If you want a jump start on ideas, Jackie Beck’s 101 Ways to Make Extra Money In Your Spare Time may be just the book for you.

What’s To Like About This Book

This book is short and is a quick read.  You could read it in an hour or two and start working on a way to make money the same day.

There are plenty of ideas here for everyone.  Beck offers ideas for individuals from all walks of life with all types of experience and knowledge.  She even offers some unusual ideas that you may not think of on your own like selling prepackaged muffins to office workers and creating bulletin boards for teachers.

What You Might Dislike about the Book

Overall, the book serves as an excellent spring board for generating ideas about ways to make money.  However, some might feel that not enough details are given about each job, specifically about how to get started.

For instance, one suggested job is to sell bottled water, soft drinks, or packaged snacks at local activities.  There are only two sentences given about this way to earn extra money, but I imagine this one could be a bit tricky.  Who has to give you approval to do this?  What steps do you have to take?

If each of the jobs included more details about how to secure the jobs as well as what steps you have to take for each job, this book would be even more useful.

Is This Book Right for You?

If you want to make a grand per month and haven’t come up with a good idea or need a fresh supply of ideas, this ebook will likely fill your needs.  At $4.99 on Kindle, it’s well worth the money.  (Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still get it on your computer by downloading the software Amazon offers to read ebooks without a Kindle.)

While some ideas are predictable, such as writing blog posts for bloggers or becoming a virtual assistant, there are many creative and unique ideas that you may not have thought of.

However, once you hit on a good idea, this ebook offers only a few suggestions about how to find the job; mostly you’re on your own with finding and implementing the idea.

Still, you’ll find many creative ideas that you may be able to offer in conjunction with one another, like writing blog posts and being a virtual assistant or walking dogs and being a pet sitter.  Keep in mind, especially in the beginning, you may best be able to make a grand per month by doing several different side jobs during the month.  As your business grows, you can narrow down your services and specialize in the one you enjoy the most that also makes you the most money.

This post is from Melissa who blogs at Mom’s Plans.

I know, you may have put off joining Pinterest because you think it’s just a place for women to go to waste time.  (I actually had an artist friend tell me that when I tried to convince her to join Pinterest to advertise her drawings and paintings of Great Danes.)  If that’s what you think, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to grow your business exponentially.

We’re all visual people, and an eye catching photo can lead people, hundreds of people, from Pinterest to your website, increasing your traffic and your sales.  Whether you’re a blogger, freelance writer, crafter, or anything else in between, joining Pinterest and embracing the medium can help grow your business faster than you realize.

Pinterest Rules

Before you start pinning in earnest, know that there are Pinterest rules of etiquette.  Namely, you should only pin your own material about 10% of the time.  The rest of the time you should be pinning others’ content.

Second, have great pictures.  If you have great pictures and catchy captions, you’ll increase the chance that your pin will go viral.  You can use software like picmonkey.com for free to edit your photos and make them Pinterest-friendly.

Third, spend a few minutes a day on Pinterest.  The most popular pinning times are 2 to 4 p.m. EST and after 8 p.m. EST.  Spend a few minutes each day during these times pinning content for the most traffic.

Finally, pin things that should interest your readers.  For instance, if you are a personal trainer, you probably don’t want to pin a recipe for brownies, unless of course it’s a healthy recipe like Black Bean Brownies.  Pin things that help your customers improve their lives.

How to Learn More about Pinterest

If you’re at a loss as how to utilize Pinterest, there are several places you can turn for help.  The eBook, Pinterest Savvy:  How I Got 1 Million+ Followers on Pinterest by Melissa Taylor is available for the low cost of $4.97.  (Sometimes the book is even offered for free, which it was when I downloaded it.)

This eBook is a quick read, but it’s full of useful information that will help you utilize your Pinterest page to increase your bottom line.  The chapter on how to use Pinterest for Business is the best chapter in the whole book.

Or, just search the web for “Pinterest tutorials” and you’ll find posts on blogs and YouTube explaining Pinterest.

Pinterest is a growing medium, but it’s still in its infancy.  The earlier you get on Pinterest, the better your chance of growing your profile and sending significant traffic to your side gig.  Who knows?  Maybe Pinterest could help you earn more than $1,000 a month if you’re willing to try and to learn how to be a successful pinner.

Three Questions to Ask Yourself

First, start off by asking about your risk tolerance.  Do you have plenty of other funds and can afford to lose some?  Would the thought of losing money keep you awake at night?  These types of questions can point you toward certain investments.  Less risky investments such as CD’s or balanced mutual funds might be appropriate as you near retirement.  On the other hand you might want to speculate in commodities or forex.

Risk can sometimes be a manifestation of knowledge and experience.  It would be incredibly risky for me to fly a plane since I am not a pilot, but someone with the knowledge and training can fly a plane safely.  So the second question should be related to your personal investment experience and knowledge.  If you have never invested before, you might be wise to start with less risky investments and gain some knowledge.

You can also begin by trading a demo account.  There are many stock and forex websites, like this site, that offer not only information but the opportunity to practice trading without the risk of losing your hard earned money until you get some needed knowledge and experience.

The third question that I would ask relates to the level of involvement you would like to maintain.  Some people would rather allow their investments to operate on auto-pilot using investment managers or index funds or even REITs.  This hands-off approach has some advantages in that it allows you more time to enjoy life.  However, you still have to be vigilant because too many celebrities have found out that there are those who would take advantage of this type of arrangement.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who prefer to manage their own investments.  This can take quite a bit of time, and money can be lost before experience is gained.  However, there is no one who is likely to care more for your money than you.

In reality, these three questions are all related.  The bottom line is how involved do you want to be in managing your investments and what types of risks are you willing to tolerate.  There are varying degrees of risk in each investment as well as risk in managing your own funds or allowing a professional to do so.  Just ask clients of Bernie Madoff.

I know, I know, you must think I’m crazy. We all live in a world where everyone wants to gather all the stuff they can before they die, but what if that wasn’t truly the end goal? What if that wasn’t the source of happiness (by the way, just so you know, it’s not)? If all of us could simplify our lives and live on less, we would essentially never have to worry about money again. Then, if we happen to earn some extra, what do you think we should do with it? Why not invest it? We don’t need the money now, and rather than just letting it sit idle in a bank account, why not put it in a fund that will most likely earn you a profit?

It’s Time to Invest

Much like the inventor of this site, I too have been able to develop an extra grand per month through various projects. And, if we can do it, you certainly can too! So, let’s pretend for a moment that you are earning an extra thousand bucks that you really don’t need, so you decide that you’re going to invest it. If you’re 30 years old or less, what would happen if you invested in a fund that consistently earned 10% per year, and each month, you just continue to put that $1,000 into the account as well. How big would it get?

First of all, how much would that total without interest? You’d be putting in $1,000 each month, which is $12,000 a year, and if we continued to save this amount for the next 40 years, we would effectively save $480,000! Wow, now that’s a big chunk of change! With that amount of money, you could buy 24 brand new cars, a couple of very nice homes, or you could buy 960 brand new iPhones.

Now, let me show you the power of investing. Here is the reason that Albert Einstein called compound interest the 8^th wonder of the world. If you invested the money and earned that 10% interest each year, guess how much your investment would be worth at the end of 40 years? Instead of $480k, you will have nearly 6…..million…..dollars……!! That’s more than 12 times the amount that you would have had if you just put the money into a savings account. Instead of 24 cars, you could buy 295. Instead of two nice homes, you could have 24, and instead of 960 iPhones, you could buy 11,520 of them (I guess you really love iPhones)! Investing is a powerful thing, and if you’re able to live on less and earn more, I would strongly recommend it.

This post has been written by Derek from LifeAndMyFinances.com. Visit his site to learn how to get out of debt, save money, and be rich! 

Here are some items you may want to look at buying and selling:

Books.  While some books have very little resale value, others can earn you a few bucks to $30 or more.  If you buy your books at garage sales for .25 each, you’re making almost entirely profit when you resell them.  Some good places to sell include ebay.com and half.com.  Also, if you can find recent editions of textbooks in good condition, you can make a tidy profit.  An excellent source to use is bookscouter.com, which lets you enter the ISBN number of the book and see how much it is selling for on various textbook resale websites.

Clothes.  If you happen upon a garage sale that is selling designer kid’s or women’s clothes, you may want to snatch them up if the price is right.  I once happened upon a garage sale where a mom was selling all of her kids’ Gymboree clothes for about $1 a piece.  She had all the coordinating pieces to make a full outfit.  I bought these for about $2 to $3 per outfit and sold them for $10 or $20 each on eBay.  Women’s designer clothes can have even higher profit margins.

Furniture.  If you’re handy, you can find some furniture that is just plain ugly and sand it down and repaint it to make it look like new.  You may be able to then sell it for $50 or $75 or more.  If you can get the furniture cheap enough, you can turn a nice profit.

Antiques.  This category is a bit trickier since there are so many people who go to estate sales specifically to buy and resell antiques.  However, if you know something about antiques, you may be able to hold your own and resell what you find.  The profit margin can be even higher, as long as you know what a fair buying price is and what you should be able to sell the item for.

If you like heading out to garage sales, thrift stores, and estate sales looking for “hidden treasures”, so to speak, buying and then reselling what you find may be the perfect job for you.  There are only two major downsides.  You must have room to store the items, and your income is not reliable.  During the summer months you may make much more than you do during the winter months when inventory to buy is not as readily available.

This post is from Melissa at Mom’s Plans.