Need a job idea? Be a personal shopper.

Last week I was listening to one of Dave Ramsey's radio programs when someone asked him for ideas on second jobs.  He listed several, many involving starting something small that one can do oneself like lawn mowing or dog grooming, and then he mentioned a job that would be perfect for this time of year--or any, for that matter.

A personal shopper.

Instead of someone waking up early on Black Friday and fighting with the crowd, they hire you to do it.  Or, you may have a career couple who just doesn't have time to buy any Christmas presents.  Ta-da!  They hire you!

It's an interesting concept with an almost infinite realm of possibilities.

How much to charge?  It's all up to you.

If this works out and you try it, please let me know your success stories.  Please share them in the comments section.

Selling stuff at a consignment store

Consignment stores are not just for buying things, you can sell stuff there too.

If you have a horde of gently worn clothes and don't want to just throw them out, sell them to a consignment store.

Recently, my son brought his old football spikes and baseball cards to our local consignment store.  It didn't take long for them to be sold, and he earned around $30 for the entire set of cards and spikes.

For those who don't feel like selling on eBay or Craigslist, give a consignment store a try.

These magazines didn't sell for me on eBay

While growing up, I had acquired quite a collection of National Geographic magazines.  I even had the leather slipcases for them, and had a separate one for the maps.

Did they sell?

I only sold one set, and I had to cut the price down so much it wasn't even worth it.

Sure, if I had National Geographic magazines from 50 or so years ago, those were selling on eBay but I didn't have any that far back.

The same goes with my collection of Outdoor Life magazines.  Unless they were decades and decades old, nobody wanted them.  Those, I ended up throwing out and weren't worth the hassle of relisting and relisting on eBay.

Research what you have to sell.  You'd be surprised with what sell and what doesn't.

Keep in mind, what sells or doesn't sell today may change in a year or so.  Be patient.

And if you find a niche, like I did with my heavy metal T-shirts and magazines, focus your energies on that and keep duplicating your efforts.

Certain magazines are easy to sell on eBay.

Magazines.  Preferably old ones.  My best shot were rock and roll/hard rock/heavy metal magazines.  I collected quite a number of them in high school and my early college years--classics like Metal Edge and Hit Parader to name a few.  Make sure all of the appropriate posters are intact (of, if they're not, make sure to list it correctly and they are not intact.)

The condition of the magazines is a must-know for most buyers.  If the bindings are loose or the corners are bent, make sure to list it that way.  Even take pictures, as proof.

These magazines were the best for me, and the average price I sold them were around $12--but there was a few I sold for much more.  I've sold magazines internationally too, from France, Germany, even Japan.

For shipping on eBay, I highly recommend this method

I know most people aren't huge fans of the post office, but when it comes to shipping packages, I've found that shipping through the United States Postal Service is the best way to go.

Sure, there's FedEx and UPS too, but the USPS is (for the most part) the most economical.

For one, I highly recommend their Priority Mail Flat Rate for shipping most packages.  First, for a small fee, you can track it and even e-mail it to your customer for proof of shipping.  Also, if you have some bulkier items or even for simply ease of calculating shipping costs, the USPS Flat Rate shipping is a dream.

As the commercial says, "If it fits, it ships."

If you're selling on eBay, treat it like a business

Once you sell something on eBay and your customer paid for it, whatever you do, don't sit on the item for days on end before shipping.

Treat your eBay (or Craigslist) business like a business.

How would you like your items shipped?

Ship it right away.

Because if you don't, you'd be surprised at how quick someone is to comment on poor service.

I'm happy to say, even though it's been a few years since I've sold stuff on eBay, my rating is 100%.  Not that I haven't had a few hiccups, but those were all attributed to either a misunderstanding or a delay in shipping (with the shipper, not me), and I always corrected it.

What could you sell on eBay?

Do you have any collections you wish to part with?  Or anything you don't need anymore and would like to turn it into cash?

If so, consider selling on eBay (or Craigslist--although, I admit, I've never sold anything on Craigslist so my knowledge of Craigslist is limited).

The first thing I'd do is find out what similar items are selling for.

Items you think will sell well may not.  I have plenty of stuff from when I was a kid that I thought would sell well but never did.

For example, growing up I had a rather large collection of National Geographic magazines, complete with the leather vinyl slipcases.

They didn't sell.

I take that back, I did sell one years worth, but the money I got wasn't worth it, in my opinion, so I turned my efforts elsewhere.

What else I sold in eBay

In the previous blog, I mentioned how I sold piles and piles of hard rock T-shirts.

I also had quite the collection of rock magazines from the late 80's and early 90's.

Those also sold quite well.  I even shipped some out to various countries, such as Japan, France, Germany, and even Canada.

What I sold in eBay

Growing up in the 80's, I loved the hard rock hair bands.

Poison, Guns N' Roses, Warrant, Skid Row, Tesla, Motley Crue, Cinderella, White Lion . . . the list goes on and on.

Needless to say, I also had a pile of rock T-shirts.

I sold them all, and made quite a bit of money doing so.

I once sold two Motley Crue shirts, from their Dr. Feelgood tour: one for $30 and the other for $60.  For a shirt!

I definitely found a niche.

Hmmm . . . thinking about it now makes me want to frequent a few garage sales . . . never know what I may find.

Need to make a quick buck? Become a human guinea pig

It sounds crazy, but I've done it.

Near Fargo, ND, is a place called Cetero Research.  They test medications on people.

I didn't grow any extra arms or have my hair suddenly turn green--nor did I see it on others--so the tests are relatively safe.

Check it out in your area.  I've made anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.

The only drawback was that they didn't take any taxes out, so you had to be extra careful and figure out the tax right.  It was almost like one was self-employed.  Save at least 25% of what you take in, which is a rule of thumb experts say, so that way you'll have enough to pay Uncle Sam.

A quick poke for some easy cash

First, get your mind out of the gutter.  This is a different kind of poke.

There are many centers across the country that will pay you for plasma.  But you'll have to endure a poke in the arm, which some people can't stand.

In most cases, you can go in twice a week and sometimes can get between $60-$80 a week.  This may not sound like much, but an extra $240 a month can be the difference between a repo man and getting current with a vehicle payment.

The true face of wealth - it's not what you might think

Get-rich schemes are everywhere.  And it's not a twenty-first century thing, it's something that's been around for a long time.  I fell for just such a scheme (an MLM named Equinox International) in the mid-1990's.  I went broke.

The majority of the time, the only ones who get rich are the ones selling it, the ones at the top.

Pop culture portrays success in the youth, glamorizes it to the point where everyone seems to believe that once you've hit the ripe old age of 25, you might as well quit.

Mark Zuckerberg is just one such fellow.

It's not Mark's fault.  He just saw a need in the social media, and filled the need.  He just happened to make a lot of money doing it.

The reality is that most people who obtain any high level of success are in their late 40's and early 50's.  Why is that?  Typically, these people spent their earlier years trying out different things until they discovered what worked.

But can success happen after you've officially retired?  Perish the thought.  Colonel Sanders started his Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise when he was 65, using a portion of his first retirement check to do so.

What are you waiting for?

Do what you were meant to do.

Today.

Now that you've got a lawn mower, make some money at it

Looking to make a little money?

Why not use the lawn mower you just bought and start a little side business mowing lawns.

This doesn't have to be some major operation with a fourteen-man crew.  It can just be you.  In fact, that would be the best, if you're not going to do much more than make a little money.

A failed business

If you ask any entrepreneur if they've ever had a business that's failed, you'd probaby have a hard time finding one who hasn't.

Many businesses fail.  It's the nature of the business--no pun intended.  But many of those businesses are ones that probably never see the light of day anyway.

Years ago, I started a resume-writing company.  I had big dreams of what I wanted to do, how I was going to advertise, but there was something missing: I failed to do any actual research into running a business, let alone how to market one.

If I had met accomplished authors such as Seth Godin or Dan Miller back then, I guarantee the business I started would've turned out different.  I possibly wouldn't have started it.  Or, if I had, I would have had some marginal success.

My marketing plan consisted of putting an ad in the local paper, which included a free ad on their website.  It wasn't much, a few dollars here and there, but it added up after a few months . . . and guess how many bites I had.

One.

My plan was to get them to request some info, I'd send out a packet to fill out for a resume . . . and that was it.  No follow-up.  Nothing.

If you're going to have a business, check out there two guys: Seth Godin and Dan Miller.  They'll give you both the tools and the inspiration to start with, and they'll give you the names of several others to read as well.

Ever heard of eBay?

Seven or eight years ago, I sold quite a bit of stuff on eBay.

And you can too.

eBay has online tutorials that I strongly suggest you watch and study, if you're at all interested in selling anything online.

It's easier than you think, to put something up on eBay to sell, but don't be discouraged if you're items don't sell.

In the next blog, I'll describe some of the items I sold very well.