How do you make extra money?

pyro love bird on 07/08/2014 - 01:09

Hi everyone,

I'm a bit curious as to how you guys make some extra money, I'm currently a uni student balancing an enge degree (kill me!), working at a family business (for no pay), life, and everyday expenses. It's tough to make ends meet at times, but I've found that I'm able to work on odd occasions around the uni (sometimes they need someone to do some filing at uni for a couple hours). But aside from the odd job I don't have any income. I've found that keeping an eye out for the weekly emails at uni have helped find odd jobs around the uni, and keeping an eye on the notice boards means that I can find a study or two which pay pretty well (either gift cards or cash depending).

I also do online surveys when they shoot me an email, it's slow money, but at least every few months I get an extra $50. Focus groups are great too, but they're hard to come by at times. How have you found some extra money? This is all from a uni student sort of situation but I'd like to hear from those of you who aren't at uni as well.

Thanks everyone, I hope this makes for an interesting topic and hope you all have a nice day :)

Financial

Comments

  • This Guy on 07/08/2014 - 16:06
    -2

    Charging $15 pp under the Queensboro Bridge.

    Line up plenty of work experience. Screw making money now, you want a job at the end of your degree.

  • lenlynn on 07/08/2014 - 19:24
    +3
    1. Check out the pysch websites of your uni. I used to check them regularly and they usually advertise for volunteers. Studies like testing your reaction times, 3d imaging of your face, facial recognition etc, I think I've done them all.

    not too much compensation, maybe $10-20 each time but you can choose the time slot and put it during your gaps maybe?

    1. Donate sperm? Lol love bird right woot
    • gimli on 07/08/2014 - 21:23
      +6

      you need to get your editor to check your bullets

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:32
      +2

      Sperm? I'd be a millionaire if I could… I'm female, haha.

      I've looked out for them on the home page but I've never actually searched the psych websites, I will have a look around though, thanks for the tip!

      • hahaboy on 13/08/2014 - 21:47

        a female engineer! I don't believe you :p

        • pyro love bird on 13/08/2014 - 23:03
          +1

          I'm a rare species. Don't let me go extinct! :P

    • lostn on 08/08/2014 - 06:38
      +5

      Donate sperm? Lol love bird right woot

      Think very carefully if you're going to do this. When the children you helped conceive turn 18, they can show up at your door, and this will strain a lot of marriages/relationships. Especially if you didn't tell them you've been a donor.

      Also, you can't be involved in sexual activity for at least 3 days before a donation. If you're doing it twice a week, you only have one day a week where you can get some 'action'. It's a change in lifestyle, for sure.

  • upsydaisy on 07/08/2014 - 20:10

    Can you tutor at uni? Or a local high school?

    • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:30

      Have applied for uni, local highschools are all looking for volunteers and won't pay for tutors :(

  • jacknthebeanstalk on 07/08/2014 - 20:11
    +17

    I'm also a uni student and I work part time pick packing at a warehouse. I only work for 16 hours and I'll rake in about $380 a week. Although it's not easy getting in. You need to know somebody who already works at a place for such entry-level role.

    I hop on to pure profile and do some surveys on/off. I'll probably spend about 30mins max doing a few surveys and then a few days later do some. In a month I'll rake in about $25 and I'd spend it on my Myki.

    You can try call centres? $18 p/h. Mate says it's not bad. Easy to get in because a lot of people leave. He has no qualifications or anything. Did tafe and dropped out.

    I know some people who collect metal scrap and sell it for a bit of money on the side.

    I haven't tried these, maybe you can:

    Instaedu - apparently pays $20 per hour.
    "InstaEDU is an online tutoring platform that allows you to connect with students who need help in any subject, from any where in the world, and at any time. You are paid at a rate of $20/hr, by the minute, for lessons. Some details:
    You do have to apply. However, I think most people with some college experience and some kind of tutoring or teamwork experience have a good shot at getting in. The entire application process took about 3 days maybe before I was tutoring.
    You can tutor ANY subject. It's literally just a checklist of subjects you know. Any subject you check is one you can get lesson requests from students in.
    Pay is $20/hr, paid by the minute (after 5 minutes I believe). They use a third party paying service (WePay) so you don't even have to give them any sensitive info (they can pay through paypal as well). I've been using them for months and have never had an issue with getting paid. If you want, I could possibly post a screenshot of the payments in my bank account."

    Transcribeme http://transcribeme.com/pricing - transcribe audio to text $.33 a minute

    http://www.skimatalk.com/become_teacher?locale=en - $15 per hr face to face chat online to help people learn english.

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:37
      +1

      That's super helpful! Thankyou for the informative post :)

      I'm actually constantly on pureprofile and researchpanel (not as great as it used to be though)

      I was working at a call center at uni but it was super stressful and I constantly got sworn at/shouted at and there were some creepy ass alumni I spoke to. It was also a campaign which only ran for a short time unfortunately.

      I'll check out the tutoring one, the audio to text one sounds interesting, works out to be almost $20 an hour. The english one sounds okay too, but my proper english has gone down the drain, haven't studied english since high school!

      • jacknthebeanstalk on 08/08/2014 - 12:50
        +1

        Glad I could help.

        I have heard that call centres destroys the soul, hence why many leave, but I guess it depends on the company and what they specialise in.

        • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 14:20

          They all have one thing in common right? They're all into making as much money as they can and quickly as they can regardless of your situation.

    • StarkIndustries on 16/08/2014 - 02:31

      i dont understand Transcribeme

  • [Deactivated] on 07/08/2014 - 21:34
    +3

    Try free up a couple days if possible and get into retail or if nights are better stacking supermarket shelves. 40-45hrs for free isn't just hurting your hip pocket, that's got to be cutting into your study time

    If you can't free up enough time for a regular job, try vote counting and manning the stalls at the student council elections (read the student papers for ads - waste of fees..), focus group gigs (eg www.rtr.com.au), and running an eBay store (buy cheap from hk/cn with cheap long shipping and resell with quick shipping in Aus). Just be mindful your no.1 priority should be your degree and taking steps towards getting the right experience to get you employed after it.

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:41
      +1

      Thanks for the advice! :)

      I'm pretty sure the election stalls are all voluntary at my uni. Hasn't Ebay upped their fees and such? I've only recently started using Ebay and so far I've not had such a good experience with it.

      Thanks for the reminder, I know it's important to concentrate on my degree but I just need a bit of cash, I'm currently eating once a day and it's not a healthy meal either.

  • abc on 07/08/2014 - 21:40
    +5

    OP if you are ineligible for Centrelink why study f/t at all? Drop to p/t study and try and get a "proper" job which gives you work experience in your area of study (traineeship for example?).

    You will take longer to finish your degree but the upside is

    -You will be way more employable on graduation with potentially a better rate of pay as you are ahead of the other graduates through your industry experience.
    -Part time study should lead to better marks making your employment options wider (employers will look favorably on grads with high marks).
    -While a qualification will get you a job interview, it is no match for industry experience.

    The best advise I wish I had when I was at uni was don't try and finish it quickly and end up with mediocre results. Quality > Quantity.

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:43

      Thanks for the advice, parents actually think its shameful enough that I'm "only" doing enge. So there's no way they'd let me drop to part time to work.

      But that does make a lot of sense to do that. So thankyou :)

  • Connections on 07/08/2014 - 22:07
    +1

    If you have time try and do some surveys online or even focus groups. I always get these emails people looking for some one to come to a Focus Group for $50. Most are at random times and I am working and they usually want older people yet something to look into. Personally I would ask your parents for some $$$ help. I helped my parents for many hours for free yet it wasnt 40 hours a week maybe 10ish.

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:46

      I am currently doing surveys, focus groups seem hard to come by, I don't get many invitations for them and when I do they tend to want an older bunch of people :(

  • juventino on 07/08/2014 - 22:27
    +3

    OP, have you considered doing nightfill for Woolies or Big W ? It pays around $30/hour after 12 midnight. Most start from 10p.m - 6a.m

    Take about 170-200 bucks per shift. It probably won't hurt your studies if you do one shift a week

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:44
      -1

      I didn't realise it was such good money, thing is that my sleeping pattern is pretty bad as it is, I barely get any sleep most nights, but I may actually consider sacrificing a couple nights sleep if they're willing to pay me that much for a shift of work. Thanks!

      • frewer on 12/08/2014 - 21:50

        They don't do 10pm-6am any more ( only a handful of stores do it ), reason ? "savings" money. The current nightfill hours are 7pm - 3am. Try to get Fri,Sat and Sun shifts, are are get paid the most.

        Make sure you carries your own "weight" otherwise they won't call you again. It's very physical demands …
        So when you go for the job, make sure you ask them what hours you will be working with. Otherwise you will get paid the same as the checkout chick + back breaking works.

    • Haemoglobin on 08/08/2014 - 10:43
      +1

      From the places I have worked they don't give hours after 12, however Sunday Pay is good at $34 an hour.

  • bargin424 on 07/08/2014 - 23:12
    +1

    good thread

  • carlitos on 07/08/2014 - 23:49
    +3

    Its simple, the family business needs to give you money. Otherwise your better off working those hours at bunnings and moving out paying cheap rent somewhere.

  • Free Fall on 08/08/2014 - 01:12
    +1

    Definitely try your uni library, easy money for easy work. $19 / hr I got back in 2010 to help out at the counter and stack books. Shifts are usually 4-5 hours long, 5pm to closing time.

    • pyro love bird on 08/08/2014 - 01:45

      Hmm, I don't even know where to go to apply for work there, but I'll take a look, thanks! :)

    • StarkIndustries on 16/08/2014 - 02:33

      I applied to work at my uni library, they tested how fast I could put a couple of books back to the shelf where it belongs.

      I didn't get the job.

  • 729fx on 08/08/2014 - 02:12

    Buy women's underwear and sell it as used on Reddit.

    729fx on 08/08/2014 - 02:12 (Collapsed - Offtopic. Show)
    • [Deactivated] on 08/08/2014 - 03:54

      Do people actually do that on Reddit? (I'm not a Reddit-er so plz forgive my naivety lol)

      • juventino on 08/08/2014 - 14:33

        In Japan, there are vending machines for women's used underwear :)

      • Diji1 on 08/08/2014 - 22:52
        +1

        I have no idea but having lseen several pictures of "reddit meetups" it wouldn't be at all surprising to me.

    • h4zey on 08/08/2014 - 18:43

      LOL

    • johnno07 on 09/08/2014 - 13:48
      +2

      Considering the OP is female - this could be a legitimate money-spinner.

      • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:32

        Good lord! I'll die from embarrassment if I ever attempted this!

  • lostn on 08/08/2014 - 06:23
    +4

    Buy some clearance items and do a 'broden'.

  • ahly92 on 08/08/2014 - 07:38

    develop a genius website like ozbargain and make $$$$$ per year

  • chukkii on 08/08/2014 - 08:32
    +1

    I feel your pain possible fellow asian. I worked in a family restaurant from the ages of 14-25 up until they finally closed.

    For extra money I would strongly suggest looking at seasonal part-time work. I used to work at Australia Post during the school break for the Christmas rush. I was 19 at the time and was getting ~$28/hr. The hours were shitty (i worked a 8pm-4am shift) but I put away around $4000 a month and there are other shifts at more reasonable hours (and at 19 years of age, I wasn't getting full rates!)

    What i liked about the christmas casual at aust post is that you get 7.25 hours a day, everyday for about two months at the end of the year AFTER uni.

    I also used to sell torrent invites on ebay. Wasn't fantastic money but I made about $200-300 a month.

    Look at getting a job at an Aldi, I hear they pay really well compared to woolies/coles, if you're at all gifted in music

    • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:33

      No Aldi in WA D:

      Will be looking to work at Aust Post though, it sounds great :D

      • StarkIndustries on 16/08/2014 - 02:35

        I've worked at Aus Post as a christmas casual for around hmm.. 3 years and I've made around 14k based on just crhistmas casual however this includes overtime etc

    • chukkii on 11/08/2014 - 07:44

      Whoops! looks like my post got cut off!

      if you're at all gifted in music or math or any other subject, look at some tutoring gigs. You can create timeslots so the students fit around your schedule!

    • nubzy on 16/08/2014 - 18:21

      what does it involve working at Australia Post?? I assume this is in the dispatch warehouses not just serving at an AP shop?

  • pitufon on 08/08/2014 - 10:27

    buy and sell games. usually if bought in bulk you buy cheaper. and then sell for an extra $5-$10 extra, it requires dedication but the profit can off set MY gaming obsession. lol

    • wonderboy on 08/08/2014 - 13:09
      +2

      I did this when EB offered $100+ for trade ins and JB had the exclusion list.

      1) Buy 3 cheap games for max of $30. I think I bought We Dare at least 20 times.
      2) Trade games to JB and get 1 new game
      3) Trade game to EB. Black Ops 1 was a goldmine. $100+ with the edge card (15% extra)
      4) Put $90 credit on a preorder.
      5) Pay remaining $10 with cash when game gets released.
      6) Return game at a different store for $100 cash. Final purchase receipt said I paid the entire thing in cash.
      7) Repeat

      I like to think EB's carrot card came into effect because of me. Best thing was to get friends to return the game so I couldn't be tracked down. This probably started around 2010 until 2012. Mass Effect 3 was the last game to get high trade in values.

  • nickeybird on 08/08/2014 - 11:46
    +1

    Think about it, your working 45 hrs a week. Now if they paid you $20 an hour you could be getting $800+ a week and thats a lot more than rent. You could find a job with that many hours and live comfortably out of home.

    Anyway rant over, If your artistic at all theres a website called Redbubble. Basically you can create designs for tshirts, phone cases ect and if they sell you get some profit. It takes a bit to get started but i have a good design where i can make up to $60 a month ($5 per t-shirt sold).

  • PoorStudent on 08/08/2014 - 15:42
    +1

    Google Sports Arbitrage.
    Shouldn't be a problem for you since you should be good at playing with numbers and using spreadsheets.
    You do need a fair amount of starting capital though.

    • angelkulit025 on 08/08/2014 - 15:45
      +2

      http://www.scamwatch.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/75506…

      Its on the scam watch website so beware!

      • pilchard on 08/08/2014 - 17:09
        +1

        I doubt PoorStudent meant join an existing sports arbitrage scheme, just merely partaking in sports arbitrage yourself.

    • Cluster on 08/08/2014 - 16:49
      +1

      I have sometimes received cold calls from people promoting sports arbitrage betting on horses, often with a claim that they lay bets rather than make them because this is 'safer'. 'Hey, if there are 20 horses in a race we lay the bets and we win if 19 out of the 20 horses don't win! Your chances of winning are virtually 100% so sign up today!' The cold caller then makes a false comparison to a publican running pokies in a venue.

      My answer always is: "if this offer is so good, so sure fire and a great way to make money, why don't you put all your money into it and keep it a secret?" The answer given is one of two: "yes, all my money is already invested" (umm, no) or "ahh, unfortunately I'm not allowed to participate as I'm part of the company" (yeah right).

      • PoorStudent on 08/08/2014 - 18:01

        http://www.sportsarbitrageaustralia.com.au/
        Read the guide there first then tell me what you think of it.

        The scam mentioned above is sending money over to people who helps you "sports arbitrage".
        What I am recommending is she do it herself so she can be in control of every cent she places.

        Also horse racing is not considered a sport. That is why on bookmaker sites, you will see bets for horses and bets on sports in separate places.

        In sports, you can bet on all possible outcomes.
        E.g. Player A winning OR Player B winning (tennis match)
        or consider better total points in a game. Over/under 98.5.

        Once again, if you did your research, you would have read that bookmaker's have a limit on how much you can bet on an event. Also, bookmakers ban you from making bets larger than $10 after 2 weeks if they find out you're doing sports arbitrage.
        This will not give you a constant stream of income, but you can play around for 2 months or so and earn 5k easily.

        • Serapis on 09/08/2014 - 01:50
          +1

          Tried this a long time ago, to actually make money

          Took myself and 3 other guys 6 months to set up, requires a person with coding knowledge to make a program which downloads and categorises massive amounts of statistics.

          *Note most of the 6 months was trial and error of different ways to predict match outcomes, much like paper trading for shares.

          All of us were at uni at the time, met at work and we dumped on average 40 combined hours into it per week to work out formulas which give the statistical likelyhood of a team winning a certain game (tennis matches, soccer matches, basketball, cricket, etc). Monitored at least 5 different sports at any given time.

          Not to mention we ALREADY HAD WORK (same company) and used our combined income to reinvest into the venture (think upwards of $10k). It was slow progress but profitable.

          Eventually parted ways and coding guy is now working for Google, the guy that worked the formulas is an investment banker

          What I'm saying is using gambling to make money is no simple feat and unless you are REALLY interested in gambling then don't do it. Putting this in perspective, I was a guy who used to play low stakes poker while at uni, banked $500 (on average) every weekend on the tables. It was a chore sitting there for 5 hrs on a sat / sun night, had $100 of risk each time but I liked the game and it paid the bills.

          All of this requires a large amount of capital to be worth it, which doesn't really help OP.

        • PoorStudent on 09/08/2014 - 02:23

          @Serapis:
          I believe what you say is true but technology may have improved since the time you were doing it. Not sure how long you mean when you say "a long time ago" so can't really give a definite answer. Even if the returns are small, I find it interesting and I'm sure OP would as well as she is studying engineering and loves numbers and calculations.

          Nowadays, there are websites which alert you of the arbitrage opportunities so you won't need to know how to work out the formulas etc. The free version if Betbrain.com or I recommend betonvalue which requires a small subscription fee but you can choose which bookmakers arbitrages you want to see.

          And congratulations on you and your ex-colleagues for finding such nice, well-paying jobs. Certainly deserve it by the sounds of how much effort you guys put into that project will quite minimal returns.

        • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:43

          @PoorStudent: I actually don't like numbers or calculations :P Math is okay, but one of my previous lecturers made me practically dislike maths.

        • PoorStudent on 09/08/2014 - 03:34

          @pyro love bird:
          haha, thought you would because you choose to do engineering. The maths for sports arbitrage will be nothing like your math units at uni. It only involves looking at odds.

        • Cluster on 09/08/2014 - 03:47
          +1

          @Serapis:
          "Took myself and 3 other guys 6 months to set up, requires a person with coding knowledge to make a program which downloads and categorises massive amounts of statistics."

          I knew someone involved in a setup like this. His job was to collect and collate the statistics for the other members to use. Profits were good, everything was going great until… the inevitable happened. A series of results went against the betting syndicate and the losses started to mount. All the formulas they had worked up couldn't account for sheer dumb bad luck and a string of bad results that "shouldn't" have happened. The party was over.

        • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:36

          @PoorStudent: I actually enjoyed it in primary and middle school, started zoning out in highschool, so much so that I practically didn't do year 10 maths :/ Maths and I do not like each other much. From the sounds of it though, sports arbitrage sounds quite risky and I'd need a decent amount of money to start off with. I'll take a look though

  • walugi on 08/08/2014 - 17:17
    +2

    I know it gets a bad rap but Google punting deals. They work out risk free bets using promotions. I've followed a few and its good because

    1) the maths is transparent
    2) its easy to follow without knowing the sports

    You do need some cash lying around to be able to hedge properly. They've got an article on the site explaining how it works if you want to read it. Anyway give it a read before discarding it as spam, its all laid out

    • nubzy on 08/08/2014 - 19:39
      +1

      yeah I am glad to have discovered that site, made a few hundred over the last few weeks.

    • TheAviator on 09/08/2014 - 22:19
      +1

      just checked out this site, looks pretty interesting! Are the required bets always around that $80 mark though? I know it's risk-free but still, would like to try a smaller bet to start :)

      • walugi on 11/08/2014 - 15:10

        Generally yes, that's already relatively small. Since you need to bet on more than one side I cant imagine it would be less than $80. I guess look at a few older ones and do the sums yourself if you don't feel comfortable. That's what I did.. They have social media too, could probably ask them there.

        I know how you feel though, felt the same when I first started! Depositing a few hundred bucks isn't something I do ANYWHERE else. Takes some getting used to..

        • donga100 on 11/08/2014 - 18:12

          Usually the promo bets have a $25-$100 max bet so you can't go much higher than that. You could bet less if you wanted to by simply reducing the amount of each bet (by the same percentage/ratio).

  • Sammouro on 08/08/2014 - 17:39
    +1

    You could always look into trading the forex market mate. This is what i do.

  • nubzy on 08/08/2014 - 18:33

    I am a uni student as well. I do surveys, and sign up with as many market research companies as possible. Also do mystery shopping for 3-4 companies. Also keep an eye out for sports betting offers/freebets and promotions and make use of them, but you gotta be careful with that. Puntingdeals sends out a few good guaranteed profit deals now each week. Also enter competitions and sell the winnings on ebay.

    • Serapis on 09/08/2014 - 01:56

      Lol freebets suck, well at least the poker ones and sportsbet ones sucked, always have conditions like making 400% of the initial amount before you can cash out…

    • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:45
      +1

      How is the mystery shopping? The ones I've done didn't really end up with me pocketing much of it. I did a couple of shops and had to spend x amount in store then write up an evaluation and stuff and when I got paid it ended up just covering what I had to spend in store anyway, so it was a little pointless

      • nubzy on 11/08/2014 - 15:08

        You don't make a fortune. But with Gapbuster I wait until they offer bonuses, then you get pretty good prices around $17 ($12 net pay after $5 required purchase) for a Bakers Delight shop and the survey takes less than 5 minutes. If you sign up with lots of mystery shopping companies you can go to a few different shops in the same centre. You will not make a fortune though. Seems to be much better in the USA, over there you get to do hotel reviews (free room) and other interesting stuff that pays alot more. Have not found any companies that do that here..

  • spacebanana on 08/08/2014 - 19:24
    +3

    When I went to uni (last year) I would buy crashed imported cars (nissan silvias, skylines etc)
    Then pull them apart keep all the parts I wanted for mine own car and then sell all the rest off.
    I managed to have an r32 GTST which i effectively got for free and made an extra 1000 bucks on top, I could easily sell the car for 4500 and the start up money was only 1300.
    I knew nothing about cars when I started doing this, I just wanted to learn.

    Not an idea for everyone, but it was good fun :)

    • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:46

      Sounds like it wasn't a cheap hobby, though it does sound very interesting.

    • walugi on 11/08/2014 - 15:10

      How much capital did that require at the start?

  • j5ive on 08/08/2014 - 19:53

    Do you have a second language? You could use this to become a taobao agent or similar just helping people communicate with manufactoring companies in china or similar. Even better if you have contacts abroad who could act as middle men to check factories are above board.

    • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:47

      I do, but I can't read or write in it (primary school level in reading and writing), though I'm fluent in the speaking component.

    • jacknthebeanstalk on 09/08/2014 - 22:45

      Can you please give me more information on this? I'm keen.

  • j5ive on 08/08/2014 - 19:57
    +2

    Here's something I posted in another thread.

    Might be something in here for you-

    Come up with an APP. Don't just think mainstream, something small for a niche market can make you a good whack of cash. A mate recently did an app for a chain of fastfood restaurants to help stock control and then continued to sell the app to each store in Australia. You don't need programming skills, outsource that work to Asia.

    Invent something brilliant and simple. Crowd source with kickstarter. Some very simple products have been funded with millions of dollars.

    Plan or hold an event. Think triathlon, concert, festival, fishing comp, home show, camping show, markets. Big rewards with entry fees and sponsorship.

    Hire business. Got a collection of trailers? tools? vehicles? Hire them out. People will pay good money to hire and the big stores are painful to deal with. Also plenty of people making money with a Dingo, bobcat, post hole diggers or small piece of machinery, dry or wet hire.

    Sell basic websites or facebook pages to small local business. Again, you can outsource the work. Small owner operator businesses don't have the time to shop around for websites. If someone comes to them with a simple, cost effective solution for a website. The will buy. Or just run and manage their facebook page. Imagine having 10-20 business that you go to daily/weekly and see whats new or interesting to post on fb for them. Do this all for a monthly fee.

    Collect scrap. Not glamourous. But an old car is worth a few bucks in scrap. Better yet, aluminium, copper etc. Advertise online for free pickup. Go to small local business and ask what they do with their scrap. Offer beer in exchange. There is an english show about professional scrapping. You can make money.

    Flip. Flip anything, from cars to computers. If you know enough about a product and follow the market. You can make a good extra income flipping. Buy bargains, clean them up. Sell high.

    Or failing all that.

    Start a business doing what you love. Work your arse off and you will get somewhere. I have a retail store now in its second year. At a time when retail is dying, this was a huge risk! However, with this risk comes reward- My income this year will exceed the previous ten years combined. (most of its gone back into the business though!).

    • Serapis on 09/08/2014 - 01:58

      Irrelevant but reading copper salvaging reminded me of this guy =D

      http://www.itnews.com.au/News/241744,man-charged-with-steali…

    • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:51

      They are all fantastic ideas and I thank you for that. Unfortunately I have no talent in programming at all. Inventing something is something I'd like to try. An event sounds like it'd involve many hours of planning and such and I don't have a tonne of time on my hands.

      On the note of scrapping, we have an old merc which is still operational but it's starting to die. Any ideas what to do with it?

      I'm glad to hear about your business though, what are you selling in your retail store?

      Thanks again for being super! :)

      • jacknthebeanstalk on 09/08/2014 - 22:49
        +1

        Mate, I know you don't have much time due to some constraints, but you can learn how to program through youtube video tutorials. I've read anecdotes of people with "no talent" independently learn how and they manage to get some passive income. I'm thinking of giving it ago next week. I've got some ideas and a "niche market" in mind.

        Goodluck

        • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:37

          Thankyou for your encouragement, I will give it another go so fingers crossed x

  • John on 08/08/2014 - 23:45
    +8

    Here's an advice from someone who wished he had a second chance as uni student..

    While you're still in uni and not committed with family etc, I highly encourage you look at as many business opportunity and not just focusing on getting a 'job'. A job is fine, its great.. but you're always relying on an employer to hire you and pay you..

    I only realised my skill in making wedding video about 3 years ago. I started making some money about $1000 per wedding back then.. but now I can make $4000 per wedding at least. But I had to let it go because its too risky to let go of my job and try to work on the business (I have family and mortgage already).

    You said you could never understand coding… I said exactly the same thing back then about camera. Not realising that I'm actually gifted in it when I had a go.

    As others said, try anything possible while you can. The risk is low at this stage of your life.. so why not have a go at it.

    Just never say its impossible until you had the best go at it

    • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 02:55
      +1

      I really admire your attitude, and I did give coding a go, and god damn am I terrible, on that note, I'm also pretty bad at maths and I'm doing enge (go figure!). Now that you mention it though, I enjoy creative writing and photography. But I found that I had to invest a lot of time and emotion to write anything decent and it usually impacted my mood and ability to do anything else.

      Running my own business after seeing how hard my family has worked and sometimes there are terrible lows seems super risky.

      PS. I'm glad to hear you found out about your gift :)

      • [Deactivated] on 09/08/2014 - 10:43

        Actually the entrepreneurial thing is a good idea - I've worked with people in banking who do things like wedding photography, driving instruction (needs a qualification), music tuition/performance, not only for the extra $$ but because they like it and it provides a fall back career option. Maybe build a website with some portfolio photos and start out with low risk things like functions if photography is what you like? Especially if you have an SLR with a decent lens and flash lying around!

        • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:38

          SLR's are so expensive though! I've always wanted one, but my current phone beats my old camera at 20.7MP

      • John on 09/08/2014 - 17:43

        Ok.. so we're not so different then. We both have creative minds and are doing engineering. I don't know if you have the same gut feel as me… but something inside you feel like you should be doing something else but engineering?

        I have that thought for ages (even now). I don't intend to be an engineer for the rest of my life.. mainly because my creative minds is more dominant!

        Tempo said the right thing… see business as a fall back idea. I have a photographer friend who is also an IT. He's doing so great at both he has no worry if he lose one or the other. I am in the same shoe.. at least I know if engineering spits me out, I know my video skill is still desirable in the market and I can always use it to get money

        Since you are a creative person (if I guessed it right), then you probably would wanna try dig into that and see how you can turn that into money. Here's two suggestions:

        1 Handlettering
        - friend of mine does this for weddings.. crazy how many people loves handlettering stuff nowadays! ie. for invitations, menu etc etc

        2 Wedding/event photography
        - be a second shooter, look for experience.. you won't earn much in the beginning.. but the better you get, the more desirable you are. you dont even have to own the business, just shoot for someone else for a weekend photoshoot

        • pyro love bird on 09/08/2014 - 23:31

          Well I wanted to do nanotech originally, courses got swapped and such so I'm doing an enge undergrad, but I'm having second thoughts. The idea of doing research is actually super boring. I much rather spend my time writing stories and such.

          The wedding ideas sound interesting but I'm not sure how much time would be invested in doing that kind of thing and costs etc.

          Thankyou :)

  • Serapis on 09/08/2014 - 02:03
    +1

    Best way: Examine everything you are interested in or have decent knowledge in. Come up with a way to sell it and turn it into a PT job.

    (Cooking, gaming, computer assistance, etc)

    There isn't really an alternative unless you have capital to reinvest lying around.

  • lostn on 09/08/2014 - 03:40
    +2

    Make the next flappy bird. No I don't mean another clone, but the next idea that rips off something else and make it your own. Get $50k in ad revenue a day until other people clone your game, then you move onto something else.

    • hahaboy on 13/08/2014 - 21:51

      it's that simple? :P

      • scotty on 13/08/2014 - 23:31

        Yeah. If it's that simple you might as well aim a little bit higher. Maybe just do the next Facebook — $189 billion market cap and $2.91 billion revenue last quarter. If there's a clone just buy it out.

  • Clementt on 09/08/2014 - 06:25
    +1

    Try trading in shares with whatever money you have left. Do the demo based on real time shares first. You would learn a lot from the demo and when you are confident enough, then join the real share market. At the end of the day, you will learn the work you need to do in buying a shares that will profit you and you will learn to make decision faster.

  • cibailang on 09/08/2014 - 09:50
    +1

    Anybody here tried being an Uber driver? Could be an option for OP if he's above 21 and has a car less than 9 years old?

    • juventino on 09/08/2014 - 14:23
      +4

      Are you of chinese descent ? Your username sounds really offensive in Hokkian lol

      • cibailang on 10/08/2014 - 20:57
        +1

        Shhh… :)

        • foxxo on 11/08/2014 - 13:29

          puss and dk, everyone knows hokkien dont u know?

    • pyro love bird on 11/08/2014 - 00:39

      I'm not really above 21 per say. I'm 22 next year though.

  • heyrosered on 09/08/2014 - 11:51
    +4

    Idk where you're living, but parents around Sydney are always desperate for babysitters. You could also double down and offer tutoring services for the kids, and then triple down and put up fliers around the area for dog walking. You could even dogwalk while baby sitting and test the kids as you walk!

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