While this blog’s main purpose is to talk about dividend investing, I think that there are several ways you can invest and earn dividends. And some ways are not sold on the stock market. One of them is to invest in yourself. As we are about to start a new year, it may be the time to make some serious resolutions and improve some of your skills. Invest in your knowledge – Become a better investor By becoming a better investor, you will certainly be able to make more money over time. Buying the right stocks and selling them at the right moment makes the difference between an interesting yield and a very good one. Investing in your knowledge to become a better investor will eventually generate dividends. Here are a few tricks how you can improve your trading skills: - Read several sources of information (newspapers, financial websites, blogs and The Dividend Guy Newsletter) - Register for courses (you can register as a student and pay for only one course in many universities. If you have specific questions or would like to learn more about how to read financial statements, this could be a great way to do it). - Buy books (I’d say that the problem with books is that you read too much and you do too little. What I like about the first 2 solutions is that they are more practical and easier to apply). Invest in your career – Be a better employee Another way to earn dividends from your time and money is to invest in your career. Getting promoted or increasing your bonus at the end of the year are definitely great ways to use your talents. There are specific things you can do in order to boost your career: - Get a professional certification (in several fields, getting a professional certification will lead you to better job or simply increase your salary). - Learn from other employees (spend time with some key employees or an expert in a specific field. Try to learn from them and gain their knowledge. If you can become a “backup” to someone considered as an “expert” in your field, you will definitely open some doors). - Go back to school (I personally completed an MBA in financial services while working full time. It was a tough experience (especially if you have a family) but it is definitely worth it. I have expanded my network and was able to get a raise the same year). Investing in your business – Earn more dividend income About a week ago, I wrote about how my online company went from $18K to $124K in revenue in a single year. Back 2008, I invested a lot of my time and remortgaged my house in order to create an online company with one of my friends. We have been working since then and the company is now paying off dividends. Creating a sideline or a small company is often another great way to build dividend income besides the one you receive from the stock market. When I compare my yield to my current investing, I can only say that it is tempting to invest all my money in my company. It was able to pay me back within 2 years and is now paying me dividends of about $6,000 per year and it keeps growing. Using my knowledge and passion to create passive income was the best move I have ever made. I can understand it may seem more difficult for some people to create a business but I can tell you that there is always a way to transform your expertise into some real money. While dividend investing is all about investing now so you can earn passive income in the future, I think you can apply this principle to several aspects of your life.