Looking for Work? The Indie Method

Here... this is what I am doing to earn a bit of extra cash.

Calling local colleges to see if anyone needs a tutor.

Since I have a math, physics and computer science minor it might come in handy. I have also taken classes from some of the math professors for fun in the past, and it helps to get to know them.

More Tutoring with Wyzant

Wyzant

This is a tutoring hub for both students and tutors. If you sign up and take certification tests, people will contact you on here and you can set your hourly rate. However, students do have to provide credit card information to Wyzant prior to giving out their contact information to you or you get reprimanded - also Wyzant takes a chunk of payment.

But it does provide better tutoring opportunities than other avenues. The going rate for tutoring is around $20 / hour.

Work Web Sites

Monster

Indeed

Craigslist

Craiglist

Interesting website - you can do a lot of things on here. For one, you can buy things on here like bulk Baseball cards and then sell singles on e-bay - for another, you can find really odd jobs on here. Sometimes, I will combine "Craigslisting" with "Yardsaling" in order to go find things that I know about, like video games, records, comics, books, cards and the like.

In addition, Craigslist offers one of the best places to find used furniture and appliances - one time, for $20, I helped someone move out of their house - and I got a Washer / Dryer, full dining room table with chairs, and two couches.

You might need some more resources for either CraigsListing or Yardsaling, however.

Video Game Price Charting . com

This website is the best one, it charts video games just like the stock market, and can be pulled up on a personal device like phone or tablet while *gasp* shopping. Video games are a lot more simple to do than sports cards - there are really a relatively small amount of them and their prices tend to lump into "LOTS OF MONEY" or "NOT WORTH ANNYTHING"

PopSike . com

Here is a price guide to use while shopping for records. If you know a little bit about bands, you might do okay with records. When I was buying them, I would make conversation with older hippies to find out what kind of music they liked best - it helped. I actually collect the records, and the video games, for my own personal use as well -

Addall . com

This website works for pricing books, I think, I'm not sure books are that great for resale, although my friend has his hands on one that is worth upwards of $1,000 - it is a first edition of some classic. And one time, I did help someone move a whole garage full of books to their new pad - they were really into used book sales.

Other Projects

Well, since I am a musician, I could also play some tunes for some extra cash at micro venues around town - sometimes photographers and artists that I know will post a small gallery in coffee shops with little cards next to them with contact and purchase information.

I also have recording experience, and a studio set-up in my house, so I could record musicians for a price, as well. For quality recording, the going rate is usually $100 / hour. My price was something like $50 and a case of beer for one track.

This part gets more complicated.

I might come back to it, but I can explain how to do things like produce and sell music online, advertise online, create your own line of clothing online, and even produce and sell manga as well as e-books online.

If I actually have any success with those above ideas, then I'll explain how I did it later - right now, I am working on a manga.

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I will keep this thread updated anyone else have other ideas? I am just starting right now, although this is what I have done in the past that worked. Also, check this out.

KRIPPARIAN is a great Diablo III player and gamer - and he put his Gaming Skills to the test while trying to find work.



This is genius. Don't forget that gamers have enhanced intelligence. He uses Google Earth to find work within biking distance of his house.

Craigslist is a good one. I look on craigslist to hire seamstresses, labor/skilled contractor for things done on the house/yard, and etc. Before I finished the basement room I let a guy live there rent free and let him get on his feet with a job... while he did a few projects for me on the 2nd floor in exchange for rent. Now we are looking to trade a truck for someone to do a pretty simple plumbing job for a 2nd floor bathroom.
There are ways to get by for those who want to work.

Please be cautious with Craigslist. More and more people are using it as a means to make some cash in these desperate times, which means more scum bag predators. Otherwise, great advice, it gave me something to consider.

reply to post by Visitor2012


Definitely be a bit cautious with Craigslist - I would recommend not meeting someone at your place, cause they could case it and get its location, also, some jobs posted on CraigsList are a bit more sketchy than most but easy hires. You might meet some adventurous types on there with interesting ideas, but not necessarily ones that will work out in the long run.

Based on one CraigsList ad, I became the "Marketing Manager" for a local businessman running a branch of College Pro Painters. It involved door-to-door sales and training and managing a small team.

Visitor2012
Please be cautious with Craigslist. More and more people are using it as a means to make some cash in these desperate times, which means more scum bag predators. Otherwise, great advice, it gave me something to consider.

If you see an offer for work and it is below the prevailing wage for that trade.

Then the 'employer' is a SCUM BAG.

reply to post by darkbake


To add to that...make sure whatever device you are taking photos of items that you wish to sell on Craigslist has the gps signature turned off for the pic. Just some smart thinking.

reply to post by HanzHenry


That is something to watch out for - oh - I forgot to mention, sometimes if you go to a big city, like SEATTLE on CraigsList and look for work, you can find telecommuting jobs there! That was one of the more genius ideas I had - I worked for a website content creation firm one time.

Yeah, know the going rates, like minimum wage, price per word, etc. but with the Internet, it is often possible to find jobs in the big cities "near" you and still work at home.

I like existing as much off the grid as I can, at least economically. I'm still a slave to energy, I use a computer and I drive. I haven't had a bank account in 7 years now, and I'm proud of that. I consider strongly what I will do for money, and if it doesn't have any benefit for me other than just the money, I'll not do it.

I am a massage therapist, and I have a few clients, I deal poker at bars under the table most of the year, the rest of the year I'm in Vegas making real money in short time. That's what I pay taxes on. I have a couple of new guitar students, I haven't taught in years, but I'm a much better guitar player now. Hopefully these students don't outgrow me too quickly!

And other than that, I'm not a shabby poker player, and when I play, I figure I have about a 70% chance of walking away with more money than I put down, depending on the game.

I fully understand that when I'm 65, I'm probably going to be broke, but by that time, we'll all probably be broke.

I'm looking forward to businesses like TaskRabbit to come to my town. With a limited attention span for work, and my personal nature, I would rather do something important for someone to help them when I can than get a 'real' job.

I do the same thing on eBay. You can totally make a living doing this stuff, but it's all about "You get out what you put in.".

That's all there is to it, that and acquiring items to sell/knowing the culture of your target product sufficiently.