You can write and sell original (usually meaning you wrote it yourself) stories, articles, jokes, and other written material. Who buys this type of stuff? Magazine publishers, local newspapers, greeting card companies, and book publishers (including ebooks). Movie and television producers need scripts. Advertisers who are looking for promotional lines and jingles also buy material. Even singers and music bands still need lyrics written by the hands of creative people.
Before you submit any intellectual property for sale, I suggest you do the following: Type it out neatly on paper, place it in an envelope or box, and mail it to yourself from your local post office. When it arrives in the mail, it will have an offical postmark from a recognized organization - the postal service. Don't open it, but instead, put it away someplace for safekeeping. If a dispute ever arises as to who the actual writer of the material is, you have a sealed and dated version of it, ready to present to a court of law. Now you are ready to submit a copy of it to prospective buyers. You might also want to get a copyright on it as well, if it's something of importance to you.
So, are you ready to get out some old scraps of paper or even use the backs of old envelopes, and turn your mind to writing lines for greeting cards? Do you know any short amusing stories? Are you knowledgeable about a specific technical field? There's a market for your writing out there somewhere.
Discussion Topic
How To Make Money Outside Of A Regular Job
Posted on 04/15/09, 09:35 pm
Whether you have a traditional job or not, there are additional ways to earn money that don't involve a forty-hour plus work-week. Let's start a list of ideas so that we can all learn how to become more prosperous.
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Reply #1 04/15/09 9:54pm
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Reply #2 04/15/09 9:57pm
One organization that has been buying jokes and short stories for many decades is Readers Digest. You may have seen their magazines in your local supermarket, and you've likely received subscription offers from them in your mailbox. Their website address is www.rd.com -
Reply #3 04/15/09 9:59pm
Now I turn the discussion topic over to you. Do you know of any ways people can earn money outside of regular employment? -
Reply #4 04/15/09 10:30pm
http://www.dailystrength.org/group...
My new group is focused on just such matters, and I would love for anyone who wishes to join to feel welcome. Anything we need to do to imoprove out lot in life will be done by networking, most likely. Numbers mean change, and I want to help bring about positive change for as many people as I can, as I help myself.
www.hubpages.com pays for blogging. Their guidelines are pretty simple, mostly focusing on common sense and decency. If you have information about anything from cooking to aviation, or have short stories, poems, photos, that you want to share, and get paid for, this is a place to start.
Also, www.helium.com and www.triond.com work in the same way. -
Reply #5 04/22/09 7:33pm
Thank you for the information and links, LindaPoet. : - )
Buy And Sell On E-Bay ( www.ebay.com ) and other internet auction sites. Spend your spare time in thrift stores and at yard sales and estate sales looking for items that people collect, such as dinnerware, figurines, artworks, and even promotional items that bear the logos of products or companies (Coca-Cola branded items are just one type of popular collectable). Most used or secondhand items stores and used bookstores do not have their items and books inventoried, and may not have any reliable way of knowing exactly what they have on their shelves; a dusty copy of a nineteenth century book of poems you find there might seem boring or silly to many people, but for a library, museum, or private book collector, the volume may be highly desirable. Always try to use a third-party payment system such as Pay Pal ( www.paypal.com ), especially in any first time dealings. They can hold the money for the item until the transaction has been completed, which helps to protects both the buyer and the seller from fraud. Remember to include the cost of boxing-up items along with postage or shipping costs in the selling price. And with fragile items, always use adequate cushioning inside the box. Some people attend book signings by authors who make appearances at bookstores, and then immediately place the autographed copy of the book for sale on an internet auction website. I have heard a true story of a man who started out by trading a mere paperclip on the internet for something of slightly greater value, and then traded his way up to a written contract to take an acting role on a television program, which he then traded for a tiny house in Canada. Imagine that, starting out with a paperclip and ending up with a house!
Does anyone else have money making ideas to share? -
Reply #6 08/23/09 12:11pm
oh my gosh !!!!!!!! thank you for the information !!
i have learned out of shear necessity how to do things myself because i simply couldn't afford to hire anyone to do it. learning a variety of skills have paid my bills here along the way ..
what i do at home here is use my sewing skills to make quilts by machine.
i sew what i call recovering bears for those who need a hug-able friend in trying times.
i also take in simple mending and alteration jobs.
i have extensive knowledge of plants in the horticulture field. i design landscapes and do consulting for regular folks ( i struggle with this actually because i refuse to do this work for those who are merely collectors adding to their pomp and glory and that's why i don't do this work full time anymore ... competition if fierce around here and i refuse to play their game ... talk about thieves in the business pushing products on others simply for the greed of money but that's a WHOLE other topic, eh?)
simple hair cuts like a trim or buzz cut is easy to do.
one thing i must say is when i work .. my work is to help those like me who struggle with money and can't afford to hire out .. i have bartered my skills for wood for my wood stove and cut hair for a music cd i was interested in but couldnt afford. i have traded plants for tools. now is that good or bad i dont know but my bills get paid and the trade seems good and everyone seems happy so what else can i hope for . money dont buy me happiness but a little can pay my bills. i live minimally as i can here.
painting a few home interiors as well as exteriors for those who cant afford to hire a "professional" for thousands i have done myself for them
catering was my business for years (years ago ) i have worked cooking for some friends when they had parties and needed a chef so they didn't have to be stuck in the kitchen ( plus i got to eat ahaha)
i have "rented" my container plants for a weekend to folks who had parties and wished to hide ugly parts of their home or yard for their "social . ( that was real easy cash. love that one !!!)
im sure there is more but i cant think of any else right now.
wow this is a great topic .. thank you!! -
Reply #7 08/24/09 9:33pm
those are goodsuggestions -
Reply #8 08/30/09 4:30am
I bought some internet downloads to make money, but don't know if any good yet. -
Reply #9 09/02/09 3:05am
here is a good article in a good ebook
inspiring us to our duty more than specifics on making money
but an attitude change is all most of us need.
http://www.naturalnews.com/Report_... -
Reply #10 09/14/09 5:47pm
Thanks for all the great ideas, folks. Here's a few more:
Some businesses need temporary workers to help them do their work during busy times of the year, particularly around the Christmas holiday period.
-The Salvation Army needs bellringers to work in front of stores, shopping centers, and other places. A bellringer is a person who stays next to a bright red metal bucket, or kettle, and holds a bell while collecting donations for the Salvation Army. The donations are used to provide food and various services for the poor. In the U.S., the work is done from the day following Thanksgiving through Christmas Day, but the start and finish dates can vary slightly from city to city and in the differenct countries where the Salvation Army operates. Many bellringers stand, but increasingly, bellringers are allowed to sit part of the time or for the entire day of their work, and people in wheelchairs can also participate in this work. The Salvation Army can usually make accommodations for an individual's needs as far as how many hours a person can work in a day and how many days a week a person can work. Although the pay is usually minimum wage, the work is not physically or mentally challenging, and you may find that people who pass you by will bring you coffee or food or offer you tips. Contact your local Salvation Army Headquarters or worship center, or visit www.salvationarmyusa.org (U.S.) or www.salvationarmy.org (Outside the U.S. and International)
-Poll workers are needed at polling places. The work may consist of handing paper ballots to voters, or answering questions about polling machines. Some poll workers stay after the election day(s) is done to help in counting the votes and sometimes in doing re-counts in contested elections. Contact your local registrar of voters office or other local government offices for information.
-The postal service needs all types of additional workers to meet the demands of the Christmas holiday season. Seasonal workers may sort mail and packages, drive vehicles, walk delivery routes, work with customers in post offices, and do other work involved in getting the mail delivered. Contact your nearest post office for information.
-By law, the U.S. Census Bureau is required to do a head-count and gather other basic information every ten years to determine the number of representatives each state will have in the Congress, and more often for certain other purposes, such as the dispersal of federal government funds to local governments. Census takers go door-to-door, and a few work in offices of the bureau. For information, visit http://2010.census.gov/2010censusj...
-Gleaners work in farming or agricultural areas during harvest time. A combine or other type of harvesting equipment can leave 20% of the crop remaining in the field due to the equipment's inefficiency. Although some crops such as grapes and tomotoes are still hand-harvested, mechanized harvesting is done with crops such as potatoes, sweet corn (the kind you eat), field corn (the kind with the hardened kernels used for animal feed and for making meal and flour), barley, straw, hay, and oats. Gleaning is physically demanding work, and you will probably need to have your own equipment and supplies, such as sacks, hand-tools, wheelbarrows, and a truck. Typically, a gleaner will have an arrangement with the farmer or landowner in which 50% of the gleaned crop is kept by the farmer or landowner and 50% is kept by the gleaner; hoever, you may be able to negotiate a better arrangement if you are a good haggler.
-The companies that publish telephone books and other publications need delivery drivers. You may be required to have a station wagon, van, or light truck (pickup truck) for this type of work. Also, companies that print and deliver advertising flyers or fliers door-to-door need people who can do a lot of walking.
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