How to Buy Silver Bullion

Silver bullion is fast becoming a great way to invest your money and it's probably because you can get started with only a few hundred dollars. But, there is a lot more involved than just going to the store to buy some silver and waiting for the prices to raise so that you can make a lot of money. More than anything else, you should learn how to buy silver bullion before you go out and start spending your money buying silver coins and bars.

If you do want to start investing, you can purchase your silver bullion for almost 60 times less than the current market price of gold. Right now, the price of gold is $1,091.50. 1 The closing price for silver is hovering around the $16.70 to $17.00 per ounce and this attractive price gives the potential investor a better chance of building an investment portfolio. 2

Now is a great opportunity to make money buying silver bullion. The best silver to buy are 1000 ounce bars because the small bars do not give the high return that you can get from the larger bars of silver. If you do buy the small bars, keep in mind hat you are paying a higher markup price and your investment return will be smaller.3

When you talk to your broker about buying silver bullion - make sure you convey your message in full. Do not assume the broker know what you want to do with your money.

Assemblage nearly DBMS and RDBMS

Assemblage nearly DBMS and RDBMS

Home equity loan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A home equity loan (sometimes abbreviated HEL) is a type of loan in which the borrower uses the equity in their home as collateral. These loans are useful to finance major expenses such as home repairs, medical bills or college education. A home equity loan creates a lien against the borrower's house, and reduces actual home equity.

Most home equity loans require good to excellent credit history, and reasonable loan-to-value and combined loan-to-value ratios. Home equity loans come in two types: closed end and open end. Both are usually referred to as second mortgages, because they are secured against the value of the property, just like a traditional mortgage. Home equity loans and lines of credit are usually, but not always, for a shorter term than first mortgages. In the United States, it is sometimes possible to deduct home equity loan interest on one's personal income taxes.

There is a specific difference between a home equity loan and a home equity line of credit (HELOC). A HELOC is a line of revolving credit with an adjustable interest rate whereas a home equity loan is a one time lump-sum loan, often with a fixed interest rate. This is a revolving credit loan, also referred to as a home equity line of credit, where the borrower can choose when and how often to borrow against the equity in the property, with the lender setting an initial limit to the credit line based on criteria similar to those used for closed-end loans. Like the closed-end loan, it may be possible to borrow up to 100% of the value of a home, less any liens. These lines of credit are available up to 30 years, usually at a variable interest rate. The minimum monthly payment can be as low as only the interest that is due.Typically, the interest rate is based on the Prime rate plus a margin.

Home equity loan fees:

 
 A brief list of fees that may apply home equity loans:
Appraisal fees
Originator fees
Title fees
Stamp duties
Arrangement fees
Closing fees
Early pay-off fee

Surveyor and conveyor or valuation fees may also apply to loans but some may be waived. The survey or conveyor and valuation costs can often be reduced, provided you find your own licensed surveyor to inspect the property considered for purchase. The title charges in secondary mortgages or equity loans are often fees for renewing the title information. Most loans will have fees of some sort, so make sure you read and ask several questions about the fees that are charged.

How To Make Money On EBay

I have been an eBay seller for a few years and sell about $120,000 worth of inventory per month. If you think you're ready to start your own eBay business online, or even just to sell some stuff on the side in order to make some extra cash, you might not know where to begin. For starters, what will you be selling and how will you get those products cheaply? From personal experience, I can tell you that there are a few very simple things to look for in a market that will guarantee profit. Here are just a few of the things you should look for:

1. Absolutely never overbuy any one product! A lot of people talk about buying in wholesale and how well it works but do not be fooled by these exaggerations! Wholesale doesn't work! When buying a product from a wholesaler, you are required to buy a huge amount of inventory from the start. If you don't intend on buying very large amounts, they will not even talk to you. This causes you to take a loss on a product you shouldn't have even bought in the first place. Instead, I make sure to only buy the hottest selling products at the best possible price. This allows me to raise my profit margin, keeps all of my customers satisfied, and eliminates the risk of ever not selling my inventory.

2. Always make sure that you get your inventory for as cheap as possible. The less you spend on a product, the more you make per sale. You should not have a problem buying your inventory for as low as half of what you will eventually sell it for. Spending too much on your inventory is a fast and easy way to lose any chance you had of making a profit.

3. Regardless of what it is you sell, only buy products that have a high re-sale value. If you intend to make a lot of money, you will not succeed by selling little trinkets at $10 each because your profit margin will be absolutely tiny. Instead, you need to focus on items that can sell for at least $100-$300. This way, each sale produces a much greater net profit for you.

4. Focus on selling items that are small in size. There is absolutely no need to waste time and money with moving heavy objects. Because of eBay's new "free shipping or your items won't be seen" characteristic, you will be in a tough spot if you can't afford to offer free shipping for everything you sell. Free shipping on something small is a smart way to get ahead of the competition while free shipping on something huge will always be a loss.

I have dedicated myself to selling used electronics on eBay which I have found is the most profitable market ever.

1. Electronics have extremely high demand and are always in production.

2. As technology improves, more highly sought-after gadgets are released. People want what is newer and better and they are willing to pay a lot of money for it.

3. Gadgets like phones or PDAs are small and easy to manage.

4. The re-sale value of electronic gadgets is very high compared to anything else this small in size. If you get them cheap, used electronics are a great way to make money as a main source of income or just for extra cash on the side.

YouTube Videos Pull In Real Money

Making videos for YouTube — for three years a pastime for millions of Web surfers — is now a way to make a living.
One year after YouTube, the online video powerhouse, invited members to become “partners” and added advertising to their videos, the most successful users are earning six-figure incomes from the Web site. For some, like Michael Buckley, the self-taught host of a celebrity chatter show, filming funny videos is now a full-time job.

Mr. Buckley quit his day job in September after his online profits had greatly surpassed his salary as an administrative assistant for a music promotion company. His thrice-a-week online show “is silly,” he said, but it has helped him escape his credit-card debt.

Mr. Buckley, 33, was the part-time host of a weekly show on a Connecticut public access channel in the summer of 2006 when his cousin started posting snippets of the show on YouTube. The comical rants about celebrities attracted online viewers, and before long Mr. Buckley was tailoring his segments, called “What the Buck?” for the Web. Mr. Buckley knew that the show was “only going to go so far on public access.”

“But on YouTube,” he said, “I’ve had 100 million views. It’s crazy.”

All he needed was a $2,000 Canon camera, a $6 piece of fabric for a backdrop and a pair of work lights from Home Depot. Mr. Buckley is an example of the Internet’s democratizing effect on publishing. Sites like YouTube allow anyone with a high-speed connection to find a fan following, simply by posting material and promoting it online.

Granted, building an audience online takes time. “I was spending 40 hours a week on YouTube for over a year before I made a dime,” Mr. Buckley said — but, at least in some cases, it is paying off.

Mr. Buckley is one of the original members of YouTube’s partner program, which now includes thousands of participants, from basement video makers to big media companies. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, places advertisements within and around the partner videos and splits the revenues with the creators. “We wanted to turn these hobbies into businesses,” said Hunter Walk, a director of product management for the site, who called popular users like Mr. Buckley “unintentional media companies.”

YouTube declined to comment on how much money partners earned on average, partly because advertiser demand varies for different kinds of videos. But a spokesman, Aaron Zamost, said “hundreds of YouTube partners are making thousands of dollars a month.” At least a few are making a full-time living: Mr. Buckley said he was earning over $100,000 from YouTube advertisements.

The program is a partial solution to a nagging problem for YouTube. The site records 10 times the video views as any other video-sharing Web site in the United States, yet it has proven to be hard for Google to profit from, because a vast majority of the videos are posted by anonymous users who may or may not own the copyrights to the content they upload. While YouTube has halted much of the illegal video sharing on the site, it remains wary of placing advertisements against content without explicit permission from the owners. As a result, only about 3 percent of the videos on the site are supported by advertising.

But the company has high hopes for the partner program. Executives liken it to Google AdSense, the technology that revolutionized advertising and made it possible for publishers to place text advertisements next to their content.

“Some of these people are making videos in their spare time,” said Chad Hurley, a co-founder of YouTube. “We felt that if we were able to provide them a true revenue source, they’d be able to hone their skills and create better content.”

In a time of media industry layoffs, the revenue source — and the prospect of a one-person media company — may be especially appealing to users. But video producers like Lisa Donovan, who posts sketch comedy onto YouTube and attracted attention in the fall for parodies of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, do not make it sound easy. “For new users, it’s a lot of work,” Ms. Donovan said. “Everybody’s fighting to be seen online; you have to strategize and market yourself.”

Mr. Buckley, who majored in psychology in college and lives with his husband and four dogs in Connecticut, films his show from home. Each episode of “What the Buck?” is viewed an average of 200,000 times, and the more popular ones have reached up to three million people. He said that writing and recording five minutes’ worth of jokes about Britney Spears’s comeback tour and Miley Cyrus’s dancing abilities is not as easy as it looks. “I’ve really worked hard on honing my presentation and writing skills,” he said.

As his traffic and revenues grew, Mr. Buckley had “so many opportunities online that I couldn’t work anymore.” He quit his job at Live Nation, the music promoter, to focus full-time on the Web show.

There is a symmetry to Mr. Buckley’s story. Some so-called Internet celebrities view YouTube as a stepping stone to television. But Mr. Buckley started on TV and found fame on YouTube. Three months ago, he signed a development deal with HBO, an opportunity that many media aspirants dream about. Still, “I feel YouTube is my home,” he said. “I think the biggest mistake that any of us Internet personalities can make is establish ourselves on the Internet and then abandon it.”

Cory Williams, 27, a YouTube producer in California, agrees. Mr. Williams, known as smpfilms on YouTube, has been dreaming up online videos since 2005, and he said his big break came in September 2007 with a music video parody called “The Mean Kitty Song.” The video, which introduces Mr. Williams’ evil feline companion, has been viewed more than 15 million times. On a recent day, the video included an advertisement from Coca-Cola.

Mr. Williams, who counts about 180,000 subscribers to his videos, said he was earning $17,000 to $20,000 a month via YouTube. Half of the profits come from YouTube’s advertisements, and the other half come from sponsorships and product placements within his videos, a model that he has borrowed from traditional media.

On YouTube, it is evident that established media entities and the up-and-coming users are learning from each other. The amateur users are creating narrative arcs and once-a-week videos, enticing viewers to visit regularly. Some, like Mr. Williams, are also adding product-placement spots to their videos. Meanwhile, brand-name companies are embedding their videos on other sites, taking cues from users about online promotion. Mr. Walk calls it a subtle “cross-pollination” of ideas.

Some of the partners are major media companies; the ones with the most video views include Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, CBS and Warner Brothers. But individual users are now able to compete alongside them. Mr. Buckley, who did not even have high-speed Internet access two years ago, said his YouTube hobby had changed his financial life.

“I didn’t start it to make money,” he said, “but what a lovely surprise.”

How To Make Money With Gold

Many investors want to learn how to make money with gold, and there are a lot of sharks out there misguiding and telling the general investors the wrong way on how to make money with gold.

The reason for this is that people are panicking now and think they have missed the big up move in recently seen in gold, but that is not the case. Gold does not move up in a straight line. It never has and never will. You have to be patient with such investments and you will eventually reap the rewards later.

The secret is to learn to be patience also. Here are the top 6 way to make money with gold over the next few years.

1) Learn how gold moves.

When the economy is in a good state, gold tends to move in a negative direction. When the economy sours gold is expected to move in a more positive direction. When people are in a bad financial situation they tend to scrounge around and save every penny to buy gold, for security, but daily movements in gold are not very dramatic, so be patient.

2) Go back and study historical charts.

As previously discussed, gold moves freely and in a specific pattern over a longer time period. You are wrong if you think you can make big money day to day. Study price, pattern and projection. Remember that history repeats and so do chart patterns.

3) Commonsense rules apply.

There are many ways to invest in gold and many strategies also. But there is an age old rule in investing which is "buy low and sell high" Normally you see the amateur traders and investors doing the opposite. So when you see this, look to be a contrarian, and buy when they are selling, and sell when they are buying.

4) Diversify your gold investments.

Just because gold is trading on the futures market does not mean you cannot buy it and trade it elsewhere. Diversify your gold holding by buying physical gold. You can purchase coins, bullions, junk, & scrap gold and hold it for longer term. Gold paper futures have a different worth to something that you can physically see and hold in your hand. It has actual real worth.

5) Economic timing.

The best way on to profit from physical gold is to buy it when the economy is good, as prices remain stable and low. Then polish off the dust and sell it when the economy turns sour. Realize that since day one the economy works in cycles of boom and bust. One can make good money with gold by preempting such events. It is not as hard as you might think.

6) Buy wholesale, sell retail.

Gold investors over the last year have seen so much supply and demand they have turned their hobby into a business by buying and selling gold online and dealing it to other investors. The easiest way to make money is by selling products that people crave for, and are addicted to. Over the last 24 months this seems to be the case for gold.

10 Ideas for Living a Life Without Credit or Debt

My dad and I were talking about his recent financial turnaround, and one of the things he said was that he loves being free of debt.

My dad doesn’t have the best of credit, and he isn’t wealthy. He has a decent income, an old car that seems to run fine and doesn’t belong to a bank, no personal loans or mortgage (he rents), no credit card debt.

Being free of the burden of debt is liberating, he says. Of course, with his credit history, he can’t get a car loan on his own, or a mortgage, so life isn’t perfect. But I advised him: forget about borrowing money. Stay debt-free and frugal, and you can bank your income and live a credit-free life.

That’s not the life for many people, of course, because as with anything, there are trade-offs. Sure, you can live without the burden of debt, but it’s harder to travel without a credit card. It’s also hard for many people to rent for most of their lives, instead of getting a mortgage. And in some areas it’s hard to even rent without a good credit history (it’s not an issue where I live).

However, for my dad, who lives a pretty simple life these days, it could work.

Here are some ideas for living a credit-free life, if that appeals to you (if it doesn’t, skip this article and don’t start a debate in the comments!).
Save an emergency fund. Many people use their credit cards as a sort of emergency fund — if there’s an unexpected expense, the card comes out to the rescue. Instead, use the money you aren’t paying towards debt to build up a healthy emergency fund, keeping you out of debt when something unexpected comes up. Living without credit can be risky, but having a strong emergency fund (aim for $1,000 initially, then build it up to 3-6 months or more of expenses).
Save for goals. Once you’ve got the emergency fund adequately covered, you can start saving for other things. Set savings goals for yourself: do you want to travel, or buy a car, or save for college, or renovate your home, or buy a yacht? Decide on your highest-priority goals, and set a dollar figure. Now save towards those goals. Without debt, it should be fairly easy.
Get a debit card. If you need to use a credit card in certain situations, such as buying something online, often you can use a debit or check card instead, if it has the name of a major credit company such as Visa or Mastercard. I went several years without a credit card, but using a Mastercard debit card, and had no problems at all. It actually worked every place you would need a credit card, but I wasn’t buying stuff on credit — it was debited straight from my checking account, meaning I would need to have the money first before purchasing anything.
Earn interest instead of paying it. The problem with debt or credit is that you waste money paying interest. It eats away at your finances. Instead, make your money work for you by investing it. With the magic of compound interest, your investments will grow over time, meaning that money you would have been paying toward interest is now earning interest instead and multiplying. That’s good math.
Buy a car on cash. For those who have been buying vehicles with auto loans all their lives, it may seem impossible to buy a car on cash. But it’s very possible, and many people do it. My grandparents, for example, always buy their cars with cash (and always have, except for their first car 50 years ago). So instead of making loan payments, and paying double the price of the car or more over the term of the loan, they make savings deposits, and end up with the amount it costs to buy two cars in their bank account over the course of five years. This is something I’m trying to do myself — I’m going to use my current car as long as possible, save the amount that I’m now paying for my loan every month (it’s almost paid off now), and then buy my next car in cash. It’ll be a used car, but it’ll be all mine.
Invest for retirement. This is just common sense, no matter what your credit or debt situation, but without debt payments, it makes sense to accelerate your retirement investments (as one of your savings goals). Then you can retire early, thanks to not being in debt.
Travel without credit. It’s a common belief that you can’t rent a hotel room or a car without a credit card. This is false. It’s easy to rent a hotel room, for example, with a cash deposit. You just need to call around to find the right hotels. The same goes with car rentals (see this article for more evidence of this). And if you want to find a cash-only car rental company, see this listing.
Rent without credit. While no credit checks are done for apartment or house rentals on Guam, where I live, in many places a credit check is standard practice. However, there are options you can use to rent without a credit card or a credit check, including a larger deposit. See this article for more options.
Buy a home without credit. Now, if buying a car on cash seemed impossible, surely buying a home on cash just cannot be done. But it can, and people have done it. I’m even considering doing it myself. First of all, in many cases, renting a home instead of buying (and investing the savings) is smarter financially. If you can invest the difference and let that grow over time, you can buy a home on cash. And at the same time, you won’t pay triple the value of the home (as most people do over the course of a home mortgage, due to interest). This item actually deserves a full post on its own, as it requires a longer explanation, but I don’t feel qualified to write it. Suffice it to say that it can be done, and has been done.
Use PayPal online. I’m not a big fan of online shopping — well, actually I love to shop online, but I think it’s bad for your finances, only because it’s so easy to do. You end up buying stuff online that you might have resisted in the real world. But if you must buy something online, and don’t want to get a credit card (or a debit card), in many cases it can be done with PayPal — meaning that you have to have the money before you make the purchase. I’ve heard of people who don’t like PayPal, but I haven’t had a problem so far.

100 Innovative Business Ideas 2011

Yes, we all agree that innovation is the only way out of the current mess that both mature and not-so-mature consumer societies find themselves in. We’re talking basically anything that will get consumers spending again, and preferably the kind of spending that involves sustainable goods, services and experiences.

There will never be a shortage of smart new ventures, brands, goods and services that deliver on consumers’ wants and needs. And if those wants and needs currently revolve around practicality, efficiency and responsibility, and less about traditional luxury, splurging and upgrading, then that’s what brands should deliver on. Which seems doable, judging from the dozens of recent innovations spotted by Springspotters around the world, courtesy of Springwise site.

Check out these 100 Innovative Business ideas in no particular order, all sourced from Springwise, which finds and publishes the best innovations from around the world, with the help of 8,000+ Springspotters.

1. Created by Belgian marketing and design agency Fosfor, the Boobox is a vending machine designed specifically to dole out freebies. Read full article.

2. Sample U is a product testing site where TRYSUMERS are given lab memberships allowing them to take home products and discuss them with friends, in exchange for providing demographic information for market research purposes. Read full article.

3. FedEx Office recently drew attention by extending a helping hand to job seekers, offering free printing (on March 10th) of up to 25 black-and-white copies of their resume at any of the company’s 1,600+ stores across the US. Read full article.

4. Washington DC-based FreePaperCups gives away paper cups with advertisements on them to corporate customers across the US. Read full article.

5. No Doubt is giving away free downloads of their entire digital audio catalogue to high-end ticket buyers for the band’s tour, that just kicked off in Atlantic City. Read full article.

6. An iPhone application developed for 7-Eleven Sweden combines a store locator with coupons for a free coffee and biscotti. After downloading the app, users plug in their phone number and receive a unique coupon code on their iPhone. To claim their coffee, they just show the code to a 7-Eleven clerk; no purchase necessary. The coupon is only valid once, and free coffee in April will be followed by free ice cream in May. Read full article.

7. U*tique is an upscale vending machine that dispenses select luxury and personal care products handpicked by specialists with backgrounds in global beauty, trend-hunting and innovation. Read full article.

8. British Everyday Models invites consumers to rent out aspects of their daily life to advertisers: whether it’s their clothes, car, house or online profile. The idea of individuals renting out their own foreheads or tee-shirts as billboards is not new, but the founders of Everyday Models (British student James Brookner and photographer Matt Garcia) are the first to create a business model around brokering other people’s possessions as ad space. Read full article.

9. Amsterdam’s Minibar gives patrons access to a personal minibar and lets them serve themselves. Designed by Dutch design firm Concrete, Minibar offers consumers a way to avoid long lines at the bar without having to spring for pricey bottle service. Read full article.

10. Hollrr encourages fans of specific products for spreading the word to their friends via email, Facebook and Twitter, and rewards them with deposits into Amazon Flexible Payment Accounts. The Seattle-based website, which is still in beta, has found an innovative way to help small companies launch new products by turning customers into sales(wo)men. Read full article.

11. An initiative from Lexus, Time and American Express Publishing, called mine, allows consumers to create their own personalized magazines by choosing editorial content from Time, Sports Illustrated, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Money, InStyle, Golf, and Travel + Leisure. Read full article.

12. California-based ShortTask finds qualified workers for companies in need of help with tasks that are too small to justify hiring an employee: think finding articles, or commenting on Amazon.com. Read full article.

13. Washington, D.C.-based College Hunks Hauling Junk hires the friendliest and most trustworthy junk haulers at local colleges and universities, and recycles more than 60 percent of the junk they collect. Businesses that are inherently no sexier than this one can learn from College Hunks and their sister business, College Foxes Hauling Boxes, how to brand their service as fun, personable and responsible. Read full article.

14. Fortnum & Mason has four hives placed on the roof of its Piccadilly store. Via webcams, customers can watch the bees as they create honey that will eventually be sold in the store. Read full article.

15. Ohio-based DOmedia links up media buyers and sellers to place advertisements everywhere from college student notebooks and phone kiosks to golf carts and restrooms. Read full article.

16. The Fairmont Royal York hotel has installed a threehive apiary 14 stories above the streets of Toronto and the resulting honey is used in the hotel’s restaurant kitchen. The response from hotel patrons has been so positive that the hotel plans to install three more hives at other sites this summer. Read full article.

17. Dutch hospitality group La Bergère is decorating a new hotel in Maastricht—dubbed, for now, Hotel X—with furniture and knick-knacks that it’s buying from ordinary consumers, asking them to scour their spare rooms and attics for unique chairs, ceramics, board games and even plants. Read full article.

18. It’s My Scar uses wax renderings based on photos of scars sent in by customers to create highly personal bracelets, rings, earrings and necklaces. Read full article.

19. A Vida Portuguesa has opened a store exclusively dedicated to Portugal’s unique brands. Customers can find over 1,000 products that have maintained their original packaging, that are made by hand, or that represent traditional Portuguese craftsmanship; everything on stock holds a fragment of the nation’s collective memory. Read full article.

20. Aiming to offer women some welldeserved relaxation and rejuvenation after they’ve given birth, Minneapolis/St. Paul-based Go Home Gorgeous offers a variety of in-hospital-room spa services for new mothers. Options include massage, aromatherapy and soothing music. Read full article.

21. StickieStory is an interactive storybook from Argentina that allows kids to paste stickers with their own names and photos on the book’s pages as they follow along with the story. Read full article.

22. BillMyParents allows parents to monitor their children’s online spending by forwarding any attempted purchases to the parent for them to deny or authorize with a credit card number. The San Diego-based service currently only targets US consumers. Read full article.

23. San Francisco-based Replyforall is a site that raises money for charities by adding a cause’s information to a user’s e-mail signature. The signature shows information about the cause, along with a mention of one of Replyforall’s participating financial sponsors. Replyforall distributes sponsors’ payments amongst the causes that users have selected. Read full article.

24. Heineken has teamed up with design agency UXUS to create a ‘democratic airport lounge’ at Hong Kong’s International Airport. The Heineken Lounge treats travelers to luxuries and perks typically reserved for first and business class passengers, like private conversation nooks, custom-white leather sofas, striking light fixtures and a variety of beer served on tap. Read full article.

25. In the greater New York area, Central Parking System and other parking companies offer half-price parking for Smart fortwo owners. The service, which is a partnership with Smart USA, is based on the notion that drivers shouldn’t have to pay full price if their car only takes up half a parking spot. Read full article.

26. San Francisco-based startup Legacy Locker entrusts the details of customers’ online accounts, from Gmail and Facebook to eBay and PayPal, to assigned beneficiaries in the event of the customer’s death or disability. Read full article.

27. BlueMailCentral lets users send paper mail directly from their computers. After creating a document in Word, Outlook or any other application, customers click ‘print’ to send their file to one of BlueMailCentral’s printing partners, which prints the document and delivers it to its destination. Read full article.

28. Also check out California-based Zumbox, which has created an online mailbox for every residence and business street address in the US, allowing any US citizen to send and receive all-digital mail for free. Read full article.

29. Hot croissants or cookies? Baker Tweet is a technology that alerts customers via Twitter any time a fresh batch of baked goods emerges from a participating bakery’s oven. The service is still in prototype form at the Albion Cafe in London, but it could be easily be duplicated to provide potential customers everywhere with up-to-the-minute information about all kinds of products. Read full article.

30. Telegram Stop lets customers compose classic-looking paper telegrams online—complete with the traditional “stop” in place of periods—and delivers them to any country. Read full article.

31. Kogi Korean BBQ sells their signature tacos primarily through two trucks in the Los Angeles area. In order to know where to find them, customers follow Kogi on Twitter, and it’s not unusual to find hundreds of the company’s 19,000+ Twitter friends lined up and socializing while awaiting their turn at the Kogi truck. Read full article.

32. Wi-Drive is a green, weekday bus service that offers high-end transportation for San Francisco commuters. By emulating the comfort of a limousine with amenities like leatherette seats, wifi, LCD screens and iPod ports, Wi-Drive is giving green commuter transportation a luxury spin likely to be emulated in cities around the world. Read full article.

33. Bike-sharing programs are cropping up all over Asia, from YouBike rentals in Taipei that are free for the first 30 minutes, to similar programs launched in Taiwan, Changwon, Korea and Hangzhou. Read full article.

34. Cycle2City, the first fullservice facility for bicycle commuters in Australia, provides cyclists with a place to store and repair their bikes, take a shower and change into business attire. As the number of cycling commuters grows around the world, so will the need for other services that ease the transition from four wheels to two. Read full article.

35. Denim Therapy’s jeans-doctoring service has added a new offering to its line: a special service that adjusts favourite jeans for pregnant bellies—and then, post-baby, back again. Pregnant mothers simply send New York-based Denim Therapy their favourite jeans. Denim Therapy then inserts expandable side inseams in the pants that will move and grow as the woman’s belly expands. Read full article.

36. When Dutch consumers register with Spaarbod, the service automatically compares interest rates from various banks and gets the banks to bid on a saver’s funds. Read full article.

37. Led in part by Flickr cofounder Caterina Fake, Hunch is an online decision-making tool that gets to know a user through his or her answers to seemingly random questions. Based on those answers, Hunch aligns users with other people that are like them—their twinsumers—and can offer personalized answers to complex questions like: “Should I go to medical school?” Read full article.

38. CrowdSprout lets groups of parents interested in purchasing the same item (think high chairs or cradles or diaper bags) band together to get a better price by bidding, and committing to making the purchase only if enough other buyers join. Whether it’s to buy a stroller or a soccer team, crowd clout is becoming a force for vendors to contend with. Read full article.

39. Amplified Journeys is a site from UKbased sound system manufacturer Harman Kardon that gives users driving directions and matching playlists of location-inspired music based on preferred artists or musical genres. Read full article.

40. ING Wegwijzer, an application built for the TMobile G1 (Google) phone, allows users to locate the nearest ATM simply by pointing their phone’s camera in any direction, with nearby ATMs showing up on the display. Read full article.

41. Patrons at Wagaboo restaurants in Madrid and Barcelona can now reserve specific table online. What sector is next to succumb to consumers’ relentless search for the Best of the Best? Read full article.

42. Neighbo is an online platform in the UK that brings together neighbors, tenants and landlords to help improve both practical issues and social connections, using widgets, calendars and forums. Read full article.

43. The Local is a community of news and information websites from The New York Times, catering to the residents of five areas in New York and New Jersey: Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, Maplewood, Millburn and South Orange. Combining both professional and citizen journalism, and targeting stories toward specific communities, The Local could be one of the new models that struggling newspapers are desperately looking for. Read full article.

44. Enabling customers of participating retailers to receive their packages wherever it’s convenient, PickupZone is a network of neighborhood pickup points, from convenience stores to dry cleaners. The company is currently active throughout the Boston area, but aims to expand farther afield in the near future. Read full article.

45. The Printed Blog is an independent outlet that aggregates user-generated, online content, and publishes it in print to create a fully tactile newspaper that functions like a web feed, but can still be spread out across the breakfast table or enjoyed on the train. Read full article.

46. MyGofer is a warehouse-style concept where Illinois shoppers can browse products online and then drive to a local Sears store for curbside pickup. Which combines the convenience and selection of an online store with the immediacy of a bricks and mortar retailer. Read full article.

47. Loews Hotels’ Adopt-a-Farmer promotes local farming while providing its guests with food made from locally-sourced, seasonal, organic and sustainable ingredients. Read full article.

48. Borro is an online pawnbroker that provides short term loans to customers who cannot borrow from banks, or who have maxed out their other options. Offering them cash for jewelry, gold and memorabilia, the site brings an ancient system into the 21st century. Read full article.

49. Häagen-Dazs Five is an all-natural ice cream made from only five ingredients—skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolks and one of a few natural flavors like mint, ginger and coffee. What makes the product stand out is its simplicity; in uncertain times, bringing back the classics can appeal to consumers’ nostalgia. Read full article.

50. Wanna Start a Commune helps its members to harness the power of shared resources (read: saving money by living together), with tools like a downloadable starter pamphlet, and potluck and workshop planning information. Three pilot projects are already underway in the Los Angeles area. Read full article.

51. Van Gogh is Bipolar, a restaurant and cafe that opened in Quezon City, only serves all-natural ‘happy-hormone-producing’ foods, set to lift customers’ moods. Its menu is loaded with foods that are believed to help balance the brain’s levels of serotonin and dopamine, which in turn helps alleviate mild to moderate depression. Read full article.

52. Philadelphia company SRS Energy has developed the Solé Power Tile, a roof tile designed to sustainably convert sunlight into electricity without compromising aesthetics. Read full article.

53. Designed by a former Rolls Royce turbine engineer under the wing of UK-based The Power Collective, RidgeBlade, is a wind-power system that can be fitted to buildings with minimum visual impact and maximum energy conversion potential. Read full article.

54. Realizing that many consumers have great ideas for products, but lack the know-how to turn an idea into a manufacturable design, Ponoko has now added a clever new option: Ponoko ID, lets anyone submit a request, including a description (purpose, materials, colours, measurements, etc, plus links to relevant images, sketches or videos if they have them), as well as their ideal price and delivery deadline. Their request is then sent to a selection of designers who can put forward a bid by emailing a brief proposal to the shopper. Read full article.

55. Attempting to revolutionize the traditional movie screening business, IndieScreenings lets anyone hire a film, show it and keep the cash. Read full article.

56. From an online store that specializes in personalized gifts comes a literary appeal to anyone’s vanity. GettingPersonal sells classic novels—mostly as gifts—that let recipients and their friends star as the main characters. Read full article.

57. Much like socks, gloves have the tendency to lose their other halves. In the spirit of ‘waste not, want not’, environmental group Green Thing has launched a venture that pairs up single gloves and sells them to new owners. Read full article.

58. With USD 714 billion outstanding student-loan debt hanging over graduates in the US, it’s no surprise that more and more people are turning to free educational content on the web. Academic Earth, a US enterprise that makes lectures from Ivy League colleges free and accessible to all web users. Now, featuring over 1,500 videos the website is broadening its scope by offering courses for high school high-flyers. Read full article.

59. New Zealand start-up Your Pure Honey is offering customers the chance to own a share of a beehive in and enjoy the Manuka honey it produces. Your Pure Honey is keen to establish a personal connection between partners and their hives. Each partner receives a personal link to a website that’s updated throughout the season. Read full article.

60. Vitaminwater, offering an alternative use for Facebook, the beverage company is inviting users to create new flavours and vitamin content. After adding the FlavorCreator app from Vitaminwater’s Facebook page, users can help influence the flavour, functional benefits and design of the new water. Read full article.

61. Toronto’s Sweet Flour Bake Shop lets patrons design their own baked treats and eat them fresh from the oven just two minutes later. More than 15,000 possible combinations face Sweet Flour customers, who begin by choosing the cookie dough base they’d like: original, peanut butter or oatmeal. Read full article.

62. There are a multitude of foodie websites and blogs catering to most every culinary whim, but food52 is one with an especially clear premise: 52 weeks, 52 recipe contests, and a crowd-sourced cookbook to celebrate the result. Read full article.

63. Most people order pizzas when they’re at home or at work. Aiming to broaden those delivery horizons, Domino’s Pizza in the Netherlands recently placed white doors in the park and on the beach. Read full article.

64. A new social enterprise by Mercy Corps is taking a pragmatic approach to improving children’s food intake. The Healthy Street Foods Project has funded a fleet of food stalls and is providing them to selected street-vendors around the city. Known as Kedai Balitaku (‘My Child’s Cafe‘), they serve nutritional food at low prices. Each cart comes equipped with a hand-washing station. Read full article

65. Premium ice-cream is a highly sophisticated food category that doesn’t shy away from unusual flavours. But none of these stray quite as far from plain vanilla as an x-rated gelato by The Icecreamists that’s touted to have the same charge as a dose of Viagra. Read full article.

66. If two heads are better than one, it’s hard to argue with the premise of crowd-sourcing, which taps multiple brains for a common end. Now offering such capabilities overnight is Ideas Culture, an Australian firm that puts creative thinkers around the globe to work via Twitter to solve a client’s problem by morning. Read full article.

67. Housing referrals are a tried and tested way of connecting landlords and tenants by inviting current residents to refer people in exchange for a finders fee. Aiming to leverage the strength of social media, RentMineOnline took the next natural step and added Facebook to the mix. The venture is effectively an online affiliate program for real-world house rental. Read full article.

68. If billboards can be used to give out free samples of scarves, caps and gloves, why not a little sympvertising in the form of a branded dinghy? Which is just what Indian mobile provider Aircel recently did in Mumbai in the days leading up to this year’s monsoons. Read full article.

69. Long gone are the days of boring mugs and faded postcards, as museums and other cultural institutions have become increasingly savvy retailers. Aiming to build on that strength, CultureLabel showcases products from over 60 galleries, museums and other cultural entities, ‘exploring the space where culture and consumer culture meets’. Read full article.

70. Turning shoppers into philanthropists, LavishGiving.com is an online gift retailer that donates 20% of all purchases of USD 100 or more to a charity of the buyer’s choice. Which allows them to be generous twice: once when giving the gifts they purchased, and a second time when donating 20% of their value to a favourite charity. Read full article.

71. The Los Angeles fashion label’s Ed Hardy Habit line clearly targets style-conscious consumers with a variety of sanitizers packaged featuring themes and motifs borrowed from its popular clothing line, which was created by French designer Christian Audigier based on the designs of Don Ed Hardy, also known as “the godfather of modern tattoo.” Read full article.

72. If consumers can design their own fabrics, dresses, handbags and sneakers, it stands to reason that they should be able to create their own high-heeled shoes too. Stiletto fans will surely rejoice, then, to learn of Dream Heels, a site where they can do just that—and earn some cash for their creations. Read full article.

73. Enter Wool and the Gang, a Swiss venture that sells all-in-one kits complete with everything that’s needed to make a particular knit design. Fourteen kits comprise Wool and the Gang’s do-it-yourself line, each complete with the necessary yarn, a pair of wooden knitting needles, a pattern, a sewing needle and patches. Read full article.

74. Realizing that both existing and potential clients might appreciate a chat about a haircut before visiting their stylist, Plan B Salon in Cambridge, Massachusetts launched a new service offering 15-minute video consultations. Prior to their appointment, customers can get an idea of what their options are or how receptive the stylist is to their requests, without wasting time on a journey to the salon. It also lets clients to weigh various possibilities before going in for a cut. Read full article.

75. A passionate statement from London-based grooming shop Geo F. Trumper, which now offers classes on how to shave properly. Customer demand led to the introduction of the one-to-one sessions, in which a barber shows a customer the best techniques for shaving and how to avoid unsightly problems such as ingrown hairs and razor burn. Other shaving tips are offered according to skin type. Read full article.

76. Women who love their high heels may already be aware of ‘emergency’ flats that roll up and fit inside a purse in order to be slipped onto tired feet the end of a long night of dancing. Two new companies in England, Rollasoles and Afterheels have taken the concept a step further by selling their version of portable flats in vending machines at nightclubs. Read full article.

77. People like knowing what they’re getting before they open their wallets. For those looking to get a new haircut, MopShots offers an online lookbook of real cuts on real people, with details on the salons that created them. Read full article.

78. YouTube regularly spawns flash-in-the-pan celebrities, but few have managed to build a profitable business out of their exposure. Lauren Luke is a rare exception—the British self-taught make-up guru built such a loyal following with her chatty tips on how to imitate celebrity looks, that she just launched her own line of cosmetics: By Lauren Luke. Read full article.

79. Much the way BookOfCooks connects amateur chefs with consumers seeking a home-cooked meal, Plant Concierge is a new site that helps those in need of gardening advice find local experts who can help. Plant Concierge includes experienced amateurs who may just be available for a few hours per week, for example, but who can still provide the expertise that’s needed. Read full article.

80. EcoFaeBrick turns cattle waste into bricks that are greener, stronger and 20% lighter than regular clay bricks. Read full article.

81. New York-based Green Irene aims to help consumers reduce their homes’ carbon footprint. Green Irene’s flagship service is its Green Home Makeover, which it offers for USD 99. As part of that service, one of Green Irene’s local eco-consultants will spend 60 to 90 minutes walking through a consumer’s home and developing a customized set of recommendations for saving money, energy and water, and for just living a healthier life. Read full article.

82. For those not fortunate enough to have a garden, a new UK initiative seeks to match would-be gardeners with landowners willing to share their arable land. Seeking to provide an alternative to the UK’s already oversubscribed land-allotment lists, the Landshare campaign aims instead to convert underused land back into productive use for growing fresh fruit and vegetables. Read full article.

83. Cell phones may have changed the way people communicate in the developed world, but in developing countries they’re going far beyond simple communication to bring new opportunities to areas that sorely need them. Case in point: FrontlineSMS:Medic, a new initiative to improve health care in poor, rural villages. Read full article.

84. The internet may have given music fans unprecedented access to the world’s music, but finding it in any kind of organized way can be a challenge. Now providing a location-based approach comes CitySounds.fm, a music browser that streams the latest music of the world, city by city. Read full article.

85. Much the way Webkinz pets are more than just stuffed animals, so t-shirts can be more than just t-shirts when they forge links to the online world. The conversation-starters offered by Reactee, Shyno and Augme are one type of example; now bringing a new purpose to such connections comes The Music Tee, a shirt that gives wearers the right to free music downloads. Read full article.

86. We’ve seen several companies already that allow consumers to help sell the music of their favourite bands—with rewards each time they do—and now a new contender out of Australia, Posse, is giving them a way to promote upcoming concerts as well. Read full article.

87. Oak Hall Industries, a manufacturer of academic apparel which claims to be the first in its industry to use recycled materials. Greenweaver is Oak Hall’s new line of caps and gowns, so named because the range is made entirely from recycled plastic bottles. Read full article.

88. A new eco-site called Angry Green Girl is celebrating its launch with a car wash featuring five models sporting teeny green bikinis, who’ll sud up eco-friendly cars for free using waterless cleaners. Read full article.

89. Tokyo candlemakers Filt don’t have to travel far to source their raw materials: they’re located directly above Chubby, a cafe that’s happy to hand over its used cooking oil to Filt, which carefully filters the oil to remove odors and sediment. Read full article.

90. With all the pressures placed upon forests for the natural resources they contain, it was only a matter of time before someone used a crowdfunding model to protect and sustain them. Sure enough, at Wisconsin’s Driftless Farm, members pay an annual contribution in exchange for the right to enjoy many of the experiences and products the forest has to offer. Read full article.

91. New York’s water-toting crowd has a convenient new way to be sustainable while staying hydrated, as a tap water refilling service officially launches in the city. TapIt is a community program that enables people to refill their water bottles at participating cafés, completely free of charge. TapIt aims to help people stay healthy and hydrated without relying on single-use plastic bottles. Read full article.

92. Of all of the examples we’ve seen of upcycling—turning waste materials into new products— teddylux is undoubtedly the most adorable. Each plush teddy bear, elephant and bunny made by the Georgia business is fashioned from a discarded cashmere sweater. Read full article.

93. Following a multimillion pound refurbishment, and using little more than seawater, SEA LIFE London Aquarium ran a (close to) zero-impact advertising campaign in the streets of London. You might recognize the masterminds behind the campaign:Curb, the media agency that uses natural materials to build brand awareness for its clients.Read full article.

94. British supermarket chain Waitrose dates back to the early 1900s, when bicycle and horse and cart were its chosen methods of delivery. Now—proving once again the old adage that everything that goes around comes around—much the same methods have returned as part of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Read full article.

95. Farmers markets have long been providing individuals with a place to purchase fresh produce, but until now there have been limited opportunities for individuals with gardens and fruit trees to distribute their own (leftover) crops. Portland-based Veggie Trader is a kind of online farmers market that connects individual produce sellers, buyers and swappers. Read full article.

96. With more and more aspects of daily life abandoning their physical form and appearing electronically, why should libraries be any different? That’s why Sony has partnered up with software firm OverDrive, offering bookworms an easier way to borrow e-books. Read full article.

97. Technology has already created myriad new ways for parents to interact with their children, whether by narrating their own storybook videos or by playing an iPhone game on a shared walk through the park. A new option is Story Something, a site that generates personalized e-stories in which the kids listening are the heroes. Read full article.

98. Helping readers take blogs offline, Zinepal lets any user convert their favourite online content into ebooks and printable, magazine-style PDFs. Read full article.

99. Cash-strapped consumers are increasingly looking to their spare rooms, their backyards and even their furniture for ways to earn some extra money. Now they can offer up their photos for sale as well thanks to Fotomoto. Fotomoto enables anyone with photographic content to sell their photos directly from their website or blog. Read full article.

100. New Jersey-based Rentobile provides a wide selection of the latest cell phones for rent on a monthly basis so that consumers can try out various devices without being limited by a long term contract. A Netflix for phones, indeed. Read full article.

Source, Photo and description: Springwise.com, trendwatching.com

Businesses You can Start From P500 to P3k

Are you wondering what businesses can be started from P500 to P3,000? If you want to put up your own business but deterred by the thought that you would need a big capital. Well, stop it now. You can find lots of businesses that could be started from P500 to P3,000 or less. You only need to look around and find the need.

There are many successful Filipino entrepreneurs who started their business in a tight budget and they have proven that a little cash can go a long way. What they only have is the right attitude, patience, hard-work, initiative and persistence. They never stop learning and innovating the business. They may not have thousands or millions of pesos to use but they continue to find ways to grow their business. And the good thing when starting in a small capital is that it allows the entrepreneur to learn the ropes of the business with minimal risk before going into big business ventures in the future.

So, whether you only have P500 or P3,000 in the pocket, now is the right time to start your dream business.

1. Perfumes and colognes
Everybody wants to smell fresh and good. Perfume/ cologne making is easy and fun to do, and your profit margins can be as high as 300 percent!

Startup Capital: P1,500 for 100 grams of perfume
Procedure: Learn how to make perfume here.
How much you’ll make: This formulation yields 12 to 13 roll-on bottles. Given this, your production cost will be around P115. You can mark up the product anywhere from 100 to 300 percent.

2. Puto
This all-time favorite Filipino delicacy is very easy to make and sell. You may even charge a higher price for flavored puto, but it will still be affordable to the masses.

Startup capital: P500
Procedure: Learn how to make puto here.
Tip: Puto is best sold in packs of 12. If you offer flavored puto, your best bet is to offer a combination of flavors in one pack since people rarely buy too much of one particular flavor.

3. Selling Ice Cream
Everybody loves ice cream, no matter what the season! This makes a perfect startup business.

Startup Capital: P1,000
Procedure: Learn how to make Ice Cream here.
How much you can sell it for: You may actually sell this 4-gallon ice cream at around P1,500 wholesale for children’s parties or small gatherings within your neighborhood. But if you pack it in small containers, you may sell it at P250 per half-gallon or P8 per scoop.

4. Banana chips
Practically anyone can be a customer, so your selling possibilities are endless. Plus, banana chips are highly in-demand overseas. Makes a perfect presents to loved ones abroad.

Startup capital: P500
Procedure: Learn how to make banana chips here.
Time to finish: 1 to 2 days. Your earnings will depend on how much you can cook, and it takes one day to cook 30 kilos worth of banana chips. If you want to make a sweet banana chips, you have to cook them a second time the following day.

Tip: Remember to store your chips in an airtight container so that they do not lose their crunchiness.

5. Aromatherapy Air Freshener
Aromatherapy air freshener not only let you breathe in oh-so-pleasant, reinvigorating scents in the air. They can also help you relax, lift your mood, banish your headaches and migraine–even drive away insects. You can sell your products through home-care stores, car accessories stores, or online stores, or offer them in sets as a gift pack.

Startup Capital: P1,600
Procedure: Learn how to make aromatherapy air freshener here.
How much you’ll make: You may package the finished aromatic fluid in 200 ml, 100 ml, 30 ml, or 20 ml bottles. A 355 ml bottle of room freshener is usually commercially sold at P370, a 7 ml pack of car freshener at P115. You can similarly price your product, or you may price it lower depending on your target market and overhead costs. In the case of your room spray, you may put in a 100 percent markup; the price would then be P200 per 200ml bottle.

6. Donuts
During special and holiday season, many people turn to food as a default giveaway item, and sweets such as donuts are always considered easy to give. You can also sell to friends and neighbors, tap coffee shops and offer donuts for concession, or accept orders by the dozen. Perfect for parties, birthdays, anniversaries and all other occasions.

Startup capital: P1,000
Procedure: Learn how to make donuts here.
How much you can sell it for: Add the costs of the ingredients and P15 for packaging and additional toppings or flavors, then multiply by two to get a 100 percent markup. Divide by the number of yield to get the per-piece price .

7. Homemade Fruit Preserves
The Philippines is teeming with tropical fruits, which makes it easy to make a variety of jams and fruit preserves. Since Filipinos are always in search of a good “palaman” (spread) for their breads, fruit jam is virtually a staple in every household. Also, makes a perfect presents or gift to your relatives overseas.

Startup capital: P2,500
Procedure: Learn how to make homemade preserves here.
How much you’ll make: You can opt to sell in bulk to stores at a 50 percent profit, or direct to customers with a 100 percent markup.

8. Siopao
Making and selling siopao is a good startup business because you don’t need to buy expensive equipment. Besides, there’s always a strong demand for this product.

Startup Capital: P650 for 80 pieces
Procedure: Learn how to make siopao here.
How much you’ll make: To have a good enough margin yet maintain a competitive price, you can add a 100 percent markup to the total production cost.

9. Chocolate Candies
Everybody loves chocolates, and they can be perfect as gifts. Plus, they’re very easy to make.

Startup Capital: P650 for 44 pieces
Procedure: Learn how to make chocolate candy here.
How much you can sell them for: You can sell the chocolates for P40 per box. You may even charge extra if you use special designs.

10. Gift baskets
There will always be people and companies who prefer to give away an assortment of goods during the holidays. If you are creative and can produce stunning pieces, your gift baskets will be in demand.

Startup capital: P1,000 (excluding the items to be placed inside)
Procedure: Learn how to make gift baskets here.
How much you’ll make: Your production cost will vary depending on what you put inside the basket, however, a safe bet would be to add a 20 percent markup to the total production cost.

11. Stuffed Toys
Kids and adults love to cuddle these furry animals, so you have a wide range of buyers to sell to. Plus, with the holiday season ahead, it is easy to sell stuffed toys as gift items.

Startup Capital: Around P500
Procedure: Learn how to make stuffed toys here.
How much you will make: You can add a 100 to 150 percent markup to the production cost and sell each stuffed toy at P150 to P175.

Tips: Trace the patterns correctly. Cutting cloth that has been wrongly traced is a costly mistake.

12. Liquid Detergent
People are always looking for cheaper alternatives to commercially available items. Homemade cleaning solutions can be as effective as branded ones, and your target market who use them in large quantities everyday will appreciate their lower price.

Startup Capital: From P1,000 to P1,200
Procedure: Learn how to make liquid detergent here.
How much you can sell it for: To determine the selling price for your liquid detergent, add a markup of 40 to 45 percent to the total production cost of each bottle.

13. Selling Polvoron
Polvoron is a much-loved Filipino delicacy, and it has become a favorite gift to give to friends and family here and abroad.

Procedure: Learn on how to make polvoron here
Startup Capital: P500 for ingredients for your first 50 pieces and materials such as measuring spoons, Polvoron molder, etc. (which you can reuse again and again)
How much you can sell it for: Plain polvoron can be sold for as much as P44 for a pack of 12, while flavored ones can go as high as P60.

14. Fish Siomai
Siomai consumption is nowadays widespread and can be seen in many Philippine business food stalls and restaurants serving siomai either in steamed or fried with chili garlic dip sauce.

Procedure: Click this link- How to make fish siomai.
Startup Capital: P300 for about 140 pieces of fish siomai

15. Skinless Longganisa
Skinless longganisa, a Filipino-style sausage, is a popular viand that you can find in most dining tables of Filipino families. Longganisa comes in different versions from the different regions of the country, i.e. with vinegar like in Vigan, or with oregano like in Lucban.

Startup Capital: P500 to P1000
Procedure: Click here to learn How to Make Skinless Longganisa.

We will add more low-capital business ideas here, so better subscribe to our RSS feed.

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30 Money Making Part-Time Businesses

If you are looking for business ideas or businesses that you can start easily on your own without investing a lot of money, then you came at the right place. The businesses presented here can be done as part-time at first and if it will succeed you can go full time with the business.

In each one, you’ll find the basic concept of the business, what product or service it provides to your customers, and how it is operated, and (if any are necessary) what equipment or facilities or help will be needed.

But whatever business you choose, remember that no business can succeed without your effort. Remember that determination and hard work are the mother and father of success. If you supply those, and use the information here, you can’t miss. I know there are a lot of ideas going around in the minds of our readers that they could probably share with us. Good luck!

1. Make Blogging a business.

If you enjoy writing, find an interesting topic niche you’re passionate about and blog about it. You can make money thru advertising, affiliate products, selling a merchandise and many more. Blogging requires time but with patience this can be a lucrative business, all you need is a computer, some time, patience, and some energy to consistently write. I’ve known a lot of bloggers who make money blogging.

2. Run a “Consignment Shop”

It requires very little capital and accepts goods for sale from members of the public and sells these items for them on a commission basis. You might try a wide variety of items at first, to see what sells best and most regularly.

3. Cookies and Candy making.

Homemade cookies and candies can be a great seller. You can make candies, bake the cookies, package them well, and resell them through a local gift shops or local tourist shops. Often, you can find people in your social network who will buy batches from you for special occasions. These are great for birthdays, parties, reunions and special events.

4. Soap and Candle making.

Making amazing homemade eco-friendly soaps and candles isn’t as hard as you might think – it just takes time and patience. Biodegradable detergent soaps and homemade scented candles are all-time bestsellers. Items like these can easily be sold via your neighbors, local gift shops and through websites.

5. Online Store Retailing/ Wholesaling

With the advent of Internet, online selling is just an easy business to start with no money capital at all. You can start selling online, like in ebay, with just the use of the Internet, your computer and some product suppliers. You don’t need a physical store either to sell products online. Observe other sellers in ebay or in ecrater, a booming free marketplace and ask about tips on how to start online selling. This is very fun business and you’re making money even when you’re asleep.

6. Throwing Parties for Profit

Everyone loves to go to a party, and nowadays some smart operators make a mint running them for everybody who wants to attend. You can too! Hire a hall and a band, plan to set up a bar (if you can get a temporary liquor permit), and promote the hell out of it with ads, handbills, bumper stickers and lamp-post posters. Special parties aimed at a particular group do best, such as singles, or under-thirties, or over-forties. This idea is especially good in college towns.

7. Start a Hobby Center

Make money on your unused space (and maybe the power tools you’ve already paid for!) Turn your available space into a woodworking center, your spare bedroom into a photo darkroom, and your garage into a pottery workshop with a wheel and a small kiln. Rent the space and equipment by the hour, expand into more hobbies as time and money permit, and charge additional fees for instruction in any of those fields you’re good at. This is good for children, teenagers and even for elderly.

8. Organize a Babysitting Service

One of the troubles most people find is that their babysitter is always busy just the night they want to go out. You set up a service, finding good reliable teenage girls and boys, middle-aged or older women, and act as a go-between, providing sitters whenever your customers want them, collecting the fees, and paying the sitters. Advertise your service, and handbills house-to-house locally being a good way.

9. Make Money From Your Hobbies

Are you an expert at something that you do at home for fun? Then make it pay off for you! If you’re a gourmet cook, give cooking lessons. If you’re an accomplished painter in oils or water-color, offer a portrait-painting service. If you’re a skilled carpenter, design and make custom cabinets to order. Almost any hobby you’re good at can be turned to making a profit if you think about it carefully, and decide who could use your expertise – as a consultant in that field, if nothing else. All you really have to do to get started is to place an ad!

10. Publish a Buy/Swap Paper in Your Town

Get money from both ends in this sweetheart deal. Publish the weekly paper with classified ads from the public offering stuff for sale, arranged according to category, and charge the people for their ads (some operators let them pay only if and when they sell, but in that case charge them a percentage of the selling price, 5% for smaller items, 2% or 3% for automobiles), and then sell the newspaper as well, through local newsstands and by subscription (in the mail). Once you have a fairly decent circulation, local merchants will also pay you for display ads, because they know people really read buy and swap newspapers religiously cover-to-cover.

11. Do Custom Photo Developing

Quality is essential, and speed is generally also required, although you can charge a premium for rush service. If you already have an elaborate dark-room set-up in your home, so much the better, but if not it can be fitted in anywhere you have room, the basement being ideal, since windows are not a requirement. You must be able not only to develop and print every normal size of film from 35 mm to 8″ x 10″ but handle enlargements up to a minimum of 30″ x 40″, and preferably 5″ 8*” or more, and do copying both of opaque material and slides. An ability to offer retouching, restoration and coloring as well is helpful, even if you have to send that specialized work out.

12. Publish a Part-Time Jobs Directory

Make this a newsstand book, as well as offering it, with small ads, by mail order. List all the possible jobs people can get part-time, especially angling it at college kids on vacation, teachers after school hours, housewives with time on their hands, and moonlighters looking for part-time second jobs.

13. Run a Children’s “Explorer Club”

Take kids on Saturday and Sunday outings. Ten kids each day, to zoos, farms, theaters, children’s shows and sports events. A small micro-bus (rented and, or eventually bought) can be used to travel in. Many parents are delighted to have weekend days to themselves, even though it costs them some dough.

14. Be an Instructor

Teach whatever you know. Your trade, profession, cooking skills, a second language, woodworking, chess, photography, knitting, karate, bridge, auto repair, etc. People will pay for good lessons in these useful and enjoyable skills. You can also set-up your website and do online teaching.

15. Run a Floor Scraping/Polishing Service

You buy or (at first) rent, a heavy-duty machine, and do the cleaning and waxing of fine, hardwood floors. If the floors are in very bad condition, machine sand them and them completely refinish them with modern super-durable polyurethane finishes.

16. Operate a Children’s Hotel

This is sort of a “boarding house” for kids while their parent go away for a week-end or two-week vacation. Requires a large house, and preferably, a large yard or grounds, swings, slides, and facilities useful for kids. Must be done very responsibly and carefully. Also, don’t take very young children (less than 9 or 10 say) because they may require too much dressing, feeding, etc.

17. Start a Jewelry Making Business

If you love jewelries and you have a good eye for detail work and a lot of patience, homemade jewelry making business can be quite profitable. There are many opportunities to sell such items through local gift shops to your friends or at websites.

18. Operate a Photo Copy Center

The secret of this is not just selling one or two copies of each original (although on a 300-page original manuscript, that can add up too), but using one of the latest high-speed high-quality mass-production photocopies so that you can compete with the guys operating those quick printing services, by turning out 100 or 200 resumes, letters, or circulars just as fast, and probably a great deal faster, for the same (or potentially less if you want to be competitive) money as they charge. This way you have two kinds of work, giving you twice as many customers, and twice the profit opportunity, and with the right location, a chance to clean up.

If you want to offer even more services, and have the space in your shop, as well as the potential customers, you can offer Xerox reductions, and Xerox copies in full-color, which are remarkably good. The color machine will also make color copies directly from 35 mm. color slides in one quick step.

Of course, you can consider using other brands of xerographic copiers, such as IBM, Kodak, Savin, Canon, Minolta or others, but although you may theoretically save money, make sure of their service policies, and that they have field servicemen in your locality, or you may find yourself stuck with a copier on the fritz for a week, which could ruin your business.

19. Campground Store-On-Wheels

Use either a panel truck or a camper body on a pick-up truck chassis. Go to public park areas and campgrounds selling charcoal, paper plates, water-melon, ice cream, eggs, milk, bread, insect repellent, sunglasses, newspapers, etc.

20. Create a New Tour-Bus Service

This could be a fun and profitable if you know how to manage this kind of business. You must be creative about it, and study all the tourist spots around your hometown, to discover some original and different places to travel to on day trips which will “turn on” your prospective customers, and get them to sign up.

The rest is easy. You get competitive quotes (from commercial bus companies) for a quality bus to do the round-trip, with a suitable stopover at the destination point (enough to do the sights, shop and maybe eat as well). Then you figure you tour price per person so you can make a profit even if the bus is only half full or so. Then you have a safety margin – and if you sell every seat you will do very well indeed.

Then all you have to do is sell. You put little ads in your local papers, paste up flyers wherever you can (supermarkets are good), contact local travel agents (of course you give them a percentage on what they sell for you), local hotel clerks, etc., and you also contact women’s clubs, religious groups, fraternal societies, factory social organizations, schools and universities and so on (they may take a whole bus, or even two, and you give them a special price, naturally).

21. Run a Pet Sitting Service

Opportunities abound in the pet care industry. Consider walking dogs during the day, grooming or training pets on weekends, or boarding animals overnight. Even if you’re not equipped to keep others’ pets in your home, you can offer to wash and groom animals at clients’ houses, or check in on their pets at their home while they’re away. Owners often need someone to watch their pets on weekends and holidays, so pet care can be an easy business to start if you work during the week. You can hire responsible teenagers to help you. Advertise with posters in pet shops, veterinarians’ offices; and if they’re cheaply available, get the mailing lists of local pet owner’s groups and other animal welfare groups, as well as membership lists of dog and cat clubs.

22. Breed Tropical Fish

This requires only a moderate amount of space and a small investment in equipment. Properly done, it needs only a small amount of your time yet can make you a good profit. You can obtain your beginning stock from the large wholesale dealers. You can sell direct to consumers (the hobbyists) or to stores in your area.

23. Be a Used Car Buying Consultant

With a knowledge of cars, plus the proper test equipment (for checking the engine, transmission, brakes, font-end alignment, and chassis), you go with your customer to check out the used car he is thinking of buying. Advertise your service next to the ads offering used cars for sale. After a while you will get to know people in this field and you can pick up more money by acting as a middleman in sales between private individuals.

24. Operate a “Give a Party” Service

You rent out everything needed for a party: tables, chairs, punch bowls, table cloths, cutlery, and napkins. You can also supply waitresses and bartenders, finding them through agencies that supply temporary help such as Manpower. But if you can find good workers yourself, you can save the agency fee and make more money.

25. All-Out Service

You line up the specialists in fixing and doing almost anything, and take care of getting them customers by delivering handbills to homes and placing ads in supermarkets and local papers. They pay you 5% of every job refer to them, which can soon add up.

26. Bed and breakfast service.

Do you have some extra space in your home? Turn that extra bedroom into a “bed and breakfast” room. This works particularly well if you have a somewhat classic home or live near an area that attracts regular travelers and tourists.

27. Catering Services

Though highly competitive, the market is also incredibly niche-driven: You could focus on small dinners, cocktail parties, corporate events, or lavish socials. To minimize costs, start by cooking at the site where you’ll be catering. As your business grows, consider renting kitchen space. Starting a food catering business can be fun and profitable.

28. Rental Equipment

Be the source of supplies for do-it-yourselfers. Working only Saturdays and Sundays, when they do, you rent out power tools, such as circular saws, jigsaws, reciprocating saws, gasoline chain saws, electric drills, electric planers, belt and orbital sanders, routers, paint sprayers, wallpaper-removal steamers, staple guns, pumps, home cleaning machines, Roto-tillers, and other equipment for daily fees. Operate out of your garage. If you have video-k or karaoke, you could also rent that one especially for birthdays, parties and special occasions.

29. Housecleaning Service.

Many people simply don’t enjoy cleaning their houses and are willing to pay a reasonable price to have someone do the work for them. This is a great way to earn extra money in the pocket, particularly if you have time off during the weekend. Staring a house cleaning business is a perfect option for part timers.

30. Picture Framing, In Your Own Home

Relatively inexpensive materials with a good sense of color and style and a reasonable ability with carpentry tools, will build a large custom-framing business, since people who spend money on art won’t skimp on the frames either, if they want a good-looking result.

Backyard Landscaping

Landscaping has become a popular phenomenon these days. Many commercial establishments such as restaurants and shopping malls utilize a well-defined landscape to attract customers. Households with spacious front and backyard establish landscapes to beautify their homes. Even theme parks, memorial parks, and golf courses utilize plants in their landscapes to make their surroundings aesthetically tasteful.

Landscaping is a general term that refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of a land. It is the art and science of designing and managing the outdoor space to create an environment that is highly suitable to the biological and physiological well-being of man. As a science, landscaping involves technical knowledge for the selection, arrangement, and growing of plants. As an art, it requires skills for sculpturing the biological and nonbiological materials into a single and beautiful living ecosystem.

Primarily, the main purpose of landscaping is to achieve beauty, privacy, and pleasure with ornamental plants as its main component. Trees, shrubs, vines, ground covers, and herbaceous perennials are utilized in a creative manner to beautify an outdoor space.

Ornamentals for functionality
Landscaping is not limited to achieve beauty alone. The ornamental plants are the key elements used in landscaping and impart other functions that we usually not notice.

Owing to the beauty they bring, plants spare an element of satisfaction, relaxation, and delight to human beings. A simple arrangement of plants can alter the surrounding and render it more beautiful because of its inherent aesthetic and architectural qualities. But such designed environments are not just pretty. The plants in the landscape also add functionality by modulating temperature, abating noise, reducing glare, and increasing privacy and security. In this manner, a beautiful surrounding imparts a sense of peace, harmony, and tranquillity to man.

How to landscape with ornamentals
Landscaping is not as simple as it seems. Since landscaping is also a field of science, it involves processes that must be followed and a group of experts to perform the task.

There are three phases in landscaping before anyone can achieve a beautifully landscaped surrounding:

1. Landscape design involves the complete planning, designing, and drawing of an envisioned concept for a certain design. A licensed landscape architect and a landscape designer with appropriate training perform this task. As the name implies, a landscape architect is an architect of the landscape bringing together the natural balance the needs of the people and technology. A landscape designer is an individual who designs the work of the landscape architect. The landscape designer is familiar with the basic design principles, plant cultural requirements, and basic landscape construction methods. The conceptualization of a design usually depends on a certain theme or mood, or sometimes culture. The Zen garden, for example, is a Japanese-inspired landscape and is a popular concept used in landscaping nowadays. The main elements of a Zen Garden are rocks and sand, with the sea which is embodied by sand. Plants are minimally used in a Zen Garden while embellishments are used mostly to symbolize something.

2. After the materialization of the blueprint of the design is the implementation. Landscape design implementation is the development or creation of the landscape. In this stage, the preparation of the site, planting of the selected ornamentals, installation of hardscapes, and construction of the landscape as a whole is being worked out. A landscape horticulturist or an engineer is in charge in this phase. A desired plant cannot be simply picked up and included in a landscape. Plants have their own cultural requirements that support their growth and survival. The growth, habit, water, sunlight, and nutrient requirements are some of the few things considered in selecting plants to be included in the landscape. For example, Sansevieras, Aglaonemas, Dieffenbachia,s and Philodendrons could thrive better under the shade. On the other hand, San Francisco, Bougainvilleas, and Calachuchi prefer being planted under the sun where they can grow better.

3. After the plants have established and developed, landscape maintenance is needed to maintain aesthetic value of the envisioned design. Landscape maintenance is the art of keeping a landscape healthy, safe and attractive with the use of various tools, pices of equipment, supplies, and skills. This includes the watering of plants, fertilization, pruning, pest and disease management, mulching, and edging. A poorly maintained landscape will do little to stimulate public belief in their value or necessity. Poor maintenance practices, even for a short period, can destroy much of the beauty of the landscaped area.

Landscaping as an industry
According to Dr. Leonido Naranja, a landscape horticulturist and professor from the Crop Science Cluster of the College of Agriculture at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, landscaping has a very promising future in the country.

“With the mushrooming of subdivisions, golf courses, malls, theme parks, and other commercial areas, there will always be a demand for the services of those in the landscaping business and to our landscaping graduates as well,” Dr. Naranja said.

Landscaping as an industry involves a lot of sectors: stakeholders, real estate developers, landscape professionals, agriculturists, nursery owners, academic institutions, and government offices. Though landscaping is just a newly recognized industry, it has already provided opportunities for business and livelihood for the sectors involved in it.

However, as a budding industry, there are also problems encountered in landscaping. In the case of the designers, meeting the required volume of a certain plant species is their primary problem. In most instances, nursery owners fail to meet the volume of plant species specified in the landscape design that sometimes leads in changing the design.

Meanwhile, the increasing cost of production of planting materials such as planting media, fertilizer, and containers is the primary dilemma of nursery owners and plant growers. Rice hull for example, is the common planting medium used by nursery owners in Bulacan which can be availed of at a low price and sometimes even for free. After the discovery of rice hull as a potential source of fuel, the demand for it has increased along with the increase of its market price.

For the small-scale nursery owners, finding a market for their plants is their biggest concern. Since landscape designs usually require a large volume of plants, small-scale nurseries are often overlooked as possible sources of plants because they cannot satisfy the required plant volume. Dr. Naranja mentioned that in this regard, small nursery owners can organize and team up to meet the plant requirements of landscape contractors.

Future endeavors
Much still remains to be done for the improvement of landscaping activities and as an industry as a whole. Dr. Naranja recognized the need for continuous research and development (R&D) of technology for ornamentals. He mentioned that R&D efforts can be focused on tree surgery, pruning, postharvest handling of ornamentals and the improvement and maintenance systems and practices for the ornamental and landscaping industry to thrive.

In the case of landscape design, the development of new trends that would showcase Filipino culture in the landscape is encouraged. An attempt to create a “Filipino Garden” using plants and embellishments that can be associated with the Filipino culture such as the nipa hut is being worked out.

Another undertaking, which is the advancement of edible landscaping, is being promoted to a larger extent. Edible landscaping is the utilization of food-producing plants in the constructed landscape, principally the residential landscape. It combines fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and ornamental plants into aesthetically pleasing designs in replacement of the traditional ornamental design. Landscaping with edibles is being promoted most especially in urban areas to contribute to sustainability. This concept is already being adopted by real estate developers where it is thought as something new and innovative as it provides food and imparts beauty at the same time. end

Source: Ellaine Grace L. Nagpala, “Exemplifying the beauty of ornamentals through landscaping” bar.gov.ph, January-March 2007 Volume 9 Issue No. 1

99 Ways For A Photographer To Make Money

99 Ways For A Photographer To Make Money

SPECIAL EVENTS

1. Photograph vocational school graduates
2. Wedding photographer
3. Photograph large parties
4. Photograph at banquets
5. Prom and graduation photos
6. Photograph fashion shows
7. Photograph trade shows
8. Wedding movies
9. Photograph new stores’ grand openings
10. Photograph local performances
11. Commencement day photographs

PEOPLE

12. Take pictures of people mounted on a horse
13. Make polaroid pictures of seamen going abroad
14. Take pictures of people wearing special costumes
15. Photograph people on a fancy motorcycle
16. Take pictures of people in nightclubs
17. Take pictures on the beach
18. Antique photo shop – produce 1890′s type portraits for the “nostalgic crazy”
19. Take I.D. photos
20. Take passport photos
21. Specialize in legal photography
22. Produce community yearbooks
23. Produce company year books
24. Produce composites for models, actors and actresses
25. Photo fund raising
26. Take slow-motion sports film for athletes
27. Take executive portraits
28. Photograph children on a pony
29. Take portraits of children in department stores or malls
30. A day in a child’s life – an album of 30 pictures
31. School photography
32. Santa Claus portraits
33. Travelling industrial photographer
34. Ilustrate manufacturers’ sales manuals and catalogs
35. Ilustrate manufactuers’ sales manuals and catalogs
36. Public relation photos for business
37. Photograph store fronts
38. Produce progress photos on construction sites
39. Real estate photography
40. Produce illustrated promotional brochures for business firms, hotels, etc.
41. Interior decorator’s photographer
42. Photograph in-store merchandise displays

ON THE ROAD

43. Foreign fashion photography for textile and fashion manufacturers
44. Photograph tourists in famous places
45. Summer camp photographer
46. Roving festival photographer
47. Sell scenic prints to gift shops and hotels
48. Offer personalized vacation photo packages to resort clients
49. Sell slide shows of interesting places or subjects
50. Build a mobile portrait studio in a trailer or van
51. Be a slide-show lecturer on different subjects and geographic locations

MAKING NOVELTIES

52. Candid keychain photos
53. Photo stamps
54. Color postcards for hotels or resorts
55. Exceptional color scenes for calendar printers
56. Personalized Christmas cards – with family portraits or photos of family home
57. Photo buttons
58. Photographs on coffee mugs
59. Photographs on shirts
60. Imprint a photograph of a child on the face of her doll
61. Photo sculptures
62. Bookends adorned with any desired photographic subject
63. Decorative photo plaques
64. Personalized photo matchbooks
65. Instant personal postcards by gluing polaroid shots to blank postcards
66. Stationery imprinted with personal portraits
67. Custom calendars

SERVICES

68. A microfilming service
69. Photo duplicating service
70. Slide duplicating service
71. Restoring old photos
72. Producing filmstrips
73. Duplicating negatives to sell
74. Slide-titling service
75. Making offset negatives and plates
76. Collecting old photos to make into books
77. Making photomurals
78. Retouching service
79. Custom photo lab
80. Blowing up photos, on the spot
81. Photo oil portraits
82. Selling prints to photo agencies
83. Camera rental
84. Camera exchange
85. Repairing cameras
86. Teaching photography

MISCELLANEOUS

87. Making postcards
88. Publicity photography
89. Photographic essays for various publications
90. T.V. news freelancing
91. Selling news photos
92. Taking and selling peculiar photos
93. Selling local photos for travel magazines
94. Aerial photography
95. Documentary film making
96. Photos of human interest
97. Composing photo guides for tourists
98. Photographing accidents for lawyers and insurance companies
99. Photographing parades