20 Interesting Money-Making Ideas
20 Great Money Making Ideas taken from 999 Ideas.
1. Produce Christmas cards which are printed on the front with, for example, "Happy Christmas from the Smith Family". Or, instead of the name 'Smith', pick one of the dozens of other popular surnames. Sell packs of these cards by direct mail to people listed in telephone directories.
2. Make money from renting out expensive children's toys. The toys you rent out will include remote controlled models and computerised games. Use a little van to deliver the toys to customers. Paint in toy town colour scheme. Call the van a toy mobile or similar suitable name.
3. Introduce to your region a service which mounts maps for businesses. Keep a stock of local, national and international maps. Mount these maps in a professional manner to suit the wall space available at offices. Send out leaflets about your services to office managers.
4. Bring out a regular publication for ambitious amateur musicians. This publication might include ads from : 1) Employers seeking musicians. 2) Retailers selling equipment accessories and supplies. 3) People selling used equipment. 4) Musicians seeking to make contact with other musicians. Also publish interesting editorials and letters.
5. Design and manufacture kits for making models with cocktail sticks, for example: model churches, castles, windmills, houses, etc. Buy the cocktail sticks in their unpacked state from the manufacturer. Sell your kits by mail order from ads in craft magazines or distribute to model shops.
6. Establish a directory of products no longer made. This directory might include sections on toys, novelties and household goods. Design the directory for business people and inventors who want to know both what has been made before and what ideas might be revived and/or modified.
7. Make cotton gloves especially designed for coin collectors. The gloves prevent the grease and moisture from fingers getting onto coins. Package the gloves and sell them from ads in coin collecting magazines or distribute to shops which sell collectible coins.
8. Bring out a correspondence course about how to write cookery books. The course might include information about: How to devise recipes, how to present them in written form and what makes a successful cookery book. Produce a prospectus and advertise in women's magazines.
9. Begin a business which rents out large and expensive astronomical telescopes to householders who want to develop their interest in astronomy. Publicise your service at the local astronomy society and use local advertising to attract clients.
10. Set up a company which produces a compendium of strip games, for example: Strip poker, strip snakes and ladders, strip lotto, strip snap, and strip ludo. Sell by mail order from adverts in X-rated magazines.
11. Paint attractive art on rocks to make souvenir paperweights and doorstops. The art might take the form of abstract pattern, traditional pictures or tourist scenery. Call your rocks "designer rocks". Add a rubber base to paperweights and a rubber edge to doorstops.
12. Create a mail order business which specialises in selling products which help people sleep. Products might include: Sleep inducing cassettes, special bedtime clothing, herbal pillows, books and guides on how to sleep better.
13. Paint on wood stylistic house numbers and names. These painted numbers and names will be an attractive alternative to the traditional names burned into sliced logs. Get your work stocked at shops which sell garden products or household goods.
14. Start a venture which promotes the art and hobby of window painting. On coloured acetate paper have outlines printed for painting pictures by numbers. These acetate sheets are stuck to one side of a window and anyone can paint a picture on the other side of the glass.
15. Select one sea-shell which would be suitable for an ashtray, another for a pip tray and another for a paper clip tray. Put these shells into a single packet and sell as a set of useful sea-shell-trays. Sell from souvenir and novelty gift shops.
16. Devise and produce a board game which simulates the experience of starting a mail order business. The usual problem of bringing out a board game is the difficulty of getting it stocked in shops. However, a game about mail order can be sold by mail order to business opportunity seekers.
17. Make an income by selling lucky charms at car boot sales or door-to-door. Sell, for example: Rabbits feet, horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. Start by tracking down trade sources of lucky charms.
18. Buy and sell oil paintings. Buy new paintings from artists and old paintings from collectors and householders. Sell the paintings from: home, a roadside site, a stall at crafts fairs or hire stalls for exhibiting all the paintings you have for sale.
19. Start a manufacturing business which is devoted to making doorstops. These doorstops might range from the humble wooden wedge to the more exotic and unusual. Package them in polythene bags, staple on a printed card and get them stocked at gift shops.
20. Decorate everyday objects with pressed flowers. Add an inlaid design of pressed flowers to trays, coasters, jewellery boxes, paperweights, picture frames, wall-hangings, desk sets and table tops.
