Mentoring

What Do You Do When You Have No Money?

This is a tough situation. It brings back memories of 2007 when I lost my job a few years before retirement kicked in. It was too early for pensions. I tried to get another job but it was tough. There was no option but to use retirement savings to pay the bills. As that started to dwindle I needed to do something.

I got bamboozled into some shady investments just before the Great Recession of 2008-2009 hit. I lost all the savings. So I knew what it was like to have no money. It was a hollow feeling because I had money and then lost it. What do you do when you have no money?

It is HARD to make ends meet. How about eating ramen noodles for most meals with little of no protein in them? If you have a family, what is it like to say no to your kids when they ask for registration fees for extra curricular activities? What about summer camp? Or the 101 things kids need these days.

Then what about you? What about your needs. Hold tight. All is not lost. There are ways to generate extra income. So read all five approaches carefully and you decide what is best for you. If you have any questions you can ask me via the comments section at the end.

Here are some options that my wife and I had to face in order to stay afloat.

Sell things you don’t need on eBay

Let me give you a few examples from our household. When our son grew up, he left behind a huge album of Pokemon cards. Pokemon is still in demand even though it is not as popular compared to a few years ago. There are collectors out there who are missing specific cards. I am sure I have them in my collection. And all the cards have been saved within plastic covers in a nice album.

My wife collected a ton of Beanie Bears. We laid them all out on shelves in our office. They were protected from damage. She has lost interest in them. Hence, we are going to sell most of them, probably in matched groups. We will hold on to the ones she wants to keep.

I have a nice collection of old coins and stamps. I inherited them from someone else. I do not have interest in collecting them. This gave me another source to make some money.

Do you get the idea? You can list ANYTHING on eBay. What you may think is junk, someone else could want it. This is a surefire way to earn some easy money. If you haven’t sold anything on eBay, they have great tutorials to help you learn every aspect of selling on their platform. So go for it.

Sell Skills On Craigslist ( https://craigslist.com )

Craigslist is another avenue to sell stuff. Here you can also offer your skills for sale. There are many services you can offer online. Like building a website for someone. Accounting services. Writing content. Look deep into yourself and see what skills you have acquired over the years. You can also check out what fees to charge by looking online. Give this a try.

Busk On The Street For Money

Although I played the piano I don’t’t think that this was a real option for me. But it could be for you.

Are you youngish like in your 20s or early 30s and good at singing and playing the guitar? Any portable instrument will do, like the violin, electronic keyboard, saxophone etc. I have seen many individuals busk in areas busy with people. We are virtually into the Holiday Season and the time is perfect to do this.

People start to feel good and they get into the giving mood. Before you start doing this go out to popular areas in your city and see if there are others busking. Strike up a conversation with them and get some advice. These people are good-natured and will be happy to chat when taking a break.

Give Tuition

How about teaching others to do what you do for a fee? This could allow you to hold group classes and leverage your time to earn even more money.

Of course you will need to have a quiet room large enough to do this. I suggest using your imagination to find one. If you are willing to go to a students home to do a one on one tuition, that would solve this problem. You could advertise your tuition deal on Craigslist.

I was able to give piano lessons that helped a little.

Start An Affiliate Marketing Business

I have kept the best for last! Have you considered starting an online business? Affiliate Marketing is the hottest one to start right now. Be sure you read this section till the end because I have a nice surprise for you. You won’t want to miss it as it could change your life!

Before I list some skills you will need to start let me briefly show you what affiliate marketing is using the diagram below, just in case you do not know.

A customer is searching online for a product [1].

You just happen to be in that niche and have written great reviews about that product on your website [2].

This customer finds your article by entering a search phrase in a search engine like Google. They find your review very helpful and decide to buy. You have an affiliate link next to your article that is offering that product for sale. They click that link and get to an online store, say it is Amazon. They buy the product [3].

Pay Amazon. Amazon ships them the product. And you make a commission [4].

How did this happen? Amazon and thousands of other companies offer affiliate marketing programs. You can become an affiliate of such a company for FREE! They provide you with a unique link that lets them know that a purchase made via that link is yours. They can track this and transfer the commission to you electronically. How cool is that?

There is more to learn but for the moment I wanted to give you a brief explanation of how this works. Clearly there are skills you will need such as building a website, writing content and driving traffic to your articles.

Here is a list of what you will need to learn and do:

  • Learn to understand the process of earning money online
  • Set your idealistic short and long term “make money” goals
  • Youn will be educated to understand how to chose your niche from scratch
  • Learn how to select a domain name and build your very OWN website
  • Introduction to website building software – WordPress
  • You will learn how to and set-up your website that is geared for long-term success
  • Learn what plugins are, select what you need and activate your website plugins
  • Understand how to set-up plugins that maximize website efficiency and do it
  • Optimize your website for search engines (Google, Yahoo, & Bing)
  • Create content on your website
  • Be taught and learn the process of keyword research
  • Find a bunch of awesome, low competition keywords
  • Learn how to properly set-up your website navigation
  • Learn a bunch of powerful techniques that is going to help lead you to SUCCESS

I told you at the beginning I have a nice surprise for you. Let me ask you, if you had the money, what do you think being trained online to complete the above steps would be worth to you? You can learn at your own pace for as long as you wish. In the comfort of your home using your computer.

Let’s do a very low ball cost estimate of $50 for each on the above steps. You’re looking at $600.

No, this is not the nice surprise I meant. But get ready, here it is………

How about if I offered you all the above for FREE! Yes FREE. For as long as you needed to complete these steps. No Credit Card necessary!

This company is called Wealthy Affiliate. It has been in business for 14 years and has almost 2 Million members! You can click the banner below and sign up for FREE!

 

I’ll see you on the other side!

One More Thing If You Still Have Doubts

I open the curtains to show you how Wealthy Affiliate works in great detail. Click the link below to read all about it:

The Best Training In Affiliate Marketing That Turns Beginners Into Pros!

Looking forward to your online business success!

Please leave me any comments in the response window below. You can also send me an Email at: edwin@affiliatemarketingforleaders.com

See you on the other side.

Edwin Bernard

10 thoughts on “What Do You Do When You Have No Money?”

  1. Hi Edwin

    I just finished reading your post and it can be tough when you lose your job. The sad thing is people usually only have the one income coming in, maybe two if their married but still finances can become strained. I think wealthy affiliate is a great idea as a supporting income and something people should have a look at. Thanks for the post.

    1. Hi Marc,

      I know that Affiliate Marketing is like fine wine. You cannot rush it before it’s time. There are some members who need cash flow right now. I was hoping to offer opportunities to do that. You made me realize that I didn’t make that point. Perhaps an edit is in order. Thanks for your thoughtful response.

      Edwin

  2. Affiliate marketing is an amazing way of finding your financial freedom. Unfortunately it’s something that needs a lot of time in order to become successful so if someone is pressed for money this is not the ideal thing to do. This is mostly for those that already have a job but want to change the way they work so can start affiliate marketing in parallel to your full time job and when this brings you enough to quit. But if you have the time and patience then affiliate marketing can be a real life changer.

    1. Hi Stratos,

      I appreciate your conclusion. It’s clear that affiliate marketing is not an immediate fix for financial issues. In away it’s like investing for retirement. With the difference of using time as the investment currency. Hence there needs to be a steady stream of income coming to take care of immediate financial needs. Perhaps I need to do an edit to make that point. Thanks for your insights.

      Edwin

  3. From time to time, I wanted to create an online business by working with Affiliate Marketing. I made my dream a reality even though I am still on a job level. Your article gives you many clever and imaginative ideas in an era dominated by the internet and the work within it. Thanks for your enlightenment and eye-opener theme.

  4. Dear Edwin,

    Thanks for the Great inspiring article! This has to be motivating, not only for me but also for many others.

    Selling things we don’t use on eBay and Craigslist is a great idea. I do have many electronic items I don’t use and after reading your article I am planning to sell those items on eBay.

    Among the five approaches, the fifth approach is my favorite “Affiliate Marketing”. I have tried many ways to make money online and Affiliate Marketing is the one that helped me make money online. The good news is we can start affiliate marketing with a low investment.

    Affiliate Marketing has made Businesses Millions and Ordinary People Millionaires. – Bo Bennett

    The same company you are recommending helped me to become a full-time affiliate marketer and I am still a member of WA. I have taken the Black Friday deal with them in 2016 and it saved & saving a lot of money every year. 

    1. Paul,

      Your success is an inspiration to me. Thanks for appreciating my article. Love your Bo Bennett quote. How true!

      Glad that you are a veteran of Weslthy Affiliate. I wish you all the success in the world.

      Edwin

    1. Thanks so much for your comments. My goal is to help strangers get into Affiliate Marketing and make a success of it. Wealthy Affiliate is the magic bullet that makes that happen.

      If you wish to learn more, I have lots of posts here that can help you. If you are already a member of Wealthy Affiliate that is fantastic. If you are not, I would appreciate it if you clicked one of my links and signed up.

      Wealthy Affiliate will be having its incredible Black Friday Sale with 49% off deal, plus a number of amazing bonuses.

      I hope you create a very successful online business.

      All the best.

      Edwin

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