Let friends and neighbors know now that you are available to clean sidewalks when it snows. Many people do need this service. Get the word out and when it snows people will be calling for you to come and shovel their sidewalk and possibly their driveway. Basically you need a shovel and dress warm. When the job is done; than collect the money.
With the economy and many people out of work; these are a few ways to earn some extra cash. Let people know your available for work. Around the holidays many people look for someone to come in and clean their home. Today many people are looking for bargains at yard sales. In the winter when there is heavy snow many senior citizens are in need of someone to come and shovel; because they can not do it themselves. Put a little extra cash in your pocket.
To help with the December cash squeeze, consider these methods for bringing in more money.
When Kelsey Freeman, a photographer based in Alexandria, Va. wanted to earn some extra cash for the holidays a few years ago, she made use of her camera skills. She took landscape and nature shots and posted them on the website SmugMug. com for anyone to buy. She made a couple hundred extra bucks, which let her buy gifts for friends and family. This also prevented a repeat of the previous year's situation, when she ended up giving gifts late. "It made me feel terrible," Freeman says.
Freeman is among the half a million people who find ways to temporarily boost their income over the holidays. Many of them do so by working in retail, but others, like Freeman, create their own sources of income by selling products and services online. Payment methods such as E-junkie and PayPal make it easier than ever to sell online, and social media provides a quick (and free) way to reach potential customers. Here are six more ways to generate extra cash this season:
Monetize your skills. Whether your expertise lies in social networking, editing, or Web development, several websites can help you find potential clients who are willing to pay for your work. Elance. com, Odesk. com and Freelancer. com make it easy to advertise your skills and find work, which you can do from the comfort of your home at all hours of the night. To get started, explore the websites to see what might be a good fit. You can also stick with a more traditional approach and use Craigslist. org, which allows users to post advertisements for their services, ranging from household labor to music lessons.
Design T-shirts. Websites such as CafePress. com and Zazzle. com allow people to design and sell T-shirts for a cut of the profits. Some popular users manage to earn enough from sales to support themselves, but it's not always easy: Jen Goode, who earns enough through her popular CafePress shop to pay her mortgage each month, found success after a year and a half of long, sometimes 16-hour days. She's uploaded more than 2,000 designs, many of them cartoon-oriented, including her best-selling penguin series.
Launch a coaching business. All you need is a blog and your first client, and you're in business. If friends and family members are constantly asking for your advice on a topic you know a lot about, such as how to fix customer-service problems or negotiate work conflicts, why not see if there's a larger market for your expertise? People earn money by coaching clients on everything from how to be more assertive to how to use social media.
Hold a virtual garage sale. Clear out your garage and basement and sell your goodies online. Be sure to write appealing product descriptions and take high-quality photos to increase the chance of sales. EBay is easy to use, but you can also stick with Craigslist or other local sites.
