If you're looking to start a business from home then you don't need to look any further that Amazon. That's right, the world's favourite ecommerce store can help you make money as well as spend it. How? Through the Amazon Marketplace.
The Amazon Marketplace allows individuals and businesses of all sizes to sell their products alongside Amazon's own. Sellers thus get the benefit of being able to put their products in front of millions of potential customers without ever having to build their own website.
Sounds too good to be true? Actually it isn't. Amazon is a legitimate company that really does let you use their site to make money. The only difficulty is finding quality products that are cheap enough to let you undercut the competition whilst still making a tidy profit yourself.
There are literally thousands of wholesale suppliers out there, claiming to offer products at heavy discounts. Unfortunately, when you take into account shipping costs, the vast majority of them turn out to actually be more expensive than Amazon (and certainly more expensive than some of the other sellers on the Amazon marketplace). They sound good, they make big promises, but the figures don't add up.
I spent weeks searching and testing dozens of wholesalers. Most of the ones I came across were out and out scams; the ones that weren't didn't discount the products enough or charged a fortune for shipping. Finally, however, I came across one that actually seems to be working.
Wholesale-Portal is a wholesale solution with a difference: it actually works. When you sign up, you gain access to a high quality directory of branded goods that you can then sell on for a profit on Amazon (or eBay or your own website for that matter). You don't even need to carry stock. Simply pass your customer's details on to the wholesaler and they will ship the product direct.
Signing up also gives you access to some informative training videos, which really helped me to start out as an entrepreneur. I had very little business knowledge when I started, but with wholesale-portal there to hold my hand I actually managed to make a decent amount of money. It's unlikely to turn you into the next Richard Branson overnight, but it can definitely give you the tools you need to set up your own business that more than pays the bills. The sense of autonomy you get from being your own boss is great too. Highly recommended.
Sunday 14 July 2013
How to Make Money as a Writer
If you randomly stopped a load of strangers on the street and asked them what their dream job would be, chances are that writing would crop up again and again. And it's no surprise really. I mean, it's a creative job that often allows you to be your own boss, work from home (or anywhere else really. What about a beach in the Caribbean?), and work flexible hours. Also age is no barrier, stay-at-home mums (or dads) can earn whilst being around for their kids, and students can make a bit of extra cash to help with all those tuition fees.
However, as the saying goes, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. As every aspiring writer finds out, it can be frustratingly hard to make their passion into a viable income. You can labour for thousands of hours over a book only to have it rejected by publisher after publisher (although this is not necessarily a reason to give up - Gone With The Wind was rejected a staggering 38 times before it finally found a publisher). But it's not impossible. Below are a few tips as to how you can make it in this competitive field. It probably won't be easy, but if you succeed it can certainly be worth it.
Freelancing
This is where you take on writing projects in return for a fee. You are technically classed as being self-employed, and can generally choose the hours you work, as long as you get the project completed before any deadlines.
Broadly speaking, there are three ways to go about getting freelance writing jobs. Firstly, you could register with one of the many freelance websites, such as freelance.com, Elance, textbroker, and oDesk. These help to connect freelancers with people who want jobs done. You don't need to design or maintain your own website, you just sign up and start searching for jobs. On the down side, they can be very competitive and some people seem to be willing to work for very little. But a lot of the people on those sites have a less than brilliant grasp of the English language. If you can write well and keep to deadlines, you could find yourself earning a healthy income.
The second way to earn money as a freelance writer is to set up your own website promoting your skills. This requires a bit of initial effort on your part, but you can attract quality clients who are willing to pay that bit extra than you would get on sites like oDesk. Some of these may also offer regular gigs. If you decide to go this route, then there are a variety of website building packages on sale that can enable you to build a site with little to no programming knowledge. Or you could promote yourself via a blog. Blogs can literally be set up in a matter of minutes on sites like blogger.com or wordpress.com, without having to spend a dime.
Finally, the third way is to approach your local newspaper and see if you can get a few writing gigs. It may be a bit of a long shot, but maybe not as unlikely as you think. Local newspapers are often short on interesting stories and may be willing to pay for yours.
Write an eBook
Generally considered the holy grail of writing, writing a book was also considered the most unlikely way to make it - until recently, that is. These days just about anyone can write a book and upload it to Amazon, Smashwords, Payhip etc. But there's no guarantee it will sell.
In order to make a living from eBooks, you need to be able to write. It's as simple as that. Most eBook authors make very little; the really good ones can make a fortune. You might want to experiment with writing short stories first, in order to perfect your skills with less time investment.
Of course, as an independent eBook author, you are also responsible for marketing your books. You can do this using Twitter or Facebook, or you can set up a website for the book, blog about it, write articles promoting it and so on. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into this further.
Write Articles
There are numerous sites on the web that allow you to write and publish articles. For example, Squidoo allows users to write articles (they call them 'lenses'), which can then be monetized using adverts and affiliate links. You might also want to try selling your articles to magazines and newspapers.
Did I miss anything out? Feel free to add your comments below
However, as the saying goes, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. As every aspiring writer finds out, it can be frustratingly hard to make their passion into a viable income. You can labour for thousands of hours over a book only to have it rejected by publisher after publisher (although this is not necessarily a reason to give up - Gone With The Wind was rejected a staggering 38 times before it finally found a publisher). But it's not impossible. Below are a few tips as to how you can make it in this competitive field. It probably won't be easy, but if you succeed it can certainly be worth it.
Freelancing
This is where you take on writing projects in return for a fee. You are technically classed as being self-employed, and can generally choose the hours you work, as long as you get the project completed before any deadlines.
Broadly speaking, there are three ways to go about getting freelance writing jobs. Firstly, you could register with one of the many freelance websites, such as freelance.com, Elance, textbroker, and oDesk. These help to connect freelancers with people who want jobs done. You don't need to design or maintain your own website, you just sign up and start searching for jobs. On the down side, they can be very competitive and some people seem to be willing to work for very little. But a lot of the people on those sites have a less than brilliant grasp of the English language. If you can write well and keep to deadlines, you could find yourself earning a healthy income.
The second way to earn money as a freelance writer is to set up your own website promoting your skills. This requires a bit of initial effort on your part, but you can attract quality clients who are willing to pay that bit extra than you would get on sites like oDesk. Some of these may also offer regular gigs. If you decide to go this route, then there are a variety of website building packages on sale that can enable you to build a site with little to no programming knowledge. Or you could promote yourself via a blog. Blogs can literally be set up in a matter of minutes on sites like blogger.com or wordpress.com, without having to spend a dime.
Finally, the third way is to approach your local newspaper and see if you can get a few writing gigs. It may be a bit of a long shot, but maybe not as unlikely as you think. Local newspapers are often short on interesting stories and may be willing to pay for yours.
Write an eBook
Generally considered the holy grail of writing, writing a book was also considered the most unlikely way to make it - until recently, that is. These days just about anyone can write a book and upload it to Amazon, Smashwords, Payhip etc. But there's no guarantee it will sell.
In order to make a living from eBooks, you need to be able to write. It's as simple as that. Most eBook authors make very little; the really good ones can make a fortune. You might want to experiment with writing short stories first, in order to perfect your skills with less time investment.
Of course, as an independent eBook author, you are also responsible for marketing your books. You can do this using Twitter or Facebook, or you can set up a website for the book, blog about it, write articles promoting it and so on. It is beyond the scope of this article to go into this further.
Write Articles
There are numerous sites on the web that allow you to write and publish articles. For example, Squidoo allows users to write articles (they call them 'lenses'), which can then be monetized using adverts and affiliate links. You might also want to try selling your articles to magazines and newspapers.
Did I miss anything out? Feel free to add your comments below
Paid Surveys - are they worth the effort?
If you search for ways to make money online, sooner or later you are going to come across paid survey sites. These are websites that promise to pay you simply for filling out surveys. Sounds too good to be true? Let's find out.
After a bit of searching and deliberation, I settled on Swagbucks, one of the more well known paid survey sites. I signed up and started to dream of what I would do with all of that extra money.
Swagbucks works by giving you reward points (known as Swagbucks) in return for the completion of certain tasks. Although this post is primarily about paid surveys, Swagbucks also allows you to earn for playing games, watching videos, and using their search engine.
This author spent around 10 hours working furiously on Swagbucks, utilising a combination of paid surveys, games, videos, and search engine. The result: Less than $5 worth of Swagbucks. Hardly a viable way to escape the day job.
And from what I hear, my experience is all too common. Every year, thousands of cash-strapped individuals turn to Swagbucks and other paid survey sites in an attempt to make a bit of pocket money. In the end, they invariably end up disappointed.
If you want my advice, don't bother with paid surveys. They do pay, but at a fraction of the minimum wage. There are far more efficient ways to generate some extra cash, such as selling unwanted products on Amazon or Ebay.
Meet Latino singles
After a bit of searching and deliberation, I settled on Swagbucks, one of the more well known paid survey sites. I signed up and started to dream of what I would do with all of that extra money.
Swagbucks works by giving you reward points (known as Swagbucks) in return for the completion of certain tasks. Although this post is primarily about paid surveys, Swagbucks also allows you to earn for playing games, watching videos, and using their search engine.
This author spent around 10 hours working furiously on Swagbucks, utilising a combination of paid surveys, games, videos, and search engine. The result: Less than $5 worth of Swagbucks. Hardly a viable way to escape the day job.
And from what I hear, my experience is all too common. Every year, thousands of cash-strapped individuals turn to Swagbucks and other paid survey sites in an attempt to make a bit of pocket money. In the end, they invariably end up disappointed.
If you want my advice, don't bother with paid surveys. They do pay, but at a fraction of the minimum wage. There are far more efficient ways to generate some extra cash, such as selling unwanted products on Amazon or Ebay.
Meet Latino singles
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