Sell Yourself: Make Money from Your Body
When it comes to making fast cash, few things are as effective as
selling your body. And I’m not talking about the oldest profession.
There are plenty of ways to
legally make money from your body. You’ll get some fast cash, and, in some cases, your assets are renewable.
1. Donate Plasma(Been there, done that).
One of the easiest ways to make some cash regularly from your body is to donate plasma. Use
DonatingPlasma.org
to find a reputable location near you. You can receive anywhere between
$20 and $35 a pint, and you can go twice in any seven day period,
provided you wait at least two days in between. So, even if you only
make the minimum, that’s $40 a week, or $160 a month. Not bad for a
little fast cash.
2. Sell Your Hair
There is actually a market for human hair. It you have long hair —
especially hair that is fairly healthy — you might be able to sell it.
You can expect your hair to sell for between $10 and $30 an ounce,
depending on the color and quality of your hair. One of the
easiest places to sell your hair is eBay, but you can also check with local wigmakers and dollmakers.
3. Donate Bone Marrow
It’s a little harder to find a reputable place to make a bone marrow
donation, but if you can find one you can make as much $450 for two days
of your time. Be prepared, though: It can be painful.
4. Donate Sperm
Men can earn money through sperm donation. However, in many cases,
you have to be willing to commit to six months of specific guidelines in
how you can release your sperm, you can make up to $40 a donation.
$40/month for six months isn’t too bad. If you don’t mind making less,
some centers will pay less for a sample of lower quality.
5. Donate Eggs
Women can earn money for providing their eggs. The process is more
difficult than sperm donation is for men, but it can also mean more cash
in your pocket. If you are willing to give up some of your eggs, you
could make a decent amount of money — especially if you can show that
you have high intelligence and other desirable characteristics.
6. Paid Testing
Even if you don’t want to sell bits of yourself to make a quick buck,
you can still use your body to earn a little money. Drug companies,
cosmetic companies, and other companies pay humans to test their
products. You might be paid $10 to $20 for coming in for a day, or you
might be able to participate in a study that pays more for your
willingness to participate over time. Just make sure you are dealing
with a reputable clinic before you agree.
7. Join a Focus group
In some cases, all you need is your warm body to show up for a focus
group. You can earn anywhere from $10 to as much as $200 an hour to
participate in a focus group. I once participated in an hour-long
interview session over the phone, and was paid $150 for my time. One
place to look for paid testing and focus group studies is
The Paid Focus Group Network.
Sell Your Skills: Make Money from What You Know
If you are a little more patient in your efforts to make more money, you can actually sell your skills.
Many of us have things we are good at.
You might as well make money doing something you enjoy, and do well.
The bonus, when you sell your skills, is that you can actually go from
making money on the side
to turning your skill into a full-time moneymaker. If you want to
eventually quit your day job, and start your own business, a good place
to start is with your skills.
8. Share your talents
At one time, I taught piano lessons to young kids. If you have a
talent, you can teach it — and earn money. Give voice lessons, offer
dance classes, or teach others to play an instrument. Teach art, or
tutor drama students. You can also give other types of lessons. If you
are good at fly fishing, you can give lessons, or even provide guided
fishing tours of your local area. Think about a talent, skill or hobby
that you have and offer to teach others for a price.
9. Tutor
You can tutor students in a number of ways. My husband tutors college
students who want to pass a specific test to allow them to take an
advanced statistics course. Think about your best subject (it’s even
better if you have a college degree), whether it’s English, Math,
Science or History. If you are fluent in another language, consider that
a possible skill. Then, offer your services as a tutor. If you are
knowledgeable at standardized tests, you can provide your expertise in
preparing others for that test.
10. Teach
There are a number of ways you can teach — provided you have the
requisite qualifications. Be an adjunct professor, teaching one or two
classes a semester at the local community college or university. Sign up
to substitute-teach. I did this for a little while during college. In
some states you don’t even need a four-year degree to be a sub (although
you are usually paid more if you have a degree). Consider, too,
teaching online. My husband teaches an online course for a four-year
university, even though he isn’t on staff there. With the right
qualifications you could also teach for online charter high schools.
11. Freelance
Thanks to technology, there are a number of things you can do as a
freelancer to make money. Writing, graphic design, ad copy, computing
programming and other activities are all possibilities. Consider doing
some of these things on the side, and even making it into a full-time
job later.
12. Consult
If you know a great deal about a subject, it’s possible to serve as a
consultant. Green business consultants are in high demand right now.
But you could also offer consulting services as a social media expert,
image specialist, gardener, curriculum developer or decorator. There are
a number of people who hire consultants to help them find jobs, find
employees and even to help them communicate more effectively with
others. If you can be considered an “expert” in your field, you might be
able to consult.
13. Technology
If you know technology, you can hire yourself out to help others set
it up. From setting up home theater systems to teaching others to use
their smart phones effectively to removing malware from computers, you
can sell your expertise. You can even help others sell items online.
Offer to manage eBay auctions or Craigslist sales for the
technologically impaired, and you can earn a commission. You can even
help people update their media, digitizing images, or putting old VHS
home videos on DVD.
14. Photography/Video
I know three different people who provide photography services as a
side job. They do portraiture for children and families, and they take
pictures of weddings. You don’t even have to rely on events to make
money from your photos. There are stock photography sites that will
allow you to sell the right to use your images. If you are talented at
video, you can earn money as a videographer, or earn more to put
together presentations for parties and other milestone events.
15. Food
Baking, cooking and preserving food can be ways to earn some extra
money — or even grow a business. Decorate cakes for weddings. Show
others how to cook and freeze food for future meals (or cook it and
freeze it for them). You can even make jams, jellies and applesauce, and
the sell the results. Just make sure you are following all regulations
when you sell food.
16. Research
You can get paid to do Internet research in some cases. Various firms
and companies may need help gathering information and citing resources.
Or, if you are good with family history, you can do others’
genealogical research, and compile the findings. There are a number of
ways to provide research for those who need help, but don’t know where
to start.
17. Memories
Provide scrapbooking and digital scrapbooking services for others.
You can also put together photo albums, or create presentations for
those who don’t have the time or ability.
18. Personal care
If it’s allowed in your state or city, you can actually provide some
personal care services for others. A woman in my neighborhood earns
money on the side cutting, coloring and styling others’ hair right in
her kitchen. You can help with makeup application for proms and other
big events as well.
19. Care for others
If you are compassionate and good with people, it’s possible for you
to care for others. You can help with adult day care, or babysit others’
children. In my neighborhood, babysitting children is a very common
income source (make sure you understand and comply with state laws). You
can even specialize in overnight care for those who work odd shifts.
You don’t have to care for people, though. Pet-sitting can be a good way
to earn some extra cash. You can do as little as walk dogs, or as much
as provide boarding services for pets ranging from cats to lizards to
hamsters.
Passive Income: Make Money with Little Active Effort
In reality, even passive income takes some time and effort to get
going. However, once you have your system in place, all it takes is a
little maintenance going forward. To set up passive income streams,
though, you do have to be willing to put in some consistent time and
effort, although the amount of time and effort diminishes the longer you
continue.
20. Income investing
Build an income portfolio using bonds,
dividend stocks
and even P2P lending. You will have to make efforts to choose solid
investments, and it might take seven to 10 years to build up a
portfolio, but the time involved on a weekly basis is generally small,
and, in time, you will have a portfolio that provides you with a fairly
stable income stream — with little effort on your part beyond
maintenance.
21. Rental property
With the right property, and a good plan, you can actually keep up
with a rental with a relatively small investment of time. You can even
hire a property manager to take care of most of the tasks, assuming you
have enough income to afford it. A good rental property can be an
excellent way to make money, if you do it right.
22. Affiliate sales/marketing
Whether you do this online, or offline, affiliate sales and marketing
can be a way to make income fairly simply. You receive a portion of
sales made for products online or offline. This can include scrapbooking
supplies, candles, and other products, or it can include financial
products, like credit card applications. You can get involved with
affiliate programs online, which will give you a commissions while doing
all the order fulfillment, or you can be in charge of order fulfillment
(and likely make a bigger commission).
23. Web sites
It can take some time to build up a web site to the point where it
has enough traffic to bring in significant advertising dollars. However,
once you get the site built up, you can usually maintain it in a few
hours a week, providing you with a source of mostly passive income.
Another option is to buy web sites from others. In some cases, you might
even be able to get a web site that has already been built up — and may
even have a staff.
24. Royalties
Earn royalties from books, music or other creative endeavors. Yes, it
takes effort to put together your work, and market it. However, once
you are done, the money can roll in, without much more effort on your
part. Plus, in today’s world, many people self-publish ebooks and allow
them to just keep making money, in PDF format or even selling them in
Kindle format.
25. Create a product or course
Another option is to create a valuable product or course. You can
create a course to help others learn how to build food storage, or put
together a system that allows others to pay down debt. It is also
possible to create a premium product, such as an investing newsletter
that people are willing to pay for. While the initial work will be
difficult, once the course is put together, you will only have to
maintain, and wait for others to pay for access to it.
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