Additional money-making ideas to give your business a boost
As a business owner, especially in the early days, you’ll relish the opportunity to bank some extra funds. The truth is that there are many ways — from selling a service to looking into PPI claims — to earn more money that can be invested straight into your company.
The digital age has breathed life into an abundance of small businesses that find themselves on a level playing field with large organisations. This has made the modern business world more diverse and competitive than ever before. As a business owner, this means that you regularly have to look for ways to improve and expand your company — which, of course, requires money.
In this post, we’ll look at a few simple, yet effective ways of making some extra money that you can invest back into your business.
Declutter your home
With New Year right around the corner, it’s a great time to start afresh, and an ideal way to do so is by decluttering your home of any unwanted belongings or household items. But before you take them to the nearest dump, why not sell them online and make a tidy profit? Just because it’s something you no longer want or need, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth something to someone else.
Thanks to the delightful invention that is the internet, buying and selling have never been easier. Online marketplaces such as eBay sell and Gumtree are simple to use and allow you to offload your goods with minimal effort. Facebook has recently come into the fold with its own marketplace that uses the location setting on devices to find items for sale in your local area (or another area you specify).
Sell a service
As technology has evolved, it has created brand-new career paths and avenues for creativity. If you happen to have a particular skill or talent that you could use on a professional level, freelancing is a great way to earn a second income. Although this type of career isn’t a new thing, it’s safe to say that the digital age has given birth to a new breed of freelancers.
No matter what industry you’re a part of, someone out there will require your services, so now’s the time to find opportunities. Pretty much all freelancers have (or should have) their own website. This advertises the services you offer, demonstrates some personality and knowledge, and gives customers a way to get in contact with you.
There are also websites — such as Upwork — dedicated to finding freelancers work or helping companies find the right freelancers to suit their needs. It’s worth noting that these sites are highly competitive and therefore don’t pay a great deal, to begin with, but you’ve got to start somewhere, right?
Claim PPI
While you may be surprised to see payment protection insurance claims on our list of money-making ideas, you should first take a moment to think if you have actually filed a claim for PPI. You may have noticed the recent TV advert featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger that is urging people to claim PPI before the 2019 deadline. When you consider that £28 billion has been paid back by banks (that’s a lot of claims), it’s crazy to think that such a large amount of people are yet to even check if they’re owed money.
British banks mis-sold PPI to customers who took out loans, mortgages, credit cards and other everyday financial services. This means that there is a genuinely good chance that you too have been mis-sold PPI and are unaware of it. The average payout for people who claim PPI is £3000. It’s an amount that could seriously benefit your company, pay bills or debts, or even be invested in another business venture.
When running a company, you may not have too much free time on your hands, so taking the time to deal with the paperwork involved in making a claim would seem unrealistic. It’s for this reason that PPI claims companies are so beneficial. They organise the paperwork — or even get a new copy if you have lost the paperwork — and contact your bank to get the ball rolling as soon as possible.
Rent out a room
If you have a spare room at home, which for many people turns into the place where lots of junk is stored, renting it out is a brilliant way to make a decent amount of additional cash. For many people, this will cover the monthly cost of their mortgage, which frees up a nice chunk of change to either save or invest in your company.
If you aren’t overly keen on someone moving into your home for a prolonged period, you could advertise the spare room or even your entire home on Airbnb. This is an ideal way of renting a room out for short periods and receiving decent compensation in the process. You’ll also find that the experience itself can be very interesting, as you’re bound to meet a wide range of people from all over the world.