The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

What’s The Most Unusual (legal) Thing You’ve Done to Make Money?

ExCubeCommando

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
283%
Oct 10, 2015
69
195
65
Evans, Colorado
The MLM thread made me think of this.

Once in my mid 20’s between jobs living in the Los Angeles area, I saw an ad in a newspaper for some sales job. I checked it out, and what it was, was some guy who owned a couple vans and had a couple other guys working with him.

He bought these sets of ovenware and drinking glasses from some wholesale warehouse in L.A., then would load up each van with about 20 boxed sets of each. He had a crude flyer printed up showing the contents of each set that said they were worth about 4 times what he was selling them for.

The owner kept the vans and stuff in his garage, and we would meet up at his house each morning. The routine of the ‘job’ was to have 2 guys for each van, load up the boxed sets, then pick out a random area to begin ‘work’. The idea was to find a group of people, usually in commercial areas where people are going to and from work or lunch, then just find anyone to talk to. Then you let them know you had extra sets left over from a delivery that the store didn’t need, and you were going to let these $89 sets go for $25 each. Of course you kept a straight face, and looked serious while delivering your pitch.

The answer from the person you said this to, was standard, such as “sets of what?” You then would say something like “These sets I got in my van over here.” If they came over, you pulled the flyer out of your pocket, and told them you got these sets you needed to let go cheap since the store didn’t take their full order. You would show one of the open boxes of cookware, and take out the biggest and best piece off the top to show them. If they hesitated, you told them, “hey, I’ll take $20…I just want to kick these off at cost and avoid paperwork”, or some such line.

It’s been a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, we’d make either $7 or $12 each. Doesn’t sound like much, but this was quite a while ago, and instant cash in the pocket. I must have done this for almost a year until I found a ‘real job’….LOL. It was kind of fun at the time though, as we would take occasional road trips like up to San Francisco, and central California. We would ‘work’ during the day, and then knock off later that afternoon to meet at a bar to drink beer and play pool.

Other then having business owners chase us off their property, and one time when the cops showed up to check our non existent business license, it wasn’t really too bad!
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Ubermensch

Platinum Contributor
Speedway Pass
Jul 7, 2008
1,034
3,920
Chicago
My answer to OP: Work a 9-5 job. Talk about unusual, unnatural, and just plain weird and wrong!

Lasted a week at Subway sandwiches.

Worked at Target retail store all summer.

Got into sales after that.
 

rc08234

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
69%
Jun 29, 2011
320
221
34
South Jersey
The MLM thread made me think of this.

Once in my mid 20’s between jobs living in the Los Angeles area, I saw an ad in a newspaper for some sales job. I checked it out, and what it was, was some guy who owned a couple vans and had a couple other guys working with him.

He bought these sets of ovenware and drinking glasses from some wholesale warehouse in L.A., then would load up each van with about 20 boxed sets of each. He had a crude flyer printed up showing the contents of each set that said they were worth about 4 times what he was selling them for.

The owner kept the vans and stuff in his garage, and we would meet up at his house each morning. The routine of the ‘job’ was to have 2 guys for each van, load up the boxed sets, then pick out a random area to begin ‘work’. The idea was to find a group of people, usually in commercial areas where people are going to and from work or lunch, then just find anyone to talk to. Then you let them know you had extra sets left over from a delivery that the store didn’t need, and you were going to let these $89 sets go for $25 each. Of course you kept a straight face, and looked serious while delivering your pitch.

The answer from the person you said this to, was standard, such as “sets of what?” You then would say something like “These sets I got in my van over here.” If they came over, you pulled the flyer out of your pocket, and told them you got these sets you needed to let go cheap since the store didn’t take their full order. You would show one of the open boxes of cookware, and take out the biggest and best piece off the top to show them. If they hesitated, you told them, “hey, I’ll take $20…I just want to kick these off at cost and avoid paperwork”, or some such line.

It’s been a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, we’d make either $7 or $12 each. Doesn’t sound like much, but this was quite a while ago, and instant cash in the pocket. I must have done this for almost a year until I found a ‘real job’….LOL. It was kind of fun at the time though, as we would take occasional road trips like up to San Francisco, and central California. We would ‘work’ during the day, and then knock off later that afternoon to meet at a bar to drink beer and play pool.

Other then having business owners chase us off their property, and one time when the cops showed up to check our non existent business license, it wasn’t really too bad!

When I was 17 I got ripped off by a scumbag like you for a pair of speakers.
 

MJ DeMarco

I followed the science; all I found was money.
Staff member
FASTLANE INSIDER
EPIC CONTRIBUTOR
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
445%
Jul 23, 2007
38,076
169,493
Utah
The MLM thread made me think of this.

Once in my mid 20’s between jobs living in the Los Angeles area, I saw an ad in a newspaper for some sales job. I checked it out, and what it was, was some guy who owned a couple vans and had a couple other guys working with him.

He bought these sets of ovenware and drinking glasses from some wholesale warehouse in L.A., then would load up each van with about 20 boxed sets of each. He had a crude flyer printed up showing the contents of each set that said they were worth about 4 times what he was selling them for.

The owner kept the vans and stuff in his garage, and we would meet up at his house each morning. The routine of the ‘job’ was to have 2 guys for each van, load up the boxed sets, then pick out a random area to begin ‘work’. The idea was to find a group of people, usually in commercial areas where people are going to and from work or lunch, then just find anyone to talk to. Then you let them know you had extra sets left over from a delivery that the store didn’t need, and you were going to let these $89 sets go for $25 each. Of course you kept a straight face, and looked serious while delivering your pitch.

The answer from the person you said this to, was standard, such as “sets of what?” You then would say something like “These sets I got in my van over here.” If they came over, you pulled the flyer out of your pocket, and told them you got these sets you needed to let go cheap since the store didn’t take their full order. You would show one of the open boxes of cookware, and take out the biggest and best piece off the top to show them. If they hesitated, you told them, “hey, I’ll take $20…I just want to kick these off at cost and avoid paperwork”, or some such line.

It’s been a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, we’d make either $7 or $12 each. Doesn’t sound like much, but this was quite a while ago, and instant cash in the pocket. I must have done this for almost a year until I found a ‘real job’….LOL. It was kind of fun at the time though, as we would take occasional road trips like up to San Francisco, and central California. We would ‘work’ during the day, and then knock off later that afternoon to meet at a bar to drink beer and play pool.

Other then having business owners chase us off their property, and one time when the cops showed up to check our non existent business license, it wasn’t really too bad!

I think this is fraud. (Misrepresenting contents?) You asked for legal methods.

Anyhow, I know (of) people who sell shitty products that don't work-- but their copywriting/marketing skills are fantastic and they print money because they've convinced themselves that peddling lipsticked pigs is a honorable pursuit.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.
Last edited:

SenGracic

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
117%
Feb 12, 2015
103
121
Canada
A friend of mine is pretty good with repairing computers so I had someone talking me about his problem with his PC and last time he went to repair it ( reinstall windows/drivers ) he got ripped off ( 125$ with files saved ). I texted that friend of mine and asked him if he could do that for 40$ then I proposed it to that guy for 85$ and it was a deal for him. Made the fastest legal 45$ in my life lmao. ( approx 10 minutes and I had the cash ).

Another way since I work in telecom when people want to unlock phones I buy codes on the internet and sell them with a 10-30$ profit. ( It's 50$ here to unlock with your carrier but most Android codes sell for 8$). Can't do it too often since most people know about buying it on the internet but those who don't I make sure I'm the one who will unlock it.
 

ExCubeCommando

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
283%
Oct 10, 2015
69
195
65
Evans, Colorado
My answer to OP: Work a 9-5 job. Talk about unusual, unnatural, and just plain weird and wrong!

Lasted a week at Subway sandwiches.

Worked at Target retail store all summer.

Got into sales after that.

One
I think this is fraud. (Misrepresenting contents?) You asked for legal methods.

Anyhow, I know (of) people who sell shitty products that don't work-- but their copywriting/marketing skills are fantastic and they print money because they've convinced themselves that peddling lipsticked pigs is a honorable pursuit.

Yeah, I was young and dumb. I didn't think it was anything illegal at the time, but it got to where it bothered me just from the nature of misleading people. Even though the guy running this told us he thought the stuff was worth what it cost, I was getting more tired of the way we were doing it.

I've never had a desire to get into anything of this nature since. Now that I look back, I could have been a lot further ahead in life at a younger age if I had the mindset of people like are here. I guess better late then never when deciding to pull one's head out of their a$$.
 
G

Guest3722A

Guest
Back in the day me and a buddy used to study up on which types of used books held resale value and then look in the newspapers to find all the library sales in the state. A typical library sale was along the lines of paying $3-$5 for a brown paper bag filled with as many books you could put in it.

We would fill several of these bags with the books we learned held the value and then we would go to all of the used book stores around town selling them for usually around a minimum of $2 each.

After all of the stores went through everything and we had leftovers, we had a buyer we called the cleaner who would buy everything remaining for a few bucks.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

parkerscott

Silver Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
Dec 4, 2013
529
665
30
There was a preworkout called craze from ds that got pulled from bodybuilding.com after making news headlines of having a meth analog in it. Went to every gnc in a 25 mile radius, and bought every tub they had. Took them home to sell them, and ebay was pulling everyones listings so I was going to return them. I found a buyer who wanted all of them, and made $1500 profit
 

early riser

Grind Harder
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
126%
Sep 18, 2014
54
68
Both coasts. The west now.
I used to flip aquarium goods and fish. Get them from fish auctions, craigslist, members of online forums.
Buy from one, keep some stuff, and sell excess inventory/remaining parts of a setup on another.
Was never in it for money, more to make my hobby less of an expense, but point being I knew the values that well.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

dompie85

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
96%
Jan 16, 2015
135
129
38
Houston, Texas
Strapped for cash, I used my multilingual skills to make some quick bucks. I did a freelance project on odesk for around $30. Did it once, and never again.
 
G

Guest34764

Guest
I sell video game accounts currently.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's easy money for a kid and I do pretty well.Once I have enough saved up I'll probably go into actual business stuff.
 

Jake

Platinum Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
148%
May 15, 2011
1,801
2,669
41
Bangkok
Deliver IT equipment via helicopter :woot:

vQr4Chw.jpg
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

Chitown

Gold Contributor
Read Fastlane!
Summit Attendee
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
165%
Apr 14, 2009
708
1,168
Culver City
The MLM thread made me think of this.

Once in my mid 20’s between jobs living in the Los Angeles area, I saw an ad in a newspaper for some sales job. I checked it out, and what it was, was some guy who owned a couple vans and had a couple other guys working with him.

He bought these sets of ovenware and drinking glasses from some wholesale warehouse in L.A., then would load up each van with about 20 boxed sets of each. He had a crude flyer printed up showing the contents of each set that said they were worth about 4 times what he was selling them for.

The owner kept the vans and stuff in his garage, and we would meet up at his house each morning. The routine of the ‘job’ was to have 2 guys for each van, load up the boxed sets, then pick out a random area to begin ‘work’. The idea was to find a group of people, usually in commercial areas where people are going to and from work or lunch, then just find anyone to talk to. Then you let them know you had extra sets left over from a delivery that the store didn’t need, and you were going to let these $89 sets go for $25 each. Of course you kept a straight face, and looked serious while delivering your pitch.

The answer from the person you said this to, was standard, such as “sets of what?” You then would say something like “These sets I got in my van over here.” If they came over, you pulled the flyer out of your pocket, and told them you got these sets you needed to let go cheap since the store didn’t take their full order. You would show one of the open boxes of cookware, and take out the biggest and best piece off the top to show them. If they hesitated, you told them, “hey, I’ll take $20…I just want to kick these off at cost and avoid paperwork”, or some such line.

It’s been a long time ago, but if I remember correctly, we’d make either $7 or $12 each. Doesn’t sound like much, but this was quite a while ago, and instant cash in the pocket. I must have done this for almost a year until I found a ‘real job’….LOL. It was kind of fun at the time though, as we would take occasional road trips like up to San Francisco, and central California. We would ‘work’ during the day, and then knock off later that afternoon to meet at a bar to drink beer and play pool.

Other then having business owners chase us off their property, and one time when the cops showed up to check our non existent business license, it wasn’t really too bad!

@ExCubeCommando,

Your former gig reminds me of those guys who rolled around L.A. moving stereo speakers the same way. Hilarious!
 

John Robert

Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
102%
Mar 19, 2014
41
42
113
I was a medical guinea pig, and would stay in the hospital for 1day-6weeks at a time hooked up to an iv and take experimental drugs from companies like pfizer, merck, j&j etc. Good money $200/day and wifi
 

TeflonDon

Bronze Contributor
Read Fastlane!
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
302%
Jan 9, 2013
49
148
England
This one perhaps won't seem so unusual to you Fastlaners.

Back in 2010 (I think?) I made my money selling Mafia Wars items on FB. After a couple months of grinding to build it up, I was able to do ~£100 ($160?) a day. When new loot was released, I could make £500+ a night for the first few nights.

Unfortunately it violated the 'Control' commandment hugely, and I ended up out of business a mere few months after it had begun to take off.

In hindsight I should have at least had the balls to go hard from the start, could've invested some cash and made a killing. I didn't believe such things could work so well and so easily until I did it myself though, so I wasted the first 8-10 weeks building it up grindy style - for free. Then I also hindered my own growth by not re-investing profits.

Sure I'd have still lost it in the end. I feel I would have accomplished and learned much more though.
 

MattR82

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
178%
Oct 4, 2015
1,394
2,480
41
Brisbane
Video taped a comedic hypnotists live show for him for 20 Bucks when I was a kid. Was interesting talking to him and his wife afterwards. I reeeeally wanted to ask why he wouldn't use his powers for something a bit more advantageous (basically for evil :p).

Also when I was 14, my friends got me my first job as a paperboy. I wasn't as lucky as them having set deliveries and just chucking them on the lawn. I had to carry a money pouch and a whistle and sell the shit. The route they made me take was through sketchy trailer parks and also a weird smelly ward in the local hospital with dementia patients. Why???? Saw some weird things in there. Worst job ever and they ripped me off hard haha. Lesson learned early on.
 
Last edited:

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top