Why Build Extra Income?

The third element of getting your financial life back on track is building extra income to pay down your debt. Once your debt is paid off, you can use this income to build savings so you’ll have a financial cushion. This will help you avoid future credit problems. It’ll also help take you off the “credit grid,” so you won’t have to rely on credit cards for anything.

I firmly believe that starting a business cheaply is one of the best ways to achieve financial independence. Now, I’m not suggesting that you dump your life savings into a brick-and-mortar business, like a physical retail shop. If you’re already in debt and having credit problems, that’s not realistic.

What I’m talking about is an internet-based business. You can start one for about $10 – probably less than one fee from a sleazy check cashing joint.

Besides being cheap, an internet-based business can produce residual income. Residual income is money you don’t have to work for. You do the work once, and you get paid for it over and over again. The more you build, the higher your income potential.

One caveat here: Building an internet based business is not an overnight prospect. It will probably be a month or two before you start seeing any money… and even then, the income will be small. But over time, it will build.

But I don’t know anything about starting an internet business!

That’s okay. It looks hard, but it’s not. You’re looking at an internet business right here on Surviving Bad Credit. I’ll teach you what you need to know to choose a business, start a website and make money. I’ve been doing this for years, so I’ve made all the time-consuming mistakes, and you’ll be able to avoid them.

Even if you don’t know HTML from a hole in the wall, you can start and grow a business for under $10 a month. (In order to keep your website running, you’ll need a hosting package. I use GoDaddy, which costs about $7 a month.) You might buy some other things here and there to grow your business, but that’s not critical in the beginning.

So stay tuned – and in the meantime, start thinking about your interests (outside of getting out of debt). If you get a chance, write them down, no matter how obscure or silly they might seem. Trust me, this will come in handy later.