consumerist.com:
Has the slumping economy got you looking for ideas to earn some extra money? If so, personal finance blog Wise Bread can help you out with their list of 10 small businesses that are free or cost little to start up. Here's the list along with their "advice to live by" for each suggestion:
Robert Reich: The Real News About Jobs and Wages -- An Ode to Labor Day
I keep hearing that the economic meltdown has taken a huge toll on the stock portfolios of the rich. That's true. But the rich haven't lost nearly as much of their assets, proportionately, as everyone else.
Robert Reich: The Truth About Jobs That No One Wants to Tell You
Yes, I know. Our government is already deep in debt. But let me tell you something: When one out of six Americans is unemployed or underemployed, this is no time to worry about the debt.
Hale "Bonddad" Stewart: When Will the Jobs Return?
The question on everybody's minds is when will the unemployment number come down? Let's look at the data to see what it says.
Starting a Business, Starting a Small Business - Entrepreneur.com
Inc.com's Start-up Guide: How to Start a Small Business
bizjournals: The best places to start a small business -- bizjournals
Small Business Strategies: How to keep the revenue coming
Sour Year for SBA Loans Ends With Uptick
Is the Term 'Small Business' Demeaning?
Capturing the Dreams of Young Entrepreneurs
Startup company - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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almost forgot, add Meth lab to those cheap start up self sufficient American pioneer spirit, "can do" cheap start up cost jobs of the new economy
Gees, for a moment I thought I was reading The Pennysaver.
The article forgot to mention the necessary and socially responsible job with very low start up costs.
Amateur Homemade Porn.
To make matters far worse, consider what the US government has actually done to fix the underlying problems? Nothing
good articles; http://iamned.blogspot.com
The government has put the same punch bowl out that got us into the mess in the first place. More debt and consumption and don't worry about paying it back. (Berbnanke= Greenspan II)
It takes courage to go it 'free range' but I of all people do not bemoan anyone who uses a little creativity to create gainful employment -leagally.
Desperation will also motivate a person to go "free range". There is going to be more of that in America. The American consumer is not necessary any more. The party is over. It's been over for quite awhile in a lot of areas in the States.
If you are going to live outside the law, you have to be honest and don't mess with the IRS.
I agree. I also think it will be interesting to see what we come up with in terms of new products and/or services to offer. The articles I read on "cheap start-up companies" always list the same things. But I think we'll see a much broader range of small companies once people stop panicking and start figuring out how to cope.
One tip I read was really spot on -- develop what you love into a business.
Americans have no idea what a boon health care reform will be to small enterprise.
In Canada, if you have a good idea, you feel free to ask your best friend to go in on it with you without worrying you are putting his/her family in mortal peril. When jobs have nothing to do with health care, small business thrives. People have jobs they like. People do not live under the heel of Feudal Corporatism.
When investments feel right, God has a plan. I don't care so much about the physical rewards as I find myself interested in the rewards of self awareness, which lacks without a true appreciation of God, as you know God to be.
Here's an old song for you Tulka: (Corny as Kansas am I)
Please forgive me for it: That's entertainment:
Life goes on....Okay? Enjoy.
Debbie Boone ;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn4Kfvxczs0You LIght Up My LIfe
Love you!
May you be happy; may you have cause to be happy.
Absolutely. The risk is too high to invest in a small business or start one yourself in this country.
Thanks to our overlords at Humana and United Health.
I know people that buy out delinquent storage bins, then sell the goods at the local flea market, auction or eBay. However, you must have about $5,000.00 in start up fees, a box truck and your own storage building at home. Sometimes, you get really lucky. One friend bid on a storage bin and paid $50.00 for it. It had $10,000.00 worth of Snap-On Tools in it. Another friend bought out a large storage bin filled with enough furniture and appliances for $600.00 and made over $3,000.00.
The down side to this is that sometimes you might bid on a bin for a few hundred dollars and find out you only have tons of empty boxes.
So which one of these so-called "cheap businesses" comes with affordable health care insurance for me and my family? Until we have real health care reform NO BUSINESS, big or small, will be sustainable for any length of time, let alone cheap.
True, but if you're looking at the end of your unemployment benefits, and still no job offers, the choice may be working for yourself or not working at all.
While I understand your point, pieces like this are one step below infomercials - at least with infomercials. It's not so much useful information as it is page filler. They could have just typed one word: eBay and been just as helpful.
"Easy to open shop. Hard to keep shop open." - Ancient Chinese Proverb
i have always been adept at hooking up reception for televisions.. now they have gone to digital broadcasting i imagine many people could use my craft. i used to sell electronics for a living and i actually set up the antenna for a doctor in a high rise. but i did it for free- so i would have to sell my service by promoting, NEVER PAY FOR CABLE AGAIN. or I CAN SAVE YOU $50 TO $70 DOLLARS a month for the rest of your life!! part of me likes the idea. part of me thinks, eeew.
Is that legal?
And to think someone actually got paid to write this scam of an article. What a waste of reading time.
Ha!
See? Easy Peasy.
Actually, those are pretty horrible choices to hang your hat on. Art on the internet? Hah! Take a look at the prices most of that stuff is going for on e-Bay. Pennies! Then there is web design. Good luck there, used to be that you could charge $100/page for design, not any more. People are using Dreamweaver ($500 max) or templates now. Handcrafted items? No way. eTsy looks like a riot now, you will be lost in the crowd. There just isn't any cheap, easy, foolproof way to make money by sitting on your ass and eating junk food. It is still true, here is the "simple rule to OBEY if you want to get rich":
Find a product people want to buy, make it better, advertise yourself, provide excellent customer service, sell at or below your competition, repeat.
...and watch every penny you make go into phony health insurance that won't cover you, and expect an audit the minute you're too sick to maintain the books.
Big business stifles innovation and one of they ways to do that is to make people fear losing their health care. Call me paranoid, but if little old me can have that thought, you know there are teams of people working overtime to try and prevent real health care reforms like Single Payer.
thais whole story is misleading.most of the jobs listed in it are internet scams.so be carefull...no job should require you to put out money to work...
A job doesn't require financial investment, but a business does.
I love these sites that make it look like trying to start a successful business is as easy as flipping on a light switch. At least two of those business ideas take substantial skill and investment to be able to earn a living.
I earn a living with the second, and it took me years to get to a place where I didn't swing between feast and famine.
How about a grow operation? Harpers has an article on the matter this month: http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/10/0082672
(Best of luck. Really)
Don't forget the IRS red flags all of the deductions for business expenses typically taken by individual owner operators. If you deduct use of vehicle or home office, your chances of being audited go through the roof. You could do everything right, and still fail under attack from the tax department.
By contrast, employees in upper management at large corporations who do the same -- that private jet is a write-off don't forget, an expense -- they get bailed out when they fail because they did everything wrong and drove the business into the ground.
There's something not right here.
I've been running a home-based business for years, and only see more and more people doing it these days (whether out of desire or necessity). Deducting these things is an absolute right if they are truly being used for the said purpose -- it means you can't use your extra bedroom for your child, for example. Keep your taxes in order, keep your receipts, track your expenses and you wind up fine! The most important thing to know if you start a small biz is that your effective tax rate will be higher because you will owe much more on social security and medicare payments (known as FICA).
Yes, these deductions are an absolute right, AND you will be punished with an audit for exercising that right. Therefore, your advice is quite sound: keep your books in impeccable order, or work for someone else.
Yes, you will "wind up fine!" after you pay a tax lawyer to fight the IRS off even when your books are in order. Just figure that expense in. The one in five chance that an owner operator is audited translates to an audit once every five years. Count on it.
Even if you "run a successful home business", your chances of being audited are far higher than, say, an employee of a major corporation in upper management who cooks the books for a living and drives the business into the ground -- and is rewarded for his efforts with a bailout...an audit-free bailout.
The extreme unfairness of it is the problem: it serves to destroy one of the main engines of a recovering economy, the small business, in favor of maintaining the profits of a large corporation. It also maintains the large corporations' grip on the labor market.
Case in point: If I can't buy a cake at the local bakery because they've been audited out of existence (even after doing everything right), I'll have to pick one up at Wal-Mart.
Small businesses that are cheap to start?
IS THIS AN "INFOMERCIAL"?
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First Posted: 10- 2-09 03:58 PM | Updated: 10- 2-09 05:17 PM