Travel Affiliate

Forget the idea that traveling has gone down in the past few years and that bankruptcy is skyrocketing. I know that you can forget it, because statistics say otherwise. The travel industry is still known as one of the top industries in profit available.

However, there are also some changes that can get you money without having to spend a lot of time. Travel agents that work for online companies are becoming a popular method to get some gold while simply enjoying the ride.

Basically, all you have to do is find an affiliate program that works. You can find specific areas that train travel agents or you can hook onto an already existent air area, such as Travelocity.

You’ll probably have to invest about $100, depending on the area you affiliate with. From this, you will be trained as an agent, will be given your own website, and you can start raking in the extra money. Keep in mind, you are probably going to have to do some online advertising.

However, this is one of the easiest and most effective ways to make some supplementary income as an affiliate. I have a few friends who are making an average of $1,000 a month, without having to invest time or money. A great side business… that’s for sure!

Mary Kay: Inventory

I had several years experience working high up in management for Mary Kay. While I was very excited during the first three years of my business, once I became a sales director I found out what the real deal was.

Before a woman (or man - hey there are some in MK!) signs up for Mary Kay she is told that it only costs $100 to start her own business. Once she becomes a consultant the “option” to purchase inventory is laid out for her with the highest inventory level being approximately $4,200 and the lowest level for $200. If a woman asks before signing up if she is going to need to purchase inventory, the recruiter is instructed to tell her that “inventory is a consultant decision. Once you are a consultant we can discuss that avenue.” This is a way to appease the prospect without scaring her off. The recruiter’s goal is to get her signed up. Then once that happens the pressure to purchase inventory is laid on to her.

New consultants are told that everything is “optional”, yet they are made to feel that if they don’t do what Mary Kay says should be done they are not working their business. More to come on this marketing plan later.

Your Own Craft Store

I love making crafts. They are such fun to do and a great way to be expressive. Many people sell their crafts on the internet. The problem is that you have to pay huge fees to run a website or be nickeled and dimed to death for auction sites.

You can turn your crafting projects into a secret side biz for a little additional money. The website etsy.com is nothing but crafts. For a very small fee, you can have a monthly store. Your crafts stay up and there is no limit to how many you can display. It is an auction site without all the headaches of traditional websites.

Another advantage to Etsy is that is nothing but crafts. You know that everyone that visits your Etsy store is looking for crafts. This means you have a target audience the income potential is only limited by the amount of time you have for crafting.

Flea Markets and Craft Markets

Flea markets and craft markets are a great way to make some additional money. One popular craft that many people don’t know about are duct tape purses, wallets and clothing. Might sound crazy until you see some of the items that are crafted from duct tape. You can start a secret side biz in the duct tape crafts to make some extra pocket money.

There are some great how-to articles all over the internet to learn how to make many different duct tape items. You can even cover your booth in duct tape to catch the eye of people that walk by. Duct tape is inexpensive and your initial startup will be low.

Ideas for craft items are abundant from jewelry to quilts, dream catchers to tie-dyed clothing and everything in between. This is a great way to pick up some extra money and a fun secret side biz to have.

Write Review Blogs for Extra Money

There are many places that you can set up a free blog. Once you have the blog, you can sell advertising space or be an ad affiliate or member. There are two popular forms of blogs right now that advertisers spend a great deal of money selling their product ads for. These two types of blogs are health products and the other is electronic products.

Be specific and stick to one main subcategory for each blog. For example, you can do a health blog but the sub-category would be dieting. A different health blog would be vitamins. You can do product reviews on these blogs and informational posts. This will get you a great deal of money from the ads. You can do this with the main categories health and electronics and then have specific subcategories that your actual blog covers. It’s a great way to make money as a side business. You only have to update every few days so you can work your regular job and spend time as you have it on the blogs as a side biz.

Starting a Handmade Purse Business

In order to start a handmade purse business you need a little sewing talent, sewing machine and time. You can make all kinds of different handmade purses to sell at flea markets, in the newspaper, at boutique stores and even consignment stores. The amount of money that you can make depends of course on how much time that you have. But there are some great ways to make money with handmade purse business that you can benefit from.

Starting and Errand Running Business

You can start an errand running business for little start up costs. The goal of the business is to run errands for others to save them time. With hectic schedules, it is not surprising that people enjoy errand runners. There is a high demand for errand runners. Put up fliers, an ad in the newspaper and even post items at your local store to let people know that you have an errand running business.

Inventing for Money

I don’t know if any of you are familiar with the show that was on the air for about 2 weeks…”The Next Great Invention.” (or something like that). Let me tell you, I didn’t like that show. First, there were too many crazy people that came in. Second, there were too many people that took themselves too seriously and called themselves inventors.

In fact, you can “make something,” be it something that you learned how to make from childhood or that you have used for convenience and make a boat load of money off of it with little to no help (depending on what it is). Really, the only thing you need to start is your trademark and patent, showing that it’s yours. With a good lawyer, that may cost $1500.

Most inventors, after getting past that point, will just make the things themselves - out of their own materials (unless it is something bigger than that), until they can get up the money to get someone else to manufacture it. I know plenty of people who have an idea, have proven that it works, and just go for the marketing part of it. In fact, I’m working on doing that as well.

If you decide to go the second route and have someone manufacture, it’s as simple as having your drawings and plans together and selling the idea. As soon as you get the contract, you are already in to making millions. That, of course, is a whole different story.

Last simple step - market it and sell. Nothing is easier to market than an invention. This is mostly because it is a good news release and easy to spread into the “connections” that are around. So, write on how wonderful your invention or new release is, have some classes on how to use it, and you are in the good.

It’s a simple three step process to get you started in the world of inventing and selling for yourself - or through others.

Start a Poultry Egg Business

Many people cannot afford to house a great many birds and take care of them. If you live in the city, chances are that you are not even allowed to have a bird or rooster in your yard. But, did you know that there are many terrific places that you can purchase poultry eggs?

You don’t need a rooster to have your hens lay eggs. You can get good egg layers and keep them in cages in a spare room in your home or in a storage shed with light, water and food. Have the hens lay eggs and then you can sell them to friends and relatives to eat.

This is a great little side business to make you some extra money.

Start A Wholesale Distribution Business

A wholesale distribution business can be a profitable venture if done correctly. A wholesale distribution entails you buying products from a manufacturer of goods or another supplier for the goods in which you are interested in selling. You should first identify what products you would want to sell. However, before jumping into selling an item you should conduct thorough market research. Market research can be done in a variety of ways including evaluating competitors, obtaining reports from business journals, researching consumer spending habits, and joining professional business organizations.

Once you have identified the products in which you are interested in selling, the next step would be to identify a supplier source. If you are good at negotiating you may be able to obtain your goods directly from the manufacturer. Otherwise you can search for suppliers for your niche market which can easily be done on the internet. One simple way is to do a keyword search such as wholesale suppliers into a search engine and you will thousands of suppliers. Another simple way to find a supplier is to obtain a wholesale directory which lists wholesale suppliers, distributors, overstock, and liquidation merchants. Before conducting business with any make sure you conduct due diligence. There are a lot of scams in this industry. Some wholesale distributors will want to charge you a fee for their list. However, there are many of free sources out there which are valuable and reliable.

Make sure that you obtain a business licenses and a tax resale certificate. Most wholesale suppliers will want to see this information before they do business with you. These items can be obtained through your local, state, or county governmental agencies. There are generous profits to be made in this business. You just have to have the right product at the right price. The key to this business is negotiation, and the know how to buy low and sell high.

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