When it comes to the topic of personal finances, people primarily talk about controlling or reducing expenses. However, there is one equally important variable that can determine your financial welfare – increasing your income. The great news is that it’s easier than ever to supplement your income with an online product or business.

For those of you interested in making money online or starting on online business, the Thirty Day Challenge (TDC) is a great way to learn. This free program is conducted once a year and is about to start in August. They have been doing pre-season activities for a few weeks and there’s already a lot of great free content online for you to catch up on. I’ve participated in the TDC before and was impressed that they taught a lot of cutting edge information that I already knew about and was using but had to learn on my own. In fact, even if you don’t start your own online business, the internet tools they introduce and teach about are very useful in everyday life as well.

The only complaint I have about the TDC is that the content isn’t very polished and much more lengthy than it needs to be. There are frequently videos and audio recordings that you have to listen to in a linear fashion (you can’t just skim through them) which can be time consuming. They also frequently pitch other pricey “internet marketing” training programs and services. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to pitching other products and I’m certainly willing to put up with less-than-perfect presentations, particularly if the content is free.

The TDC is run by an individual named Ed Dale who is quite a celebrity in the internet marketing world. For those of you not familiar with “internet marketing,” the term refers to strategies used to acquire lists of potential customers which can then be used to market your products or services online. The TDC shows you how to sell other peoples’ products or your own. If you have particular knowledge or expertise about some subject, no matter how obscure, the TDC can show you how to start creating your own informational product and how to find people to buy it. With current internet technologies, it’s relatively easy and cost-efficient to create and sell your own products.

Check out the TDC and if you participate let me know what you think.

Sign up for the TDC
Pre-season Training Links

I’ve talked a lot on this site about how to manage your expenses and control your spending. While managing expenses is an important part of personal finances, it’s only one half of the equation. Equally important is how much money you make-your income.

Many people dream of making a lot more money than they currently do and being able to quit their day job. But it’s hard to know how to get started. Fortunately there’s a new site that will tell you exactly what to do to start earning extra income online, and the great news is it costs absolutely nothing. It’s called the Thirty Day Challenge

The thirty day challenge is a website that will be posting daily step-by-step information about how to make $10 in 30 days on the internet. The official challenge started on August 1st and goes through the end of August. The instructions are easy to understand and even beginners can follow along. Apparently this is the third year they’ve done the challenge but this is the first time I’ve heard about it.

It may seem like making $10 is no big deal. That’s hardly anything. But if you think about it, it’s the perfect approach. When I started this blog one of my goals was to make some supplemental income. I used a philosophy taken from Steve Pavlina’s blog – I knew if I could make $1 on this site, I could make $100. If I could make $100 I could make $1,000. The first few dollars are the hardest – after that you have momentum to build on. It gets subsequently easier to make more money.

If you can make $10 this month, you will be able to make even more. You’ll have gained the knowledge to help with future efforts.

I’m frequently asked how to start on online site or blog. This is the perfect chance to learn how. But if you’re interested, be sure to sign up today or you’ll fall too far behind. You can still catch up over the weekend. I’m actually going to participate for fun and see what I can do from scrach (not including this site). I’ll keep you posted. If any of you join the challenge, please post a comment and let me know.