Side Hustles and Ways to Make Money at Home [the Cut]

Employment | Tutoring |Book dealing | Podcasting | Career advice | Gig economy

MONEY | May 17, 2019

by Jessica Levine

SLG: Some very useful ideas for library students, recent grads and librarians in transition.

Straight from your couch. Photo-Illustration: by Stevie Remsberg; Photo by Silver Screen Collection / Getty Images

According to a 2018 survey conducted by Bankrate, more than half of millennials are figuring out how to make money at home by embracing a side hustle — also known as extra cash to help pay off debt.

If you’ve got a flexible schedule, “side hustles can be a great way to achieve a financial goal,” says Shannah Compton Game, MBA, a certified financial planner and host of the Millennial Money podcast. Whether you’re trying to pay off student loans, save for a house, or just make rent, she recommends determining exactly where your additional income will go before you start getting it.

go before you start getting it.

But don’t sell yourself short. The Bankrate survey found that men are making nearly three times more than women from their side hustles. While men were found to have side jobs more frequently than women, Game says women also tend to be more conservative when setting a price point. “We tend to undervalue our talents, and men can be better at saying this is my value and this is the price.” To close the pay gap, she recommends women do plenty of research on the market value of a given service or product they’re interested in offering before jumping in. Here are a few ways to start making some extra cash on the side.

Get some voice work. People get paid to read voice-over scripts for videos, advertisements, and audiobooks from home. Register on a site like Fiverr or Upwork to get started.

Buy and sell used books. If you’re willing to do a little legwork — going to estate sales, thrift stores, library sales — you can find underpriced used books and resell them online. The Amazon Barcode Scanner app can help determine whether a book is worth buying to take home and resell or not.

Leaders Keep Learning | Leading from the Library

Leadership | Continuing Education | Academic Librarianship

 

by Steven Bell
Mar 20, 2019 | Filed in Opinion

If leadership is mostly learned rather than an innate ability, then continuous learning is a vital contributor to leadership growth. “Never stop learning” is good advice, but it is one of those tasks that’s easier said than done.

This column is predicated on the idea that no library leader is fully formed, possessing all the skills required for success. Rather, the path to leadership is one of continuous learning. I routinely see library literature and social media posts about low library worker morale and toxic leaders, leading me to question how it is that our profession has so many awful leaders. We have an abundance of leadership development programs. Many academic institutions have internal management and leadership programs. There is no dearth of opportunities to develop and improve as a leader. Possible causes for this failure are many, from library leaders simply not giving a damn to a total absence of self-awareness. For those leaders who do care about staff morale and strive for a workplace where staff want to be, constant learning is a must. So allow me to share some ideas that I’ve recently come across for making a stronger commitment to learning to be a better leader.

WHO HAS TIME?

Who has time for continuous learning? What are the best sources among an avalanche of leadership blogs and development opportunities? According to research conducted by Josh Bersin and Marc Zao-Sanders, a leader’s first priority should simply be to commit to making learning an everyday activity. They call their approach “learning in the flow of work,” and it’s hardly a radical idea. It’s based on the way leaders already work. Bersin and Zao-Sanders found that leaders spend 6.5 hours a day in front of a screen and 61 percent of that time is on communication activity. The idea is to integrate continuous learning into the flow of everyday work. Among their recommendations, I find two of particular value:

• Maintain a “to learn” list. As a leader you bring many strengths to your work, but all leaders need to recognize their skill areas that need improvement. It may be becoming a better listener, working on better self-awareness, or holding more effective meetings. Put those items on the “to learn” list and be highly selective in identifying resources to help build strength in those areas.
• Calendarize dedicated time into your work schedule. Whether it’s writing, meditation, exercise, or some other purposeful activity, accomplishing it is easier as a routine behavior. To support professional development, carve out a designated time of the day and make it a regular activity. If your schedule is so hectic and unpredictable as to make that difficult, at least aim for some time during morning, afternoon, or night.

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Get a job! [Caitlin Williams | ALA Dewey Decibel Podcast

Career advice | Mentoring  |Professional development | Leadership | Trends

Looking for a job can be arduous and anxiety-inducing. It's not surprising: The end results can be life changing. And organizations looking to hire new employees face challenges, as finding the right candidate for a job can be difficult if the search isn’t conducted correctly. What can job seekers and employers do to improve the process to everyone’s benefit? In Episode 32, we find out.

First, ALA Editions acquisitions editor and Dewey Decibel contributor Jamie Santoro speaks with Caitlin Williams, author of Be Opportunity-Minded: Start Growing Your Career Now (ALA Editions, 2019), about tips for those on the job hunt and job market trends.

Next, Dewey Decibel host and American Libraries associate editor Phil Morehart talks with David Connolly, recruitment ad sales manager for the American Library Association’s JobLIST, about what job hunters should be doing to find the right fit and what employers should be doing to find the right candidates.

TBLC Talk: Andrew Beman-Cavallaro on Mentoring in Librarianship – March 2015

Mentoring | Librarianship | Professional advice | Career Development

Andrew Beman-Cavallaro, Associate Director of Libraries at Pasco-Hernando State College Spring Hill Campus, talks about Mentoring in Librarianship in this session of TBLC Talks.