Following on from our series on how to make money and how to save money. Part 1 is here: https://www.cardyard.co.uk/blog/be-more-business-1

PART TWO IN OUR SERIES ON HOW TO MAKE MONEY- selling more

Unlike a business, we human beings don’t view ourselves as a product to be sold. And unless we do, this factor is going to be an enigma. S o let’s have a good look at it.

In what standard ways do we make money? Here are the two main ways, and of course we might have a mix of both.

- Selling our time as a waged employee (eg: working for a company as an employee for 37.5 hours a week. Divide your salary by the numbers of hours you work in a year and you can get an hourly rate of what you are worth)

- Selling our time as a freelance consultant or part of the gig economy (if this is you, you’ll know exactly what your hourly rate is).

So, how on earth do we go about “selling more”?

• Be precious with your time. Know what your rate is (see the above calculations), and if you need to work overtime, then simply be aware of how much you are giving away. You may be happy to do that, but likewise you might realise you are giving too much, in which case it’s time to talk to your employer.
• Identify if you do have any spare time that you can also sell. Perhaps doing a 2^nd job, or a few hours on the gig economy would be useful?
• Identify if you have other skills that someone would pay for? You might like to set up as a gardener or a child-minder in addition to your job?
• Look around you at what *items* you could sell. Selling items you no longer use, or want, or that you have made or grown is a great way of getting cash in. See our suggestions below for where you can sell items.

Be profit focused - Remember that a good business will rarely buy something for £1 and sell it for 50p, it doesn’t make sense. So know your costs first. And always build in a profit element. That gardening gig that pays you £10/hour, may be 2 hours drive, so you’re ending up with £3-something an hour. Whereas a childminding gig that pays you £8/hour might be a 2 minute walk down the road. No petrol, no time costs.

Seller Savvy

You’ve got something to sell - so now it’s important to find the best way to sell them. And this is going to depend on the items themselves. Different things will sell better on different platforms or marketplaces.

If you have items to sell, that you can post, or people can collect, and that fits in with eBay rules, then eBay is a great marketplace. (But if you have something that needs security checking, like a giftcard, then use Cardyard of course)

If not postable, and you’re happy with a local market – try eBay, GumTree or Facebook Marketplace

If they are hand-made – then try Etsy

Home grown but random – for example, a glut of tomatoes that you’ve grown in the back garden, then how about an honesty box by your front gate?

Home grown/made and more regular – for example, if you want to sell your free-range chicken eggs every single week, try a stall-share at a local farmers market.

Specialist items - For example - GIFTCARDS! If you want to sell a gift card – then use cardyard.co.uk. Cardyard provides security checking to protect both YOU and the buyer. This is essential when it comes to giftcards, and only Cardyard does this as standard.

Legal: remember to check with your local government for registering as an actual business (or sole trader). At the time of writing this, if you make more than £1000 a year, you need to register as a sole trader. HMGov.gov LINK

Remember - these are secrets that businesses have employed for hundreds of years. Let’s all get in on the act and make a little more money to buy what we really want and need.