Thought I would help people who might want/need a way of making money by suggesting some business ideas that they can do at home, in their spare time or as a full time job. Seen as apparently there aren't any jobs out there, this is my contribution.
Please keep this on topic and I will ask a Don to tidy it up if it needs it.
1. Content Writing: You research and write unique content for a client, via ODesk and similar or directly. You can earn between £1.50 and £100 an hour doing this depending how good you are. The fact that most of us on here speak English as a first language is a major plus.
Costs: Electricity, a computer that will run OpenOffice or equivalent (a Pentium 1 would do this), an internet connection (56k would do), and a desk. Software such as open office is free.
2. Webmaster / SEO, again using Odesk or similar, lots of competition but also a lot of demand. Same costs as above however might need slightly more software cost to do so. Technical skill is needed and with SEO especially the market is constantly changing. Do this for a few years however and you gain the skills needed to work at a firm if you want to.
You can also offer hosting, Dreamhost for example offer really cheap reseller services on shared boxes. I did this at the age of 18 (and looking back, wish I had jumped on the early adsense train (more of that later)).
3. Home made dog/cat food: You bake dog/cat treats for people to buy. Pitch it as totally organic and buy suitable products from a supermarket. Sort out your baking sizes. Costs might be much more significant than the above, but then so will your profit margins. Example of a family who do this for a living: http://ukdogtreats.com/ I personally buy from here for my dog. (No affiliation with me).
4. Mini Sites: Create mini sites, and use SEO to get them to PR1-3. Write unique content for them, and package them in a way to get the highest number of users. Add Google Adsense. This is really strict now, I suggest avoiding any kind of affiliate marketing stream as Google really doesn't like them. At one point I owned 15 mini sites on my own server on domains I owned, this cost me around £100 in total, and the combined adsense paid itself off within the first month. *Much harder to do this now*.
5. Buying then selling domain names: Still a market for this, especially catchy LLLL's and less and the .com's. Possible to set up a script to pick up domains as soon as they drop. Don't do this with names that are trademarked or the company can cease and desist you. There are people out there making 5 figures a month doing this. Like Adsense, it isn't as easy as it was though. Some people take a dim view of domain traders, personally I don't care, it is a good gig and it doesn't hurt anyone, some people view it the same as buying and selling property and honestly many people think badly of people who do that also.
6. Web Project Development: If you have the skills and experience in multiple programming languages and you can't find a job, you can either buy or partner with someone who has an existing prototyped idea which may have potential. Ie; if you have no money, you offer to work on it yourself whilst they still own it, taking equity in it instead of money, which pays off if it gets acquisitioned by Google or you find a good userbase and manage to sell the service as SaaS or in advertising revenue.
I am not talking about those dodgy sites on ebay either!
There is more ideas of this on a trusted site I frequent, for people with computing experience:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5903868
*mod's remove if link not allowed please*
7. Virtual Assistants: If you have admin or PA experience, you can be a virtual assistant, again via Odesk. £1-100 per hour. Do everything your client needs to do online or over the phone. Don't say this won't work, it does, people already have great virtual assistants in the Philipeannes for example. Just another idea...upto you to do the research.
So there are seven things that you can do for less than £100. Some of them much much less. Especially content writing, a firm favourite of University students to earn cash on the side
Enjoy and I wish you success.
Other people, please add your ideas. Hopefully we can educate some people to start earning again...all greatness takes is an idea and an execution
Please keep this on topic and I will ask a Don to tidy it up if it needs it.
1. Content Writing: You research and write unique content for a client, via ODesk and similar or directly. You can earn between £1.50 and £100 an hour doing this depending how good you are. The fact that most of us on here speak English as a first language is a major plus.
Costs: Electricity, a computer that will run OpenOffice or equivalent (a Pentium 1 would do this), an internet connection (56k would do), and a desk. Software such as open office is free.
2. Webmaster / SEO, again using Odesk or similar, lots of competition but also a lot of demand. Same costs as above however might need slightly more software cost to do so. Technical skill is needed and with SEO especially the market is constantly changing. Do this for a few years however and you gain the skills needed to work at a firm if you want to.
You can also offer hosting, Dreamhost for example offer really cheap reseller services on shared boxes. I did this at the age of 18 (and looking back, wish I had jumped on the early adsense train (more of that later)).
3. Home made dog/cat food: You bake dog/cat treats for people to buy. Pitch it as totally organic and buy suitable products from a supermarket. Sort out your baking sizes. Costs might be much more significant than the above, but then so will your profit margins. Example of a family who do this for a living: http://ukdogtreats.com/ I personally buy from here for my dog. (No affiliation with me).
4. Mini Sites: Create mini sites, and use SEO to get them to PR1-3. Write unique content for them, and package them in a way to get the highest number of users. Add Google Adsense. This is really strict now, I suggest avoiding any kind of affiliate marketing stream as Google really doesn't like them. At one point I owned 15 mini sites on my own server on domains I owned, this cost me around £100 in total, and the combined adsense paid itself off within the first month. *Much harder to do this now*.
5. Buying then selling domain names: Still a market for this, especially catchy LLLL's and less and the .com's. Possible to set up a script to pick up domains as soon as they drop. Don't do this with names that are trademarked or the company can cease and desist you. There are people out there making 5 figures a month doing this. Like Adsense, it isn't as easy as it was though. Some people take a dim view of domain traders, personally I don't care, it is a good gig and it doesn't hurt anyone, some people view it the same as buying and selling property and honestly many people think badly of people who do that also.
6. Web Project Development: If you have the skills and experience in multiple programming languages and you can't find a job, you can either buy or partner with someone who has an existing prototyped idea which may have potential. Ie; if you have no money, you offer to work on it yourself whilst they still own it, taking equity in it instead of money, which pays off if it gets acquisitioned by Google or you find a good userbase and manage to sell the service as SaaS or in advertising revenue.
I am not talking about those dodgy sites on ebay either!
There is more ideas of this on a trusted site I frequent, for people with computing experience:
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5903868
*mod's remove if link not allowed please*
7. Virtual Assistants: If you have admin or PA experience, you can be a virtual assistant, again via Odesk. £1-100 per hour. Do everything your client needs to do online or over the phone. Don't say this won't work, it does, people already have great virtual assistants in the Philipeannes for example. Just another idea...upto you to do the research.
So there are seven things that you can do for less than £100. Some of them much much less. Especially content writing, a firm favourite of University students to earn cash on the side
Enjoy and I wish you success.
Other people, please add your ideas. Hopefully we can educate some people to start earning again...all greatness takes is an idea and an execution
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