4 of the Strangest Ways to Make Money Online
You can make money online in strange ways- as long as you can solve a customer problem.
Here’s an example:
Wash. It. Later. sells a water-tight bag for soaking soiled baby clothes before they stain. It looks like a shopping bag from a high-end store, because the packaging is an attractive black and white stripped design.
And it’s sold online.
This product solves a huge problem for parents of young kids who need to store soiled clothes until they can get home.
Critical Steps to Create a Successful Business
Before you launch any type of venture, walk through these steps to decide whether of not your business idea is valid:
Step 1: An urgent need
It’s obvious, but every successful product solves a problem or fills a need- if the problem must be solved quickly, even better. What’s an urgent need? How about a car repair, or heating and air conditioning repair?
We’re all willing to pay to solve an urgent problem or need.
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Step 2: What are people willing to pay for a solution?
If you have an idea that solves a problem, offer your product or service to a group of people for free. Once they use your solution, ask them how much they’d be willing to pay for the product. Giving away the product allows you to capture free market research on your idea.
If you can’t charge enough to cover your costs and generate a profit, your business idea isn’t valid.
Step 3: What’s the size of the market?
How many people need to solve the problem? If there aren’t enough people, you may not have a viable business idea.
I know two smart people who each wrote software that solved a problem. One software application helped schools manage enrollments for sports teams, and the other idea helped contractors automate their business.
Good ideas that solved a problem- but there weren’t enough people who needed the solution.
Think carefully through each of these steps before launching a business.
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Walk Your Way to Wealth
Okay, so you’re unlikely to actually get wealthy from it, but if you do a fair bit of walking anyway, why not capitalize on it by installing the Bitwalking app which will monitor your movement and allow you to earn money for your efforts.
Once you have enough walking completed, you can trade your earnings in for PayPal credit, or exchange it for a few other things. Check it out if you’re interested.
Become Someone’s Best Friend
The website RentAfriend.com allows you to sell your time and company to individuals who are looking for a friend to attend an event with them, or to show them around a city they aren’t familiar with. It might sound strange, but there are a lot of people who, for one reason or another (moving home, illness), have a limited network of friends. Helping them out can be a win-win for the both of you.
Comment on Blogs
We all know it’s possible to earn a good living by writing your own blog or becoming a freelance writer online, but did you know that you can earn money by commenting on blogs and forums? If you’re not into writing 500 words or more, it’s a great way to pick up an extra income for writing a small amount.
Profiting From Video Games
The market for video game viewership is exploding. Rolling Stone points out that over 360 million people watched a League of Legends competition in 2017. Some business people are profiting from this trend by becoming video game entrepreneurs.
A traditional business owner may take out a loan from personalloan.co and invest it in real estate or physical products they can sell to customers.
It sounds strange, but some people move through a similar process in the virtual world. They use fictional money to purchase fictional real estate or create fictional products and services, and they sell items to online game players.
Weird But True
As you can see, there are more ways to make money online than you might imagine. Many of them are unusual, but an online business strategy may work for you. Fortunately, most online ventures don’t require a large out-of-pocket investment, so your risk of loss is lower. Do your homework and find an idea that’s right for you.
As always, this information is for educational purposes only.
Ken Boyd
Author: Cost Accounting for Dummies, Accounting All-In-One for Dummies, The CPA Exam for Dummies and 1,001 Accounting Questions for Dummies
Co-Founder: accountinged.com
(email) ken@stltest.net
(website and blog) https://www.accountingaccidentally.com/
(you tube channel) kenboydstl
Image: Bullseye, Jeff Turner CC by 2.0