Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.                                        –Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV)

The rags-to-riches theme comes from the core finance question that is asked by many people: “How do I increase my income?” This is still a question I’m learning to answer myself, after several years of studying personal finance from a Biblical point of view. From what I can tell though, “income” is understood in two forms: wages (or salary paychecks) and customer payments from invoices (or business income). Business success and personal finance books, from the past and present, seem to suggest a both-and approach to salary and business income. Although the preferred long-term approach to success is self-employment, or 100% business income, because of the unlimited nature of customer payments, once your business builds momentum through advertising, projects, and invoices. I suppose there’s no general right or wrong answer that can be made into a universal law. There’s no reason why a person should feel forced into choosing between salary or business income in order to achieve an increase in their overall income. However, one thing is for sure: almost all of the “income increasing systems” that I’ve run across, seem to involve entrepreneurship on some level: whether the second job is called a side-hustle, a small business, a side job, or a side gig–one thing is sure: a second job (salary or small business income) must absolutely come into the picture if you want to experience financial growth. If you decide to just exclusively think of income in terms of a paycheck from one company, and are seeking a promotion for some lucky break: it probably won’t happen any time soon. And you’re running out of time. YOU must make the “break” happen through a side-hustle or almost never experience a “break” at all.

Larry Burkett, Business by the Book, p.

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BOOKS AND AUDIOBOOKS ABOUT INCREASING YOUR INCOME

1. Grant Sabatier’s Financial Freedom.

2. Robert Allen’s Multiple Streams of Income.

3. Paul and Sarah Edwards’ Secrets of Successful Self-Employment.

4. Brian Tracy’s 21 Success Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires.

19TH CENTURY SUCCESS BOOKS WITH THE PROTESTANT WORK ETHIC

1. William Mathews’ Getting On in the World.

2. Freeman Hunt’s Worth and Wealth.

3. Orison Marden’s Pushing to the Front.