Your Skills Can Make You Money

by Ellen Breslau | Comments

With the economy being so dismal (I know people say the recession is over, but I don't see it, do you?) and everyone wanting to save more money, there is something we can all do to increase our nest egg—it's so obvious, I'm surprised I haven't talked about it before. For writers we call it freelancing, for someone else it might be capitalizing on their hobby and selling what they make such as jewelry or hand-knit sweaters. No matter what you call it, one of the easiest things we can all do is look at ourselves and our skill sets and figure out what we do well. Then sell that service. I'm convinced that we all have a skill to market—babysitting, house cleaning, handy person.

A friend of a friend recently called and asked if I'd help her write some of the content of her new web site. Sure. She paid me $300. I always sort of forget about freelancing (duh!) because my days are already so chock-full. But the project didn't take very long, and I had found-money. A friend of mine who's a nurse makes extra money doing calligraphy for party invitations—and even sells invitations and party stuff too, for which she gets a percentage of the sales. Another teacher friend makes top dollar (upwards of $75 an hour) tutoring two nights a week. And a lawyer I know makes and sells the most incredible jewelry with semi-precious stones. It's all about getting started and getting the word out. (Email and Facebook are wonderful things!)

If you're a writer, designer, know computers or numbers well, check out to help get you going. And if you make your own crafts, check out I'm going to start freelancing more, and I think you should go for it, too.

How much I've saved on my way to $5,000: $4,936.17—hard to believe, but next week looks like it's going to be the week!!!!