John Henry

Anyone out there got some good ideas how to make easy money?

I don't necessarily mean big money. I'm not talking about a 'Make yourself a millionaire in two weeks' scheme (although if you have one that works...) I just want a way to make myself a decent living or second income without having to:

a) Work too hard.
b) Break the law.
c) Start off by making a large investment from my own capital.
d) Come up with some amazing new idea.
e) Break the law.
f) Pressure sell.
g) Rip anyone off... too much

My current ideas are along the lines of ebay trading, car-booting and house clearance.

I have a degree in Physics with French, some training in electronics and fairly good computer skills, including some programming. I'm also vaguely musical and not averse to a little bit of manual labour.

Any ideas or even just general tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

junglistic

Theres always money in vehicles.

Find some good deals, fix a minimum of what needs fixing.

Sell it.

Buy another one.. etc..

shakran

it takes money to make money. either invest, or work, one or the two

if you can get enough together to buy a laundromat, those things make money hand over fist.

forseti-6

Just curious... but how much capitol does a laundromat require to start out? And how much money do they make *on average*

__________________
"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." - Dr. Seuss

MSD

Figure that it will cost a thousand per machine. Add maintainence, a few grand for rent, and insurance costs. You'll make the investment back in less than a year.

If you build a laundromat, attach a coffee shop to it, connect the two with some thick, soundproof doors, and you'll have people spending double the money. This works espeically well if you put wireless internet connections in the coffee shop, and locate it near a college campus. Keep it open 24/7, and you'll have a bunch of kids coming in to do laundry, drink coffee, and use your bandwidth to get around campus restrictions and firewalls.

A bonus is that in the winter, you can use the hot air from the dryers to heat the coffee shop, and save on heating bills.

shakran

don't forget a few wired connections too for the poor schmucks who don't have wifi cards. I'd probably eventually put some PC's in there - let the people who don't have laptops surf - for a fee of course. You could even do a "cup of coffee gets you 15 minutes" deal.


If you don't wanna do a coffee shop, you can put a couple of video games, a drink, and a snack machine in your laundromat. People get bored and hungry when they're just sitting and watching clothes spin. Easy money maker.

Here's a trick I've seen a few laundromats do. They buy washing machines that have no spin cycle. Then they put a clothes spinner in there and make it cost a dollar. So you have to pay for the wash, then pay for the spinner before you pay for the dryer - if you don't do the middle step your clothes are soaked and take at least 4 cycles to dry. Guaranteed money maker, but this trick will only work if you don't have any other laundromats with normal washing machines anywhere nearby. Hell of it is, most people don't even glance at the clothes spinner until the washing machine stops and their clothes have tons of water in them still. Then they see the sign

spived2

Damn MrSelfDestruct, it looks like you really thought that through. Now i want a laundrymat/coffee shop!

__________________

"This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." - V

John Henry

I like the look of that laundromat idea, I'm seriously thinking about it now.

Another area that looks to me like easy money is buying up end of line stock and selling it off cheap. Only thing is, I don't know where to buy it from, but I do know there are people who make their entire business from doing just that.

__________________
"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

Sion

when I went to school (Ohio State at the end of the 80s/early 90s) there was a laundromat/bar combo place called "Suds and Duds". was pretty cool, drinking beer (or whatever) while doing your laundry.

__________________
He's the best, of course, of all the worst.
Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

meembo

Oh, the foolishness of youth! Easy money? Give me a break!

__________________
less I say, smarter I am

R_one

Easy money? If you're "gifted"....PORN-STAR!!! Although from what I hear, guys in the porn business actually work very hard (no pun intended) for their money.

ironman

believe me, if there was a (legal) way of doing that, no one would tell you, as you would become competition.

__________________
If I agreed with you we´d both be wrong

shakran

Oh that can't be true! The guy on the infomercial last night said EVERYONE can be a kajillionaire if they just buy his program for $100!

ratbastid

Great!

John Henry, here's your business plan. Write up a cockamamy scheme for making money. Sell it on late night TV for $100 a throw.

skier

Coin operated washers are suprisingly affordable, at less than 1000$ new for brand name washers. It's a low maintenance, low risk investment that is certain to pay off. Hell, i'm thinking of opening a laundromat right now.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

eribrav

If you want to be your own boss and work relatively flexible hours, you could learn to trade stocks. I can tell you from personal experience that it took me over 3 years of real life and paper trading to become competent and consistently profitable. If you invest the time and effort and get good at it, you may be able to generate enough cash flow to live on.

It does help greatly to already have a job with some cash flow. It' s tough enough to learn to trade to begin with; if you have to worry about making enough each month to pay the phone bill right from the get go it's nearly impossible.

There are many books available to help you get started. A good website is Realmoney.com. Remember, don't even think about starting out with real money. Paper trade and figure out what the hell you're doing first.

magua

Really, there's two ways to make money.

The first is to work. Working is hard. And tedious. Doesn't matter what your job is -- it can be porn star, MMORPG item farmer, or eBay seller -- it's going to take work, and while it may start out being fun, it won't stay that way. Still, better than having to, say, clean sewage or manually masturbate small animals.

The second is to invest. Either in stocks, or real estate, or opening your own business. But this takes capital. And if you had capital already, you probably wouldn't be asking the question.

Me, I'm just saving up until I can buy a 4-flat. 1 flat for me, 3 to rent out. But that won't be a cakewalk, either.

Grimlok

I got two words for you...

NETWORK MARKETING

Find a system that works and duplicate it. Do what Rich people do. I would suggest reading RICH DAD POOR DAD by Robert Kyosaki... Also look into anything Jim Rohn has written/recorded.

There are a lot of companies out there...

Here's an article that outlines the evaluation process...


-----------------------------------------------------------------

How To Evaluate Any Network Marketing Opportunity
Sandy Botkin CPA. Esq.
Copyright 2001, all rights reserved

J. Paul Getty once said he'd rather have 1% of 100 people's efforts than
100% of his own. This philosophy fits the multitude of new entrepreneurial
network marketers-those people who have found themselves looking for either
part-time or full-time work, caught in the crossfire of today's corporate
penchant for downsizing. Why work for someone else who can lay you off on a
whim? Work for yourself, get others to work with you, and earn more than you
even dreamed of is the network marketer's theme song.

Walk into a hotel lobby, restaurant, or friend's living room almost any
evening of the week, and you will find anywhere from 5 to 100 people
listening attentively to enthusiastic speakers explain the benefits of
becoming a distributor or representative for the products and services of
Amway, Colgate-Palmolive, Free Life, Gillette, Mannatech, NuSkin, New
Vision, or KAIRE International, among others-all companies that are part of
the new wave of network marketing-friends selling to friends. These
companies are joining over 1,500 companies today that have already found
network marketing to be one of the most effective ways to get their products
distributed quickly.

Because of job insecurity or loss caused by corporate downsizing, many
people are looking for part time opportunities that will help them develop
useful skills and earn extra income. They want these opportunities without
large liabilities or large capital investments. Network marketing is seen as
a way of meeting these needs. The Home Based Business Journal reported in
its May 1996 issue that home based businesses average an 85% success rate
and a less than $1,000 investment. While non-homes based business average an
11% success rate and a $22,000 investment. With virtually no overhead, no
employees, and no law suit worries, costs are low. Most network marketing
businesses validate these high success rate-low investment possibilities.

Consequently, don't be surprised when the engineer next door or the
corporate manager from across the street calls, offering you a chance to
earn some money in your free time. A few days later, you find yourself on
your way to your first meeting. You do it as a favor to your friend, and
you're skeptical, of course, but you're also a bit curious. After all, you
saw some homeopathic supplement in your doctor's waiting room last week and
were shocked to find out he was a network marketer. What's the deal?

In the meeting, you look around, are slightly uncomfortable. You've dressed
casually and find yourself in a sea of suits. The man on your left is an
accountant, the woman on your right a journalist. You begin to dismantle
your stereotype of who does network marketing. You find out that, for the
most part, the people around you are already making good salaries in
full-time jobs, however few feel secure, and they are looking for a safety
net.

You listen to the sales presentation, done by one of the company's top
producers; you're promised the possibility of earning a significant
six-figure income if you are persistent. Moreover, you learn about the
tremendous tax benefits available to small businesses. Your skepticism
begins to diminish as you wonder if network marketing isn't something you
should consider. After all, you hear, more new millionaires are coming of
network marketing today than any other sales field.

This is point in the evening when you need to stop and breathe deeply.
Before you decide to get caught up in the enthusiasm, which will be
contagious, and buy in immediately, take this advice: Let the enthusiasm
cool off. Then begin the process of deciding which company to join by
finding the answers to the following 10 questions:

How stable is the company? Two ways to judge a company's stability are:
first, get a credit report from Dunn and Bradstreet. Second, find out how
long the company has been using network marketing. Most companies never
survive two years. Therefore, at least two years in the business is a good
yardstick in judging a company's stability.


Does the company stand behind the promises it makes about its products? This
question is important to ask product companies. Call the company and ask
these questions:
Does the company validate their products' claims, e.g., does a health food
product have clinical trials done by independent laboratories?
What is the company's refund policy if the customer is not satisfied? How
quickly do they refund the money?
What is the company's buy-back policy on inventory purchased by
distributors? Most companies promise to buy back inventory not more than a
year old. But sometimes this policy is illusory because of the complex
administrative hoops the distributor must jump through and because there is
no limit on when the refundable money must be paid back to the distributor.
Finally, buy the product and try it. Do you like it?

Does the company want you primarily to (1) sell products/services, (2)
recruit people, or (3) both? Most companies want you to recruit people to
distribute who in turn will recruit people to distribute who in turn will
recruit people to distribute. But if the company is only recruiting people
and no one is selling the product/service, you may want to look carefully at
the company. Will the distributors use enough product to keep the company
afloat?

Further, you may just want to market a product and not manage a whole sales
force of downline (the people you get to sign up under you) distributors. If
so, find a company that will let you do that. Your commission should be
enough to let you make money retailing the product or service without having
any downline. This means that the commission paid on retailing should be
about the same as the commission paid on recruiting new distributors.
Nevertheless, it's useful to remember that most of those who earn top money
in network marketing are the people who are able to get others to overcome
the stigma of network marketing - to recruit, train, and finally support
people (called their "downline") who are able to get others to recruit,
train & support people, etc., etc.

Will the products sell? Before you buy too much inventory - a good guideline
is don't buy more than you can sell or use in a month - do some comparative
shopping to find out answers to these questions:

Is the price of the products reasonable? Can customers find just as good a
product on the market for less? Usually network marketing companies offer
products which are only available through them and which are claimed to be
(and may be) better than those offered elsewhere.
If the products are not unique, are they priced competitively?
Are the products so desirable that people will continue using them and
recommending them even if they stop being distributors? This is an important
question, since most companies have a high attrition rate among
distributors.
Will the products sell even if not marketed through network marketing.
Does the company really have momentum? Every company will claim that the
time to join is now because of the "S" curve, a curve that marks rapid
growth times. Momentum is important because growth magnifies efforts. If you
join during a growth period caused by either the age of the company, or by
introducing a new product, or by getting a new patent, this growth can
attract new distributors and more sales. If the company or product is
growing at 3% a year, your business growth will mirror the 3%; but if the
company or product is growing at 30% a year, then your business growth
should also mirror that percent.

What kind of sponsor support is offered? We can't overstate the importance
of this answer. Not all sponsors are created equal The person who takes you
to the meeting becomes your sponsor if you sign up under him or her. You are
locked into that person for a long time. To avoid this, don't sign up
immediately. You can wait, shop around, and find a sponsor who is known to
provide strong support to his people. It is not polite for a sponsor to
accept you at a meeting if you have been brought there by another sponsor.
You will need to get the person's card and call them after the meeting. Be
careful even if you are signing up only to buy the products at wholesale.
You may want to become an active distributor later, and you will be locked
into the person you are buying from. To find the right sponsor:

Attend several meetings in your area.
Introduce yourself to numerous successful sponsors.
Evaluate their reputations. Ask them what they do for their people and how
long they have been doing it.
Some sponsors are like robots, signing up everyone but supporting none;
others, more responsible, do mass advertising or marketing and pass warm
leads along to their downline. One of the major benefits of a network
marketing company is that you are in business for yourself, not by yourself:
to realize this benefit, you must sign up under the right person.

What kind of training and support do they offer? The statement that "The
product sells itself" is rarely true. All companies promise training; few
deliver the consistent quality that makes training effective. Evaluate the
training and the support materials. Look for:

Role playing practice
Good scripts
Ways sponsors help you to get new leads
A variety of quality training tapes
Find out about switching to another sponsor if your sponsor leaves the
company or doesn't do training follow-up.

How good are the marketing materials? All companies have marketing
materials. Some are better than others. The better the materials, the easier
it will be to acquire customers and distributors. They should have
multi-colored, glossy, up-scale brochures which contain two elements. First,
the brochures should stress benefits offered to the customer, explaining why
the products/services are right for the buyer. Second, they should convince
the customer through concrete evidence that the company is stable, offers
low risk to distributors, and has a history of good management. It is,
therefore, important to have some third party creditability such as double
blind studies or newspaper articles extolling the virtues of the company.

What is the compensation plan offered? After investigating the quality of
the products or services offered by a company, one of the most important
considerations is the company's compensation plan. Comparing compensation
plans from one company to another is difficult. Companies use a myriad of
formulas. One way to simplify the process is to ask:

How difficult is it to make it to the top? Do you need 5 good lines (active
distributors under you) or will 2 lines do?
What do you get by acquiring customers vs. acquiring distributors?
Customers, not distributors should be the focus of the company. Thus the
compensation plan for selling product/services should be at least as
generous as that of bringing in new distributors.
Does the company offer non-cash rewards? Are the numbers doable and
realistic?

Are you pushed to buy a lot of inventory up front to make a higher
commission rate? It's better to try a small amount of product first, see how
you like it, see if other people are interested in buying it before
investing in large inventory.

If you are not satisfied with the compensation plan, you or the people you
recruit will not stay long with the company. Even if you stay, you may lose
people you have invested time and money in to other companies.

What is the customer retention rate? When a company pays 50% of its revenue
for commissions, if the customer retention rate on a product is 5%, your net
long-term commission is only 2.5%. But, when the company pays only 10%
payout, if the customer retention rate is 80%, your long-term commission
rate is 8%. The customer retention rate is critical. To investigate the
retention rate, you can:

Ask the company if its figures on customer retention rate are available.
Test the product/services to see if you would use it regularly.
Ask the company for names of satisfied customers.
Ask for the names and phone numbers of two or three non-repeat customers.
Ask if you can call to find why they didn't continue to use the product or
service.
Find out what the competition is offering in the same category and compare
the prices. Your product doesn't have to be the lowest for what it offers,
if it offers some value that is not offered elsewhere. It also should be
marketed well.
What other miscellaneous benefits does the company provide?

Some companies provide distributors with the equivalent of the franchises
without a franchise fee. They not only provide marketing materials but also
management information, tax information and even an accounting system. Find
out what in contained in both the distributor or upgrade kits. Many times
the upgrade package may be the much better deal even though it is more
exclusive.

You can't promote and sell what you aren't convinced is the best. If the
answers you get to these questions enable you to find and then believe
completely in the product or service and its company, you may be among those
who find network marketing to be very lucrative.
-------------------------------------------

Feel Free to PM if you have any questions.

__________________
Your future looks very very grim!

Crack

I have been there, in fact when in the states, I live not far from there, if you're ever in the area, PM me and I'll buy ya a beer and a spin cycle
~Crack

__________________
Crack, you and I are long overdue for a vicious bout of mansex.

~Halx

lrsurfer

Work hard

cait987

One of the best ways to make money and accomplish things is to have a garage sale: Clean your garage one day and put all the crap you dont want in a pile and then sell it in bundles a bunch of junk for 10$ but put some interesting things in that stack to make people forced to buy a stack of junk for something nice ^^. Best thing about this is your cleaning your house and making yourself look more formal while your also making good money off junk you would never use.

iamnormal

Sell your blood

NoSoup

Play BlackJack--- And count the cards....

Played correctly, you WILL win, but, the trick is playing correctly.

I'd Suggest the Advanced Omega II Card Counting System, as it is fairly easy to learn and gives you one of the highest advantages there are as far as card counting goes....

Locobot

Grow some weed then sell it.

John Henry

Had a couple more ideas today:

One is a house/business clearance business. People pay you to take their stuff away then you sell it. Easy.

The other is PA/Plant/Just about anything hire. Buy something once, sell it a hundred times. Learn to fix/maintain it yourself and you're sorted.

__________________
"No one was behaving from very Buddhist motives. Then, thought Pigsy, he was hardly a Buddha, nor was he a monkey. Presently, he was a pig spirit changed into a little girl pretending to be a little boy to be offered to a water monster. It was all very simple to a pig spirit."

skier

The new word for garage sale is eBay. Sell the good stuff at real market prices on eBay, and garage sale the rest.

__________________
"Asking a bomb squad if an old bomb is still "real" is not the best thing to do if you want to save it." - denim

nash

My friend says there's a local company that makes catheters and were looking for people to test them. They pay pretty well, apparently. So if you're willing to stick the catheter in you, maybe you can try to look for some local companies for that.

Jackshit

This is something pretty easy, any you can probably recoup the investment in 12 - 24 month.

Buy one of these (or similar):


and rent for $125 - $150 for (2 hours) for birthday parties and other events (rent would be more for a whole day. They take about 15 minutes to set up and about 20 minutes to pack up. You also need a small trailer to bring it to the location.

You could even go in with a few other people to offset the initial cost and relieve you from having to set it up all of the time.

piglet

start your own porno web site featuring you, you know somebody out there would pay to see you naked.

BoomTruck

Hard work. I currently work 2 jobs, and have a sort-of business of my own. (that I have to take time off work to go do.)

One tip- people that really need money will sell neat stuff rather cheap. That's how I wound up with a 10-ton boom truck (my business) for 8 grand.

Donald trump said it best: If you don't have enough money, get a job. If that isn't enough, get 2 jobs. If it still isn't enough, get 3 jobs. And if that still isn't enough, get 3 better jobs.

__________________
Judge me all you want, but keep the verdict to yourself.

jhericurl21

fatboss

Over here in the UK, the easiest money maker I can see is a Barbershop.

2 guys (3 on Saturday) cutting hair for £5.00 a go. Takes 15-20 mins at the very most. There's £15 -£20 an hour. Time the 2 barbers is £30 - £40 an hour. No overheads. You don't need to buy all sorts of colourings and shit like the ladies do. OK you get your quiet days, but if the shop is in the right place, you should be busy all week. And it's something that's gonna be needed every week of every month of every year.

I'm tellin ya, 1 year at college and you could cut any fucking style you were asked for.

Piece of piss!

__________________
"never mind that shit........here comes Mongo!"

AfterBurn

In the winter when i was bored id go shovel peoples snow for $10-15 (i ask for 15 first then if they say no i say ok fine ill do it for 10 and sometimes they agree). it's not really hard work unless youre horribly out of shape and you get to workout as well. usualy the shoveling takes about 15-20mins to do and id make about $90-150/day for about like 3h work if i ask around enough.

__________________
smoking weed everyday keeps the doctor away

EricFromSweden

Try www.twosteps.tk

Contact me for an invitation at:
ericdaswede@yahoo.se

- Eric -

livingfossil

That is freaking brilliant!

__________________
Never anything witty.

edmos1

Step 1: Steal Underwear
Step 2: ??
Step 3: Profit $$$$$$

sorry can not resist the Southpark underwear gnomes

netnut

Sperm Donor???

__________________
"What if the Hokey Pokey is really what it's all about..." -- J.B.

gboz

Fiberglass boat repair in FL. Not joking, you could go down there and make a bundle.

__________________
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.
-Berthold Auerbach

KMA-628

Laundromat's are very, very hard work, we sold ours many years ago.

1) Constant Maintenance and repair. The customers constantly damage equipment. It is best if you can work on the machines yourself as outsourcing the repairs is expensive.

2) "The machine took my money" one hundred times a day, whether true or not.

3) Chasing down your carts throughout the local neighborhoods at least once a week. You wouldn't believe what those stupid carts cost.

4) Working seven days a week (cleaning, maintenance, collecting money, etc).

Its not bad, but don't be under the impression that it is easy money. There were three of us involved in the venture and it kept all of us busy pretty much full-time.

Washers and dryers are expensive, but they pale in comparison to the price of some of the other equipment (money changer).

We sold ours when it came time to upgrade the equipment. Because of the constant use, the machines only last so long and then they need to be replaced.

Oh yeah, and figure you will be replacing motors on a regular basis as well.

TacTic

I'm a student and getting some extra cash is allways on my mind.
Try this website http://www.publifacil.com/9390134 , they pay jou for reading emails and if you refer 8 people to their affiliat program you will earn 6% commissions on emails they read.

I've been using this site for 4 month's now and it has been great for me.