(Picture courtesy of David Reber on Flickr)

Are your chores not bringing in enough cash? Maybe Mom and Dad are not supplying you with the money you want for that new XBOX game. Here is a list of seven ways to make money as a kid. No more complaining you can’t afford that game!

Host tournaments

Got an XBOX? Got a popular 2-4 player game? You can have your own tournament! Whether it’s pool, air hockey or video games you can host a tournament. Charge $10 per person. Getting 10 kids should be too hard. It’ll be more difficult to convince your parents to let all the kids in the house.

Landscaping

Cutting lawns is a great way to make money. It’s fast cash. Start with your neighbors and family friends. Tell them to tell others. Go door to door. I remember walking door to door, stopping at all the houses that could use a cut. It’s hard to turn down a kid J. Offer other services as well like raking leaves, laying down mulch, gardening, or even shoveling for anyone that has to deal with snow.

What’s hot in school?

When I was in elementary school, everyone had to have a Charizard. For those of you that do not know Charizard, it was a character in Pokemon. This character happened to be the highest Pokemon card in demand. Pokemon cards were the hottest thing in school. Nearly every kid collected and traded them. Parents were paying lots of money to have their children get the Pokemon card they wanted. I was selling holographic cards (most valuable) for $20-30 each.

Lemonade Stand

I think I had these like once a week. I would set up a table, get my mom or grandma to help me make a batch of iced tea, put up a sign and I was open for business. I charged 50 cents a cup. This is definitely the easiest business. The bonus – you get to drink iced tea/lemonade all day.

Garage Sale

Need some quick cash? Negotiate with your parents to clean out the garage and get rid of all your old stuff. They will ask, “What’s the catch?” Give them a percentage of the profits. Whether you get 100% or 50% of the profits is up to you.

Sell Candy

My buddy used to do this in middle school and high school. I know in some schools it is actually not allowed to sell stuff in school. If that is the case, do it on the bus, before you get inside and after school. The best way to sell candy is to get orders throughout the day and have your fellow students pick up the candy at your house or at a common meeting ground.

Collect Free Stuff, Then Sell It

I used to collect Planet Lunch Ploids, which were points on the back of Lays potato chip bags. There was a website actually dedicated to the program. You could use your Ploids, which you had to remove from the bag, towards lots of cool things. I remember going around and asking kids if I could have their bags when they were done. At the time I was more interested in collecting them and using them for cool stuff than selling them, but people were willing to spend good money on them.

There are usually programs similar to this available – using points to get cool stuff.

Chores

I really hated chores. The thing that I regret most is not understanding the opportunities I had with chores. You get your normal chores every week, but how about picking up some new chores? Think of things you can do around the house to make money. Present the idea to your parents and give them a price.

There you have it: seven ways to make money as a kid. What do you think? Got any other ideas?

This interview with Rita Arens, author of “Sleep is for the Weak”, was conducted by Julie Barnes.

How did you come up with your book idea?

I was planning to attend BlogHer (a blogging conference for women) in 2006. I thought it would be cool to print out my favorite blog posts and see if I could get the bloggers to sign them at the conference. Then it occurred to me what a great idea a print blogger parenting anthology would be, and I just went with it.

Are you self published or did you obtain an agent?

I had a fancy NYC agent for a few months. We parted ways after she pitched the book to the biggest publishers as a parenting book, and they thought nobody would want to read bloggers. (I think their opinions have probably changed at this point.) I felt it was more of an edgy humor book, so I took it back on and pitched it to several smaller publishers whose catalogs fit better with my book. That’s how I connected with Chicago Review Press, which published Sleep Is for the Weak in September 2008.

How did you find the publishing process?

I found the publishing process easy and the marketing process hard.

How are you promoting the release of your new book?

I promoted Sleep Is for the Weak on my blog, Surrender, Dorothy, on BlogHer (it’s a BlogHer book) and via blog book tours, a real-life book tour, e-mail — you name it, I’ve tried it, and I continue to try it a year and a half later. The book is very evergreen and still relevant — there have been a lot of babies born since it came out. Even though I’m working on a new book, I haven’t forgotten about the first one.

How do you market yourself in general as an author?

I use my blog as a round-up for all the writing I’ve been doing. I have a section for books and Kindle (I release poems and short stories to Kindle periodically for $1 for a short story or a micro collection of five poems). I have a section for online and periodicals, in which I link to writing I’ve done for magazines and online magazines. I also do a monthly round-up of all the pieces I’ve written on the Web that month on my blog.

Finally, I’m doing more speaking these days. I’ve spoken at the BlogHer conference twice, at the Kansas City Literary Festival, at Chicks Who Click and this year at the Alt Summit design conference in Salt Lake City. Publishers are interested in author platforms, and I do everything I can to use social media tools — mostly my blog, Facebook and Twitter — to help people get to know me in the hopes they’ll be interested in what I write enough to visit my blog and buy my books.

Did you send out copies of your books for review?

I sure did! Sleep Is for the Weak was featured in Redbook,Scholastic Parent & Child, Pregnancy & Newborn and a bunch of others I can’t remember right now. It even made theReader’s Digest list of unique titles. It won a National Parenting Publications gold NAPPA award in 2009.

Are you listed on Amazon?

Yes, here. Sleep Is for the Weak is a collection of stories from 24 women and one man on subjects ranging from diapers, potties and upholstery to rules made by toddlers to adult eating disorders to personal identity crises. And of course, there’s a lot about sleeping.

What is an average writing day like?

I work full-time now for BlogHer as their assignment and syndication editor, so finding time for creative writing is difficult. I squeeze working on my new novel into lunch hours, car rides and late evenings, and I try to post to my blog before noon each weekday. Right now I’m in the first round of revisions for my novel, and I try to revise a chapter each time I sit down. Sometimes I only get three pages before I’m interrupted — but my goal is a chapter each time I sit down, because I don’t know when I’ll be able to sit down again. Hands down, you have to schedule your writing time. There are very few professional authors who don’t do other paid work.

Anything else you would like to add?

Writing is hard. Finding a publisher is hard. Marketing a book is hard. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it.

Learn more about Rita Arens and her book at http://surrenderdorothy.typepad.com/

• • •

Julie Barnes is a Freelance Writer focusing on her passions of entrepreneurship, women’s issues, and holistic health and wellness. Julie published “So You Want to Start a Business…Now What?” in December 2009.  Julie lives and works in the Kansas City suburb of Overland Park, KS with her husband Ron and lovable dog Hank. You can visit her site at http://www.onewhowrites.com.

Copyright © 2010 Julie Barnes and One Who Writes

One phone, two phones, three phones, four, and on it goes. The list of phones the average cellular user goes through is Continue Reading

This is a Guest Post by Stephanie Thomason, Ph.D.

In this challenging economy, many business owners are enjoying the benefits of a loose labor market:   turnover is low, employees are delaying retirement, and talent is plentiful.  Yet some have failed to capitalize on these trends.   What can business owners do to maximize the potential of their workforce?  I suggest that they focus on effective acquisition, development, and retention practices.  A few such practices are listed below.

Acquisition

When filling vacancies, employers often choose to look outside of their firm, neglecting the talent pool within.  Hiring from within offers many benefits to organizations, including a shorter time to fill positions, relatively low costs, shorter training time on company processes (i.e., the way we do things around here), and most importantly, increased morale.   Consider the assistant manager who has been waiting patiently for her boss to retire so she can apply for her position.  If her company ignores her application, she’s likely to leave and others within the firm are likely to notice the (low) value placed on the internal workforce.

When internal employees lack the necessary skills required in available positions, companies can turn to a number of recruitment sources.  One relatively inexpensive recruitment source is relying on (and compensating for) employee referrals.  Employees often give their referrals a “realistic job preview” and the “inside scoop” on the organization, so referrals can opt out if unimpressed by these insights.  Retention is greater for those who choose to accept job offers, reducing the costs of locating and training other candidates.

A second relatively inexpensive and increasingly popular recruitment source is the internet.  Yet relying solely on the internet may decrease the chances of locating older job candidates or those with disabilities.  Both talent pools are tapped less frequently than their younger or less challenged counterparts, yet both may be more committed to their organizations, working harder and smarter to achieve recognition and reach performance goals.

Development

Organizations in the United States spend billions of dollars each year training their employees, primarily in orientation and computer software applications.  Some fail to invest in other types of training, such as diversity awareness, creativity, and wellness.  A diverse workforce is better equipped to understand market trends and the needs of a changing demographic U.S. population than a homogeneous workforce.   Once organizations have employed a diverse workforce, diversity awareness training ensures that employees understand and appreciate each other’s differences, allowing for high cohesiveness.

A second relatively underused type of training is creativity training.  Some assert that creativity is innate, yet the opportunity to hone in on creative skills exists for much of the population.  Creativity training exploits the creative potential of a workforce by using situational and behavioral examples and structured reflection time to teach employees to “think outside of the box.”

A third type of training that is becoming increasingly popular is wellness training.  With an overweight population approximating 60% in the U.S., many firms are turning to programs designed to teach employees to make healthier lifestyle choices.  By making such choices, employers can reduce medical expenses and absences and can actually increase productivity.

Retention

The economy is cyclical, so while employers are currently enjoying the benefits and relatively lower costs of a tight labor market, the market is due to change in the next few years.  To ensure the retention of top talent, organizations need to identify and compensate “key” employees at above-market compensation rates.  The pay for key employees should noticeably exceed that of their less valued and less productive counterparts.  Otherwise the incentive to perform at high levels is stifled.  Key employees should also be offered extensive training (which they’ll appreciate) and the opportunity to advance on a “fast track.”

These are just a few initiatives that organizations can take to maximize the potential of their workforce.  Firms should ask not what their workforce can do for them – but what they can do for their workforce!

• • •

Stephanie Thomason, Ph.D., is an Associate Director for the TECO Center for Leadership and an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Tampa.  She instructs courses in Human Resource Management, International Management and Corporate Responsibility.

Guest Post by Matthew Crowe.

If I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning. – Mahatma Gandhi

Most successful entrepreneurs gravitate toward working on themselves.  Reading personal development books, exercising regularly, eating healthy, having mentors, attending seminars, meditating, and so on. Why? I guess a whole host of reasons.  But as a student of life myself, I would say that we should always be striving for excellence, which takes continual and deliberate practice.

Now, more than ever, we have the tools at our disposal via the internet, books, videos, etc. on how to become highly successful in life from many legends such as Napoleon Hill, Anthony Robbins, Jim Rohn, and Earl Nightingale, to name a few. These giants have shown us that anything is possible.  Absolutely anything. Upbringing and social status no longer matter.  Education, looks, and your last name don’t have the same clout as they may have 100 years ago, and the New Rich of today are in all different shapes and forms.  All that being said, there is one thing that is for certain: they all had a strong belief system in tact that we can all learn valuable lessons from.

For someone like myself who didn’t come from blue blood, a trust fund, or given anything on a silver spoon, I appreciate what it takes to work your ass off with constant self-improvement, dedication, perseverance, and belief to achieve your goals and dreams. However, until we understand how our brains operate it’s hard for us to put into practice methodologies to release us from the shackles that hold us back from our true potential. 

Pushing through our limiting beliefs, learning how to let our belief system propel us to levels we never thought humanly possible, and understanding that what we think about the most is who we become are just a few of the fundamental pillars of not letting your limiting beliefs hold you back.

Many of my limiting beliefs were instilled in me at a very young age.  Maybe it was when I was a young boy and my parental conditioning (or lack thereof) had a large impact, maybe the influence of my social circles during my teenage years? Who knows? Whatever it was, those beliefs held me back for many years from my true potential. Whatever it may be for you, we all have had something.  So the real question is how did I start to move past those improper beliefs that were limiting me from my true potential within, and how can you put those same principles into practice?

1. Rituals:

Create simple rituals of consistent ways to implement the beliefs you would like to have. 

2. Repetition:

Continual repetition over and over and over and over until you start believing what it is you would like to believe.  Once you start believing that new belief, keep doing it over, and over, and over, and over, and over again some more.

3. Reprogramming:

Without going into too much detail about how we operate from a psychological level, our brains are very similar to the motherboard of a computer.  Information and experiences can be stored, processed, and deleted. However, everything we do can also be reprogrammed to work more efficiently, quickly, and effectively. 

“Reprogramming” your brain with the information you would like to have in it will get rid of what’s in there that you don’t want.

Nobody is perfect, especially not myself.  However, we all have the tools at our fingertips to plow through our limiting beliefs and achieve ANY and I mean ANY goal we want. These are just a few helpful tips, and the day you decide to not let your beliefs hold you back will be a momentous turning point in your life.

• • •

Matt is the Founder and Chairman of Huckleberry, a Minneapolis, MN venture capital firm with a unique focus on Crowdsourcing and “building companies.” He writes regularly at matt’s blog – business and philosophy, is a columnist for Real Business Magazine, is the author of the book Winners Persevere, and hosts an online talk radio show called The Matt Crowe Show.

It is about time you made your business green, even if it may be for no other reason than to attract customers.

Here are some things you and your business can do. These small things can go a long way.

1. Get a socially responsible credit card. Working Assets Visa Card has raised over $60 million dollars for nonprofits since 1985. With every purchase, 10 cents is donated to a nonprofit of your choice.  Workingassets.com
2. Recycle old office equipment.  Find out more on how. Read here
3. Reuse file folders. Put a new sticker over the old and bring the the folder out of retirement. *
4. When printing: Single space, use the fit to one page function, print on both sides of the page, and reduce the margins. Avoid printing PowerPoints. *
5. Thinking about painting? Start here. Find out what paints to buy, how to dispose of everything and more. If you do not plan on doing it yourself, find a green painter who will.
6. Shred some of the office paper to use as packing material. *
7. Teleconference. The need for business traveling is continuing to decrease as telecommunication is increasing. Conference video chat. Have people work from home and have video calls with them. *
8. What cleaning products are being used in your office? Switch to environmentally friendly ones.
9. Eliminate newspaper subscriptions. Save money, save paper. People are beginning to read the news on the internet and on mobile devices.
10. Organize a holiday drive for coats, blankets, or toys to help the less fortunate. Not only is this good for the needy, but also the environment as it keeps people from tossing these items in the garbage.
11. Hold a Shoe Donation.  Soles4Shoes Organization takes lightly used shoes and gives them to those in need. Also, keeps them from going into the trash. Call 1-(866)-521-SHOE.
    shoes4soles.org
12. Look for products labeled Processed Chlorine Free (PCF). White paper products are bleached with chlorine. Sorry, but your paper won’t be bright white.
13. Throw a green party! Environmentally friendly food, utensils, gifts, plates, cups, etc.
14. Organize a car pool service. Employees located close to each other can drive together. Give incentives.

14 things to help your business become environmentally and socially responsible. The ones with the asterisk at the end are also money savers. Don’t forget that once you do these, feel free to brag about it. Let everyone know about your environmental and social consciousness. By the way, at the end of the day it makes you feel good.

Putting lights on the signs?! That might actually work!

Okay, now let’s get serious. People still need to buy houses. Some people still have jobs. And let’s not forget about all those entrepreneurs, entertainers and innovators out there.

Although people think foreclosed homes and short sales are the only buys worth while, it is not true.  Foreclosed homes are normally left idle, in bad condition, and usually need work done to them. Short sales take decades to finalize. What happened to the spirit of buying a home, having the closing shortly after, and then moving in? That spirit is actually still around. People want to find a good deal on a house that has been taken care of. Of course with all the idle houses on the market, the chances of a buyer picking the home you have for sale are small. The only solution: Do something about it. The market no longer works for the agents who go through the usual listing process (list the house, put the sign up, advertise it on the different publications/websites, have an open house, then sit and wait).

It is time to get creative. Time to think out of the box. Selling a house is a business. In a business, when a product does not sell, you change what you are doing, or maybe you change the product all together. It is it the same for the service business.

Here is an example of being creative (this is an expensive example, but the concept is creative and can be used in less expensive ways): In the movie, “I Love You Man” Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), is an Average Joe and a realtor who does the usual routine (described above). His friend Sydney Fife is the opposite of Peter and when he sees Peter struggling to sell a house, he decides to invest in some billboard advertisements.  It is not an average advertisement with a normal picture of the agent with their contact info.  Instead, Sydney Photoshop’s Peter’s face into hilarious/eye-catching pictures with a short tag line about being a realtor. Here are some of the tag lines:

• Peter Klaven, License to Sell, California’s #1 Real Estate Agent
• ‘Pistol’ Pete Klaven, Fastest Realtor in the West

Here are some of the great billboards from the movie:

Honestly, if someone saw these billboards as a buyer or a seller, they would most likely call that realtor.  Why? Besides these being absolutely hilarious and unique, it tells you something about the realtor.  It states that the realtor is serious about real estate. A realtor that goes this extra mile to get their name out there will be the hottest agent around.  Everyone will come to them to sell and/or buy a house.

Ask yourself: What can I do to stand out? How can I sell that house that has been sitting on the market for 14 months? Brainstorm ideas and understand that nothing is too farfetched.

Here is a link to the clip from “I Love You Man”. It includes the billboard scene and when Peter Klaven gets back to the millions of messages in his office. Watch Here

Interested in starting a clothing company?

Jonathon Kruse is here to help. He has multiple clothing lines and a blog fully dedicated to how to start a clothing company. This interview with Kruse is a quick lesson for starting a clothing company.

If I wanted to start a clothing company today, what would I have to do?

Find artists at Emptees.com, print some shirts at Storenvy.com, and have a lot of time on your hands. I run the blog how to start a clothing company and the whole site is dedicated to this question.

Where does someone start when they are looking for a manufacturer?

Ask around. I pretty much only go by word of mouth. Storenvy.com has some amazing printing and great prices I would suggest using them.

What does it take to have a successful clothing brand?

Like in any business you just have to push through the bad times. When you are making money it’s easy. It’s those dark times it’s hard to get by.

Besides that constantly rethink your plan and learn from others.

How do you drive traffic and buyers to your site?

I do a little bit of everything. Band sponsorship, SEO, blogging, getting other sites to blog about me, sales, social networking, going to craft shows, getting into stores. The last two actually help out a lot with your online traffic. I was working on a website for Paint the Stars and they get most of their traffic from people that have seen their brand in stores and check them out online. Word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. If you can get people talking about you, that’s half the battle.

What are some mistakes you have made along your journey? What have you learned from them?

The biggest is probably printing too many shirts in the beginning. I printed my shark week shirt on 100 shirts and the quality was junk. I resent everything one time before because it was unreadable and even the second time it wasn’t great. What I advise to everyone out there is print the minimums. Yeah you get price cuts for more shirts but it’s not worth it. Just get a small amount and learn from your mistakes. You’ll find out what sells and use the capital you saved for something better.

What is the biggest project you are working on right now?

I think Shred is going to be pretty huge. We are in stores in three different continents and are talking with some big stores right now. I am really stoked about that.

Here are some of the designs from the metal clothing company Shred:

Learn more about how to start a clothing company on Jonathon’s Blog.

This is one of the best basic guides out there to starting a business.  The NY Times is responsible for it.  They do a great job of explaining the making of a business plan, proving your idea, raising money, and legal issues.  If you are truly interested in starting a business and want to go somewhere with your idea, start here.

Read Full Article

Here are some FREE and easy ways to beat the competition.

• Act as a customer
  • Call your competitor.
  • Inquire about their service or product.  Ask everything a customer wants to know.
    Find out what they are charging.
    Are there any promotions?
    Ask them why you should choose them over their competitors.  What makes them different?
  • This information should be enough to take you back to the drawing board.
• Mystery shop
  • Walk the premises.
  • Go in the store and find out what the products price is, its features and anything else you need to find out about the product.
• Contact the competition
  • Kelly Smith, an entrepreneur and investor, had an interview with us and when he talked about competition he stated, “It’s important to show them early that you can communicate with them in a mature and sensible way. It’s important to show them that you’re always open to any kind of partnership possibility and that you would be interested in growing your business by helping them grow theirs even bigger.”

    He founded ImageKind in 2006 and sold it in 2008 to CafePress (their competitor).  Once ImageKind was official in 2006, he began talking with CafePress.

• Research online
  • The fabulous online world is the most accessible way to find out information.
  • Go to your competition’s website.
  • See what people are saying about your competition.
    What they do and do not like.
• Stay in touch
  • Do not lose sight of your competition.  Do a SWOT analysis of your business as often as possible.  Your business and your competitions business is always changing.  If your competitor is offering a promotion, you should know about it.
• Performance comparison
  • How are you doing in comparison to your competition?
  • How do your numbers look against theirs?

The Final Step to Beat the Competition is the most important one….Go out there and do it!