It wasn’t so very long ago that most people worked for themselves. There is no reason we can not start again. Some may do it for additional income; others may choose to earn all of their income the old-fashioned way – either by choice or because they have been laid off or can no longer find work.
There is no special magic required to do this. There are infinite ways to make money online or off. Here are just a few with many more to come. We will even provide you with step-by-step instructions for many ways to make money so you don’t have to do it alone. If you get stuck do not give up. We can help you or find someone who will.
Key to increasing your income is getting the word out. One way is through free online listings. We have already posted statistics on how people find businesses and links to the major Local Search Directories. We have provides everything someone needs to offer this as a service or use it to promote their own business. Many can use what is already posted and get started now.
Anyone can make money even if they do not know how to use the Internet. If any ideas you find here would be perfect for friends, family or acquaintances, print it out and give it to them. If they run with the idea you can help them with fliers or listings. Those who help others are always rewarded.
Here are the first of many EXTRA INCOME IDEAS to come:
- Offer to help existing businesses to get listed in Local Search Directories – see Special Offer which explains why someone would want to do this and has reasonable prices to charge for this service. In the future we will create fliers you can edit and downloadable spreadsheets to track your work. We will also teach how to research keywords and the basics of copywriting. We can provide free tutoring and assistance to get you started.
- Love to sew or know someone who does? Here is the perfect idea that requires only the tiniest of start-up funds. Read Oklahoma Prairie Mom’s post on Sewing Clothing for Free and Recycled Flannel Bed Sheets to get that idea. Expand that to making patterns from your favorite clothing that is too worn to wear. There are used clothing places, swap meets, and yard sales most everywhere. You can often buy whole sacks of material for a few dollars or even less. Watch for discarded clothing or anything else made of a beautiful fabric and turn it into a copy of your favorite clothes or needed household items (pot holders, hand towels, etc.). [NOTE: If you don't sew hire someone else to do it.]
- Share your knowledge with others. Do you realize how many people never learned how to sew, or bake, or cook from scratch? Many are just now getting into gardening. Some people have always wanted to learn to play an instrument. Many more could use additional computer skills. While not everyone is cut out for teaching, many have the skills and would love the work.
- Start a co-op to share the work. If you don’t have time to do everything neither do the other people you know. Instead of everyone working outside the home some could stay home and provide meals, housekeeping, gardening, yard work – anything others need. This benefits both those who are still working and those who elect to stay home.
- Quit your job if the cost of working exceeds your take-home pay. I am absolutely positive that many people are actually going into debt because of their job. Have you calculated the cost of commuting, clothing, eating out, packaged and fast food for home consumption, taxes, and anything else you spend money on because you work? As much as these costs have risen there are bound to be many who are actually losing money by working! If this is you, you’re better off giving notice right now. Keep working and you’re just digging a deeper hole!
- Don’t know how to figure out if you’re losing money by working? There is a perfect service for someone to offer to those who don’t know how!
Use your imagination. Follow your passion. Ask for help getting started. Learn to cook from scratch, sew your own clothing, or plant a garden. Learning to grow food is especially important. With the falling value of the dollar income is not keeping pace with increases in food costs. Remember this: you can’t eat money! Food equals security and freedom – and most importantly – health.
BLOG POSTS WORTH READING ON THE SUBJECT OF BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR:
- More on the Fierce Urgency of Now – Francine Hardaway
Your comments and favorite links are always invited. Please feel free to drop links and express your views in the comments field. Links will periodically be moved up into the bodies of posts. They also allow us to find you and share what you write in future posts. Thank you in advance for being part of improving the world.











{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
First, thank you for the nice do-follow in comments. Love your blog, just subscribed. Love the post you really got creative with those ideas. And, you are so right, there are so many was to make money but I truly believe that if you follow your passion the money will follow!
Thanks!
Ann’s last blog post..Work From Home Jobs and Staying Productive and Disciplined
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Ann Thank you for visiting and subscribing. The more the merrier.
And thank you for reminding me about this post. I’ve done so many I had forgotten it until your comment. Every person has skills that others are interested in – they just don’t realize it.
So many new bloggers start writing about making money online even though they haven’t yet. That makes no sense because there is tons of competition in that niche AND only those who have actually done it should write about it.
They should write about their passion instead. The money only follows, though, when you learn how to monetize and take action to do so. Many of us are passionate about sharing and assisting others and neglect to do anything to generate an income.
I book marked the site i never seen so many good resources in one place and free.
There’s really a lot of ways to make money, most especially in the internet nowadays. You can make profit by blogging, providing services, joint venturing, and a lot more..
Twitter: @GrowMap
@Jack I hope you have been back to visit. If you subscribed to this comment it will remind you that you said you have never seen so many good free resources in one place.
@Josh Yes, there are many methods but they all have one thing in common: it doesn’t happen overnight and there is much to learn. Few make a lot of money without much trial and error.
InternetStrategist’s last blog post..Blog Traffic Up 54.87% in the Last 30 Days: Our Proven Traffic Improvement Strategy
Another way is to find is just to find something you enjoy and create an online store to sell it. Some people are just born shop keepers and customer service experts.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Sharon,
That is easier than ever now that WordPress has an ecommerce plugin and there are services such as Datafeedr, PopShops and DataFeedFile that pull products from affiliate feeds into blogs.
If anyone wants assistance getting a blog or adding products to an existing blog let me know. I have far more information on that than what is currently on this blog.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..How to Optimize Your PPC Advertising to Benefit YOU =-.
Have to say this is a cool blog with some great practical advice. I really do like it… well done!!!
Informative post..keep them coming..bookmarked the blog already!
Extra Income is what i really want to know. I want to find ideas that can help me to gain additional income in this time of recession.
Twitter: @GrowMap
The key to generating an income online is to find a need in an area you are passionate about and fill it. There are so many ways to grow a business that anyone with SPECIFIC skills can offer their services to others. Think about what you know, create a page offering that service with specific options/prices (1-3 is best to encourage easy decision-making), and share that page across Social Networks and in places where businesses are seeking assistance.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Social Networking is NOT Chat =-.
Being self sufficent and your own boss is the American dream at its finest. Work hard and be determined and you can accomplish it.
Thank you for this post. Lets help each other overcome the world financial troubles that we are all experiencing.
There are lots of ways to earn money in our spare time, and we could do it in our own home. Like SEO jobs, tutorials, podcasts and many more. We could also do affiliate marketing and have a home business.
Is is so nice to earn money while attending the needs of your family.
Hoping that each and every one of us will get the message. Hoping that our fellowmen and our brothers could survive if they are suffering from financial woes.
There is an answer to every problem. Don’t lose hope.
Twitter: @GrowMap
Hi Jamie,
Those who haven’t developed enough skill to generate an income online should consider becoming an expert in a particular area and offering their services to others who have more money than time to learn it themselves.
There are many businesses that could use Local Listings, assistance driving traffic from Social Networks and copywriters to name just a few. Online retailers need intelligent people who can update their inventories and write better product descriptions.
Ecommerce stores frequently outsource upgrades to their sites from installing better search functions to adding reviews and comparisons to adding the ability to share their products on Social Networks to adding WishPot Wish Lists and other third party links.
Learn to do something popular very well, offer your services and start building a portfolio. It doesn’t take long to build a business if you provide great service to people willing to recommend you.
.-= Internet Strategist @GrowMap´s last blog ..Instantly Acquire 76 High Quality Incoming Links =-.
Great inputs. I learn a lot from your blog. Thank you very much for sharing this.