Career Archives - Page 2 of 43 - Making Sense Of Cents

My Best Advice For Graduates – 16 Tips Every Graduate Needs To Hear

Last Updated: April 19, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Are you wondering what is the best advice for graduates? Whether you or someone you know is graduating high school or college, I have some great tips and wisdom to share.

Graduating is a life changing experience.

You’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this achievement, and it’s both a stressful and exciting time.

You might be wondering what you’re going to do next with your life, or you may have a plan. There were times when I felt like I knew exactly what I wanted to do after graduation, but I was also completely clueless at times too.

Graduation means you’re moving onto the next phase of your life, which is why it’s both so scary and thrilling.

It only makes sense that you would be looking for the best advice for graduates. [Read more…]

How I Changed My Financial Future And Made $50,000 Writing From Home

Last Updated: July 5, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Today, I have a great article to share from a reader of Making Sense of Cents. Kate earned $50,000 from writing novels in 2020. This all started when her car was repossessed in early 2020, and her and her husband ended up living in their vehicle. By August of 2020, they were able to rent a brand new townhome and buy a car in cash, all without her husband having to return to work. Below is her story of how she changed her financial future. Enjoy!

In January of 2020, I was forced to quit my job as a graphic artist for a local firm. The pay was decent, as were the hours, but my health issues were worsened by the stress of a “real” work environment.

I had published a few books in 2019 with little success, but I assured my husband, Jacob, that I would do better in 2020 with a rapid release schedule, which is releasing a book every thirty days or so to combat Amazon’s algorithm.

My highest royalty month to that point had been December, and I made $88 from my Young Adult books.

Still, I had hope.

I’d just discovered an extremely niche genre of romance, and readers were hungry for more. I wasn’t sure if I could write the steamy scenes I saw in many of the books I test-read, and I didn’t know if I’d hit the other tropes well enough. [Read more…]

How To Make Extra Money By Starting A Home Bakery

Last Updated: March 9, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 2 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Do you want to learn how to make extra money by starting a home bakery business? Here’s the equipment needed to start a bakery, food laws, tips on pricing your baked goods, and more. Please enjoy this guest post from Denise Treco. Denise ran a home bakery as a side hustle, and today she is here to help you learn how to start a successful home bakery business as well. Enjoy!

If you love to bake, you probably had some friend or family member tell you should open a bakery.

Maybe that is your ultimate dream—whether it is or not, there is a way to take your passion for baking and turn it into a profitable side hustle. I am talking about a home bakery.

Under cottage food laws, which vary by state, you can operate a home bakery. Before I go deep into the details of starting a legal home bakery, I will share a little bit about my bakery experience.

I became a first-time homeowner so that my mom could live with me after my dad passed away. You know how everyone tells you owning a house can be expensive with repairs, taxes, etc.? Well, everyone was right.

I found myself in a position where I needed to make extra money outside of my 9-5 job as a marketing director for a nonprofit to support my mom and me.

I guess I should go back a little further to say how much I enjoy baking.

I was the person in my family who brought dessert for every holiday gathering or friend’s party and always made a birthday cake for my colleagues. [Read more…]

16 Free Work From Home Courses & Resources

Last Updated: November 13, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 4 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Trying to find free work from home courses? Would you like to learn how to work from home?

Today, I have a great list of free online courses, plus webinars and ebooks that will help you learn how to start your own home business.

If you’re looking to make extra income or a full-time living, working from home can be a great idea for you to learn more about.

For me, I love being able to work from home. I have been working from home for over 7 years now, and I wouldn’t change a thing!

Many people enjoy working from home for reasons such as eliminating your commute, making extra money from home, being your own boss, having a more flexible schedule, and so on.

Also, around 50% of U.S. businesses are now based at home, and that number is expected to to grow.

There are lots of valuable paid online courses for work from home jobs, but if you’re not sure about an idea, you might not want to invest any money just yet. [Read more…]

How I Earned Up to $4,000 Per Month Baking Dog Treats (With Zero Baking Experience!)

Last Updated: June 20, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 10 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Hello! Are you interested in starting a dog treat bakery business? Well, good news, this article will tell you what you need to know. Plus, you can sign up for this free training workshop that will teach you how to start your own side hustle baking and selling dog treats.

Hi! My name is Kristin Larsen, and I run Believe in a Budget, a blog about personal finance and my experience with various side hustles. (It feels like I’ve tried them all over the years!)

As I’ve written about before here on Making Sense of Cents, my favorite online side hustle is working as a Pinterest virtual assistant. Managing Pinterest accounts is a great way to earn an income entirely online.

But today, I’m here to talk about a completely different side hustle, one that can be run entirely offline if you want (or entirely online, or a combination!).

While I love being able to work from home (or anywhere) on my computer, there is something to be said about stepping away from the computer and doing work that doesn’t involve the ‘virtual world’ – work that requires you to move around a little instead of being planted in front of a screen all day long!

In the case of this side hustle, it involves moving around the kitchen baking up beautiful and delicious dog treats. [Read more…]

7 Myths About Work From Home Jobs & What It’s Really Like

Last Updated: December 7, 2020 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 1 Comment

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I have been working from home or while traveling full-time since around 2013, and since then I have heard so many myths about work from home jobs.

Some of the things that I’ve heard over the years include:

“Working from home must be boring.”

“You must have so much free time to get chores done!”

“Aren’t all work from home jobs scams?”

“Working from home isn’t a real job”

Whether you work for yourself and your office is in your home, or if you telecommute and work for someone else, I’m sure you’ve heard some of these myths about work from home jobs as well.

Truth is, so many people think that working from home is something different, until they get to experience it. [Read more…]

16 Best Online Jobs For College Students & How To Start

Last Updated: September 26, 2021 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 3 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

How can college students make money online? This list of the best online jobs for college students will show you how.

More and more people are attending college and working at the same time. This may be those who are going straight from high school to college, adults going back to college, those working towards more degrees, and so on.

I had to work throughout high school and throughout college, and I will admit that it was tough at times.

While almost all of it was in-person, hourly jobs, I would have loved to find something online instead! It would have made it much easier to balance work and school if I had a flexible, online job like I do now.

I didn’t find out about blogging until towards the end of my time at college, and I wish I would have learned about working online sooner as it would have helped me greatly. [Read more…]