4 ways to make money online

So lately I’ve been thinking of new ways to make money and these are 4 I’ve been actively doing. I’ll list the pros and cons of each.

 4. Online surveys

Pros: – all you need is the internet and patience. It is free. If it isn’t then you are on a bad site. You get to know about new products before they even hit the market.

Cons: – You are best suited if you are living the suburban dream. A housewife with an above average income and 2 children; preferably a boy an a girl. I’m a student so I constantly get blocked out. You will also be blocked out for working within media, marketing and journalism.

It also takes a long time before you can actually claim anything as most sites have a system where you have reach enough points/credits before you can redeem.

It is great for if you have the time and just want a little extra cash for doing a few surveys a day. I mean a tiny amount of cash by the way. Likely a lot less than £20.00 per month for an average user.

If you really want to make a decent amount of money it’d be a good idea to sign up to a large number of sites. At the moment I’m just sticking to one: – http://www.globaltestmarket.com. I haven’t earned enough to redeem so I can’t comment on their payment system but I always have a new survey to do everyday.

3. Go freelance.

Pros: – To join a reputable site it is free and easy. There are ways you can make money within a few hours, if you are talented. These sites are best suited for web design, SEO,graphic design and writing specialists. You don’t have to make a long term commitment and you have the freedom to chose what brief to go for.

Cons: – The competition is fierce so this is only for someone who is talented or willing to work dirt cheap i.e a student. The pay is no good if you are already a professional with a good steady income. Winning the job is hard if you are a student with little experience. If you are somewhere in between you are in the best position and will gain the most from a freelance site.

Another con is that because these sites are competitive the prices are driven down. These sites are kind of like ebay. Perfect for a buyer, testing for a seller. The site I currently use is payperhour which has a certain amount you can’t go below to prevent people working for next to nothing. I have actually managed to win a job but I have been unsuccessful more than anything.

Overall brilliant if you are specialized in something web-based or if you are talented. Not so great if you are not skilled and lack experience.

2. Become a mystery shopper. This one is both online and offline. You do a short shop visit offline and then report on it online.

Pros: – It’s pretty fun. You get reimbursed for anything you spend for the assignment and have a set fee on top of that. The average job doesn’t take much time; a short shop visit and a questionnaire. Through it you can get free meals, bets and even eventually  stays in a hotel!

It’s flexible. You get to choose the date and time to go within a set range of dates and if at last minute you can’t do it just ring and they’ll set you new ones if you’re pleasant.

Cons: – Some of the assignments involve having a subhuman memory. You need to remember times, faces, haircuts, names, heights and eyesight. I can’t even remember everything you are supposed to remember.

If you forget to take note of something or record something you can be refused to be payed.

Overall good if you like freebies and want to enjoy yourself while making a bit of money.

Not so great if you have an atrocious memory like mine.

You will need to have something you can use to take decent pictures of receipts with or a photocopier.

I would recommend Market Force so far I have found it reliable and easy to use.

1. Have a car boot sale online. Sit and think about what you really need and use. Sell or give to charity anything that you can’t think of.

Pros: – Sales pick up pretty quickly and even obscure items eventually will get sold. You can make a lot of money in a short amount of time. You get to declutter while making that money.

There’s just something so satisfying about selling things or watching people battle over your possessions.

Quite often you get a lot more for items than you would if you traded them in or sold them offline. Especially items that shops no longer stock anymore or that are rare.

Cons: – Trips to the post office everyday other day can be annoying and expensive. If you are putting a common item on a site like ebay, you’ll be lucky if you get more than a quid.

You also quite often have to pay a listing price. For ebay you pay a small price to list and get one free picture. If you want to have more pictures you need to pay. For amazon you pay for listing only if your item sells, which I think is much fairer.

There is also extremely high competition which drives prices very low. Quite often there is an offer of less than a quid for books and films which is extremely annoying. This is no good if you aren’t a super business and want to make profit.

Overall I’m using amazon as a seller more than ebay but this is only because the items I am selling are mainly books, dvds and games. If  I were to sell clothes, shoes and accessories etc. I would use ebay.

In my first day I have already nearly made a £40 profit on amazon!

10 unusual hobbies I have never heard of

1. Hot air balloon chasing. You watch a hot air balloon set off. You follow it to see where it lands. Here’s a site for tips: http://voices.yahoo.com/tips-chasing-hot-air-balloons-3889960.html?cat=11

2. Element collecting. You collect elements from the periodic table. People do this in different ways and of different purities.  Here’s the site of quite a famous collector with some information: http://www.theodoregray.com/periodictable/HowToGetOne.html

3.  Extreme dog grooming.  I’ve seen ninja turtles, pandas and ponies. Some of the pictures I’ve seen are incredible but I can’t help but feel sorry for the dogs.  Here’s an example of extreme dog grooming a lion dog:-

4. Polishing dirt. Yes you can polish dirt into a nice shiny ball. You can even polish a turd(not that you’d want to). You don’t even need any equipment but dirt, water, a plastic bag and your hands. Here’s a link to a useful site on getting started:- http://relache.hubpages.com/hub/hikaru-dorodango

http://s2.hubimg.com/u/1228517_f248.jpg

5. Beetle fighting. You get different types of beetle to fight against each other. From the videos I’ve watched I found it interesting but disgusting at the same time. There is an entire site with hundreds of videos dedicated to bug fighting, unsurprisingly its Japanese:

http://www.japanesebugfights.com/

6. cryptozoology. Is the hobby of searching for animals whose  existence has not been proved or that have been thought to be extinct. Creatures like the giant squid, mountain gorilla and Okapi were previously cryptids(Animals who weren’t accepted as existent). A site dedicated to the hobby:-

http://www.cryptozoology.com/ 

7. Locksport. The art of unlocking locks purely recreationally. This is kind of a puzzle  solving activity that people now take part in all over the world. There are even competitions. Official site:-

http://locksport.com/

8. Mooing. Yes making cow noises  is an actual hobby. There is an actual competition every year that anyone can enter. Apparently it isn’t even as easy as it sounds, you need special skills.  Here’s a previous winner:

http://cdn.gizmocrazed.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Mooing.jpg

9. Geocaching. This is free  real-world treasure hunting hobby using technology. There are hidden containers called geocaches with items inside these are located using a smart phone or gps. This hobby is to explore the world and share experiences with other members. Official site- http://www.geocaching.com/

10.  Competitive duck herding. Yes competitive duck herding is a hobby. You learn to heard duck like you would sheep. Which is apparently popular with the business types! here’s an article:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/outdoors/6503589/Duck-herding-proves-a-quacking-success-as-a-corporate-day-out.html

 

Mushroom season over

Now that mushroom prime time is over I need a new hobby.

I wasn’t good at edible mushroom scavenging anyway. Was attempting to find chicken of the woods got so excited by finding a similar looking mushroom I didn’t bother to check my book. Started cooking it realized it smelt weird, checked my book and found out it was a completely different mushroom with a much less appetizing name- hairy curtain mushroom:|. They are called this because they have a hairy underside which I failed to notice because I was so excited. Luckily they are not poisonous.I was however brilliant at finding useless often inedible or poisonous mushrooms. The best mushrooms I found were liberty caps which wasn’t difficult because they’ve been growing all over the place. I did not eat them. That would be illegal.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nNFzeIhfrD4/TsOOTz9mSTI/AAAAAAAABXM/GGhBRqUHFe0/s1600/resize+Hairy+Curtain+Crust+%2528Stereum+hirsutum%2529+3+-+Eymore+Wood+14th+November+2011.jpg

Above is the dreaded hairy curtain mushroom. This picture make my stomach turn. I can still smell them frying. Like an old sweaty sock smell.

Anyway I’ve quit playing games for the most part because they were sapping my life away. Seen as no one talks to me on here and I don’t want to ask anyone I know because they think hobbies are weird.  I’m going to search for some cool hobbies and compile a top ten list.

True fact #3

Daddy long legs cellar spiders do not have even close to the most poisonous venom. They CAN actually pierce your skin although it is barely noticeable. This was proven on myth busters.

Myth busters video concerning these spiders-

http://youtu.be/m1DzkM0zqDQ 

 

True fact #2

Blind people dream.

4 main reasons people play video games.

I have  always enjoyed playing computer games but I’ve never understood why. Why waste real life by playing a simulated one. I have wasted life in this way for probably way over 1000 hours. I doubt I’ve actually gained anything but I will do research in to whether there is a beneficial gain from playing video games.

Doing research and using my brain. I have found that there are 4 main reasons for why people play games:-

1. For the challenges that may be involved. The actual game play. Problem solving and the need for strategic thinking. As in life setting challenges and over coming them is very fulfilling in a game where you can repeat the challenge over and over again until you succeed it can be addictive. I’d say games like PORTAL, STAR CRAFT and CIVILIZATION would be in this category.

2. Fun. People like to be entertained. Maybe the game has a very good storyline and you keep playing to see what happens next. Maybe the game is very open ended which gives you the opportunity to explore and adventure. Perhaps the game is very mysterious and you want to solve them mysteries. FALLOUT, MASS EFFECT,AMNESIA and BIOSHOCK would be in this category.

3. Escape from the real world. Perhaps you are not happy with your life or had a bad day. Going into the game world is a brilliant escape route very soon you are too busy worrying about giant ants with fire breathing abilities to worry about the job you botched. People play to play their ideal lives or be part of a different world.Soon if a game is very engrossing you end up forgetting to eat. Hell I’ve been so engrossed before I nearly wet myself. SKYRIM,THE SIMS  and GRAND THEFT AUTO has done this to me.

4. Socialization. Before on-line gaming this was not a big one on the list but since the creation of on-line gaming networks like xbox live this is a big one. Now many casual gamers play for the socialization aspect. Now you can play as part as a team and make new friends through gaming. Personally I don’t enjoy this aspect but that’s probably because I don’t enjoy mindless shooting games that involve no challenge but aim and fire buy hey ho. I personally enjoyed playing on-line games like World of Warcraft but It was stupidly expensive and I had absolutely no social life in the real world. Examples of these games would be the CALL OF DUTY series’ and WORLD OF WARCRAFT.

I’d say I enjoy a bit of 1 and a lot of 2 and 3. Number 4 I would enjoy if I’m playing a 2 player game with someone in the room with me but not on-line there are too many idiots around. I also like to be alone playing games because if there are real people in my game world I don’t get quite as immersed in the game world. I especially hated when playing World of Warcraft people don’t name themselves to match the world like H0tGuRLL4775 does not match the realm your playing in. Get out of this world. You are probably the opposite of Hot if you are calling yourself it.

Research:

Click to access xeodesign_whyweplaygames.pdf

http://www.ign.com/blogs/mcscroggz/2012/10/04/why-do-we-play-games/

http://theweek.com/article/index/218070/why-we-play-video-games-an-instant-guide

 

Flame of life

Below is an absolutely beautiful piece of writing which I have shortened so it’s probably no where  near as good as the original. Not sure where this dream is from. Was trying to find it because I remember reading it and it summing up exactly how I feel. Luckily I found I’d wrote a shortened version as I do with any piece of writing I love. Stupidly as usual I didn’t write down a reference at to where I got it from would be glad if anyone could enlighten me. I get the feeling I read it in a book about dreams.

 

He was standing alone at the top of a very high tower looking down upon a huge flock of birds which were flying in one direction. As he gazed in awe at this, time was suddenly sped up and he was appalled to see successive generations of birds born only to grow frail, wither and die within seconds. He was sick at heart to see this futile and meaningless struggle and considered whether it might be better if non where born at all.

Soon time sped up further so the birds became a blur. In the plain of feathers he saw a bright white flame. He knew what the flame was, it was the flame of life itself, the life force. He was seized by an ecstatic rush of realization. Nothing else mattered but the relentless momentum of this force. Nothing else was real. Every being that had lived or died were no more than dreams themselves. Except so far as this flame of life travelled through them.

 

True fact

Money is the worse invention EVER. Oil is the worse discovery EVER.

My dog is so awkward.

I want it to cuddle up with me; it refuses to come out of its bed(unless foods involved). I fall asleep; it decides to use my face as a cushion.

I pay attention to it; it seems to find its own tail more interesting. I’m busy on my laptop; It’ll jump onto the keyboard and stare at me.

I want to pet it; it wants to play the bite my fingers off game. I try to play with it; I have to check it is actually still breathing.

I try to steer it away from a deep puddle; it seems to aim for it. I try to make it swim in a shallow stream; it acts like it’s having a fit.

I don’t want to give it any of my food; it is there tormenting me with it’s miserable eyes. I spare it a bit; it’ll sniff it then walk off.

I let it off its lead in the park; takes a whole troop of us to catch it later. It chews through it’s lead outside a shop; it sits waiting for me to put it back on.

I’ve just bought something new; it’s chewed as soon as I’m away. I leave clothes for washing; makes a strange dog nest.

It gets wet; the house gets wet, I get wet. It’s completely dry; it seems to get wet again somehow.

I don’t bath it for a while; it stays almost(this is my dog) spotless. I’ve just spend ages pampering it; it rolls in mud like a pig.

I’m downstairs; it’s docile. I’m upstairs where it can’t go; it sounds like it may be repeatedly ramming a door.

I take out the lead for a walk; I’m up on a table so it can’t lick me to death. I take out the lead for the vet; it goes straight under a table.

One of my friends is at the door; intruder alert straight away. Next time it’s a Jehovah’s Witness; not even a twitch of warning.

Forgot the dog bags; can’t return without a trail of poo. Plenty of dog bags ready; only does the liquid type. Ugh.

I give it it’s food. It eats.

A living machine fed by humans

I don’t know if I’m going insane. I get a weird feeling sometimes like we are all connected creating this world. All our energy being used towards some sort of purpose. A big organic machine. It’s not a feeling that can be put into words, you have to feel it.

A beautiful powerful hum from millions of different voices all fighting to be the loudest. A hypnotic swirl of colours and sensations all heading towards a magnetic centre. A clock endlessly ticking yet still the world keeps spinning. Every new thought added to the universal thought bank, then distributed to its customers. Millions of different souls feeling life right now. Everyone alive sharing fundamental things in common:-

Their life, the earth and this universe. All of us of doomed to a short life and then what could be an eternity of emptiness.

I feel very insignificant which is slightly upsetting but at the same time deeply happy to be part of whatever it is I’m part of.

There is a text which describes this exactly but I can’t remember where I read it.

It might be because of mind-altering drugs I took in the past but I think it’s much more spiritual. I don’t feel like there is a God but I feel like there’s some sort of other plane of our existence that maybe isn’t visible. You can just feel it.

Then again, maybe I’m just in denial of our pointless and futile existence. aha.

I think if we all lived away from all the modern distractions in life, maybe that connection would be stronger. Whenever I go out walking in beautiful woodlands, it feels like it’s breathing and brimming with energy. Which is pretty insane. Sometimes it feels so amazing to be alone out there in the wild; you can always think so much clearer, you forget about all those meaningless distractions.

Maybe in my human heart I’m uncomfortable with this unnatural world filled with pollution, metal boxes on wheels and electronic conversations.

I haven’t spent much time in cities and quite frankly they terrify me. All those blank faces. All those sleek, dark suits. Cups of coffee held like life saving medicine. Everyone rushing around and for what? To work till they die. To live their lives rushing around earning money so when they retire they can finally live.

Wasting our lives away and for what, paper! Will that paper be worth anything when the end inevitably comes. No it wont. The life you lived will be what is of worth. What you are worth as a person is worth more than millions.

I think whether your existence is futile or not depends on who you are. I want to be one of those people whose existence is worth something. I want to be someone who changes the world in some way.

I just think some people don’t stop and realise they may only have this life so they might as well live it. I think some people as so disconnected from nature that they don’t feel this energy all around us.

We are all in this together so why are we all so damn disconnected.

We talk to people that are miles away, yet our neighbours are strangers.

Smile at people you don’t know, everyone deserves to be acknowledged and it could make their day just a little bit better.   🙂