Lots of people seek to create wealth with hard work. This is a step in the right direction. Yet, if you take a closer look, and you discover you're exchanging time for someone else's money, then you may not realize you can make money other ways.  Perhaps leaving a traditional rat race is for you?

If you have no control over the level of your salary or no leverage based on the size of audience of your work, then you may not be using your skills in the most effective ways.  You create greater wealth through earning more than you spend.  A bit of research will be needed to identify your interests and to identify what's right for you. Which areas might you consider?

1) You could start a business. Everyone who starts a business hasn't always planned to do that. Not all ventures succeed. Yet, a business is a great way to regulate your own hours, define your own salary and create the freedom to be your own boss. Of course, business also requires a great deal of commitment and responsibility. You need to be willing to get informed about your area and to take risks to develop ideas and expand. To tap into this unlimited profitability, you must also earn it by staying on top of you market and keeping in touch with your customer wants and needs. 

2) You could invest in items that appreciate. To acquire what grows in value, people think of real estate, antiques, jewelry and other items which hold value or appreciate over time. You can also learn to make money in real estate markets by buying property to renovate and resell or, by buying to rent or lease to pay your mortgage and make a profit. Many people learn as they go, even with little money. They key is to consult competent real estate advisors and read on market trends.

3) You could invest in good risk companies. Stocks don’t have to seem like a foreign language. What products and services do you love so much that you would tell other people about them? Remind yourself you may earn more of a profit when you buy than when you sell. Mutual funds also have a 5-10% index of annual growth.  Don't knock that.  You may choose to look into bigger risks as you gain faith in your evolving knowledge.  Investment brokers can guide you and you can learn. 

4) You could package and sell yourself. Why not put together CDs, books, or life experience in ways that other people could benefit? Your lessons-learned could be worth far more than you realize.  Self-help, personal growth and motivational coaching is an increasingly popular areas.  As you develop products and services around your own creative visions or ideas, you’ll realize that your intellectual work and yourself as a person are very marketable commodities. Value yourself.