[kavakid]

1.Go to a popular urban area.

2.Lease as large a house as you can, for as cheap as you can. This may involve driving around spotting for rent signs. Or even look up the owner of an abandoned looking house (check county tax website).

3. The house most likely will have a dining room, study, garages, attics and other extra rooms. These can be cheaply walled off and turned into bedrooms. Its easy to find a mexican or other cheap carpenter to do this if you can't. Don't pay more than a few hundred dollars per room to wall it off and put a door.

4. Put ads on craigslist to rent the rooms. If its a popular area, they will rent quickly, especially if you don't require a lease. You can rent ANYTHING.

I know a guy who did this in Austin TX. He was clearing a few thousand a month and basically just sittin on his ass most of the day. I do it also, except its with a house I actually own in Atlanta, GA. I rent 10 separate spaces, 1 of which is an office trailer, the other an RV. In urban areas you can rent ANYTHING. Trust me. I used to rent a closet sized room with a nice view for $400 a month. Tore it down to build my house. I have rented tent spots to camp for $150 a month. Trust me, if the location is good, you can rent it out for the right price.

If you are really slick you will make a long term deal with one of the tenants to manage the place while you are traveling.

[Hairyballs]

I'm making 100$ a day from my laptop with only 2 up to 3 hours work a day. Private msg me if you want more details

[BadWolf]

guy I work with used to sell roses in jersey at nightclubs, said he did alright... now hes living it up out here with a wife... they do quite well for themselves.

[captaingeneric]

Quote:

2.Lease as large a house as you can, for as cheap as you can. This may involve driving around spotting for rent signs. Or even look up the owner of an abandoned looking house (check county tax website).

If you're leasing a house, wouldn't you need permission from the owner to make such wholesale changes to the place?

[Katatonic]

Hey all. Figured I'd make my first post a helpful one.

I go to thrift stores, yard sales, and even retail stores, buy shit, and resell it online. You'll have a terrible time doing it if you want to be niche, but if you don't mind being well-rounded and knowing a bit about everything, you should make great supplementary income doing it. I used to split Dodgers season tickets with a friend, and my half was in the $5,500 range after private parking and Stadium Club access, and I paid for it every year by reselling online.

It's not uncommon for me to spend $5-$20 and come out with $500+ worth of shit I have no problem selling within a few months. I can't count the times I've found never used Le Creuset pieces for $5 at yard sales, or $400 juicers for $20. Video games have made me great money in the past. Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, SNS games and the like can be worth great money and they sell fast. Books have also done really well for me. Bought an Aleister Crowley "Konx om Pax" first edition for $5, sold it for $1700 less than a week later. it goes on and on. From costume jewelry, to vintage clothing, to printers. There's a lot of crap out there people are willing to pay good money for.

I sell most stuff through Amazon and eBay. craigslist and consignment stores are other routes I use when needed too. For some reason a lot of people don't compare prices between Amazon and eBay, so make certain you sell on the one getting the most for a particular item. I'll probably post more on this subject since I've only covered a small portion of what you can actually do with this business.

Also, before those shows came out, I was making a killing in the storage auction business in Southern California, so if you have any questions about that or the other stuff, feel free to ask away.

[pitt]

(09-07-2012 01:45 AM)Katatonic Wrote:  

Hey all. Figured I'd make my first post a helpful one.

I go to thrift stores, yard sales, and even retail stores, buy shit, and resell it online. You'll have a terrible time doing it if you want to be niche, but if you don't mind being well-rounded and knowing a bit about everything, you should make great supplementary income doing it. I used to split Dodgers season tickets with a friend, and my half was in the $5,500 range after private parking and Stadium Club access, and I paid for it every year by reselling online.

It's not uncommon for me to spend $5-$20 and come out with $500+ worth of shit I have no problem selling within a few months. I can't count the times I've found never used Le Creuset pieces for $5 at yard sales, or $400 juicers for $20. Video games have made me great money in the past. Sega Saturn, Dreamcast, N64, SNS games and the like can be worth great money and they sell fast. Books have also done really well for me. Bought an Aleister Crowley "Konx om Pax" first edition for $5, sold it for $1700 less than a week later. it goes on and on. From costume jewelry, to vintage clothing, to printers. There's a lot of crap out there people are willing to pay good money for.

I sell most stuff through Amazon and eBay. craigslist and consignment stores are other routes I use when needed too. For some reason a lot of people don't compare prices between Amazon and eBay, so make certain you sell on the one getting the most for a particular item. I'll probably post more on this subject since I've only covered a small portion of what you can actually do with this business.

Also, before those shows came out, I was making a killing in the storage auction business in Southern California, so if you have any questions about that or the other stuff, feel free to ask away.

Great input, thanks for sharing ideas.

Do you mind if you tell us what was your average monthly profit ?

[Katatonic]

(09-07-2012 12:54 PM)pitt Wrote:  

Great input, thanks for sharing ideas.

Do you mind if you tell us what was your average monthly profit ?

I made around $700 a month just shopping around on weekend mornings and afternoons. Some months would be a lot more if I really hit a jackpot, like $3,000-$5,000 more. I worked full time when I was doing this as well. I don't think I could've made a great living trying to do the thrift store and yard sale route had I just dedicated myself to that because of the limited time, and venues available to me in my area. I pretty much covered what I could have even with unlimited time. Great supplementary income though.

The storage auction business was a bit different. I might have gone a month before I bought a unit, but when I did they were big. I'd have a couple of my employees who wanted some extra cash process the crap with me so I didn't have to do a ton of backbreaking labor. After I pulled what was really valuable and easily sellable, I'd assign a price that I wanted out of what was left, and let them have the rest. I always made certain to leave more than enough meat on the bone for them. I would either have them go to a swap meet, or would get a vacant house in a nice neighborhood that we could set up for a yard sale(homeowners are always willing to rent out the driveway of their vacant houses for a weekend for a hundred or two, especially if you have business liability insurance). I rarely made below $2,000 after expenses when I bought storage units, and more times than not, would make double that.

One of the more important aspects of doing this, is to avoid trying to squeeze every nickel you possibly can out of the stuff you buy. If I found a hutch in a unit that was worth a few grand, I'd sell it for half that unless I knew I could get the few grand immediately. On Amazon, I'm always the lowest list price no matter the condition of the item. It's all profit at that point anyway. Trying to sell retail can be very difficult unless what you're selling is in high demand. That's why I refer to most of it as "shit" and "crap", because I started wanting to collect half the cool shit I found.

[kavakid]

(09-01-2012 11:11 AM)captaingeneric Wrote:  

Quote:

2.Lease as large a house as you can, for as cheap as you can. This may involve driving around spotting for rent signs. Or even look up the owner of an abandoned looking house (check county tax website).

If you're leasing a house, wouldn't you need permission from the owner to make such wholesale changes to the place?

In theory, probably. The guy I knew in austin texas rented a sort of ideal house. It was in a very popular location for 20 somethings, yet it was on the edge of a bad neighborhood. So the houses were a little rundown. The owner seemed to be okay with what was happening, because he got his rent reliably every month, and he knew that the place was being improved.

But, yes, many landlords will not want you to squeeze people in. But many will be okay or look the other way. I once walled off a sun room for myself in a rental house because I only wanted to pay $200 a month. Never heard anything from the landlord.

Not everything is wholesale change. You can rent a dining room or sunroom, or garage, attic, etc, without making changes.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

I read this ebook by Derek Pankaew who breaks down how to hustle freelance writing work, you can get it at:
http://earnontheroad.com/download-guide/

He basically says that in the beginning you're going to need to invest a lot of time writing sample articles, approaching clients like crazy and working on the cheap to get recommendations, but it seems like something a student could initially start up on a summer vacation; once you have a client base/good reputation you can allegedly work just a few hours here and there whenever you need money. If I was back in school I'd give it a shot.

[AntiTrace]

Any industry that has short seasonal activity

Selling Xmas Trees:

Ive made 20K profit in one month doing this, but it requires you to work about 12-14 hours days every day from about Dec 1st to Dec 25th (yes, I have sold trees on Xmas before)

Process is pretty simple:

1.) Find a location that allows enough room to setup around 40-50 trees and has road frontage on a busy street.
2.) Get a vendors permit from the city your selling in.
3.) Find a supplier in the form of a tree farm. The pricing is based off the quality of trees, but around 5-7 dollars will get you an average tree, 10-15 for premiums. an Average tree can sell for upwards of 30-40 bucks, a premium can go for over 80. You can grab giant 12-14 footers (about 4-5 a year is normally the most you want) for 25-40, Ive sold some of those for over 200.

Try to get the trees on credit, but you better pay that back.
4. ) Ship them yourself or pay for shipping.
5. ) Deck your tree stand out with signs by the road, lighting so you can work at night when people are out of work, xmas lights, and some xmas music playing.

Ive heard of guys pulling upwards of 100k profit by selling premium fraser firs in NYC.

Behind the fat and jolly curtain is an extremely dirty and cut-throat tree industry. Be careful of what toes you step on, and be ready to pay all your debt at the end of the season.

A young smart guy could be out there selling Xmas trees, travel for a while, come back for the gator season, rinse and repeat.

[pitt]

Antitrace great idea, but just one question, who is going to rent you a place for only one month? And if they do, can you imagine the premium amount that they will be charge you?

[rudebwoy]

Next time I go to the UK, I am going to take several pair of Levi's Jeans to sell.

[AntiTrace]

(09-23-2012 10:22 AM)pitt Wrote:  

Antitrace great idea, but just one question, who is going to rent you a place for only one month? And if they do, can you imagine the premium amount that they will be charge you?

Ideally your renting part of their parking lot, with close proximity to some source of external power.

It is a pretty common thing for the holidays. Gas stations, large retail stores, outlet malls, malls, baseball fields, etc. All you have to do is ask. Ive found that as long as you ensure the landowner your not going to create a hazardous environment for their customers, they have no problem putting several extra grand in their pockets.

I havent done it in a few years due to logistical issues. But my final year expenses were somewhere along the lines of:

1. Lot rent - 12k (prime location though)
2. Licensing and Permits - 1k
3. Old Camper to work out of and serve as an office - 3k
4. Trees - 1200 x $13 average ($12 average base price + $1 to purchase on credit) = 15600
5. Equipment - 1k (kept all of my equipment from the previous year, 1k is for extra power cables/propane/misc supplies)

Sold every single tree at $43.5 average which netted me $52,200 in sales. 52,200 - 32,600 in expenses = 19600 in profit. Pretty good bet on those numbers, Id have to dig out my old record books to confirm.

I also sold wreaths, kissing balls, crosses, and brush. The profit from those paid for my hotel and food costs.

Id say go for it for the experience alone. Theres few things crazier than banging some random local in your rundown camper while the only thing keeping you guys warm is body heat and the camper stove cranking full blast with "Ho, Ho, Ho" playing in the background.

I met one crusty old bastard that used to move trees from New England to Southern Florida during the season. He showed me his old books. To say he made a killing is to say Marc Cuban is "pretty well off"

[Katatonic]

(09-23-2012 03:55 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

(09-23-2012 10:22 AM)pitt Wrote:  

Antitrace great idea, but just one question, who is going to rent you a place for only one month? And if they do, can you imagine the premium amount that they will be charge you?

Ideally your renting part of their parking lot, with close proximity to some source of external power.

It is a pretty common thing for the holidays. Gas stations, large retail stores, outlet malls, malls, baseball fields, etc. All you have to do is ask. Ive found that as long as you ensure the landowner your not going to create a hazardous environment for their customers, they have no problem putting several extra grand in their pockets.

I havent done it in a few years due to logistical issues. But my final year expenses were somewhere along the lines of:

1. Lot rent - 12k (prime location though)
2. Licensing and Permits - 1k
3. Old Camper to work out of and serve as an office - 3k
4. Trees - 1200 x $13 average ($12 average base price + $1 to purchase on credit) = 15600
5. Equipment - 1k (kept all of my equipment from the previous year, 1k is for extra power cables/propane/misc supplies)

Sold every single tree at $43.5 average which netted me $52,200 in sales. 52,200 - 32,600 in expenses = 19600 in profit. Pretty good bet on those numbers, Id have to dig out my old record books to confirm.

I also sold wreaths, kissing balls, crosses, and brush. The profit from those paid for my hotel and food costs.

Id say go for it for the experience alone. Theres few things crazier than banging some random local in your rundown camper while the only thing keeping you guys warm is body heat and the camper stove cranking full blast with "Ho, Ho, Ho" playing in the background.

I met one crusty old bastard that used to move trees from New England to Southern Florida during the season. He showed me his old books. To say he made a killing is to say Marc Cuban is "pretty well off"

Great posts. Your prices are dead on. I sold trees for a season. The one thing you did leave out is the couple of grand you can make from offering to flock the trees at $10-15 a piece.

You may also look into is renting a lot from an existing business with a large parking lot who has more than enough room for you to set up shop. You can also piggyback on their permits and insurance, and save a ton of money.

It was a pain in the ass to move the trees in and out of the display areas every night and morning, and untarping and spraying down the extra trees on the trailer. But we definitely made some good scratch.

[kavakid]

There is prime retail lot for sale in Atlanta near me. Had a for sale or lease sign on it for years. Recently someone started selling christmas trees there. the rest of the year its still empty.

[the virgin chronicles]

To the guy selling christmas trees:

I've never thought about the kind of money those people made. Makes me think: who guards the trees at night? I always see them laid out all over the sidewalk.

[InternationPlayboy]

(07-31-2012 02:08 AM)OGNorCal707 Wrote:  

This is kind of a stretch, but are you into the fashion scene in your country/city? If you know people that own clothing stores in London, say stores that cater to the hip-hop or possibly hipster crowd, you can buy clothes for cheap(er) in NYC with USD, then take those clothes maybe denim, t-shirts, hoodies, hats, etc., and sell them for British pounds upon arrival back in London. It might take a bit of leg work and risk a little money, you might have to try to hustle some to your friends/family or even through concerts/events, maybe try to hit some stores before and pitch them the idea.

From what I understand British pounds are worth much more than USD, last I heard the exchange rate was 1 pound = 2 USD. You invest $500 British pounds, which gets you $1000 USD, you take that money and buy up a bunch of clothes, you get the hook up from the young cats coming up with the screen print business, or the connects on the raw denim jeans. You get the t-shirts for $10 USD a pop which is only $5 British pounds (your money), you then sell those same t-shirts for $15 British pounds wholesale to the clothing stores (equivalent of $30 USD). So if we're thinking in things of USD you make a profit of $20 per t-shirt, if you get a hundred t-shirts for a $1000USD, and you make $20 dollar profit per shirt X 100, you make a net profit of $2,000....

Great thread!

I think with this, you're much better off with shipping clothes and electronics to Brazil. I've known of people making a living off this ($50k a year) and I've also known people to go to jail for this as well. You just have to be smart. Electronics and clothes go for almost double what you pay in the states. If you can take over a laptop, iPhone, iPod, a watch, a bunch of clothes, and whatever other electronics you can think of, you could have quit a profitable trip. Selling the laptop alone should almost cover your flight. You would just have to bring none of that stuff with you and say it's all yours. I've heard of other people trying to do this in other latin american countries but the reason brazil is the best is because things are more overpriced than the average SA country, and people in Brazil are rich. A friend of mine once told me he tried it in Colombia, but people were wanting to make payments on $30 shirts. You go to Brazil and you have a some rich brazilian friends, they'll take that shit off your hands in a heart beat. You just have to charge in between what they pay and what you pay to make it worth it for them to buy it.

I've thought about it many times, but in addition to Brazil probably being one of the easiest places to make a profit, it also has some of the most violent prisons as well. It doesn't appear to be very hard though. I saw Brazilians coming to Miami ALL THE TIME loading up with electronics and clothes. Literally, there would be 2 people with 6 large suitcases (Which I had to carry, but they usually gave me a fat tip The first time I went to Brazil, my friends hosted me in their house for a month and a half. Before I came they asked if I would do them a favor and buy a TV in the states for them with their money. I brought a 50" TV in to Brazil with me, and no one batted an eye in customs. They didn't ask about it or nothing.

[InternationPlayboy]

(09-22-2012 04:23 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

Any industry that has short seasonal activity

Selling Xmas Trees:

Ive made 20K profit in one month doing this, but it requires you to work about 12-14 hours days every day from about Dec 1st to Dec 25th (yes, I have sold trees on Xmas before)

Process is pretty simple:

1.) Find a location that allows enough room to setup around 40-50 trees and has road frontage on a busy street.
2.) Get a vendors permit from the city your selling in.
3.) Find a supplier in the form of a tree farm. The pricing is based off the quality of trees, but around 5-7 dollars will get you an average tree, 10-15 for premiums. an Average tree can sell for upwards of 30-40 bucks, a premium can go for over 80. You can grab giant 12-14 footers (about 4-5 a year is normally the most you want) for 25-40, Ive sold some of those for over 200.

Try to get the trees on credit, but you better pay that back.
4. ) Ship them yourself or pay for shipping.
5. ) Deck your tree stand out with signs by the road, lighting so you can work at night when people are out of work, xmas lights, and some xmas music playing.

Ive heard of guys pulling upwards of 100k profit by selling premium fraser firs in NYC.

Behind the fat and jolly curtain is an extremely dirty and cut-throat tree industry. Be careful of what toes you step on, and be ready to pay all your debt at the end of the season.

A young smart guy could be out there selling Xmas trees, travel for a while, come back for the gator season, rinse and repeat.

That sounds like a good look. My friends dad was an engineer and he set up a tent for some huge Christmas tree distributor each year in Miami. He made insane money from it! I can't remember the exact number, but I know it was minimum $25k. I want to say it may have even been 50. Just for a couple days worth of work. Obviously this isn't a hustle for the average joe, you need an engineering degree.

[renotime]

Smuggle booze into Islamic countries and sell for a huge mark up.

[InternationPlayboy]

(04-14-2013 12:24 AM)renotime Wrote:  

Smuggle booze into Islamic countries and sell for a huge mark up.

You can also bootleg for huge mark ups in Alaska in the areas where alcohol is illegal.

[Parlay44]

(04-14-2013 12:24 AM)renotime Wrote:  

Smuggle booze into Islamic countries and sell for a huge mark up.

...and risk getting your head cut off with a dull knife. Fuck that.

[renotime]

Smuggle cigarettes by the truckload up north.

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/16/news/eco...smuggling/

[Player_1337]

(08-14-2012 11:36 PM)Kid Strangelove Wrote:  

Use your mobile Device as a passive $$ generator - "Apptrailers" on the iphone and android platforms pays you money or gift cards to watch 30 second commercials for apps. Once you watch the trailer, be sure to download the app and fiddle with it to get additional points. Since they do reward you for bringing new users in - please enter my username - drstrangelove - in the referral section if you like this app. I have my iphone sitting next to me at a desk while I do regular work, with the trailers muted lol

Just started using AppTrailers. What are everyone's feelings on this app? Is it worth putting in the time and accumulating points?

[Kid Strangelove]

(10-18-2013 01:22 PM)Player_1337 Wrote:  

(08-14-2012 11:36 PM)Kid Strangelove Wrote:  

Use your mobile Device as a passive $$ generator - "Apptrailers" on the iphone and android platforms pays you money or gift cards to watch 30 second commercials for apps. Once you watch the trailer, be sure to download the app and fiddle with it to get additional points. Since they do reward you for bringing new users in - please enter my username - drstrangelove - in the referral section if you like this app. I have my iphone sitting next to me at a desk while I do regular work, with the trailers muted lol

Just started using AppTrailers. What are everyone's feelings on this app? Is it worth putting in the time and accumulating points?

Hey dude, I am checking in to apptrailers for the first time in a little while.

The bad news is that It doesn't seem to be giving "Bonus" points for trying out the app anymore.


The good news is that they seem to want to turn this toward a more "social" site which opens up many possible ways to earn points.

Fiddling with it now.

[vilevigilant]

Interesting, I have a very high sperm count, so this should be fun.