Money isn’t everything. Money isn’t the only thing. Money isn’t even truly important in and of itself. So why do we even talk about getting rich young here? Money is a tool! It is a tool to get you things or get you time. Here at Getting Rich Young we are devoted to making more money, not to join the Three Comma Club. In fact, there are people who have retired on far less than that. We are devoted to exiting the rat race at a young enough age so that we can start living the life that we dream while we’re young enough to enjoy it! For those of you who don’t know, the Three Comma Club is an expression for a billionaire ($1,000,000,000.00 has 3 commas in it.)

Last week we saw how important it is to start investing as soon as possible. In your journey to stash away as much money as you can to start working for you, you have two tools. You can either cut your costs or you can increase your income. Today we’re going to talk about the second tool, making more money. As you read through, remember, you owe it to yourself to make more money now so that you can cut years off of your time to retirement. Personally, I will probably continue to work once I’m retired in order to keep my mind sharp. However, having that freedom to do work that is meaningful to me, or to volunteer, or to travel is what keeps me going. Now let’s take a look at how we can all get there a little more quickly.

Disclaimer: If you are here to find some get rich quick schemes, or are hoping to find a way of winning the lottery, then you’re in the wrong place. Getting Rich Young is about putting in hard work now so that you can enjoy the benefits later

1. Get a Raise

The most obvious way to make more money is to get a raise. There are a couple of ways to think go about getting a raise, but I’m a big fan of the one where you work your butt off, expand your role, and become an authority. Working hard is not the same thing as putting in lots of hours surfing the web. In my time in the corporate world, I have been encouraged to work later hours because a butt in a set is very important to some people. However, what matters more is how much crap that you actually got done. That is why I was able to increase my wage from $14.00 / hr to $20.00 / hr to $30 / hr to $45.65 / hr in my first 3.5 years of work. Always stay hungry to learn more and to take on the work that other people do not want to do. I devoted my time to learning more and more skills, work with the teams that were difficult to work with, and making sure that I helped everybody I could. When everybody in the company starts to see you as the “Go to” person, you do two things. You put yourself first in managements minds as somebody who they want to keep around to keep things running, and you make yourself truly more valuable by being having a greater skillset.

So you have been working hard and getting recognition, expanding your role and influence, and becoming an authority figure in your position, but you still have not received a raise come year end. What do you do then? If you like the firm that you are at, then ask your boss for a raise. Do it in the right way though. How much value do you add to the company that you work for? Do you consistently make the company more money, or save them boatloads every year? Figure those numbers out because they are part of your ammunition. When you go to your boss, make sure to present those numbers and show why you deserve a raise. If you are being honest with yourself, and the numbers back you up, then the worst thing that will happen is your boss says no. In that case, you may want to start looking for another job where they will actually reward your talents and contributions.

2. Get a Promotion

Promotions often come with more money, but even if they don’t, they can open more roads to more money in the future. Getting a promotion works a lot in the same way as getting a raise. Work hard and make sure you are the person that people go to. The other secret that I have learned is to be careful not to get too much thrown on your plate. It is better to take on as much as you can get done during normal business hours, annihilate it, and then go home. If you start to work too many long hours, you become the mule rather than the boss. When you get inundated with too much work, kindly ask for people to return the favors that you have been giving them to get to this point. This starts to put you in a type of unseen management role. When you start delegating work, you are a manager. Continue to broaden your reach and word will get out that you are an up and coming star, who needs the official title. This is what I like to think is what got me promoted a year earlier than what they said was the unofficial policy. If you get passed over for a promotion, ask yourself what else you can do. If politics are truly getting in the way, then either get involved (but don’t sell your soul) or start looking for a new company. You likely have the skills to make a jump up somewhere else.

3. Switch Careers

Maybe you love your job so much that you would do it for free. If that’s the case then congratulations, keep working on the other 4 ways to make more money until you get where you want to go. If you are less than thrilled about what you are doing, or just want to exit the rat race sooner so that you can start doing what you truly love for free if you need to, then consider switching careers. Unfortunately, I know plenty of people who chased the things that they love early in life, but as they aged, they began to not love it as much anymore. Their loves and passions turned into jobs, and jobs that don’t pay very well because so many other people are chasing their passions in the same field. When looking for a job, instead ask what other people most need you to do and look in those areas. Why do garbage men make such a good living for a job that likely isn’t very difficult (no offense to any garbage men / sanitation engineers out there)? It’s because they deal with crap that nobody wants to deal with, but has to be done! Ask yourself what the world most needs you to do rather than what you most want to do, then follow the money in that area. Once your passive income passes your expenses, boom you are now free. Free to climb mountains. Free to write on the beach. Free to backpack across the continent. All without having to worry about how to pay for your dreams. Check out this article on the hottest jobs for 2016 and see what possibilities are out there. Don’t have a degree, check out Mr Money Mustache’s articles on 50 Jobs Over $50,000 Without A Degree (Part I, Part II)

4. Get Another Job

If you are young, then maybe you have the energy to get another job in the time that you are not in the office. You will never have more energy in your life than you do right now. If you can take advantage of that and make a few bucks on the weekends, then that is a few dollars more towards financial freedom. Maybe a few dollars doesn’t sound like much money to you, but it as my grandmother used to say “Every Penny Counts.” After all, just ask Brendan Baker over at The Start of Happiness how $5 a day can make you a millionaire.

There are a couple of reasons that getting a second job can be an attractive ordeal if you are able to spare the time. You open up a whole other area where you can work the first two options, getting raises and promotions, and boosting your income again. This also diversifies your income stream. If something were ever to happen to your primary job, then you can try taking this second job full time. Additionally, you will meet different types of people, learn new skills, and by using your free time to make money, you will save even more money by not spending it on recreation. It can be a pretty nice fallback plan if your mind and body can handle it. One word of caution, is to be careful not to burn yourself out. You need to spend time doing things creative, doing things outside, and doing other things that are fun.

5. Start a Business on the Side

Maybe working for somebody else is the last thing that you want to do, and maybe you want to capture more of the upside. How about you try starting a business on the side. One advantage of starting a business on the side, is that you can live off of your normal income while you get started. You do not need to worry about making a dime on the first day because you will still be able to put food on the table. I am a big fan of this method as it provides you with a safety net, but allows you a potentially faster escape. If you need some ideas of, try looking over these 50+ Side Hustle Ideas.

One of the downsides of the first four, and some of the ideas from the other side hustles is that you continue to trade your time for money. We are all human and are bound by the laws of time. You want to switch as much of that time into time that is spent fulfilling life, and less of it in the office. In MJ DeMarco’s fantastic book The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime, (This is an affiliate link and I will make a small commission at no extra expense to you), he talks about how you need to separate your time from money. I highly recommend reading this book to learn the extreme power of creating a business that allows you to make money even when you’re not actively working. Be warned, this is still not a get rich quick scheme. It is a get rich in a few years through a lot of hard work type of program. I don’t know about you, but I would rather work hard for a few years and wind up rich than work hard for a lifetime and wonder where my life went.

6. Invest Invest Invest

The final way to make more money is to Invest Invest Invest! Remember, every dollar that you put away, earns you more and more money without you having to do much work at all. Put your money to work for you and let those little green guys earn you money while you sleep. If your investments add up to 25-50 times your annual expenses (depending on who you ask and how risk-averse you are), then you will have complete freedom to pursue your own happiness without the stress of the next bill. Isn’t that the real dream and the real reason that we are working hard to make more money? Freedom. Get started investing today because every day you wait, makes it harder to catch up.

Continue the Discussion:

How are you going to attain freedom sooner?