Fast, Easy Cash Opportunities: Idea #2

Here's a money making idea that would work great for the spring and summer months.  Now, I love to find a good bargain.  I get a huge thrill when I do.  It's like some kind of adrenaline rush that I have become addicted to.  Because of that past time, I like to check out local thrift stores and yard sales.

By frequenting the thrift stores in my area, I'm able to determine which days of the week and which months of the year are better for finding the best bargains.  I know that in my area, a lot of the department stores and furniture stores will donate brand new merchandise to the thrift stores right around the end of the year.  I also know that you can find the best bargains on off season merchandise at any store.  Using that knowledge, I can acquire brand new items for a ridiculously low price time after time.

You'll need to do a little bit of research before you go on your shopping spree.  Make a plan to determine where you want to resell your items for profit.  A very good tool for conducting your research is Ebay.  By looking on Ebay at various auction items, it will be relatively easy to determine which items are selling and at what price.  Using that information you can determine whether or not the items that you plan to buy will be profitable and/or currently in demand.  Once you are armed with this vital information, it's time to go shopping!

You have a couple of options once you find your items at a rock bottom price.  You can resell your items using Ebay, UPillar, or Craigslist.  You can even open up your own storefront using sites like Yahoo, but I would discourage doing something like that until you have a proven track record for profitability.  The reason is that sites like Yahoo do have monthly fees for utilizing their storefront software and those fees can cut severely into your profitability, especially at first.

Another option for reselling your items is to send them to local consignment shops.  You'll first need to find out their policy on payment percentage and on how long they will keep the merchandise.  Most consignment stores will keep your item 60-90 days.  You'll want to make sure that you can pick up your merchandise after that time period if they do not sell.  If this will be your sales strategy, I recommend visiting consignment stores in your area and inquiring in person about their policies and about what items they need.  They'll have a very good idea of what items are selling and what items aren't.  Again, useful, free information for you.

In my area, there are several home decor-type consignment stores popping up all over.  Yard sales and craigslist would be great places to pick up some great bargains to resell at those types of consignment shops.  Once you get the hang of this, you'll see that that possibilities are absolutely endless.  I actually had a neighbor come tell me the other day that she had visited one of the home decor consignment shops in our neighborhood and she saw a baby carriage she had sold at a yard sale a few months earlier.  She sold the carriage for $5 at the yard sale and the consignment shop had a $40 price tag on it.  Somebody could potentially make a 300% profit on that one item if the consignment shop splits the money with the owner.  Not too shabby in my book!

Fast, Easy Cash Opportunities: Idea #1

I realize that starting up a business is not for everyone and let's face it, there's an awful lot of work involved in building a business whether it be online or a brick and mortar business.  I realize that some of you want to get started now bringing in cash.  In today's economy some of you moms may even have reached the point of desperation.  I feel your pain.  That's why over the next several days I'm going to give you some ideas for making money relatively quickly and painlessly.  Sounds good, huh?

I know that when I began my stint as a stay at home mom, I first began finding quick money making opportunities before I began building my online money makers.  Some of the things that I used to make quick cash, I still do today because they're just so easy and take up so little of my time.  I actually enjoy doing them, so why stop?  As a stay at home mom who wants to bring in money, you may find that you want to utilize several of my tactics.  Just pick and choose what works for you and go from there.

I have listed several fast money making links on the right hand side of this blog.  The list is by no means complete, however.  I'll continue adding as time goes by.  I just rattled off a few off of the top of my head.  Check the list out periodically for more items.  I'll be going over most of them as we go on to explain how you can make money with each one.

Let's get right to it though.  One of the things that I have done over the years is to sign up on the databases of several market research and survey companies in my area.  Most larger cities will have several of these types of companies to choose from.  Register with as many as you can to ensure that you will continue to be bombarded with opportunity after opportunity to make quick cash.  I think I am registered with about six or seven different companies and I get calls and emails just about daily for money making opportunities. 

By registering with market research companies you may be asked to fill out a questionnaire that will provide information that will let the company know which studies or surveys that you may qualify for.  That way you will only receive invitations for opportunities that you have already been prescreened for.  Many of these companies will pay cash as soon as you are finished providing your input.  Be sure that any market research company thoroughly explains to you #1) what is expected from you #2) how long the research will take and #3) how much and when you will be paid.  If a company does not wish to disclose any of those things, you should not participate in any studies with them.  There are too many reputable companies that have no problems providing all of that information.  After all, your time is your most valuable resource.  Don't let anyone waste it.

To find various market research companies near you, I suggest visiting Greenbook.org.  On that site, if you search market research companies by location, it will list just about every research company in your vicinity.  Then go to each website and sign up on their database or you can email or call them to ask to be included in their database.  Now all you do is sit back and wait for the cash making opportunities to roll in.  See?  Now how easy is that?