Why I quit my challenges for this year and what I am going to do instead!

Lifestyle

Sustainable gift wrap course

Yesterday I had a bit of a rant and a rave about how I love my slow life, but that it has it’s frustrations (read more here). One frustration I didn’t mention was money. Generally we are doing ok for money, but when we don’t have students staying with us, we aren’t bringing in quite enough. To address this, in January I set myself a challenge to make £10,000 in a year without getting a job – all the details are here.  Sorry to disappoint, but I decided that I can’t take the heat in the sharing economy world and I abandoned this challenge a while ago. I came to a few conclusions which are as follows:

  • A lot of the organisations in the ‘sharing economy’ are actually providing individuals with a great platform to set up peer to peer rental businesses. Many of them are not facilitating sharing at all.
  • To make any money you have to advertise and just listing on a website isn’t always enough. Cold selling to people is hard work and not my idea of fun.
  • You have to make sure that you are covered / complying from insurance, tax and legal perspectives. You also have to make sure you are up to date with any relevant changes to legislation. You may need to seek the help of an expert to do this. These things can take up time, energy and cash 
  • Trying to dip in and out of a variety of different activities only makes the above even more complicated.
  • There is no guarantee of making any money via these sites. You could put in a lot of time and effort and get nothing in return. 
  • A lot of these sites haven’t been around long. The ‘sharing economy’ is a growing one and as it grows there is the potential for things to go wrong.
As these sites develop things will most likely get easier and as things go wrong more safeguards will be put in place, but for now it just isn’t for me.  I do still need to work out a way to make a bit of money, so my latest plan is to try and write a book about being eco-friendly and thrifty (something I have been planning and not doing for far too long) and see where I go from there. So I have three questions for you my readers:

  1. What would you want to see covered in the book?
  2. Would you buy it?
  3. If you would buy it, what would you pay for it? 

Thanks for all and any feedback (you don’t have to stick to answering these questions), it would be incredibly helpful!

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Comments

  1. KathrynH

    Yes I would buy it as I really enjoy your blog. Would probably prefer to buy a Kindle version, rather than actual book, which I guess is what you're thinking about. Lots of environmental/personal experiences and thrifty tips would be of interest. Good luck!

  2. Emma PwF

    Have you seen what Huw over at financially free by forty has been doing in terms of Kindle publishing – different to what you are thinking of but it could be good to chat. I'd really like to read that book, I'd prefer an ebook. I like personal stories that illustrate a point, maybe a year in your life with reference to seasonal changes? I think I'd pay around £6-8 for 250ish pages. I personally dislike kindle books that are about £2 and less than 100 pages.

  4. Zoe

    Thanks for the very specific feedback – very helpful!

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