Summary: About 1 in 3 Americans is currently a freelancer or a small business owner. By 2020, the number of freelancers are estimated to grow to 40%! It's becoming easier than ever to start your own business and work for yourself. But the idea of giving up a steady paycheck, retirement benefits, and health insurance can be daunting. The good news is that most successful freelancers and entrepreneurs don't just up and quit one day. They take their time to build a foundation for their business and personal finances before they leave their day jobs, and you can too. In Part 1, we talk about how to: • Start diversifying your income and exploring your skills with side hustle ideas • Categorize your skills and talents and identify potential income streams and customers/clients Episode Highlights: Dyalekt: Poor people in America are the most charitable people in America...Poor people give about 4.3% to charity or some sort of charitable function, and for everybody it’s 2.2% average. Pam: Not everyone wants to, or should want to, go freelance, or should want to do this on their own. Maybe you just need to quit your job and get another job. Pam: Are you someone who needs structure? Are you someone who needs to be told what to do in a sense? Yes, jobs will give you autonomy, but are you someone who needs feedback from someone else to know whether you’re making progress? Because, as a freelancer, you’re not ever gonna get that...Do you need external motivation go get your work done? And that doesn’t mean that you can’t get that work done. It just means needing those deadlines, and needing someone like a boss to tell you what to do next and how to prioritize stuff, there’s a lot of people who need that. Pam: It [freelancing] doesn’t have to be that serious. You could give this whole freelancing thing a try. Try your own thing, and know that the worse case scenario is that you just get a job if it doesn’t work out. Pam: Ask yourself, one, what have you already done to make money? ...Write down everything you’ve done to make money, from babysitting to newspapers...The next question is what do you like to do that has not been paid? And this gives you a lens into what your interests are that you enjoy, outside of your day job. ...And then the last question we want you to ask yourself is: What are some things you wanna learn how to do, regardless of how much money you’ll make? Pam: Who are you selling to? And who is gonna be drawn to your product or service?
