According to the late Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, 6.8 million Americans fall into the category of long-term unemployment. Long-term unemployment is identified as looking for work for 27 weeks or longer. When you think about it, that’s a lot of people not earning a paycheck right now.
Plus, if you think about how many people have taken pay cuts or worked fewer hours since the recession began, you have another large group of workers not earning as much as they’d like.
For both groups, earning income in some form is a welcome opportunity. Anyone would probably welcome the chance to earn some extra cash. Finding a traditional full-time or part-time job isn’t the easiest thing to do in this economy, and some people don’t have schedules that would accommodate such jobs anyway. Fortunately, new opportunities are available for workers, and many of them can be done from your home.
Here are eight moneymaking suggestions that you might not have considered before.
1. If you’re crafty – Etsy
Etsy is an online marketplace where creative people can sell their handmade crafts and othter times (think a purse made out of a license plate or a throw pillow for your couch). If you have the knack for handcrafted art, Etsy could be a way for you to get your work seen by thousands and get compensated for it.
Check out: http://www.etsy.com/how_selling_works.php
2. If you’re skilled in a hobby or craft – Bragadoo
Word of mouth is one of the best ways to market yourself, and logging on to Bragadoo and posting information about your area of expertise (cooking, caretaking, personal training, etc.) is a cheaper than making a TV commercial. Anyone who hires you can then post about their experience – brag, if you will – and hopefully lead others to also hire you. It’s a community built on recommendations.
Check out: http://www.bragadoo.com/help/
3. If you want to tap into your inner journalist – Seed
With traditional news outlets now competing with blogs and other websites, opportunities for freelance work are better than ever. If you’re a photographer or writer who wants to get your work published, have a visible online presence and earn money for it, submitting your work to Seed might be the way to go.
Check out: http://www.seed.com/
4. If you like to give your opinion – Free Paid Surveys or Find Focus Groups.
Because consumer data is so valuable to marketers, you can earn money just for answering questions about your purchases and consumer preferences. At either site you can find surveys to answer, which does mean answer many, many questions, but it also means getting paid for it, too.
Check out: http://freepaidsurveys.net, http://findfocusgroups.com
5. If you’re a packrat – Ebay, Amazon Marketplace
What better way to make money than to sell the stuff you’re not using? People collect, well, everything. Old TV Guides? The fancy (but ugly) dishes your grandmother gave you for your wedding? A pair of designer jeans you bought two sizes too small because you thought you’d one day fit into them? Someone will buy them! Check out an online market that lets users put their items up for auction. The site might get a small portion of your sale, but you pocket most (or all) of the cash and didn’t have to do much. You could literally be sitting on money right now.
Check out: http://www.ebay.com/, http://www.amazon.com
6. If you’re born salesperson – Avon
Some people are born for sales; others are not. Those of you with the gift for sales can put your skills to work with a company like Avon. If you are passionate about the company’s products and can convey to customers why they should also give the products a try, then you can probably make a sale. You make your own hours and aren’t confined to an office, which is perfect for a side job.
Check out: http://www.careerbuilder.com/jobs/company/Avon/?siteid=cbworkbuzz
7. If you like to shop – Be a secret shopper
Secret shoppers are hired by a company to go to a store, shop for some items, and then report back on their experience. Their feedback gives the company insight on the customer experience, which might be used to improve that company’s procedures or marketing approach.
Check out: http://www.secretshopper.com/, http://www.secretshoppercompany.com/, http://www.nationalshoppingservice.com/
8. If you like to create multimedia — Sell your photos to stock agencies or license via an online photo sharing site
Although many photographers would love to have their work exhibited at a gallery, those opportunities are hard to come by. While you work toward getting your showing, you can make some money by shooting pictures and selling them to a stock agency. When companies need stock photos for an ad or an online article, they pay you a fee if they use your photograph. You can also have your work licensed through an online photograph-hosting site, such as Flickr.
Check out: http://www.istockphoto.com/sell-stock-photos.php, http://www.flickr.com/account/prefs/gettyimages/
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Source: http://www.theworkbuzz.com/job-search/8-ways-to-earn-extra-cash/
