Creative Ways to Make Money
By Steve Gillman
The following are some fun and creative ways to make money,
but you probably won't get rich with these ideas. The point here
is to make something while expressing your creative nature and
having a good time. On the other hand, you never know where a
money-making scheme might lead. There are people making tens
of thousands of dollars monthly from publishing their books on
Amazon's Kindle reader.
Beachcombing
Wander a beautiful beach and find things to sell, or to make
into craft items? Is it possible? My wife and I actually sold
rocks and other items collected in the wild, and sea shells are
sold regularly to tourists and crafters, so yes, you can make
money hunting for natural treasures in the sand. You might get
more creative and glue a little pewter mermaid inside each beautiful
sea shell you find. These can be sold to gift shops wholesale
if you don't wean to do the retailing yourself at craft shows.
By the way, the beaches of northern Florida were full of colorful
shell when my wife and I were there.
Painting
Paintings can be sold, of course, and that will probably be
one of your goals if you are a painter, but it's not the only
way to make money with your art. You can also seek out contests
sponsored by local arts centers or galleries. Two of my friends
in our little town here in Colorado recently won $500 and $300
in art contests. Even if that third place prize only pays $25,
you usually get a ribbon, which can help sell the painting later
(people often like to buy contest-winning art).
Party Bartender
A friend who was out of work told me that he made $58 bartending
at a house party. He wasn't paid for the work directly, but volunteered
for the job as long as he could put out a tip jar--which is where
he made his money. It wasn't even that large of a party, and
he was mixing and serving drinks for only a few hours. Get a
reputation for good work and you might be hired for bigger events.
Kindle Books
If you are a creative writer and haven't yet found a way to
get your works into reader's hands, open a free Kindle publisher
account at Amazon.com. You don't have to spend a single cent
to get published, nor do you have to submit a manuscript to anyone.
You can read more about this on the following page: Publishing
on Kindle
Fiverr.com
If you haven't heard of it yet, this website is a place where
people will do all sorts of things for $5. Here are a few postings
that are on the front page as I write this:
I will have my son surf a wave while saying your message for
$5.
I will make a 20 second video crying about anything you want
for $5.
I will print any message on my hairy beer belly for $5.
I will shout anything you want in a banana costume for $5.
There are thousands of postings, and the sellers keep $4 of
each sale, with Fiverr taking the other dollar as their processing
fee. Opening an account is free. Now, you don't have to be a
clown o do something here. There are all sorts of other creative
ways to make money using Fiverr. I have book covers designed
for $5, for example (actually they are $15 because he supplies
the images). You can sell personalized poems, or convert peoples
photos into cartoons (use software to make it efficient--you
only get $4 after all).
There you have it; five creative ways to make some extra money.
But there are dozens of pages on the site which each cover some
creative way in more detail. You can find the best of them indexed
here: Artistic and Creative Work
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