Austin’s Early Career Aspirations

While discussing national education trends, Austin recounted his early classroom experiences and his interesting career choice at age 5.

Austin: Just this morning, I was watching a news report that indicated the education officials in Illinois. It was a it was a report about, I believe, student achievement or lack thereof, in Illinois. And there were a couple of districts where they're elementary school students and they're like several thousand that were classified under this particular study. Several thousand. Because they were looking at systems. They were able to say it went like a national trend. We're going to take a small sample and project this. It was the systems. I want to say it was something like 12 or 14 schools. Michelle, did you see this? Did you happen to notice the number of students that they said were proficient in math and reading? Proficient, not....

Michelle: Shocking.

Austin: It was Dean Wormer territory. Yeah, it was Zero point zero.. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I would love to be able to sit here and bitch and moan about the education system in Chicago and other parts of Illinois that stink. But but you know what? That's a reflection of when you've got zero point zero that, that's thousands of piss-poor parents. P-A-R-E-N-T-S and I bet you dollars to donuts, I can track down the neighborhoods those folks live in. And I can show you about 95% blue voting.

When I hit first grade to Miss Sylvester. God bless her. She's still out there. Listens to the show. I think in Burke County. She was my first grade teacher. And I was put in the advanced reading group. There were three of us, I think, in first grade. And you know what day they put us in the advanced reading group in first grade. It's like the first week of school. You know why? Because Beverly and Bob taught Austin how to read. That's my mom and dad and my grandparents and others that helped me along.

My kindergarten teachers, too. No doubt about it. But I was reading street signs and billboards. From my earliest memories. And mom and dad, you know still, when I say my dad-he doesn't like to talk about stuff like that much, but my mom loved to talk about when I was a little kid to my daughter and to my wife. And she'd say, we had him in the car, two, three years old. He was reading street signs. He was telling us what signs meant he was doing this, that and the other. And, it was all fine and good until he ran across the issue of Playboy that his grandfather had, because there was some country music star in it, and he found it in the bathroom and wanted to know what all the jokes were about.

They say I was like, four years old maybe five years old. Something like that. Maybe it's an interview with somebody. My, my grandfather had two issues of Playboy in his house in his life. One of them was that issue that I found in '68 or '69. I was born in '65. The other one was, I want to say, the '76. Maybe it was the '79, '80 presidential, Dolly Parton's on the cover. And my grandfather, Daddy Zeb, loved Dolly Parton, and I don't know whether he thought she was in it pictorially or not, but she was on the cover with with bunny ears and what have you.

For years, those were the only two dirty books that I ever saw in my life. But, yeah, it was all fine and good until Austin gets ahold of a Playboy. And by the way, to this day, Miss Sylvester, my teacher loves to tell people about the day that she asked everybody what they wanted to be when they grow up. And Austin wrote down because I could not spell the word "photographer"... "Playboy picture taker". Dead serious. Swear on a stack of Bibles. Playboy. Picture taker. First grade.

Michelle: That's great.

Austin: Yeah, I've been a weirdo since day one.

Do you ever feel like you're working hard but don't have the money to show for it? It's a common sentiment. Well, the good news is that today, there are some ways to make extra money right now that can really add up. Now, there's no "easy" solution to making more cash. But, we've researched some ways that people are making extra money, and they're simple.

Before we get into ways to make extra money, let's start with saving money. NerdWallet.com has some really simple tips for saving cash. A big one is to prepare for grocery shopping. That's so that you aren't grabbing a bunch of stuff that you don't need on a whim. "A little work before you go to the grocery store can go a long way toward helping you save money on groceries," they state. Prepping also means that you can maximize any coupons that you find for items you'll be purchasing or knowing about loyalty programs ahead of time. The big one is to not impulse by. I've done that so many times, when I but cinnamon rolls or something else that I don't really want just because it looks good at the time.

Another savings tip from NerdWallet.com is to restrict online shopping. Boy, that's a good one. It's so easy to sit there on your phone, saving items that look cool in your online cart. Then, all you have to do is hit "order," but often, you're ordering a bunch of stuff that you don't really need. They suggest that, "Instead of saving your billing information, opt to input your shipping address and credit card number each time you order. You'll probably make fewer impulse purchases because of the extra work involved." Good idea. Find more tips on saving money from NerdWallet.com here. Forbes has some good advice, too, in suggesting to do real meal prep. It helps avoid eating out too much, which can really add up.

Now, let's get into easy ways to make extra money.

This option has been there since the advent of the garage sale. If you have items sitting around that you don't want or need anymore, sell them. It's a quick way to make some cash. You can put them up for sale on eBay, a Facebook group or elsewhere online, or you can go the old-fashioned way and hold a yard sale.

I've house sat quite a bit, and I personally love it. It's very peaceful to watch over someone's house. Duties-wise, it can involve anything from watering plants to just staying there so that nobody breaks in during a long vacation. Pet sitting is also a great way to make a little extra money. While you're at it, try being a dog walker, too.

Being a mystery shopper is a real thing. You can shop, either online or in person, and get paid for reviewing your experience. But, watch out for scams. A great way to find legit mystery shopper jobs is by looking on job sites such as Ziprecruiter.com or Indeed.com.

You can make money by simply taking online surveys. It's not usually a lot of money, but it's better than nothing, and you can do it during downtime. A few major survey sites include Swagbucks and Survey Junkie. Find more via NerdWallet.com here.

Self-publishing has never been so easy. If you are very knowledgeable in an area that people want to know about, why not self-publish an e-book? Using Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing, you can sell your books via the Kindle store. Publishing the book is free, and you can earn an upwards of 70% of each sale in royalties. You can even try your hand at a wild novel and see how it does, if you don't want to write a practical book.

A quick way to make some cash during your off hours is by delivering groceries or food. Services such as Instacart and Shipt use independent contractors to deliver food to clients. Also, services such as Uber Eats and Doordash are often looking for delivery people.

It might seem odd to open a new credit card to try to make money, but it can help. Many credit cards offer new client deals, so if you spend a certain amount after signing up, you could get some cash back or other bonuses. Also, you could find a cash back card, where you get cash back on everyday purchases, such as gas or groceries. Say you don't want a new credit card? You could also open a new bank account at a bank where they are giving cash-back offers for starting business with them. Also, to get the most for your money, look for a high-interest savings.