What's been your most successful non-9 to 5 / investing venture?

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bluejoey
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Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 4:03 am

Post by bluejoey »

I'm thinking of things like landlording, small businesses, blogging, websites, freelancing, book-writing, etc. What's brought you the most income, aside from 9-5 or part time jobs, cutting expenses, DIY projects, and investing?
For me, last year I made around 5k from freelance writing and around 5k from our wedding photography business. We've since shut down the business, and I only write these days for a bit of extra cash now and then. My free time these days goes to learning Spanish.
What about you?


chenda
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Joined: Wed Jun 29, 2011 1:17 pm
Location: Nether Wallop

Post by chenda »

Renting out a spare room was pretty good, I got £375 a month tax free. Though you have to be careful to find the right tennant. I also did some tutoring a few years ago, made about £60 a week but it eat up my saturdays and I did'nt really enjoy it.


chicago81
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Joined: Sat Feb 04, 2012 3:24 pm
Location: Chicago, IL

Post by chicago81 »

I bought a second condo unit in the building where I already live, in the summer of 2011. It was foreclosed on and bank owned. I had been following it on the county records website, and I made a lowball cash offer for it, on the very day it went on the market. Bought the 1 BR condo with private garage parking included, for under $70k. Currently renting it for $1170/month. It has been a fantastic investment and ROI, and is easy to manage because I live right in the same building.


epoch707
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 10:39 pm

Post by epoch707 »

Inherited a large sum from a deceased relative and bought Apple in 2010, yielding a 4-5% dividend on top of the large capital gains (even with the 40% decline) and growing. I was thinking of getting into real estate but maybe later.
I got lucky and was a lil risky betting the farm on one stock, but it paid off.


OTCW
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Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 12:55 am

Post by OTCW »

Test proctor for various standardized testing agencies. If you know any teachers they may be able to get you started. A little bit of administrative and paper work and the test time plus about an hour or two for setup/prep work is about all that is involved.


prosaic
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Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:54 pm

Post by prosaic »

Self-published fiction writing. I made $3,700 yesterday.


riparian
Posts: 650
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:00 am

Post by riparian »

Most profitable: making erotic hypnosis videos.

Most passive and fun: self published two books, have been making around $1k/m.


riparian
Posts: 650
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 4:00 am

Post by riparian »

Most profitable: making erotic hypnosis videos.

Most passive and fun: self published two books, have been making around $1k/m.


noskich
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:34 am

Post by noskich »

What kind of books are they riparian?


prosaic
Posts: 101
Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2012 8:54 pm

Post by prosaic »

Yes. In a single day. I have a book in the top 50 on Amazon's Kindle right now (paid, not free) and I'm earning 70% on it in royalties.


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Ego
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Joined: Wed Nov 23, 2011 12:42 am

Post by Ego »

Wow!


540
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Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:48 am

Post by 540 »

For the ebook writers: was the effort worth it financially? Would you do it again? I get the impression that the effort generally doesn't generate even a $1000 a year.


540
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jun 10, 2013 2:48 am

Post by 540 »

I'm thinking prosaic is the exception that proves the rule: "Stop the press: half of self-published authors earn less than $500"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/ma ... r-earnings
BTW...congrats prosaic!


JohnnyH
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Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 6:00 pm
Location: Rockies

Post by JohnnyH »

Probably depressed property real estate... But when you're digging around in a crawlspace during July suffocating in your respirator you wont feel much satisfaction.


aussierogue
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:02 pm

Post by aussierogue »

My books (4 of them) earn me year in year out (for last 5 years) approx 1k per month or 12 k per year (i get 97 pct of the revenue as paypal and ejunkie get a slice). Thats just the books. The only other books written on my subject are 50 odd years old and they still sell for crazy amounts.


noskich
Posts: 91
Joined: Mon Oct 31, 2011 9:34 am

Post by noskich »

So, what`s the secret in writing a popular book in short?


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TheWanderingScholar
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Joined: Thu Dec 30, 2010 12:04 am

Post by TheWanderingScholar »

Definitely. Please?


freebooks
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Post by freebooks »

So it sounds like writing books can be lucrative!
Alternatively you could try to write something like a blog and monetize it using a product such as Google Adsense. If you can find a subject and build an audience on a topic that interests you (investing, fugally, traveling, etc.) it could become profitable.
My wife reads a couple blogs by women who make more-than-fulltime incomes off just writing about their kids and stuff they do around the house.


aussierogue
Posts: 379
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 1:02 pm

Post by aussierogue »

I think a good writer or a blogger needs to be a natural story teller. Someone who likes a chat, can see stories or anecdotes where others cannot. That's just my personal opinion. Some people are just able to engage others with interesting conversation. Its a way of thinking and also a way of communicating. For me Writing comes easily. I don't mean grammatically I just mean that I feel I can put clear thought into clear words written or verbally fairly quickly compared to others. Plenty of stuff im crap at though.
Next important thing is to find a niche or some topic that will interest people. I happen to have a lucrative niche that I know the ins and out of - intimately. I read a book called make money while you sleep. that with the 4 hour working week were enuf incentive for me to get cracking. I wrote all my books in 3 months (like a madman) and haven't written one now for 4 years.
They keep selling and in fact show slight growth month on month.
I use a pen name and not many people know its me. I prefer it that way.
Aussie


freebooks
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Post by freebooks »

I'm not a writer, but I know there are other ways to "make money online" legitimately. Of course, they're not going to be advertised.
For example:
https://flippa.com/buy?revenue_min=1000 ... age_min=12
A list of websites for sale that claim to make over $1,000/month. Of course, this is more risky than real estate and a lot of due diligence must be done, combined with technical know-how for managing things if you did take the plunge and invest/risk the money. Or you could use the websites for ideas on how to build a website of your own from scratch.


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