Halina Zakowicz

Halina Zakowicz is a full-time freelance writer, investor and aspiring sci-fi novelist. In her spare time, she appreciates the finer points of zymology by brewing various hops-infused concoctions.

How to Make Money Online by Investing in Stocks

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If you’re looking for ways to make some real money online, investing in stocks is still one of the best ways to do it. In spite of our lackluster economy, many companies are regularly churning out profits as well as dividends. Investing in these companies can be a great way to gain a piece of that corporate pie- provided you invest in the right pie.

Revenue, income and cash- oh my!

Back in June when I discussed how to make a passive income with stock dividends, I only lightly touched on studying financial reports before purchasing a company stock. However, analyzing a company’s financials is critical if you want to keep your investment dollars safe and not be surprised by a sudden stock price correction, earnings loss or bankruptcy (ahem, Enron). There are three financial reports that you will need to become familiar with: the income and cash flow statements and the balance sheet. There is also the statement of shareholders’ equity that is always worth a look-see. Finally, some companies make additional reports to the SEC via footnotes, which many investors fail to read but which can contain critical information about a company’s future.

Publically traded company financial statements are released on a quarterly or yearly basis as 10-Q or 10-K statements, respectively. Foreign companies provide their financial information on 20-F documents. You can find these documents by going on the company’s website and clicking on the Investor Relations link or tab. Alternately, you can find such information by going to the SEC’s Edgar website and typing in the name of the company.

The Income Statement

A company’s income statement answers two all-important questions:

How much money did the company make (i.e., total revenue)?

How much money did the company keep (i.e., net income)?

These questions are critical because they address a company’s growth and money-making potential as well as whether the business model is sustainable (i.e., profitable). After dividing net income by total revenue, you also get the profit margin, a key indicator of a company’s ability to survive and thrive even in a bad economy. Profit margin is also useful when comparing companies in similar industries; for example, in the grocery sector, where profit margins are historically very small, Whole Foods Market’s (Nasdaq: WFM) profit margin of 4.29% for the third quarter 2012 is better than that of Roundy’s (NYSE: RNDY), which stands at 1.91%. Dividing net income by the number of company shares also gives you another important factor: the earnings per share or EPS. The EPS will be discussed in the second part of my series on stock investment.

The Cash Flow Statement

A company’s cash flow statement answers another all-important question:

What is the company doing with its earned money?

The cash flow of a company might be going towards a debt repayment, expansion or outside investments. It might also just be getting stored as part of the company’s cash hoard. Classic examples of “cash hoarders” include Apple (reported at over $100 billion), Google (reported at about $45 billion) and Microsoft (reported at about $52 billion).

Cash flow can also be contrary to the real profitability of a business. Groupon (Nasdaq: GRPN), for example, reported its 2011 cash flow from operations as being $290 million; however, items that were not accounted for were $390 million in merchant accounts payable and $189 million in expenses and liabilities. When balanced out, this means that Groupon lost about $289 from running its business despite a positive cash flow.

The Balance Sheet

The company’s balance sheet answers the following questions:

How is the company doing right now?

Is the company better off today than last quarter/year?

The balance sheet provides such vital information as the company’s cash and cash equivalents, long-term debt, inventory, cost of goods sold (COGS), liabilities (e.g., mortgages) and accounts receivable (i.e., money owed to the company). The income and cash flow statements feed into and make the balance sheet, and many investors will actually look at the balance sheet first to gauge a company’s fiscal health.

The “balance” of the balance sheet comes from the following accounting equation, which must be satisfied in the balance sheet:

Assets = Liabilities + owner’s equity

In essence, a company’s assets must be equated by its liabilities, such as mortgages and business loans, plus any equity that the business owner brought into the business (e.g., building the business on land s/he already owned).

Looking at balance sheets across several quarters or years, you want to see an increase in assets and a decrease in debt. You also want to see a stable inventory, indicating that goods are not just languishing in some forgotten storehouse or on shelves. Likewise, inventory growth should not exceed sales growth. Inventory turnover rate, which is the number of times a business sells out its inventory in a year, can also be measured by taking the COGS and dividing it by inventory. The higher the turnover rate, the better.

Accounts receivable should also be examined as well as their rate of increase/decrease. As long as accounts receivable growth is keeping pace with sales growth, all is well. If, however, accounts receivable are increasing like crazy while sales stay the same or even languish, there could be trouble on the horizon.

Another useful number that you can obtain from the balance sheet is the quick ratio. The quick ratio is calculated by taking the company’s assets, subtracting inventory, and dividing the amount by liabilities. If the quick ratio is at least one or above, you have a good indicator of corporate fiscal health. A quick ratio of one means that, if the company were suddenly required by all its creditors to “pay up”, it would be able to do so by paying in cash and liquidating all of its assets. A quick ratio below one means that the company wouldn’t be able to immediately settle its debts.

Statement of Shareholders’ Equity

The Statement of Shareholders’ Equity answers the following question:

Where is shareholder money going and what has the company done with it?

Included as the last portion of the balance sheet, the statement of sharegolders’equity portrays the amount of financing that the company has enjoyed via its common and preferred stock offerings to investors. Shareholder equity is comprised of two monetary amounts: the original amount of money that shareholders used to buy equity in the company, along with later equity purchases and appreciation, and the company’s retained earnings from operations, which are defined as the earnings the company chose to reinvest in its operations versus using them for officer salaries, CEO bonus, etc.

Footnotes

Financial footnotes are arguably one of the best ways to find out what’s really going on at a company aside from being on its board of directors or spying on its officers (not advised, by the way). Footnotes answer all kinds of questions you wouldn’t initially think to ask, such as the following:

When does this company consider its good/service sold (i.e., how does this company account)?

Why are these operational/financial results significant?

Footnotes are kind of like the fine print of the financial reports that a company releases. In order to make those reports appear sleek and clean, many technical details are left out. However, because such details must be mentioned somewhere, they are often placed into the footnotes. Also, because it’s difficult to scour every single financial report for juicy company gossip, some websites such as Footnoted.com actually compile and report on company footnotes.

These footnotes tend to have either of the two characteristics:

They detail some accounting measure of the company. For example, a company may define when it considers a good or service to be sold and classified as revenue. Such an accounting definition is key for companies whose products are distributed through several channels before being sold to the end consumer; for example, Ford (NYSE: F) cars are manufactured at a factory, sold to dealerships, and finally sold to consumers. At which point is the car actually considered sold? For Ford, it’s at the point when the manufactured car is sold to the dealership.

They discuss why a financial or operational event bears significance. Companies often use footnotes to explain why a corporate officer was hired, why the company revised its income or cash flow statements, etc. Likewise, footnotes are often used to creatively hide bad events. For example, a company may have invested and lost a significant portion of its assets in a bad business deal. Because it is legally obligated to discuss significant events beyond just the legal minimum (e.g., income statement), this company could include the news of the bad business deal in its footnotes and then try to bury that news within a bunch of legal jargon. However, if you had read those footnotes, you would be instantly alerted of that bad deal. Furthermore, the company’s excessive use of “legalese” would’ve told you that something was amiss. This is just one more reason why it pays to read the “fine print”.

Hopefully, you’ve now gained a better understanding of company financial reports and how they can help you gauge the financial health and future of a company you’re thinking of investing in. Now that we’ve covered the three critical financial statements that companies release, next week’s article will focus on critical financial ratios like P/E, beta and debt/equity.

Writing for Content Mills – Revisited

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Recently, I pitched the following article idea to WritersWeekly:

“Unexpected Sites Where You Can Market (and Profit from) Your Freelance Writing Skills: “Content Mills” (e.g., Squidoo)”

The response I received back was a bit of a shocker:

“I’m sorry but we never suggest writers write for content mills. They are horrible.”

Needless to say, I didn’t win that article pitch.

What I had failed to realize was that content mills are a big source of debate and contention among freelance writers. Some writers’ organizations refuse to even speak about them. Other freelance writers take a difference stance and view working in content mills as a kind of internship.

What are content mills?

In essence, content mills are low-paying online writing sites that either pay you an up-front free for your submitted content and/or make you a part of their revenue-sharing program (based on your content’s page views).

Some example content mill sites include HubPages, Yahoo! Voices, Infobarrel and, as mentioned above, Squidoo. Other sites, such as Textbroker and Constant Content, post specific writing requests from individual clients that are paid on a per-word basis. Unless you are writing 20+ articles/day for these sites, you will probably NOT get rich from content mills. At most, you’ll be able to purchase groceries or holiday gifts from earnings deposited into your content mill kitty. Oh, and don’t forget that even these piddly monies are still considered taxable by the IRS.

Why write for content mills?

While many freelance writers would disagree, there are several benefits to writing for content mills, especially if you are just starting out in your writing career:

  1. Practice, practice, practice. You get to practice on your writing, make your mistakes and learn from them. You see what works- and what fails- in terms of reaching your target audience and getting page views. You certainly become a better writer.
  2. Learn. Content mills like Examiner offers tutorials and lessons on how to write better through its Examiner University. HubPages asks writers to produce content on demand with the “30 Hubs in 30 Days” challenge. Obviously, improving the quality of your writing is of benefit to the content mills since they achieve higher traffic and ad revenue by doing so. However, these same benefits also trickle down to you, increasing your up-front pay and page views over time.
  3. Benefits. When I first started writing for Associated Content (now Yahoo! Voices), I had to be satisfied with earning $5 per article or fewer. However, as my seniority with the site increased, so did my opportunities to write for specific content niches such as personal finance. This increased my pay rate substantially. I was also offered partner assignments that were published on big-name sites like The Huffington Post, Oral-B, AT&T and CreditCards.com.
  4. References. As my content mill library grew, so did outside interest in my work. I gained one full-time client because of my work with Textbroker. Another client liked the fact that I was submitting content to sites like Yahoo! Finance and MSN Money and asked me to write financial articles for him too. In short, although content mill work wasn’t paying me all that much, it was certainly getting my name out there.
  5. Confidence. I knew the kind of praise some of my best work had won for me and I used that praise as impetus to approach potential clients. Thanks to various partner assignments, I also had actual “outside-of-mill” work that I could show off in my resume. Clients starts noticing- and hiring.

Why you should NOT write for content mills

So, if “working in the mill” helped launch my own writing career, why are content mills looked upon as “horrible” by many freelance writers? Here are a few quite valid reasons that I’ve received:

  1. Slave wages. Content mills ask for stellar, SEO-qualified and interesting content- and then pay you a penny per word or even fewer for something that takes all day to produce. Many writers end up earning below minimum wage for their work. Others work 12+ hour days in order to eek out a somewhat decent living from their writing efforts.
  2. Low quality writing. Let’s face it: You simply cannot hope to produce your best work when you’re hustling through 10 or more writing assignments each day. The quality of your submissions will suffer- and so will your reputation as a writer. High paying clients may pass you by once they review your articles and see them riddled with spelling errors and/or mindless drivel.
  3. Wasted time. Writing for content mills uses up the time and energy you could’ve put forth to attract big name clients and budgets. Many content mill writers never send out a query letter that might help them land a better job. Others never have the chance to write for charity and other free publications that at least build up their writing resume. “Penny-wise and pound foolish” becomes the underlying motto of many content mill writers as they chase after a few dollars here and there and miss out on five- and six-figure writing incomes.
  4. Lack of respect. The French author Jules Renard stated, “Writing is the only profession where no one considers you ridiculous if you earn no money.” Some writers won’t work in content mills simply on a matter of principle. In essence, they view writing as a job, and no recruiter in this day and age would expect an employee to work for 50 cents an hour with no benefits. If corporate writers receive $30-$50/hour, then so should freelance writers doing the same type of work. Settling for anything less sets a bad norm for writers and makes other professionals lose respect for them.

The Bottom Line

In the end, is working for content mills a worthwhile venture or a waste of time and effort? It depends. If you can look upon your “time at the mill” as a proving ground for honing your skills and talent, then your efforts are not in vain. If you make sure to allot some of your time towards sending out query letters and courting potential clients with free articles and blog posts, then at least you are making some headway into a more stable and lucrative writing career.

Unfortunately, the biggest mistake that most content mill writers make is to have no exit strategy in place. Year after year, they settle for less money than they’re worth and miss out on valuable job opportunities. Some content mill writers who have sent out query letters and been rejected feel that “the mill” is the only place that they’ll ever find work, a feeling that becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy once they stop making plans to find anything better.

Personally, I never had an exit strategy in place during my time at “the mill”. In fact, I still submit content to various mills from time to time- especially now that I have clients willing to pay me additional money for that option. However, had I started reaching out sooner to private clients, I would be much better situated today. I also would’ve been able to quit my “real job” sooner to start my freelance writing career. Knowing what I know now, I certainly would’ve taken a different approach earlier on. Alas, my hindsight has always been about 18/20.

How to Create Your Own Online Scam

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“…if the just man is good at keeping money, he is good at stealing it.” Plato, Book I, The Republic

Pretend for a minute that you want to create an online scam that will line your pockets with a significant amount of money. How would you create this scam? Who would you target? Would you involve your friends or keep it to yourself? And perhaps most importantly, when would you end it; i.e., take the money and run?

I’ve Tried That is a site dedicated to spotting and reporting online scams. Since 2007, the scams that have been featured on this site include everything from classic Nigerian “you’ve got cash!” emails to data entry to even colon cleansing (complete with a photo you don’t want to see while eating). As different as all these scams are, however, they all take advantage of one or more of the following six elements to lure you in:

User ignorance: Faecal encephalopathy is a serious medical condition that may be affecting you and your family members, but our associates have the cure.

Voice of authority/experience: Dr. Homer J. Simpson, who studied nuclear engineering at the prestigious Saint Regis University, has worked at a nuclear power plant for 10+ years. He is nationally recognized as a nuclear power plant safety expert.

Emotional appeal: Still stuck in that low-paying job while your boss buys a flashier car every year? What would you do with an extra $1,000 every week? Our system helps you make money while you sleep! “Stick it to the man” and quit your job today!

A hint of truth: Smoking leads to almost all cases of small cell lung cancer (SCLC), a very aggressive form of cancer. Luckily, our retinoic acid products inhibit lung cancer, allowing you to smoke without worry.

Exclusivity: It took years for our senior officers to learn how this revolutionary system operates. However, its secrets can now be yours when you join our VIP members-only club.

Limited time: Act now while supplies last. We have only 30 cases of iron pyrite jewelry on hand. Operators are standing by.

Given the information provided above as well as my constant exposure to all kinds of online scams, I’ve come up with the following five scam ideas and how they could be perpetrated. Keep in mind that this information is only theoretical and is meant to help you learn about and spot scams.

Do not attempt the following ideas at home!

1. The new and improved Nigerian email scam.

Send people emails giving them a sob story about some person who is orphaned and can’t withdraw his/her money- but add a contemporary twist. For example, make a plea for a young girl who is being held against her wishes by the Taliban and can’t withdraw the huge sum of money she has inherited in the U.K.- money that would help free her. Or, decry a dog slaughter operation here in the U.S. that would be instantly shut down if some groups could just gain access to their locked funds.

The possibilities are endless- and someone is bound to bite. Once you accumulate a few interested parties, have them forward you money for bogus expenses like taxes, processing costs, legal fees, etc. At some point, you might even gain access to a bank account or the personal information of your email recipients. Drain those accounts and/or steal identities.

2. Fake services company.

Create and purchase a domain name that resembles a high ranking services site. For example, Seomoz.org is a rather well-established SEO services company. Working off of this site, you could create the domain name Seomoz.org/business. This allows your site to be easily found online and establishes credibility. Then, you start emailing small business websites and offering them a service package for only $499/year. Be sure to have the business click only on a special “discount” link that you provide through your website or email correspondence.

Once you collect a sufficient number of Paypal payments, transfer all assets to a bank account created especially for this purpose (using someone else’s personal information that was hopefully gained from scam #1). Sit on your bogus website for a month, sending out periodic emails to your “clients” asking for specs about their websites (e.g., what keywords they want to be ranked for) and other filler newsletters and company announcements. After that month has passed, close down your website and bank account.

3. Compromised account scam.

Send emails to people notifying them that their Paypal, eBay, Amazon etc. account has been compromised and the company needs to re-verify critical account records like the person’s name, log in information, password, etc. The few emails that come back to you with this pertinent information will be worth their weight in gold.

Alternately, if you have some programming skills, create a spyware link that leads the user to a fake account site resembling what would be seen on Paypal, eBay, Amazon, etc. On this site, the user inputs all his/her personal information and transmits it to you. In such a case, you would gain valuable information and be able to install a spyware program on the user’s computer, enabling you to monitor all his/her future keystrokes.

4. Sell a bogus product.

Create a fake product and sell it online. Some examples include diet patches/wraps, miracle creams and nutritional supplements. Making such products at home is easy and all you need is a merchant account that accepts credit cards. Make the refund time at least 6 months or longer, thus lulling customers into putting aside their purchase receipt and eventually forgetting about it or losing it. Testimonials and referrals can be gathered from your friends.

You could even go all out and schedule a webinar or seminar where you hand-pick audience members for questions or praise about your product- audience members that just happen to be your friends. Making and selling a fake product is perhaps one of the easiest scams to perpetrate because many individuals will actually benefit from the product thanks to the placebo effect (i.e., improvement in health through simple belief that the product is working).

5. Sell a bogus product- and create an MLM around it.

Why make money on a bogus product alone when you can also make money from member recruits? Create your own multi-level marketing scheme by recruiting people to buy and sell your product directly. Use your friends for testimonials about how this product and business changed their lives. Your friends can also be used as downline (customer) decoys so that the MLM recruits start making a little money and keep buying bulk product from you.

Learn How to Make Legitimate Money Online Instead

Sure, the allure of a windfall of cash at no work is enticing, but there are much better ways to spend your time. I’ve developed a free step-by-step plan of action that will help you build a real business online. You’ll learn the ins-and-outs of setting up real streams of income that don’t come from deceiving others. Best of all, our guide is absolutely free.

The Bottom Line

In summary, always remember that scammers rely on your vulnerabilities (e.g., ignorance, lack of time) and vices (e.g., greed, laziness) to make money. Before clicking on a web link or providing any personal information, do your homework or call the company directly. Install a spyware/malware protection program on your computer as well. Limit what you reveal online while at a publicly used computer. In short, being vigilant and aware of what scammers might do online protects you from losing your money, time and personal information.

Oh, and don’t create your own online scam.

Our Top 10 Recommended Work-at-Home Websites

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Obviously, I’ve Tried That is the premier work-at-home website; however, there are other websites out there that provide lots of useful information about making money at home and avoiding online scams. Most of these sites not only offer realistic ways to make money at home, but the recommended methods have been tested by the webmasters or their followers. Thus, you’re not just getting inane suggestions on how to make money; someone has actually tried and been successful at making a legitimate income from his/her proposed methods. So, without further ado…

1. Work at Home No Scams

Since 2003, work-at-home Dad and affiliate marketer Eddy Salomon has been offering everyday folks the opportunity to replace lost income, make extra income and become their own boss. Work at Home No Scams lists many different money-making sites, the type of work involved with these sites, and how much money can be made at a particular job. Some of these sites (e.g., paid survey) enable one to make a few extra bucks a month, while other sites (e.g., Wealthy Affiliate) can lead to a full-time career with comparable income. Work-at-home scams are also highlighted.

2. Work at Home Truth

Paul Schlegel offers a no-nonsense approach to finding work-at-home job opportunities and avoiding scams. Additionally, he lists work-at-home opportunities that aren’t scams but also just aren’t worth your time. Best of all, the money-making products recommended on WorkatHomeTruth are personally verified by Paul to be legitimate or your money back.

3. Smart Passive Income

Pat Flynn makes an incredible five figure monthly income from his work-at-home ideas including affiliate marketing, selling instructional ebooks, building iPhone apps, and of course blogging about making a passive income. Pat’s money-making techniques are a bit more advanced than answering online surveys or selling tchotchkes on eBay- but his advice is well worth it to those who want to dream and eventually earn big.

4. Real Ways to Earn Money Online

Arguably the most organized and comprehensive work-at-home site I’ve perused, Real Ways to Earn Money Online offers a huge directory of money-earning opportunities, with everything ranging from answering questions to writing. The site’s webmaster, Anna, also provides many opportunities to save money at her sister site Real Ways to Save.

5. Entrepreneur’s Journey

Yaro Starak, the webmaster of Entrepreneur’s Journey, shows readers how they can start and be successful at an online business. His content, much like Pat Flynn’s, addresses the larger aspects of running an online business rather than just making a little cash on the side. Yaro also offers several instructional and money-earning programs like Blog Mastermind and Cranky Ads.

6. The Four Hour Workweek

Timothy Ferriss, the author of a set of books by the same name, created a blog that not only addresses how to break free of the rate race but also how to take charge of your own life. His content is at times more inspirational than instructional, but you can’t fault a guy who is passionate about his career/life calling and challenges people to live up to their full potential.

7. Rat Race Rebellion

Admittedly, it was the title that first attracted me to this work-at-home site run by Christine Durst and Michael Haaren. What kept me coming back to Rat Race Rebellion was the many work-at-home opportunities that the site advertised. Perhaps the most valuable resource that the site offers is its daily updated job lead board, which offers a plethora of prescreened telecommuting positions including editing, customer service, management, blogging, transcription, IT, etc.

8. The Penny Hoarder

Kyle Taylor, the webmaster of The Penny Hoarder (whose site design oddly resembles Cracked.com), offers many work-at-home or just-outside-of-home job opportunities that you may not have even considered. With article titles like “9 Ways for Slackers to Make Money Playing Games”, “The 7 Highest Paid Political Mistresses (+ Should You Become One?)” and “Get Paid to Spy on the Mailman”, it’s hard not to get drawn into this site and spend a good hour or two reading its posts.

9. Freelance Switch

This site offers some hearty advice on how to create, run and advance your freelance _____ business. Freelance Switch also posts an extensive job board as well as links to outside job boards. Furthermore, the site offers many useful business resources such as invoice creators, client contracts, accounting software, tax advice, etc.

10. All Stay at Home

Job boards, blog posts, articles, business opportunities- if you can think of it, this site has probably got it. Traci Dillard, the webmaster of the All Stay at Home family of websites, offers work-at-home job seekers numerous methods by which they can earn money, start a home business, and obtain information on topics such as choosing the right stay-at-home job and dealing with work-at-home job stress. And, just in case this top 10 list was not enough for you, her site also provides a page linking to even more work-at-home websites.

Drop Shipping: A Viable Business Model if You Can Avoid the Scams

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You’ve probably seen eBay PowerSellers offering discounted brand name items through dozens of posted auctions at a time. Alternately, you may have noticed how some Amazon sellers never offer fewer than 100 items on their featured sites. Perhaps you’ve wondered where and how these sellers get their merchandise and then are able to sell it so cheaply. Additionally, how much money do they make in such a business? More often than not, such sellers obtain their bulk merchandise through drop shipping intermediates.

What is Drop Shipping?

Drop shipping is a special type of retailing technique where the retailer keeps no merchandise in stock but instead transfers the responsibilities for holding product and fulfilling customer orders to a wholesaler or distributor. The retailer typically makes his/her profit from the difference in retail versus wholesale product price. The wholesaler or distributor, meanwhile, saves money by not operating a retail store and by having a salesperson that can sell product quickly.

Almost anyone can get started with drop shipping and make money from it. There is no government oversight of drop shippers and you do not need a special license to start listing wholesale items on your website or an auction site like eBay. However, it may be a good idea to obtain a general business license from your home state or municipality, since you are running a legitimate business and need to operate legally. Your state or city government small business office or the SBA (U.S. Small Business Administration) can help you out.

There is also the matter of sales tax; most states require sales tax collection if the company that sells the products is located in the same state as the customer. With drop shipping, however, this situation gets complicated since the question arises of who actually sold the product to the customer. While you, the drop shipper, advertised the product and collected payment on it, you never actually owned or possessed the product itself. In such a case, it doesn’t hurt to enlist the services of a business accountant in your state.

Beware of drop shipping scams!

Before you can start drop shipping, you need to find wholesalers and distributors. Many online sites claim that they will get you in contact with lots of wholesalers and/or distributors whose products you can easily click and drag to your online store. These sites are called drop shipping aggregators (or drop ship warehouse companies) and are essentially middlemen between you and the wholesaler/distributor. The problem with using aggregators is that there isn’t much of a price difference between the merchandise offered to you versus what’s being offered on eBay or Amazon. Thus, it’s very difficult to achieve any significant profit margin on what you end up selling (since most of the price difference has been claimed by the aggregator). Oh, and did I mention that you will also need to pay a membership fee to establish your store and sell products under the aggregator?

What really shocked me was finding out just how ingenious these aggregators are. Some aggregator sites like WorldWideBrands, Salehoo and Doba charge you a membership fee on the premise that they find the wholesalers for you, thus cutting out a significant portion of your workload. Other sites, however, know that you are looking for the “Holy Grail” of wholesaler/distributor information and will pretend to be the actual wholesalers/distributors. For example, an “objective” article on Yahoo! Voices claimed to provide a first person account of how the author used three wholesale sites to find and sell discounted products. When I clicked on these three different links, all of them directed me to the same squeeze page that wanted $200 for a list of wholesalers. Um…no!

I’m not saying that there aren’t legitimate aggregator sites that provide actual contact information for wholesalers. However, after perusing various online scam reports, I found out that most of the provided wholesaler/distributor lists are horribly outdated. Furthermore, since many hapless individuals have already purchased the advertised lists, those wholesalers are probably working with a number of retailers and don’t need you. In summary, it’s unlikely that you’re going to get anywhere by searching online for wholesalers/distributors.

So, how do you find wholesalers and distributors?

Arguably, finding your first two or three wholesalers/distributors is going to be the hardest part of the entire drop shipping business. However, here are some steps you can take to get started:

  • Direct inquiries
    Email and/or call given manufacturers to find out if they do drop shipping and, if so, do they deal with retailers directly or through a distributor. Doing this will entail that you know the business first-hand; for example, if you wish to sell Bath & Body Works products, you should know that it operates under the parent company Limited Brands in Columbus, Ohio. On the company’s online FAQs site, it does appear that Limited Brands works with suppliers and subcontractors. Going on this information, you could contact Limited Brands and inquire about whether or not it participates in drop shipping.
  • Trade publications
    Many business-to-business (B2B) publications are available for free through sites like Free Trade Magazine Source. You might consider subscribing to a few magazines that are within your desired selling niche. These publications frequently list product manufacturers as well as who should be contacted directly.
  • Basic legwork
    If you know of a factory or manufacturer in your geographic area, don’t hesitate to go over there (after first making an appointment) and find out if it would be interested in a drop shipping arrangement. Making personal contacts could be the best way to get you in the drop shipping door.

What’s next?

Once you have a few direct product lines set up, highly consider obtaining a domain name for your business and creating a website. Also, establish a merchant account with Paypal so that you can start accepting larger sums of money and not have customers leaving your site while paying for an item. Look into shopping cart platforms while you’re at it; Magento, OSCommerce, and 3DCart all work well with Paypal and give your website a professional retail look.

Of course, you can just sell your products through places like eBay and Amazon; however, the commissions on your sales may eat into a significant portion of your profits. Furthermore, many customers will want to see what other products you are offering through your website. It’s a lot less work to have a sales page posted on a web page than to always be listing new auctions on eBay and Amazon.

Advantages and disadvantages of drop shipping

There are several big advantages with having a drop shipping business:

No inventory. You don’t have to rent space to hold inventory or fill your house with merchandise that might be damaged or stolen.

No need to ship. The wholesaler/distributor packs and ships your sold merchandise, saving you the time and hassle of weighing packages and going to the post office.

There are also some disadvantages:

Little control over merchandise. You’re going to have some issues with accurately describing your items to potential customers, especially if they want additional information like product measurements or material composition. In most cases, obtaining such information will require that you contact the supplier on the customer’s behalf.

Little control over shipment. If the wholesaler/distributors ships something and it gets lost or breaks, this is going to reflect badly on you and not the shipper. Again, you will need to work with your wholesaler/distributor to rectify the situation.

Retailer responsibility. No matter whose fault it is, you are ultimately responsible for making things right with the customer. You must never give out your wholesaler’s/distributor’s information and ask your customer to contact the company directly; not only is this highly unprofessional, it also negates the customer’s need to deal with you (i.e., the customer can now get the wholesale discount on his/her own).

The Bottom Line

If you can do your homework and make the necessary contacts with several wholesalers/distributors, drop shipping may be a good source of income for you. Some people even do drop shipping as their full-time business, making a good profit from the hundreds or even thousands of products sold every month. For example, Chris Guillebeau of The $100 Startup writes in his book section “Stumbling onto Freedom” how he “…started by importing coffee from Jamaica, selling it online because I saw other people making money from it; I didn’t have any special skills in importing, roasting, or selling.”

Beware of any shortcut methods when obtaining wholesaler/distributor lists, however; most list sites are scams and sell irrelevant lists that get you nowhere or put you in direct competition with a hundred other retailers. In short, don’t take shortcuts.

Can You Make Money Through Crowdsourcing?

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Jeff Howe, in his June 2006 article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing”, called crowdsourcing “The new pool of cheap labor: everyday people using their spare cycles to create content, solve problems, even do corporate R & D.” In essence, crowdsourcing utilizes the combined efforts of a group of people to help a person or business resolve a problem, create a new product, etc.

The person or business compensates the group’s efforts by either paying all participants a nominal fee or by awarding prizes to those individuals that come up with the best resolution, idea, etc. Unlike employees, these people are not directly hired or fired by the person/business. Also, since this group is derived from the general (i.e., anonymous) public, it is not considered outsourced labor.

Crowdsourcing is not new. Back in 1714, the British government offered The Longitude Prize to anyone who could find a way to determine a ship’s east/west coordinates at sea. Built in 1827, the Fourneyron hydraulic turbine was the result of a crowdsourcing competition created by The French Society for the Encouragement of Industry.

Modern examples of crowdsourcing include iStockphoto, an image-sharing site that features the work of amateur photographers for $1-$5. There is also Threadless, where community members submit and vote on which T-shirt designs should be produced. GeniusCrowds, a product invention site that I myself was a part of for six months, offers members the opportunity to submit their product ideas and vote for the ones that should be developed into prototypes.

Crowdsourcing Site Compensation

Crowdsourcing sites fall into one of two categories in terms of their compensation: pay-on-task or contest/prize. The pay-on-task sites offer a nominal level of compensation, say $1-$30, for a completed task. It’s not a lot of money but at least it’s a guaranteed amount of pay. Contest/prize sites pay significantly more money or offer job contracts, product prototypes and royalties; however, there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually win that amount or get that offer. Overall, it’s best to find out beforehand just what you’re (not) signing up for with a crowdsourcing site.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Crowdsourcing

Crowdsourcing has many benefits for the sponsoring person or business, including access to a vast pool of talented and cheap workers, instant feedback on product ideas, little/no overhead (e.g., severance pay), free marketing and customer loyalty. Furthermore, those individuals that best perform on a crowdsourcing project can later be retained as contractors or employees, reducing a business’s hiring costs. For crowdsourcing members, the benefits of crowdsourcing include personal satisfaction from seeing a product idea realized, feedback from community members, job offers and monetary (or other) compensation.

Crowdsourcing also has its disadvantages. For starters, payments to crowdsource members are rather low. Ownership of your original ideas, designs, etc. is uncertain and the business may later capitalize on your submissions without compensating you. Because crowdsourcing is conducted in an open and public forum, competing businesses can easily swoop in and steal your work.

Crowdsourcing Sites

Despite its criticisms, crowdsourcing is here to stay. Here is a list of crowdsourcing sites that pay money and/or offer monetary prizes for various member tasks:

crowdSPRING: With nearly 90,000 members and roughly 250 ongoing projects, crowdSPRING is one of the biggest and most competitive crowdsourcing sites online. Monetary prizes range from $100-$1,000 for winning a task like naming a company, designing a logo or image, or creating a home page. If you are an accomplished artist or programmer, this may be the place for you.

Crowdtap: This site assigns you points based on your activity, whether it be through posting Facebook Likes, providing product feedback, answering questions or even hosting product-related parties. When you have attained enough points, you can cash them in for gift cards or donate them to charity. Also, 5% of your earnings are donated to a charity that you select from the Crowdtap site with Crowdtap matching your donation amount.

IdeaOffer: This site allows you to view projects that are in need of ideas. If you submit an idea and it is picked as the “winner” you get paid up to $100. Most winning ideas pay out between $5-$15. Here’s one example project and idea:

Daycare in Grocery stores
I have been all over the United States and there has been only one store that I’ve come across that had a childcare or babysitter inside of the store. There was a woman inside of a kids play area that was hired to watch the customers children while they are busy shopping. I would really like to see more of this being that there are a lot of parents out there that could use a hand while trying to focus on shopping. If this a good idea?

Mechanical Turk: Amazon’s micro-labor site offers members a chance to perform Human Intelligence Tasks, or HITs, for a few pennies per completed task. These HITs are easy to do for a human but are a bit too complex for a computer to understand. An example task might include something as simple as finding a URL’s Page Rank for $0.12 or writing a 350+ English resource article for $17.50. Personally, I have found the cheaper HITs to not be worth my time because I had to first contact the task requester and wait for a response before completing the task. However, the more highly priced HITs are worthwhile if you can complete them quickly.

NamingForce: Much like IdeaOffer, NamingForce focuses on the creation of product and domain names. Prizes for submitting a winning name range from $50-$250. It’s easy to sign up to the site and start inputting names almost immediately or just start voting for the names that you like the best. Pro Namers, which are those members who submit at least 200 votes in 30 days, can win as much as $500.

My Personal Experience with Crowdsourcing

As I mentioned before, I was part of GeniusCrowds for six months. During that time, I submitted a lot of invention ideas, some of which were touted as quite innovative by the community members. However, my ideas were never selected for prototype development. After some time had passed, I decided I’d be better off developing these product ideas on my own. Now I just need to get motivated and build my very own human-powered TV.

I also signed up for Crowdtap several months ago. The site doesn’t offer much in terms of instant pay but I am getting closer to cashing in my points for an Amazon gift card. I’ve also had the opportunity to provide feedback on several products that only months later appeared on store shelves.

Entrepreneurial Book Review: Chris Guillebeau’s The $100 Startup

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This month, author, world traveler and rebel-with-a-cause Chris Guillebeau released The $100 Startup, a book that shakes you up and tells you, hey, if you were ever planning to start a business, the time is NOW.

That’s right- forget about getting an MBA or that $50,000 small business loan.

An 80-page business plan? Employees? Nope.

All you need to follow is Chris’ very own business blueprint for success, and The $100 Startup shows you how to make one and fill it out. In fact, some of the blueprint sections are provided right on The 100 Startup website.

Chris went from working for “The Man” to running his own small shipping business. Eventually, he embarked upon his life dream of traveling the world and, in the process, capitalized on his knowledge of flying on the cheap (i.e., Frequent Flyer Master). In his new book, Chris offers loads of useful information for the would-be business entrepreneur, from what benefit(s) to offer customers (notice I didn’t say products) to writing a one-page business plan to not paying for advertising. At every step of the way, several real world business startup examples are provided.

How did Chris become so savvy about startup businesses?

To begin with, as Chris traveled the world with his goal being to visit every country on earth, he naturally encountered all kinds of entrepreneurs. Many of these folks did not have rich relatives or the luxury of a small business loan with which to start their businesses. In many cases, these businesspeople started with very limited funds- sometimes as little as $100 (or fewer). However, they not only successfully started their businesses but even made a good income from them. As Chris kept encountering more and more of these people, an idea occurred to him: Solicit stories from unexpected/accidental entrepreneurs through an online and offline petition. The following 4 out of 6 business criteria had to be met:

  1. Low startup cost. Ideally, the business required no more than $1,000 in startup capital.
  2. At least $50,000 in yearly net income. Entrepreneurs had to earn at least $50,000 from their business.
  3. No special skills required. Skills had to be acquired on-the-job rather than through a degree or an involved apprenticeship.
  4. Full financial disclosure. All the numbers, including expenses and income for the past two years and next year’s projected income, had to be disclosed.
  5. No more than 5 employees. To maintain personal freedom, the business had to be run by the owner only or a small team of individuals.
  6. Passion. The business is based on a “follow-your-passion” model.

The response was overwhelming; over 1,500 qualified respondents were rounded up. A select number of these entrepreneurs provided their stories for the pages of The $100 Startup. Another 25 were referenced in the back of the book. The stories provided by these business owners contained the overreaching theme that passion can turn a profit. And with profit comes the personal freedom to finally go wherever and do whatever you always wanted to do. Thus, these entrepreneurs weren’t stuck in a cubicle or hustling from one business operation to the next with no time for a lunch break. In fact, many of these folks were traveling the world, engaging in worthy causes and charities and raising families- all while running their profitable businesses.

The $100 Startup is divided into three main parts and subjects:
Part I: Unexpected Entrepreneurs. Turn your passions/skills into capital. Package your product/service as a benefit to consumers.

Part II: Taking it to the Streets. Create a one page business plan, killer offer and successful product launch. Obtain free advertising and raise money in unexpected ways.

Part III: Leverage and Next Steps. Increase your prices regularly, franchise and expand your business (or not).

For every part, Chris provides a multitude of real-life examples taken from his entourage of $100 startup entrepreneurs. But the book is not all about case studies. Here are some great business lessons that Chris provides along the way:

Give customers the fish. Customers don’t go into a seafood restaurant expecting to make salmon risotto; they just want to order salmon risotto and eat it. Likewise, when you’re offering a product/service to your customers, don’t make them work for it; make it as simple and turnkey as possible.

Don’t sell a product/service- sell a dream/experience. Victoria’s Secret doesn’t sell women’s underwear; it sells sexiness. Harley-Davidson doesn’t sell motorcycles; it sells freedom. When considering your specific product/service, think in terms of what innate human desire it satisfies rather than what features it offers.

Don’t lowball yourself. You might think that a software package priced at $25 will sell more units than one priced at $75. However, a higher priced item will hold more value with customers as long as its value proposition is made abundantly clear (e.g., use our $99.95 coupon book just once and you’ll save more than the cost of the book).

If it’s not making money, don’t do it. It’s not about how many Facebook likes you have or how many people are following you on Twitter. If, at the end of the day, your marketing plan isn’t bringing in the bucks, then it’s time to scrap it.

Work on your business every day. Set aside time each day to explore new business avenues and/or sales opportunities, communicate with customers, solve chronic issues or review prices. Create something new in your business rather than just maintain it.

The $100 Startup Bottom Line

If you’re not interested in starting a business, then The $100 Startup is probably not for you. However, if you’re looking to create a product/service and sell it for a profit, Chris’ book will certainly be useful. In many ways, Chris’ book reminds me of Tim Ferriss’ The Four-Hour Workweek because it engages you in lifestyle design by having you leave your current job and start a business. Unlike The Four-Hour Workweek, however, Chris’ lifestyle design plan is more realistic. Chris also maintains a blog called The Art of Nonconformity, which proposes new ways to think about life, work and travel.

Mostly, The $100 Startup tips its hat towards a growing population of rebels-with-a-cause who don’t want to spend 40-50 years punching a clock and working to make someone else rich. No, these renegades want to turn their passion into profit and subsequently, that profit into personal freedom. In Chris’ own words, “There’s no rehab program for being addicted to freedom. Once you’ve seen what it’s like on the other side, good luck trying to follow someone else’s rules ever again.”

Win a Copy of The $100 Startup!

We’ll be giving away a free copy of The $100 Startup to one lucky I’ve Tried That reader! All you need to do is Like this Facebook post and leave a comment there! We’ll be picking one random winner on Monday, June 4th to receive a free copy of The $100 Startup!

Best of luck!

7 Websites that pay $50 or More for Guest Blog Posts

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Writing content for others can be discouraging in terms of appreciation (i.e., pay). You pour your heart and soul into a 500-word article for Yahoo! Voices, let’s say, and make a measly $4.50 for your efforts. Or you keep finding the following type of insane job offer:

I need efficient writers to write articles for me
I have plenty of work for only dedicated writers
Articles are simple; 300, 500, 750 and 1000 words
I will pay $1 for 300 word articles, $2 for 500 word article, $3.50 for 750 word article and $5 for 1000 word article (emphasis mine)
No milestones please, so if your bid has milestone I will not select you
Bid for $50 and I will be paying after submission of 5 articles, meaning that if you manage 5 articles within 24 hours then you get paid.
Waiting for bids. Thank you.

Luckily, there are websites out there that do take you seriously by paying good money for your guest blog posts. I’ve listed at least 7 websites that pay $50 or more for your writing. Keep in mind that all of these sites require high quality, novel content that is 500+ words in length and provides value to its readers. Some sites will edit or ask that you edit your content, while others might require an attached photo.

1. The Motley Fool Blog Network

Started at 1:58 PM in November 2011, The Motley Fool Blog Network lets the individual investor discuss stock, ETF and index investment ideas and receive critical feedback in the form of member comments. Furthermore, each syndicated (i.e, posted to Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Daily Finance) blog post is paid $50. If your 10 most recent blog posts average 2,500 page views or higher and the staff views your content as top-notch, your compensation goes up to $100/post. The best bloggers may even be offered a writing contract by The Motley Fool. To see an example of my own work, please click here for Fool blog posts by halina23.

2. The Krazy Coupon Lady

Heather Wheeler and Joanie Demer (who have also been featured on TLC’s Extreme Couponing) of The Krazy Coupon Lady accept guest posts on personal finance, saving money, finding coupon deals, etc. and pay $50 for each accepted post. I worked with the KCL team a month ago and was paid $50 by Paypal within 3 days of article acceptance. The site is rather busy, however, so my article has yet to be published.

3. Freelance Switch

If you’re a freelancer and wish to share your advice on the freelance life, helpful resources, ways to make your job easier, employer reviews, etc., then you’ve come to the right place. Freelance Switch will pay you $50 for your content the month after it is accepted on the site. You may also republish your submitted content to your own blog and to offline publications like magazines or books.

4. One Spoon At A Time

Paul Wolfe, the webmaster of OneSpoonAtATime, started paying $50 for guest blog posts back in September of last year. He explains why he pays this amount of money in a post entitled Guest Posts Wanted – $50 Per Post! Paul looks for unique content relating to online businesses- starting and marketing the business, streamlining workload, attracting customers, using unusual sales tactics, etc. He prefers content pitches and asks that the guest blogger actively follow and reply to comments. Incidentally, Paul’s explanation of why he’s paying $50 per guest post provides a link to a writer’s blog that’s also paying $50 per post: MakeALivingWriting.com.

5. Writers Weekly

Do you earn a high income from freelance writing, self-publishing, ghost writing, etc.? Share your tips on writing success with the ezine Writers Weekly and you could receive $60 for your guest blog post. The site asks for query emails first along with examples of your published content.

6. TheTechLabs and Pxl Eyes

Are you so adept at 3D rendition software and applications that others often look to you for help? The Tech Labs is requesting in-depth tutorials on programs such as Adobe Flash, Flex and Air and ActionScript 3. If your tutorial is published, you receive $50-$75. Pxl Eyes is requesting tutorials on all kinds of drawing and 3D rendition programs like Photoshop, Coreldraw and AutoCAD. Payment for an accepted PxlEyes tutorial can be up to $200.

7. The Change Agent

Teachers and students involved in social justice adult education can submit their content to The Change Agent which pays $50 upon acceptance. Additionally, students can submit articles, stories, essays, illustrations and activities to The Change Agent paper and be paid $50 upon content acceptance.

Bonus!

8. Leaving Work Behind

As of March 3, 2014, Tom Ewer has opened up his blog, Leaving Work Behind, to $50 guest posts (upon acceptance). If you’ve recently launched a new business or are simply trying to, Tom wants to hear about it.

Honorable Mentions:

The following sites do not pay $50 per guest blog post, but the writing standards for them are a bit more open and relaxed:

1. Social Moms

Social Moms accepts queries on the subjects of saving money, working at home, health and parenting. I was recently approved to write about MSG as well as super couponing for this site. The compensation is 5,000 points per published post, which equates to $25. You can request payout at 8,000 points via Paypal (i.e., $40) or at 10,000 points via Amazon gift card (i.e., $50).

2. Spark People

This fitness and nutrition website accepts content related to health, weight loss, personal wellness and motivation and pays from $25-$75 per accepted post. Articles submitted to Spark People are expected to be between 800 and 1,800 words in length. Full-time freelance writing gigs may be offered to top-notch writers. Additional writing and freelance writer opportunities can be found at Spark People Writers Guidelines.

3. Rock Solid Finance

If you have some great ideas on making and/or saving money as an entrepreneur, pitch these ideas to David Worrell at RockSolidFinance.com. If your article is accepted, David will pay you $25 or give your website/business up to 2 backlinks- the choice is yours. Be sure to read his guest blog post instructions first, though.

How to Make Money Online Even if You’re “Just a Kid”

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Summer’s coming and you want to make extra money- but you don’t want to be mowing Mrs. Meyer’s lawn again. The paper route is also not for you especially since someone ran over your bicycle. And your parents’ allowance just isn’t cutting it, not when you want to by cool stuff like the Xbox Kinect or PlayStation Vita.

The good news is that there are plenty of things you can do online to earn extra cash. The bad news is that many of these online sites require that you be 18 years of age or older. So, what can you do to make money online if you’re “just a kid”?

Browse the Web, Play Games, Watch Videos

If I told you could get paid to watch videos of cats on YouTube all day, would there even be a moment of hesitation on your part? Well it’s true. Create a free SwagBucks account and you can get paid to do just about anything you already do online. It’s free to join, you get a $5.00 offer just for signing up, and if you use the code IVETRIEDTHAT3 you’ll get a surprise cash bonus on top of the $5.00.

Swagbucks Bonus Code

Submit Content

Do you like to write, take pictures or create videos? If you said yes and are at least 13 years of age, you can get paid for submitting your content to websites like Helium, Triond and Gather. These sites are revenue-sharing sites that pay you based on the popularity (i.e., page views) of your content. Helium pays you through Paypal, Triond pays you through Paypal, check or Western Union, and Gather pays you through points that are redeemable for gift cards or cash through Paypal.

With Helium, you first need to find a channel that matches the topic of your proposed article. Once your article is submitted, other Helium users will rate it based on its quality relative to existing articles in the same channel. If your article lands in one of the top five spots of that particular channel, it will be featured and accumulate page views. Triond allows you to submit content in your choice of category and pays you 50% of your page view-generated revenue. The site also offers an online forum where you can make friends with fellow writers.

Gather is a content sharing site to which you can submit articles, photos or videos. You also earn by commenting on content submitted by other members. To purchase gift cards or obtain cash from your activities, Gather does require the involvement (i.e., consent) of your parent or guardian.

If you are 14 years of age or older, you can write for Xomba, another revenue sharing site that pays you through Google AdSense. Squidoo requires that its contributors be at least 18 years of age but will accept you if your parent or guardian acts as a proxy for you. This means that your parent or guardian needs to write a note to Squidoo authorizing your account.

Blog

If you already have a large online following and would rather keep all of your online earnings, creating and posting content to your own blog is a great way to make money online. Most online bloggers use Google AdSense as a way to generate online income.

You can create your own blog from scratch using a free program like WordPress and then pay a small fee for your own unique website address and hosting from a site like HostGator. Alternately, there are blog creation sites like Blogger, MyBlogSite and My Yahoo! Blog that allow you to post (and monetize) your content for free. The only catch with the above-mentioned free sites is that your blog’s web address will include a reference to that free site (e.g., http://www.yourblogname.blogspot.com/).

Fill Out Surveys

Is there a computer game that you recently played and can review? Do you like to shop at a particular store? Is there one brand name that you prefer over another? If so, then you can get paid for taking online surveys. If you are at least 13 years age, you can complete surveys posted by the following companies:

American Consumer Opinion
Cash Crate (with parent/guardian permission)
NPD Online Research
Palm Research
Squishy Cash
TeenEyes
Toluna

Most of these companies pay via Paypal, but some do send checks by mail. Other companies allow you to “cash out” by trading in your money or points for gift cards.

Create Your Own Job

What if you have a talent for singing, can create an animated cartoon, or are good at programming? Fiverr allows you to post odd jobs that you will do for just $5. Keep in mind that Fiverr pays you only $4 out of the $5 that you earn through the site- but hey, it’s still $4 that you didn’t have before. Fiverr payments are made via Paypal.

Sell Stuff

Ebay is by far the #1 site to sell stuff online, from your old textbooks to that itchy sweater your Aunt Sally gave you for your birthday. Ebay’s policy regarding underage members is pretty clear:

“You must be at least 18 years old to be an eBay member. A person under 18 can use an adult’s account with the permission of the account holder. However, the account holder is responsible for everything done with that account.”

So, if you can prove that you are trustworthy to your folks, you should be able to sell (or buy) on Ebay.

The problem with Google AdSense and Paypal

Many other sites are open to minors beyond those listed above. However, the major problem with many of these sites is that, even if they do permit underage user sign-ups, their payment structures are largely geared towards Google AdSense and/or Paypal account holders. In case you didn’t know, both AdSense and Paypal require their users to be 18 years of age or older.

There is a way around this age requirement, however, and again, it goes back to your parents or guardians. An adult Google AdSense account holder can allow a minor to use his or her AdSense code. Likewise, a parent or guardian can set up a student Paypal account for a minor, allowing that minor to collect money online through any site that pays via Paypal. So, now’s the time to show your folks how responsible and trustworthy you can be.

How are you making money online? Share a tip below!

How to Successfully Market Your Ebook Online

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Have you decided to offer your freshly written book as an ebook? Then you’ve made a wise choice. The Pew Research Center reports that at least one in five Americans has read an ebook in the past year. OverDrive, a distributor of ebooks and audiobooks to libraries, reports that ebook checkouts from libraries increased 200% in 2010.

Ebook sales are estimated to be $3.2 billion this year and to reach $9.7 billion by 2016, according to a market report published by Juniper Research. The main impetus for this growth is increased sales of ereaders and tablets like the iPad, NOOK and Kindle. With such devices becoming cheaper each and every year, more people than ever before are building digital libraries.

Even those folks who have yet to purchase an ereader or tablet will read ebooks on their computers or mobile phones. Indeed, ebook sales have become so successful that hardbook fiction sales have dropped over 10% according to Nielsen BookScan.

So, if you have an upcoming ebook to sell, you’re in good company. However, even with the favorable ebook market, you still need to invest in some marketing. Many authors subscribe to the “if you build it, they will come” mentality when it comes to ebook advertising; however, there is no guarantee that consumers will select your ebook from the many other (and even free) ebooks available. So, how can you make your own ebook stand out?

The single and most effective action you can take before releasing your ebook is to create your own fan club. Consumers who know about your ebook and who are looking forward to turning its digital pages are also more likely to purchase it than an unprepared audience. Such a fan club will also be of benefit to you should you have some hesitations about which chapters to include in or exclude from your ebook, whether additional points or explanations are needed, or even if your writing style is understandable for a given audience. Finally, if you decide to offer back-end products like videos, workbooks, classes or a second ebook, having a ready audience will increase the sales of these products.

How do you create your own fan club? Here are four different ways to do it online:

Create an ebook blog

You can start a blog for your ebook even while you’re in the process of writing it. This helps introduce you to your potential readers and lets them know you as a person. If you wish, you can create a forum for visitors to comment on your content, ask questions and offer suggestions. A blog also helps you rank well for your ebook title and subject matter in the search engine results pages, or SERPs.

Sample chapters can be listed in your blog, providing readers with an idea about your ebook’s theme and pace. These sample chapters can also be linked to a sales landing page. Finally, a blog is a useful tool for gathering subscriber emails, which can later be used as part of your email marketing campaign to gain buyers.

Start affliate marketing

You can offer your ebook through affiliate networks like Clickbank and Chitika so that affiliates list it on their websites and/or blogs in exchange for a pre-agreed commission. Doing this leverages your ebook marketing, effectively putting a team of salespeople at your disposal. Likewise, Google AdSense and Facebook Ads offer you the opportunity to advertise your ebook to a broad audience of potential customers, charging you only when someone clicks on your ad.

If you’d rather take a more personal approach with your ebook marketing, you could negotiate with individual website owners and bloggers whose sites you admire and would like to be featured on. This personal approach is time-consuming but advantageous in that you know who is marketing your ebook and what approach he/she is taking. Such a tactic also helps prevent your ebook from becoming associated with an unintentional or undesired branding (e.g., your ebook denouncing MSG is listed on the The Glutamate Association’s website).

Take advantage of social media

Marketing via social media is a great way to gain traffic, collect user feedback and create product awareness. Through social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, a message posted on your profile can go viral and reach a large audience quickly. This helps establish your name and brand in the minds of individuals. Furthermore, these individuals can interact with you by posting comments or questions, helping to turn your marketing monologue into a dialogue.

Direct marketing of your ebook via LinkedIn or Facebook is a faux-pas; however, if you offer incentives to your audience, as well as useful advice and content, your sales page will eventually become inundated with visitors. Furthermore, viewers who like your content will help publicize it, increasing your fan club.

Write guest posts

Guest posting is an ideal method for tapping into another blogger’s audience and making it your own. When contacting another website or blog, pitch at least two to three article ideas as well as the key points that you wish to make in each of these articles. You needn’t talk about your ebook exclusively; however, it is imperative that your ebook be mentioned and linked somewhere in the blog post.

Once you have successfully guest posted on smaller and lesser known blogs, start targeting higher Page rank sites, mentioning your past posts as a kind of blogging resume. This will expand your audience dramatically and increase visits to your own ebook blog.

Is Mystery Shopping Really Worth the Effort?

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For those of you who may not have heard of mystery shopping, it is an information gathering and quality assurance tool used by market research companies on behalf of their commercial clients. Mystery shopping may also be used by watchdog organizations or even companies themselves to measure certain parameters such as customer service, product selection, agent fairness, etc. The mystery shoppers who are contraced by the market research company or other establishment do not (usually) disclose their identity to the surveyed shop but act as typical customers.

They are also sent to the surveyed shop with a specific set of instructions; for example, a mystery shopper surveying a restaurant may be asked to observe whether the hot items on the restaurant’s buffet table are actually hot. When the mystery shopper has finished surveying the assigned shop, he or she fills out a detailed questionnaire at home and submits receipts. Once that paperwork has been successfully filed, the mystery shopper is reimbursed.

There are many market research companies that offer mystery shopping to everyday folks like you and me as a way of making extra money. There is no special training required to become a mystery shopper; in most cases, you simply submit your personal and contact information to the company and then check for shops that fit your profile. However, some mystery shopping companies do ask that potential shoppers go through their certification program before those shoppers can receive assignments. This certification ensures that the shoppers know and understand the company’s guidelines before engaging in mystery shopping. In such cases, the certification program is specific to the hiring company and is free.

For mystery shoppers who would like to get immediate preference on assignments from mystery shopping companies, the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, or MSPA, provides two levels of certification, termed Silver and Gold. These certifications are not free. Keep in mind that no mystery shopping company should require you to have MSPA Silver or Gold certification before you can start accepting shop assignments; however, having one or both of these certificates helps you get more and better assignments.

Focus on Cash Back Instead

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Mystery Shopping Scams

As with almost any work-at-home opportunity, there are mystery shopping scams out there too. “Middleman” sites that appear to be legitimate mystery shopping companies on the outside will ask you to pay an up-front or monthly membership fee before you receive mystery shopping assignments from them. Once you pay that fee, you receive the shopping assignments; however, these assignments would’ve been available for free had you gone to the mystery shopping companies directly instead of through the middleman site.

One of the best ways to ensure that you aren’t getting scammed is to check if the mystery shopping company is a member of the MSPA. Not every legitimate company belongs to the MSPA, but if it does, you can be assured that it is legitimate.

Is there money in mystery shopping?

So, how much money can you make through mystery shopping? Here is an example shop assignment that I completed not long ago:

We are currently looking for shoppers for great Italian restaurant shops in Madison WI.

Reimbursement amount is up to $70.

Shop must be performed with at least 2 adult diners.

We have lunch and dinner shops available in April and May. Shopper and guest must order two different entrees, a side dish and appetizer or dessert plus beverages. Children are welcome.

As you can see, this assignment did not make me money per se but I did get two free meals out of the deal. The shop report that had to be filled out within 24 hours of completing this assignment was rather lengthy and involved. Still- two free meals!

Here is another shop assignment that I applied for a few months ago (but was not assigned):

This batch of shops can be performed by a female or male shopper shopping alone or by a couple pretending to be getting married.

The main person doing this shop must be over 18.

Whether shopping alone or as a couple you need play the role as someone who is part of a committed couple looking for bridal sets. You can also perform the shop as though you are part of an established couple looking for “the set we couldn’t afford the first time.”

I need detail oriented shoppers between who are reliable and can write well.

These shops normally take between 15 and 20 minutes.

You are not required to make a purchase.

For this shop, you will be scheduled to go to a specific jewelry store. In order to complete this shop correctly, you will:

–Call ahead to the location ahead of time and ask their operating hours and confirm the address.
–You will visit the designated jewelry store, as a couple who is looking for engagement rings and wedding sets.
–Obtain a business card from the location.
–Submit your well written shop online within 24 hours.

Each shop pays $20 via Paypal.

As you can see, this assignment involves a call and visit to a jewelry store followed by a written evaluation of the shop. The compensation is only $20. Depending on where you live and how long it takes for you to visit and evaluate the shop, you could easily spend two hours on this assignment.

The Bottom Line With Mystery Shopping

To begin with, mystery shopping is not a scam but neither is it a full-time or even steady job. If you sign up with several mystery shopping companies, you will probably be doing 1-2 assignments per day at the rough equivalent of $10/hour. In some cases, your compensation will not be monetary and may include free meals, clothing, oil changes, product discounts, etc.

Personally, I’ve been able to do mystery shopping only because I’m now a full-time freelance writer and can therefore set my own work hours. Back when I was employed with an outside company, there was no way I could mystery shop around my work schedule. In many cases, the assigned shops had a completion hour assigned to them and that time typically occurred during business hours.

I’m not the biggest fan of mystery shopping but I’ve seen some of my friends “work it” and make several hundred bucks every month. As for me, I spend way too much effort on the assignments to really make them worth my time (which could be spent writing). Also, with gas prices rising ever higher, it’s hard to justify driving all over town for an extra $20.

Mystery Shopping Companies That I Have Worked With:

Here is a list of some legitimate mystery shopping companies that I have been associated with and some company reviews:

Confero Inc.

KSS International: This company offers shop assignments that pay anywhere from $5-$20 as well as high paying assignments like $40 oil changes. Payout is really slow though; my last assignment took almost two months to pay out by Paypal. I don’t do new shops with KSS until I’m paid, so I’ve done only three shops with them thus far.

NSite Inc.
SurfMerchants LLC
Synovate
Summit Scheduling

TrendSource: This site passes out a lot of easy-to-do mystery shops that pay $8-$20/each. However, I did have trouble with a Papa John’s assignment that was rejected on the basis of my photos- and similar complaints against PJ’s have been heard from other mystery shoppers. Payout is twice a month by direct deposit or check. Canada/UK payout is by Paypal only.

If you’d like to find mystery shopping companies in your geographic area, you can do an online search using keywords like “mystery shopping” and input your town or region. Alternately, you can peruse the mystery shopping member list published by MSPA and find out if any of the listed companies operate in your area.

How to Participate in Paid Clinical Trials in 2024

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Joining paid clinical trials is one of the easiest side hustles for anyone who wants to make quick cash, but doesn’t want the hassle of a minimum-wage job.

Today, you’ll learn what clinical trials are, and why they may be a good source of side cash.

I’ll even share my experiences with clinical trials, and how much I’ve been paid.

I’ll also discuss some things you should know before signing up for your first clinical trial and the top 3 reputable sources you should consider (plus additional ones) when looking for clinical trials near you.

Things To Know About Clinical Trials

  • Inpatient vs. outpatient trials

Inpatient clinical trials require that the subject (meaning you) stay at the facility for the length of the study, sometimes even overnight.

Outpatient clinical trials require that the subject appear for the initial screening and trial start and then complete several follow-up visits.

  • Control vs. test group

Study participants are categorized into control and test groups.

The control group is typically not administered the intervention and usually receives the placebo.

Participants may also be recruited for the direct purpose of being part of the control group.

For example, a study may need participants who do not have diabetes so that their responses can be compared to those participants who do have diabetes.

  • Phase I, II, or III 

If the clinical trial involves the development of a new drug or medical procedure, that intervention must pass through a series of tests, or phases, before being approved by the FDA.

Phase I trials assess the safety of the intervention relative to placebo.

Phase II trials assess intervention efficacy (i.e., does it work).

Phase III trials fine-tune intervention dosing and confirm efficacy in a larger number of people.

Other Ways to Make a Little Extra Money from Home

If you’re looking for some easier, less intense ways to make money from home, I have the following recommendations:

How Much Can You Earn when You Join Paid Clinical Trials?

The amount a clinical study pays its participants vary depending on multiple factors, including, but not limited to the following:

  • Medical condition studied
  • Length of the study
  • Phase of the study
  • Number of in-person visits required
  • Duration of visits
  • Inpatient or outpatient studies
  • Distance and frequency of travel required
  • Number of phone calls or virtual check-ins required
  • Effort needed to track daily symptoms and insights in a patient diary
  • Number and complexity of examinations required

The range of payment can be between $50 to $500 per day/visit.

To give you a better idea, interview-only studies pay lower. This is because you’re only required to answer questions and not undergo any medical examinations.

You can then expect in-person studies and studies requiring medical tests to pay higher.

Generally, Phase I trials pay more than Phase II to IV trials, as Phase I studies demand more time and effort from patients, in terms of longer durations of visits, more detailed symptom tracking, and more sample collections and tests than the latter phases of the study.

Benefits of Paid Clinical Trials

Aside from the money, however, there are some major benefits to participating in clinical trials.

  • Free Check-ups: For starters, clinical trials require that the subject undergo a physical examination, often for free.

If it’s been a while since your last physical check-up, this is a good way to find out about your health.

Drug trials often require more extensive examinations; you might be required to undergo an EEG, EKG, MRI, or complete blood analysis.

The findings from such normally expensive tests can be invaluable for your personal health.

  • Life-saving Meds or Procedures: Assuming you have a condition that is being studied in a clinical trial, that trial can even end up saving your life.

For instance, thousands of cancer patients sign up annually for clinical trials in the hopes that such trials will cure or at least delay their cancer.

However, even if all you have is a simple allergy, it is an annoyance at best and life-threatening at worst.

Participating in a clinical trial that attempts to treat your condition can go a long way towards ridding you of this disease.

  • Help Other People who are sick: Finally, there is the humanitarian aspect of participating in clinical trials.

Without human test subjects, many currently successful treatments for HIV and AIDS would not exist.

Likewise, many vaccines on the market today owe their realization to volunteers who willingly underwent testing.

Medicine does not advance without the altruism of human test subjects.

My Personal History With Paid Clinical Trials

Back when I was a struggling graduate student at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), I sought out and participated in a number of clinical trials.

The resource I used to find out about clinical trials was the website ClinicalTrials.gov.

It’s worth mentioning that NIH clinical trials are offered all over the United States and worldwide, not just at its main campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

My Paid Clinical Trial Experience at National Institute for Mental Health

One of the major clinical trials that I participated in was at the National Institute for Mental Health.

There, I underwent a series of fMRI scans as the control (or so they told me) in a gambling study.

This trial was actually quite fun because I got to gamble while lying inside of the scanner.

If I placed my bets just right, I actually won money in addition to the pay I was making from the study. I made roughly $100 for every hour I spent inside of the fMRI.

By the time my gambling study was done, I’d accumulated roughly $1550, with $50 of that money coming from my winnings from gambling.

After this study closed, I was asked if I wanted to undergo a PET scan for a Parkinson’s disease drug study.

The only hitch here was that the medication was radioactive. I made sure to ask every question I could think of before agreeing to participate in this study.

When I was done, I had $500 in my pocket.

My Paid Clinical Trial Experience with University of Wisconsin

Once I graduated and moved to Madison, I looked up clinical trials at the University of Wisconsin.

I located a Phase III allergy study and qualified for it once a skin prick test confirmed that I had a ragweed allergy.

For the next six months, I took a daily sublingual dose of ragweed extract in order to desensitize my body to ragweed. I also recorded any allergy symptoms that I experienced.

For this study, I was required to show up at the lab once a month and give an update of my condition (which included an annoying pregnancy test every single time).

At each of these follow-up visits, I was paid $75. By the time the study was complete, I was $675 richer and hopefully allergy-free.

A year later, the UW allergy study coordinator informed me that I had previously been assigned to the placebo group.

This meant that I had not been taking the study medication at all. Although this sounded disappointing, it also qualified me to do the allergy study again.

I agreed to a repeat study and by the end of another 6 months had amassed another $675 (and was truly allergy-free. Maybe).

My Paid Clinical Trial Experience with Pharmaceutical Companies

I also signed up for two clinical trials conducted by Covance (now Labcorp), a company that performs thousands of drug trials for pharmaceutical companies and other labs.

  • I signed up for a $4,200 HIV drug trial with Covance and spent nearly a day there getting qualified.

In the end, the techs didn’t like the results of my EKG very much and disqualified me.

I still made $100 for my time, though.

  • The second time I showed up at Covance, it was for a $1,700 fat absorption drug study.

This time, I probably would’ve physically qualified.

However, due to the large turnout of volunteers, a lottery had to be conducted.

Needless to say, I didn’t win—though I did make $50 for my time.

Covance pays extremely well for participation in clinical trials. However, the physical criteria for its studies can be difficult to achieve.

Also, because the studies pay so well, there is an overabundance of volunteers.

Some people actually earn a good living (up to $60,000/year) by participating in Covance trials.

Things to Consider

In the United States, the FDA regulates paid clinical trials through what’s known as its principles of Good Clinical Practice (GCP) that focus on human subject protection (HSP).

However, some clinical trials still manage to slip under the FDA radar and violate basic GCP principles. Protect yourself from undue harm by doing the following:

  • Always read the research protocol and ask questions.

If there is something in the protocol that you don’t understand, don’t be shy about requesting more information.

The study coordinator should know the answers to your questions. If not, he should know who to ask for clarification.

  • You have the right to end your participation in the study at any time.

If you become uncomfortable continuing with the study, then you have the right to quit it without losing the compensation you have received thus far.

Furthermore, a good study coordinator should ask you at every follow-up visit if you wish to continue the study.

  • Remember that not all clinical trials are safe.

Clinical trials test drugs and therapies whose side effects are still unknown.

Some test medications are dissolved in compounds to which you could have an allergy or other reaction.

If your gut tells you that a particular study isn’t safe, don’t do it!

There are plenty of other paid clinical trials through which you can participate and make money.

Where to Find Paid Clinical Trials: 13 Places that Welcome Volunteers for Clinical Trials

Trials can impact your life severely, so make sure you stick with the most reputable sources.

1. ClinicalTrials.gov

If you can’t find a clinical trial here, you’re unlikely to find one anywhere.

ClinicalTrials.gov houses the largest database of approved trials around the world, both privately and publicly funded.

There are over 350,000 available studies within the database at any given time.

As such, take advantage of their search form to find a study that best suits you. You can search by symptom, medication, body part, location, pharmaceutical company, agency, disease, and so on.

2. National Cancer Institute

NCI publishes its list of cancer-related approved trials directly on their website.

Those at risk, currently treating cancer, or those in remission are the targets for these trials.

Search by location to get the best list nearest you.

3. PhRMA.org

This one requires a little more work.

PhRMA.org publishes its full list of approved pharmaceutical companies.

You can click through each member on that list to find available trials.

The list does include location, which is great if you land clinical trials that last two or more months.

Your odds of finding an approved clinical trial increase by picking locations nearest you.

4. Fortrea (Formerly Labcorp)

As I mentioned above, Fortrea, formerly Labcorp, executes clinical research studies on behalf of the world’s pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations.

They conduct over 100 drug trials every year and have been involved in the development of the top 50 drugs currently on the market.

You can search for ongoing and upcoming clinical trials in the US and in the UK.

5. ClinicalResearch.com by IQVIA

IQVIA is another clinical research company that performs paid clinical trials for various pharmaceutical and biochemistry organizations.

Their clinical trials are mostly in the US, though, so if you live outside of the US you might want to look elsewhere.

6. Syneos Health

Syneos Health is a company based in Quebec that hosts clinical trials mostly in Montreal and Quebec.

They mostly look for healthy, non-smoking volunteers, except for their Human Abuse Potential studies that require recreational drug users to participate.

A few of their studies pay up to $5,000.

What’s more, if you enroll in their database and complete a study, you’ll be eligible for their referral program, which pays $100 for each new participant and $250 for new participants who meet specific enrollment criteria.

7. Antidote

Antidote.me has a proprietary Smart Match search engine that makes the process of finding paid clinical trials easier for potential participants.

It involves answering a series of questions, including the medical condition you have, age, gender, and how far you’re willing to travel, and it will show you registered clinical trials and what phases they’re in.

8. Velocity (formerly Meridian)

Velocity Clinical Research connects participants to clinical trials to companies and clinical research organizations (CROs).

To find ongoing clinical trials near you, complete the form on their site with your information, and an enrollment specialist with Velocity will contact you so you can review studies that are the right fit for you.

If you yourself aren’t eligible to participate, you can still earn up to $25 for referring someone who is.

9. Clinical Hero

Clinical Hero works with various companies and clinics to recruit patients and volunteers for their clinical research studies.

On their search page, you can easily search for clinical studies by location. You can easily see if they need healthy volunteers or those with existing medical conditions, plus if the researcher chooses to display it, you can see how much they pay.

You can also subscribe to their mailing list to get information about paid clinical trials that you might be eligible for.

10. ICON Studies

ICON is looking for medical research heroes to participate in clinical studies.

Each ICON clinical study has requirements for participants based on specific factors such as age, medical history and current health.

The eligibility criteria in each study protocol are used to identify the volunteers best qualified to participate.

While participation in a clinical study at ICON is voluntary, you may be reimbursed for your time and travel.

Compensation is based on the length of the study, the number of overnight stays, the number of out-patient visits you attend, and also based on risk.

You may also be compensated for specific procedures depending upon the study.

11. Cen Exel Research

Volunteering for paid clinical trials at CenExel is straightforward.

On the first page of CenExel, you’ll get to see a list of studies, eligibility (age, gender), amount of compensation, location of CenExel center the study will be held, and if the trial is open for enrolment, ongoing or upcoming.

12. CenterWatch

CenterWatch, a WCG Company, has been providing clinical trials information since 1994.

Today, CenterWatch delivers critical industry insights to 150,000 life science executives every week through its newsletters, conferences, webinars, books, in-depth market surveys, industry profiles and clinical databases.

Volunteers can join by illness/diseases, but if you can’t find a suitable study for you, simply sign up as a volunteer and you’ll be notified as soon as their database finds you a match.

13. Worldwide Clinical Trials

When you participate in a clinical trial, you help move medicine forward and improve the lives of others.

Volunteers first need to get screened before joinign a study, followed by a health assessment.

You can immediately start a trial, as long as you’re eligible for an existing clinical research study.

Not all trials are paid. In some cases, you may be compensated for your time and travel expenses related to study participation.

Are these Paid Clinical Trials Available in 2024?

There are plenty of paid clinical trials are out there if you know where to look.

The paid clinical trials listed above are legit and available in 2024, if you fit the specific requirements.

Remember though that these trials have a starting and ending date, which means they won’t be available forever.

Also, stick with reputable sites as this is your health and well-being on the line.

I recommend checking out our guide on how to get paid to sleep or how to get paid to cuddle. There are some interesting clinical trials described there, including NASA’s famous paid sleep study.

If you’re interested in continuous learning, you can also check out my guide on how to get paid to go to school.