Lackawanna College announces Ranger/Officer program

Scranton — Lackawanna College is accepting applications for their Conservation and Natural Resource Officer Certificate Program. This one-year, dual-certificate program combines the Lackawanna College Police Academy with a 16-credit, undergraduate level, environmental semester at the Lackawanna College Environmental Education Center in Covington Township. The program is set to begin spring 2017.The CNRO program will prepare students for entry-level Natural Resource Ranger [...]

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Stella & Dot – A Home-Based Business for Style Enthusiasts

By Holly Reisem Hanna I first learned about stella & dot eight years ago. A friend of a friend had just started selling it and wanted to let me know so I could include it in my research for the website that I was going to launch. I took a look and immediately fell in love […]

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Port Jervis preps for posthumous homecoming of vet

PORT JERVIS, N.Y. — The city is wrapping its arms around the family of Pfc. William Vito Giovanniello, whose body has been identified 65 years after he died in battle during the Korean War.Individuals and groups have begun making and placing "welcome home" bows around the community, in anticipation of the pending homecoming of Giovanniello's remains.Resident Debbie Abraham Ford made an online post on social media the morning after the news was released, and [...]

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Port Jervis preps posthumous salute to returning veteran

PORT JERVIS, N.Y. — The city is wrapping its arms around the family of Pfc. William Vito Giovanniello, whose body has been identified 65 years after he died in battle during the Korean War. Individuals and groups have begun making and placing "welcome home" bows around the community, in anticipation of the pending homecoming of Giovanniello's remains.Resident Debbie Abraham Ford made an online post on social media the morning after the news was released, and [...]

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Vigon owner joins ownership group

The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders announced the addition of three members to their ownership group Wednesday afternoon at PNC Field.Former All-Star pitcher Andy Ashby led the group along with Charles Cohen, managing director and owner of Benco Dental Company, and Steve Somers, president and owner of Vigon International in Monroe County.Somers bought Vigon International, a flavor, fragrance and cosmetic company, in 1998.Along with his ownership role, Ashby will be the [...]

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Lackawanna College announces Conservation and Natural Resource Officer program

Scranton — Lackawanna College is accepting applications for their Conservation and Natural Resource Officer Certificate Program. This one-year, dual-certificate program combines the Lackawanna College Police Academy with a 16-credit, undergraduate level, environmental semester at the Lackawanna College Environmental Education Center in Covington Township. The program is set to begin spring 2017.The CNRO program will prepare students for entry-level Natural Resource Ranger [...]

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Inside the iHome: Apple helps builders pitch gizmo-packed houses

In a darkened master bedroom, David Kaiserman stood in shirtsleeves next to a turned-down king bed. "Good morning, Siri," he said to the iPad in his hand, and the lights went on while the blackout shades retracted."Your home is ready to rise and shine," the virtual assistant replied.Inside this four-bedroom stucco house in Alameda, California, Kaiserman, president of the technology division at construction company Lennar Corp., was pitching a vision of a home controlled via [...]

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How to Stay Motivated When You’re Already Debt-Free

When my husband and I finally fought our way to debt freedom, it was a huge relief. Where we once had a ton of bills to pay and keep track of, we were finally down to living expenses only – things like our mortgage, groceries, and utilities. And while money stress had once been a fixture of our daily lives, after paying off our last dollar of non-mortgage debt, our financial situation became crystal clear and effortless overnight.

Debt-free for only a few days, we began mapping out our future. Our core group of short-term goals included bumping up our college savings, investing even more for retirement, and starting targeted savings accounts for emergencies and rainy days. Beyond those objectives, we also wanted to retire early, pay for our children’s college educations in their entirety, and avoid ever falling into the trap of debt again.

The feeling of debt freedom was absolutely wonderful, and we were so excited about our future. Instead of spending our free time plotting our way out of debt, we could finally dream and plan for the debt-free future we really wanted.

Unfortunately, the excitement waned off and on from there. And in a lot of ways, our dream of debt freedom became more of a let-down. Up until that point, we had been working toward something tangible – paying off all our bills. And honestly, paying off debt had actually become “fun” somewhere along the way. Not only were we working together as a team, but it was exciting to work toward real goals and watch our progress as the months ticked by.

But, what now? Somehow, the idea of saving for retirement and college – both decades away at that point – wasn’t nearly as exciting or immediately rewarding.

Three Ways We Stay Motivated in the Absence of Debt

Fortunately, we had an epiphany along the way – all the work we were doing wasn’t about today; it was about the long game. The reason we became debt-free in the first place was to provide a better life for our children and ourselves in retirement, not to make our lives easier while we’re young.

We finally realized something else, too – getting out of debt wasn’t enough. To make our debt-free lifestyle meaningful, we had to put our dollars to use and stay on track with our goals for a lifetime. While this isn’t always easy, we eventually found a few strategies that make long-term financial goals fun and exciting in the absence of paying off debt.

#1: We use a zero-sum budget.

One of the most productive hours we spend every month is the time we set aside to create that month’s zero-sum budget. In case you’re not familiar with this form of budgeting, a zero-sum budget requires you to spend all of your month’s income on paper until it’s gone. The kicker is, you put your extra funds toward savings, debt repayment, and investments.

Since we fell in love with this strategy, zero-sum budgeting has changes our lives in so many ways. First, it forces us to allocate each dollar we earn to something – with overages allotted to savings and investments now that we’re debt-free. Second, budgeting each month makes us painfully aware of lifestyle creep, and how our spending habits change over time.

Lastly, creating a budget each month reinforces the idea that we should discuss our money together regularly. When my husband and I sit down to create our budget, we talk about our financial goals, our concerns, our planned spending for that month. Keeping the communication lines open has been a huge part of our financial process, and budgeting each month has helped in that respect.

• Related: How and Why to Use a Zero-Sum Budget

#2: We set our finances on auto-pilot.

Without any debt, my husband and I are in the position to max our out retirement accounts and invest every month. We’re also prepaying on our rental properties so they’re mortgage-free that much sooner.

Over time, we’ve found the best way to work toward these goals seamlessly is to set our finances up on auto-pilot as much as we can. What that means is, a certain amount of money is automatically contributed to certain accounts and mortgage payoff every month without us having to do it manually. In a lot of ways, this allows our extra money to stay “out of sight and out of mind,” too. We may technically have extra money leftover every month, but I’m rarely tempted to spend it – because I never see it!

The best part about automating your finances is that it doesn’t take long to set up. Spend a couple of hours on your bank’s website and you can likely automate your entire investing and savings strategy.

• Related: 10 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Saving Money

#3: We celebrate small wins and milestones.

When your real financial goals are decades away, it can be hard to stay on track or even care about when you’ll get there. One way we stay on track is creating “mini-goals” along the way. Not only do we create small, short-term goals and reach them all the time, but we celebrate them when we do.

This has helped us stay motivated, and added some “fun” back into the equation as well. Perhaps I’ve become a money nerd, but I still find it exciting when we hit certain financial milestones.

Here’s an example: In the absence of debt, we’ve been trying to prepay the principle on the rental properties we bought in our 20s as quickly as possible. Each time we pay off another $5,000 in mortgage payments (which takes a while), we celebrate with a fancy dinner out.

That’s just one example, but the point is, we’ve created a system of smaller goals to work toward each year. With these small goals always on the horizon, we’re able to keep our eye on the prize without getting bored or letting lifestyle inflation take hold.

Final Thoughts

Getting out of debt is a huge accomplishment, but it’s easy to squander your progress if you don’t change your mindset and keep up your financial intensity. For us, a series of strategies that include creating mini-goals, budgeting, and setting our finances on auto-pilot has helped us remain debt-free and continue saving.

Keeping our minds on our long-term goals has also been helpful. Even though we’re only in our 30s, we’ve learned to ask ourselves how we want our future to look all the time. How do we want our lives to look in 20, 30, or even 40 years? Asking that question over and over helps us keep things in perspective, and could do the same for you.

It may be hard to stay motivated when your real goals are decades away, but it can be done. Like anything else, long-term financial success requires confidence, self-restraint, and grit.

Holly Johnson is an award-winning personal finance writer who is obsessed with frugality, budgeting, and travel. She blogs at ClubThrifty.com and teaches others how to write online at EarnMoreWriting.com.

Related Articles

• What’s Next After Debt Freedom?
• 10 Strategies for Staying Motivated Toward Your Financial (and Other) Goals
• 11 Ways to Get Out of Debt Faster
• It’s Not ‘Early Retirement,’ It’s ‘Walk Away’ Money

How do you stay motivated when your goals are far away? Are there any special strategies you use to stay on track?

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This Teacher Used YouTube to Make $120K Last Year — Here’s How She Did It

Gabby Wallace always had a thirst to see the world.

That’s why she began teaching English as a Second Language (ESL); she knew it was a career that would allow her to travel.

But she never expected she’d stumble upon a business that would allow her to keep teaching and traveling — and occasionally earn the equivalent of her former salary in a single week.

It’s all thanks to a little platform called YouTube…

An “Accidental Business”

Wallace, who has a master’s degree in education, had been teaching ESL for five years when she decided to make “bite-size” videos to help her students in Japan.  

“It was almost an accidental business that I created,” she says. “No funding, no investors, no business plan. I just wanted to help my students more.”

At this point, she had no technical experience and no equipment — only a laptop and a smartphone.

“I didn’t even know how to edit,” she says. “I actually have my first videos up still on YouTube, where you can see me turning the camera on and off. It’s really embarrassing, but I leave those up there because it’s sort of a reminder that you can do this even with very little training.”

Her students responded well to the videos, so she continued to make them — even after moving back to the U.S. to teach at a university.

Six months in, a little box popped up on YouTube that said: “Yes, I would like to be able to monetize my videos.” She clicked it.

And slowly, the money started to trickle in.

“Honestly, seeing the first few cents and the first few dollars come in just amazed me,” she says. “I was like, ‘This is possible; oh my gosh, it works.’”

Though it wasn’t enough to support her, it felt good. (For most people, the earnings might’ve covered coffee expenses — but Wallace notes: “I drink a lot of coffee.”)

Due to the rising popularity of her videos, she began to receive requests from students who wanted to take Skype lessons with her. So she started doing those as well.

She dedicated 15 hours each week (on top of her full-time teaching job) to her channel and students, earning about $50-$100 per week.

“I had a lot of doubts about the time that I was spending on it,” she admits. “Like, is it really worth it?”

She Goes All In — and It Pays Off

Then, in early 2014, Wallace says, “I just realized I couldn’t not do it.”

She’d been on YouTube for three years and had 10,000 subscribers. She was still doing one-on-one English lessons, and couldn’t grow her business because she only had “so many hours in the day.”

So she added a new tool to her arsenal: a video course, complete with lessons, quizzes and exclusive content not available on her YouTube page.

Because the course was on-demand and didn’t depend on her time, she calls it “a huge turning point.”

Wallace also got lucky: YouTube provided her a free mentor, a service it offers to select creators. She met with him once a week to learn strategies for growing her subscriber base and earnings.

Soon, she went from 10,000 subscribers and earnings of $200-$300 per month to 100,000 subscribers and a “decent income.”

Her biggest success? A joint sale with other English teachers that brought in $45,000 in a week — 10% of which was donated to Pencils of Promise.

When she saw those numbers, she cried.

“I’d never even made that much in a month being an English teacher, and I never imagined I’d be able to give back that much,” she explains. “It was like whoa.”

These days, Wallace can command $1,000 in sponsorship for a five-minute video on her channel.

To create five or six of these of these, it takes her about three hours: one to prepare, one to film and one to edit.

Though that’s a pretty incredible hourly rate, Wallace actually makes the vast majority of her income from her downloadable courses — literally a way to “make money while you sleep,” she says.

Between her courses, YouTube ad revenue and sponsorships, she earned $120,000 last year ($25,000 of which went to overhead costs like web hosting and contractors).  

All while working on her schedule, from anywhere with an internet connection — she traveled to 20 countries last year!

Wallace’s 5 Top YouTube Tips

If you’re hoping to emulate Wallace’s success with a YouTube channel of your own, don’t miss her tips for growing with — and making money with — the platform.

1. Think About Your Skills

What are you good at? What could you teach?

“Think about what knowledge or skills you have,” Wallace says, “and you can create assets from nothing.”

Though Wallace had never created videos before, she knew her strength and background was in teaching — and she used that to create her biz.

2. Offer Value for Free

Wallace attributes much of her success to the fact she started by “giving so much value on my channel for free.”

You want people to see you’re an expert and that you want to help, she says. If you start selling stuff too quickly, and your viewers think you’re in it just to make money, she warns you’ll “turn them off.”

Instead, she advises you “start out giving” and “trying to be of service.”

3. Create a Community

I hate to break it to you, but you probably won’t find success by just uploading videos to the platform — no matter how good they are.

“It really is about growing your audience, and interacting with them,” says Wallace. “You have to see them as a community.”

4. Diversify Your Income

Despite Wallace’s massive following, her YouTube ad revenue only makes up a small portion of her income — which is why she recommends having multiple income streams.

“Even if you do have a lot of views and you’re making good money from YouTube ads and stuff, you see a lot of the most famous creators actually selling merchandise on their websites,” she says. “Selling t-shirts or selling other stuff, or maybe they have affiliate links to products.”

Oh, and if you see a product in a video, she notes “it’s probably sponsored.”

5. Collaborate with Others

Though some might’ve looked at other online English teachers as competitors, Wallace took the opposite approach.

“Honestly, we all benefit so much from collaborating, whether it’s simply sharing each other’s links, doing a collaborative video or interviewing each other on a podcast,” she says. “That’s been just a huge source of not only income — but growing our respective communities.”

And, though she didn’t mention it, I’ll add one more tip: Be patient.

It took Wallace three years of hustling on the side (and five years of teaching ESL prior) before she started to earn a full-time living from her business. That’s a lot of sacrificed nights and weekends out.

Sure, she has a life many of us would dream of now — but she’s worked hard for it.

And her only regret? That she didn’t do it sooner.

Looking back, Wallace says her biggest mistake was “not believing in myself, not being confident… and not mentally going all in.”

Your Turn: Do you want to earn money on YouTube? Check out Wallace’s website, where she offers several YouTube courses.

Susan Shain, senior writer for The Penny Hoarder, is always seeking adventure on a budget. Visit her blog at susanshain.com, or say hi on Twitter @susan_shain.

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