User inspired and tested ways to make side money.

[8 Bit WWBG]

A post on another thread, as well as memories of Liz's old "100 ways posters have actually made side money" makes me want to resurrect that old thread. Users are always in need of ideas for side businesses or revenue streams besides the tired "sell on eBay" or "babysit".

I'll start the ball with a few, one of which is from another thread.

1) Put that fancy camera/skills to work. Teach the art of photography to those going on vacation. One poster hired a local photography professor for $150 for a 4 hour lesson. The man came to their house, taught them how to use their camera, set up shots, and then gave them a week to take pictures, which he offered suggestions on improving.

2) DF has gotten very good at doing makeup and nails. She has managed to offer that as a gift to some of her friends, which reduces what she needs to give as a gift.

[Deleted]

3) I used to tutor. Decent pay per hour and negotiable time commitment.

[bring in the new year]

6. Temping - I called a temp agency and picked up weekend & evening accounting work. I believe they also hired people for inventories and other odd jobs.

[8 Bit WWBG]

A very good start. I suspect we will get a lot of suggestions that involve fields where certification is either available or required (example, tutoring).

If you are in such a field, and lack the certification that your competition may have, what mitigating measures or strategies do you have to remain competitive?

[midjd]

7) My DH builds birdhouses/bathouses and other small carpentry projects & sells them on Craiglist. He's been getting $25-40 a pop for the bathouses (great for mosquitoes!)

8) He's also very good at small engine repair and has had some luck at buying (or being given) something that doesn't work, getting it running, and selling it for 3x what he paid.

[bring in the new year]

10. The techs at the animal hospital pick up side jobs walking dogs & pet sitting.

[Deleted]

I assist a photographer on some shoots. He pays me in food.

[MN-Investor]

There's a big need for older folks to have bill paying, checkbook balancing services. I can't say I've it's a job I've been paid for (I do it free for my elderly mother), but there is a real need and some older folks have the money to pay for this service.

[MN-Investor]

Can you paint? Hang wallpaper? A lot of people want to re-decorate but either can't do it themselves or need assistance.

[stats45]

11. I used to edit Master's Theses and Dissertations. Many students who did their undergraduate degree in Asia in particular often struggled with English, and their advisers aren't going to edit papers. I'd charge quite a bit, but most of them would have gladly paid more. I'm sure there is a market for this and in depth writing instruction at nearly any level from community college to Ph.D. level work.


12. Online teaching. You don't even need a terminal degree in some fields. There are expanding opportunities for people with bachelor's degrees to teach K-12 classes as states move to have online instruction for these students as well.

[midjd]

Stats, how would you advertise? Just go to the campus community board? Or is this something they advertise and you accept?

(I looooooooove editing/proofreading, it'd be great to make a few bucks doing it).

[Deleted]

- Personal Training: 2 friends of mind two it on the side and like it. They do it in the evening and weekends and if they client is worth it early morning before work. I wanted to do that, just never got around to getting certified.

[Deleted]

To add to the dissertation editing suggestion - even beyond editing, I know a fair number of grad students who need help with formatting the final document. Most schools have these fairly cumbersome page numbering and margin requirements that are a little beyond my Word skills, and I think I am a fairly competent computer user.

Bulletin board postings would be a start, but I don't think grad students get out and explore campus the way undergrads do. They tend to be creatures of habit who don't see a whole lot of sunlight. I'd be looking for word of mouth referrals from fellow students and recommendations from the graduate administration office (they are the page margin police).

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 25, 2011 9:26:07 GMT -5 midjd said:

7) My DH builds birdhouses/bathouses and other small carpentry projects & sells them on Craiglist. He's been getting $25-40 a pop for the bathouses (great for mosquitoes!)

8) He's also very good at small engine repair and has had some luck at buying (or being given) something that doesn't work, getting it running, and selling it for 3x what he paid.

I'm intrigued by the "bathouse". I never knew they existed-- quite cool. PM me?

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Garage sale / auction arbitrage. When I was in Naperville, IL (Chicago burbs) full time, it was easy to find really nice (read: expensive, brand name, trendy items) things-- sometimes even in the trash. Then I would take the items down to auction in my grandma's small southern IL town and sold them there. At the height of this little hobby I was pulling in about $1,000 a weekend gross. Gas ran me $80 to $100-- but I could stay with grandma, so there was no hotel. Plus we got to visit with grandma as a bonus.

[8 Bit WWBG]

Thats intriguing Paul! Do you have some examples of the items and what people would pay for them? I guess if you found it in the trash, any money is profit. My sister's neighbor threw out an Ekornes chair/ottoman combo that retails for about $1k. She snagged that baby fast.

Using the same trick, you could hang out at college campuses during move out. Its SICK what spoiled kids will toss rather than transport.

[Deleted]

Jun 25, 2011 11:20:05 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Jun 25, 2011 9:26:07 GMT -5 midjd said:

7) My DH builds birdhouses/bathouses and other small carpentry projects & sells them on Craiglist. He's been getting $25-40 a pop for the bathouses (great for mosquitoes!)

8) He's also very good at small engine repair and has had some luck at buying (or being given) something that doesn't work, getting it running, and selling it for 3x what he paid.

I'm intrigued by the "bathouse". I never knew they existed-- quite cool. PM me?

I read that as bath house. Which started an elaborate mental image involving techno music and little birds in leather pants.

Coming slightly back to reality, how cute would the birdhouses be if they looked like little versions of places around town - familiar churches, restaurants and possibly nightclubs...

(sorry, I enjoyed decorating my dollhouse more than playing with it as a child)

[midjd]

Haha Sarah! That is actually one of DH's new projects... our house was built in 2010 and the sellers left a lot of "extra" pieces in the shed. He's been working on making a mini version of our house with some of the leftover shingles, siding, etc. It does kind of look like a dollhouse He fiddled with the idea of doing it for other people but I don't think the time + material investment would translate to a price most people were willing to pay...

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jun 25, 2011 12:37:21 GMT -5 8 Bit WWBG said:

Thats intriguing Paul! Do you have some examples of the items and what people would pay for them? I guess if you found it in the trash, any money is profit. My sister's neighbor threw out an Ekornes chair/ottoman combo that retails for about $1k. She snagged that baby fast.

Using the same trick, you could hang out at college campuses during move out. Its SICK what spoiled kids will toss rather than transport.

Well, I would sit at the auction-- I went to three before I moved on anything-- and watch what sold (other than the delicious homemade blueberry pie and run-of-the-mill coffee). I watched a lot of furniture-- which I don't have the capacity to handle (truck was traded for a minivan in 2007), but after that it was collectibles like those old metal toys-- which I don't have the expertise to do (or the attention span to learn). However, I started noticing sales of cigarette lighters (mainly Zippo) and other tobacco related stuff, and believe it or not-- sets of salt and pepper shakers, and collections of pins (like those little lapel and other pins-- not broaches) that you can get from various places and companies. I also noticed spitoons were popular.

Started cruising garage sales and buying up bric-a-brack. Much of it is fragile, but it doesn't take up a lot of space, and I can get it cheap. Made some good money at the auction-- I sold a 6ft brass Turkish tobacco cooler (Hooka- think "Bong" if you're not familiar) that I picked up at an estate sale for $50 for $700. Apparently it was old, and valuable and I sold it cheap. I'm a bit more careful now.

Then I noticed there were thrift shops and other things around that had very limited selection of children's clothing. And that's when the arbitrage dawned on my. I started buying-- often getting for free-- gobs of high quality, name-brand, barely used children's clothing and stuff I was getting for free, or 25 cents or a dollar was going for $2 and $5 and that was wholesale.

It just got to be a pain-- I had 16 of those big Rubber Maid tubs that I would sort into piles of 12 mo. 18 mo. 2T 3T and so on sizes. I'd get a tub full usually for less than $20 and I could sell for $50 wholesale-- minimum.

I'm not new to the idea-- in the early 1990's my wife and I took a couple trips to Florida when we had no money for vacation by renting U-Haul and filling it with deeply discounted summer items in Chicago and selling them to the resale shops down there. I once bid $2,000 for enough to fill a truck and sold it for $9,000. Trouble is you gotta keep your powder dry-- you need cash. No credit for this stuff- and you risk your buyer not liking anything and then you gotta scramble to sell it. We got stuck with a load once, rented a flea market space near Jacksonville and spend our whole vacation just trying to get our money back-- which we barely broke even-- just in time to go back to work.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

I have a friend who irons for cash. People drop off clothes and she irons them beautifully.

[mtshastawriter]

I read it as Bath House too. Thought it was just a leftover from living in the Bay Area.

I work online doing keyword proofing for info.com. I make about $20 an hour doing it and can work when it I want. Just got lucky and snagged a position when they hired a while back.

I am in the process of starting an online serviced based business with a friend. Our entire business model is online. I'm looking forward to it's launch and seeing how it does in the marketplace.

[Deleted]

Giving standardized tests (SAT, ACT, etc.) doesn't require you have real credentials. You just have to "know" someone. The guy who used to be in charge had his wife, MIL, and two college-aged kids doing it as well as himself. It pays almost $100 for about 5 or so hours of work. But you have to know someone to get to do it, and the guy I know gave it away. So now I'm not on the list any more <sigh>.

I do Sat. School about once a month, but you have to be a school system employee. That's my favorite gig because I get paid about $25 an hour to do what I have to do most Saturdays, anyway . . . grade papers. Unfortunately, there is again a list of "regulars" so my name comes up about once a month and sometimes that gets canceled.

This summer (and summers before) I have signed up to give the graduation exam. They only pay $50 for 4 hours work, but I'm not doing anything else those mornings. I could only do two, though, since I had already signed up for a workshop the other day. You definitely have to have a teaching certificate for that.

[haapai]

University towns sometimes have difficulty finding poll workers, especially for the student precincts. It's a job usually snagged by retirees who do it year after year. I can't remember who told me about the gig, and I only did it once. There was an application at city hall. You'll probably have to be a registered voter. I think that I got some brownie points for applying for an absentee ballot at the same time.

[Cass]

Gardening. I picked up a side gig at a resort this summer. If you know the difference between a perennial and a weed, busy working people and seniors are willing to pay.

[bring in the new year]

Haven't done this one myself, but saw it in the news around here.

Lice lady. Basically, this woman set up this business where she comes to your house and treats all of the lousy people. I think she even offered parties. Given the mess of going through this (yes the nieces did go through this rite of passage, thank you very much & yes, I am still speaking to my sister)

I believe she was thinking of franchising.

[Epiphany]

Like Paul, my best friend hits the garage sales and thrift stores to find discarded treasures she then sells on ebay. Easy items that make a lot of money - cowboy boots, name brand jeans, 80's/vintage toys. She knows what to look for. She bought a my little pony for a quarter a few weeks ago and sold it for 50 dollars. You just have to know what sells.

I do residential design consulting on the side. Yes I'm an interior designer and work commercially so I pick up some residential work on the side with my boss' approval because it doesn't compete with what we do.

[Epiphany]

Jun 26, 2011 12:24:53 GMT -5 Cass said:

Gardening. I picked up a side gig at a resort this summer. If you know the difference between a perennial and a weed, busy working people and seniors are willing to pay.

Ok I want to find this person and the ironing person in my area! I'd pay for those things!

[cael]

I knit, especially a lot in the winter, and this year I'm going to try to sell a few things on etsy and see where it goes. If I don't make a lot that's fine, I love doing it! I also love photography (I have a nice camera) and have thought about taking a few classes and getting in at ground level on event photography - like, kid's birthday parties or something simple to start with, charging next to nothing, then seeing where it goes.

I've thought about looking for part time call center work to do 8-12 hours a week, and especially when DF gets laid off, I might look into it. I have almost 8 years of call center experience under my belt and don't mind the work.

[startsmart]

Niche photography - one good friend of mine worked with a house stager to take beautiful photos of homes for sale in the Bay Area. For a house selling between $400-$800k it's worth his fee, not so much in my small town. I've had a few gigs working events for clubs, you have to know someone and know the shots they need going in but it's not a bad gig.

Community Manager- I've done this work for about a year now and it is a lot of fun. Basically got hired within a group program I'd subscribed to and became the liaison for the owner. What's working, suggestions from the group, feedback on new features. You can make a great salary or simply do it on trade.

Systems Creation and Client Concierge - this is what I do now, full time. Started as a side gig and morphed into a business that I run from home but could do anywhere. Basically I find inefficiencies within the companies that hire me and systematize with Standard Operating Procedures and training for the teams. I also work with each high value client and support the lower level clients and leads coming into the company. It's a LOT of work and took me a good 6 months to get to the level of knowledge that I have now so I can answer any question that comes up and if I left they'd be screwed and they know it.

Aside from my contract pay I also have access to thousands of dollars of business development programs which I apply to my own business and free coaching.

[tractor]

I have always found being a male escort helps bring in quite a bit of extra cash.