Best Money Making Ideas

Help the Deaf

Do you speak sign language? Are you itching to use your language skills more often so that you don’t lose them? There are people out there who are looking for your help! You can start a business that will benefit persons in the deaf community. You could charge up to $40 an hour for sign language interpretation services.

There are many different situations where a non-hearing person would benefit by having an interpreter on hand. Simultaneous translation is sometimes referred to as “UN style interpreting” or “conference interpreting . You could offer this style of interpreting for situations when a deaf person is interacting with businesses in the local community or trying to orchestrate travel accommodations.

Since very few people in the general population speak sign language, it can be challenging for a deaf person to communicate in situations that the average person would never think twice about. For instance, at the grocery store, if the average person needs additional customer service, they just ask to speak to a manager or go up to the customer service counter. This can be challenging for a non-hearing person if the person available at the customer service counter does not speak clearly enough to enable lip-reading.

Relocating to a new community can also be particularly challenging for a deaf person since most people are able to make phone calls to various utility companies to get their new home set up with gas, water, electricity, newspaper delivery, garbage pickup, and the like. Having an interpreter handy would save a deaf person a considerable amount of time and energy and allow them to accomplish these tasks in a much easier and less stressful manner.

Your services would also be very handy if a deaf person wants to take some sort of educational course. You could take notes and create a transcription of the class for them to refer to later when studying. You could also interpret phrases that they may have missed when the instructor of the course turned away from their general direction and they were unable to read their lips.

There are also legal situations when having an interpreter available would keep your client out of troubling situations. When a person’s home has been vandalized or they are required to make a statement in court, having an exact translation of the words spoken could make a world of difference. This would also include situations when a deaf person would like to make a large purchase such as; a vehicle or a home that involve large financial obligations and that definitely would require clear communication by both parties signing the contracts involved.

Your services could also be employed by businesses that need to quickly communicate with people speaking a rainbow of languages such as hospitals, social services, vocational trainers, universities, health clinics, funeral homes, wedding planners, and other organizations that work with large cross sections of the public.

At some point, you may also want to pursue a degree or certification from the RID. RID stands for “Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. This will aid you if you want to register with an agency who hires out interpreters for the deaf. Many universities and colleges also offer degrees or certifications in areas of language and translation.

Resources:

http://www.rid.org/

http://www.clarioncall.net/

http://www.deafservicebureau.org/

http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu

http://www.deaf-interpreter.com/

Help Kids Save on College Textbooks

Consider starting an unusual online bookstore where you help students find each other that need to either sell or buy a textbook. You could make it local - for one particular college or university, or you could make your website represent various universities across the country with different web pages for each one. Charge students for listing their books, charge 10% of the selling price and a listing fee of $3, all paid up front.

So many college students would like to take advantage of a bookstore like this. Most students can usually use the money and quickly if possible. The simpler the better for a business like this. Professors and Instructors tend to use the same books for their classes. This is why you may want to have specific areas for each college or university, making it easier and faster for each student to look for their needed books. If they can purchase or sell their books with fellow students, they could save time and shipping costs. All they may only need to do is meet in a local coffee shop or public area to swap, or pick up books.

Since books are listed by their ISBN numbers; it makes it quick and easy to find the exact book they need to find. You will need to have each book Title, ISBN number, and the Date of Publishing and Printing. It is a good idea to include a book quality scale on your site also; the scale would be for explaining the amount of use the book has been through. Students don’t mind buying a used book, but they do mind purchasing a book that costs a lot and is missing pages, falling apart, or seriously written in. Make sure that the sellers are honest with the buyers about the condition of each book they are selling. Pictures are always a good idea to prove a books condition.

Make your web site bookstore quick and easy to use, charge the sellers a small listing fee of about $3 per book, and then charge about 10% of the selling price, once a book sells or up front when the book is listed, whichever you decide. This may not seem like a lot of money, but many of the textbooks required for most college courses these days can cost hundreds of dollars per subject. That is one of the reasons that used books are so popular with college students. When students buy books for their next courses they often will sell their used books back to the bookstores they have bought them from, for next to nothing. However, the bookstore will turn around and resell the used books for a high price again, making another good profit off the next student buyer.

Students will gladly want to sell their books on your bookstore site, if they can make more of a profit from their used books. They need the money to buy their next courses books, hoping to find them on your site. You are just matching up the sellers with the buyers, hoping to get a good deal, and make the profit they would rather receive than give to the bookstores in their areas.

Resources:

http://www.textforsale.com/

http://www.books4exchange.com/

Have Something to Teach? Hold Your Own Seminars

Seminars are wonderful if given by a great speaker. Many authors, life coaches, and others begin their careers holding seminars. People love to learn, and a seminar is usually a one-day event that they can squeeze into their busy lifestyle. You can charge $200 and up per person for your seminar, but it must be good. It has to be something people want to learn about.

For example, finances, love, business, relationships, spirituality, life changes, and more are wonderful seminar topics. So, if you think you have what it takes to speak in front of a large crowd confidently, get started! You will need to do a lot of marketing. If people don’t know your seminar is taking place, they can’t go.

The world is a never-ending pond of knowledge that is waiting for people to learn about. People are always eager to learn new things on any subject. Moreover, what better way is there of teaching something that you know, than through seminars? With a seminar, you are sure of reaching many people; you are never sure of reaching the same number of people through books!

This is because everyone attending the seminar will listen to the seminar, while sometimes a person who buys a book may end up not reading it! Moreover, seminars are usually one-day events, which people will somehow or the other, be able to squeeze in their busy schedules. Unlike books, you get to learn the matter of the seminar within the time of the seminar. You may take a longer time reading the book to learn the same matter!

Of course, to hold a seminar, you first have to have good orator skills. You should have the capacity of facing many people, of different personalities without any stage fright or fear. In addition, you should be well versed on the topic you intend to talk about, to avoid any blunders during the seminar! It is a known fact that many authors and life coaches had begun their careers by just holding seminars!

Holding seminars is a great means of generating substantial income for you. You can easily charge a minimum of $200 per person for the seminar, as long as the topic is an interesting one! You should provide them their money’s worth of content in the seminar whether the topic is finances, spirituality, business, life changes, or relationships. After the seminar, the audience should feel that they had spent that much money and time to learn something worthwhile and useful to them.

The secret to a successful seminar lies in the marketing of the seminar. It is only if people know of your seminar will you be having people coming over to attend your seminar! You could distribute pamphlets to people in your vicinity or perhaps get someone to distribute them in the local mall, so that maximum amounts of people receive one. Advertising in the newspaper too is not a bad idea, since practically everyone reads the newspaper!

Another means of getting people to remember you, and perhaps contact you for your next seminar is by distributing marketing articles like pens or notepads during the seminar. Include all your contact information on these items, including your telephone number, so that they can contact you. You could also create a website about your field of expertise so that those interested can find out more about your next seminar.

It is a wise idea to maintain a database of contacts through this website as this database will be useful for you to build your seminar business. You can send out messages to all these contacts informing them of the next seminar that you are holding, to thus make your seminar a success!

Some resources are:

http://www.worldpressinstitute.org/

www.innerperceptions.com

New Student Starters Pack

Students going to a university or college away from home may not know where local stores are, where to get groceries, where the police station is, the local library, cafes, etc. Sell an information pack just for these students that contain a guidebook, a local map and coupons/discounts they can use. You could sell them for $5 - $10 per pack.

One of the hardest things about moving to another area is getting acquainted with where local stores are, where to get groceries, where the police station is, the local library, cafes, etc. You could put together an information pack for those students attending universities and colleges in your area. Often times these students move to the area from far away places and welcome the information pack that you put together for them.

What can you include in this informative and useful packet? Sell an information pack designed exclusively for a college student that contains a guidebook, a local map, bus schedules, coupons, and discounts they can use. Include any thing that you can think of that would help them get comfortable to your area. Don’t forget, you will want to include restaurants especially; health foods, deli’s, sandwich shops, pizza parlors, coffee shops, and Chinese food.

Local businesses will gladly work with you on this; they know that offering a coupon or discount, before they go somewhere else, will usually give them new regular customers. See if you can get the businesses to offer a regular student discount, this will really appeal to students on a fixed income. If you can include these in your packet, you will be able to show them how it will pay for itself in just a few purchases, by using the coupons and discounts.

Remember that college students do not typically have a lot of extra money so you will need to make sure they know they will save lots of money if they invest in your info pack. Keep the cost low, you could sell them for $5 - $10 per pack. Assure them that they will get their money back quickly when they start using the discounts and coupons.

Check with the college and see if you can set up a table to sell these helpful information and coupon packets, when new students are arriving on campus. This would typically be just a few times a year. Make sure that you include information on how they can contact you, to order more. They will have friends that will want your packet too and make sure that they invest in a new one at least once a year. Accomplish this by making the coupons expire after so long and any student discount cards that you may include should have an expiration date also.

You may want to check with all of the local bookstores also, and see if they will carry the info packs for students to buy. You may have to share some of your profits with them, but it will be worth it. Leave brochures in some of the businesses that accept coupons too, this can be an added source of advertising for you.

Resources:

http://www.retailmenot.com/coupons/student

http://www.studentdollarstretcher.com/

http://www.dealdude.com/index.php?action=1&idcat=19

http://www.planetstudents.com/user/coupons/

http://earth.google.com

Home Schooling Parent’s Website

Parents that home school their children have a hard time finding good information, resources, tips, and advice. Create a website just for them - a membership website where home schooling parents can share stories, tips, advice, etc. You could charge $10 per month per member.

After home schooling 3 children, it was obvious to me that there is an enormous need for a reliable resource to turn to on the Internet. Finding good reliable information, resources, tips, and advice is clearly needed. Home schooling is a sizeable task to take on by a parent, the more information and sources of help from other home school parents the better.

Home schooling is estimated to be growing about 7% per year. In the year 2004 the estimates were from 1.1million to 2.1 million Kindergarten-12th grade students being home schooled in the United States during 2003. This shows there is a huge number of people that are responsible for the schooling of their own children, possibly a million. These are only the statistics for one country; this is a worldwide movement growing quickly. This means that you could possibly help many millions of people looking for help to home school their children.

Create a website just for them - a membership website where Home schooling parents can share stories, tips, advice, etc. Be sure to make the site user friendly. There are many sites to look at on the web, but they are cluttered and confusing. Make your website stand out as a site that can help with the needs of the parents and students, all at the tip of their fingers from your site to help them. Allow them to post questions for others to answer too. Offer other sites for them to use also. Many sites can be used free and help parents and students with math problems, science questions and much more. Keep updating these useful sites for their use.

You can also offer products to your subscribers, see if some companies will offer them a discount if they reach the sites through your site. You also have the opportunity to make small amounts of money each time your subscribers use a link offered on your site. These small amounts can add up quickly to large profits.

You could offer your website as a membership site, asking about $10 per month for membership. Make sure that you can convince them that they will not regret the monthly fee because you will be able to offer more savings than that to them every month. Post pages that the children can use from your site for areas in Art, Science facts, Crossword puzzles, and Math puzzles - the ideas of things you can offer are endless.

This could be such a fun site to offer, especially if it is something that you have an interest in yourself. If you are a home schooling parent or former student familiar with home schooling, it could be helpful too. The potential of a successful business in this area is great.

For an idea of the investment involved, the major investment would be in building an excellent website that suits your needs. Then getting the word out about your site, this may require some advertising at first in home schooling magazines and sites that sell books for homeschoolers.

Resources:

http://www.k12.com/

http://www.keystonehighschool.com/

http://www.homeschoolcentral.com/

http://www.nheri.org/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.kidsource.com/

Offer Workshops on Matchmaking

There are many single people in the world, who are always on the lookout for the perfect partner. They try online dating services, offline dating services, and get to know as many people as possible so that they will eventually find their life partner. It is to cater to the needs of such people that there are many matchmaking services available on the Internet today. You can offer workshops online, via email, and/or mail. You could charge $50 per workshop.

This is another area that is still open for new entrees to its world. So, you too can start a matchmaking institute of your own where you offer workshops for people venturing to become a matchmaker. With your matchmaking service, you could offer to hold online workshops held via email. You can also offer services that can be held through mail. Charge reasonable rates for this service as charging high rates may not get you too many customers. A rate of $50 per workshop is reasonable.

In these workshops, you will have to teach your students the fundamentals of matchmaking; how to match people, what qualities and attitudes of people are taken into consideration to match people and how to convince people who approach the matchmaker on who their perfect partner is. Therefore, to teach all this it is obvious that you should have some knowledge about it too!

To conduct this matchmaking institute, you will have to have a website of your own where you can advertise your services and place contact information for people interested in learning about matchmaking. Another point that has to be taught to potential matchmakers is that their profession is a profession of utmost security. The information of clients provided to the matchmaker should not be disclosed to an outsider. This is a breach of security and any leakage of information will only lead to people losing confidence in the matchmaker.

During the matchmaking course, you will have to teach the matchmaker which information has to be obtained from the candidates to find their perfect partner. Moreover, once a student is qualified enough to become a matchmaker, you could provide them with potential client referrals to start their matchmaking services. This offer will make your matchmaking service a better choice from other matchmaking services. You could also offer to create a network of certified matchmakers so that matchmakers can discuss amongst themselves, to find the perfect partners for their clients.

Publishing newsletters about the latest developments in matchmaking too will be an added advantage to your matchmaking institute. The main point that needs instilling in the minds of potential clients is that matchmaking is a mysterious, but exciting profession that combines something of networking, playing cupid, and a littlie bit of social work. Those aspiring matchmakers should consider matchmaking as a fulfilling and rewarding profession that can help people find their perfect partner. Once you produce numerous such matchmakers, there is sure to be a demand for your matchmaking institute!

Resources:

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

http://www.matchmakerfrs.com/competitively_priced.php

http://www.matchmakinginstitute.com/index.php

How to Become a Tattoo Artist

Though the art of tattooing looks easy, it is not so. People think that buying a kit and practicing on others will be enough to become a tattoo artist. However, this is not true; it is very dangerous since the tattoo needles can easily pass dangerous diseases from one client to the other. The main and only thing needed to become a tattoo artist is raw talent and practice. You can develop your skill by attending fine art classes, learning new techniques from books and by working with an experienced tattoo artist.

You can not start your tattoo making job immediately, as it is a very dangerous occupation, it is very important that you become an expert in tattoo drawings on paper. Once you have a reasonable portfolio of all your work, you have to seek an apprenticeship. This apprenticeship may be free for you; but there are some people that charge thousands of dollars for it too! It is important that you not depend solely on your tattoo making abilities while learning because the income during an apprenticeship will not be enough, if at all. This is only a training period, so you have to have another job to sustain yourself in this period.

As an apprentice, you will learn things that may not be found in books; how to clean your tattoo equipment, how to operate your tattoo machine and to adjust its power supply, how to safeguard yourself, and your clients from any disease and of course, how to apply a tattoo the correct way. All this may take a period of many months. You never actually graduate from apprenticeship; the teacher just decides when you are ready to start your own tattoo making job. There may be some instructors who make you sign a contract at the beginning of the apprenticeship; in such cases, you cannot leave until the terms of the contract are met. However, if there is no contract for you to follow, you can leave the services of your instructor whenever you feel competent enough to start a business on your own.

There is no end to learning tattooing. You will be continuously learning more and adopting new techniques in your tattoo artistry. Give yourself room for improvements always! Once you have become an established tattoo artist, you will find that this is indeed big business. Once you develop a reputation, clients will start creating waiting lists of weeks or months, just to be tattooed by you!

Tattoos are nowadays worn either to make a statement, to show the depth of love they have for another or just to be different from the lot. In fact, millions of people have tattoos, many of them want another one, and many more want their first. Therefore, if you have a good hand for drawing, it would be a smart choice to learn the art of tattooing to become a great tattoo artist. This will form a great source of income for you too!

Resources:

http://tattoo.about.com/

http://tattoo.about.com/od/tattoosgeneralinfo

http://howtotattoo.net/

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/

Love Coaching

Life coaches have helped many people become better humans, and find their true self therefore, they find true happiness with themselves. This is similar, as you will be helping people become the best they can, and the happiest they can. However, they will come to you as singles looking to settle down with a romantic partner. You can start with how they appear, how they come off to others, body language, etc. Then go deeper with the person to find out what they want and need in life. Many people have never even given these important questions a thought before.

Unfortunately, many single people could benefit from a good “Love Coach”. This is a business idea designed to help singles. Help those singles looking to settle down with the romantic partner of their dreams. No matter how hard they try, they just don’t seem to be able to catch the one that they really want. This is what you are going to gladly teach them how to do.

Explain that you will start with how they appear, how they come off to others, their body language, etc. Some people choose to believe that their appearance isn’t important. This is a common misbelief and you will show them how they can improve their appearance to attract the person they want. Helping them with their body language is an area too, that they may not even be aware of about themselves. Help them understand how other singles are affected by a person’s body language or the way they carry themselves.

Then there is the way that they converse with people they are interested in pursuing. Help them understand that what they say, and how they say it, is very important. Even go as far as rehearsing with them; what to say and the proper things to talk about on dates. So many singles don’t realize that they may be talking too much, or they are talking too much about themselves and not asking enough about the new person they have met.

Can you think of any job better than, helping people become the best they can, and the happiest they can? Especially if it means that, they will be able to find a lifetime companion they have longed for. If this is something that you understand and you feel that you would be able to teach others, this may be the ‘business idea’ you have been looking for. Be sure that you are aware of the social and psychological teachings of our times. Use these as your authority to teach principle social beliefs.

This type of business is one that you really should have some sort of one-on-one contact with your singles. So, it might be a little harder to operate this business on line. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t have a site to help these singles though. You could have a specific site that helps singles learn the basics about attraction, the chase, and all the things they need to be aware of in attracting the person they want. You would want to offer a way to answer their questions too.

You may be able to find singles by advertising where singles hang out. Think of all the places they may commonly hang out on-line and see if you can place an advertisement there. Place advertisements anywhere that you think that single people will be, including grocery stores, bookstores, cinemas, etc. You may be surprised how many people quickly respond to your offer to help them find and keep the love of their dreams.

Helpful Resources:

http://www.squidoo.com/membership-website

http://www.okcupid.com/interests?i=psychology

http://psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-4058.html