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How I found money making opportunities at my full-time job

I've also found several ways to make more money at my full-time job. In the last year and a half I've earned more than $8,000 in “side hustle” income. Here are some ways I've made money:

How I found money making opportunities at my full-time job

Morning! Please welcome Liz who will talk about how she made more money at her day job taking advantage of opportunities offered by her employer. You can find Liz on Twitter as well.

Hey everyone- My name is Liz and I blog over at budgetingformore.com. Thank you Pauline for letting me guest post today!

 

I dream of being able to quit my full-time job one day and pursue a career as a freelancer and entrepreneur. However, I am working slowly towards this dream and it will be a few years before I can seriously pursue self-employment. For now, I am a salaried, full-time tax accountant.

 

While this isn’t my dream job, I try to look on the bright side and be thankful for my employment and stable paychecks. I’ve also found several ways to make more money at my full-time job. In the last year and a half I’ve earned more than $8,000 in “side hustle” income. Here are some ways I’ve made money:

 

Exam Bonus: $5,000 – As an accountant fresh out of college I was first employed at a public accounting firm (I’ve since switched jobs). We were strongly encouraged to pass the Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. For anyone not familiar with this exam, it’s a rigorous four-part exam that requires hundreds of hours of studying and practice. To motivate us to pass, the employer offered a $5K bonus to anyone who passed all four exams within the first year of being employed. Needless to say, I was motivated. I worked really hard sacrificing many nights and weekends to study. I passed an earned the bonus.

 

Exam study Materials – $1,500 – In addition to the exam bonus, my employer also provided us with state of the art study materials for the CPA exam.  It’s absolutely necessary to have a study program to pass the exam and these programs don’t run cheap. Having the employer purchase these materials on my behalf saved me $1,500.

 

Referral Bonus – $1,500 – This is an incentive for employees to find and recommend candidates for open jobs within the company. If the candidate you referred is subsequently hired, the employee receives a bonus. Score!

I watched the job openings carefully and one day noticed a position that would fit my husband perfectly. I referred him and he applied. As fate would have it he was hired and I received the bonus. Not only that, but the employer also offered him a sign-on bonus of $2,000. In total the new job brought us around $3,500 in extra income. What a great deal!

 

Other Ways to Earn Extra Money – Another program offered at my first job was a fitness subsidy. For this program, my employer paid half of your fees related to gym memberships or exercise equipment up to $1,000. That means you can receive up to $500 to use on improving your health. I wasn’t going to let this great deal go to waste and purchased myself a new bike.  The subsidy paid for half of my new bike and saved me $300.

Tuition is another avenue some employers will offer to help out with. Some employers will actually pay for you to go back to school. Sounds pretty amazing to me! While I haven’t utilized this program yet, I’m seriously considering doing so in the next year.

 

What You Can Learn from My Experience

On a general note, your employer wants you to be happy because happy employees do better work. Every career/employer is different in terms of benefits available. It’s important that you understand what kind of opportunities you have to earn extra money. Some programs may not be well communicated and require some research. For example, the fitness subsidy program that I mentioned was totally under the radar. I actually had to call human resources to figure out how the program worked.. Someday I hope to be self-employed but in the mean time I plan on continuing to utilize my benefits as a full-time employee and enjoy the ride!

 

Have you ever earned extra income at a full-time job?

 

Editor’s note: On a related topic, I wrote about how you can make more at your day job during the holidays.

This post was featured on the Festival of  Frugality, Budgeting for More, thank you!

 

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Lovely comments

  1. NZ Muse says

    Mmm, not that I can think of. I’ve gotten free glasses (medical reimbursements) but that’s about it. I do get quite a lot free things through my line of work (including going to events, random gadgets, vouchers) – the most useful has probably been a vacuum or the gift voucher I used to buy a coffee table.
    NZ Muse recently posted…RTW budget: A six-month trip recapMy Profile

  2. Matt Becker says

    Other than getting a bonus I’ve never really been able to take advantage of these kinds of things. I worked for a small startup for a long time that didn’t have these benefits, but perks like this definitely make working for a bigger corporation a little nicer.
    Matt Becker recently posted…How Much Life Insurance Do You Need?My Profile

  3. DC @ Young Adult Money says

    I have earned bonuses at my job, but that’s about it. I am an accountant as well but unfortunately majored in finance in college so I am not able to sit for the CPA. Looks like you took full advantage of the incentives your employer has, so good for you! I should say we have the same referral bonus incentive program at my work but I haven’t referred anyone yet.
    DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted…4 Ways to Stop Wasting Money This YearMy Profile

  4. John S @ Frugal Rules says

    When I was in a corporate gig I got to benefit a good bit from different things my employer offered. My employer paid for about half of my MBA and my wife got her Master’s fully covered. We also took advantage of things like gym subsidies and the like. If they’re going to offer it, then it’s a no-brainer in my opinion. Of course now that we run our own business, all the benefits come from us. 😉
    John S @ Frugal Rules recently posted…Frugal Rules Goals for 2014: Stop Living Like a College StudentMy Profile

    • Liz says

      Living the dream John! it’s impressive your wife was able to get her degree fully covered. My current employer offers about 5K per year which isn’t enough to take a class each semester. I think we would have to pay out of pocket for atleast some of the schooling if I was going to go back.
      Liz recently posted…Trading City Living for Simpler Suburb LifeMy Profile

  6. Alex says

    It’s definitely true that happy employees make for a better workforce. In a previous retail job I had a manager that pretty much refused to train me fully as a manager, and I was already a key-holder. His reasons were still unclear, perhaps laziness As a result our store rarely hit targets so we rarely got bonuses. After a change in management I got trained more thoroughly. Suddenly I and all my staff were getting monthly sales bonuses. Once I even received £120 extra when I became better, and happier, in what I was doing as assistant manager.

    Thanks for the post!

  7. Bryce @ Save and Conquer says

    I earned my Master’s Degree while working and was paid $2,000 toward tuition by my employer while doing it. We used to have a fitness program that would pay for gym membership, but that was dropped. We now have a fitness program that knocks $300 off our annual health care payments if we complete a couple activities at healthpartners.com. Things such as showing we know how to eat right, or keeping a log of walking/running activities, etc.
    Bryce @ Save and Conquer recently posted…Fighting Consumer Fraud with the Consumer Financial Protection BureauMy Profile

  8. lyle @ The Joy of Simple says

    Hey Liz and thanks for an enjoyable read 🙂

    Wow…you made a nice chunk of change from your job. I remember, way back in the day, working for a company that would give each of their employees a handsome cash bonus come summer time. Some years I would score a check for more than $2,500.00!! And back in the early 80’s, that was some serious coin…at least it was to me! And when they went public, they gave everyone a bunch of stock, which as soon as I was able I cashed out…silly me 🙁

    I wonder if that company is still practicing those same employee incentives today?

    Thanks again Liz and take care.

    Lyle
    lyle @ The Joy of Simple recently posted…My Five Simple And Frugal Tips To Save Cash In 2014 And BeyondMy Profile

  9. Emily @ evolvingPF says

    Great point! I think people overlook how they can increase their compensation at their day jobs. Awesome job passing your exams in a timely manner and recommending your husband! There aren’t many for me since I’m not an employee… our health insurance company even cut their wellness program!

  13. fernando says

    Hi Pauline> I loved your article. Today there are many ways to make money. thank you for the informations. I want to follow your site.