Lost job, $500 left, starting over

[7.62x51]

I'm posting my situation in the hopes that I can better organize my game plan by writing it out and perhaps learn something from those who are infinitely wiser than me.

A bit about me:
- 26 years old
- working on computer science degree
- live with parents

I have about $500 left from my last job and my goal is within the month to start generating revenue from alternate sources of income. $200-300 is all I need to cover most of my monthly expenses.

I'm currently focused on the following areas:
- looking for good items to flip on kijiji
- looking for clients that could use a basic wordpress sites
- doing more research into sites like Odesk

I'll update this thread at least once a week.

 

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[Charnell]

I don't know if you've read through this thread but it sounds perfect for your situation:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ith-no-degree-no-feedback-no-portfolio.58837/

Also, M240?

 

[throttleforward]

Google blue-collar service providers (plumbers, electricians, etc). Find the worst websites and seo of the bunch, do a video recording of how their website and seo or Google ads could be better, then send direct mail with screenshots about how you could help and folllow up with phone calls.

 

[Mark Anthony Le]

What was your last job that you only saved $500 while living free in your parents house?

 

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[Charmander]

looking for clients that could use a basic wordpress sites

Would you buy this yourself? Because now reading this - it makes me think twice about any potentional website i might buy in the future...

I'm currently focused on the following areas:
- looking for good items to flip on kijiji
- looking for clients that could use a basic wordpress sites
- doing more research into sites like Odesk

Seems like you are looking for "Easy" ways to make $.
Why is everyone looking for easy ways only?
These do not seem fastlane to me. (Flipping? Making Worpress sites 1 by one?!...)

Perhaps it´s time to refocus

 

[Unknown]

Would you buy this yourself? Because now reading this - it makes me think twice about any potentional website i might buy in the future...


Seems like you are looking for "Easy" ways to make $.
Why is everyone looking for easy ways only?
These do not seem fastlane to me. (Flipping? Making Worpress sites 1 by one?!...)

Perhaps it´s time to refocus

He has $500 and no job. Flipping can keep him going until he has enough money to do something else.

 

[7.62x51]

what I've learned so far:

Odesk
- it's not really all that different from applying for a real job, except now you're competing against highly qualified people from the other side of the world

Kijiji
- flipping consumer electronics is not the way to go on here, most things in that category get sold for super cheap

Website design
- ads related to web design don't get many views, even in other provinces, it may be because for people interested in web design, most just learn it on there own
- Some people I found that would seriously benefit from a website didn't see the value in having one.

I've been thinking about setting up a class where I could teach people web design for free, have them sign up at hostgator and generate revenue from there referrals. However, the interest just doesn't seem like its there, at least not on sites like kijiji.

So back to the drawing board...

 

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[samuraijack]

Almost exactly my situation. Except I dropped out and I have a tiny bit more in savings.

Do yourself a favor and start making some money asap. If it means working at a job again so be it.

Yes its possible to go fastlane with $500, but for someone new at this, all it does is put you in a scarcity mindset (limiting your ideas and plans to just $500).

I just got a new job part-time, and will probably go fulltime if possible. Saving every dollar I make to use it as a soldier to fight for my freedom.

 

[Change]

I would plan on reading the Millionaire Fastlane . It will open up a world of ideas for you.

Aside from that- you seem to have a "skill" that people could pay for- web design...

I don't have the skills to do that professionally (to build themes from scratch) BUT, why not just go to google and look for sites that don't work on Apple (sites that are built in flash)...prove to them (the site owners/business owners) it doesn't work on an iphone (because we all know flash sites don't) and then tell them how everyone uses iphone and how their website is somewhat obsolete...then WAM $ 500.00 I guarantee you'll love your new site that is responsive, works on all platforms and I'll make any changes you want until its perfect.... I just bought themes from themeforest.com added their logo, changed the page around a little and made $ 399.99 from the service minus the 49$ from themeforest themes. The hardest part is getting clients/making sales calls. Its easily scalable if you have the funds for it.

So my tip- find sites that don't work on apple devices...etc...and fill that need.

 

[Lex DeVille]

what I've learned so far:

Odesk
- it's not really all that different from applying for a real job, except now you're competing against highly qualified people from the other side of the world

Kijiji
- flipping consumer electronics is not the way to go on here, most things in that category get sold for super cheap

Website design
- ads related to web design don't get many views, even in other provinces, it may be because for people interested in web design, most just learn it on there own
- Some people I found that would seriously benefit from a website didn't see the value in having one.

I've been thinking about setting up a class where I could teach people web design for free, have them sign up at hostgator and generate revenue from there referrals. However, the interest just doesn't seem like its there, at least not on sites like kijiji.

So back to the drawing board...

Odesk - You're only competing against other people if you're doing the same thing as them. If you read the thread in Charnell's reply, you may learn the difference.

Kijiji - Never heard of it, thanks for the mention. Always like to check out new stuff.

Website Design - Go down the street to the local church, then to the funeral home, then to main street to all local small businesses. Take samples and meet them in person. Don't pitch a sale. Just talk to them about their website (if they even have one), and explain how you can help them increase traffic and sales with one built by you.

How did you find people anyway? Online? How did you contact them?

If the people you found didn't see the value then you probably didn't actually communicate value. Again, see the link in Charnell's reply above.

Setting up a class - Why not just go on Udemy, or some other course site and set up a class where you get paid to teach web-design? There's other courses like this on Udemy, but in their own words, "Your course is not the same as another course. You bring your own personality and style."

Heck you can probably borrow all the equipment and space from that church you helped with web design!

Choose any or all of them. Any of these can earn you more than enough to get going. If you implement all of them, you'll end up with multiple income streams, some more passive than others.

Your real competition is your own mind.

 

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[Circles]

What makes you different or better than your competition?

 

[SeanKelly]

I'm posting my situation in the hopes that I can better organize my game plan by writing it out and perhaps learn something from those who are infinitely wiser than me.

A bit about me:
- 26 years old
- working on computer science degree
- live with parents

I have about $500 left from my last job and my goal is within the month to start generating revenue from alternate sources of income. $200-300 is all I need to cover most of my monthly expenses.

I'm currently focused on the following areas:
- looking for good items to flip on kijiji
- looking for clients that could use a basic wordpress sites
- doing more research into sites like Odesk

I'll update this thread at least once a week.

I would flip iPhones/high value electronics. Buy locally and sell on Ebay. If you're doing it correctly you should be able to double your money on each purchase. Check www.Gazelle.com prices before you make an offer on an item. Good luck

 

[D11FYY]

These do not seem fastlane to me. (Flipping? Making Worpress sites 1 by one?!...)

Perhaps it´s time to refocus

Why does it have to be immediate fastlane? The guys trying to get himself some $
There has been some great ideas and tips for you on this thread, I hope you use some of them and wish you luck.

 

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[7.62x51]

update:

Came up with a new app idea which should be easier to make and easier to monetize than what I was doing before. This is now my primary focus.

That said, I don't believe I've done enough due diligence on flipping just yet so I should probably quarter off some time in my day to work on that too.

Also will be meeting up with someone I know to help him get wordpress installed on his server. Now with this, I'm actually in a bit over my head as I'm not too familiar with the OS his server runs on.

Still, I'm going to just wing it and see how it goes. I figure even if I make an idiot out of myself, at least I'll learn something.

Oh, and also, just started reading TMF , good book!

 

[The Grind]

Would you buy this yourself? Because now reading this - it makes me think twice about any potentional website i might buy in the future...


Seems like you are looking for "Easy" ways to make $.
Why is everyone looking for easy ways only?
These do not seem fastlane to me. (Flipping? Making Worpress sites 1 by one?!...)

Perhaps it´s time to refocus

Dude you dont need to "go fastlane" right out of the gate, flipping, freelancing are great ways to start learning how to make money for yourself and to start getting away from the employee mindset.

 

[Charmander]

Dude you dont need to "go fastlane" right out of the gate, flipping, freelancing are great ways to start learning how to make money for yourself and to start getting away from the employee mindset.

I know right? It was written more than 3 times in this thread already.

Why does it have to be immediate fastlane?

It does not, but with 500$ you won't be really making much from the start

And I did get "scammed" twice,
Once with a phone - that dumbass had stolen a few components from the inside, and broke the screen. Lost DAYS of time and over 100$ thanks to one ahole. Soon after hearing about the flipping thing.
So I would be VERY carefull with my last $500

Freelancing is definitely a good option to make a few $, but I doubt that there is a lot of demand for WordPress sites. If I was BUYING a site I would want something special.

 

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[zerobrainwash]

There is nothing wrong with Wordpress but never mention that in your selling pitch. Try to sell client the solution and not the technology. Wordpress has become so widely known that even non-techies disregard it as something that's not serious and not worth paying serious money for. In reality, Wordpress is perfect for some projects and burden for others. Just my 2 cents as a current freelance web developer hustling my way up.

 

[TheNextTrump]

It does not, but with 500$ you won't be really making much from the start

$500 starting out in the (buy sell game) is more than enough to start making some good money.

And I did get "scammed" twice,
Once with a phone - that dumbass had stolen a few components from the inside, and broke the screen. Lost DAYS of time and over 100$ thanks to one ahole. Soon after hearing about the flipping thing.
So I would be VERY carefull with my last $500

So because you got scammed, buying and selling isn't the route to go for the OP?

You got scammed because you didn't take the time to learn the basics of buying and selling.

Did you not turn the phone on? Or for that matter, even look the phone over? (Screen was broke, and phone was missing parts)

I'm not trying to be a dick, but come on lol. Your bashing the buy sell game because of rookie mistakes.

NOTE TO ALL : Anytime your planning on buying a used phone, MEET at a phone store to verify its a legit deal.

 

[Charmander]

$500 starting out in the (buy sell game) is more than enough to start making some good money.

Heh, I sold GTA 5 for 25€ and I thought I was "lucky", because there just isn´t so much demand in my area. Others are different for sure.
Because everyone here seems to know whats going on here, even if I sell electronic coupons, people from other country start to email with scams - that I send them the coupon and they fake the "payment sent screenshot", and say it will arive the next day, and that I should send them the coupon before it arrives, lol

But when I buy an item, I want to sell it (ASAP) , not keep

selling

it

Your bashing the buy sell game because of rookie mistakes.

Nah, actually it pisses me off, that around my area there is almost every 2nd person selling some fake stuff, and in their description they say 1 000 000% legit, etc.. But when I try the item, I am glad its working. Returning it back just wastes my time.

And it really looks 1:1, but for example with phone screens- you will find the slight imperfections only after time.

Some people here allready complained years ago, that they have been getting rocks shipped inside mail, instead of the phones they ordered. Lol...

Then they just write bad review on our "craigslist-like website", which then sounds really funny.
____________

BTW: You are are lucky in the USA, that the police is making some kind of safe trade zones (for craigslist)
source : https://www.yahoo.com/tech/florida-police-seek-to-stop-dangerous-craigslist-114149542229.html

 

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[D11FYY]

I know right? It was written more than 3 times in this thread already.

It does not, but with 500$ you won't be really making much from the start

And I did get "scammed" twice,
Once with a phone - that dumbass had stolen a few components from the inside, and broke the screen. Lost DAYS of time and over 100$ thanks to one ahole. Soon after hearing about the flipping thing.
So I would be VERY carefull with my last $500

Freelancing is definitely a good option to make a few $, but I doubt that there is a lot of demand for WordPress sites. If I was BUYING a site I would want something special.

I know that but I have not told him to jump into a crazy opportunity either. Reason its called taking calculated risks.
This whole flipping electronics stuff I wouldn't touch fair play to the guys that do but I see it as too risky unless its face-to-face.

And you wrote "if you" where wanting a website you would want something special.
Not everyone or every business has to be done perfectly. If he had some older clients wanting a simple page online then he may just do the trick for them for $150-$200 and they will be delighted with it. Now if he had a basic page/template needing just a few updates and a few customers wanting a simple website, he could easily do 3/4 websites a day.

 

[7.62x51]

Am I giving up too soon?
Spoke to a client about setting up a wordpress site. Turns out he wants everything installed on his server and his server is running Ubuntu.

I've never used Ubuntu before and I've never setup my own server before.
I spent the entire day today working on that and made some progress, installed Ubuntu on an old outdated laptop running windows XP and then installed the server on there.

However, this is all becoming way too time consuming and I don't really see a future here so I'm thinking of just calling off the whole thing and getting back to working on the app.

 

[Unknown]

You shouldn't be doing any server setup unless he's paying for that too. A WordPress designer shouldn't be expected to know ubuntu or apache.

 

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[SBS.95]

Am I giving up too soon?
Spoke to a client about setting up a wordpress site. Turns out he wants everything installed on his server and his server is running Ubuntu.

I've never used Ubuntu before and I've never setup my own server before.
I spent the entire day today working on that and made some progress, installed Ubuntu on an old outdated laptop running windows XP and then installed the server on there.

However, this is all becoming way too time consuming and I don't really see a future here so I'm thinking of just calling off the whole thing and getting back to working on the app.

You're too all over the place.

I'm not criticizing you, I've been there. In a lot of ways, still am. I've tried to "chase money" in all the common ways. The months where I made the least amount of money were those in which I was trying the most amount of different things.

Pick one venture and push for that. It's been 11 days since you posted this and you've jumped around like 4 times already. Decide on one (it really doesn't matter which) and go HARD at it for a month. If you don't like the way it's going, then pick another and go HARD at that.

 

[7.62x51]

You're too all over the place.

I'm not criticizing you, I've been there. In a lot of ways, still am. I've tried to "chase money" in all the common ways. The months where I made the least amount of money were those in which I was trying the most amount of different things.

Pick one venture and push for that. It's been 11 days since you posted this and you've jumped around like 4 times already. Decide on one (it really doesn't matter which) and go HARD at it for a month. If you don't like the way it's going, then pick another and go HARD at that.

That's EXACTLY how I feel; divided. Between school, my app project and now this thing. That's why I just emailed the guy and cancelled the web site idea.

School will be over soon and from this point onwards I won't focus on any other idea until I have my first app out in the android marketplace which should be before June.

 

[Humble man]

This thread inspired me to create this thread...hope it helps my friend.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...es-opportunity-and-cash-is-right-there.59365/

 

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[7.62x51]

Update:

Over the last few days I worked like crazy on the app and lost all track of time. Nearly finished a very basic version of it.

The app primarily contains a series of practice questions for people preparing to write their firearms licensing exam.

Focus is now on getting it out in the market place asap and start getting user feedback before developing it further.

 

[7.62x51]

Just published my app this morning in the android market place. It's called "Pal-Prep" and the only way to find it is to search for its name. It took me about a week of focused effort to build it.

I feel a bit relieved that I actually got this far. I have had many ideas in the past that died early in their development since I lost interest or some other distraction came up.

The next challenge now will be in marketing. This is all new to me. Thinking about reading cashvertising so I can write better descriptions. How to get the attention of more users? That's going to be the real question.

 

[Mcslothin]

Just published my app this morning in the android market place. It's called "Pal-Prep" and the only way to find it is to search for its name. It took me about a week of focused effort to build it.

I feel a bit relieved that I actually got this far. I have had many ideas in the past that died early in their development since I lost interest or some other distraction came up.

The next challenge now will be in marketing. This is all new to me. Thinking about reading cashvertising so I can write better descriptions. How to get the attention of more users? That's going to be the real question.

Well let's see, your app is aimed at people who are interested in firearms. Specifically those without a license. Anywhere you can get in front of those who enjoy firearms as a hobby or whatever it may be, do it. Facebook trade pages, craigslist, forums. Now the more tricky one is that it's targeted to those without a firearms license. The range there is exponentially broad here (young and first time getting license, old and just renewing) so that factor is up to you. But the good thing is that you could market the app as either actual practice or more of a novelty (younger), "look how much I know" type app(more mature). The title "pal-prep" is almost aimed at a younger audience it seems but it's really just the name. If you like it keep it, no need in spending too much time on such minor details (with that said the catchiness of a name can definitely help direct attention so don't just settle).

I think you can narrow your target market pretty well with just what I've given you here. It's good to see you're focusing your energy on one thing and not all over. That was/is my problem also.

Hope this helps!

 

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[7.62x51]

honestly, I can already say, my app idea is a flop

I actually had this feeling as soon as I was done publishing it. The niche I'm targeting is just too small; 2 of the most important keywords only get 18 clicks in a month across all of Canada. I made the mistake of not doing enough due-diligence and just dived in head first. No regrets though, this was a useful experience.

Whatever idea I go into next, I'll make sure there is a significant need for it and build a strategic plan before I start any of it. I was just so afraid of analysis paralysis that I skipped the analysis entirely!

As for that pesky money problem, I'm probably just going to get a job doing something random. My last two jobs were in retail sales and although talking to people can be fun, jobs like that take up too much mental energy.

 

[Mcslothin]

honestly, I can already say, my app idea is a flop

I actually had this feeling as soon as I was done publishing it. The niche I'm targeting is just too small; 2 of the most important keywords only get 18 clicks in a month across all of Canada. I made the mistake of not doing enough due-diligence and just dived in head first. No regrets though, this was a useful experience.

Whatever idea I go into next, I'll make sure there is a significant need for it and build a strategic plan before I start any of it. I was just so afraid of analysis paralysis that I skipped the analysis entirely!

As for that pesky money problem, I'm probably just going to get a job doing something random. My last two jobs were in retail sales and although talking to people can be fun, jobs like that take up too much mental energy.

The important thing is that you stuck with it to get to this point and now you realize steps that could have been taken to assure results. You'll get there, just keep pushing! You made one app, make more. Or offer your development services to someone else as a company. The possibilities are endless.