Quit Making Excuses!

So, everybody knows…I’m a single mom, and I don’t get child support. I never have. Thus, the premise for this blog about making extra money!

Anyway, I get all these emails from a friend, followed up by a phone call. All of them are whining about how she is broke. She desperately needs to figure out how she can make an extra few hundred dollars a month.So, I tried to be nice and offer to let her help me with one of my ventures. Easy work, a couple of hundred a day, maybe a 2 times a month (I know she doesn’t have a lot of spare time, but again, she’s broke.) In a field she has some experience with and has mentioned she would like to get back into.Now, from my point of view, if you are struggling to buy food and somebody offers you a job like this, you take it. I mean, I offered her a schedule according to her availability, and this would have helped her make the extra three to four hundred a month that she’s saying she has to have. So, her response? No, I don’t have time, I don’t have the ability, I don’t have…it just went on and on! I couldn’t believe it. This is a person who totally has the ability to do the work, and it’s not like she would have had to make a lot of time. Frankly, it all ended up sounding like somebody who wanted to be in that situtation so they could bitch to all their friends, who would then feel sorry for them and give them lots of attention (or maybe some cash for no work.)

I think this is a trap a lot of single parents have to be cautious of, though. Don’t make excuses for not making enough money. Take some responsibility! I know, you already have a ton of responsibility. Remember, I’m a single mom too, and have been there. The point is, don’t make up BS to convince yourself that you are not capable of doing any more than what you are doing now. Granted, picking up that 2nd Job at Mickey D’s probably won’t even offset the cost of child care for you to go work. But, keep your eyes and your mind open to all the other possibilities, and do what you have to to get things done! Start a small side business, freelance, babysit other people’s kids…just don’t make an excuse to not get it done. If you look hard enough, you can find a way to accomplish what you need to. Sometimes it’s tough. Sometimes it’s really, really tough and you just want to cry because you are so tired and making so much effort. I can’t tell you how many all nighters I’ve pulled to get something done before a deadline.

But, it all has been totally worth it: I have happy clients that give me more work, I work on my schedule, I have more time with my daughter, and I’m paying the bills. We’re still watching the money, just to be on the safe side in case work slows down, but for now, we’re in good shape. Partly because I quit making excuses.

And, I do like to have money to eat

Need some ideas on how to start some kind of home business, or some low cost business ideas so you can supplement your current income? I can’t recommend Dan Miller enough. I also like articles like this one by Scott Allen. You may even want to get your kids started early by checking out this great article on teen business ideas.