#5 - Start a Wake-Up Call Service

You think someone would pay you money to wake them up every morning, or whatever time they might need to wake up? What do you mean their alarm clock will wake them up? Alot of people usually just hit the snooze button on their alarm clock, or even turn the thing off and throw it across the room so they can get back to sleep and finish that dream before heading to work. Those 5 minutes that you thought you slept suddenly turned into 60 minutes when you look at the clock.

The benefits of a wake up call:

1. You get called at the time you need to be up. If you fail to answer the phone, that company can keep calling and calling until you are dressed and on your way to work.
2. Your guaranteed to be called the same time everyday so you won't be late.
3. You won't sleep in because its awkward at first having someone call you to wake you up.
4. Most phone rings will wake you up before an alarm clock..even though they are both annoying.

Where to advertise you may ask? You can advertise in the:

1. Phone book
2. Classifieds
3. Newspapers
4. Fliers
5. Business Cards
6. Craigslist

So just try it and see what happens! Have fun with it, and share your experiences here!

#4 - Open a Bait Shop

This idea might seem out there, but if you live in the right location, and have the 20 minutes per day for maintenance and feeding, you could profit.

To first start your bait business, you might as well start with something easy...Earth Worms!

1. Get a Styrofoam cooler, about the size of a lunch box, or better yet, get a Worm Kit from Gander Mountain. If you do the cooler, make sure you poke a few holes in the top so they can breath.
2. Next would be bedding. If your doing the cooler, use old newspapers that are cut up, and make sure to add enough water that it saturates everything. Put enough newspaper so its 2-3 inches high. The kit from Gander Mountain should come with the bedding.
3. Next add the worms. For your little cooler or the Gander Mountain kit, just add around 20-30 worms. You can find the worms in your back yard, but an easier way would be to dish out $3 and buy them by the dozen.
4. Now you add the food. Make sure the worms have worked their way down to the bottom before you add any food. Cut up vegetables into small cubes, or add coffee grounds. Don't bury them, just lay them on top. The worms will come up like goldfish and feed when they are hungry. Don't go overboard with the food, and don't add anymore until the food you added is gone. A better route would be to go to Walmart, or Gander Mountain and buy the food there. The food you buy from there also doubles as their food, so you can can knock out 2 birds with 1 stone. The kit from Gander Mountain comes with this.
5. Now all that is left is maintenance. Make sure you put the cooler in a cool dark place..like a basement. Check on them every 2 days or so, and add water when needed, but don't drowned them! Make sure you remove any dead worms, and turn the soil every week. After all the bedding breaks down and turns to soil, remove it and use it for your garden or something, and then follow step 1 again with adding new bedding. 

Your worms should reproduce and be full sized within a year. When you start to get alot of worms, its would be time to move them outside. You can build a square wooden bin and setup and compost pile to put the worms in. They will all stay within the compose pile and keep reproducing. You can then start selling the worms by the dozen. Make sure you beat all the local bait shop prices, and advertise in the local papers or craigslist. 

After you get the hang of earthworms, maybe you should the try redworms and minnows. They are also popular fishing baits. I will provide links below for some more reading on compost piles and raising earth worms.

Composting 101

Organic Gardening

Grow your own Earthworms

#3 - Start a Lawn Care Business

Here is a business idea that I started six years ago as my first attempt to make an extra buck. The only thing bad about this one is that there is fuel involved...you have to be careful with your money, and plan for things like break downs, fuel, and anything else that might cost you time and money.

If you have an old push mower, or ride on mower, or heck even the ones you push and the blades rotate, then you can make extra cash! You can start off by first, making sure that old mower still runs.. Then walk up and down your neighborhood and knock on doors asking if anyone would like there lawn serviced. If you don't like talking to people, you can always get some business cards made up, or make your own on the computer to pass out while your walking. Sometimes its good to pay more attention to the houses that haven't cut there lawns yet, while everyone around them has a nice trimmed lawn. Usually that person is too busy to mow, or is just lazy. If the price is right, they just might let you mow it!

Some Tips:

1. Advertise where there  is free advertising. Business cards, fliers, Craigslist.org, or just walk around the neighborhood. Also, fliers in the laundry mat worked for me!
2. Make sure to keep the phone handy when someone calls. If you miss their call, be sure to call them back as soon as its convention. Don't call them before 8am, and never call past 9pm. Some customers get up late, some get up early. You just don't want to piss them off, so maybe you should wait till around noon....
3. Be neat, and professional when meeting a customer for the first time, not to mention every week when you come back to mow. You want the appearance of a professional lawn care company, so the customer thinks they are paying for something special.
4. Be on time. You might be your own boss, and you might not being doing this full time, but you still have to understand that this is a business. You want to be the best worker, and boss that you can be. If you are going to be late to your mowing appointments, you might as well just throw in the towel right now....
5. Keep equipment maintenance. I learned this the first year. Don't use crap for your lawn care business. It will break down, and you will be spending more than you are making. Once you made enough money, go out and by yourself a brand new push mower, or if you can afford it, buy a brand new riding mower, or find one used that is in excellent shape and was taken care of.
6. And finally, push yourself to be better each season. Learn from your mistakes and set goals for the new season. Trying your best to meet or exceed those goals and build a trust system with your clients so they will be sure to call you back every year. 

Mowing lawns for a living might seem like a dream to many people, including me! But you have to consider the winter season when the grass doesn't grow. You could always pick up leaves for money, do yard clean up, or just do other odd jobs for your usual lawn customers. That money isn't going to be every week like lawn mowing. Once you pick those leaves up, that's it. No more calls for you! Or once the yard is clean, its done, its clean. You can't count on work. Also the winter. Your probably thinking, "heck, I can just plow driveways in the winter and make butt loads of money!" Well buddy, not everywhere around the world does it snow everyday. Take Pennsylvania into consideration, where I"m from. Its January 26th, and we had a big snowfall in October, which is very odd for around here. Then we didn't get anymore until last week, and totaled to around 3 inches of snow. Last year this time, all we ever got all season long was ice and rain...no snow to plow. The year before that, we did get a good bit of snow, and people were making some good money plowing. It all depends on the weather, buts its not guaranteed money. Spring and summer can be a bummer too if its a bad drought season, which we have had in the past 6 years...

So in closing, experiment, learn from your mistakes, trying different methods, and have fun making money! Tell me about your money making ventures!

#2 - Freelance

What are you good at? Chances are, you have to be good at something! There are always people looking for various skills. They search for freelancers because its cheaper, and they can get it done fast, with no bs. Freelancers are skilled individuals who are looking to make an extra buck, or build a portfolio to expand their career.

Freelance websites are all over the web. Just recently I signed up at Elance.com which the basic account is free. You are limited to 15 job bids per month. Someone searching for skilled individuals will post the skills they are looking for, and also a brief description of the job that needs done. Sometimes the job that needs done can take hours to complete, to months...or even long-term opportunities. You will look for the jobs that require your skills, and then fill out the job bid form below their job offer. It will show you how long the client has to respond to the best man for the job, then you will get in contact if you are the winning bidder. You don't have to worry about getting ripped off, because Elance has an escrow account that the client puts the money into. If the client is satisfied with your work, he or she will pay you, and also write a good review about you and your work. I must tell you that on some jobs bids you have to fill out a w-9 tax form, in the event you make over $600, because then you would be required to pay taxes on it. Profits can range from $20 to thousands of dollars.

A brief list of freelance jobs that can be found on Elance are programming, web design, writing, admin support, marketing, ebook and blogs, and everything related to those topics!

 There are thousands of web-sites that offer these services, but Elance is the most popular.

Well there you have it! If you have any other suggestions for web-sites that offer Freelance work please leave a reply in the comments section of this post.

#1 - Create a Blog

This isn't an original idea, but I found it appropriate since this blog's main purpose is to make money.

When people go on the internet, they are doing a number of things. But to narrow it down, they are online for entertainment (Enertainment), or they are searching for useful information. A blog can serve both of those purposes. As an example, this blog can contain useful information on how to make extra money to help pay your bills, or launch your online business. But yet, some of the money making tips can be so out there, that you would find it amusing.

Create a Blog the Easy Way

1. Create a free blog from blogger.com. (requires a google account)
2. Customize your blog's template so your visitor's will get a feel for your blog. You can easily do this through blogger's template editor.
3. Next you will want to add the content. Make sure you write good content! Content is the KING when it comes to attracting visitors. Every post you make has to be meaningful, and provide useful information.
4. After you add your content, you will want to start monitizing your account. Blogger will let you do this with a click of a button! Go to your blog's design tab, and add some widgets. When you click to add a widget, you have a choice of many useful ones. I personally would add a search bar on the top right side of your blog, then below that have your followers below that, so people can see how popular your blog is. Then you will want your blog archives, so they can view posts from the past. After that, you will want your Google Adsense Ads listed. This way, your blog doesn't look like is bombarded with a bunch of ads. You will also want to add an adsense widget in your header, below your site name and description. Please note, when you add the widget and don't have an adsense account, you will have to create one...which doesn't take long at all!
5. So now you have quality content on your blog, and you have your ads placed so they are there for your reader's to see, its time to submit your blog to the search engines! The tool I use is Web CEO. Click on that link, and download the desktop version on the bottom right side. Its free to use, though they do have an upgrade option. I just use the free version. You can pick what search engines you want to submit to, and it also includes other useful tools. If you don't want to download any software, then just go to google and search for Submitting my Blog to Search Engines or something. It doesn't cost anything to submit, so if you find a website asking for money don't do it!
6. Now you have your blog set up! As long as you post good, solid content atleast 3 times a week, you should be seeing some money within 7-12 months. The more visitors and followers you get, the more they will recommend you to friends, which will mean more money!

Welcome | 1000 Ways to Make Money

Welcome to my blog. A few times a week I will be posting different ways you can make money on the side, until we get to 1000 ways to make money! Stay tuned while I fine tune this template...