Question:
Hi Dmitry!
Thank you very much for you email and kind offer to help those who are looking to make money online. Let me tell you a little bit about me and my situation, and then I have some questions to ask you. 🙂
Well… let’s see… I will try to make it as brief as I can for you 🙂 I am 32 years old, and I am a public high school teacher in Phoenix, Arizona. I also work part-time for a company that does document scanner. Before teaching high school in Phoenix I lived in China for 3 years and taught university students English overseas. I also studied a little bit of Mandarin Chinese. I enjoy learning about other cultures and languages. I also enjoy your accent and I am wondering which country you are from. 🙂 It would be great to add you as a friend on Facebook, and I will do that in the near future. 🙂
Unfortunately, in April of this year, I received a R.I.F. notice (Reduction In Force), which basically means that after four years of teaching in the same district, they gave me a letter telling me that they are letting me go due to the budget deficit this year. I had several colleagues lose their jobs as well. I have been trying to figure out what to do as far as income since that time.
I’ve thought about going back into teaching, but to be quite honest with you, teaching as a profession is a very abusive career. Teachers are taken advantage of and paid barely enough to live off of. I could never even afford my own house as a teacher and could barely afford an apartment. Of course, I teach because I love students, however the lack of pay and hostile and abusive environment in the schools has taken its toll over the years. Last year my classrooms were maxed out with 36-38 students per class! I taught about 174 students per day, which is quite exhausting and a rather huge workload when having to grade papers. I often worked 60-80 hours a week (at school and at home) and with those hours was making barely minimum wage.
So, here is the deal. 🙂 I’ve considered going back into teaching next year, but unfortunately that thought is very daunting to me. I feel that I am ready to try something new. I also have student loans that I desperately need to pay off, and I feel that if I continue in teaching then I will never get them paid because I only make enough to barely live day to day. For some reason, lately, the idea of starting my own business or doing something business-related has really interested me. I started doing research online for things that I can do to make money at home and be my own boss. I would also LOVE to pay off some loans and get out of debt!
I appreciate you taking the time to read about me and to offer your help! That is so useful for someone like me who is new and just getting started. Here are some questions that I have for you…
1. What do you think is the best method for someone like me to start making money online? Here are some ideas that I have, and you can tell me what you think. 🙂
First of all, let me tell you a little bit more about my situation. I live in a small (one bedroom) apartment by myself. I am not married yet (I do have a boyfriend but we do not live together). I only own a car.
One of my major ideas that I was thinking about is that my dad also recently lost his job, and he has a huge van that he is not currently using. I was thinking that maybe he and I could partner together and I could search Craigslist for ads for cheap items to buy and resell, such as couches and dining room tables, etc. I could find bargain deals of people who are moving and just want to get rid of items. Then we could resell them for a higher price. We could also go to yardsales to find bargain deals. I would have to ask my dad if we could clear out his garage and use it to store the items until we sell them. What do you think about this idea? Do you have any other ideas to add to it? Any suggestions would be most appreciated! 🙂
Also, do you have any suggestions for what are some of the best items to buy and resell? I am new to this so any ideas would be great! 🙂
My second major question is…. and this may sound silly…. but I’ve had a lot of people ask me what I plan to do (or what I will be doing) now that I am not going into teaching. I really don’t desire to explain to them the fact that I buy things cheap and then resell it. What is it that you tell people you do for a living? What can I tell people that sounds like an intelligent, responsible, interesting profession? You can give me several ideas or alternatives for what I can share with people when they ask me what I do for a living.
Thank you so very much for your help and advice! I sincerely appreciate it and I would love to learn more about you as well, so feel free to write me back. Thank you so much for all you share and God bless you!
Your new friend,
Renee
Hi Renee,
Thank you very much for your letter, it really helps me to understand what peoples need and make my websites better. Please pardon my English as you notice I have an accent(I am Russian), so from time to time I can make stupid mistakes :). I understand your situation; I was in the same conditions not so long ago. Also I understand your desire to have your own business and be your own boss. And I think it is great! Ok closer to the business. Regarding your questions:
1. “What do you think is the best method for someone like me to start making money online? Here are some ideas that I have, and you can tell me what you think …- search Craigslist for ads for cheap items to buy and resell”
2. “What is it that you tell people you do for a living? What can I tell people that sounds like an intelligent, responsible, interesting profession?”
First money I ever made online was from selling old stuff on eBay. Yes it possible to make some money re-selling products from Craigslist (furniture, electronics etc). It is ok if you need some cash right away. You can sell your old stuff that you don’t use on eBay (my recommendation- electronics, collectibles, jewelry). You can take this strategy even further and as you said “search Craigslist for cheap items to buy and resell”. Do I think it is the best way to make money online? No. It requires too much hustle and involves too much risk to loose money. As I said it is ok as short-term business model to make some essential start-up capital. What is the best one? – Internet marketing (affiliate marketing). In my opinion it is the easiest and fastest way to build long-term sustainable income stream. If you not familiar with affiliate marketing read this article about Wealthy Affiliate. Now to your second question- if you choose to go with eBay/Craigslist you can tell to people that you’re doing eCommerce. I am not doing eBay/Craigslist anymore. My main source of income is Internet Marketing and Online Business consulting – that’s what I tell people. If you have any questions feel free to email me.
Best Regards,
Dmitry