One Thousand Ways to Make Money

[disneysteve]

This exercise is kind of silly because most, of not all those jobs don't pay real money.

So what? How many threads have there been here where the suggestion was made to get a 2nd job to help get out of debt? Lots of things listed so far could qualify as 2nd jobs even for someone who has a good career.

I'm a physician with a 6-figure income. Despite that, I sell on ebay and half.com. I've had sales of about $800 so far this year without really even trying. In the past, I've made $1,000/month when I was really working at it.

I do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs. I made over $1,000 doing them in October.

My wife used to do cake decorating. She just did it for friends and family and didn't charge nearly enough but still got $30 or so per cake. She could have sold many more cakes but wasn't in it for the money.

My brother-in-law had a good job with a major bank but in his spare time, wrote a book (about saving money, actually).

None of these things bring in enough to live on, but they definitely help, and for someone in trouble with debt, they could be the difference between making it and not.

[connor_zen]

This is a good project for your kids (and you too) that I did when I was about 14 to make money:

Start a local coupon book. Go to different stores and have them give a discount on their product and pay you a set amount of money to appear in your coupon book that you then create and distribute to people. Charge $50 per ad per month. Get 20 ads in the book and you've made $1,000, which should be more than enough to cover costs (you can use your own computer to create the layout with Adobe Photoshop Elements and print at your local printing company) and pocket a good bit of change. Repeat every month.

Another one that's pretty good (I didn't try it, though) is to paint people's address numbers on the cement ridge between their sidewalk and the road in front of their houses (see local codes to make sure it's legal). All you need are a large number stencil, some paint, and a brush. Charge $5 or $10 per house.

[sgfinancialfreedom]

You can try selling options to make money too.
This is highly leveraged though so you need to know what you are doing

[lovcom]

So what? How many threads have there been here where the suggestion was made to get a 2nd job to help get out of debt? Lots of things listed so far could qualify as 2nd jobs even for someone who has a good career.

I'm a physician with a 6-figure income. Despite that, I sell on ebay and half.com. I've had sales of about $800 so far this year without really even trying. In the past, I've made $1,000/month when I was really working at it.

I do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs. I made over $1,000 doing them in October.

My wife used to do cake decorating. She just did it for friends and family and didn't charge nearly enough but still got $30 or so per cake. She could have sold many more cakes but wasn't in it for the money.

My brother-in-law had a good job with a major bank but in his spare time, wrote a book (about saving money, actually).

None of these things bring in enough to live on, but they definitely help, and for someone in trouble with debt, they could be the difference between making it and not.

I understand Steve, however I think selling on eBay or Half.com, or baking cakes can be more of a labor of love, and it can be fun....and these things can provide a windfall of $$.

But we're not really talking about those types of endeavors here, are we?

I thought the theme of this tread is to make money with a list of jobs, and I say this more as a need then a fun thing. I suspect you do the eBay dance for the fun of it, and as a consequence, this fun happens to make you some money, and same for your wife's cakes.

But for someone that needs more income, needs to augment their too little day job income, those jobs listed may well be a good stop-gap, but I would consider most of those (if not all) to be a terrible long term solution.

For those needing to make more $$, sure go ahead and walk a few dogs, but also do this: go back to school and learn some new skills that will lead to a lot more pay and security. I'd rather spend time doing homework after dinner for several months or a few years then to use that time to make chump change and burn through time we can never get back.

I too make will into the six figures, and I often do the eBay selling dance myself, as I find it fun and it can be addicting, and I dare say entertaining too, but do I need to do this to make extra money? Not at all. My brother in-law does well too, and he has the eBay addiction really "bad"...he buys unused Mary Kay and Avon products and then sales them for a termendous mark up, so he does between $500 and $1,000 every month, but for him this is sport, and entertainment. He "games" it, and the haggling, the bargaining to him is much more valuable then the actual profit, or so it seems.

[lovcom]

Get jobs that pay real money? interesting... let me stretch it a bit, how about becoming the ones who create companies which provides jobs that pay real money? ;-) Someone needs to create jobs, why not you?

I wish I could hire a bunch of other IT developers, but my clients would often rather hire an off-shore firm. The govnerment says off-shoring is "good for America". :-(

Yes, this is the worse job market since the Great Depression, but if one can, one should take some time to at least attend college part time and learn a skill that will (1) pay real good, and (2) shows a demand now and in the foreseeable future. Even a Jr. college or community college can teach someone enough skills to make real money, so if one can't afford Ivy League or State University, that is not often an impediment.

[jasonnoguchi]

Venturing offshores is a trend we cannot resist. When we can't fight em, join em! That's what I did. I went offshores on many of my other businesses and have been staying overseas ever since for years.


Anyways, the thread is all about making money. Big or small. Primary or supplementary. Full time or part time. Singular or multiple source. The point is to give people who needs to improve their financial picture some ideas, that's all. I really thank Steve for sharing his experience in such depth and I truly second that an extra few hundred a month could make the difference between life and death to some people heavily in debt. Most of the ones I listed can be taken on part time. You can do them as part time jobs or just freelance, thats the beauty of it. What I am trying to encourage here is for people to create multiple streams of income. When you have more ways of making money, your financial security goes up because you are now more diversified and your self-confidence goes up because you are now really stretching your abilities and making more contributions.

[sgfinancialfreedom]

Another option is to start a small business that involves anything to do with pets.

You can like feed and take care of pets when the owner is away on a holiday.

[mom-from-missouri]

Mom's taxi.
Lady here runs a ad in the paper, charges $8 hour and rounds up to the nearest hour. She will pick up and transport kids to events, get your groceries, run your errands.

[donlat3]

teach private lessons for something you're good at (instruments, sports, etc)

[mainyy]

very useful list for me.thank you.

[Rayl]

If you have any kind of unique talent, like writing, art, etc., start a class. You might start teaching at a local community continuing education project and develop a following, or just start one of your own. If you charge $125 per student you only need to bring 8 people to the class to make $1,000 - and the time you aren't teaching is your own.

[syracusa]

I find this to be a very cute post.

Add translating/interpreting.

I just wonder why most people resort to the lousy no. 1 as a way for making money. Is it because most of us are so dull?
By the way, I never understood how in the world writing a blog can bring money. Call me retarded, but I don't know about those things. All I can guess is advertising.

My favorite would be "picking your parents wisely".

[syracusa]

There is a saying, you can't win what you don't play. We only live once, let's give everything a shot!

The fact that I can't help but agree with jason, could it be a sign I am losing my mind due to Recession and the relocation we're going through?

An old professor of mine once said: it is crazy to count on the lottery, but it is even crazier not to play it at all, especially when the jackpot is high. Serious words of wisdom.

[syracusa]

I do a lot of medical surveys and market research programs. I made over $1,000 doing them in October.

Steve,

Would you happen to have any recommendations in this regard?

[disneysteve]

Steve,

Would you happen to have any recommendations in this regard?

Are you a physician? If so, I can refer you to a number of market research firms that I do work for. PM me with your name and e-mail address and I'll send stuff to you as I come across them.