How to Bring in Extra Cash and Save Cash Now

Each person and company looks for ways to bring in extra cash. As is often said, cash is king. That ultimately translates to less debt if you are good at paying down debt, and also helps you cover monthly expenses. And with a little extra cash, you or your company get to enjoy some of the extra perks of discretionary income.

Slowly and surely, as we are opening up little by little from the restrictions imposed by COVID-19, we look forward to being able to dine out again, and perhaps see some live entertainment where possible.

Here are a host of ideas to bring in extra cash for you or your business.

Rent short term office and conference room space – As more and more companies are operating virtually, many companies are choosing to rent short term office and conference room space only as needed. For the right size company, this can save a lot of money over signing long term leases with accompanying CAM fees and utilities. One such source is Liquid Space, an appropriate name for a service that can come in quite handy for some companies. This service can arrange temporary meetings or workspaces for you all across the country.

Offer extra services and products – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce summarizes the 20 Small Businesses Thriving During Coronavirus. Some those thriving businesses are:

1. Cleaning services
2. Delivery services
3. Meal prep delivery services
4. Landscaping and yard care companies
5. Mask makers – I have a music producer friend who pivoted when his studio was closed and manufactured masks during the COVID crisis, achieving $5 million in revenue.
6. Tutoring businesses

Reduce business expenses – This source offers five ways to cut business costs during COVID-19. 

1. End Office Equipment Leases – You may not need the same level of support you had before taking your business virtual. “Copier and printer leases can be a substantial expense – sometimes costing thousands of dollars per month.” 

2. Parking Costs – Re-evaluate your office needs. “With employees not coming into the office, you may consider negotiating for reduced or abated parking expenses. If your landlord requires you to pay for a certain number of spaces, ask them to consider waiving these requirements while you aren’t in the physical office and using them.”

3. Recurring Office Supply Orders – If you have recurring orders set up for your office, be sure to put these on hold if they aren’t already. These could include snacks, coffee, toners, paper supplies, general office supplies.

4. Services and Subscriptions – Keep tabs on your other recurring expenses. “If your office has any recurring services or subscriptions such as cable, internet, or telephone services you may want to cancel them until social distancing is over. This could also include music subscription services for retail or other types of businesses.”

Here are seven measures from JobStreet you can adopt to reduce company costs during COVID-19.

1. Implement a headcount freeze.
2. Bring work in-house. Let go of contract, temporary employees, and even external agencies by bringing the work in-house where possible. This protects the jobs of permanent employees first.
3. Explore collaboration with business partners.
4. Implement a shorter work week. You can put in place a shorter work week – but it should never exceed more than 3 days a week and last for more than 3 months. Respectively, employees’ pay and benefits are prorated. However, such decisions have to be carefully considered as negative feelings can brew if expectations are not managed properly.
5. Schedule employee no-pay leave. “An alternative to employee layoff, you may ask your employees to take no pay leave or use up to 50% of their earned annual leave during this period.”
6. Freeze salary and benefit increases.
7. Adjustment of monthly variable component (MVC) or a reduction of employees’ salary by 10%. 

Lastly, as a personal money earning endeavor, consider putting your unique expertise to work in creating an online course. “Creating and selling online courses is a booming market internationally. The e-learning market was worth $107 billion in 2015, $190 billion in 2018 and is expected to exceed $300 Billion by 2025 (E-Learning Market Size By Technology)!” Forbes magazine was impressed by the idea and ran the following article on how you can make over $100,000 per year creating online courses. 

There are also great tools online that you can launch your online course with. One to check out is the Teachable platform. Teachable advertises that you can “Join more than 100,000 creators who’ve sold over $500 million in courses and coaching.” The website is easy to use and takes you step by step through the process of creating an online course so you can monetize your unique skill sets.

These are all effective tactics that will result in additional cash for you or your company. Using just one of these ideas is sure to result in a better bottom line. And who wouldn’t like to see more of that these days?