I recently have been receiving many questions that are along the lines of “What do you do?” The easiest answer is for me to just say that I am a drug dealer or that I am in “waste management” because this question usually leads to an interesting discussion where people typically write me off as some type of crook anyhow. It is possible to separate time from income generation, and have multiple sources of income that pay you automatically and consistently. Capitalism is like a game, and many people are unaware of the real rules of the game and get stuck playing it the hard way. Like anything, with time, experience, and practice anyone can become a master at generating multiple sources of income, often with little to no starting cash! Sounds crazy right? Tell that to the people making millions that do it every day. I have put together 12 different ways to generate income with a summary of the Time Requirements, Income Possibilities, and Income Consistencies. I was originally writing this for college students, but with the current economic status I find that even hard working professionals are feeling enough pressure to seek alternative means of income generation.
1. Service the Market – Get a Job
This is the most common form of income generation. With unemployment at 10.0 percent as of December 2009 finding a job is becoming more and more difficult. Students are graduating college with no job offers while the current work force is losing theirs. Fortunately, if this is the route you choose to take, there are some options available.
Sites like Monster and The Ladder offer a marketplace to connect employers with potential employees. Monster is free to use while The Ladder costs a bit, but offers jobs at $75,000 and above. Once you find a job you want you may need to differentiate yourself from your peers. Pongo is a great site that can put together resumes, cover letters, and other documents as well as match you with job offers. Many employers today will Google you to see what information is out there. With Google’s search engine methods, you may end up on the front page of the search results connected to sites that might create a negative professional perception of you. An alternative is to create a BRAND of yourself. This can create a positive perception of you, as well as showcase extra skills that an interview may not show. Branding gives you a HUGE advantage in today’s job market.
There are legitimate online jobs out there as well. It can be hard to differentiate which offers are either bogus, pyramid schemes, or just straight up scams. You will want to look for certifications to ensure legitimacy such as this online job offer. This online job does take time and effort to see direct results. The advantage is they teach you the skills so you avoid the learning curve of teaching yourself.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Moderate to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to Moderate
- Income Consistency: High
2. Solve a Problem – Start a Business
Whenever someone tells me that they have considered going into business for themselves I tell them to go for it! One of the easiest ways to get a business idea is to solve a problem. If you go through your day and you find yourself saying “there has to be a better way of doing this” you are most likely correct. Now comes the fun part, figuring out what works better. Do not get discouraged if you find someone else already solved the problem that does not mean you cannot be successful, because after all, if you did not know about it originally, they are failing somewhere. I will admit that I am very biased towards being an entrepreneur because I myself am one, and will soon have a degree in Entrepreneurship.
The awesome part about entrepreneurs is they love to talk and love to share. If you are serious about starting a business, there are two things I feel that are essential.
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Action – An idea without action is just a dream. Million dollar ideas come and go every day, and most people don’t even recognize them, and those that do often let them slip away. Action is what ultimately makes you successful.
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Get a Mentor – Find someone who has done what you want to do. Learn from their experiences in both their successes and failures. One hour of experience is worth 1000 hours of reading. Entrepreneurs are the people that sell their products to people before they have been manufactured, and then find ways to put it all together in time.
There are many good resources for first time or ongoing entrepreneurs. The Small Business Administration is a great place to start. If you are looking to gain some knowledge and some guidance Entrescape is a great resource that will teach you how to go about starting a business of your own. There are even resources out there designed to teach teenagers to be entrepreneurs. Speaking from experience, a child that takes little interest in school work typically has different plans for their life than working for someone else. Zero to One Million is a great resource for all stages of entrepreneurs looking to expand their knowledge and their business.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: High to start, can decrease if you create systems to remove yourself from daily operations
- Income Possibilities: Low to Infinite
- Income Consistency: Dependent on many factors, less consistent that a job
3. The Sky is NOT Falling – Real Estate
If you mention Real Estate to anyone today you will likely receive a few different generic responses.
1. The market is terrible
2. Don’t you need to have a Realtor license?
3. It is too hard to do real estate
4. It takes way too much time
5. I don’t have the money to invest
I cannot help chuckling when I hear these things. Where are people getting their information? The sky is not falling so everyone can just take a deep breath and relax. Money can be made in real estate in any market as long as you know what you are doing. It is possible to money in real estate without spending a single dollar! There are tons of resources out there for learning to make money in real estate. Even with the housing depression in the United States, there are opportunities to be found. If you are starting off Buying Real Estate Without Cash or Credit is an amazing book to read and Real Estate Investing is a great site. Focus Real Estate Investing is a great guide that teaches how to invest in real estate as well.
The largest commitment to real estate is time. Real estate investments can make you money in days, or years, but is great method to offset your expenses. There are dozens methods to make money in real estate. It is very much like entrepreneurship. I will again suggest the same 2 things when considering whether or not to invest in real estate. Take action and find a mentor or learn from someone. A mentor is not only a great way to get started but often an amazing resource for real state opportunities. Not everyone is able to partake in every opportunity they come across, but they will pass it off to their friends whom may be able to.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low to High – It really depends on the method you use
- Income Possibilities: Low to Infinite
- Income Consistency: Dependent on many factors, it can be very consistent over time and is an excellent substitution for cash outflows
4. Play with Profit not Fire – The Stock Market
I am sure many people shudder when they hear the mention of the start market. Playing in the stock market is like playing with fire. If you are clueless, you will get burned, but if you are prepared, and informed you can become fireproof. The cool part about the stock market in today’s world is that you can build your portfolio to be automatic. You can automate your account to make decisions based on certain scenarios in the market. Once you begin to make money, you can remove your initial investment and play with profit! You don’t need to be a stock pro to invest in the stock market and you don’t need to be on Wall Street either. There are many online brokers that you can use to make your trades like Scott Trade, but I personally use Etrade
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to Infinite
- Income Consistency: Depends on diversity and investment method. Time is not directly correlated to income
5. Dominate the Auction House – With eBay
eBay is the largest online marketplace in the world as well as the world’s leading e-commerce site. I grew up around my father buying and selling car parts on eBay as well as actual cars themselves. eBay puts you directly into the living room of buyers and sellers all over the world. There are a few methods to being successful on eBay and like most investments it really depends on your strategy. Some people take wholesale products and resell them while others create automated eBay stores
If you have never bought anything on eBay I suggest you look there for something. Often times it’s the only place to find obscure items or even typical items at prices respectable to retailers. I remember when the major video game systems were released like Wii, Playstation, and Xbox 360. The demand was so high retailers had empty shelves while individuals bought them up and resold them at upwards of 600% profits!
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low
- Income Possibilities: Low to infinite
- Income Consistency: Fairly dependable
6. Promote for Others – Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing is a pretty sweet way to make some easy cash. The long and short of it is that you promote products for other people and get commission based sales. I know that commission freaks people out, but it shouldn’t. Affiliate Marketing is for the most part entirely automated. The plus side is you never have to deal directly with any consumers. You don’t have an inventory, you don’t have to worry about customer service, and you don’t have employees. That is a nice little money machine that you can build with a small amount of time, that continuously brings in cash. You are assigned a unique ID link by a vendor, called an affiliate link. Once someone clicks that link, and purchases a product or service, you receive commission. You then create ads with those affiliate links and submit them to ad sites like US Free Ads, post them on Social Media Sites or your Blog! The cool part is that it’s free, unless you choose to pay for premium ad space, which can escalate your income and is often worth the investment once you being to make money.
There are some really easy Affiliate Marketing Guides out there that make it very easy to learn. You can use a popular affiliate website like ClickBank to funnel many affiliates into one large paycheck or you can request to be an affiliate directly with the company of your choosing. ClickBank has its own affiliate marketplace for you to choose from. If you choose to find your own affiliates you can find sites that rank programs like Top-Affiliate or find products or services that you use already! You can get paid, to promote a product or service that you currently use often times covering your cost!
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low
- Income Possibilities: Low to Infinite
- Income Consistency: Slow to start, picks up over time
7. Make Some Cents – Google Adsense
Google Adsense works similar to Affiliate Marketing. Its automated and not terribly hard to set up. There are Google Adsense Guides out there to get you started. If you are someone who blogs, this is a nice way to get paid for blogging. Google places ads on your web pages directly related to the content on the page. Every time someone clicks an ad, you get paid. Unlike affiliate marketing, no one has to buy anything for you to get paid, just click.There are many ways to drive traffic to your website(s) for free! This means that you are getting paid for your time with no up front monetary cost! Higher traffic frequency usually equates to higher clicks meaning more money for you with less time focused on creating income. I hope you have a hobby or you might be finding yourself with more time on your hands than you know what to do with!
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low
- Income Possibilities: Low to Infinite
- Income Consistency: Dependent on web traffic consistency and number of functioning websites
8. Exploit Your Skills – Craigstlist
Craigstlist is an internet based marketplace where anyone can post almost any type of ad for free. It could be to sell a product, a service, or even to trade things. I once got a nearly brand new couch for free for my apartment because someone needed to get rid of it and said “if you can haul it, it’s yours”. You can work Craigslist similar to a Real Estate flipping strategy or an eBay strategy auction store strategy. You can find items at below market price that need small amounts of work, fix them up for little cost and resell them for market value or above as seen here.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Moderate to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to Moderate
- Income Consistency: Not consistent, depends on the time you spend and the market you deal with
9. Voice Your Opinion – Take Surveys
There are always companies out there conducting marketing research for products and services and they are willing to pay for your opinion. You can do this for free through sites like Survey Lot and Global Test Market or you can sign up with marketplaces that offer access to higher pay surveys. Often times you can find places where they offer bonuses like free trials of a product or service just to hear your opinion, and if it is something you would use anyway, you basically get it for free. I also like that there is no learning curve. If you have the internet and you know how to read, it is pretty simple to make a few extra bucks here and there. I even found a program out there that teaches you to get paid to drink beer!
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Moderate to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to Moderate
- Income Consistency: Directly related to the amount of surveys that you take
10. Service the World – Importing and Exporting
The world is as they say “becoming flat”. Essentially, we live in a world where the domestic economy is tied to factors outside of our own economy. We live in the age of the Global Economy. Importing and Exporting is and has been a viable way to make money (or trade) since the first civilizations began bartering. You might think it is difficult to start an Import or Export Business, but it is quite the opposite. With the recent boom in foreign economies like China, there are droves of money to be made. You can create an online store, sell to domestic retailers, or foreign wholesalers and retailers. You can even make money importing goods to sell on eBay or Craigslist. I personally am a fan of the Import and Export business because I enjoy interacting with people from all over the world. It is never bad to develop excellent business relationships with people in other countries.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to High
- Income Consistency: Typically consistent but dependent on your strategy, the marketplace, and regulations
11. Feed Your Greed – Online Casino
I was hesitant at first to list this as a money making opportunity, however like most of the previous, you have great potential to make money, so long as you know what you are doing. I am not suggesting that you aimlessly throw money away. If you learn the rules and strategies, you can play games at online casinos with some advantages that you do not get in a real casino. The best 2 guides I have found were for Roulette and Black Jack. Risk is manageable and reducible when knowledge is present. These guides and strategies take the fun out of “gambling” for me personally. They make you money over time, and you likely won’t experience a rush from hitting it big in one round. These systems can make you money so long as you STICK to them. If you cannot discipline yourself to follow the systems, it may be better to overlook this option.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low to High
- Income Possibilities: Low to High
- Income Consistency: Typically consistent with betting systems, so long as you follow them
12. Service the Human Race – Give Blood
Now as I stated in the beginning this article was originally intended for college students. Donating your blood is not just a great way to help your wallet, but you help others! This is not something that will make you rich by any means or something that is repeatable in high frequency but remember this is more about giving. You can find local places to donate blood that pay cash for your plasma.
Blood is needed for emergencies and for people who have cancer, blood disorders, sickle cell anemia, and other illnesses. Some people need regular blood transfusions to live. Giving blood is simple, convenient, and you get paid for it.
Final Result:
- Time Requirements: Low
- Income Possibilities: Low, but pays for beer or food
- Income Consistency: You get paid the same amount every time
13. BONUS – Learn to Budget
Making money is pointless if you cannot retain your money. The internet as well as the government is littered with resources to help you budget your money. It is important to understand that more money does not solve money problems. Financial Intelligence solves money problems.
About Chris Ankele
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