Get Ahead By Working For Yourself One Hour Each Day
For most people, their career is their most valuable financial asset. But for those willing to make the effort, even a small one, there might be something even more valuable—a side business that could potentially turn into a very large source of income.
My Money Blog raises this issue when he highlights quotes from the latest Warren Buffett book. Specifically, he notes how Charlie Munger, Buffett's right-hand-man, took an hour each day and worked on side projects. Eventually this time and effort built up until Munger had developed a very profitable business and found himself a rich man. Here's a quote that summarizes his rationale for taking time for himself:
Charlie, as a very young lawyer, was probably getting $20 an hour. He thought to himself, ‘Who's my most valuable client?' And he decided it was himself. So he decided to sell himself an hour each day. He did it early in the morning, working on these construction projects and real estate deals. Everybody should do this, be the client, and then work for other people, too, and sell yourself an hour a day.
Just think what we could all do if we took some time each day and set it aside to write that book, develop our hobby into something profitable, or work on that one idea we've had for the past five years. Over a long period of time, the impact to our personal finances could be quite dramatic.
It's an issue worth considering. What would you do if you took an hour (or maybe even less, as long as it was consistent) and worked on improving your finances? What would the results be five, ten, and twenty years from now?
Buffett on Charlie Munger: Work For Yourself An Hour Each Day [My Money Blog]
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Comments:
This sort of "snowball" approach has its merits. But like many incrementalist strategies, they tend to fall victim to behavioral weaknesses in the way our brains reward us for pleasure and sloth.
I'd love to do this, but the key is finding something worth your time that is profitable. My ex gf used to sell things in an antique store that she had fixed up. I think I figured up the hours she put into it, then the profit, and she was making like $5-$6 an hour. Just not worth it.
If I spent an hour a day working for myself, I don't think it'd come to much. Being a master at Bubble Bobble wouldn't yield too much income :-(
@bilups: How do you get a star? Do you apply? Or are you nominated? Or is it just random when an editor sees your posts and thinks you're cool?
@Papercutninja: One day you can sell your comments for gold bars and retire on an island made of Circuit City and AIG ruins.
ive been pondering a ponzi scheme for a while.
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard (author of Get Shorty and 40-some other books, including the hilarious new one, Road Dogs) used to be in advertising. He made the transition by waking up every day at 5 a.m., writing a page before he put on the coffee, then writing until 8 until he had to leave for his copywriting job at a Detroit ad agency.
In "The War of Art," Stephen Pressfield advises people aspiring to do something be an amateur who works like a professional -- meaning do the job like you're getting paid for it. He said it more eloquently, but sorry, I'm in a hurry.
Ever since I started getting worried about losing my job (and seeing everyone around me spend months and months job-hunting like hell and getting nowhere), I've been putting in at least three hours a day "for myself". My goal is to get enough extra income coming in to subsidize my unemployment, if I land on it (and if not, well, I'll have extra money, extra security and be on my way to my dream career as a Professional Eccentric!).
If there's anything this economy has taught me, it's that you *can't* count on big corporations to "take care of you", now or ever. Everyone needs to take care of themselves, even if they're employed at the moment.
There are many variables in whether working for yourself is doable. First, does your company allow it? If you're in a field in which your name is out there and would be associated with things you do, your company may not be so keen on allowing you to get freelance work on the side, since your name will be associated with something they may not like.
Also, if you take an hour out of your day to do something for yourself, how does that affect the time you could be spending on other things...for instance, if you have kids, taking an hour out of the day gets increasingly difficult since you already share time with kids, who have a very different view of what mom and dad should be doing.
@JohnDeere: Thats a pretty good retirement plan. Don't have to worry about food or shelter when you're in Federal Prison.
I have had this on my mind for a while for myself, because I have neglected my writing, but it just occured to me that this would be great for my husband as well. He has had a business idea for a while now, and giving himself an hour a day to research what it will take to get it up and running is a good start to eventually making it happen.
@Mary Marsala with Fries: I need to follow in your path. I have tons of craft supplies that are dying to be made into extra income. I recently made 35 paper flowers for an auction at work and discovered they can be sold for $3 on etsy
@JohnDeere: Try a Fonzie scheme instead. It will get you more girls, a leather jacket and a jumped shark. Not bad for an hour a day.
This is actually a really good tip. I have an etsy shop, and put a few hours into it during the workweek, and maybe 8 hours into it over the weekend--- and if you are enjoying it, it doesn't really feel like work.
@DrGirlfriend: If you are lucky, you could become the next big Consumerist editor.
(can you imagine getting PAID to be on this site? SWEET!)
I never even considered a star! Woohoo! Neglecting invoices and emails never felt so good!
I volunteer for a local non-profit organization. I'm not necessarily working for myself, but I am meeting important contacts (I'd like to work in non-profit for real, and preferably in the same area), and building my resume (I'm doing something completely different (yet somewhat related) from my real job; it can only help me in the future).
Volunteering is great because you do good for others, AND yourself.
Also, volunteering works for those of us who aren't creative and suck at selling.
@pecan 3.14159265: Always with the negative waves....
If you keep looking for reasons not to do it, you'll never discover the ways to make it happen!
Jim
This is a tough one to see how it would apply to my life. I work as a software developer in test. About the only thing I could do an hour a day is to study some hot topic that will allow me to get a job making more money. This is feasible but I'm still working a corporation job.
I think I would have to study something outside of my career that I would enjoy more or simply work on my personal life to make money by spending less money.
Yeah but she could make like $50 an hour working on the weekends in a nursing home as an OT.
you could sell photos of you doing a gangster lean in a snuggie.
@edwardso:
Get a coffee machine that makes coffee on a timer and set it up when you're doing the dishes after dinner.
@theformatter: Er, she's looking at things realistically, which you have to do if you have any desire to succeed in anything--including your personal life.
@Papercutninja: I gave my boss the Sprint/Consumerist Customer Service number and he got new phones, plan upgrades and a reduced overall rate for our entire company, so I got a big thumbs up/mention in a monthly report to the Board of Directors. May not line my wallet, but still good to remind the boss that I'm worth having around. Oh, and I did get the PTT Blackberry and full data, and that's kind of fun.
@Saboth:
which is why you don't do jobs that don't offer some level of automation. you may work the antique game for awhile, but now that you've done it for a bit - put out a DVD on how you made X amount of dollars in X amount of time as an antique enthusiast.
sell the dvd's for $20 the same place you sell your antiques - once it becomes more popular, sell them online w/ testimonials from existing customers and your past experience in the biz as a credential.
get a fulfillment company to take over once you scale up, then you're doing 0 work and making money.
the problem with most side businesses is that they don't work for you, you work for them - and they simply don't scale. make it scalable and make it automatable.
@Margaret Powell: Do you make more than you spend on it?
I've been on Etsy from its beginning (and co-edited an unofficial news site), and most sellers are losing money on it. It takes a lot of creativity, hard work and skill to do anything more than break even.
Not to be a party pooper, but most of the authors I know make less than minimum wage for their writing/royalties when it breaks down.
It's a rare and fortunate author who gets the popularity, longevity, good promotion and honest publisher that it takes to achieve financial stability through book royalties.
@kateblack: Hey, Kate! I'm pearlbythesea over at Etsy, so I think our paths have crossed on the forum. I sell on etsy, and hyenacart and in a couple of brick and mortar gift shop kind of places, and I do make more than I spend. It definitely does take lots of work, but its a side thing for me, and I'm happy to pay a few bills with my earnings in a month and have a bit of spending money.
I have seen some sort of delusional people over there who have had 10 sales and want to quit their job and "try etsy full time" and nope, that's never a goal for me.
@theformatter: If you get laid off due to activities you undertake in your personal time that are in conflict with your company, you'll have plenty of time to work for yourself! There are now 8 more additional hours for you to spend working for yourself!
My point is not to discourage anyone from doing what they would like, but to encourage people to not jump on the bandwagon until they are sure that there is no conflict. For instance, if I want to spend my free time volunteering with an animal rights group, that may conflict with my working for a research laboratory, even if I'm not a scientist and they're not doing any harmful animal research (in their opinion). In the eyes of the company, I am potentially taking a public stance on something and would be representing the company by having my name or face associated with the animal rights group.
It's important for anyone to understand the realistic implications of certain things. We're not talking about setting up an Etsy shop, we're talking about more complicated things such as volunteering for certain organizations and participating in certain clubs (the NRA for example).
@kateblack: that's why you do it in your spare time. It might eventually pay off, but if not you've lost nothing, you feel better about your self and you have a release
@kateblack: There's an article today in The Express (D.C. paper) with Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote (among other things) Fight Club. He was asked whether he ever gets tired of people only rexognizing him for writing Fight Club, and he said that before Fight Club, he was working for a truck manufacturing plant, and then he was writing manuals, and Fight Club allowed him to leave that job. He says he'll always be grateful for his big break.
You never know when it might come.
I already do this!! Except I usually end up on Facebook talking to my mom...
But that's rewarding in itself, so I'm good with that.
@pecan 3.14159265:
You know... that makes me want to fulfill my dream of being a recognized star of the adult films industry... I'm not so sure the Air Force will be too happy with that idea though.
Guess I'll have to ask the "Chain."
I actually have a pretty valuable (though labor intensive) skill that I perform from time to time (get your brain out of the gutter!). Unfortunately, certain laws make it impossible to do legally unless you obtain numerous permits and "appropriate" spaces. It's a nice side business if you can skirt the rules.
@pecan 3.14159265: That's the same logic that inspires compulsive gambling. With about the same success rate!
I mean, just $1 a game. You never know when you might strike it rich.
I'm wondering how my side-project of commenting on Consumerist will pay off.