But HOW to make 10k? This is how I do it.
I read this quote a while ago somewhere on Instagram.
Back then, my first reaction was “hmmm… okay”, but I didn’t think much of it.
But now… ever since I got started with my “Make 100k with various income sources”-goal, I now really understand what that quote means.
It has become clear to me that focusing on increasing my income has proven to be more fruitful and fulfilling than solely focusing on saving money.
In this article, I want to share my personal journey and insights on why making 10k can be easier than saving 10k, and how this mindset shift has transformed my financial outlook.
My / our upbringing
Let’s quickly get back to the beginning.
Ever since I was young, I was taught that “if I ever wanted something expensive, I had to save for it”.
I remember wanting to buy an RC race car.
“That’s fine”, my mom said, “if you want it, you can save for it until you can buy it”.
So, I did save for it.
Adulthood
While the above example might sound stupid, things haven’t changed at all.
The only thing that changed, is that the things we want to buy now have gotten way, way more expensive.
- We want to buy a house
- We want to buy a car
- We want to buy ourselves luxury vacations
I know of many people that haven’t been going on holidays, but that have been saving money like crazy just because they want to buy their dream house.
But is that wise?
In my opinion? No.
First of all, I’m very much against buying your dream house at a young age, after saving for it for years.
Why? There are a few reasons (IN MY OPINION):
- You put yourself checkmate: meaning that people usually get a heavy mortgage, which doesn’t give you a lot of financial “wiggle room”.
- You sacrifice personal happiness and freedom (not everyone of course, but I’ve seen it often that people sacrifice a lot just to be able to save money and buy that house)
- There’s not much money left for investing
- It’s harder to “get out of the rat race (= 9-to-5)” — should you want to
Of course, this is subjective. I know there are people that are extremely happy with living a simple life like this, but it just isn’t for me.
The thing is, society pushes us in a certain direction:
- Get a partner
- Get married
- Get a house
- Get a family
- Behave as society (and everyone around you) expects you to..
While I DO want a partner and all these things at some point, I also want to enjoy my life AND set myself up for the future.
Saving 10k
To get back on topic: One of my personal goals this year was to save 10k.
Let’s say I would do this with just my personal pay check. Let’s do the math.
- I earn 2500 euros per month with my day job.
- Saving 10k in a year equals saving 833 per month
Seeing these numbers, I can already say it’s impossible for me to do this in 1 year. MAYBE, I could do it in 2, perhaps even 3 years.
That’s quite sad, isn’t it?
Anyway, let’s REALLY do MY math:
2500 (income)
– 833 (need to save)
— — —
1667 (left for mortgages, groceries, bills…)
-1500 (mortgages & fixed costs)
— — —
167 (left for groceries & other possible bills).
….
Yeah… let’s just stop here.
There’s no way I could survive with €167 (or dollars, it’s nearly the same) for a whole month…
Add to that the increased cost of living and inflation of everyday life…
Nope. Impossible. Perhaps if I move to Thailand, I could survive there — but that’s another topic (and financial trick).
Earning 10k!
On the other hand, we have earning 10k!
I find it hard to grasp… coming from a family where everything was always focused on “saving money”.
I really had to learn and adopt this new mindset.
“Yes, it’s actually possible to earn more money OUTSIDE of my day job (or any other employee jobs).”
I started adopting this mindset a few years ago, and set up my first business: A Shopify webshop where I was selling bracelets.
While that webshop was a failure, it taught me sooo much:
- It taught me marketing
- It taught me finances
- It taught me advertising
- It taught me selling
- It taught me taxes
- It taught me investing
- It taught me money management
- And more…
And with that, my financial freedom journey had lift off.
Before finishing this article, let’s do some maths.
As we’ve calculated above, earning 10k in a year means earning 833 per month, right? This is is roughly $27 per day.
Ask yourself…
“What can I do to make $27 per day?”
There are thousands of opportunities!
Earning 27 dollars per day is not hard.
- Sell a service, something that you’re good at
- Sell a product (via Shopify, or print on demand)
- Invest, trade, stocks, crypto
- Buy something and rent it out (like a spare room via Airbnb)
- Be a taxi driver
- … ANYTHING!
How I’m doing it
As you might know from my other articles, I currently have a few income sources:
- I rent out a spare room in my condo
- I rent out a student room that I bought
- I have stocks and crypto, and earn with staking
- I have multiple print on demand stores that bring me money
- Medium makes me some money
- Affiliate marketing makes me money
- YouTube makes me money
- My day job makes me money
- Digital products make me money
- (coming soon) small coaching sessions will make me money
The opportunities are endless. If you didn’t yet — make sure to subscribe to me and check out my other articles, I give out tons of value for free!
Conclusion
It’s A LOT easier to earn 10.000 than it is to SAVE 10.000.
Once you understand this, the possibilities are endless.
- You can only save so much per month from your normal paycheck
- BUT when you earn more, your income potential (and hence saving potential) is unlimited.
And don’t forget: if you only have 1 source of income, you’re only 1 step away from poverty. Remember that quote.
