My debt paying buddy Matt Jabs recently blogged about a challenge to “earn more money” being spear headed by his buddy Josh Gordon from The NonConformist Family.   I have to be honest, I know little about Josh, and have not ever had any contact with him .  But chances are if you’re a friend of Matt, your a good guy.

The Challenge

In Josh’s words:

The 1M21K is a 30 day challenge. During the space of one month, you will be equipped to earn an extra $1,000 by month end. Maybe the money goes into your pockets. Maybe you kick your debt square in the face. The choice is yours.

Additionally:

You’ll be successful if you’re already moving in the right direction. If you’re paying your bills on time, putting a little somethin’ somethin’ in your savings account once in a while. You’re doing all the right things, and just need an extra ‘mmph’ as the kids trot off to school. You’ll be successful if you’re willing to pour a little extra on this month. If you’re willing to carve a few more hours out of your schedule. Sweat a few extra buckets.

Furthermore from Matt’s post:

“The challenge begins September 1st, 2011 and costs only $67.  You get 10 hours of ridiculously practical audio material, 12 killer guides / mini-ebooks stuffed with practical, applicable tips, and 4 tele-seminars covering the questions and hurdles that we’ll inevitably face. And, you’ll be hearing from peeps like Dan Miller, Justin Lukasavige, Pierce Marrs, Deb Ingino, Matt Jabs, and more.”

Addtional details can be found here.  Do yourself a favor and take a look.

As you can see, its a pretty simple, challenge yourself to succeed!

Doing what works for me!

Personal finance is all about “doing what works for you”, and that’s why I have modified the timeline for myself.

First off, the month of September is on of my busiest timess at my day job, so I don’t think its practical for me to dive head into any new challenges during this time frame.  I am keeping the September 1 start date but I am giving myself until Thanksgiving to accomplish the challenge. I am going on a vacation trip right after Thanksgiving so I figure that is a perfect time to have everything wrapped up.

Next I am increasing the amount of additional income I want to make/earn during my  time frame. I am giving myself more time so why not up the ante in terms of what I hope to make/earn.

My plan

Matt has a solid list of suggests to earn extra money in his post.  Give them a look!

What I am going to do:

• Sell stuff – I plan on using Craiglist and Ebay to get rid of a few items that I am not using anymore and that are just collecting dust. GOAL =$500
• Profit from business travel – I do a significant amount of travel for my day job.  I plan on profiting from these trips by spending less then my daily per diem and getting cash back from running all my business transactions through  a credit card. GOAL =$250
• Increasing free cash flow – I will increase my free cash flow by reducing expenses. Reducing expenses is the same as earning more money in my mind, either way you end up with more money to do whatever you want with. GOAL = $700
• Blogging – I want to get back in the swing of things and get back to blogging on a regular basis.  GOAL = $50