Learn Something New Everyday

Looking for some ideas to help supplement your income or work for yourself? Here are seven ways to get started.

1. Speak to the Bag Cause the Other Person Ain’t Listening
Know how it feels when you are just so angry you could spit yet there seems to be nowhere to vent that anger? How about a business selling paper bags with creative sayings printed on them. Folks can speak their anger/confessions into these bags, then “pop” them, letting go of all that anger and bad feelings. The bags would be inexpensive to create and easy to sell in bundles.  Good idea for eBay, online auction sites, and novelty stores.

2. Have Fun and Make a Profit Teaching!
Do you have a hobby you enjoy and are good at – like knitting, sewing, crocheting, needlepoint, quilting, scrapbooking, gardening, bird watching, whittling? Hold classes to teach people how to do these things. You could teach 2 or 3 classes, two hours per class. Normal charge is about $40-60 per class, depending on the number of hours. You can also supply the necessary materials for the first class (extra charge) or have a list of items needed for the first class available when people sign up. Find either a free room to hold the class or check with a local rec center or school district to see if they offer Continuing Education classes. Have an outline of your class plan ready.

3. Is it Weight Gain or is it Pregnancy?
There is nothing more embarrassing then asking a woman if she’s pregnant when she’s simply gained a few pounds – or vise versa. Newly pregnant women love announcing their pregnancy and what better way then with bold t-shirts announcing “I’m Pregnant!” Be creative with color and design. Good idea for eBay, auction sites, and baby stores.

4. Grabbing Attention with Postcards
When a postcard arrives in the mail, everyone reads it. No opening an envelope, fast attention grabber, and less postage. Your clients pay you to send out specific information to their customers either electronically or via the mail. Appointment reminders, oil changes, checkups (cars, people, kids, pets) – anything that needs a reminder or new information from the sender. And hand addressed cards get better attention than printed ones.

5. Mahjong Jewelry
Mahjong is a game which originated in ancient China. The game uses tiles with characters or pictures on them. Some of the designs can be very exotic. Find used games with missing pieces at garage sales or thrift stores. Take the tiles from these games and turn them into jewelry. Bracelets, earrings, necklaces, ankle bracelets. Charge $10 to $30 or more for each piece, depending on the intricacy of your design or pairing of items for a complete set. Good idea for eBay, online auction sites, and novelty stores.

6. Recreating Memories with Legos
Legos are a major chunk of most childhood memories and are still part of childhood today. Lego sets from years gone by are in much demand. There is a huge market for people looking for the innocence and simplicity of their youth. Spend some time learning about older Lego sets, making a list of these sets. Search yard sales, estate auctions, and thrift stores for these old sets. Clean them up and put them together as sets for resale. These would sell well on eBay and online auction sites.

7. “Green” Cleaning Service
Green is the way to go nowadays and a service that offers to clean with only “green” products (no harsh chemicals, only natural items) would be very attractive to anyone who is environmentally aware. Do a little research to find effective products to use, or create your own. $40-$60 an hour would be a normal charge for these services. Be sure to stress the use of natural cleaning products ONLY. Houses always smell better when the products are natural.

Looking for more ways to make money? Davis Anderson began looking for ideas to make money when her monthly earnings dropped from $1500 to $300. She and her hubby have certainly felt the economic crunch. But after setting up a couple of businesses utilizing their talents, they are almost back on track. Davis has put together over a list of over 500 Great Ideas For Making Money NOW! which can be found at www.GreatIdeasForMakingMoneyNOW.com.