When I'm not sitting here, doing this virtual window shopping thinig, I'm obsessing over ways to make more money as a freelancer. Which is why I read The Simple Dollar's post on 50 Side Businesses You Can Start On Your Own with much interest. According to Trent, side businesses such as these should fit in neatly with the work you're already doing.
Which makes sense. After all, while under the employ of others, I've:
- written personal essays
- blogged
- acted as books editor for an adult site
- done publicity work for a magazine
- done freelance copy editing for a daily newspaper
- and on and on...
If you'd like to start subtle, though, perhaps using the office tools at your disposal, may I suggest rubber band balls?
[$7,875, Etsy]
This Etsy listing cracks me up. In it, Etsy seller Archivia explains how she came to price the hyperbolically named "world's largest rubber band ball." Taking 10 years to make, using the rubber bands the mail came in, Archivia writes:
"How much is ten years of collecting and assembling worth? I have no
idea. I figure about 3 minutes daily assembling this bad girl (yes it's
a she---can't you tell? She likes looking at herself in the mirror),
six days a week, which comes to about 313.02 days per year for a total
of 3130.2 days...if I were making 50 cents a minute per each day the
labor on this would equal $4,695.30. Put that up to a dollar per minute
(that's more like it. Hey, we have a high cost of living here in NYC!),
the total would come to $9,390.60. And that's without profit."
She's good enough to cut that final estimate, and throw in free shipping.
Head over to the original listing for the entire, entertaining story.
Related: Chain of Office Tools
