9 Ways to Eat for Free
Posted on 6 October 2011 | No responses
Hopefully, your financial situation doesn’t leave you wanting for food. If this is the case, however, you have options. While many of these ideas won’t work on an everyday basis, implement a few of them and you’ll find that your food bill will take a dive.
1. Pick berries in the spring, along with other fruit as it becomes seasonally available. For example, the park across from my house has a pear tree with fruit that makes an incredible pear compote. Berries are often available around lakes and undeveloped rural areas. Be sure to ask before picking on private property.
2. Hunt and fish. If you have to buy lots of supplies to do these activities, this activity can end up costing you money. But if you already have a rifle or rod and reel, get over the “yuk” factor and put them to good use. Don’t feel badly about killing cute animals. The animals raised on factory farms are cute too.
Do Online Work Offline
Posted on 16 November 2008 | 1 response
I’ve been noticing more and more opportunities to take online opportunities offline and vice versa. Although, I suppose putting offline work online is a bit more like the usual way that things work.
But what if you’re not suited to sitting in front of a computer for the majority of the day? What if you’re a “people person” who gets depressed without a reason to put on the new outfit you bought over the weekend?
I’ve noticed that several companies are melding online and offline work–Avon and Mary Kay come to mind. Yesterday, though, I got an interesting proposition in my email box. It had to do with becoming a VistaPrint Reseller. This is one of the few offers that I’ve received that I’ve taken seriously.
Get the Confidence of a Four-Year-Old
Posted on 6 February 2008 | No responses
When I was four years old, my mother bought an old bicycle at a thrift shop. Her intention was to donate it to a family that had a few older kids. At that age, I didn’t have much of a philanthropic bent. All I remember is being enraged that there was a shiny blue bike in the garage, and it was for another kid. I begged my mother relentlessly to have the bike for my own, but she always told me that I was too young to ride a bike. Finally, I said, “So what if I learn how to ride it? Are you going to give it away then?”
Feeling safe in the knowledge that her timid four-year-old was not going to learn how to ride the bike in the next week or so, she said yes. After all, it didn’t even have training wheels.
As soon as I got her answer, I considered the bike mine. I didn’t think for a moment that I wouldn’t learn. Four year olds can have lots more confidence than ability, as those of you with children probably already know. They think they can fly, for crying out loud. This is why you have to supervise them around trees, ladders and accessible roofs.
For about two hours, I got on the bike and fell off the bike.
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How To Tell If You’re Going To Fail
Posted on 2 February 2008 | 2 responses
You know how you never really notice the hum of the air-conditioner or heater in the background? However, without climate control, most of us living in hot or cold climates would be absolutely miserable. The mere fact that the thermostat exists makes a huge difference in our lives. In a hot Texas summer, it can literally be the difference between life or death. At least the heat can make you wish you were dead, preferably by freezer burn.
Our thoughts work the same way. Most of them hum along in the background, never making much noise, but having the potential to make our lives comfortable or miserable. Since so much is riding on these “invisible thoughts”, we have to train ourselves to catch them and make them work for us. Here are some examples of what might be running in the background of your mind:
How to Make Money From Your Content Over and Over
Posted on 27 January 2008 | 2 responses
If you have ever tried to monetize a blog, you know how difficult it can be to make money. If you break down how much you are “getting paid” per post, chances are it is in the neighborhood of twenty-five cents. This scenario doesn’t have to be quite so depressing, because you don’t have to depend on your blog to earn money for your writing. Make your writing work for you outside of your blog!
The way to do this is to register at Constant Content. You have the option of selling content that you write three different ways.
Happiness is Having Options
Posted on 27 January 2008 | 1 response
At this point, I make almost the same amount of money working online as I do teaching. So why don’t I quit my day job? Well, this strange thing happened. Before I started making money online, I loathed my job and couldn’t wait to earn enough to make my exit. But as soon as started making enough for it to be a feasible option to walk out the door, I started enjoying my day job more. Why is this?
Imagine that you have a house that you like very much. It is decorated in just your style, and is very comfortable and cozy. Then imagine that someone put some bolts on the outside entrances and locked you in. Would you still enjoy your home as much?
It’s the same way with work. If you are trapped in a job, with no other options besides perhaps taking another, equally crappy job, then the feeling you have associated with that job won’t be good. Here is how having options has changed my outlook on my day job:
Are You a Tiny Thinker?
Posted on 21 January 2008 | 5 responses
There’s a statement that I’ve read far too many times on blogs.
I’m making enough money to pay for my hosting costs, and that’s a good thing.
Or something to that effect. Who the heck goes online to make money with a goal of making $10 a month?!? I mean, if that is all you want, come to my house and I’ll pay you $20 to clean my house! There is simply no way you are going to make money online or off if your goal is to make $10 a month.
Here are some examples of tiny thinking:
Surveys
The companies that “pay” you to take surveys know this. Sometimes they don’t even bother to pay you with real money! This summer, I played around with the survey scams and found exactly one reputable company, Pinecone. I signed up with them, and six months later, my inbox is still full of questionaires, most of which are unpaid ones. The paid ones pay…are you ready for this…$3.00! Is your time really worth that little? Yes, it may only take you ten minutes to fill out a survey, and that’s $15 an hour. But not really. Try adding up the time you spend doing the unpaid ones. It gets sad real fast.
Personal Items on eBay
I see tiny thinking a lot on eBay. Selling your kid’s old jeans will net you five dollars, yes. But, you had to…have the product, clean the product, take the photos, upload the photos, set up the eBay page, write a description, take measurements, find packaging, deal with emails and inane questions, drive to the post office, wait in line and finally mail the dang thing. For five dollars. If you have done this, you are a victim of small thinking.
Adsense on small sites
By small sites, I mean any site that gets less than 10,000 hits per week. Even with 10,000 hits a week, you are going to be doing good if you make $5.00 a day. Wait, did I say good?!? Eeek. That’s not good. Not unless you have multiple sites with that kind of traffic, which is highly unlikely. I’m not knocking it, because it will buy you your daily Starbucks. But it’s not something to crow about.
Selling Crafts
I look on Etsy and I can tell who has a business plan and who doesn’t. Most people don’t. Most people are selling items that cost $5.00 to produce for $8.00. These same items took them about two hours to make. Not counting all of the picture taking, shipping, etc. that’s $1.50 an hour. That’s really small. Of course, no one is selling enough to actually make $1.50 an hour, so it is more like $1.50 a week. Switch to Folgers. There are ways to make money with crafts, but you have to be smart about it, and you have to think big.
Underpricing Services
I’ve found that there are some really talented people out there who will charge five dollars for a Photoshop banner. This is good for people who can’t design, but bad for the designers! There is no reason for this. If someone wants a Photoshop banner in the style that you produce, they’ll pay $50 as soon as they’ll pay $5, except in rare instances. And the rare instances don’t count, because since you are now charging $50, you can definitely afford to lose those $5 customers.
I could go on and on. You see so much small thinking out there. If you are willing to accept only five dollars for your time, then that is what you’ll get. Period. If you see yourself in any of these examples, stop.
You can change tiny thinking. Here’s what you do:
- Decide what you are going to focus on. This is your niche. It applies to both online and offline businesses. Research it like crazy. If you discover that it pays very little, then ditch that idea unless you can do it differently and make more cash.
Find out how the big boys are doing it. Ask yourself why you aren’t doing the same. There are really no excuses. Using the “make money online” industry as an example, if you can’t program, hire a programmer to implement your idea. There are plenty of programmers who are small thinkers, so you’ll be able to afford it!
Set a goal. For crying out loud, please set a goal. It should not be something like “quit my job and stay at home”. That is very vague, and it doesn’t specify whether or not you will be eating oatmeal three times a day while you are at home or whether your personal masseuse will be arriving at 10:00 each morning. Instead, decide how much money you want to make and give yourself a realistic time frame in which to make it. Then, when you’re exploring opportunities, if what you’re looking into doesn’t fit that model, then you can ditch it right away and not waste your time dithering away.
Tell people you are what you are. Even if you are currently making a few cents a day writing, if that is how you have decided you are going to make money, then tell people you are a writer. You don’t have to tell them how much you make. Or perhaps you are a marketer. Or a quilter. The idea is to convince yourself that your endeavor is a career, not a hobby, and careers make money. Your expectations of yourself will change.
My purpose here on this blog is to point out as many money-making opportunities as possible that will make you independent from a bricks and mortar workplace. Opportunities can be approached in a big way or a tiny way. It all depends on you. So think huge!
Photo by fofurasfelinas
