This is the last part of the plan. So far you've committed yourself to never charging again, and you've calculated your monthly income and expenses.

Now let's talk about ways to increase your income. For most people this is a pretty hard thing to do. You're probably already working at the best job you can get.

You could take on a second job, but that would mean basically no free time. Besides, most jobs that you could do in the evening and on weekends don't pay very well.

What you really need to do is to find a way to make money without having to work for someone else. This is the American dream, the key to your financial freedom.

I figured out several ways to make money by brainstorming and writing things down on three lists:

  1. What makes you happy?
  2. What are you good at?
  3. What will people pay you to do?

Get out some paper and spend some time adding things to these lists. What you're looking for are things that appear on all three. I've put a lot of thought into each of these, and it's had a big impact on my life.

Here are some examples of thing from my lists:

  • I'm good at working on computers and people will pay me to do it, but it doesn't make me happy. I used to work on computers quite a bit because I needed the money, but I was usually miserable doing it. That's actually one of the reasons I started looking for other ways to make money.
  • Playing guitar makes me happy and people would pay me to play, but I'm not very good at it. I know if I really needed to I could spend some time practicing and probably get paid to play in clubs, but for now I'll stick to other ways.
  • I've always enjoyed writing. When I was in school, several of my teachers told me I was pretty good at it. I know that if I write good content people will continue to come to this website and I will make a little extra money.

Try to find things that make you happy and will help you earn some extra money. If you aren't happy with what you're doing you'll have a hard time sticking with it.

Everyone has skills and hobbies. Turn the things you enjoy into sources for more money. If that means working on an existing skill or learning something new, then get busy. Read a book, enroll in a class, do whatever it takes.

Just be sure that whatever you try isn't going to bring on more debt. You want to maximize your income while minimizing your expenses.