Have you ever imagined to be like to make $10,000 a month? That amount of money would put you into the top percentile of wage earners.
It pushes you over six figures and can give you a great income to build a financial future on. Imagine building wealth. Breaking through your money blocks, and creating a rich life for yourself.
That’s the dream.
But of course, it’s obvious why you want it. The question is, how can you get there? In this post, I want to walk you through how to make 10 grand a month.
1. Get a job that pays $120k/year
This probably seems like the obvious answer, but one straightforward way for how to make 10000 a month is to get a job that pays $120,000 a year.
That would put your gross income over $10,000 a month. Obviously it would be less after you pay your taxes.
While getting a job that pays $120,000 a year is definitely possible, especially if you live in the U.S., it will take some strategy.
Here are three things you should consider:
- Field: Some fields pay better than others. Choosing a high paying field increases your chance of getting to this goal. If you’re just getting started with your career, you might choose a high-paying jobs (although be careful. Becoming a doctor is well and good, but med school ain’t cheap and there might be easier ways to get there).
- Industry: Not all industries are compensated the same. Something I realized the hard way when I move through my career. I used similar transferable skills in a non-profit that I eventually used when I work for government, but in the government I made almost twice as much. Same with when I moved to tech.
- Skills: what skills do you have that are in high demand? These might be generic leadership skills like public speaking or project management. These can quickly move you into leadership roles at an organization. It might also be high income skills like machine learning or user experience research. If your skills are in demand, you’ll earn more.
Some examples of career fields that can take you past $10,000 a month.
Sales: Many sales roles are well compensated, and the best sales people can earn bonuses and commissions it take them beyond this threshold. Learn Sales Here
Management: Moving towards management at the average American company is another way to break the $10,000 a month mark. As you move up the ranks at a company, you will take on more complexity and responsibility, which should always come with more money.
Software Development: software developers are still in high demand, and you can learn many of the skills yourself. Go search LinkedIn and you’ll see that a lot of them make more than $10,000 a month. – Learn Javascript Here
Data Scientists: Data scientists are in high demand right now. Using programming languages like R or SPSS, they can break $10,000 a month. Learn R Here
Trades: Obviously it’s a big label, but many people in highly specialized trades can make more than $10,000 a month
Health Care: Again, it depends on the field, but there are lots of jobs in healthcare that pay over $10,000 a month. It’s not uncommon for doctors to pull in these numbers – we probably know this 🙂
How to make the jump to 10k…
If you are already working in a job and making decent money, you might be able to get to $10,000 a month simply through career changes. Last year I did research on people who had doubled their income, and I realized that many of those who did earned double by getting new job offers.
Sometimes these new job offers meant moving to a new company that paid more. But often, as they tried to quit, their boss would swoop in with an offer of more money.
I’m not saying to play chicken with your boss. But if you’re already in a decent field with lots of opportunities, moving up the ladder might be the best way to get to $10,000 a month.
2. A Side hustle
If you don’t see a reasonable path for your job to take you to $10,000 a month in the near future, you might consider a side hustle.
I love entrepreneurship, and I am an entrepreneur. But I’ve made the mistake of quitting my job with no plan. It took me years to get back up to my income and beyond.
So if you’re interested in entrepreneurship but have a stable job, a side hustle is probably a great way to go.
Your side hustle doesn’t have to be related to your current job. In some cases, it might be less stressful if it’s not.
But do choose a side hustle that has a reasonable chance of making some money. I know someone who decided to bake cakes as a side hustle. By selling her cakes for $40 or $50, she basically made …nothing. Actually, by the time you add up the ingredients in the hours she spent, she was probably worse off.
A good side hustle should bring in reasonable money. Every business takes some time to get up to speed, but if you’ve spent 6 months and you’re not making more per hour of work than you currently make at your job, your side hustle probably sucks.
Be realistic about what it’s going to take to get your side hustle to $10,000 a month.
Here are some ideas that I like:
- Writing content or copy
- Local Marketing consultant
- Consulting (offering companies your time & expertise)
- Tutoring
- Start an online community
- Research assistant
- Event organizer
- Editor
- Substitute teacher
- Realtor
3. Start a local business
I’ll talk about digital businesses in a minute. But let’s talk about a local business.
If you want to know how to make 10000 a month, you should consider local business.
I’m not telling you it’s easy. And there are a lot of stupid business ideas out there that lose money. And some people who have had bad luck (like those poor people who started restaurants just before the pandemic).
Unfortunately, too many local business owners struggle and close.
But a local business that can find a clear niche, and build a following, can definitely get to much more than 10 grand a month..
For example, there’s a pizza place down the road from my house. According to the owner, they average about 50 pizzas a day. And the average order is about $50.
Do the math and you’ll find out that pizza place is bringing in about 75,000 a month.
Of course, there’s overhead. You need to pay staff, pay for supplies, and find a place to do your work.
But this is just one example of how a local business can help you earn 10,000 a month.
How about your local bookkeeper who charges $120 an hour for bookkeeping? Even if she could find clients to fill up 20 hours every week, she would break 10K a month. And chances are it’s a business with next to no overhead–a lot of bookkeepers work out of their house.
This sky is the limit with local business. But if you can find something that people want and need, fill a niche that’s missing or ADD to an industry that’s in high demand (like pizza), there’s a good chance you can get there.
4. Buy a business
I’m not sure why it took me so long to warm up to business. But looking back, the richest people I knew had them.
One of my early jobs was at a landscaping company, and the boss was worth millions. Friends of mine owned a trucking company, also worth millions.
And the thing is, a lot of these existing, successful legacy businesses are desperate for you.
Yep. Do a quick search of businesses for sale in your area and you will find a whole bunch of baby boomers who have built successful businesses and desperately want to retire.
The problem is.. who will take over the business?
They have a choice. They can sell it and make enough to retire on. Or they can close down and earn nothing.
That’s why a lot of business owners are desperate to find someone to take over. Maybe that someone is you?
If you’re responsible and dedicated, you could approach some of these business owners.
You’d basically be looking for four things:
- A business with solid cash flow and a good reputation.
- Preferably in an industry you understand or at least would be interested in learning about.
- Owners who are willing to STAY ON for a while to help you get your feet under you.
- Owners willing to finance for you (you pay them every month instead of the bank).
If you can find a business that makes sense, you’ve got a great recipe for making 10 grand a month.
Do check the numbers before you buy it and make sure the current level of business could support all of the current expenses, plus your financing, plus paying you at 10 grand a month salary.
5. Start a digital service business
I struggled with this website for a few years. I had read all the posts about “making money online.”
I was pretty sure I would be able to pop up a few blog posts and would soon be enjoying 50 grand a month in revenue.
It didn’t happen. But along the way, I was building a skill set that was in high demand. I learned how to write SEO posts that rocketed to the top of Google’s rankings.
On the day I got tired of waiting for my advertising and affiliates to pay my full-time salary, I started working with a tech company. I got to do what I do really well and I rocketed past $10,000 a month.
There is a never-ending appetite for agencies and freelancers–what I will call a digital service business.
It doesn’t usually matter if you are even in the same country as your client. If you can produce results, you can command top dollar.
Let’s say you become a social media marketing contractor, running social media for several companies. Charging five companies $2,000 a month would get you to 10 grand a month.
I’m seeing a lot of these type of freelancers popping up. The cool thing is, you can earn recurring revenue and help companies out. You also usually get to set your own schedule.
Here are some cool digital service businesses you could start as a consultant:
- Social media marketing
- SEO writing or strategy
- Public relations
- Coding or web development
- Accounting or bookkeeping
- Research or writing
- Video production or editing
As always, do your homework before you dive in. You can do a search on LinkedIn for words like “freelance” or “consultant” to find companies that are hiring.
6. Start a digital passive income business
I’ve done a lot of blogging on passive income, and I really love it.
I currently earn anywhere from $2,000 to $4,000 a month completely passively from this blog.
This is really fantastic, and a dream come true in some ways.
But with it comes a warning. I’ve been doing this for years and I still haven’t reached $10,000 a month completely passively. I hope you do. I hope you’re better than me.
Certainly some creators do make that. But everybody and their dog wants to earn a living online. So you should know that if you are trying to do this you will need to be the absolute best. It will probably take you time to get to $10,000 a month, if you get there at all.
I’m not trying to rain on your parade. I just want to give you realistic expectations of what’s probable.
Prove me wrong. Go for it!
At the end of the day, the ability to earn passively online basically comes down to one thing: attention.
- If 100,000 people on Instagram follow you for fashion advice, that’s attention. You can monetize that.
- If 100,000 people read your blog, that’s attention
- If a million people a month view of your YouTube channel, that’s attention.
Once you have the attention, you can monetize it in a bunch of different ways. Launch courses. Advertise. Become an influencer. Offer a Patreon or Only Fans for the most dedicated subscribers.
It doesn’t matter. Getting the money isn’t the hard thing. Getting the eyeballs is.
Get enough eyeballs and people will be throwing money at you to get in front of your audience.
7. Start an active digital business
If passive digital businesses are a long shot, an active digital business probably gives you a better chance at making $10,000 a month.
What do I mean by an active digital business?
Well, if a digital service business means selling your time for money, and a passive digital business means creating revenue out of attention (even while you sleep)…
An active digital business means that you work at it but it has scalable results.
For example, if you sell a product, you’ll probably need to work on fulfillment, shipping, and marketing. But it still can give you the scale that moves you beyond an hourly wage.
Here are some active digital businesses I think could turn into some good cash:
- A cohort course. The internet is flooded with online courses, but live courses still have a lot of excitement around them. It gives you scalability. You can use a platform like Mighty Networks and it will give you everything you need.
- Reselling. You need to know your numbers, but reselling on a site like Amazon can still make you a lot of money. Getting stuff from local stores, even thrift stores, and selling it online.
- Automated fulfillment. This is leaning towards the passive side, but can still take a lot of work. Imagine creating an Etsy store and having your products get sold automatically through something like printify.
- Selling creations. Using Etsy to sell your artwork or something you built can be a profitable business if you find the right niche. But there’s lots of competition.
- Create ecommerce store. Again, it leans towards passive, but it’s not easy. Nevertheless, things like Shopify have made it easier than ever to get into e-commerce if you have something you want to sell.
8. Investments
Okay, I’m assuming you’re not sitting on a chunk of cash. If you were, I doubt you would be Googling this question.
But once you build a nest egg of money, the interest from your investments can provide you an income to live off of.
That was the basic idea behind the FIRE movement that went viral a few years ago. Save like crazy and retire when you’re 40. Live off the interest forever.
I’m not telling you how to get there and what to invest in. But this is the idea all of us should be aiming for long-term, whether it’s when we’re 40 or 70.
9. Real estate
A lot of people are losing their shirt in real estate right now, so I ain’t giving you advice here.
But I will say that a real estate portfolio can get you to 10 grand a month. But the thing is, do your numbers. Most people don’t realize that in the short term, a lot of real estate investments don’t make much.
So you say to yourself, I’m going to buy that duplex and rent it out!
Let’s imagine you buy the duplex for $500,000.
You’d probably have costs that look something like this:
- Mortgage – $2,938
- Insurance- $300
- Taxes – $300
- Incidentals 290
Total= $3,828
If I charge two tenants $1,900 a month I could break even. But that wouldn’t free up 10,000 in income until the property is paid off. Best case scenario, you might make a few hundreds dollars a month.
So you either need to own 15 more properties that do the same thing, or you need to wait till it’s paid off to make the real money. And in the meantime you need to pay for things like broken water heaters, and tenants who disappear and won’t pay.
I’m not against real estate. But I don’t think it’s for rookies. If you want to build wealth in real estate, find a mentor who has done a successfully and devote yourself to learning it.
Conclusion
Each of these possibilities comes with advantages and disadvantages. But these are nine ways to make 10 grand a month.
I hope they help you to get excited about wealth building. And I hope you find a way to make 10 grand a month, whether you have to bust your ass for it or whether it comes naturally.
When I broke 10 grand, it was a beautiful thing. There was something symbolic about it. And of course, the extra money didn’t hurt either.
Stay tuned because of my next post I’m going to write about how to break 20 grand a month 😎
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