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Have any of you ever heard of Etsy?

Listen carefully… if you’re creative or crafty in any way, shape or form, and you’re not selling your wares on Etsy, you’re missing the damn boat.

I have a friend who is selling her paintings there (successfully, I might add) for over $400 EACH. Some are going for $650 or higher.

I have another friend who has made over $30,000 in one year, by selling her art dolls.

Others are making thousands selling handcrafted jewelry, crocheted or knitted items, art/altered books, photography, digital paintings, doll clothes, prints, graphics, you name it. It’s amazing, and I’m ready to start trying it myself.

I’ve long been an “artsy” type. Paintings, sculptures, jewelry, crochet… I do it. Now I’ve got more motivation to actually finish my projects, because I’m going to sell them on Etsy. I’ll keep you posted on how I do, maybe with monthly reports, etc.

Bottom line, if it’s made by hand, you can sell it on Etsy, and that includes digital items and graphics.

So what are YOU going to sell in your Etsy shop!?

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Citizens Bank has just relaunched a promotion for their Green$ense setup. Green$ense allows you to EARN up to $120 a year for using your Citizens checking card for paperless transactions. They’ve got a promotional game giveaway going on through the month of November 2008 that helps teach you where you can save money and energy in your home, as well as a game for a chance to win $50 (you can play once per day), and then they give you details on the program.

Grow Your Green$ense (the “Promotion”) is open only to legal residents of Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, or Vermont who are at least eighteen (18) years old at the time of entry.

Limit: Each participant may enter/play one (1) time per day during the Promotion Period (November 1 – November 30, 2008).

Sweepstakes Prize: ONE (1) GRAND PRIZE: $10,000 Citizens Bank or Charter One Gift Card. Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”): $10,000. Odds of winning the Sweepstakes Prize depend on the number of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period.

Instant Win Game Prizes: THIRTY (30) FIRST PRIZES (1 per day): $50 Citizens Bank or Charter One Gift Card. ARV: $50. Limit: One (1) Instant Win Game prize per person.
TOTAL ARV OF ALL PRIZES: $11,500.

I’ve been looking to change banks, to be honest. After getting hit with fees up the yin-yang and dealing with lazy reporting to the web service, rude tellers, too many “maintenance periods” where I can’t access my account statement, and a fee (and majorly complex process) for accessing their bill pay system, I’m thinking that Citizens might have what I need… plus I can earn $120 a year!? Shoot… I’m off to sign up NOW.

Wow, you have several ongoing projects daily. How do you allocate your time?

And do you have days when you just don’t feel like writing?

Time management is one of those things I do struggle with, and some days are worse than others. Sometimes I do get overwhelmed with, “Oh gah… where do I start?” but the bottom line is that I know it needs to get done if I want to get paid… so I just do it.

Just like any other job, if you don’t go in and do your work, you get fired. The bonus in my situation is that I truly LOVE what I do and I also have the freedom to pretty much work on whatever strikes me at the moment. If I’m more interested in writing about music than I am anything else on any given day, then I do a lot of work on the music blog. If I’d rather read and write about personal finance, I do that here. Is it a struggle sometimes to make sure there’s a balance? Yeah, sometimes. But I’m getting better at it.

There are hours or days I don’t want to write anything. In that situation I tend to focus more on design work for clients or myself. If I’m really just itching to get off my duff and go do something, I do it. Because I know that the computer will be there when I get back, and I know that for me, fortunately it’s not something I can be happy staying away from for too long. Maybe it’s the financial motivation (I have a list taped to my computer outlining what’s going to get me however much money each month) or maybe it’s the feeling of accomplishment that I crave. Maybe it’s a combination of those things and much more. Either way, it’s something that’s ingrained in me… I doubt it can be easily learned. If you’re the kind of person who HATES being locked up inside, then you need to get yourself a job that keeps you outside. (For what it’s worth, I can work from anywhere I can get an internet signal… so that helps too.) But if you’re really passionate about making money online, and doing it the right way (with time and effort), then you can definitely learn your own patterns and succeed. (For example, I get downright sleepy around 3pm every day. So I try to get up and off the computer then, and either go do something productive around the house or yes… take a nap.)

It all really boils down to one thing: money. I need it, I want it, and I am willing to put in the time and effort in ways I enjoy to get it. Find your “niche” and you’ll feel the same way, I promise!

Thanks for your questions, Jeflin!

The truth of the matter is that the majority of this comes from my internet marketing and web design/development business. However there are other ways I’m making decent income off the internet.

I currently write a music blog for an awesome blog network called b5media. That blogging job is (at the moment) getting me about $160 a month. The income from that one blog has grown from the day I started, which back then was only $50 a month, and that was just about a year ago (I can’t believe it’s been that long!). Of course, the potential for this can continue to grow, as b5media also pays bloggers based on pageviews in addition to a flat rate each month. The more marketing and self-promotion I do for the blog, the more pageviews I get, which means more money.

I’m also doing some ghost writing for two other blogs, garnering me about $600 a month (these projects are starting officially in June). This runs through the business though, in a way, because I got those jobs from a client’s clients.

I also do some virtual assistant work for Darren Rowse of ProBlogger.net. I met Darren face to face back a couple years ago at a meetup he held in NYC (one of the rare occasions he was here in the states), and things rolled on from there. Darren’s become not only a client, but also a very good friend of mine, and I am grateful every single day for the opportunity I had to meet him and connect our lives despite the 11,307 miles between us.

A.D.D. Moment: Did you know that Google Maps gives you funny ways to get to places overseas? When I was trying to get the exact miles from my home to Darren’s by asking for directions, Google told me to “Kayak across the Pacific Ocean” for 7,906 miles! Seriously, give it a try and see what they tell you. They also told me to swim the Atlantic to get to London one time!

Okay, back to the topic. I also have a total of 3 other blogs where I currently sell advertising via various methods (I’ll get into these one at a time at some point), and some projects still under wraps that I’m hoping will further generate more income.

Client projects can range anywhere from an hourly rate to full-fledged $1,500-$10,000 projects. As I’m sure you can imagine, the largest projects are fewer and farther between, however they are out there, and I have done several in the 2.5 years I’ve been in business for myself. I also do many projects for a couple thousand here and there, but those tend to be “feast or famine”, which is why I’ve decided to focus a lot of my energy on personal projects to help fill the voids.

So I hope that gives you a little insight to how I’m making money currently via online projects. In the past, I’ve worked eBay, sold my artwork and craft projects, and even sold off old clothing to make a few extra bucks, so using your imagination is a surefire way to help you get your finances a boost when needed.

What ways are you working to make more money online?

It does take some time to sign up, and get all your profile questions answered, but I think this is seriously the most comprehensive online survey taking program out there. You can choose to complete not only online surveys, but also surveys by phone (and get paid for either or both at about $.20 a minute).

I’ve belonged to several online survey programs in the past, but this one seems to actually pay in cash, rather than in “points” or some other system where you have a limited selection of your rewards. I don’t know how many offers I’ll get, as I just signed up, but according to Debt Diet, it seems to actually pay up.

We’ll see what happens, and as always, I’ll keep you posted. Let me know if you have any experience with this one, or if you sign up at Pure Profile.

Technically, you could say that I’m a moonlighter. I own an internet marketing company (my “main” gig), blog on a total of 4 sites (soon to be 5 or 6) for extra cash, and help my cousin out at her dog grooming parlor 4 days a week. Yes, I’m a busy girl.

Now, my situation might be a little different, and set up for different reasons, but the bottom line is that while America is staring down the barrel of a recession gun, we’re discovering that we need to bust a little hiney to get things taken care of.

I have a friend who works for a PR firm, and holds a pretty decent position as a PR Specialist. She’s got some pretty big name clients, and she works very hard. She’s taken on a second job working at a video store to help a friend and make some extra cash.

I have another friend in the fire department who works at a paid fire company, mows lawns for the village cemeteries, and works at an ambulance corps.

My own father works as a 9-1-1 dispatcher, puts in at least 15-20 hours of overtime (voluntarily), and is looking to get involved in some online ventures.

Now, we’re all people in fairly good health, no child support or alimony payments to deal with, and fortunately (for this situation), have no children under 18 to raise. But if you look at the majority of Americans, most people are dealing with at least one of the above situations, and are having a super hard time making ends meet.

The thing that kills me is that in a time where people are so desperate to get that extra few bucks for food on their tables or gas in their cars, this is when make money scams seem to multiply like bunnies. People are getting ripped off, and even going to jail over innocent attempts to make some extra cash!

Moonlighting is a necessary evil for the majority of the population at times like this, and desperate times call for desperate measures sometimes. But it’s important that we don’t lose our work ethics (ie. work for what you have, don’t hunt the easy way out, don’t be lazy) when we get into this. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. If it promises you a total lifestyle change, it won’t deliver. You need to put in the time, effort, and sometimes hard work to get the payoff. Here are some ideas for moonlighting options that are viable, genuine opportunities to supplement your income:

• Waiting tables/bartending. Starving artists/actors have done this for decades to pay the bills while waiting for their “big break”. Get hired in a higher-end place and you could make a couple hundred a night.
• Start blogging. Yes, it takes a minimal financial investment (domain registration and hosting can start at $80 a year if you go with a company like GoDaddy) but there are tons of great resources out there on how to make money blogging, plus it can help you relieve a little stress by getting things off your mind.
• Take on a teaching gig. If you’re a professional, you might be able to approach local colleges or educational institutions and ask to be able to provide a class on your expertise. Check out job listings first, of course, but if you think you have a shot at even doing a 6-week course, go for it. You could also approach libraries or your local chamber of commerce and offer to set up a course and charge an enrollment fee.
• Become a driver. Limo services and taxi companies still operate pretty heavily, especially during wedding season for limos, but all year round for taxis. You can almost always get some flexibility in a schedule with this kind of part-time job.
• Summer’s here. Be a camp counselor, a swim instructor or other exercise class leader (get your fitness requirements in, too!), offer to take care of pets for friends and neighbors going on vacations, or grow flowers and vegetables and peddle them around the neighborhood for less than supermarket prices.
• Go retail. Almost all retail stores are losing their college kids for the summer, and need to fill in part time slots. You’ve got the best chance there is right NOW to get in there, and you can keep the job well after the fall if you’re there first.
• Find local theaters and playhouses. These places typically run shows nights and weekends, and may need people to sell tickets or refreshments, and to be hosts to guide people to their seats.
• Work security. Depending on the state you live in, there are varying requirements that need to be met to be a security guard, but most companies will train you, even if it’s only part time. I took the course one time and here in NY, it was basically a 16-hour course with an exam at the end, and once I passed, I could go work with pretty much any security company. Since usually this is to watch the grounds of a business or office 24 hours a day, there will inevitably be places that need you during your “off time” from your regular job.
• Take notes. If your full time job has you working 2nd or 3rd shift, seek out receptionist and office admin positions during the day. There are tons of them that are only looking for someone for a couple hours in the mornings, and the side benefit might be that your “main job” pays a differential for working 2nd or 3rd shifts instead – so see if that’s a possibility too, as it will get you more money there, plus open you up for other jobs only available during the daytime.
• When all other avenues are exhausted: There ARE companies out there that will pay you to telecommute from home. You can be an order taker, a call center support person (they’ll forward the calls to your phone for whatever time period you agree to work), a moderator for forums, a “live support” online help chat support tech, or something along that lines where you can set your own hours and work as little or as much as you like.

Whatever you do, please just go with your gut instincts on the whole “work at home” or “make thousands in 4 hours a week” type stuff. It’s just not worth it.

credit: runnerwill1448

Somehow my name got on some list, and I got this “magazine” in the mail about Home Business. The thing is chock full of one page ads and “interviews” with people who supposedly own million dollar homes and a cavalcade of highly expensive cars. Then they show these items in the ad or interview, with mom, dad, the kids, and a dog or something. Typically it’s a “I can’t believe I did this!” kind of thing, and then at the bottom is a website address.

You go to the site and have to put in your name, email, phone number, etc. to get “insider info”.

You do this, only to have someone calling you within 15 minutes trying to get you to buy in to their program for something like either $50 a month or a one-time fee of $795. You tell them “Woah, I can’t afford that right now.” They come back with “Oh, but you’ll make it back in no time!”

Right.

The ones I love the most are those that say “No calling! No sales! We do 95% of the work for you!”

What’s the remaining 5%? You have to get other schmucks to sign up under you. How? By either harassing your friends and family or by building websites and marketing the hell out of them (including paying for TV ads, even though they provide the ad on video for you, it still costs money to get it on TV) and hope for the best.

Now, I’m no stranger to affiliate marketing. I’ve read the books, bought the reports, you name it. It’s NOT something you can throw up and work on for an hour a day and watch the money roll in. There are articles to write, email lists to build, joint ventures to make, you name it. If you don’t know how to do these things successfully, you’ll need to either spend weeks learning and perfecting or you’ll have to hire someone else to do it for you. Then what kind of profits do you expect to see?

Anyway, I’m begging all of you to simply avoid looking for the easy way out. If you see an ad and it’s got a Ferrari or a picture of a Caribbean island or a 2 million dollar mansion on it – LAUGH AND IGNORE.

The only way to real money is to put in the work. And let’s face it, we’re all used to working 8-10 hours a day at a “regular” job, why would we feel that we have the “right” to work only 2 hours a day and make 10 times the money?

Find something you’re good at and do it from home. Do it for 12 hours a day on the weekends and for 4-5 during the week. Get yourself to the point where you can quit your “regular” job and do this full time, 7-8 hours a day. Hell, you save yourself up to 5 hours a week at that point, and that’s a good thing!

There are sites all over the internet that break open these scams. Check out the Ripoff Report and really investigate, and you’ll see that I’m NOT wrong here!

credit: Pσrcelαΐηgΐrl°

eBay’s now discontinued the ability for people to sell items with digital delivery. This means no more instant download eBooks. This means that I have spent over $300 on listing fees and a store on eBay and a membership to get these eBooks, and now, it’s gone.

I’m not sure who the head honcho that’s making all these decisions is, but he’s going to take the entire company crashing down when he falls from his power trip (yes, I’m aware it could be a “she”).

So I’ll likely be setting up an eBook store here on this site. Managing downloads will never be so easy, because once someone purchases an eBook through my store, they’ll be redirected to where they can download their file. Super spiffy, if I do say so myself. No more hassle, no more listing fees, no more unsold items needing relisting. It’s gonna be beautiful!

While I sell eBooks, you might think of selling things you no longer use or need, or getting into dropshipping, where you sell and someone else ships your items, or even worse, buying up tons of (excuse the word) crap, storing it in a spare room of the house until you get around to listing it. You place your listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin (which sometimes, just really isn’t all that much).

There is, however, another way to build a great eBay business, but doesn’t involve you selling, managing, or storing a single item. It’s based on the eBay affiliate program and a really fantastic tool which makes this opportunity not only possible but also super easy. This tool is called BANS, or “Build A Niche Store“.

In case you haven’t learned this yet (hey, we’re all new once), affiliate programs enable you to promote products for other companies as an individual, and you make a commission for the sale of that product or service when purchased through you. You’re essentially a middleman, without having to do the markup or anything like that. People pay the same price whether referred or not, but when you’re the referrer, you get a cut of the profit.

The coolest part is that you can market the program or service any way you like usually.

Looking again at the eBay affiliate program, the way it works is that eBay will actually pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from the sale of any and every item in their marketplace that you promote, PLUS up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer to them! Can you imagine getting 75% of the profit for referring your friends to your favorite brand of tissue? Or $35 every time you introduce a friend to a new store? I mean, this is kind of a no brainer, eh? (You can have a read about the eBay.com affiliate program here.)

So the bottom line is that not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and control over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to stock items, deal with customers, organize shipping or process refunds.

Digital cameras, diamond jewelry, vintage cars, laptops, lawn mowers, Italian villas… the niches are endless!

If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO limits.

At this point you might think – Is there really any decent money in it? Well, eBay’s top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. Personally, I’d take 10% of that, wouldn’t you?

In all fairness, eBay does provide some basic free tools to help you succeed as an eBay affiliate and build a business on it but it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.

The tool, as I mentioned earlier, is called “Build A Niche Store” and what it enables you to do is build eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the medium through which you funnel targeted visitors to eBay.

Here are a couple of examples, one targeting Race Cars and the other Golf Equipment:

Race Car eBay Affiliate Website
Golf eBay Affiliate Website

As you can see, these are professional looking websites that contain all of those eBay products related to their target niche inside a searchable store format, each of which automatically contains your eBay affiliate id.

These stores then automatically update as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace and the software has built in development features which enable you to create new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, modify your template, and so on.

Basically, in the space of about 10 minutes (once you are familiar with how the software works) you can create a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choice. Attach it to your blog or build a brand new niche website (Domains are going for less than $9 a year at GoDaddy.com!) with some articles (either PLR or ones you write yourself) and you’re good to go! Your store content is all search engine friendly which will provide the foundation for attracting targeted traffic from the search engines and you can then use the development features to attract more targeted visitors which will in turn mean more eBay affiliate commissions.

It really is a brilliant concept and I’ve been hearing great things about the guys behind the project and the member forum which you get lifetime access to when you purchase the product.

Build A Niche Store comes with a step by step user manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website, 9 professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to match your target niche, lifetime member forum access, comprehensive product support and possibly most importantly – an UNLIMITED domain license which means you can build as many of these niche websites as you want for the small one time fee.

Think about how many niches eBay caters to!
How big could your eBay affiliate business be?!

I’m working on my own stores, and I’ll post them here when they’re done, but don’t wait on me… Check it out today…

Click Here To Read More About Build A Niche Store

credit: velo_city

Okay, as you might figure, I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to make money online, and I just found yet another pretty cool one called SnapBomb.

It works very much like ReviewMe and PayPerPost, but puts a more exact dollar figure on your blog and each opportunity. As far as I know, you can’t set your own price, but I’m thinking that might be a feature coming along in the future.

Right now, since it’s new, I don’t see all that many opportunities (less than a dozen at the moment) but given the nature of other “buzz marketing” sites, it’s sure to pick up in no time at all.

If you’re running an interactive site, or a business, it would definitely behoove you to consider advertising with a site like SnapBomb, since you’ll spread the word with your business pretty quickly when you’re willing to pay people to write about it.

Oh, one last word of advice: If you’re going to join SnapBomb, or any other pay-to-blog site, I’d highly recommend you set forth a clear disclosure policy to your readers. It helps let them know your stance, and where you’re coming from when you write with full disclosure.