Firstly this is not commissioned and more to the point it will not advertise a get rich quick scheme. I hate this type of Google search as it turns up millions of ways that all end up being the same stupid ideas spoken about slightly differently. The recommendations are always about people making real decent money and seem a little too clean for my liking. So lets look at some of the top answers:
1. Get paid for your opinion
Really? I mean someone values a complete strangers opinion enough to pay me for it ok i'll check it out, oh no wait when they say paid they mean like peanuts. Ok so here is the catch, professional writers spend years and years building up an online profile of work and reputation they can then get good paid writing jobs commissioned by companies in their field that place value on indirect advertising which is basically writing an article either completely not based on or indirectly based on a product they sell or service they provide. The problem is that most people have no reputation and end up on a horrible paid per article site that gives them pennies for their time and then clogs up search engines with articles like "Top 5 best apps for gamers" and the website earns pounds from affiliate deals or advertising. If you do want to make money from writing then do one of two things;
- Write a blog and think of it like a hobby and earn money from ads and if its good eventually you might even start getting commisioned writings, product review requests and other such great things happen. But then you will spend at least as much time advertising and spreading the word of your blog as you will actually writing so be prepared its like a marketing job. Once your blog is well established maybe try an ebook for sale but ensure its good quality, nothing worse than poor reviews for ebooks to ruin a career.
- Write for other people and build a profile of work much like a model builds a portfolio of pictures often not getting paid for their time. DO NOT rely on it to make any money.
My final piece of advice for writing is to ensure you constantly stay ahead, a lot of paid writing sites have gone down the pan due to google updates to their search results meaning they dont make money from advertising as much anymore and therefore cut back on payments.
2. Dropshipping
The term dropshipping makes my skin crawl it really does. I know lots of people make good money but essentially this role is basically marketing at its worse. You take a cut of the retail price for goods and add zero value. There is a huge number of dropshipping scams and most website marketplaces are now full of turnkey drop ship sites promising huge returns for no effort. Do not believe it. Dropshipping is hard because the dropshipper does not care about whether its you that sells their products they just wanna sell more so will often have dozens of people just like you selling for them. There is only two ways I see dropshipping as a viable option;
- You have a retail site selling stuff you have got and want to bulk it out using dropshipping
- The dropship company have given you sole rights for your geographical area
But ensure you get some really good research done before signing up as often poor service reflects badly on you, faulty goods and delivery timescales are the biggest complaint of dropshipping behind of course the scams.
3. Become an agent
There are two many companies that I see aiming at the stay at home mum crowd to entice them into becoming an agent. Most agents end up making no real income from any work they do and due to the saturated nature of the market it can be difficult to even get this off the ground. Aimed at social people it basically works on the premise of selling stuff to your pals and getting a small cut. The reason I dislike this is that with a little determination you can find wholesalers of most things withing ten minutes and majority do not require you to be a registered company. If you want to sell lingerie like Ann Summers parties why not spend £50 buying some from a wholesaler and then making 200% mark up. Or if its cleaning products or Tupperware then just find the wholesaler who supplies your local pound store and place an order. All agent selling is a pyramid scheme which is why you always get approached by other agents trying to get you to sign up as this then makes their job easier if you sell well. If you have no money so can't go down the actual buying stock yourself route why not try this:
- Go to a local shop and ask if you could host a party in their shop for 20 people privately, all sales you recieve a percentage of. A lot of small retailers would welcome this and some might even give you some products to host party yourself on a sale or return basis with some form of refundable security deposit.
- Become an expert at finding prices cheaper and split the difference. Become the person known as the bargain hunter and help your friends save money and you ask for 50% of the difference.
Some legitimate ideas you could try instead:
- Approach your local shops (ensure they are not chainstores) and ask if they would like help to sell online, offer to do this on their behalf for a certain percentage. Most stores are working with good margins and would welcome the extra help as small businesses are so slow at moving into the online marketplace.
- Start up a community online for a niche subject and provide daily feeds of news and allow discussion. If done well after the community is large enough you can offer premium access and charge.
- Some big companies now offer home working opportunities, Customer Service reps can earn a decent wage and work flexibly from home.
- Buy from a car boot and sell on ebay. I wouldnt usually suggest eBay as it is so expensive these days it doesnt often seem worth the time and their policy of customer service for sellers is abysmal but if you know about something it can make a lot of money. For instance you may be keen fisherman and you could go to the local car boot and look specifically for fishing stuff, buy cheap and sell higher. Often car boots are a mixture of people getting rid of things they don't want or people getting rid of things they don't know what the worth of is due to perhaps inheriting it at some point. Its easy to spot naive sellers at car boots as they look timid and don't generally have a nicely presented stall like someone that goes every week.
If you have any other advice feel free to post comments or if you'd like to discuss any of these ideas then contact me. Remember to share if you enjoyed!
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