Since we are drawing to the end of the year and making new goals for 2013 and evaulating 2012, I thought I would share with you one of my goals for 2012: Making money in at least five different ways.  In addition to my graduate studies, I wanted to experiment with different ways to do business and earn an income outside of ‘having a job’.  Being heavily influenced by Tim Ferriss, Ramith Sethi, and Josh Kaufman, this is what I came up with:

My main source of income has been my research stipend from Montana State University.  This pays the bills for me, but is probably the least cost effective in terms of time input, given that I work about 65 hours/ week for ~$1600

Other non ‘job’ sources of income vary in their frequency and amount:

This year I have had 3-4 cycling and running coaching clients that recieve personalized coaching for a monthly fee.  This is something I really love doing, and is my second best source of income, and has helped pay for my trips and toys this year.  Next year I will be joining EK Endurance coaching, come check out the great things we are doing over there, including the new coaching forum!  Eventually when I finish grad school, I plan to accept a few more athletes (for 2013 I have one spot left!).

I have a condo in Boulder, CO that I expected to live in for many years after I bought it.  Now that I have moved to Bozeman however, I am fortunate to be able to rent it. After paying the Mortgage, Taxes, HOA fees, and Property manager, I get $25/ month. While this isn’t much, I am especially proud that I am not losing money on this!

Earlier this year we succesfully rented the 3rd bedroom/furnished guest bedroom in our rental condo in Bozeman on a short term basis.  This was one of the best deals in terms of low time input and rewarding by meeting new people.  We simply took a few nice pictures and posted on craigslist-instant success!  The couple that rented it had just moved to town and desperately did not want to live in a hotel while they searched for a permanent place to live.  Win-Win!

I am on the Rockford/Clif cycling team in Bozeman, and every year many members on the team get new racing bikes.  I helped sell a few of their old bikes on Ebay for a commission, Ala the Pros Closet in Boulder.  Bozeman has several second-hand stores that sell really nice outdoor clothing and equipment, but is ripe for a high end ebay re-seller.

Before I left the working world and returned to grad school, I was dabbling in the stock market.  After spending too much time buying and selling without knowing what I was doing, I bought almost all dividending stocks so that I could stop putting time into the process.  These have about a 2-5% yield and I reinvest all the dividends.

When I found out about crowdsourcing, one of the discoveries I was most excited about was kickstarter and peer to peer lending.  This is a really cool way to invest money and help someone out with a series of micro loans ($25 at a time).  I use Lending Club and this is probably my best investment in terms of interest (16%!!!!).

Contact me with any questions you have about trying any of these things, or leave me a comment if you have any business or investing ideas that you think that the world should know about!