During this pandemic time, laying off had a severe impact on a lot of people. This made many of us realize the importance of having a secondary income so that we have something to rely on in these tough times.
We have here various steps and ways in which you can start earning your secondary income even as a fresher.
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Need for Secondary Income
I believe that architects are jacks of all trades, masters of most of them. (There! I said it.) It is true though, architecture involves designing, planning, changing, and executing a lot of structures. Sometimes we have to become interior designers and if the situation demands, even a product designer.
All of these are not easy tasks to do. With that being said, are Architects getting paid the way they should be? I am not saying that you cannot earn enough being an Architect, but it is a long road to travel if you are a fresher starting off with a 9-5 job.
I am just starting as a Junior Architect and I know, I speak for a lot of freshers when I say that we do not get paid enough for the hours of work we put in for any firm out there.
I also believe that we cannot change the system single-handedly. So here are my two cents on how architects can make some extra money while keeping their 9-5 jobs.
If you are planning to earn from a secondary income source, you can follow a few steps!
Step 1: Find your Niche
You can just start by analyzing what type of services are you going to provide and what your target audience is going to be. This can either help in limiting your ideas so that you can focus on one thing at a time. Or this can also lead you to explore interesting options you had never thought of.
Once you have started growing your contacts, this niche can be expanded as you increase your scope of work.
Step 2: Select your platform
When you have an audience to address, you have to finalize the platform you will be providing your services on. This can be online, offline, or even both. Whichever suits the services you are providing.
Step 3: Self Promotion
This is a competitive world we live in. So, promoting is the key to making yourself visible in the market.
This promotion does not necessarily have to be paid. We will discuss further in this blog, how you can promote yourself and your product with minimum expenses.
We live in an era where earning money has become as easy as spending. There are way too many sources one can earn from.
To simplify it there are two types of income sources.
- Active Income
- Passive Income
First, let’s talk about what is the difference between active and passive income.
Active income is when you get paid for a certain task or a project that you do. And passive income is when you generate money by putting in minimal to no effort into the task.
Active Income
Now let’s look at ways by which you can earn money by active income.
Freelancing
These days freelancing can be done online as well as offline.
Online
Upwork, Fiverr, Chegg, SimplyHired are some of the websites that help you get in contact with the people who are looking for the services you are providing.
These websites help you reach out to a larger audience, thus increasing your chances of building good connections.
Offline
You can personally approach with a proposal to a firm or an institution where your services will be valued. To stand out, you can quote a reasonable rate for the work so that you can build a strong client base. This helps in building up a good reputation and a better portfolio if and when you decide to convert your freelancing into a full-time career.
This process might take longer to establish your reach. But the outcome, in the long run, is very rewarding.
Ideas for Freelancing
Designing
You can start small by designing logos, T-shirts, and book covers without having any prior knowledge of the field. Furniture design is also a good start for someone coming from a designing background.
Let us know in the comments below if you’d like to know in detail about how you can create, share and earn from designing.
Training
As they rightly say, if you are good at something, never do it for free. So, start charging some money for the free pieces of advice you are giving everyone! You can provide software training individually or by affiliating with an agency on an hourly basis.
Service Providing
As an Architect, I am trained to work on many software. I started my freelancing simply by creating 3D models for clients at a very reasonable rate.
This didn’t cost me any money and at the same time, this improved my skills and made me proficient in the software.
Similarly, you can choose you’re a field you are good in and put out those services.
Passive Income
Now let’s look at ways by which you can earn passive income.
Blogging
Blogging has been a source of secondary income for many years now. Ads, affiliate marketing, sponsored reviews, and run campaigns are few means of income via blogging.
You can also earn by promoting your services and linking your courses on the blogs. This way you are driving the traffic from your blog to the services that you are proving.
Designing a Course
If you decide on training people for your active income, you can simply video record the training and design an online course. This way every time someone enrols for that course, you get paid.
Currently, Udemy is a great platform where you can start this course.
Starting a YouTube Channel
YouTube is a growing platform right now. Everyone has easy access to the YouTube world. Being on this platform, you can build an audience by creating content for a global audience. Affiliate marketing is a source of income on YouTube as well.
You can surely, use this platform for promoting the courses, blogs, and active services you provide.
All of these extra income ideas can be turned into a full-time career option if this side income starts yielding more money than your job and also if you are willing to give up on your 9-5.
We hope this information was helpful for you. Let us know in the comments below if you would like to know about any of these secondary incomes in detail.
