Money Here and There

DoorDash: Food Delivery and Advice for New Drivers

2019-07-26T18:42:00.000-07:00

Doordash is a Food specific delivery app that provides delivery for restaurants, fast food, bars, and as well as catering services for said places. Couriers are coined "Dashers" who can log in and schedule themselves time slots to queue in for receiving orders to deliver.

Requirements

Ideally 1 year of driving experience
Owning a form of transportation (depends on your area) : Car, Motorcycle, Bike
Smart Phone (Android / iOS )
Bank account for Weekly Direct Deposits

Suggested Items

Mileage Book for Tax Reasons
Device to hold phone while driving
Car Charger with Charging Cable
Additional Food Bags (optional when starting)

What do I need?

Most importantly, you'll need a smart phone (I use an S5 Active just fine) and a reliable form of transportation. It doesn't need to be perfect, but at least something that will continuously get to point A to point B without much concern about deprecation of your transportation's value or failure.

If you own some bags that help keep food cold / warm, you'll most likely want to use them after getting set up. Some orders might take more then one bag.

Most orientations try to sell you "cheap" bags that might last you 6 months. If you have something that is better already, I'd suggest you use that instead. They also have shirts, hats, and larger catering bags. If you want something to wear, that is up to you, but I'd personally stay away from any bag they are selling and invest in something more durable.

They also have no issues with you having another person in the car with you while you drive around which is nice. This makes it simpler to find temporary parking spots and have someone watch the car as you do pick ups and drop offs.

Where do I start?
Doordash isn't available in every city, but it is in major cities. You can start the application process to find out at: https://www.doordash.com/dasher/signup/

Once successfully submitted, you'll ideally be asked to come in for an orientation to get familiar with the app, get a background check taken care of, how to add your bank info in the app, as well as get Doordash card to pay for orders that need to be placed in person, like McDonalds or Taco Bell.

Orientation usually takes about an hour to a hour and a half depending on how many people show up. Background checks normally with get processed and done with before you even leave so you can start doing delivering same day, but that might not happen for everyone.

The Pay
Pay goes as such. (This Payout Model will be changing in the coming Month(s) )

Doordash pays you $1 per delivery
You make 100% of order tips on top of the Delivery Pay from Doordash
If you don't receive a tip from the customer in app, Doordash compensates you with an additional amount. This amount depends on your City. For example, Phoenix, Arizona is $5 min payout per order. Others cities might be higher.
Peak Periods are rare, but mostly happen in either the morning, lunch, or dinner. These are bonuses that usually revolve around accepting all orders during a certain amount of time in a specific area to obtain a "bonus" per order. This bonus could range from $1-$5+ per order.

Conclusion

I've been with Doordash for nearly 4 years now and have gone through 3 different pay models, with a 4th coming around the corner as of this writing. I don't enjoy that they don't train new drivers on how to deal with situations on the road, but only on how to use their delivery app and that is it. However, if you're already experienced with doing food delivery, then I suppose that is alright. Catering orders are impossible to get through Doordash because people just snag up orders without thinking about it.

I used to do Doordash 25+ hours a week, but I usually just stick with the lunch run for 2-3 hours to avoid freeway traffic. Making any form of profit really depends on your area and where you're doing deliveries in. Doing lunch and dinner runs are usually the busiest and the best, as long as their is a time slot available and their isn't a "Bonus per order" going on.

I've tried Uber Eats, Postmates, and Amazon Prime (when they did food delivery), and I have always enjoyed, for the most part, working with Doordash versus the others. That is just me though and you mileage might be different.

Mercari: Selling Easier and Faster via Mercari's Website

2018-09-19T18:56:00.001-07:00

In 2018, Mercari updated their website to allow buyers and sellers to purchase and make postings to their selling platform. This update made it possible to make reposting items to Mercari and communication more accessible for the normal user to the more professional business person. If you're new to Mercari, I might suggest a prior article I work up on getting started (via the app), Mercari: Tips for Selling on the Mercari App .

Requirements

A working computer with mouse
Excel or other Spreadsheet program (Google & Outlook.com provide such services)
2 monitors for easy viewing info to plug into Mercari's Website (Not Required)

Save your product pictures from your prior listings for re-use.

Dragging picture files before "dropping" onto the Selling Page

Create a folder specifically for Mercari pictures, ideally on the desktop for easy access. If you haven't already saved any pictures, then I suggest you do so from Mercari's website itself by going to the product page and saving each picture for that product. Taking the pictures from the website will give you the already ideal pictures you want to use and will saving you from having to crop pictures or do any further editing again.

Our method of organizing the saved pictures is to name our pictures with the Title of that item that you'll be using on Mercari and adding a 1, 2, 3, 4, and etc to the end. Doing this will automatically sort the pictures out in where ever you have your pictures saved, ideally in that special folder you made for Mercari pictures.

Now the amazing feature (in our opinion) of the Mercari Website for selling is the ability to drag and drop selected pictures straight on the selling page from the folder.
Now because of this, this allows for quick drag and drops for reposting items from your Mercari folder. Just make sure that whatever picture you select first is going to be the main picture, which should already be easy since your pictures are organized with the way their titled as suggested earlier.

Using Excel to store product info for Mercari Listings

Outlook.com allows you to use an Online version of Excel for free. Just make
sure to select the code line for copying and pasting info (Its the "Fx" line)!

Depending on how often you're planning reposting and selling an item, it highly advisable to save your Title Info and Description info in a way to be able to copy and paste instead of having to go back to the sold item and copy and paste from there.

If you plan on selling the same thing many times over like we do, make the description typed in a way that rarely will need to be changed.

Amazingly, spreadsheet cells can hold a lot more information then just 1 or 2 lines worth of info. In our descriptions, we have at least 3 simple paragraphs of info saved under each item, which is a lot easier then having to retype it all each and every time.

Also, if your not in the mind set of creating new tags for each item, you can save said tags in another row of cells with the three tags. An example of this would be to have the tags written out like so, "Minecraft Xbox LanyardsFireGleam", and if you were to copy and paste these into the tag section as they are, the site will automatically fill in that section with those 3 words as tags. Pretty snazzy! 😁

The Only things needing done Manually every time...

Unfortunately, not everything can be copy and pasted in, such as the category for the product since its a programmed drop down menu, at least for now. There is the automated guessing for what it should be, but half the time it doesn't give the right option. It does try though!

The zip code section might be able to be auto filled in if the settings for your browser are set in place. However, we don't believe that is possible since the coding of the website isn't set to ask for a Zipcode for the browser to understand and fill in. There might be a 3rd party add-on to fix this so its automated, but we haven't found anything to test it yet. Will update if we do.

Lastly, the pricing should probably be left as a manual entry since it can be quickly filled in with the 10 key pad with a flick of a few fingers and since pricing can always fluctuate, its better to be manually done.

Conclusion

Hopefully this gave you some better idea on the positive use of Mercari's Website versus using the phone (or an app emulator) for constant reposting of items, which is what we used to do quite often at times.

For us, using the process above has increased the speed of doing reposting considerably versus when we were using an App Emulator on the PC to run Mercari as that was slightly faster then using the app on a phone, but not a lot due to the glitches that came with the emulator. Don't get me wrong, we were able to use info from a spreadsheet, but sometimes the copy and pasting would sometimes not stick and not work. The pictures are another story on top of the glitches we encountered. So overall, were pretty happy with the update that Mercari did to their website.

So in the end, if you're someone that has a lot of items, getting the information and pictures saved and set up might be daunting and time consuming. However, having things set up easily to relist in the matter of 20-30 seconds (or less maybe) for each product is worth it, at least time us.

If you have any suggestions or comments about this informational article concerning Mercari, please feel free to drop a comment down below! Thanks for reading!

Postmates: Food & Merchant Delivery Service App and Tips to New Drivers

2017-02-21T21:39:00.002-08:00

Postmates is a delivery service which provides delivery from places such as Restaurants, Fast Food, Grocery Stores, and Retailers such as Wal-Mart. It's couriers are called "Postmates" who can log on at any time to queue in for receiving a pick up order.

The service is primary focused on food.

Requirements:

At least 1 year of drivering experience
Owning a Car, Bike, or Motorcycle
Smart Phone (Android / Ios)
Bank Account for Deposits
Mileage Book
Food Bag(s)

What do I need?
Primarily, you'll need a form a reliable transportation that isn't probably on death's door, but also has a enough miles on it that you really aren't concerned about deprecation of your car's value.

Where do I start?
To start the application process, go to: https://fleet.postmates.com/

From there, if your area has the service, you should be able to apply for an orientation day, where you will learn the process of running the Fleet App and where you can ask questions and get supplies, which you'll have to ask about. You'll also receive the Postmates card for paying for transactions.

Once you go for an orientation, you'll go through a background check process which should take 3-5 days on norm. Once that finalizes, you should be able to log on to the app or on to the courier website and submit your banking info for deposits: https://postmates.com/courier/login?next=/courier

The Pay
Pay is based on the distance from picking up food (or merchandise) and to deliver said items to the customer. You also get paid per minute while waiting (or shopping) at the pickup location after a certain amount of time. Tips come in either automatically or when the customer decides to look back on the app to rate the delivery and provide said tip. Keep in mind, some folk don't tip or don't believe in tipping.

Depending on the area you deliver in, base pay for a pick up / delivery in a 2-3 mile drive is around $4.10 - $4.80 from what I've personally seen. The further the destination is from the pick up location, the more you'll receive.

There will be times when there are not enough drivers for orders in the system and that is when a "surge" will go into effect and pay rate will increase depending on the number. Keep in mind, there will always be a Surge of 1.5 during 12am to around 7am.

You can get paid for canceled orders, however you need to be at the location already and checked in (via your gps coordinates) for a few mins for it to be giving to you.

Finalized Deposit + "Surge Multiplier"

Pending Deposit with Pending Tip

Green text means the pay from that day's deliveries is in the process of being deposited into your bank account. Its still possible to receive a pending tip from a day that was already deposited.

Grey text means its still pending and usually takes about 3-4 days to begin the deposit process.

When a deposit does begin, $0.15 is subtracted from the total of a days work. This amount does not change wither the deposit amount is from a $1 tip (from a pending tip) or from a $200 delivery work day. The $0.15 is the charge for depositing the money to your bank account. Ideally, as a 1099 IC, you should be able to apply this to your expenses.

Keep It Cold / Hot!
You might be doing this as a side thing or for a little extra money, but in the long run, you'll need food bags to maintain the freshness of your food pick ups and the "Professional" look when you deliver. Worst thing to see is hot food chilling on a passenger seat in an air conditioned car. It really looks weird to a customer.

You might want to ask when you have you're orientation about supplies / bags. Though, you'll most likely have to buy bags out of pocket as they might want to charge you.

If you're stuck on cash, investing in a "Hot / Cold" bag from the local grocery store will start you in the right direction until you have some cash flowing in for a more "professional bag".

Lastly, make sure your bags are kept clean! Germs and such can in non-clean bags can create very unsafe and unhealthy delivering. You never know who is allergic to what or has a weak immune system. Just because you don't have a food handlers certificate, doesn't mean you shouldn't act like you have one.

Contact your Customer
There will be times when there will be questions needing to be answered. Such as a request for a coffee drink, but it comes in Hot or Iced variants and the customer didn't state when they wanted exactly.

Other times are to inform the customer, when it comes to food, about any delays with a restaurant. Sometimes an example text stating works wonders:

"This is your Postmate Driver Brian. Just got to the restaurant and I just found out its going to be an extra 15-20mins before I'll be able to take the food from them. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you need anything else from here, let me know."

Not letting your customer know why you've been at the pick up location for 30 + mins helps resolve any negativity towards you, but it might help get that tip.

Drive Safe! Invest in a Car Mount and Phone Charger

iRing with Hook

This should be a no-brainer. Driving to locations you're not familiar with can be challenging, even worse if you're trying to do it while juggling with a steering wheel and a phone in hands. It is so much safer to have a mount, in general, then looking down at your phone to figure where you're going. Plus you could write it off too!

There are many brands of phone mounts on the market with different ways to use them, but personally, I use the attachable mount called the iRing. Bought it from Frys Electronics (which can be also found on their website too). A hook with adhesive on it can be applied to your car's dashboard and the ring (also with adhesive) applies to your phone or phone case.

Though there are some phone cases that have odd designs on them that might prevent the adhesive to stick, such as my phone case. In that case, I just used gorilla glue and its permanently attached to my case (unless I want to chisel it off... )

Aukey 4 Port Car Charger with Quick Charge 3.0

However, this iRing has made leaving and getting ready to head out to my next destination easy and simple without the headache of dealing with spring loaded phone holder. Plus, it keeps the phone jack clear so I can keep it charged with my car charger.

Speaking of car chargers, I use the Aukey 4 Port Car Charger with Quick Charge 3.0: http://a.co/hLMFCn8

I primarily use it for just my phone, but It has become beyond valuable on trips or when I have people in my car such as friends or when I've done Uber / Lyft. Even better, I can charge multiple electronics at once very well with it on said long trips; tablets, tablet laptops, phones, and portable batteries.

You name it. Its worked great and hasn't failed me since getting it in 2016 (its now Mid-2018 with this edit)

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR MILEAGE!
The best thing you can do for yourself is keep track of your mileage. Keeping track of your mileage should be simple and you can find mileage books at most office stores (example: Office Depot, OfficeMax, or Staples)

When its time to do your taxes, you'll want to add all the mileage you drove while picking up and delivering orders and submit those numbers to your tax service. These piled up miles will lower the amount you need to pay in taxes.

Keep in mind though, mileage from finishing an order, signing off, and heading home, doesn't count as traceable, "business" mileage.

Investigate getting a Credit Card with Rewards.
When I first started to do deliveries, the one issue I ran into was a budget to purchase gas. Without gas, I couldn't make much needed money. So I investigated credit cards.

Most CCs (credit cards) have different rewards. Either being a kickback from making purchase or collecting points / miles for plane tickets. I went with a percentage kickback CC from B of A and that gave me 3% back from gas station purchases.

The one thing that I found most valuable about the card at the time was that it provided 0 Interest for roughly a year from opening the account. That helped provide a flow of money for gas without being "punished" with interest until I could get a solid flow of income coming in and I strictly only used it for gas to keep its usage under control.

Seems so Perfect! But...
The Postmates App is simple to use and understand. It makes picking up deliveries and drop offs simple. The only problem is their support team.

In the past 6 Months since posting this, Postmates made a change to their Fleet app which made it almost impossible to get help from the Fleet Support Team. Its come to the almost conclusion that you're out there on your own and if something happens, you won't be able obtain assistance from Postmate Support Team efficiently.

That means if there is a major issue with the order, its between you and the customer. Menu items are not available, its between you and the customer to figure out. Customer wants to cancel the order, they have to do it on their end.

You used to be able to summon a support member to call you and get help, but that option, at the moment, is deader then the dinosaurs.

Conclusion
Postmates, in general, is a easy to use delivery platform. Many more options then just food are available for you to pickup and Postmates seems to be busier then most platforms in major cities, at least currently. The lack of support hurts new comers to the delivery service, but practice and learning will make you or anyone more confident on what to do when the challenges come to pass.

Some days its going to be rough, but majority of the time its smooth sailing. Its easy to mix in with normal work and life or if you have free time, which makes it valuable.

I've been doing delivery services for over a year now and I've been lucky enough to be able to pay my bills, housing, car maintenance, and other stuff doing this along other car app services. I'll continue to work Postmates and these services until I found an even better source of income.

(Last Updated 9/4/2018)

Mercari: Tips for Selling on the Mercari App

2016-08-10T23:01:00.000-07:00

Mercari is a mobile selling platform which emphasizes on a more friendly buying and selling interface. If you're new to the platform, welcome. If you're a current buyer and looking to sell or a veteran seller, then I hope this post can be informational and helpful.

Requirements

Smart Phone (Android / Ios)
Bank Account ( Optional, but highly recommended for Direct Deposits)
Shipping Supplies ( Tape, Packaging Bags, Labels )

Selling your Item(s)
Posting an item for sale is really easy. Make sure you take well lit, visible pictures. Pictures pre-taken have to be cropped into square formatted pictures. So if you want to take pictures before posting, use an App like Instagram where you can take and save pictures already in the Square Format. From there, you can upload those pictures to Mercari.

For your Item Name, you only have 40 letters to quickly describe your item. Use brand names, Color, Size, New / Used terms in this area.

Make sure you make type up a well done description. Leaving very little to describe you item will not help with actually selling your item. Items with informative descriptions often sell a lot more then ones that are very bare. This is fact.

Category helps define what the item is and where it should belong, just like on Ebay or Amazon. In some Categories, it will request a 2nd option, a Brand Option. This is optional, but if it can be filled in then it might help people locate your item.

Condition is pretty explanatory. Is it New, still in package or used. This option is required to be put in, even if you don't know the condition.

Shipping Fee is requesting if you want to use Mecari's Shipping Label System, wither if you want to charge the customer for shipping, take on the shipping charges yourself, or select you own process for shipping outside of Mercari. If you have a Paypal account, you can print out your own shipping labels by going to Paypal.com/ShipNow. Also, be sure that your item is properly weighted with its packaging. If you ship anything that is more then what you have printed on your label, your buyer will have to pay out of their pocket for the extra charges from their post office. Which is never a good thing for either party.

Concerning Labels from Mercari itself, there seems to be a misinterpretation on their labels when they are printed out. For example the USPS Label that covers .5-3lb actually covers 5lbs. The list follows:

0-.5 lbs $4 USPS (prints a First Class label that covers 8 oz)
.5 - 3 LBS $6 USPS (prints a Priority label that covers 5LBS)
3 - 10 LBS $9 USPS (prints a Priority label that covers 12 LBS)
10 - 20 LBS $15 USPS (prints a Priorty label that covers 22 LBS)

Items under 1 lbs (16oz) can be shipped under First Class (Domestic) through the PayPal option mentioned above and can save you 40 cents or more depending on the weight. So if you item weights under 1 lbs, aim to use PayPal shipping labels as you'll be saving money. Anything about 1 lbs, Id recommend using Mecari's Priority Labels.
(Side Note: If your item has value to it, Priority will give $100 of coverage. If you need more then $100, follow through with PayPal as you can apply a larger insurance amount then the standard Priority Insurance coverage.)

Pricing is the last thing to type in. This is where you select how much you want to charge people for the item you have. Keep in mind, some users will want to buy things at $2. This is impossible as the system won't allow anything to be sold under $3. Many New users don't know this.

Repost! Repost!! Repost!!!
Repost items that haven't had any comments posted on them! After a few days, your item loses view ability on the platform. The only way someone finds your item is if they are looking for what you have by name or via category. Deleting and reposting the item will give it a fresh new start on being viewable again and gets a better chance of being purchased.

I recommend saving the images you used for unsold items so you don't have to keep retaking the pictures over and over again. Also, copy and paste the description of the item that you're going to repost. This will also save time from having to retype everything, especially if you made a very detailed description of your item.

Price Change Requests, Free Shipping, Lowballers
Due to the way the platform runs. Users will often ask for lower pricing for items and often, free shipping. I feel like its important for this to be brought up due to the fact that it can feel like being pressured in selling an item that is less then its value. The pressure of wanting to sell an item can be very intense, especially if you have an item that hasn't sold like you would like it. Don't let lowballers effect you. Be firm.

If you feel like you can haggle with users, then do so. Just remember to keep your pricing on the higher side of things compared to their requested pricing. It is always a gamble, but if you're successful, you can get a profitable sale.

Getting Funds Released to your Mercari Balance
Before you can get money sent to your personal bank account, you have to get your buyers to release the funds to your Mercari Balance. In order to have your funds released into your Mercari Balance, your buyer must rate the transaction after they receive their bought item. It is highly suggested that you have tracking for the items that you sell. This is because sometimes, your buyers might forget to rate you, even after they've received the item. There are a few ways to solve this problem:

Send a Message to your buyer asking if they have received their item ok and if they have, to rate the transaction so you can get paid.
Send a Message to Mercari to have them rate the transaction for you. You will need to know the item number for the sold item, which will be on the item purchased page. Once you have this item number, go to Help Center > Contact US > Listings > Start New Conversation. Ask Mercari to rate the sold item, tell them that the tracking shows it was delivered, and the buyer has not responded to your messages. Personally, Mercari Staff will finalize the transaction within 1 hour to 24 hours.
(*If you have more then one item having the same issue, get every item number and supply those numbers within the same message. Mercari Staff should then go through each item and finalize them all)

Getting Money to your Bank
At the time of this posting, Mercari does not charge for making a successful sale on their USA platform. They also currently do not charge for posting items onto the platform. Which is a Win/Win when it comes many other platforms such as Ebay, Amazon, Etsy, and other Selling Mobile Apps. The only thing you'll need to keep in mind is that you'll need to acquire at least $10 to make a free bank deposit. Anything less then $10 and you'll be charged $2.

To request a Direct Deposit, you must have an active checking account, from which you'll need to get its account number and routing number. This can be set up and added in Setting > Balance > Request Bank Direct Deposit.

Deposits can be requested at any time. However, the ideal time to request a deposit is on Sundays before 11:55pm (PST). The reason behind this is due to the fact that they only process deposits on Mondays at Midnight (12am PST). Depending von your bank, it usually takes 3 or 4 days to be received by your bank.
However, if you miss that deadline, then you'll have to wait until the following Monday/Week for money to be sent to your account.

Conclusion
While not trying to have a bias opinion of Mercari (which is very impossible right now), we enjoy using Mercari very much. We have been using it for over a year (opened our account in 2015) and have sold more product on there then Ebay and Etsy combined. More like 7 times more. Which is no joke. We have had more then 300 sales in one year on Mercari when it took 3 years to get that much on Ebay & Etsy combined.

10 Ways of Better Selling on Etsy

2014-11-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

Index

Etsy is the front lines of Online Hand Craftsmanship and you're on the front line of that battlefield (assuming you already have a shop open). You can either fail or succeed, but only a certain level of hard work and determination put into what you do will be the key to your success or it will be your downfall.

In order for you to also be successful, you must understand how Ecommerce (Etsy specifically) works and how to use that knowledge to help you tweak your online personality and your product listing to bring potential customers to YOUR table.

1.) Know Your Competition

Knowing your competition is key to having a selling success story, not just once, but multiple times over. This applies on real life retail or online retail situations. This involves knowing your competitions product, selling strategy, and pricing (especially if they have any deals).

Research! If you're selling on Etsy or any other platform (eBay, Amazon, Bonanza), you need to research and see how people are describing their items, how they are tagging their items, and what they are using as their item's titles. If your doing that already, then you're already on the right track.

Knowing what others are selling and how they are presenting their product is key to knowing how to present your own products!

2.) Product Photography

Having a well photographed product/listing is key bringing a potential customer into your online shop or even view a product listing. Proper lighting, backdrop, environment, and stand (if you plan on selling jewelry or very small items) will help with your presentation of your item.

Unless your direct linking people to an item they are already interested in, they majority of your views to your listing will be because of your Main Picture for that listing. If its a dark picture, is crowded (has competing colors in its background), or just bad resolution quality, then you most likely wont get as many views to said listing, which means less chances of a purchase.

There are many tutorials out there on the web, with a good portion that are actual videos, that can help in taking decent product photography.

3.) Variety in Products

Grow! This one word, is one of the things, especially if you're new, will be a struggle. You have to constantly be growing your shop by uploading it with new products frequently.

The reason behind this need is that if the potential customer doesn't have much of a selection to choice from, then they wont think you have something to offer them. Variety in quantity (without the loss of Quality) is key to having a successful online shop. The more you have, the longer a customer will browse your shop and brand. The longer they are with you, the greater chances they'll make a purchase from you or better yet, contact you if something custom can be made based on what you have already offered in your shop.

4.) Figure out your Brand

Before or after, depending on if you have a game plan on what you want to do or if your new at it all, you need to figure out what your brand (aka your product and your style) is trying to represent.

Branding can be multiple things:

Type of the Product being Offered
How you Showcase it
How you Personally Represent it

Type, Display, and/or Personality; these are the three kinds of branding you can represent. Wither you choose one, two, or all three is up to you, but it very important to be able to signify what your shop is about.

( Business cards, Logo Style, Name of your Shop, and any other Graphical add-ons that apply to your shop is Branding as well. These should fit together as a set and should never differ from each other or cause confession on your Brand's Identity.)

5.) Advertising / Self Promotion

Promoting yourself is just as important as being able to sell yourself and your brand. If you aren't promoting and advertising your product, then you are just stabbing yourself in the foot.

Advertising your product isn't as hard as it seems. Sometimes is might cost you some out of pocket cash, but the main focus here will be advertising on a free market.

The free advertising market, which includes primarily many social networking sites, is the focus of this section. In fact, you most likely use one of those sites (if you aren't, then you should!) on an almost daily basis.

These websites include:

Facebook (primarily Facebook Pages)
Google +
Instagram
Pinterest
Twitter
Tumblr
Youtube

This is just a short list of 7, but this is a strong short list of social media websites that are constantly waiting to be filled with new content, especially pictures and video.

Handling all these sites can be a handful. Luckily, there is an app/website that makes it simple to.

IF THIS THEN THAT, or simply IFTTT .com, offers the ability to cause one post, say to Facebook, be also posted amongst other sites. Indeed worth a check. ( I personally use this and I can guarantee it works amazingly) Its available for Iphone and Android devices.

Being able to spread yourself out to multiple locations and trying to get your product out there is so key to success! Its how movies are advertised; through TV, Social Media, Youtube, ect. The more you spread yourself upon the media, the more you'll get out of it in return, and that return being sales.

6.) Etsy Teams / Forums

Depending if your new or not, You should be checking out Etsy Teams and the Etsy Forums.

The Etsy Forums is a valuable source of information from thousands of users, past and present, filled with their questions and of course, answers. It is also a great place to see what the current buzz is about with the Etsy Website itself.

Besides the later, if you haven't ever noticed, there are dozens of people constantly asking other users, most of whom are sellers as well, to over look their shops and give them (Hopefully you in the near future) thoughtful cortiques from a specific listing to their overall shop. This in itself is a strong service to take advantage of since this advice is given freely.

Etsy Teams, just like the forums, is another avenue to seeking help from others, but more on the concentrating level. Most teams or groups, have a specific goal in mind, either that being to help others with Tags & SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to helping sellers with having a better item presentation.

There are also groups on Facebook that do the same thing as Etsy Teams, but with the better social interaction interface that Facebook provides. You can either search for them on your own on Facebook or you can check this list of Groups on this blog:

7.) About Page and Policy Page

I find it really important to fill in your Policy Page (Policy Example of Mine) as many potential customers that are new to Etsy might have doubt in a new shop (or even a well aged shop) and not purchase anything from you. Even if you have a filled Policy Page, look it over again, ask a friend or someone online to over look it and get their opinion. If by chance, one of those options have a conflict with your policies, then potential customers might also have a conflict with them as well.

Your About Page (About Page Example of Mine) is your place to shine, literally. Its your chance to tell anyone about you and what makes the shop itself tick. It could be your first and last opportunity to express yourself and your craft to those people who seek out your skill without having to talk to them one on one. Use your best pictures, best vocab and grammar, and upon everything else, make yourself sound interesting and unique (without sugarcoating it)!

8.) SEO and Tags

SEO and Listing Tags is crucial and also very in depth in many cases. Whether you're new to it or a veteran, these two things can make make you money or prevent you from making any money at all.

SEO is what Google or any other search engine uses to figure if your item has what the user of that search engine is looking for.

For example, if you type "Crocheted Baby Cockblock" in Google, you will most likely be engulfed by pictures and links to my Crocheted Cockblocks. This is the power of SEO.

SEO works along with pictures, link address, and the short beginning of a description on a page, in this instance, my Etsy (or any other site) listing.

Tags are used more primarily on the Etsy Site it self. It helps narrow down items and display what is most relevant to you or your customer's search.

When using tags, it is highly suggested to NOT use one worded tags. However, they can still be used, but its better to use a combination of words that help describe your listing/product. If you have issues with figuring what you should tag, go off of this list:

What is it?
What is it for?
Who is it for?
When can it be used?
Why does it exist?

Here are also some guides that can help with Tagging and SEO:

9.) Pricing

The pricing of your items can attract or can scare away potential customers. Pricing can be one of the hardest things you'll have to decide upon, especially if the priced item in question is completely hand made.

There is a basic model of how to charge:

Material Cost + Labor Costs + Handmade Skill Charge = Pricing

Material Cost is easy to explain. Since you want to cover your purchasing costs of said material, you'll want to add this. This can also, in sometimes, be the most expensive part of the equation.

Labor Costs is hard to define. Depending on your craft, it could be above the standard min wage or it could be way below. This could also change from product to product, from simplicity or stupid difficult.

The Handmade Skill Charge is something I personally tack on to my pricing. My explanation to this when I tell people is that I'm providing a product that requires a certain amount of skill and experience that the normal individual wouldn't have the time or patience to learn themselves. I am providing something unique to the individual because of a Skill I have finely tuned with years of experience.

Last that isn't mention is that of Shipping Costs. Depending on your item, you can either absorb the shipping costs of the said item in question or add it on. This add on can either be on the Pricing itself or as a separate charge, which is usually listed as "Shipping and Handling".

The one thing you must be careful about with charging shipping separately, is that if the cost of the shipping isn't justified or overwhelming to a lot (without justification) then you'll be left with a customer that deletes the item from their online cart or plain out abandons it, which is never a good thing and honestly happens quite often, online and in real life.

10.) Have Fun

No. Seriously. Depending on your mindset or where your coming at, if your new at it all or a veteran, you need to remember to have fun, but still professional of course.

I have found that most of my creations come from me not even thinking about them because I was having fun with what I was doing.

If you tend to stress out or are scared of failure, try not too if its possible.

"One with an ease mind is quicker to react then with a mind filled with doubt and stress." - Amigurumi Man + All those other Wise Men & Women in the World

Cash Crate - Legit or Scam

2014-10-26T18:29:00.001-07:00

As you may know, I've been using Cash Crate on and off for about 4 years now (or at least from this posting). Over time I've seen and read many people asking if Cash Crate actually works for people or if its a total waste of time and a complete scam.

If you dont know much about Cash Crate, I'd recommend checking a previous post I made about Cash crate. (What is CashCrate?) Continuing forward though, the whole definition of legit or scam is hard to say. To be more precise, Cash Crate is a Legit work at home survey job where:

You can get paid Monthly
Can interact with fellow cash craters (users of cashcrate and through their forums) just like you would at a real job.
The more time you put into the site, the more you can potentially earn.

The part where I think a lot of people lose sight on the website, is what was just mentioned, "The Time". Many of the different jobs on the site, wither they be actual surveys, offers, or cash tasks, can at times, be quite time consuming, unless you know what your doing or know how to do it properly. The most time consuming and sometimes frustrating times are the following:

Surveys that don't qualify you to complete a survey for credit (usually happens mid-way or at the beginning) are time sinks
Offers that fail to credit you
Cash Tasks that are time consuming and many times require you to be some what perfect to bank on

Now, I wouldn't say these 3 are deal breakers for cash crate, but they are a real thing that does happen and honestly, is just the way online sites such as this work (though I personally believe Cashcrate is still one of the better of the ones out there).

The good thing about some of the things on cash crate is something I mentioned a little earlier, and that is the forums!

The forums are a good source of information, especially for the Offers that actually work/still active and getting help on certain tasks or getting questions answered in general. I have not run into a website to offer such an interactive service with other users, especially when the admins are actually active as well in the community. Which is a plus.

But back to the subject at hand. Is Cash crate the Real Deal or is it Bogus. It all just depends on you, which doesn't help answer the question. I suppose the questions would be these:

Q: Will I get paid?
A: Yes! You will get paid once you complete enough tasks on the website that credit up to $20. Which is actually the minimum you need to make to get a check and when you sign-up, you get $5 credited to you as a Welcome gift. So your basically 1/4 the way done from getting your first check.

Q: How do I know people are actually getting checks?
A: Easy! Users physically upload pictures of their deliver checks to the website, volunteerly!
Go to - http://www.cashcrate.com/paymentWall (might need to sign in, but below is a screen shoot of Oct 2014 payments)

I don't want to bore you, but these are just examples. I have personally made 50+ dollars from the site, as well as my significant other who has been doing cashcrate for even lesser time then I. The best part about the program honestly, is that you don't have to be 16 or 18. As long as you have an adult able to cash the check on your behalf, then you are gold, which is a great benefit.

But let me know what you think in the comments. I want to hear your experience or future experience. Also, if you have signed up yet, sign up through my referral link below. If you sign up through that, you'll be able to directly messaage me through cash crate with any questions you might have and if you have any here, be sure to ask them here as well.

CashCrate - Personal Review - What is Cash Crate?

2014-05-12T20:34:00.002-07:00

Age Category: 14 - 80

Requirements: Patience & Strategy

"Welcome to CashCrate! We have Task for you!"
I know what your thinking, "What is CashCrate"? Cash Crate is one of many Survey Sites on the amazing internet that task you jobs in exchange for small amounts of money, very much like SwagBucks.com and PrizeRebel.com. (if you're familiar with them).

Cash Crate also has a one of the friendliest online community and forum of any survey site that I've personally seen. Main reason, everyone is there for one specific goal, to make some money and they don't mind helping others along the way at the same time either.

What Do I need
To start a CashCrate account, All you need is a:

Valid Email Address
Use of your real name
A Phyiscal Mailing Address

"Whoa there! my Email Address?"

Yes. In order to sign up for an account, you'll need a valid email address. My suggestion is to set up a 2nd email (or 3rd or 4th, depending how many you already have) specifically for Cash Crate. So, as an example, JohnEgbert_CrashCrate@Live.com . Whatever works for you.

"Ok. That is fine I guess, but why my real name?? I want to be anonymous."
Understandable, but in order for you to get paid via crash crate's payment system (which is by mailing you a physical check), your real name is a necessity.

"Wait? Mailing me a check? Is that why I need to give them my address?"
Yup! In order for CashCrate to pay you, you'll need to give them an address for mailing out your check to. Also, depending on your standing with the website, could either be by the 1st or the 15th of every month.

Where do I start?
The most easiest way to start is actually signing up right here!

The Pay
CashCrate offers many avenues of about obtaining and making money. Payments or Checks, as mentioned earlier, are sent out monthly either on the 1st or the 15th. These dates depend on what level you are on the website. Direct deposit, if you have you're own bank account, becomes available to you once you reach a certain pinnacle on the website. This pinnacle is easily measured by the amount of which you've earned on the website.

Cash Outs / Payments do have a minual requirement, which is a easy (yes, its quite easy) $20. If you're a hardballer and wish to set your self up with a higher payment goal, you can edit it to whatever your heart desires. For me, I like to set mine at $25.

*Offers

The Offers tab hosts the about 1/5 of what CashCrate has to office (in my opinion). Most of the offers are divided between paying into and just signing up with an offer (for free). Also, on top of doing and completing offers, you'll receive points that you can redeem for a large arrangement of gift cards or if you feel lucky, playing games to win a chance to earn even more!

*Surveys

The Offers Tab hosts the basic surveys that you can almost do on a daily basis (once 24 hours on each survey)

*Top Surveys

The Top Surveys tab hosts more advanced surveys that are sometimes hit and miss as they are looking for specific individuals to complete said surveys.

*Referrals

The Referrals tab gives you options on how you can make the most of Cash Crate, by getting referrals. Referrals, are a good primary source of obtaining sustainable and constant profit with cash crate because each task and offer your referrals do, you also get a share of their earnings as well (no you ain't stealing what they make!)

*Bonus Surveys

The Bonus Surveys Tab has a mix of offers and surveys that you can do for some extra cash.

*Bonus Offers

The Bonus Offers Tab, just like the normal Offers Tab, shows additional options for garnishing extra cash flow. However, just like many of the normal Offers, there are many offers in this tab that will require you to pay some amount to get something back in return. Sometimes its equal to what you pay and sometimes its more to what you paid.

*Cash Tasks

The Cash Tasks tab loads up a third party (CrowdFlower) money making website (that works with cashcrate). These cash tasks require you to perform internet tasks such as doing website research to making sure a company website has its hours listed. Signing up for a CrowdFlower account is most likely going to be a requirement for most of the jobs in this tab. So keep that in mind.

Conclusion
In conclusion. I like cashcrate. They have a easy going community of cash craters and an amazing Admin Mod Staff. I've been a member with them since 2010(?) and have always found my self always going back after trying other money making websites. Plus, its a fun pass time with friends if you want to make it. Nothing makes friend challenges more eventful on CashCrate!

Collecting and Recycling - Scrap Metal

2010-11-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

Scrap! Its whats for dinner tonight!
Recycling scrap metal can be very profitable, especially if you know what you doing, but even if you don't, its why I'm here, to assist you in your craving for metals. Ha ha! Before we get a head of ourselves, if you haven't gotten the chance too, read my other blog on recycling: Recycling - Plastics, Aluminum, and Glass. There are many good tips in that posting that you can also use for collecting scrap metal.

What Do I need First?

Some Knowledge of Different Metals
Wire Cutters
Razer Blade/Cutter
A Place to Separate and Store Your Metal

There are many kinds of metals in the world. A lot of which have a recyclable value of some kind. Knowing their value and being able to identify them from almost a quick glance is important as it will save you time, sweat, and maybe even tears! I'll provide a list and descriptions (along with pictures) below encase you need to refresh your memory on what metal is what.

Copper on pallets

Copper: With a reddish color to it, copper is the one of the most valuable metals you can find. When exposed to moisture, copper will obtain a light green color type of rust, but this rust can be cleaned off so its not really much of a problem. Copper is used allot in electronic wiring and in plumbing. There are also 2 different kinds of copper, Clean and Dirty. Clean copper, which is bright and has a shine to it, will always net you more. However dirty copper, which could be stained with a green layer or blackened and not shine, will net you less depending on the recycle place. Also, if you leave the insulation on wiring, you'll be given allot less. So it is totally worth the time to strip the insulation off the copper wire.

Aluminum: Has a silver like color to it and its value is a little less then Copper, but it still is worth collecting. Aluminum is used in allot of products: soda cans, house gutters, electrical cables, and piping. Aluminum is the most commonly found discarded metal. On a daily basis, you can see it on the freeways and streets from pipes and soda cans, but mostly soda cans. It is also one of the fewest metals that can be 100% recycled.

Stainless Steel: Usually has a silvery dull shine to it, its value is about the same as aluminum. Stainless Steel is used in many products from cookware, cutlery, hardware, surgical instruments, and to major appliances. As the name mentions, stainless steel does not rust cause of the way its made. It is easily found in outdoor areas and in moist climates.

Steel: Almost the same as Stainless Steel, except lacking the non-rusting abilities of its cousin, is used in many products from home appliances, piping, tire rims, food cans (soup/vegi/meat), bolts, and nails. Most can be found near building tear downs, in your own home, and sometimes in and around dumpsters.

Now that you know the low down of metals, the next step is to know.. where you gonna store it? Depending on your living situation, either be a house or an apartment (or car), there are a few places to store your metals. Its best if you can keep your scrap metal outta of the elements, cause normal steel and copper corrode and that lowers their value. You could keep them in your garage (if you have one) or on the balcony. However, if there is no place to keep them inside, try keep them covered with like a tarp or put them in a plastic container.

My personal way to store and keep metals separated are in milk crates. They are sturdy, not to big or to small, and they got handles for easy transport! Milk crates can be found at your nearest grocery store and sometimes even at the recycle center.

Where do I start?
Finding scrap metals just lying around, specially in big piles, is gonna be very hard, unless your really lucky! However most of the time that won't be the case, so the first place you could start is in and around your own home. From there on out, start looking around your own neighborhood and your place of work. Collect empty soup cans. Cut the extension wires from thrown out small appliances and collect thrown out tv cable, which has copper.

Fair warning, it is against law in most countries to go into "abandoned" buildings and remove these precious metals from the property. The reasoning on why is 3 things:

Harvesting metals, such as wiring, from a building could be extremely dangerous as wire could still be live even though the building is abandoned. Not only could someone get extremely hurt, but could die from electricity still going through wires. So its more of a law to prevent loss of life.
Taking metals from a building can be considered stealing since the building that you're harvesting from usually is owned by someone.
Most abandoned buildings have fencing around them or "should" be locked up. Just because its abandoned doesn't mean its not owned by someone. So you have trespassing issues

The Pay
The amount of cash you'll get varies by two things important factors:

The metals in which you have
The amount in weight in which you've collected

The most valuable scrap metal you can collect is by all Copper, while Steel the least valuable. The amount in weight, per pound, will determine how much you get too. Which why its important to collect a good amount, 30 lbs+, before even thinking about taking it to the recycle center. The less trips you can take, the better the reward.

Conclusion
Recycling scrap metal can be a fun small hobby, which can be educational to you and those around you. Heck, it might even lead to something else, like the learning of metal fabrication and my personal favorite, armor smithing.

Links:
Collecting and Recycling Plastic Bottles, Aluminum Cans and Glass Bottles
Dr Andrew J. Smith - How to Make Money Recycling Scrap Metal (very detailed)

Get a Job with a Temporary Labor Agency

2010-10-22T16:12:00.000-07:00

Requirements: 18 Years of Age Minimum, Good Physical Shape, Not Lazy, Prepared to Work Hard

Hey John! We need you do go somewhere!
Thats how it usually starts at a labor agency before they send you out to to a job site. Job sites could lead to anything from keeping things clean to.. well allot of things. Skies the limit to what kind of work you'll be doing. Most of the work that you'll get set out to do is on average very physical and demanding, hence why they are called Labor Agencies.

What do I need first?
Labor Agencies usually require you to have allot of stuff to even work with them. Mainly your own Safety Gear.

2 Documents of Proof of Identity (State ID, SSI Card, Birth Certificate)
Photo ID/Drivers License
Working Car (Optional)
Steel Toe Boots
Hard Hat
Safety Glasses
Work Gloves

Before you can even start an application with a labor agency, they require you to be 18 years old cause of the labor like work (its the law). You'll also need to show them at least 2 documents to prove that you are eligible to work. Usually if you live in the U.S.A, they will be either a State ID, a Social Security Card, and a legal Birth Certificate. Other forms like a Green Card and Passport can also be used, specially if your from out of country like Mexico.

Having a working car will allow you to be able to get jobs, I'm not kidding! I have personally seen guys (and girls) not be able to take a job cause the job needs them like an hour ago and the job site is like 10 miles away from the labor office. It sucks. However, don't let this sway you away from trying to get work from an agency because there are some jobs that require multiple people to show up, which means you could car pool with someone to get to the job site. If this happens, be prepared to give maybe 2-3 bucks for gas money to the driver.

Protect your head! You only got one!

The agency I've worked with for the past year is really cool cause they lend their workers safety gear so they can work cause they know some people don't have money to even buy a bus pass. From steel toes to reflective vests, they lend it.

However, I have "heard" that a majority of the labor agencies don't even do this "lending system", that you have to already have the safety gear. Which in my personal opinion is a total let down specially if someone really needs work and can't cause they don't have Steel Toes.

So before applying at a certain agency, call or walk in, and ask if they help their workers with supplying them with gear so they can work. It will save you time and hopefully money in the end. Just know that its always best to have your own personal gear. So try to work towards that goal while working with the agency.

Where do I start looking for a Labor Agency?
The best place to start is actually on your computer right now. Go to Google and search for "Labor Agency" or "Labor Agencies" along side with your city in which you live in. If you live in a big city, you shouldn't have no problem finding one (there are at least 6 labor agencies here in San Diego.)

Next step is to either call or go to that agency in person. I recommend just calling, cause it will save you gas (if you drive) and time. Ask some questions like, "How does is it all work?", "When can I do an application?", and "Do you help supply safety gear to workers?" Once you got that taken care of you should be in good shape and hopefully can start working the next day or even that same day if they need extra people!

The Pay
The pay is kinda the downside to Labor Agencies. For just general labor, which is allot of the work they hand out, you'll be payed whatever your state's minimum wage is. However, if you have a skill like Welding, Steel work, Construction, or something else, and they have job requiring that certain skill, you'll get paid more then minimum wage.

Conclusion
If your in a jam and in need extra money same day, then a labor agency is diffidently for you. Work hard, work safe, work smart!

Links:
http://www.laborready.com/ - (Agency I use and has 600 branches according to the website.)
http://www.staffingagencylist.com/ - (Covers Staffing Agencies in the US Only)

Pet Sitting

2010-10-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

Age Category 12 - 70
Requirements: Knowledge of Basic Animal Needs and Care, Responsible

"Help! I need someone to care for my dog while I'm out of town!"

Sometimes when people go on trips out of town and can't take their pets with them, this is what happens. They call their friends and family from all over town seeing if someone can care for them while they're away. Allot of the time if they can't find someone at all, they'll go into the phone book or online to find a person offering a Pet Sitting Service. That is when (hopefully) you come into play.

What do I need to know first before taking on this job?
The first things you'll probably want to know and have before hand are as follows:

Knowledge of Different Animals (Very Important!)
Responsible Behavior (Also Very Important)
Animal Toys & Supplies (Optional)
Having your own Pet (Optional)

Knowledge of many different animals should be your number 1 objective. You don't have to go ape and start borrowing every animal book at your local library (unless you want too), but common information should be known. Most of the pets you'll be caring and watching over will primarily be dogs and cats, so learn more about them first before anything else.

Responsibility is just as important as knowing about the type of animal your watching over. Without a strict stance of responsibility, then no one, and I mean NO ONE will give you a chance. You need to prove to the owners of these pets that your not some misfit. With a solid responsible behavior, people will put their trust into you easier and that means that you'll be able to do business with those people.

You might want to offer to the owners if they wouldn't mind if you brought toys over to help keep their pets occupied. More then likely they'll pass since they'll already have their own toys for their pet(s), but it doesn't hurt to ask. However if an owner says its alright, please, please make sure the toys are sterilized, because of you don't clean them with bleach or something, you could get get that owner's pet sick cause it was contaminated. Would you give your own child a toy from another kid who is sick? I sure wouldn't.

Having your own pet can prove to that owner that you know how to care for animals and it tells them that you love animals too. Offer to show them your pet or even talk about your pet. Pet owners like talking about their pets. It creates a common interest between owners.

I would like to make special note that was brought to my attention by a friend and fellow pet owner. The worst scenario, other then the pet getting hurt while under your care, is to have the pet escape. If this were to happen, well.. I'm just gonna say the consequences would not be good at all. You could be sued and forced to pay XXX amount of dollars for negligence. You could also be Black Listed from doing Pet Sitting ever again... Now that we got the negative part of the job taken care, shall we continue to something more positive? *smile*

Where do I start looking for people that need a pet sitter?
Best place to start is start letting Friends, Family, and Colleges know that your trying to start a side business and are offering to watch and take care of people pets. Even if those people don't have pets themselves, you should still tell them cause they could reference you if someone you don't even know asks. (This is called networking by the way.)

Another way for yourself to be heard is to start up your own website to advertise your services. Learning Basic HTML isn't that hard (I learned it when I was 10.) or you could always have someone make one for you, but usually people are gonna charge you for that. Also you can post your service up on Craigslist which is free. There area also Pet Setting Directories online which you can upload your all your info to.

You could also post up fliers around your town advertising your service which is another great way to get yourself heard. I'll post link to a flier template for those that are interested at the bottom of this blog.

The Pay
Now usually, the pay for any job already has a set amount, but pet sitting is vert different cause your the one that has to figure out how much to charge your client for certain tasks. For this, I'm gonna give you a link to an already thought out process on how to charge clients. I'd recommend you read it word by word. Link is at the bottom.

Conclusion
Pet Setting can be a very rewarding job and even business if you start one up. You get to be with animals you love and care about (Hopefully you do care about them.) Plus the pay isn't bad once you figure out that part when you start everything. Be a loving, responible person, and you'll go far! I promise you that.

Links
CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/
Figuring how much to charge for Pet Sitting
Flyer Template

Collecting and Selling Pallets for Money

2010-10-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last Revised - January 7, 2013

Requirements: Driver's License, an F 150 (or higher) Truck, Rope/Tie Downs

Get Your Pallets! Nicely Used Pallets!

Your average 48 by 48 pallet

Have you seen them on the road? Your probably asking, "Seen what??" Well those 18 wheelers stacked sky high with pallets or maybe a a regular truck stacked with at least 20 or more pallets?? Still no? Well you don't really see them very often on the road cause the people driving them are behind malls and shopping centers collecting used pallets. These people have an actually business going on. They collect pallets and take them to a dealer who then buys the pallets from them. Sound interesting? Then shall we continue?

What would I need to have first before pursuing this kind of self-employment job?
The things you'll first need before you can do anything really are as follows:

Drivers License
A Truck
Rope or Tie Downs
A Good Sense of Direction
Self-Motivated
Hammers and Nails
Hand Drill, Drill Bit(s), and Screws (Optional)

Truck with a Flat Bed

Any truck will do, as long as you can hook ropes or tie downs to its side, it still runs and can handle the weight of all the pallets, then you should be fine. However, if you want to really get the job done and be able to carry a larger load at one time, then you'll need to use a truck with a flat bed, like the picture to the right.

If your gonna use rope, make sure the rope is in good condition cause the worst thing that could happen on you while transporting a full load of pallets is to have the rope snap, make a turn at a corner, and you'll have all your pallets in the road or side walk. Also make sure that there are no existing knots in the rope cause knots reduce the strength of the rope by a good percentage depending on how many knots there are (20% +). I'd recommend you use the Trucker's Hitch. Its a very effect knot that is easy to do and easier to pull apart when you unload.

If you don't know how to make a Trucker's Hitch, here are some good video tutorials that show how to make one.

As for tie downs, make sure the straps aren't severely damaged or that could also lead to disaster because the last thing you want happening is to have 30+ pallets sliding off your truck, going into the street, and into incoming traffic. Which could get people severely hurt depending on where people are at on the road and how fast people driving

A good sense of direction and self-motivation are key to being successful, which can be said with any business, specially if its a self-employed business. If you don't have both, then you are bound to fail. I can't stress to have your family or friends give you support in your business venture specially if you are doing this solo. You could also ways have a family member come with you to help you on your job. Getting the family together would make it a family business instead of partnering with someone, which could lead to disaster if the business doesn't go well.

OK! I'm ready to get started. Where do I start?
First things first. Your going to need to locate a company or individual in your area that buys used pallets. Try looking up on Craigslist or your phone book for people selling pallets. Give them a call (if a number is supplied) and ask if they buy used pallets from people.

Once you have that taken care of, I want you to think every place around your area or town that receives large quantities of goods. (examples : Wal-Mart, Sears, Ralphs, Target,) Now go to those businesses and ask the Manager/Owner of the store if you could take their wooden pallets off their hands for free. Usually, they should say Yes (unless they have someone already doing it for free) since most businesses have to pay a company to pick them up from their store. If they say Yes, ask if you could come by on a regular basis to pick up their pallets. By doing this, you are establishing your own Pallet Pickup Route, which is very important.

Once you have your pallets, call the pallet company that you contacted before, and confirm with them that you'll be coming in with a truck load of pallets to sell to them.

Repairing Pallets
This is where the hammer(s) and nails come into play. You'll probably run into your fair share of busted pallets. The best way to repair them is to take apart another busted pallet that has some good pieces still and use those pieces to repair other broken pallets. Do note that most pallets are sometimes very hard to nail through, this is due to the different types of wood that are used to make pallets. Usually, the heavier pallets are the ones that are more difficult to nail into and repair. So you might need to use a hand drill to drill a pilot for your nails to go through easier. Now you will have some more good pallets that you can sell and make more money then you did before repairing.

A 2nd Life To Severely Damaged Pallets.
You might run into pallets that are way to damaged to even be worth sacrificing a lesser damaged pallet in order to fix it. It will always be a judgement call when encountering such pallets in which you'll need to calculate if it time put into it is worth saving a single pallet or not.

However, there might be a 2nd option for such severely damaged pallets. This 2nd option, though not fully investigated, is cut or saw damaged pallets into 1 - 2 foot pieces of wood and bundle them up together, advertise on Craigslist, and sell the bundles as firewood. Price would be your discretion. Just make sure there is are no nails in the wood that you bundled up as you don't want to cause injury to yourself or to anyone else.

The Pay
You'll most likely be paid in cash or check and the pay will be based on the amount of pallets you sell to any specific company. Depending on the size of the pallet, you could receive $1.50 - $3.50 dollars per pallet. I know that might not sound like allot, but if you accumulate 50-100 pallets a load, then that is roughly more then $100 bucks. If you do that 5-7 days a week, then you got some a good cash flow going to your pockets, bank account.

Conclusion
Collecting and selling used pallets isn't that hard to start. Its hard work of course, but hard work always has its rewards, and making a decent living is one of them. Work hard, be smart, be safe, and start selling those pallets!

How to get a Sign Holding Job / Spinning Gig

2010-10-10T13:50:00.000-07:00

What is that person doing on the corner Mommy??
You might see them on a day to day basis or you might not. I know I do, specially in San Diego. Some just stand with their big bright and vibrant signs pointing to some business or a Big Event that is happening nearby. There are some, how some how defy the laws of physics, spin the sign and do "tricks" to attract people. These unique and skilled individuals are called Sign Spinners.

What would I need to know first before pursuing this kind of work?
Taking from personal experience, (Yes I've been a Sign Spinner before), you need determination and you can't let your personal life effect your job. At some points while doing this job, you get allot of time to think about stuff cause everything you do after a while is "Muscle Memory" I recommend listening to music when this happens.

Just like the Boy Scout motto says, "Be Prepared!" The elements are your enemy, specially if its a really sunny day and your out on the corner or where ever for more then 2 hours. Water! Water! Water! I can't say it enough. You'll be sweating, specially if your active while doing the job. Sunscreen is also a must! All you need is to be engulfed in a sunburn that would put Rudolf's Nose to shame.

Also, don't be afraid to take breaks every 2 hours. Your in titled to them after all, specially since its the law. I usually took 10-15 min breaks every 2 hours and I usually had a little snack to help keep me going.

A Man Sign Spinning For Adventure Time During San Diego Comic Con

I want to be a Sign Holder/Spinner now! Where do I look for a job though?
You can usually (not all the time) find someone on Craigslist looking to hire someone to hold or spin a sign for their business. I usually make a search on the Craigslist website saying, "Sign Spinner/Twirler/ Holder" or just plain "Sign". Matter of fact, I actually got my first Sign job from Craigslist.

There is one company that does come to mind that will hire and TRAIN you to be a sign spinner for them. You might have heard or seem them before, but they are AArrow Advertising. Once trained in some tricks, they send you out to specific locations around town to advertise for businesses and events. The good thing about this company is that they pay you based on the amount of tricks you've mastered and there are Endless amount of tricks to master! So depending on your enthusiasm, you could make some really decent money with them hourly.

The Pay
Depending on who you deal with, either from some random business or with AArrow, you could start making $9 to $11 Bucks an hour, but that could be different depending on where you live. Usually here in San Diego, on average, people pay around $10. However, there are some people who try to pay 9 bucks, which is the min wage currently. So if you find someone like that, you should try to negotiate with them for higher pay or don't bother (unless you really need a job, then of course go for it anyways cause money is money after all.)

Conclusion
Being a Sign Spinner is a good job if your young, in decent shape (you don't have to be, but it helps a little to get the job) and in need of a job. If you find a sign spinning job, my hats off to you. Be prepared to get honked at by people in their cars (that is actually a good thing!!) Have fun doing it and go wild. Spin that sign!

Links
CraigsList - http://www.craigslist.org/
AArrow Advertising - http://www.aarrowads.com/

Collectiing and Recycling - Plastics, Aluminum, and Glass

2010-10-07T16:55:00.000-07:00

The "Math" behind recycling

Can, Glass, and Plastic = $$$

Now you may be thinking, "really? How can I make money by collecting and recycling?" Yes Yes.. I know, but think about for a minute. People throw away these 3 main recyclables everyday, every hour, and every minute into the trash without even thinking about it! I myself have seen it, it amazes me how people can do it so easily.

Now the question I ask you is how do you take advantage of this.. Simple. For example you see someone throw a can into the trash, take it back from the trash can (if you can reach it). 5 cents right there. Now think about what just happened but 100 times.. 100 cans is worth about 5 bucks give or take, depending if you get it weighted or counted. I personally have my recycles weighed cause its easier for me.

"Where is the best place to find Recyclables??"
I've seen allot of people asking the this exact same question over and over again, but the answers aren't always clear. I hope to clear up some of these answers in this part of the post.

Events: Events like sports (football, soccer, baseball), Concerts, Conventions, Rallies, and Fairs are only a few places where there are allot of people together and have a a much higher chance to find recycles. Specially, if they are being done outside in the elements, cause the heat makes people drink liquids.
Beaches: Beaches are a good source of recycles, specially beaches that are near businesses, restaurants, and bars. However, beaches vary during times of the year. Summertime, Holiday Weekends, and well Really Hot days are usually when people populate the beaches. The downside though is that depending on your beach, you might be in competition with homeless people, but rarely that happens. Beaches might also be a good place to collect thrown away scrap metal.
Malls & Shopping Centers: Malls are usually packed just like Beaches, during the Summertime, Holiday Weekends, and Hot Days surprisingly. Malls and Shopping Centers have trash bins all over the place for people to throw their trash in (and recyclables.) Take advantage of this and know where the trash cans are cause they rarely ever get moved. The downside to this is that you have to find the courage to look through the trash in front of strangers. At first its hard, but trust me, once you get into the mind set, you ignore people looking at you. Trust me, I've done myself.
Residential Areas: This is kinda tricky. For one, you gotta know what day trash/recycles go out in different Residential areas. For my area, its Wednesday. Depending if you got school or work during the morning, this could be really good source of recycles. Though, it could always change week to week of course cause its hard to guess what peoples' habits are. It might take a couple of weeks to know who puts out and who doesn't.
Parties and Group Gatherings: Parties usually serve drinks in cans and plastic bottles cause its less wash and clean up. Depending on the size of the gatherings, you could get allot or very little. Also depends if the Host recycles too, but it doesn't hurt to ask the Host what their plans are for the recycles, they might just give them all to you, specially if you help out cleaning afterwords. Doing a Good Deed always has its rewards!
Bars: I have yet to try this out myself, but I've always wanted for many years now. Now this is more like a business concept, but I'll share it anyways. My idea was to ask local bars to see if they could save their glass for you. Maybe if you were to help supply them with some trash cans and trash bags, they'd keep put their empty bottles and maybe once a day you could take it from them. Now if they ask whats in it for them, you could maybe give them a cut of what you get.... Downside to this Idea is that you need to own a car to transport the glass, cause glass is heavy. Another downside is that usually takes more glass to make money, like for example, 100 pounds worth would net you roughly 10 bucks. (only reason I know that is cause I once obtained 100 pounds worth of glass at one time.)
Friends and Family: Friends and Family should always be able to help you, so why not ask to to hold on to their recycles for you? You can collect them all at a specific date and there you go! All you had to do was ask. If you want to take it a step further then friends and family, ask your neighbors or the people that live along your street! Specially if your a kid, I wouldn't see why they wouldn't help, but be sure to have a parent with you if your under 12, specially if you don't know the people that well.
Work and School: Depending on where you work or go to school. There is usually someone drinking from a can or plastic bottle. Since you go to these places almost everyday, why not keep an eye out for recyclables I usually bring home at least 6 pieces or more from work each day. (6 x 5 = 30. 30 x 0.05 = $1.50) Plus if you let people at work or school (or both) know you recycle, usually they are more then happy to help cause it makes them feel good helping you and helping the environment.

This is just a short list of places that I've been experience with or had ideas for. The world is the limit. Go crazy to do what you can to get those recyclables because they are out there, and they are waiting for you to find them. Good Luck and Happy Hunting!