Are you considering taking a second job to catch up on unpaid debt or to try and finally get ahead securing some extra spending money?

You are not alone, everywhere I go more and more people are taking second jobs to try and make ends meet or with the hope of accelerating their path the financial freedom (though these days that path is becoming less and less certain).

While many people have been able to extend their financial situation by working a second (or even third) job, and I would never criticize anyone for taking the initiative to be even more productive and work harder to improve their family situation, there is an alternative that more and more people are considering.

Instead of handing over control of your financial future to a second employer, consider taking the reigns and starting your own online business.

There are several advantages to taking this approach…

  • In the process, you will self-educate and learn critical, important and high-value skills in today’s marketplace
  • You will build something that you 100% control – you may choose to grow your business, hand it down to your kids, sell it for a very nice profit and retire or manage it for cash hiring someone else to take over day-to-day operations.  Any way you look at it, you win
  • There is no ceiling…chances are the job you are in today pretty much caps your take home pay to roughly the rate of inflation (if you are lucky) for the decades to come…with your own business, the sky’s the limit – there is every possibility that with some hard work you can be earning 10X what you earn in your first year 5-years out
  • You can’t be fired…enough said!
  • There are tax incentives for earning self-employed income depending on how you setup your company…done correctly you can be paying less tax on your income
  • You have the chance to build an entirely new and exciting career for yourself which can eventually replace your primary job – wouldn’t you like to tell your boss “I quit” 12-months from now (or at least have that option?)

In yesterday’s blog post “How To Make $1 Million With Your Own Online Business” there are some steps you can take right away to start yourself on the right path to being successful with your internet business even if you only have 30-60 minutes each day to spend at the start.

So what kind of businesses can you start today and begin earning cash within weeks?

1. Blog

Starting your own blog is as simple as getting yourself a web hosting account (as little as $10/month) and setting up your own free WordPress blog (simple installs within the Control Panel on most hosting accounts).  The key is to mix a passion you have with commercial opportunities.

Blogs like Wine Library TV by Gary Vaynerchuck started out with nothing and built themselves into $Million businesses – simply by regular tips and communication with his audience.

The blog you are reading now and our blog over at Peak Personal Development each bring in substantial profits with approximately 30-60 minutes of effort each day (the rest we spend on other blogs and online businesses)

Start by posting regular daily content of interest to your market, within weeks you can be making money by offering related affiliate offers, Adsense ads or CPA offers

2. Affiliate Marketing

Billions and Billions of dollars are spent on e-commerce activity with people buying everything from tangible goods such as health supplements to groceries, cameras to big-screen TV’s – by launching your own websites that help those buyers find, review, or become more informed about those products you can earn anywhere from 3% to 50% depending on the type of product and source.  This can add up quickly turning into hundreds of dollars at first followed soon by thousands as your traffic grows.

You have the option of setting up Amazon stores or affiliate sites, your own blog with product reviews, landing pages that review books, ebooks or information products, or even build email lists (by giving away free information or incentives) to which you can later market additional products, services and offers.

3. Your Own Information Products

Creating and marketing our own information products is by far our favorite online business model (read why here).

Not only can you tap into huge customer demand driven by insane passion and need to solve problems or go through major life transitions, these products are quick and easy to create, sell for months and years after you have finished them (think of this as highly leveraged, passive income), but also lend themselves to higher profit as you walk your buyer through sales funnels of back-end product sales such as continuity/membership site/recurring income models that can be extremely lucrative.

You have a choice, go out and get a second 20-hour/week job that will pay you an additional $500-$600 (after tax)/month while you work like a slave and see no end to the tunnel – OR – take that 20-hours a week and start your own online business that will train you for the future AND give you the foundation of a business that can not only pay you that same $500-$600 in a few months time but grow far beyond this into your new career replacing both jobs with a new, exciting and more profitable alternative.

Have a question or something to say, we want to hear from you – leave a comment.