Lazy Man and Money

Five Reasons Side Gigs Aren’t Just for Freelancers

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According to a CareerBuilder.com survey, in recent years, 20 percent of full-time workers have picked up a second job. Since the economic crisis in 2008, more and more people are seeking side income to avoid falling at the mercy of corporate layoffs. Today, diversifying your income is a good idea even if you do have a full time salary that covers your needs. From greater financial security to a more rounded resume, here are five ways locking down an extra source of cash can go a long way.

1. You’ll build greater financial security

A second study by CareerBuilder.com found that 42 percent of full-time workers usually or always live paycheck to paycheck just to make ends meet, making it difficult to save for the future let alone enjoy the present. Whether you turn your spare room into a B&B or you start a dog sitting business on weekends, earning extra cash off of assets you already have will lift the weight of worrying about every dollar spent and help you save responsibly for your future.

[Editor’s Note: I can give you a ton of information on dog sitting having hosted nearly 150 “dog days” (number of dogs times the number of days.]

2. You’ll be more marketable

Building a career is, in essence, incumbent upon the ability to hone a skill that makes you valuable and hopefully indispensable to an employer. Therefore, the more new skills you acquire, the more opportunities you have to be indispensable. And the easiest and most economical way to acquire a new skill is to learn it on the job.

By diving deeper into skills you already have — like learning to use new data analytics software — for a side job, you will be better apt to get a new job (if you are looking) or to bring more to the table at your primary job, which could earn you a promotion. Plus, the balancing act that comes with working multiple gigs will help you prioritize and manage your time better.

3. You’ll save more

People are more likely to save a tax refund than they are to save that same amount of money when they’ve earned it in smaller increments throughout the year’s worth of paychecks. Similarly, money from a side gig — because it’s separate from your standard paycheck — has a better chance at finding its way into retirement savings or other investments. You might find that having a steady stream of income separate from your paycheck helps you to better compartmentalize and commit to your saving strategy or debt pay off.

4. You’ll build a better professional network

Getting a freelance writing gig in addition to my full time job ultimately primed me for more writing opportunities, which enabled me to form a full-time freelance career. By maintaining several side jobs at once, I was able to multiply the number of good professional references and contacts in a shorter period of time. Furthermore, many companies like to test out employees on a part-time or freelance basis to make sure they are a good fit before offering them a full-time job. Getting a side job with a company or organization you like or aspire to work at can be a good way to get a job there in the future.

5. You’ll make friends and get free perks

A friend of mine wanted to get her yoga teacher training certification. Instead of shelling out $2,000 on a training program, she offered to work the front desk at the studio near her apartment, where she took classes several times a week, in exchange for the certification. I’ve known people who have gotten similar perks from working at running and surf shops as well. Working at a place where people share similar interests can also open you up to a broader network of people who share your interests — a great option if you move to a new city and are looking to make friends.

Overall, having a side gig puts you in better control over your finances. Whether you are saving up for retirement or for a big vacation, the odds are always more in your favor if you have several ways of getting there.

Improve Your Health, Improve Your Income: Why Happy People Earn More

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A reader, Ben, sent this as a guest post. I identified with it immediately. I’ve found that as I improve one area of my life, other areas seem to fall in place. It’s one of the main themes at Be Better Now.

We all have that person in our lives we love to hate. They are the ones who have it all. They have the nice house, the beautiful wife and worst of all, they are always smiling. New research is finally indicating what we already know; happy people earn more. Why is it that happy people are not only lucky enough to be happy, they earn more to boot? The reason is that the two go hand in hand. If you want to make more this New Year, try to improve your overall health and happiness, it will have a positive effect on your pocketbook and career as well. These are the six reasons that being happier will help you be more financially successful.

1. You will be more productive

When people are happy, they have much more energy. The reason that depression is called “depression” is because when someone is unhappy, it puts them in a depressive state. That makes everything they do less productive. In fact, a study done at the University of Warwick found that happy people are on average 12% more productive than those who aren’t happy. Being productive will lead you down the path to more opportunities and better career growth.

2. You won’t miss work due to illness

Happier people tend to be more healthy overall. Research at Illinois Wesleyan University found that, on the average, happy people spent 15 days less out sick during the year than those who reported themselves as being “unhappy.” Even more, they lived up to ten years longer than those who were perpetually unhappy. Improve your happiness, improve your health, it really is that easy.

Of course, being happy isn’t always easy. Sometimes we all need some help. Don’t be afraid to see your doctor and get medication if you think it will help. If you get a prescription for what might be best for you, you might save some money by ordering online from 90 Day Meds.

3. You will be more optimistic

There is nothing that can tank any career quicker than a “Negative Nelly”. Being negative about your future, financing, and your chances for success, create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not only do people who are negative not take the chances necessary to excel, when there are opportunities available, but they also don’t notice them or take advantage of them. Not feeling in control of their own destiny, negative individuals don’t generally rise to the top.

4. You will build better relationships and networks

Any smart businessman knows that being successful is all about networking and business relationships. When someone is happy, they are more likable. That makes others want to be around them. When someone is not fun to be around, they are more likely to be passed up for a promotion, or not invited to hang out on potential networking building opportunities.

Happy people are also more liable to receive better performance reviews and to be viewed favorably by their cohorts and managers. Working better with others, being happy can make you more popular, personally and professionally.

5 You will like yourself more

When you are happy, you are more likely to invest in yourself and believe that you are worthy of good things and praise. Taking care of yourself, happy people are more liable to work out, to take better care of themselves, and to ask for promotions and opportunities believing themselves worthy of them. When you are happier, you are more willing to put yourself, and your own success, above others. That is key to a positive financial future.

6 You will be a part of making things better not worse

We all know that cancer in the office. The employee that is never happy and never has anything positive to say about anyone or anything. It is not helpful to point out a problem unless you are willing to be a part of the solution. If you want to be happier and healthier, it is important not to sit and wallow in what you see wrong, or injustice. Happy people are more willing to work to change those things they don’t agree with or to find resolution instead of finding misery merely talking about it.

If you want excel in your career and your life, it is important to be happy. Your mental status is highly correlated to your physical one. Happy people are not only more wealthy, but they also enjoy a better quality of life and live longer. Instead of worrying about putting in overtime and making yourself miserable, focus on happiness this New Year to create change in your life and your finances.

My 2015 Finances Reviewed: Blogging/Income

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[This is the third part of My 2015 Financial Year in Review. You can read more of my financial picture at that link as I publish more articles.]

I’ve had a lot of challenging years in blogging, but 2015 was my most challenging. Like the other reviews of my financial life, this is going to sound really negative. If you stick with it until the end, you’ll see the positive though.

I’ll start by getting some of the nasty stuff out the way.

The Lawsuits

Legally, my LifeVantage/Protandim Statement is all that I can say. There’s a reason why bolded the following, “I simply could not afford the cost of defending the lawsuit any further. Because of the personal expense that further litigation would have entailed, and for no other reason, I have reached a settlement with LifeVantage.”

Freedom of speech is expensive. It can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in a legal defense. I learned that wealthy people and companies can dictate individual’s freedom of speech simply because of this reality. I’m not sure the creators of the 1st amendment really intended this to be the case with the judicial system, but in my experience that’s where we are today.

I suppose I could have represented myself at my own cost. I don’t think the legal system is designed to make that a fair method of dispute resolution. After all, here’s a real life 7-minute conversation of two sides trying to figure out if someone knows what a photocopier is.

Imagine if you got in an argument with Lebron James and the way to resolve it was by playing him one-on-one and winning. That path isn’t likely to lead to success. That’s what I feel like it would be representing myself in an environment that is devoid of anything approaching common sense.

As I was finishing up with that settlement, I got word that I was being sued again.

This time a water purification company is suing me for writing what amounted to a Yelp review. You can make your own assessment if there is anything in there that would even seem illegal, but I felt like I was simply telling a personal story of what happened when I tried to get purified water when our county alerted us to a possible issue. The additional information I found was as accurate as I could find.

I had communicated with the company VP soon after I wrote the article and they didn’t express any concerns about the content. Eighteen months later they seem to have changed their opinion. The only thing that I can think of that has changed is that Google has decided it is a very good article about that company. If that’s really the reason for the lawsuit (as I suspect), I can understand why they’d be unhappy. In this case, I didn’t like the sales method, but I did praise the company’s products.

I asked my lawyer what the difference is and he said that typically companies don’t sue over bad Yelp reviews. If someone is sued over a bad Yelp review, they typically would simply delete the review and eat at a different restaurant in the future. As a consumer advocate, I feel that I have to meet a higher standard to not delete helpful information. I owe it to readers like you.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t attempt to express any concerns to me before filing the lawsuit. That’s not what I would I have expected from a responsible company, especially since the lines of communication were already open. In our last conversation, I had told them that I’d love to help them do better with consumers in the future. My guess is that they saw that this can be effective way to remove undesirable information from the internet.

The gravamen* of their complaint is that the presentation I received was from an independent distributor and that my article shouldn’t have been about the company itself. After I saw a 3-hour specifically-branded presentation on an iPad that only covered the company’s products, I considered it to be about that company. As I did more research, I found that people on the internet generally did the same. I offered to offer to clarify the corporate structure, but I haven’t gotten their approval to go forward with it. For now it is up to the lawyers and courts to figure it out.

There’s a lot more about this that I wish I could write. I can probably write most of them, but I’d want to clear it with my lawyer first and that’s a process that I’d like to avoid.

* These are the cool words you learn when you get sued.

Everything Else

Like my previous articles on investing and real estate, there’s a happy note to end on. In 2015, I had nearly 2.5 million page views. I don’t think I had come close to a million page views in any other year. That’s huge, huge growth. It warms my heart that people are coming here to get great information and, if they disagree, can use the comments to help make it better. That’s why I continue to respond to just about every reader who leaves a comment.

I expect a major publication to publish a story about my consumer advocacy within the next few weeks. I can’t give you much more information, but if you follow the articles here I’ll be sure to let you know.

You’d think that with all those page views and all that growth, I’d be printing money. If I were a casual reader seeing all the advertisements and those numbers I’d think that as well. The reality is that advertisers are putting more and more money into other platforms such as Facebook advertising. One telling article that I’ve read recently is Get Rich or Die Vlogging: The Sad Economics of Internet Fame. That article is about video blogging, but it could be about blogging in general too.

I am making more money than I did in 2014, which is almost like saying that I performed better than the Bengals in a playoff game (sorry Cincinnati, I was rooting for you). That’s how bad 2014 was.

I’m trying to diversify my income. My dog sitting business is going well. I’ve been able to make another $350 a month on average with it thus far. I’m optimistic that will go up with repeat customers. It’s more responsibility, a little more work, a lot more fun, and an extra $4000-$5000 a year. That said, the dogs definitely bring some wear and tear with them.

I’ve got a lot of other ideas to look into in 2016, but I’m going to leave those goals, projections, etc. for another post.

Andrew Heaney Sells Some of his Future Earnings to FanTex

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Andrew Heaney, a pitcher for the Angels, recently became the latest athlete to sell a chunk of his future earnings to FanTex.  FanTex is paying Heaney $3.34 million in exchange for 10% of Heaney’s future baseball-related income.

Why would Heaney do this?  He’s a Major League Baseball player, so surely he’s already unimaginable wealthy, right?

Heaney actually is better off than most players with his amount of Major League service time.  When he was drafted (in the first round of the draft), he signed for a $2.6 million signing bonus. The majority of draftees sign for a bonus of $5000 or less.

Minor leaguers make almost nothing – less than minimum wage, according to a pending class action lawsuit.  So it’s unlikely that he’s been able to save any of the money he made in salary while in the minors.

$2.6 million is a lot of money, though, so he should be fine, right?  Taxes are going to take a huge chunk of that, and even the thriftiest person would have spent some of the money – a new car, a modest house in the suburbs (LA isn’t cheap), maybe helping mom and dad pay off their mortgage, and of course, food.  I’ll speculate that maybe he has $1.2 million left.  Heaney is 24 years old, so he may need to stretch that money 50-60 years. With some fortunate investing, he might be able to do it – or he might end up selling athletic supporters at the sporting goods store when he’s in his sixties.  60 years is a long time to stretch a million dollars.

[Editor’s Note: If we apply the theoretical “rule” of 4% we could estimate that 1.2 million would allow him to spend $48,000 a year indefinitely.]

So Heaney decide to hedge in order to avoid his worst case scenario.  Was he smart to do it?  Let’s look at some factors.

It’s true that baseball contracts are guaranteed – but until a player reaches free agency a team has “control” of a player, which effectively means they can sign him to one year deals at below market rate deals.  The deals grow closer to market rate as the player gets closer to free agency.  Heaney will be eligible for free agency after the 2021 season, at which point he would be free to sign a multi-year deal with any team.  (Note: This is a fairly simplified explanation of how the system works.  I’m leaving out details for the sake of clarity.)

There’s one big catch, though.  Heaney must be perceived to be a valuable commodity in order to secure a big deal.  Heaney is seen as having good potential, but he’s certainly not a lock to become a superstar.  It wouldn’t be a shock if he flamed out early either due to injury or poor performance.

A few years ago, Daniel Bard was a hot prospect for the Boston Red Sox.  He was their first round draft pick in 2006 and their minor league pitcher of the year in 2008.  He pitched as a reliever in the majors for three years (2009-2011) and did well – among other things, striking out ten batters per nine innings pitched.  However at the end of 2011, something went wrong. As Wikipedia states, “He finished September 0–4 with a 10.64 ERA… Based on win probability added (WPA), the player most responsible for Boston’s collapse was Bard.” In 2012, the Red Sox decided to put him in the starting rotation.  He didn’t get any better than September.  His strikeout rate dropped while his ERA swelled. He gave up more homers, he walked people, he hit batters.  He was sent to the minors and continued to suck.  In 2013, the Red Sox waived their rights to Daniel Bard.  Daniel Bard earned roughly three million dollars in the major league. 

If he had been able to sell 10% of his future earnings (~ $300,000) to FanTex for $3.34 million, it would have been a great deal for him.

Daniel Bard just suddenly lost his ability to get batters out.  This is not particularly uncommon.  Rick Ankiel was having a great career when he suddenly developed control problems and quit pitching, later resurfacing as a pretty mediocre outfielder (career earnings: ~ $12 million, almost all of which he earned because he was able to transition to being a hitter – something that most pitchers can’t do).

There’s also the risk of injury.  A third of major league pitchers have Tommy John surgery, which replaces the ulnar collateral ligament in the elbow.  It’s a tremendously successful surgery that has extended the careers of a great many pitchers.  Tremendously successful – some studies claims a 90% success rate – still means that sometimes it doesn’t work.  10% of the time, the pitcher never bounces back to pre-surgery form.

The downside of Heaney’s deal with FanTex is that he might earn huge amounts of money and be selling a 10% share too cheaply.  If Heaney turns into the next coming of Clayton Kershaw, there may be a $300 million deal in his future.  In that case, he would have sold $30+ million in future earnings for just $3.34 million in 2015 dollars.  However, given Heaney’s age (which affects career length), status in the sport, and the fact that most pitchers are in decline by their mid 30s, I’d peg an estimate of Heaney’s career earning at somewhere between $50 and $150 million. In my best case earnings scenario, he’d be selling $15 million in future earnings for $3.34 million.

The $3.34 million from FanTex, after taxes, would probably grow his nest egg to about $3 million.  That would allow Heaney to invest pretty conservatively and probably still be able to avoid ever having to work a “real job”.  While it’s true that he might end up losing money if he ends up earning $150 million, the fact that he managed to earn $150 million will help sooth the pin. 

Essentially, Heaney’s saying that the difference between his current earnings of about $3 million (this includes his signing bonus) and $6.34 million is more important than the difference between $138.34 million ($135 million + $3.34 million from FanTex) and $150 million.

I agree with him.

Making Money in the Sharing Economy

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You may have heard the term sharing economy over the last few years. It can mean a lot of different things to different people, but I’ve come to use as a set-up start-up companies that allow you to rent resources that you aren’t currently using to others.

Perhaps one of the most popular examples of that is AirBnb, where people are using a room of their house as a small bed-and-breakfast. The owner gets some money for a room that might not be otherwise used. The visitor gets a room that may be cheaper and have better service than a hotel. It works out awesomely for both parties most of the time.

Today, I’d like to bring up three companies I am personally exploring to make money in the sharing economy:

Dog Vacay

I’ve reviewed Dog Vacay before. Essentially, I’d be pet sitting service. Not to make it sound easy, but I have a dog now and while he does require walks and feedings, he isn’t a ton of work. (It’s a good thing that his reading level is poor because he might not like me talking about this way.) Having a second dog simply would give him a friend, a fresh butt to sniff. It’s a win for both dogs.

The next question is, “Is it lucrative?” Well, people pay between $30 and $40 a night on Dog Vacay for overnight care. There’s a crazy dog lady that we’ve used to pet sit for our dog who typically has 6-7 dogs at her house. That’s around $200 a day. Dog Vacay will keep their cut and managing that many dogs is a ton of work. However, it’s probably an extra $40,000 a year (accounting for vacancies) – not chump change.

I don’t see myself hosting anywhere near that many dogs. I’m not ready to be Crazy Dog Guy (though I am crazy when it comes dogs). I certainly won’t have them around all the time. However, I can see averaging a dog a day which would be around $1000 a month.

Uber

I recently covered this one in detail when I asked should I become an Uber driver? Most of the feedback seems to be that it isn’t worth it. It just isn’t a good use of time after you factor in wear and tear on the car and gas. However, it’s really on the cusp of being worth it and a lot of people suggested it as a good way to make a little extra dough if you were to suddenly become unemployed. I’ll keep it in mind as a potential safety net.

Relay Rides

Relay Rides is a relatively new car sharing site. You make your car available for others to rent. Obviously this works out best if you happen to have an extra car that you don’t need. I happen to be in a such a situation. I’ve been thinking of selling the car, but for reasons both sentimental and lazy related, I haven’t. This could be a good way to keep it, use it when I want, even make some cash on it.

I had actually heard of another car sharing site called Getaround, but that has launched in very few cities. Relay Rides came up in the search for that. Unlike Getaround, Relay Rides seems to be available across the whole United States.

Adding it all up

If I seriously combined a few of these, I bet it would be possible to make around $2000 a month. Uber would be the wildcard as it seems that could make a $50,000 a year salary in some places… I just don’t know if I’d want to devote the time for it. Relay Rides doesn’t require any of my time, just an existing asset. Dog Vacay requires more time, but dogs can be relatively good at keeping themselves entertained and then resting together. There’s the occasional walk that I’d take anyway for my own health. The only incremental time would be feeding them and picking up after that feeding is digested, which is something I’m doing for one dog anyway.