Sideshow Cash

Get paid to click

2008-02-15T06:15:00.000-08:00

If you are going to be sitting in front of the computer anyway, surfing the 'net, you may as well get paid a bit, right?

I've signed up for a couple of paid to read (PTR) and paid to click (PTC) sites. The money is not huge -- in fact, it's very tiny -- but, it's a chance to take time that would be spent earning nothing and make it into earning just a little something.

My favorite PTC right now is Clix4Coins. They usually have four or five links each day, and usually pay about two cents a click (although, I have seen one cent or three cents). They also have registration ads, where you are paid nine cents for a free registration. This is less than you'd get on a site like cashcrate, but, it pays instantly when you confirm by giving them a code word from your confirmation email.

They even pay a $3 bonus for signing up.

FInally put something up on Associated Content!

2007-03-27T11:19:00.000-07:00

Go check it out, one of my money-saving articles is on AC!

I wish I'd thought of this before... I offered them one of my older articles that I'd never published anywhere under a non-exclusive contract. This means that it can be published elsewhere. I was offered $5.71!

Not a kings ransom, but, not bad at all for something I can also put on my blog and offer through Constant Content.

Anyway, give it a read and tell me what you think!

I gots ~SKILLZ~

2007-02-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, the tone of the headline is ironic, but the message is not.

You will greatly enhance your options for picking up some sideshow cash by oomphing up your skills. The more you know how to do, and the better you can do it, the more opportunities you can take advantage of. A few of my recommendations:

Learn MS Office programs. You can pull in some nice casual paychecks by picking up the odd temp job. However, if you want to do anything more than file for $6/hr, you will need to know how to use Word, Excel, and proabbly also Access. My first temp job ever was filling in for a receptionist who was out of town. I really had no responsibilities outside of distributing mail twice a day and answering the phone. So, during my downtime, I played with the tutorials that came with all those programs. When the gig was done, I went back to my agency and asked to retest on all of those applications. My pay on my next job through them jumped by $2/hr. That's a hell of a raise.

There are some downloadable tutorials here that look pretty similar to what I used back when I was learning those applications.

Learn basic html. Even if your ambitions do not include designing webpages, a simple knowledge of html is helpful in, say, adding a referral link to a message. Once you are comfortable, you can use what you know to build simple websites for referral programs, or add links to a blog.

I especially like the tutorials at w3Schools.

Learn how to write. There's a pretty insiduous attitude out there that writing is a talent, not a skill. You can either do it or you can't. I think that's, frankly, crap. Sure, some people have more of a natural aptitude than others. However, anyone can learn proper grammar, and those who wish to study a bit can learn how to improve their written communication.

Any semi-decent writer (and even some who are frankly atrocious) can pick up small bits of extra money writing content for a few different brokers, and even make some money blogging on their own.

Two books I would recommend are Stephen King's On Writing and E.B. White's The Elements of Style. Both are enjoyable reads, and have a lot ot offer anyone who wants to write either fiction or non-fiction.

Yay, more half.com cash!

2007-02-20T06:07:00.000-08:00

I just sold my Rachael Ray "Guy Food" cookbook. That's an extra $6 in the bank. Shipping costs are reimbursed, so that costs me nothing. I wrap all my books in brown paper grocery bags that I've opened up and flattened. It looks fine, and the post office never complains.

It may not seem like much. But, I got the book as a reward for writing a 50 word review of my favorite vacation. It took me all of 15 minutes. So, Another way to look at it:

15 min work x $6 = $24 hour
50 words x $6 = 12 cents a word.

That's better than some other markets where I sell.

LIttle bit of this, little bit of that.

2007-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

First, just a quick report back on Mechanical Turk. I just pulled another $6 of side cash into my checking account from completing tasks there.

- I'm completely addicted to Geospatial Vision's image-tagging tasks. Each one takes me about a minute... so if I looked at it in terms of hourly wage, it'd be pretty pitiful -- around $3 a hour for most stuff. But, I find the work very soothing, and I can do it while I'm watching a movie in another window or listening to music.

- I've also been doing a lot of the trivia tasks. They've had a real crunch lately, and so have been offering more money on the factoids and questions. I've been avoiding the latest batch of trivia questions, since I know roughly zilch about the topic (boxing). However, I've been doing well on the factiods, and am hoping for a more accessible topic for questions soon.

In other news, I've finally figured out how to make money on moola.com (doh!). I don't have a lot of luck on the games, and have not really been getting ahead that way. However, they have a cash "booster" called "Search and Win." It's a search engine powered by snap.com where you can win cash up to four times a day by doing regular internet searches.

I usually only get a chance to get a prize about once a day, but it's been anywhere from a penny up to a quarter each time so far.

I just got five more Moola invites, too. If you are intersted in joining, comment here with your email address, and I'll send an invitation to you.

Awesome community, nice extra cash

2007-01-25T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've been posting on myLot for about a week, and picking up a little sideshow cash for my efforts.

I like this, because it combines a pleasure activity and an income-producing one.

I'm not going to earn huge amounts of money there, but, it might pay for my beer next time I visit the tavern.

The payment structure is not public... but, you seem to earn more from responding than starting a topic. They'll also pay a couple cents when you post relevant photos. Nice place to share the ones that the stock photo place turned down, right?

In other news, I just sold a bunch more books on half.com. I love back to school time!

click hehehee... click click giggle..

2007-01-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

There's money to be made with online games. Not a lot, usually. And, so far, I haven't found anyone to pay me to play tetris or minesweeper.

But, I have found three sites where you can earn actual cash playing simple games:

NetWinner - it's sort of an instant lottery. Entry is free, and you can play as often as you like. Jackpots range anywhere from 10 points (which equals one cent) all the way up to millions of dollars.

Exodus3000 - This is a turn-based game where you move about a Martian landscape mining in volcanos, attacking or joining settlements, and searching abandoned ruins for cash. The currency, Mars Dollars, can be exchanged out for US dollars, payable by paypal. I play most days.

Moola.com - here, you can play simple skill games against other players. The games themselves are nice little challenges, ones I'd play even without the payout. It's currently invite-only. Email me if you'd like an invitation. (weirdheroes @ gmail.com)

Selling clothes through internet auctions

2007-01-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

The Dollar Stretcher has an article up this week that is great for eBay novices. If you've never sold clothes online, I'd give it a look. She covers all the bases well.

A few points I'd add to her wonderful advice:

- if you don't have web-hosting, you don't have to pay eBay's prices for image-hosting. Check out imageshack or photobucket.

- Learn a bit of basic html to give your listings more eye appeal. W3Schools has a really good tutorial to get you started.

Dunno? Try duno.com

2007-01-15T10:58:00.000-08:00

I just started picking up some cash answering questions on an awesome site, Duno.

It's simple, people go to the site to post questions. You find them an answer. They choose how much Duno pays you based on the usefulness of your answer.

I picked up about $10 in just a couple of hours of messing around last night. They pay via PayPal.

I have a lot of fun doing it, and the extra money is always super welcome.

Sign up here.

If you don't have PayPal already, sign up using the link to the left.

Turking for Tiny Cash

2007-01-13T09:03:00.000-08:00

Bored?

Why not make a couple bucks doing tasks on Amazon Mechanical Turk?

Mechanical Turk is dubbed "artificial artificial intelligence." The name comes from the famous Mechanical Turk a "machine" that played chess. This amazing machine worked by surprisingly mundane means: a hidden human player was making all the moves.

Similarly, there are still very simple tasks that computers can't do. The solution is to get actual humans to do them.

Many of the tasks, to me, seem ridiculous for the sum. Fifty cents for a 1000 word article? I'll get back to you on that...

But, getting a quarter for finding a blog on a particular subject, or fifty cents to call a store and see if they stock a particular item is, to me, more than reasonable. I'll also spend a few minutes here and there doing Amazon's "three things" tasks. They're only a penny, but they are the kinds of questions people answer for free on message boards.

I've cashed out twice, netting about $5 each time. Not bad for a few spare minutes here and there.

A couple of Christmas ideas

2006-12-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

The holidays open up some great extra cash opportunities. A few to get you started:

Offer a gift wrapping service. This would be especially appreciated by elderly folks and others who have difficulty with pain in their hands. You could probably get started with around a $10 investment -- maybe even less if you scour the thrift stores for wrapping paper and ribbon. Advertise on grocery store and laundrymat bulletin boards. Also, call local retirment communities and ask if you can put a few flyers in their office or maybe even a notice in their community newsletter.

Another possibility: offer a Christmas light hanging service. I've seen places offering the service for as much as $500. If you offered to hang lights owned by the client, rather than renting out your own, you'd be able to offer the service for much less and still make a nice profit.

And, a third: if you are even remotely crafty, make and sell wreaths or mistletoe sprigs. When I was twelve, I sold simple mistletoe hangings for $1 a piece and did pretty well. The mistletoe grew free in the trees. The red ribbon hangers cost pennies per item.

If you try either of these and they work well for you, start thinking about next year now. Lots of supplies can be had very cheaply after the holidays are done.

Some good advice

2006-04-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Since I'm a bit of a dabbler, my income tends to vary wildly.

The Dollar Stretcher has some great advice for those with variable income in a new article.

It's worth checking out.

Caution: Freaky quasi-hippie lifestyles may not be compatible with market research

2006-04-04T08:36:00.000-07:00

I found a market research study posted on Craigslist, called and qualified. Pretty sweet deal: $75 to come in and talk about drinkable yogurt for an hour.

I went into the one on one interview, and the guy started asking me about my "lifestyle" and seemed very perplexed by the answers. I camp? In Florida? I really don't eat meat?

When he finally started asking me questions about the yogurt, he kept pressing me for more reasons that I enjoy it. (Since I guess "I like the taste" and "probiotic foods are good for you" aren't enough.) I still have no idea what he was getting at. Was I supposed to say something about dieting since, you know, all us wimmen folks are always dieting?

When he asked me about ads, I admitted I didn't own a TV. Instantly, his cell phone started buzzing urgently. He glanced at the two-way mirror behind him, and jumped out of his chair.

"Those are all of our questions today. Thanks so much for giving us some of your time!"

Apparently not watching TV is the greatest market research crime. Someone met me outside the room to escort me to the front desk. I half-expected armed guards to lead me out of the building.

On the bright side, I got $75 cash for a 10 minute interview.

Heh. Ya figure they'll ask me back?

Coupons on eBay

2006-03-21T08:58:00.000-08:00

Some of the oddest things can be exchanged for cash.

eBay, I've learned, is home to a lively coupon trade.

The ones that keep like items together -- for instance, all pet food, or all cleaning supplies -- seem to do the best.

If you have access to lots of excess coupons for free, this could be a nice little addtion to your income.

WSJ article on content writing

2006-03-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

In the eternal search for the extra cash, I've come across, and rejected numerous content-writing jobs. I have certain set per-word rates in my head that I just will not drop below.

A Wall Street Journal writer, as an experiment, joined web content's race for the bottom for one assignment. The results?

"I managed to get underbid on numerous jobs before snaring one from a Web entrepreneur I would come to know as "Whirlywinds." I would have to write 50 articles, each 500 words long. Topics to be assigned. Pay: $100. For everything.
.......
My job, it became clear, was to make enough small changes to the text for Whirlywinds to be able to pass it off to search engines as his own. Which is, in fact, what most of the "original content" on these sites turns out to be: cut-and-paste jobs with superficial modifications.
At $2 an article, tops, that's all anyone can afford to provide -- even in India and Eastern Europe, where most of this work gets done.

Not only is this a waste of time, this activity contributes nothing but garbage to the worldwide store of published knowledge.

Say no to cheap internet content gigs!

eBay not the only game in town

2006-02-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

eBay's increased fees have chased a lot of people out of the market.

Keep in mind, though, that even though eBay is the largest venue of it's kind, it's not the only one.

I know people who have done well through niche-oriented auction sites, such as GothAuctions.

Another option is marketplace forums on internet message boards. I post on two different general interest boards that allow selling. There are also topical boards -- for instance a friend of mine just sold his old cell phone through a cellphone themed message board.

When you have items to sell, do a quick internet search to see if there is an alternative forum that can work for you.

Selling Clothes

2006-02-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

I have this instant gratification problem, so I very rarely place clothing in consignment shops. It can take months to sell, if it does at all, you need to wait for a check...

Even though the pay-off is quite a bit lower, I prefer selling outright and getting my cash the same day. Check out venues like Once Upon a Child or Buffalo Exchange.

Don't have kids? No worries... the last batch of kids clothes I took to Once Upon a Child were a curbside find.

Extra money with a truck or van

2006-02-11T12:24:00.000-08:00

Many supermarkets will pay a bounty for the return of "borrowed" carts. Just call the manager and ask. I wish I'd known about this when I lived in an apartment complex two blocks from the market. The complex's parking lot resembled a shopping cart graveyard, and I could have made a few bucks walking those carts back to the store.
Used toner cartridges can be collected from businesses and sold to companies that refurbish them. Check the phone book for a local company. If there isn't one in your area, check google. There may be some worth shipping to.
I see old carpet padding on the side of the road all the time. There are companies that purchase it to make new carpet padding. Bonus: you can cut down on the landfill glut while you line your pockets.

Earn by saving

2006-02-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, the best and easiest way to put a little extra cash in your pocket is to find a way to cut a cost.

I had an opportunity to do just that the other day, in traffic court. Okay, it's much cheaper not to get caught speeding in the first place. But, should you wind up in the situation, there is a way to possibly reduce your costs.

When I went to traffic court, the judge said that anyone who hadn't had another traffic infraction in the previous year and pled guilty would have adjudication withheld and have 90 days to pay the ticket. When adjudication is withheld, no points are assessed on your license and your insurance company is not notified of the infraction. This all helps to avoid increases in your insurance rates.

When I spoke to the judge, I explained that I am a student and single mother, and asked if the fines could be reduced or waived. Hey, the worst he'd say is no, right?

He gave me a bit of a lecture about fiscal responsibility, but, in the end, he dropped the total of my fine from $150 to $60. $90 isn't bad for a couple minutes work.

Have a knack for photography?

2006-02-09T18:39:00.000-08:00

Stock photography may be a good sideline for you.

There are several stock photo sites out there. Carefully pick and choose the one that best meets your needs.

I tend to stick with those that allow me to retain ownership of my work, but that is a personal preference. Shutterstock has been quite good to me. If there are others you prefer, please feel free to leave them in comments.

2006-02-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

Quick cash tip of the day:

When looking for side jobs on craigslist.org, don't just check the major city closest to you. Often, telecommuting jobs which can be done anywhere are not listed in all cities. For instance, this ad for a technical writer appeared only in Chicago, even though the ad specifies "Anywhere, USA."