4 Ways To Make Money At Home

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Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

When I was in high school, I would boast that I was going to retire at age 26.  From that point on all I would do is go to my home office and say, “Buy!” or “Sell!” over the phone a few times each day.  I turned forty few months ago, and it’s painfully obvious that I haven’t reached that goal.

Strange how life didn’t follow the twisted dream of a teenager.

While I’ll likely never reach that goal of multiplying my millions by buying and selling stocks over the phone (who would use the phone for that these days anyway?), I have learned that there is significant money to be made through a home office and an internet connection.

Ebay:  I have some friends that would scour flea markets and garage sales during the weekend, take pictures of their finds, and then sell the items for a profit on Ebay.  They became so good at it that they both quit their day jobs and became full time Ebay retailers.  Unfortunately their empire came crashing down when they shipped a chainsaw to a buyer in England.  Apparently international laws frown upon that sort of thing, and they were banned from selling anything on Ebay ever again.

Trading Foreign Currency:  If you want to feel like an international financial mogul, why not take a dip in trading foreign currencies in the Forex market?  Sounds complicated, but there are some great platforms out there such as MetaTrader 4 with MXT Global(it’s also available for Mac!) that make it a snap.

Blogging : You seriously didn’t think I wouldn’t mention this, did you?  Of course one day I have dreams of being a silent partner of a world renowned blog with a first rate writing staff.  I would of course contribute once a month, which of course the readers would wait for agonizingly, and would be wildly popular once it went live.  You can setup a blog with wordpress in minutes. If you are not the writing type, you can always have a go at trading websites: there is a vibrant market for good, pre-loved sites.

Online Stock Trading:  There’s more stock trading portals than you shake your money maker at, but Loyal3 takes the prize for the easiest.  You have a limited number of companies that participate (currently over 50), but they’re all easily recognizable, and you can buy stocks in as small as $10 increments.  I could even yell “Buy!” and “Sell!” at the computer screen as I punch the keyboard.

These are just a few examples in an ocean of possibilities.  Even if you love your day job, like I do, you can supplement your income with as little, or as much effort as you want.

Do you make money online from home?  What’s the money maker of your choice, and how’s it working out for you?

About Travis

20 Responses to “4 Ways To Make Money At Home”

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  1. Haha I also thought I was going to day trade during college and post-college and retire young and rich 😉 I read up on day trading in high school and thought I was onto something. Needless to say, I wasn’t. I currently blog for some side money and have one freelance writing contract that I’m really enjoying. I would really like to do some little spreadsheet or data management side hustle, but there’s just not enough hours in the day at this time.

    • Travis says:

      I run into that whole “not enough hours in the day” thing as well, DC. I’ve turned down freelance jobs and opportunities and I always know there’s more I could do with the freelance jobs I have. Oh, and that day job thing…..I could spend 24 hours a day on that if I let myself!

  2. Of course we’ve done Ebay before, but I wasn’t too successful with short-term, online stock trading. Too much emotion leading to too many bad trades. 🙁 My wife has also toyed around with on-line tutoring for awhile as another option.

    • Travis says:

      Online tutoring – that’s a great idea, Brian! It’s all about marketing the skills that you have, right? Thanks for the comment!

  3. I can just picture you yelling “buy” and “sell” in your phone as a teenager. They did (and still do) make the trade floors on Wall Street look pretty glamorous and exciting. 🙂 The Heavy Purse would be my side hustle. I’m proud that it continues to grow, although still slower than I would like! And I would have never imagined that shipping a chainsaw to England wasn’t allowed.

    • Travis says:

      Haha, it sounds fun, doesn’t it??? Yeah the chainsaw thing surprised me too…..not just that it wasn’t allowed but that they got banned for life as a retailer because of it! Crazy!

  4. Your ambitious enough to make anything happen! I prefer making money from blogging and occasionally selling stuff on Craigslist. I’ve been too lazy for Ebay. 🙂

    • Travis says:

      Ambitious keeps me out of trouble….LOL. Speaking of Craigslist, I think it’s time to do some spring cleaning and see what else I can find…

  5. Dude says:

    I prefer making money through my site and sometimes by selling some domain names.

  6. I obviously blog at home, but I also sell a lot of stuff. I’m getting ready to have a huge garage sale. I sell things on ebay sometimes too but I quit recently due to a bad experience. I like craigslist for the bigger stuff.

    • Travis says:

      I wish I could have a garage sale again…we had two a year (spring/fall) for several years – but now we’ve cleaned ourselves out pretty well. We occasionally find something there or there to sell, which goes up on Craigslist though. Thanks for stopping by, Holly!

  7. For some reason, I have a block when it comes to trying to make money from my blog. I’ve got a tech-phobia, and it’s probably that I think it would be too complicated. Is there a step-by-step process that you are anyone else can direct me to?

    • Travis says:

      There’s lots of material out there for making money through blogging, Prudence. I would bet that if you just do a google search for it you’d find countless resources. Michelle from “Making Sense Of Cents” has some great posts listed on this page.

      http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/extra-income

      One other thing that you’ll likely have to change if you’re serious about making money blogging is to purchase your own web domain. Using the free “blogspot” will likely exclude you from being able to run ads, or use affiliate marketing.

      Just a few tips….hope that helps!

  8. I would love to work from home, but not necessarily for myself. I thought I wanted to be self employed and the truth is I probably would still love to be a full time author. However the thought of losing my 9 to 5 with benefits and fixed salary is a bit scary.

    • Travis says:

      I agree with you there, Tahnya…..I definitely like my “part time career” to be an at home job, at my own pace, on my own time. Thanks for stopping by!

  9. Mark David says:

    I have tried ebay but not too successfull for me, perhaps I was doing it the wrong way. By the way, I am using the – absolute cash method which is giving me quite good results. Hope to quit my day jobs in a few month time soon 🙂

    • Travis says:

      Keep trying, I would bet it would eventually start producing results. Good luck with getting to the point where you can quit your day job, Mark…..stop by and let us know how it works out for you!

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