Best Money Making Ideas

See Spot Sell: The World of Old Textbooks

Some naysayers claim that books don’t sell well on eBay. They say book buyers always go to online bookstores like Amazon and Alibris, and that eBay is their last resort. When it comes to most new or used books, they may be right. But there’s another area where eBay excels: in sales of nostalgia items. People go to eBay first to find toys from grade school, discontinued perfume from their teen years, rare LP albums they remember from college. Few items bring back childhood nostalgia more readily than an elementary school textbook.

Textbooks from the 1940s to the 1960s sell very well, although they aren’t true antiques. Many texts from this era can bring back happy memories of learning to read or of a beloved teacher. The “Dick and Jane” textbook series, with its familiar characters and iconic illustrations, has become collectible in the last few years.

Finding Textbooks
Where can you find these textbooks? Sometimes they show up at secondhand bookstores, but the best place to look is at elementary schools. Every now and then, schools sort through their textbook inventory and discard older texts to make way for new ones. If you ask politely, you can sometimes get discarded textbooks for next to nothing. Once a teacher asked me to get rid of a heap of discarded library books. I took the books home, sorted them, kept what I thought I could sell, and gave the rest to a thrift store.

What Will Sell?
Look for books in good condition, with firm bindings, undamaged spines and no loose pages. Buyers expect these books to be used, but the more presentable they are, the better the selling price. Books with bright illustrations sell well, as do books which describe vanished aspects of American life in the postwar years. Textbooks with the characters Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff are very easy to sell.

Prep Work
If you have a textbook in near-perfect condition, consider cleaning it up. Textbooks with slick covers clean up well-just wash the covers gently with water and mild cleanser. Don’t get the book really wet, or you could damage the text. You should also erase pencil marks. Small pen and crayon marks can sometimes be sanded away with very fine (320 grit) sandpaper, but it’s best to practice this first on a book you don’t mind losing. If your book was originally a library discard, be sure to indicate this in the auction. Before listing the textbooks, be sure to educate yourself on the basic publishers of vintage children’s textbooks since you will need to include the publisher’s name in your listing. You will also need to search the web and find out an average price that similar books are selling for.

Best Sales
The best times of the year to sell used textbooks are during the back-to-school season and just before Christmas. Check on current prices in the completed auctions. Be sure to include plenty of pictures in your auction-not just of the cover, but of some inside illustrations-and give names of characters and a publication date. This information helps collectors to find the textbooks they remember from childhood.

Older textbooks are a genuine piece of Americana, and they can be good, dependable moneymakers. List a few for sale, and see how far Spot can run.

Resources:

http://www.tagnwag.com/

http://search.rubylane.com/collectibles?id=11%2e34

http://search.ebay.com/Vintage-1940s-Childrens-School-Reader-Textbooks-Books_W0QQfsiZ1QQsatitleZVintageQ201940Q27sQ20ChildrensQ20SchoolQ20ReaderQ20TextbooksQ20Books

http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/

First off id like to recommend this PTC thecashmaker but the url is making extreme easy money

Why a lot of online users participating on these Paid-to-Click (PTC) programs are earning more than a regular bank manager? Before we go into the money making aspect of Paid-to-Click (PTC) programs let us learn first how it all started.

Paid-to-Click is commonly known as PTC. It is one of the many Get-Paid-To (GPT) related programs which is popular in advertising. The founder of PTC was just a simple net surfer who typically spends his day browsing the web for information. While he was surfing some sites, he discovered that almost every site has have advertisements designed in a lot of ways, text ads, banner ads, pop-ups, pop-unders and a whole lot more.

He can’t help thinking that all of these ads were paid by advertisers to webmasters but was rarely seen by an ad-blind net surfers therefore, the advertising results was surely awful. Online users just won’t click or even noticed the advertiser’s ad link or banner at all. Come to think that most net surfers are dead sick seeing those annoying pop-up and pop-under ads.

So a bright idea came upon him to design an effective method that most advertisers love it even today. The idea was why not the advertisers pay him for advertising and then he will pay those net surfers to visit and view their website. The idea worked and even become more popular today.

Paid-to-Click (PTC) was then established because of him and many other related PTC programs came about. Because of PTC a lot of advertisers were happy about the results of their advertising even today and because of the PTC program a lot of net surfers are earning huge amount of money.

Paid-to-Click (PTC) is one of the popular money earning programs on the Internet and it’s totally free. It has already made a lot of online users earned huge income that could even surpass the salary of a regular bank manager. The dynamics of a PTC program is very simple. All you have to do is sign-up as new member on any trusted PTC programs. Sign-up’s to any PTC program is totally free. Once you are a member you can click all available ads on their PTC program and earn in doing so, after viewing the advertiser’s website within 30 seconds. You will even earn more if you refer people as your direct downlines. When your downlines or direct referral clicks on an ad you will earn a click bonus. You can invite as many downlines or referrals you want making your income potential totally unlimited.

Making extreme easy money

A Paid-to-Click (PTC) program has been helping a lot of net surfers earning good money and improving their lifestyles. Truly, PTC program is one and has been a proven system for net surfers who want to earn huge income online and fulfil one of their dreams in life – Financial Freedom.

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I wonder how many people have thought about trying to make money by taking online surveys? Chances are, if you’ve spent any time online, you have looked into at some point. Sometimes there is the promise of a new set of golf clubs, or a new laptop, even a cruise to the Bahamas, and all you have to do is “give your opinion.”

So are online survey companies for real, or are they just scams looking for that new sucker born every minute? Actually, the answer is “maybe.”

There are a few that are ligit, but there are a million other online paid jobs that will take you a lot further with just a little effort. In fact, the only people who make any money with survey type companies are using Project Payday which is like a sharing kind of survey company whereby you complete tasks for other people who pay you a commission. This works pretty well and is in the same vein as a survey company.

Other than that, there is not a lot of money to be made taking surveys and here is why: Most online survey companies want you to spend money in order to make any money. This is normally not a big deal accept for the fact that you have to spend more than you make, thus keeping you behind all the time.

A good example I recently saw on a paid survey site asked the user to sign up for satellite TV service and in return, they would get $50. This may not be a bad idea if you were in the market to switch satellite or cable providers, but if you’re not, then what do you do?

The truth is folks, anything that is going to make you money will take work and easy paid surveys are not the way to go.

Send Me Home

Yes, there really are home finders. These professionals help home seekers find the home they want. It’s not easy finding a home when you are ready to buy. There are so many different realtors, so many different things to consider. You would also activate the utilities, schedule a meeting with the school(s), find doctors, get a cleaning company in before their items are moved in, hire movers, and stock shelves with food, toilet paper, and other necessities.

Relocating to new areas can be quite traumatic for most people, especially for families with children. Offering a service to help alleviate the common necessary steps for a smooth move would be quite attractive to most people that have the money to pay for your helpful services, they wouldn’t bat an eye at paying you to help them out and make their move easier.

Interview each customer and find out what type of home the family plans to buy, or lease. Get as many details as possible. Find out every detail that you can before you set out to find them a home. While you start looking for homes take detailed notes and pictures of each home you think they may want for themselves. Include maps with each property also, so that they can see how long their commutes would be for work and show all other important places like schools, libraries, grocery stores, and such.

Once your client acquires a chosen property, you would then take care of all the necessary tasks to follow. These necessary tasks would be such as; activate the utilities, schedule a meeting with the school(s), find doctors, get a cleaning company in before their items are moved in, hire movers, gardeners, and stock basic food items, toilet paper, light bulbs and any other necessities. If there are any structural or landscaping changes they want to make to their new home before they move in, you could oversee and handle these for them too. Of course, this would add to your fee.

This is a service you might want to offer through various realty companies in your area. If they can hook you up with clients, you could offer them a percentage of your fees in exchange. This is something that you could negotiate with each company and make sure that you have any agreements in writing, signed, and agreed upon before doing business with them. This is a protection for you and them.

Make sure that you treat your customers well and add a few extras that aren’t necessary but memorable. Include a large bouquet of flowers in their new home near the entrance, welcoming the family to their new home and thanking them for their business. Leave a folder, or gift box, with enclosed maps of the area and information about all of the local town history and areas of interest they may want to visit. Be sure to leave your business information also, just in case they move again or have contacts that would like to hire you for your services in the future.

Resources:

http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessplanner/index.html

http://homefindersservices.com/

http://www.arp-relocation.com/

http://www.atlasvanlines.ca/

Senior Computer Training

Let’s face it - most seniors do not know how to use a computer, but would love to learn. My husband and I are currently teaching my parents how to use their computer and it takes a lot of work and time. You could easily turn this into a successful business. You could charge about $25 per hour for this service.

A few age groups today were never exposed to computers while attending school. Many would love to have the opportunity to learn to use a computer. If you feel that you have the skills needed to teach basic computer skills to others, this could be the ‘business idea’ for you!

Working with Seniors can be enjoyable, they are eager to learn this new way to communicate with their families, send and receive pictures, and surf the web for items they are not able to find in their area stores. It is such a good tool to use for looking up information such as Social Security Benefits, Medical plans for Seniors, and so much more. Learning to use computers can help them obtain new jobs also, that they may not be considered for without the understanding of computers. After all, most registers are computers now, in the greater majority of stores.

Remember that teaching people these skills will call on a person with patience. Keep the teaching very simple at first until your students master the very basic computer skills. If you are able to, the best way to teach others how to use computers is by letting them follow you in the basic steps until they are comfortable to start exploring a little on their own. Usually the closest skill they may have learned that is similar to using a computer, would be working with a typewriter. A good place to start, or if they have no typing skills, you might encourage them to learn the basic skills of typing first. Then show how a computer key board is so much better than a typewriter. So many more things are accomplished with a keyboard attached to a computer.

Because the population of seniors is growing yearly, this is a ‘business idea’ that could be very successful. This could last you a good 25 years or more. As your business grows you will be able to offer a variety of different classes on using the computer to send e-mails, how to type a document using Word, how to surf the web, using any number of software products that they may be interested in learning.

Because you are dealing with seniors you will find that they are eager to learn and willing to work on these new skills at home. They may be slow with some things because they are aged, but that is where your teaching skills will help them, have them accomplish repetitive exercises. This will help them learn and retain the information longer. Make the exercises fun, but stress also that they can look back and see how much they have learned to encourage them to not give up.

Help them build a little portfolio, printing up everything they have learned each day and help them see that they can reference the portfolio if they may forget a step or two. This is like a security blanket; they should feel comfortable looking back in it all of the time. If you choose to teach a class of seniors, it will make them more comfortable learning with other seniors. This also allows them to meet other seniors that have the same interests and motivations.

You could easily turn this into a successful ‘business idea’. You could charge about $25 per hour for this service. If you offer classes, you might bring the price down a little but you still will make a sizeable amount of money per class.

You might check with your local city and county services, see if they offer educational courses for seniors, if they do you can sign up to teach computer skills to them. Also, check with local retirement communities, convalescent homes, assisted living centers, just anywhere that you think might be willing to invest in classes for their members.

Resources:

http://www.aarp.org/learntech/computers/

http://tamingyourcomputer.com/

So you’ve decided that you want to get started as a seller on eBay. There are a few things that you really need to know before you go and throw yourself in at the deep end.

What to Sell.

First off, you need to know what it is you’re going to sell: what’s your specialty? You’ll do far better on eBay if you become a great source for certain kind of products, as people who are interested in those products will come back to you again and again. You won’t get any loyalty or real reputation if you just sell rubbish at random.

When you think about what to sell, there are a few things to consider. The most important of these is to always sell what you know. If you try to sell something that you just don’t know anything about then you’ll never write a good description and sell it for a good price.

You might think you’re not especially interested in anything, but if you think about what kind of things you usually buy and which websites you go to most often, I’m sure you’ll discover some kind of interest. If all else fails mention it to your friends and family: they’ll almost certainly say “Oh, well why don’t you sell…”, and you’ll slap your forehead.

Out of the things you know enough about, you should then consider which things you could actually get for a good enough price to resell, and how suitable they would be for posting. If you can think of something of that you’re knowledgeable about and it’s small and light enough for postage to be relatively cheap, then that’s great!

Don’t worry if you think the thing you’re selling is too obscure - it isn’t. There’s a market for almost everything on eBay, even things that wouldn’t sell once in a year if you stocked them in a shop. You’ll probably do even better if you fill a niche than if you sell something common.

Tax and Legal Matters.

If you earn enough money, you should be aware that you’re going to have to start paying tax - this won’t be done for you. If you decide to sell on eBay on a full-time basis, you should probably register as a business.

Prepare Yourself.

There are going to be ups and downs when you sell on eBay. Don’t pack it in if something goes a little wrong in your first few sales: the sellers who are successful on eBay are the ones who enjoy it, and stick at it whatever happens.

Anyone can sell on Ebay, if they believe in themselves - and if you do decide it’s not for you, then the start-up costs are so low that you won’t really have lost anything.

If you’re ready to start selling, then the next thing you need to know is the different auction types, so you can decide which ones you will use to sell your items. Our next email will give you a guide.

Get free traffic - learn the new way to do that.

Sell Products to Help People Save on Fuel!

Yes, you can make your own car fuel with apples and potatoes and a little gasoline. With a mixture of gasoline, you have just created ethanol, a fuel for your car at a cheaper price than at the pump. You can also buy and sell wood pellets from Pellet Mart. You can also resell their ethanol products. With gas prices reaching $5 per gallon and more, indeed this business is in high demand.

The prices of fuels are steadily increasing day-by-day. The rising fuel costs and cost of living has led to many of us searching for alternate forms of fuel. As a proven fact now, it is possible to make car fuel at home, with the use of apples, potatoes, and some gasoline! This mixture of gasoline and apples and potatoes helps create ethanol, which proves to be a cheaper fuel than the fuel you get at the pump.

Not only is this fuel cheap, it is a renewable fuel, which does not cause much pollution. This is because the by-products of the combustion of ethanol are only water and carbon dioxide. The usage of this ethanol makes cars run cooler and helps the car run better and faster. So if you start producing this fuel, you are sure to get many people willing to pay money for this fuel, as it is not only economical, but also does not cause much pollution.

However, to start producing this fuel on a commercial basis, it is important that you obtain permission from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. All you have to do is to log on to their website, wherein you fill in the application, submit it, and wait for your permit. Make this sort of fuel at home for personal use, without any permit, however, the reason a permit is required for producing fuel commercially is that the law requires a permit for commercial production and sales.

When you create ethanol for use in cars, you will find that your clients may be a bit apprehensive on whether or not their car will adapt to using this unusual type of fuel. You will then have to inform them about products like FlexEnol. Which are bi-fuel converters that when fitted on cars, makes it possible for one to use the car using either ethanol, petrol, (gasoline) or even a mixture of both.

You can also use Ethanol in diesel cars, so long as you cut it with 10% vegetable oil, to get the right lubrication factor for your car. Of course, do not forget to inform your client, there is no need for the cutting of any wires or any mechanical alterations required on the car to install a FlexEnol! It just requires connectors, which retain the original state of the car!

Another great idea to reduce fuel costs is using wood pellets for your fuel purposes. You can create wood pellets from sawdust and ground wood chips. The resins and binders that occur naturally in the sawdust is what keep the wood pellets together. Sometimes nut hulls, unprocessed shelled corn and fruit pits are used for burning in pellet stoves. It is not as easy to start producing wood pellets on a large scale to get a sizable amount of wood pellets for sale.

However, in the end, you will gain profit, as people need wood pellets for heating and cooking purposes. As wood pellets are cheaper than gas and electricity, many people opt to use it if not for cooking, at least for heating purposes. The advantage of using wood pellets in pellet stoves is that they are very efficient, and do not need a chimney. Most vent outdoors through a four-inch pipe through any wall.

So to help solve the energy crisis, why not consider starting a business of creating alternative sources of fuel. You not only solve the present energy crisis, but your financial crisis too!

Resources:

http://www.sowpub.com/

http://www.dogwoodenergy.com/

Segway Tours

Tourism is a wonderful market to get into. There will always be tourists and tourists love to spend money. You can sell tours to them and they get to ride on a Segway! You can charge $65 or more per person and take small groups of 5-10 people on tours. Each tour should last no longer than 2 hours.

Tourism is a wonderful market to get into. There will always be tourists and tourists love to spend money. You can sell tours to them and they get to ride on a Segway! You can charge $65 or more per person and take small groups of 5-10 people on tours. Each tour should last no longer than 2 hours.

Segways are those new two wheeled vehicles that tourists can stand on and tour without the foot pain often associated with walking tours. It takes a little time to show people how to use them, but they are the best idea for tours that could otherwise be made by walking. It is nice to be able to cover large areas of walking tours with these Segways.

If you are close to an area frequented by tourists, you can offer tours to them and they get to ride on a Segway! This will make the tour even more attractive, by offering your tours with these fun little people movers.

There are even people that would just love to learn how to use the Segway first. Offer a simple tour that helps people learn how to use a Segway and offer it for far less. Maybe you could charge $25 per person for a brief 30-minute tour that includes lessons of how to use the Segway. (Be sure to include safety tips and proper etiquette with pedestrians and large vehicles!) This would be a good opportunity for those that are not sure if they would be comfortable using a Segway on a tour. Once they experience the fun, they are sure to want a longer tour with you to follow. (Offer a discount to these new users for a tour of their choice after.)

Since you will be offering these Segways for your tours, you will need to invest in a good number of them. Depending on how many people you plan to take on your tours. Check your local area and see if you can buy or lease these fun little vehicles. They can be expensive so you will want to be prepared to spend a sizable amount of money, but the investment will be well worth it. Your tours should make it easy to enjoy a return on your investment plus!

Because you offer your tours with Segways, it will make your tours more attractive than other walking tours in the area. Sad but true, as people get older they tend to travel more, but if they have trouble walking for long periods of time it can be very difficult for them to take part on these fun tours they would otherwise miss out on.

If you decide that you want to do this, make sure that the area you are touring will allow Segways. You may have to check with local ordinances and make sure that they will allow you to have small groups of Segways on tours of the area. Usually if there are paths for bicycling, you will be able to use them. When it comes to busy city sidewalks, you may have to do some research to make sure that your tours will not cause more congestion and difficulty. You may simply be able to offer your tours at times that the sidewalks are not as busy during the day.

Resources:

http://www.segway.com/

http://www.citysegwaytours.com/

http://www.segwaytours.com.au/default.shtml

http://www.humanonastick.com/

Obviously everyone understands as of the moment that we are in the midst of a very severe and terrible economic depression. Now that we are stuck in this position what is the most viable solution for US residents to take to enchance themselves and survive these rough times? Now there are a couple of things that will drastically be of assistance to anybodies monetary predicament and that is to get rid of credit card debt and to make additional money. First off when you get out of debt you will be able to save additional cash on a monthly basis. Now the second must is creating additional cash there are such a great number of things you can do such as start an internet home based business or apply for a second job.

When you are attempting to begin an online business there are a couple of options you could start with. There is search engine optimization this will assist in generating free traffic via the search engines, if taken care of the right way with the correct type of offer you can make a extremely decent existence this way off the internet. There is also pay per click which is pretty much very similar to SEO except that you pay for immediate traffic. Then there is a great avenue of making funds from the web with running Ezines, you can email people who are looking for your services with offers to make money.

Another wise choice is to get out of debt. One of the smartest ways to do this is with credit card debt relief. A very workable procedure of debt relief is the debt settlement process, with this you can save money and time. Once you get rid of debt you will also be be in position to place more of your cash into your web business. Thus putting you above most people who will give in to the problems that are coming with this recession. If you are strong minded you will be in position to not only slide through these times but bounce ahead and live a better life.

See Your Name in Print! Write for Magazines

So, you want to write for magazines? There’s nothing like seeing your name on an article you wrote in a glossy, colorful magazine, especially the first time. We will focus on nonfiction magazines here.

Types of material Magazines Print:

Articles - These are usually informational pieces without the writer’s opinions. The bestsellers are how-to articles.

Profiles - These are articles that profile a certain person of interest to the magazines reader’s, such as an expert or someone of great importance.

Fillers - These are the little tidbits of information you usually see in a magazine in a small, colored box background.

Essays - These are the exact opposite of articles. Essays are usually written in first person, and are filled with the writer’s opinions, thoughts, and emotions on a particular experience or issue.

That’s a little bit of what magazines print. However, they will vary.

How to Get Started:

1. If you don’t already have a library card for your local library, get one. Your library can provide an invaluable resource for you in writing. You can peruse books on writing, and flip through magazines you’re interested in writing for. When you do, pay attention to what type of material they print and the writing style (is it casual, informational, etc.?).

2. Writer’s guidelines are vital. They will tell you everything you need to know about writing for them. Study and follow them to the letter. There are Ezines that can provide you with a variety of guidelines, such as Writer’s Success (www.writerssuccess.com) and Absolute Write (www.absolutewrite.com). Create your own database of guidelines, make a folder in your favorites. The guidelines will let you know if they want to see a query or a completed manuscript, and where to send it. Never email an attachment unless the guidelines give you the go-ahead.

3. So, what’s a query? Simply defined, it’s a proposal. You send the Editor a proposal for your article idea. You have to sell your idea and yourself in this. There are three paragraphs to a query, and it should stay at about one page in length.

- The first paragraph should draw the Editor’s attention right away. Make the Editor want to know more about your idea within the first sentence. Sell it, and do so in a short paragraph, but don’t want to give away too much. Explain why your idea is right for their magazine and their readers. You should also include approximate word length and what department you think your idea will best fit into. This shows that you have read the guidelines and their magazine. You can also state who you will be interviewing (if anyone), but just make sure you can if you are going to give names.

- The second paragraph should sell you, the writer. Why are you the right person to write this article? Mention any relevant experience, writing samples (published or not-just don’t tell them if they’re not published unless they ask), and add in clips (published work) if the guidelines call for it.

- End with a simple, professional closing. For example, “I look forward to your response. Thank you for your time and consideration.”. Then sign your name.

Queries should be written in standard letter format whether sent via email or snail mail. It should include your full name, address, phone number and email, then their publication name, address and Editor’s full name and the date. That’s enough to get you on your way to seeing your name in print! Good luck

Resources:

http://www.writersservices.com/res/ml/r_factsheet_2.htm

http://www.writing-world.com/basics/query.shtml

http://www.absolutewrite.com/