’s nice, but I just wanted to try it out. I didn’t want to message all my friends on Facebook about it.

Then I got that clunky loading screen (again it’s gotten a lot better!).

Fluid App Review - Loading Screen

Once in the app, you have categories on top and a random assortment of items below. I haven’t figured out how it chooses what items are on the home page. These are all the items you can rent. From each quick view thumbnail, you can get an idea of what items they have. Including the name of the item, photo, the cost per hour/day/week, the item’s rating and how far you have to travel to pick it up.

Fluid App Review - Items for Rent

If you click on an item, like the scooter I want to rent ($15 for the day!). You’ll get a more detailed description of the item and lender, along with additional photos, which really helps! At that point, all you have to do is scroll to the bottom and click “Check Availability” to rent it.

Fluid App Review - Scooter for Rent

How I Rented Out My Stuff On The Fluid App

So I had my Clothing Iron and I was ready to start renting it out. I go to the top left icon to see all their options, and select “Add Item”

Fluid App Review - Menu

Then I start filling in the info on what kind of Clothing Iron, add photos (either from your gallery or take them on the spot) and set my price. Once you add the category, you’re pretty much done. Anyone can add an item and it’s incredibly easy through the app. It took less than 5 min.

The Fluid App will take 20% of every transaction, they say this is to help pay for the insurance and upkeep of the marketplace. Keep that in mind when pricing your item.

The last thing you do is add how people are supposed to contact you about renting it out through “Pick Up/Drop Off” instructions. I asked them to email me, but you can have them call you as well. Do this in a public location like I talk about in How To Sell You Stuff On Craigslist.

FYI – No one can see your number or email until AFTER they have paid. That part is SO nice.

Fluid App Review - Clothing Iron Upload

Then I waited. So far, I haven’t heard from anyone about renting my clothing iron. Lol I guess it’s as useless to me as it is for anyone else.

If I do make any extra money from this, I’ll add it to my monthly income reports.

So now I’m looking at other items to try and sell on the Fluid App.

How To Rent From Other People On The Fluid App

This process is equally as easy. You select the item you want, hit “check availability” (in case it’s rented out already) and you’ll get a list of times in hours that you can rent it out for. Select how many hours you want it and that’s how it’ll calculate payment.

Then you submit your request and pay via credit card. There isn’t a paypal option that I’ve noticed during the Fluid App Review. It’s credit card only.

Afterward you get in touch with your lender to coordinate the pickup. Basically, the app just provides the marketplace of items to rent and the payment option, the rest is up to the renter and lender to coordinate.

Pros/Cons After The Fluid App Review

Pros

  • It’s a great way make extra money renting out your old stuff. You can make regular revenue off your old stuff rather than selling it once.
  • It’s a great way to try items before you buy them or likely only use once like a steam cleaner.
  • They have a growing marketplace of items. Every time I open the app, they have new items I can rent out.
  • People can only contact you AFTER they paid, so unlike Craigslist where I got multiple inquiries a week over the same questions from people who may or may not actually buy something. The Fluid App only gives the renters your info after they paid for the item. That is SUPER nice.

Cons

  • All the photos are of people’s unique stuff and people SUCK at taking photos. It lacks that crisp look because they are working with crappy photos. It just hurts the overall look of the app.
  • They are leaning heavily toward renting out high price items like cars. So it’s becoming similar like Turo in some ways which I’m not sure they wanted to do. I hope they continue to rent out the low priced items like extra pots and pans I could use for a large family brunch.
  • The Fluid App handles the marketplace and money exchange, but I still have to spend my time meeting with people for pick up/drop off. I wish there was an easier way.
  • It’s still a small “Denver” community to rent from, however I can see these guys growing, like big.

Don’t get disparaged about my Cons, I’m being pretty critical of the new start up, but I really am impressed by this company. In fact, I was so impressed by these guys during the Fluid App Review, for the fun of it, I checked to see if they were hiring. Who knows, if they do things right, it could be the next SNAP. So I submitted a quick resume to their marketing team. What the hell.

My IPO dreams were rapidly cut short the following day when Fluid’s HR team contacted me to say they were looking for someone with a little more “Rental Experience”. I guess my couple years in college renting out outdoor gear to students wasn’t enough. LOL it’s ok, I’m still a fan of the app.

Conclusion

This is a pretty exciting app that I hope grows because now I’m constantly looking for new stuff to rent out. It’s a really neat idea to make extra money. PLUS a sustainable revenue source if you have an item people really want to rent (bouncy houses, VR equipment, and cars are high demand items). What do you think of my Fluid App Review? Would you rent out any of your stuff?

Here’s me contemplating what to start renting out next. FYI that’s an electric scooter, totally bad ass I know. =P

Ebates Review – Why I Wish I Started This Two Years Ago

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Who does not love saving money? Ebates is the way to earn money back after your purchase. Learn from this Ebates review if the application is right for you!

Ebates Review – Why I Wish I Started This Two Years Ago

Three weeks ago, I received a message from my buddy Cameron over at SquirrelBox suggesting to do an Ebates Review. I initially scoffed because I DON’T NEED ANOTHER APP!

You, like me, have seen “Ebates” pop up on your social media and thought the same thing. So let me explain what Ebates is.

SPOILER: It’s awesome, and not just another app.

Ebates Review – What is it?

Ebates is an online company who partners with over 2,000+ stores (many popular stores you regularly shop at). Whenever you go to one of your favorite stores, like Amazon, from the Ebates platform and make a purchase. Amazon assumes you would have only visited their site because of Ebates and gives Ebates a 4% commission. Then Ebates passes on those savings to you, and gives you 3% cash back for your purchase.

Ebates is essentially an affiliate company that pays you to visit their site first before you start shopping.

My Experience Making Cashback with Ebates

I’m running the Bolder Boulder in 5 weeks and I need new shoes. I’ve used the same running shoes (type & size) the last 7 years, so I’m going to buy them online.

Here’s my process.

I go to Ebates.com and search for ASICS since I’m going to buy a new pair of ASICS from their online store. Sure enough, the ASICS store pops up and Ebates tells me right away that their partnership provides me 1.5% cash back on purchases. Cool!

Ebates Review - Asics Page

 

In addition, Ebates also has all of ASICS best deals right now. Also Cool!

Ebates Asics Page Deals

 

It doesn’t matter which deal you select, these are all just notifications. Any of them you select “Shop Now” will just send you over to the actual ASICS Homepage. You’ll see a loading screen like this.

Ebates Review - Sending Page

This entire process takes 30 seconds, now you’ll be on the ASICS page and anything you buy, you will make 1.5% cash back. Plus if you have the Ebates Chrome Extension like me, you’ll be reminded in the top right, how much you’ll save.

So as I look at my costly shoes, I’ll be reminded to of my 1.5% cash back on my $109 running shoe. So I’ll make $1.64 through Ebates on this purchase. I’ll make more since it’s my first purchase through Ebates and I used Cameron’s affiliate code (we’ll get to that in a second).

Asics Shoe Purchase

 

Remember, I use my 2% cash back credit card for everything, so I’ll gain an additional 2% off the purchase + plus the 1.5% from Ebates. Wahoo!

When does Ebates pay me?

Every time you make a purchase (like a new pair of ASICS), Ebates will hold onto your cashback rewards. The companies, like Amazon, ASICS, Walmart, pay Ebates and Ebates pays you, quarterly. So 4 times a year, you’ll receive a check from Ebates. This can also be PayPal or you can donate it to a charity or organization.

Here is their quarterly payout schedule:

Ebates Payout Schedule

If your account is less than $5.01, Ebates will roll that balance into next quarter’s payout. It just a lot of processing fees for them, so they do $5.01 minimum payouts. I can’t blame them for that.

 

If you’re thinking that my $1.64 is too small for a payout, I’m actually at $11.64 because I used a friend’s affiliate code and earned $10 extra dollars. Use my affiliate code for your $10 extra dollars.

PLUS any cashback you recieve from Ebates isn’t taxed because the IRS considers “cashback” as a “discount” to your purchase like coupons. That’s why when you sign up for Ebates, all you need is a email, password and address for them to send your “big fat check” (their phrasing), not tax forms for you to fill now.

How do YOU sign up for Ebates?

It’s easy, go to Ebates here and enter a quick email and password. No more info than that. It takes less than 30 seconds and you can start looking around their marketplace and checking out all their partnerships. You’ll only have to add your address once you’re ready to cash out.

Use my Affiliate Code!!!

If I’ve educated you enough about Ebates to at least check it out. PLEASE use my affiliate code. This way YOU will earn an extra $10 at payout and it gives us at Wallet Squirrel an extra $5 through their affiliate program, so we can pay for things like internet and electricity.

I would never recommend something unless I REALLY like it and I’m a fan of after this Ebates review. In fact, wish I started using it 2 years ago when I first started to really get into Online Shopping.

Sign Up Today For Your $10 Gift Card

I would have $68 if I started using Ebates 2 years ago.

I wish I did this Ebates Review 2 years ago when I first started Online Shopping. I know I’m a late bloomer. My parents told me that hackers would steal ALL my info and identity, so I was terrified. Since then I’ve learned how security works, feel more secure against Nigerian Princes and now LOVE online shopping!

In the last 2 years, on Amazon alone, I have spent $1,145.64 according to my purchasing history. So since Ebates has 3% cashback on Amazon.com. I could have made $34.36 from Ebates in the last 2 years!

Plus I spent nearly that much through Non-Amazon purchases. So if we apply the same 3% (it’s about average for Ebates), I easily could have made $68.73 in the last 2 years using Ebates.

I missed out on all this cash that I could have used to invest. Why didn’t I? Because I didn’t know how awesome saving money was, nor what Ebates was.

Conclusion

In the last week, I have realized what exactly Ebates is and their tons of partnership stores. This site is quite large and trustworthy at this point! Now with their Ebates Chrome Extension, I’m told how much cashback I can make at my favorite stores without even visiting the Ebates website.

I just wish I started this Ebates Review sooner and started making more cashback to start investing with.

To all my investor friends. It’s definitely worth a shot to earn some extra cash to start investing with.

Do you use Ebates?

8 Extremely Flexible Part Time Jobs For Us Grown Ups

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Whether it was in high school or in college most of us have had one or two flexible part-time jobs to earn some extra cash. For me, my first job was detasseling in the cornfields of Iowa. Then I moved onto being a lifeguard at the local water park for a couple summers.

The issue with most of these part-time jobs is they do not work out for us grownups to make some extra money to pay off debt. I wanted to pull in some easy to access part-time job that will work alongside your 9 to 5 full-time job.

My goal for this list is to tell you several flexible part-time jobs that are easy on your schedule and simple to jump right into.

Love to Interact With People? Work in Retail.

This might sound like a job for only those younger people but it is not. Sure there are a lot of teenagers and college students working in retail but there are plenty of grown adults as well. Personally, I have worked a lot of years in retail and it is a pretty good place to be for a part-time gig.

Back in college, I worked at a major department store where I actually met my wife. Later on, after college, I worked at a landscape materials company where I helped sell rock and design yards. The latest experience was because I was in transition between careers. I worked at a major sporting goods retailer here in Denver. This gave me the time to work on my master’s degree while providing for my family.

Working in retail is one of eight great flexible part time jobs for anyone who is looking to earn more money.

Working in retail is one of eight great flexible part-time jobs for anyone who is looking to earn more money.

Overall, I have just about seven years of retail experience. I found that the hours and time off needed were extremely flexible. The money is decent for what the job is. Working twenty hours a week might allow you to bring in an extra $800 a month.

Love Walking and Dogs? Try Dog Walking.

There are several apps out there that are basically the Uber for dog walking. You can pay someone to walk your dog OR you can get paid by some who will pay you! If you are like my wife and me, we enjoy going for a walk almost every day after work. So why not get paid for that walk? Hop on one of these apps, Wag! or Rover, to see if one of your neighbors needs help walking their dogs.

Bonus Points! Both of these apps are not just for dog walking. They allow you to pet sit as well!

Can you Write? Do Some Freelance Writing.

This is one that I do not have any personal experience with. My wife has been looking for some flexible part-time jobs for this coming summer. As an English teacher, I plan on recommending freelance writing to her. It will be great because freelance writing is easy to engage with once school is out and disengage once school is back in session. For me, I will hopefully get a good article out of her experience 🙂

Freelance writing is one of eight great flexible part time jobs for anyone who is looking to earn more money.

Freelance writing is one of eight great flexible part-time jobs for anyone who is looking to earn more money.

Michelle from Making Sense of Cents recommends starting out slowly with one gig at a time. A slow start will ensure that you can focus on that article to make sure it is the highest quality. The higher the quality articles you write, the more likely people will hire you for more. It helps to find a niche you enjoy writing about. If you are having fun writing then it is likely that your writing will be even better.

So how do you find these gigs? Michelle recommends checking out the ProBlogger job boards to find freelance gigs.

Have a Computer? Fill Out Some Surveys.

Look you are not going to get rich by completing surveys, take a look at Andrew’s review of surveying, No more survey apps, they just don’t pay well. You can make some decent money for your savings account every month though. Using Michelle from Making Sense of Cents as an example again, she made around an extra $100 a month from surveys. I do not think this is bad since all you have to do is sit back on the couch with your computer to fill these out.

Some of the more popular services are Swagbucks, Pinecone Research, American Consumer Opinion, InboxDollars, and Harris Poll Online.

Use Swagbucks to earn some extra money.

Use Swagbucks to earn some extra money.

Can you Drive? Drive for Uber or Lyft.

Uber and Lyft are the newish hip ways to catch a ride around your city. I really love these services as they provide a very easy and simple way to hale a ride. With a couple clicks on your phone and someone is on their way to pick you up.

These services have also become a great way to earn extra money with your own vehicle. With the extreme elasticity of setting your own hours, this is one of those flexible part-time jobs that can fit anyone’s needs. Since you set your own hours, you can make as little or as much as you would like being an Uber or Lyft driver.

Uber or Lyft are great ways to earn extra money on your own time.

Uber or Lyft are great ways to earn extra money on your own time.

I once took a ride from an Uber driver who use to drive a cab. She said that she loves working for the service. It provides her with a lot more flexibility. In turn, this allowed her to spend more time with her kids while making more money than she used to. I thought that was such an awesome statement for Uber.

Personally, I have never tried Lyft. Have you? If so, tell me about it in the comments section below. I’m curious to hear your thoughts.

Have a Pulse? Donate Plasma.

This was my part-time job back in college. Donating Plasma was one of my favorite flexible part-time jobs I have ever had. The hours were super flexible, the pay was great for what was entailed, and it was very easy. I donated plasma for over three years while in college. It provided just about $300 extra dollars for me a month while conforming to my crazy academic schedule as a landscape architecture student.

If you are interested in donating plasma check out my detailed write-up, How to Earn More Money – Donating Plasma.

Are you Crafty? Sell on Etsy.

Etsy is one of those flexible part-time jobs that are easy to jump into but does take some time to get established. I have sold a few photographs on Esty but never put the time into really establishing my shop (that is what they call your personal page). I have read that this can take a little while but can be totally worth the effort that you put forward.

Etsy allows you to sell your own crafts as a part time gig.

Etsy allows you to sell your own crafts as a part-time gig.

Similar to Uber or Lyft, you put time into Etsy whenever you can outside of your 9 to 5 job. The more you put into your shop, the more likely it will succeed. In the near future, I will be revisiting my Esty Shop trying to revive it and see what I can get out of it. It looks like I have some work to do as they reset my shop since I have last logged in. Stay tuned!

Good With a Camera? Sell Your Photography.

I absolutely love photography. Sadly, since moving to Colorado in 2011 my life has become WAY too busy to be able to put time into the craft. One way I have found to make a little money off of my photographs that are just sitting on an external hard drive is through stock photography.

Back in 2013, I decided to upload some random photos that I liked. Some were my favorite photographs of all time and some were just good. It turned out one of my random ‘just good’ photos that I took of the St. Louis Arch was really loved by people. This photograph has gone on to make me around $1,000! I only host this photograph on iStockPhoto and ShutterStock.

I have used stock photography to make true passive income for the past four years.

I have used stock photography to make true passive income for the past four years.

Stock photography is truly a passive income. I have not touched that photo on either service in that past four years. So fun!

Conclusion

If you are looking for some extra cash to help pay off debt then I recommend you try out any of these eight flexible part-time jobs. All in all these flexible part-time jobs are very easy to get started with. They will allow you to get started right away and earning more cash as soon as possible!

In case starting your own small business sounds like a better option you should read about these 50 Small Scale Business Ideas That You Can Start Today.

We have come up with a bigger list of Ways to Earn More Money. Most of these are not flexible part-time jobs. Rather this list has other experiences on how to make more money such as selling something on Craigslist.

A UserTesting Review By a Frustrated Applicant

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A UserTesting Review By a Frustrated Applicant

Let us start this UserTesting review at the beginning to give you some context what they do.

A glance as to what UserTesting does.

A glance as to what UserTesting does.

Basically UserTesting will do a comprehensive review of a company’s website.

UserTesting will have a “Company A” approach them saying, “Hey, we are not sure if our website is very good. Can you help?”

User Testing takes over by asking, “What are you worried about with your website?”

Now the “Company A” could say that they are worried about their navigation or is information is easy to find? These concerns are then transformed into tasks for a website reviewer to try out.

Enter the UserTesting website reviewer, what I was hoping to try out.

Everything done by the website reviewer is recorded by UserTesting’s on their application. This application records what the reviewer is saying as they talk through their actions, thoughts, and process. Also, the application records the screen movements and actions the reviewer performs. I’m not exactly sure what happens after the review is completed. I would assume that the company gets the responses and data after some vetting/cleaning up process. The video below explains the whole process in their words.

My Experience Starting Out

When I first heard about UserTesting.com about a month ago I was excited. I thought to myself, “Man, they are going to pay you a decent amount of money for 20 minutes of work to review websites? I’m in!”

Not only was I excited for the additional income but I was excited to learn.

For me, creating websites is a passion. Being able to review many different sites would have given me the opportunity to see what other people are doing right or wrong. Personally, I was the most excited to learn! Plus, I thought I could make an awesome UserTesting review for the readers of Wallet Squirrel.

Sign Me Up!

Fast forward to this past week. I was finally able to get started on my application to be able to review websites and start the UserTesting review.

View of the sign up page.

UserTesting Review: Sign-Up Page.

My adventure started off with excitement. To begin with, they ask everyone to try out a test review to make sure every applicant can speak clearly and has the right equipment set up. I hopped on their website where I submitted my email address to start the process. Once the email arrived I could click on a link provided to begin the sample test.

Email I received to start the process.

UserTesting Review: Email I received to start the process.

Sample Test

This link in the email takes you to a webpage where I could download their application. Once downloaded, I could follow the steps to get it installed. The initial process was super easy and simple. After completing the install, I hit the continue button which took me to the next page. Because most people are not sure what to expect, UserTesting provides a link to a previous applicant’s sample video. This was nice to have so I could get my bearings for my own sample test.

The initial process was super easy and simple. After completing the install, I hit the continue button which took me to the next page. Because most people are not sure what to expect, UserTesting provides a link to a previous applicant’s sample video. This was nice to have so I could get my bearings for my own sample test.

This was nice to have so I could get my bearings for my own sample test.

Testing out the microphone. It works almost to good.

Testing out the microphone. It works almost to good.

After taking a peak at the example, I hit “Launch Recorder” to have a go at it for myself. The application opens with a test for your microphone. Annoyingly there are more pop ups to go through before I finally got to where the application is recording. Reading the instructions, the first task is to watch a short two-minute tutorial video. This video is nice as it goes through the process with you and gives you some more tips on how to use the UserTesting Application. Once complete there are three questions to answer. These are simple multiple choice questions, so do worry much about them.

The application opens with a test for your microphone. Annoyingly there are more pop ups to go through before I finally got to record. Reading the instructions, the first task is to watch a short two-minute tutorial video. This video is nice as it goes through the process with you and gives you some more tips on how to use the UserTesting Application. Once complete there are three questions to answer. These are simple multiple choice questions, so do worry much about them.

Reading the instructions, the first task is to watch a short two-minute tutorial video. This video is nice as it goes through the process with you and gives you some more tips on how to use the UserTesting Application. Once complete there are three questions to answer. These are simple multiple choice questions, so do worry much about them.

Actual Tasks

Finally! After clicking through SO many pop-ups and windows, I made it to the actual sample tasks.

I landed on the National Air and Space Museum’s website to review. My first task is to find a map with a layout of the museum in DC. As I explore through the logical places for this layout map I talk through my process and thoughts about the task. Once the map was finally found and my thoughts shared, I get to click next for the second task.

The home page of the National Air & Space Museum Website.

The home page of the National Air & Space Museum Website.

The second task wanted me to find what holiday the Air and Space Museum is closed. With this task, I looked around the website some more. This one was a little more tough to find because of the overall structure of the site is goofy. But at last! I found it! I gave my two cents about the overall site structure and then moved on.

But at last! I found it! I gave my two cents about the overall site structure and then moved on.

Once the last task was complete, I could hit “Done” to stop the recording. Next there were a few written questions to answer such as, “What specifically made it easy or difficult for you to find what you were looking for?” I inputted a detailed answer for each one because of the higher the quality of your review, the more likely you are going to get more reviews.

After answering those questions the UserTesting application starts uploading the review.

Redo Part One

Excluding allpop-ups pop ups, this is where my UserTesting review started to take a turn for the worse.

It was not an hour later after submitting my first video that I got an email saying to redo my submission. As you can see this email is very vague as to why I had to redo my test sample. I thought, “Okay, maybe the room was too loud or I did not talk loud enough.” So, I sat down, made sure the room was shut tight, and cleared my throat. It took me about 15 minutes to finish this submission.

As you can see this email is very vague as to why I had to redo my test sample. I thought, “Okay, maybe the room was too loud or I did not talk loud enough.” So, I sat down, made sure the room was shut tight, and cleared my throat. It took me about 15 minutes to finish this submission.

My first rejection email.

UserTesting Review: My first rejection email. Notice how vague it is.

Redo Part Two

At dinner, I was all excited that I had not received a rejection email yet.

Sadly, this excitement did not last long though. As we were just cleaning the dishes another rejection email came in. I started to get a little more frustrated this time as it was the same vague email.

Determined to get my application approved I sat down, yet again, to do the test sample. This time I focused harder on what I was saying during my exploration. I tried to simplify my review and be more clear. After submitting it this time I got my hopes up. I thought I had it this time.

My first rejection email.

UserTesting Review: My second rejection email.

Redo Part Three

It was not till mid-morning the next day that I heard back with, yet again, another rejection email.

I was kind of angry at this point because I did not know what I was doing wrong. The silly rejection emails do not tell you ANYTHING.

 

My third rejection email.

UserTesting Review: My third rejection email.

I only wanted some direction as to what was I doing wrong. This would be the fourth time I was to do the test sample.

After looking around some more through the test sample I determined that I might be looking for the wrong map. I kept looking for the location map when they wanted the layout map. Knowing this I started the application all over again, for the fourth time, did I mention that part? Once done, I felt very confident that I would get it. I thought I would have an awesome article to write about making money by reviewing websites.

Sure enough, I was right. I was not completing the task right. If the emails were a little more detailed, the sample test might have only had to redone once instead of three times!

Finally, A Different Email

Later that evening, I was so happy to see a different email come in from UserTesting with the subject line, “UserTesting – Your application to UserTesting.” Thinking to myself, I thought, “Man, this has to be it! I did it! I did it!”

I open the email and all my hopes and dreams were crushed (might be over overdramatizing). The email said they have more applications than they can accept so they couldn’t invite me to join the panel.

The final rejection letter after figuring out what I was doing wrong.

The final rejection letter after figuring out what I was doing wrong.

Are you kidding me?!?!? I spent two days recording the sample test four times and just now I am hearing that they are not taking any more applicants. Why couldn’t they say this on their website? I couldn’t believe it. I was very angry at the company at this point.

via GIPHY

Okay, Adam, breath…it is okay.

Conclusion

To conclude the UserTesting review, this process was very frustrating. Though UserTesting has ironed out most of the experience there are still some major wrinkles that need to be smoothed out. For one, they need to provide better emails as to why something is rejected. I do not see why this would not be hard to do. From my understanding an actual person reviews the sample tests so why can’t they be a little personable.

Secondly, they need to close their application link if they are not accepting anymore applications! This made me upset when they pushed me to keep redoing my sample test just to tell me something they already knew, they weren’t taking anymore applications.

Please fix this UserTesting!  For me, it comes off as they do not care about their reviewers even though these people make up half of their business.

For me, it comes off as they do not care about their reviewers even though these people make up half of their business.

To give some positive feedback within this UserTesting review, they do have a very nice website. It makes signing up very easy. The application used to conduct reviews is very slick and simple (though there are a lot of popup windows to click through). They do make the process very easy to perform so anyone could conduct a review. Sadly, they have the smudge marks, listed above, that ruin the program for me.

via GIPHY

Other Reviews

Andrew and I are constantly reviewing different methods to earn more money. Head over to the Blog or our How to Earn More Money section to read more reviews. If you have any thoughts on something we should review shoot us a message.

3 Simple Ways to Ask for a Raise at a New Job

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Have a new job? Here are 3 simple ways you can get that raise before you even start. Help your personal finances by earning more money. #personalfinance #jobsearch #money

3 Simple Ways to Ask for a Raise at a New Job

Think about sitting down with your boss to ask for a raise. This can be a very nerve-racking experience. There are so many ways your boss can respond. He can laugh at your request. This question can set him off with anger. Or there you can get a simple, “No.” Now add let’s add some complexity to that thought of asking for a raise. Think about going to your future employer to ask for a raise when you haven’t even started the job yet. Who would do this right?

Personally, I highly recommend it based on an experience I recently had (read on for that story). I look at a built-in raise as a win/win situation for both parties. For you, there is a raise waiting for you just a few short months after starting. For your future employer, they get to look at this raise as almost a retention bonus. They know this extra incentive will increase the chances of you sticking around for that time frame.

Before the Meeting

All of three of these methods have some steps in common. Firstly, you should always write down and practice the pitch to your future employer. Never go into this meeting unprepared which leads to the second step. Do some research! You do not want to go to this meeting being asked a question that you are not prepared for. Research as to why you need this raise and what other companies are doing. Lastly, practice your pitch! Did I say that already? I cannot stress how important this is. Your future employer will wonder who they hired if you cannot put together sentences with strong answers to their questions.

Build in a Future Raise

There are times a company does not have it in their budget to provide a higher starting salary you asked for. When they tell you this news, do not freak out and say goodbye. Slow down a bit before you start looking elsewhere for a new position but rather continue the conversation with your future employer.

pexels-photo-273011

Have a raise built into your contract for a later date.

You will want to talk about is the possibility for a future raise. Discuss the timing and what works with their budget. Maybe their fiscal year is over in three or six months from when you start. You could get it written on your starting contract that you would receive this raise when the next fiscal year begins.

Idea: Mentally prepare yourself for how far out this raise could come. They might not have the money to give you a raise for a full twelve months. When you ask for a raise, try to be assertive to get that time frame shorter but do not be aggressive. You do not want to insult your future employer by starting your tenure with a sour taste.

Performance Benchmarks

I will keep this method short and sweet for you. Some positions out in the working world are very performance orientated. Some examples would include sales or even law. A lawyer could state that if they when a particular number of cases that they would be in line with a higher base salary. Or an insurance salesman could ask for a raise to be built in if their margins hit 10% above average.

Idea: Before heading into the interview do some prep work. This prep should consist of researching what the benchmark should be. Do not come to the meeting just with what the benchmark but you should also be prepared as to why the standard should be set where you set it.

Completion of School

With this method to ask for a raise, I had a personal experience with. It worked out well for my family and me.

Back in 2015, I started a new career venture by starting my masters in software development and programming. In 2010 I received my bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture. Honestly, I should have gone into the IT world right out of high school but that is alright. Landscape architecture gave me some amazing experiences such as taking me around the country and world. It also is how I met two of my best friends, Andrew and Tristan.

Moving on from this past and onto my future in the IT world. I planned on work in my retail position while I finished my master’s degree at DU. Once I finished the program I would go out to the real world to grab a new high paying job. As plans usually go it did not go as, well, planned. Actually, everything went better than I planned. A couple terms into my degree I had the opportunity to apply for a job at a local university here in Denver. After the interview process, I landed this position.

pexels-photo-267885

Set a raise to be built in after you graduate school.

This was an amazing opportunity that I was given. This meant a lot to our family financially. It allowed us to save for a down payment on a home which is a challenge here in Denver. We have also become more aggressive on our car and student loans though not aggressive enough for my liking.

When negotiating the salary for the new position I got my starting salary right in the middle of the range they were willing to pay. I thought this was a win, especially since I did not have any experience. The key aspect of the contract was we negotiated in an automatic 10% raise. This raise would come when I registered for my last term in my master’s program. This raise took my salary at the top end of the initial range they were willing to pay. I was very happy especially since raises that big is basically unheard of at the university.

Idea: Your future employer might want to see your transcript when you ask for a raise of this type. Mine did. So be prepared by getting that printed off beforehand.

Conclusion

If one of these three “ask for a raise” methods will work for you, then go for it! For me personally, it was reassuring to know that I was going significant raise within six months of starting my new raise. This was especially reassuring after I got to know the company more and realized that raises like mine rarely happen.

The toughest part is getting over those nerves to ask for that raise. I completely understand those nerves. I mean, you haven’t even started the job yet and you are already asking for a raise. Trust me though, it is not that hard. Just remember to do your research to make a solid case. The worse that can happen is your future employer says no. At least you will have an answer with no regrets.

The Achievement App Review – How to Earn More Money in 2018

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Being outdoors participating in many different activities is one of my favorite things in life. This is one of the biggest benefits of living in Colorado, I can be active outdoors year-round. I have all of the gear. The running shoes, the fitness watch, the bike, the skis, the backpacking gear, and so on. I am set when it comes to playing outside. Today, together, we explore how to earn more money in 2018 with the Achievement App. We will look at the in’s and out’s of the application to decide if it is right for you.

Side note: I absolutely love my fitness watch from Garmin. It is a little pricey but allows me to track ALL of these activities when most do not. Plus, I can still wear it to business meetings after switching to the metal band. Alright, sales pitch over now back to your regularly scheduled program.

The issue I have is the lack of motivation to get up in the morning to work out. I think a lot of people would agree with me. No matter the time of day, it is tough to get that motivation. If this was not the case there would be too many David Hasselhoffs and Pamela Andersons running down the beach in slow motion. Well, how do we get help for more motivation? Enter the Achievement App.

What is it?

The Achievement App allows you to earn money from your fitness adventures. This includes walking, running, biking, hiking, and so on! Every activity you record the application rewards you with points depending on how intense and long it was. The people over at the Achievement App have even thrown in some curve balls as to how you can earn points. These include logging your foods on MyFitnessPal or tweeting healthy thoughts on Twitter. My favorite one though, they will reward you for sleeping!

In total there are 27 apps (Their website says 40+ but I only count 27 in the Apps pages) you can sync your Achievement app to in order to earn more points. These are not obscure apps either, they include very popular and well-developed applications so most people can get connected. These applications include the UnderArmour Fitness suite, Garmin Connect, Jawbone, Fitbit, Apple Health, Foursquare, Twitter, and so much more!

Why do they do this?

You must be asking, “Why are they doing this?” Achievement has partnered with several health research companies who in turn make the rewards possible. With every 10,000 points, you earn they will pay you $10. According to their website, “There’s no limit to how much you can earn.” So to simply put it, they are paying you for your data so they may sell it to research companies.

Some people might find it scary that researchers are going to be looking at your data and it is a lot of data! I completely understand your hesitation. The Achievement App does not disclose a lot of information about this part of the process. It would be nice if they answered a series of questions such as…Who is doing buying this data for research? What are they researching? Is there any personal information they look at such as names? I couldn’t find any answers to these questions within their Terms of Service agreement. Let me know if you do find anything. Achievement does have 1,000,000 users but I would suspect that they could have more if they answered the above questions.

My Thoughts

I love the application they have designed. It is clean, simple, and efficient. Syncing up other applications to it for tracking is a very easy process. Within a couple minutes, I had my Garmin, Twitter, and MyFitnessPal accounts all linked up. They do not have a dedicated Android application yet but the web application is so well designed I did not even notice.

Update (8/15/2017): Achievement has come out when an Android application since I first wrote this review. Check it out here.

Unfortunately, this is where the positive feedback ends.

My main issue is it takes A LONG time to earn 10,000 points. I can go for a for a long bike ride and earn only 51 points. On average I walk 7,000 steps which get me about 20 points. That is only 0.2% of the total goal!

Another issue for me is the inconsistency of the point rewarding. I can go for a mile long warm-up run and earn eight points. After the run, I complete a 53-minute long Insanity session and earn only six points. Now we know Insanity is A LOT more intense than a mile long run so it should be worth more points. At first, I thought maybe it was the lack of data compared to the run. So I started wearing my heart rate monitor to provide more data but nothing changed. This lack of consistency is really discouraging especially after an intense workout.

Yet, Another Update (8/15/2017): I feel like this still is true. I am seeing weird point distrubutions for similar activities.

Conclusion

All in all, I think the Achievement App is an interesting way on how to earn more money in 2018. If you are very active you might earn enough to take your wife out to lunch (I do not think you will earn enough for dinner). For me, seeing the points creep up at first was very motivating but then I realized how slow it was going that extra boost of motivation started to disappear.

To put it in a monetary perspective. According to Achievement’s website, they have paid out over a half million dollars so far! That is a lot of money! Let’s do some math before you get too excited about that number though. As mentioned earlier, the Achievement App has a million users, that means an average user has only earned fifty cents. That is it.

Overall, I think they have more work to do to make this application a viable way on how to earn more money in 2018.  They need make this application more consistent with how it awards points.

Also, I believe they need to make the point earning a tad bit quicker. Maybe that aspect is just me but I joined Achievement back in December 2016. Over the past three months, I haven’t even hit 2,000 points yet!

Final Update (8/15/2017): I have had a very busy summer between hikes, bike rides, daily walks, and so on. I am still only 3,391 points! Even though this is frustrating, the next paragraph is still true.

I do have to remember, I do not have to do anything that I do not normally do to earn these points. It is truly passive income with Achievement collecting data from data that I already collect myself. Now I am getting paid for that data, even though that dollar sign is very small.

How to Earn More Money in 2018

Now you know a little more about way #73 to earn more money with the Achievement App. Head over to our Ways to Make Money list to check out other ways how to earn more money in 2018! We will continue to try out and review these ways throughout the year for you. If we are missing something on the list and you want to have us review it shoot us an email or tweet (@WalletSquirrel)!

Cheers!
-Adam

How to Earn More Money – Donating Plasma

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Introduction

Hello Everyone! Before I get to today’s main way to earn more money, donating plasma, I wanted to introduce myself. As a lot of you already know from Andrew’s introduction of me from his post last week, I am Adam. If you didn’t see his introduction, go check it out now. It is a really good read! Don’t worry, I won’t go anywhere, I’ll still be here when you get back.

You back? Great! I hope you enjoyed that article as much as I did.

Anyways, back to what is important, me! As I’ve already mentioned, I am Adam, the newest and greatest (shhh don’t tell Andrew) contributor to Wallet Squirrel. I am very excited to work alongside my best buddy Andrew making great content for you while learning in the process.

My goals here are to learn more about becoming financially free and to become that. My wife and I have a lot of debt (car, student loans, and house) that we want to break free from. I want to include you in on this journey to paying off our debt!

A little about me. I am married and we have a four month old. We also have two dogs, a lab-retriever and a husky. Living in Denver, Colorado allows our little family to do what we love the most, spend time in the mountains. We love to hike, climb 14ers (Mountains above 14,000 feet in elevation), and to camp. One of my favorite hobbies is photography so you will be seeing several posts from me about it and how you can make money with your camera. Be excited!

Earn More Money With Photography

A little self promotion of one of my photographs

 

I guess I’ll stop rambling and get to what you are really here for. Way #72 to earn more money by donating plasma.

Earn More Money – Donating Plasma

A lot of people cringe at the thought of having a 12 gauge needle moving towards their arm. I don’t blame them, it can be a very nerve racking process. Especially when a trainee would come to stick you but most weeks the experience was great. I am here to walk you through the donation process to help ease those nerves.

Back in college donating plasma was my main income for a few years. Twice a week one of my roommates and I would go to Biolife Plasma in Ames, Iowa to donate plasma. Typically we would earn between $50 to $70 a week for our plasma and time.

So let’s walk through what my typical visit was like. Keep in mind, I have experience with only one facility and your local donation center might vary.

When I initially started I had to take a physical to make sure I was fit enough to donate. This is not a traditional physical that you get at the doctor, so do not worry about that. It takes about an hour to complete between all of the paper work, the million and one questions they ask you, as well as the general physical health checkup they perform. The physical needs to be repeated every year, which was my least favorite part of the experience. Not because it was hard or anything like that, it was just really annoying.

Now that the initial physical is complete and I was approved the rest of the visits were easy. I would walk through the front door and sign in at the front desk. This included answering a bunch of questions on a computer. Some examples are. Have you visited certain countries within a particular time frame? Were you sick recently? Did you donated blood recently? Then I would go sit in the waiting room for a little bit. A nurse would call my name to check my temperature, blood pressure, and verify so other items. If I had too high of temperature or blood pressure I could not donate for the day. If I passed, the nurse would take me back to the donating beds.

Once back there and settled in, a technician would come to stick my arm so the donation process could start. This is the part most people cringe about, don’t worry about it. These technician do go through a thorough training process. Out of the three years I donated, only a few sticks did not go too well.

Earn More Money - Donating Plasma

Technically this photo is of someone donating blood but looks very similar to the plasma donation process.

After getting hooked up I was able to relax during the donation process for the next thirty to forty-five minutes. This is when I would read/study or watch a movie. I really enjoyed this part of the donation process as you were literally forced to relax. When done and unhooked, I went to check out, sign up for my next donation time, and get paid! The whole visit took about an hour and a half.

Payment wise, Ames was a smaller market so we only got $50 to $70 a week for the donations. We were limited to two donations a week each time. They would pay $30 for the first time and $40 for the second visit. Some bigger cities paid a lot better. It was rumored that people in Kansas City were getting $130 a week!

Conclusion

For anyone with a few extra hours in the week and looking for more money I highly recommend checking your local plasma donation center. This is a fairly easy way to gain some extra income. It is mostly a painless process that allows you to get other work done during the process. If I missed anything about the process or you have a story about your own experience, give a comment below.

Now that you know a little more about way #72 to earn more money, donating plasma. Head over to our comprehensive list to check out other ways you could earn more money in 2017! We will continue to try out and review these ways throughout the year for you. If we are missing something on the list and you want to see us review it shoot us an email or tweet (@WalletSquirrel)!

Cheers!
-Adam

Holy Crap! Interest Checking Accounts are a Thing

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Until two years ago I didn’t know there were such a thing as an Interest Checking Account. I had a standard Wells Fargo checking account for 12 years making me zero money. Literally zip, so imagine my surprise when I discovered there are checking accounts out there that pay you interest like a savings account.

What is an Interest Checking Account?

It’s essentially a regular checking account You can write checks, use debit cards or withdraw from ATMs but while your money is in the account, you’re earning interest like a savings account.

Interest Checking Account

Regular Checking Account vs. Interest Checking Account

How much can you earn in an Interest Checking Account?

It isn’t much, but better than zero. I have an account with Ally Bank and my Interest Checking Account makes 0.10% interest. To give you an idea. I keep around $4,000 in my checking account at all times. $2,000 is

To give you an idea. I keep around $4,000 in my checking account at all times. $2,000 is for my emergency fund and $2,000 for my monthly expenses. So that’s $4,000 sitting in my account making about 0.38 cents per month. See my Income Reports to see how it changes per month.

It’s not much, but over the last year, my Interest Checking Account made $3.66. That’s what I entered on my taxes last week.

My Personal History

Now $3.66 is more than I made on my Wells Fargo Checking Account, EVER! Keep in mind, I don’t mean to hate on Wells Fargo, but they simply never told me an Interest Checking Account was a thing.

They were like the cool kids in every high school (likely named Chazz). You wanted to hang out with them, even though you knew you they were dicks and there were better friends out there.

At Wells Fargo, if my checking account ever made interest, they kept it. Even my Wells Fargo Saving Account at 0.01% was earning less than my current Interest Checking Account. If I kept my $4,000 in Wells Fargo Savings Account for a year, I’d be left with $0.40 at the end of the year. THAT’S THEIR SAVINGS ACCOUNT!

Do a lot of Checking Accounts earn you interest?

Actually, most checking accounts I’ve encountered do not earn you interest. This is why I was so surprised when I discovered there are a few that do.

Many of my friends have a balance similar to mine with $4,000 in their account and some of my friends have up to $60,000 sitting in their checking account because they don’t know what to do with it. If you have that much, you should move it over to a savings account at least and hire a financial manager. I get the fear of the stock market, but there is no reason to keep that much in a checking account, especially not making you interest.

Conclusion

I’ve been wanting to do this post for a while now. It’s cool to share with people, who like me, didn’t know about Interest Checking Accounts. They exist! It’s not a lot of money, but it all adds up!

PS. I’m in no way sponsored by Ally Bank here. This is just my personal experience so far and if they start to F*!k up, you’ll hear about it

I hope I taught at least one person something new!

Naming Force Review: Make Money Naming Start Ups

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Naming Force is a website that runs naming contests for up and coming companies/start-ups looking to generate a creative name for their company. I’ve been testing this website for the last month to see what it’s about, so here is my Naming Force Review.

What is Name Force?

NamingForce.com solves a problem. When a company doesn’t know what to call themselves, they’ll run a naming contest. A new company will post a description of what they do and some keywords they feel describe their company. They do this by setting a reward, typically $100 – $200 for a winning name. Then the Name Force community will submit various names based on company descriptions.

At the end of the naming contest (usually lasts a week). The company is required to select one winner and the you’ll receive the $100 – $200 reward. Simple.

My Experience

Setting up an account was easy and they offered videos on how to navigate the various contests but I skipped those. However in hindsight, I recommend them. They would have been very beneficial as I was confused starting off.

Keep in mind, after registering, you’ll have a 3 day waiting period before they let you start submitting to contest and you’ll only be allowed to 2-3 entries per contest. You start off as a “Private” (yes, they follow military terms for seniority). The longer you’re on the platform, you’ll move up and gain access to more contests with more entry opportunities.

Once in themarketplaceace you’ll see a list of contests with the cash prize on the left and the amount of submitted names on the right:

Naming Force Review - Contest Menu

Naming Force Review – Contest Menu

Select a contest and check out a paragraph description of a company. That’s all you get. You’ll be given a small description of what they do and what makes them unique. Then you’re asked to create a name.

Keep in mind, they usually want a name that isn’t trademarked and has an available .com domain. So what I did, was come up with names that have an available domain. Usually, these names aren’t copyrighted since no one has bought their website domain.

To check if a name has a “.com” website domain, I used GoDaddy to see available website domains.

Go Daddy Research

Contests:

I did about 5 contests total. Here is one example:

Contest Description “We are a brick/mortar organization that helps companies create reviews for their company and/or products” They mentioned they were a tech company but that was the general gist.

I hopped on GoDaddy and spent 20 min finding some great names for this company with that slim description. I narrowed down the choices to two and submitted them on the form at the bottom of the contest page, which looks like this.

Naming Force Review - Name Submission Form

Naming Force Review – Name Submission Form

Naming Force Review Pros:

It’s easy to sign up and anyone can enter a contest, potentially earning $100 – $300 if your name is selected.

Plus it allows you to be creative on your own time. Each contest last about a week or two, so you have some time to think about your names.

Naming Force Review Cons:

It’s really hard to win. In the marketplace, it shows you how many other names have been submitted. At a minimum, it was around 600 names per contest. So you’re competing with many other great names for a prize, and there can only be one winner. I personally don’t like 600 to 1 odds. If that’s the case, I’ll go back to playing lottery tickets.

Conclusion:

A month later, I never won. Not one contest. I feel I had some awesome names but they must not have struck a chord with the reviewers and that’s what matters. So in total, I did 5 contests at an average of 20 min each. I spent 1 hour and 40 min for nothing. It was slightly exhausting because I put a lot of thought into each name and none of them won.

I do not recommend this site as a way to earn money. My Naming Force Review revealed that it’s just not a consistent return for your time. You could easily continue to submit names for a year and still never win.

On the other hand, if you’re a start-pp, this is a great opportunity to get some awesome name ideas. This is a marketplace full of creative people with a history of naming companies. They’re willing to do the research to find creative names with available domains and trademark free brand names. You will pay $100 and get an average of 600 name submissions. You’re essentially paying around $0.17 per name within a 1-2 week turn around. The companies getting the names are the real winners in this deal.

Have you tried this, did you win? I would love to hear from someone who won because it’s a cool idea but sadistically frustrating to creative people who lose.