How To Make Money
Everyone wants to know how to make money. Of course we aren't talking about the typical get yourself a full time job and make money, but ways to make MORE money right ? Or perhaps OTHER means of making money ie starting your own business or something like that.
Much of my life I have made money for myself. So I may be in a position to give some advice on how to make money. My first business was when I was 17 years old. I started buying and selling used computers (I can still remember the exact models I was selling : IBM PS/2 Model 60, 70 & 80s - the 386 processor). I made really good money doing that. I was only 16 and made well over $200 per hour. That was great money, especially for a 17 year old.
Perhaps by talking about how I made money then, it can help you learn how to make money now. First, you need to identify a market niche or opening. I had an interest in computers at that time and I had a friend who was buying computers one at a time and selling them and making some money doing so. He wouldn't give me all the specifics on how he was making money, nevertheless I thought if he can make money at this so can I.
I decided to see if I could make money selling older computers as my friend was making money selling the newer 486 computers. I believed I could make more money and definitely a better margin by selling the cheaper, older used 386s which at that time were still a great computer. I checked the local papers to see what money 386s were selling for. Then I placed an ad advertising a 386 that I didn't actually have. This way I could see if there was indeed a market and a chance to make money at this. I recieved some phone calls so I had the confidence this was one way how to make money and I purchased some used 386s. Sure enough I quickly sold them at about $200 profit each, making me some decent money.
Later, I was able to make EVEN MORE money by getting the very same 386's for 1/3 of the price. I stumbled upon an opportunity. A friend of a friend was involved in selling computers to the government. They had a bunch of 386s they were getting rid of so I offered to buy them and they were just happy to get rid of them Therefore I was able to get the very same computers at a third of what I was paying before and then I was making even more money than before doing the exact same thing. At that point I had to move into my own place as my mother's place was too small for all those computers. This wasn't a problem as I was now making enough money to rent a house of my own.
So this was the first way I made money for myself. I soon moved to Canada and started the process all over again, continuing to make money on the side selling used computers. Eventually the business grew to the point where I was making enough money to give up my regular job and only make money selling used computers. At this point I opened up a new money making strategy - FRANCHISING. Not your typical franchise model, but a very low risk money making opportunity for others. I know how suspicious people are, no one wants to take risks, but I was already making money selling computers by putting ads in the local papers. However, no one from a far away city would drive to my city to buy a computer. But I knew that every city was an untapped money making market in itself. So I gave computers to my friends in other cities, placed the ads for them and trained them the basics in selling computers from their home. The money we made was split 50/50 and I now essentially had people selling for me making me money and making money for themselves. They were so happy as they would essentially be relaxing at home watching Friends or something and someone would come over, look at the computer and within 30 minutes be out the door and we would both have made about $100 each ! Most of these people needed to work a WHOLE DAY to make that kind of money, and here they were making money from the comfort of their own home with very little effort. Those were the good ol' money making days.
I then continued to think to myself "how can I make even more money with this" ? I thought about retail shops selling used computers. I visited a few, one in particular was a Pawn Shop Chain called "Cash Converters". They paid money to people and bought their used goods off them and then re-sold them to the public for about double. Their selection of used computers was always paultry and I convinced them to allow me to display my computers in their store and we would split the profit. This was a surprisingly harder way to make money than I thought as they were overly concerned about their margins. They wanted to make 50% margin, which was impossible with wholesale computers, but they also realised people were coming in looking for computers when they had none to sell, so essentially they were losing money. Eventually I convinced them to at least try this money making method and of course it worked. I was able to put more computers in there and make more money for both of us. Eventually over 90% of the computers in there were mine and I was making money using other people's retail outlets. Once I had 1 Cash Converters making money it was very easy to approach the other branches in other locations to get them to make money in the same way. They loved it as it was ZERO headaches ie I looked after all the repair and warranty issues, they just collected their money and never had to worry.
If you have ever been in business for yourself you know that you must ALWAYS be thinking up new ways of how to make money. This was true for me of course and even after enjoying all this success I came up with yet another way on how to make money with this business. I decided to start a highly risky RENT-A-PC program. This was essentially a RENT-TO-OWN program where people paid a monthly fee and after 1 year the computer was theirs to keep. However this was also the RISKIEST way I have ever made money. I definitely lost some computers to people running away etc but overall it was still another way I made money. However I don't think I would ever use this way to make money again as, although it was profitable, it was also the most angering, frustrating and upsetting experience for me because people essentially stole from me. But that's the name of the RENT-TO -OWN game. You will DEFINITELY lose product in this game, still, overall you will make money as the monthly rental prices are always high (however I was cheaper than the competition of course and easier to deal with).
As time went on, as always I thought to myself "how else can I make money". I was by no means rich at any point in this time, as I have never been hell bent on becoming wealthy. I just like to make enough money to live for the least amount of time. I like having time to relax and spend with friends. I would rather make $100 per hour for 5 hours of work for a total of $500 per week as apposed to making $50 per hour for 40 hours for a total of $2000 per week. For me it's usually about the hourly rate. But of course, business can't last forever so I needed to keep thinking up new ways on how to make money.
Next came my worst money making idea, my own retail store. With my frequent visits to Cash Converters, I thought to myself I can do this. Buy things off the public and sell them back. I can make money at this and probably do it better. I was learning from all their mistakes. I knew what kind of money they were bringing in and what is more a new manager came along and didn't want my computers in the store even though they were making excellent money from them (I was shocked by his stupidity). Therefore I felt I could make money by opening my own little Pawn Shop but I learned the hard way that retail is not a great way to make money. There were just too many overheads and its was far too difficult to make a profit. Eventually I packed the whole thing up and I was forced to make money in the un-thinkable way - get a job !
So, there I was, making money the old fashioned way working in a computer shop selling computers for commission making someone else money and making them rich instead of myself. Still, I was always thinking of ways how to make money. I soon moved back to the UK where I first started making money selling computers at 17. They were a few years behind in the used computer market so I thought I could start making money there again as before. After arriving there I thought I might try to partner with a local computer company owned by a friend of a friend. He already had 100s of used computers which he was having difficulty selling. I told him about how I made money in Canada selling computers. He doubted it would work, but he was desperate to sell them so he gave me a van and a small salary and off I went building this business from scratch. I did very well and the boss was amazed at what I accomplished in such a short time. After 3 months my salary was increased by 50% ! However, I soon realised his company was on the verge of bankruptcy as he wasn't making very much profit in his new computer sales business. The only profit was coming from the money I brought in through the used computer sales (which was basically 100% profit). The pressure was getting to the boss, and that was then put onto me. The amazing money I was making for the company was no longer enough and he started giving me impossible targets to meet so I left.
Now how do I make money ? I decided that selling computers was no longer a good way to make money. I thought labour ie repairs and support was how to make money and I was right. I had to take another part-time "normal" job to get some guaranteed money coming in but at the same time I was building up my PC Repair business up and making money at that too. After 1 year I was making enough money to only do the computer repair business. I was making $100 per hour doing that and it continued to grow and make me more money each year.
Yet again however, after a couple of years I had to think to myself "will this last" ? What other ways are there to make money ? I left that PC Repair business despite the fact that it was thriving and making great money as I believed this market would also get flooded as other people realised it was a way how to make money.
Now, I am exploring how to make money on the internet. I would like to know how to make money in such a way that I can do it no matter what country I live in.
So as you venture on your quest of how to make money I hope my experience has given you a few ideas. If you are thinking about how to make money, I suggest you keep it as simple as possible. Don't get any premesis or location, try to do everything from home to keep your expenses down. Do your market research on whatever money making method you are considering before spending too much money on it. I am researching how to make money on the internet right now and you can read my money making and loss experiences on this website. Perhaps you are also trying to figure out how to make money on the internet and I hope my experiences both good and bad can help you with that.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to email me at : howtomakemoney@business-opportunities-reviewed.com
I wish you all the best in your research on how to make money.
