Envelope stuffing for bucks..legit?

The short answer is no.

Here's the deal. For those who pursue this undertaking (usually for a fee of $29.95 or some amount along that line) thinking that they'll make some easy bucks while stuffing envelopes while kicking back watching TV or listening to music on their iPods, they're in for a nasty surprise.

It's a scam.

Yes, it is true that there is stuff to stuff in an envelope, but the "stuff" inevitably is a letter soliciting folks to get into the stuff-envelopes-from-home-to-make-bucks biz.

What happens is that even though people realize they've been scammed, they'll pursue it. After all, they're out $29.95 (or whatever) and they've at least got to get their money back.

And who knows, maybe, just maybe they'll hit it big.

Good luck.

My suggestion is to look for opportunities that you feel good about, that are based on honesty, and that you are truly interested in, and not just the money part of it.

That, in my opinion, will lead to success.

January 2008 income update

Well, the first month of 2008 has come and gone and it is now the time to report on how the month went earnings-wise for my first push at work-from-home online entrepreneur.

Working from home on my computer, I earned $242.65 in the month of Janurary 2008. Here is the lowdown for the month

• Inboxdollars.com $58.64
• Google adsense $13.72
• Amazon affiliates $1.60
• Adbrite $0.88
• Shoppingads.com $25.00
• Associatedcontent.com $142.70

Inbox dollars.com $58.64--This is one of three get-paid-to-read email sites I subscribed to. Actually, after doing some research, I found out that there are other sites that are rated more favorably than this one. In fact, inboxdollars.com was rated by one reviewer as a site to avoid. I have not reported the income from the other two paid-to-read sites because the earnings have been neglible and I have discontinued participating in them.

Google Adsense $13.72-- Earnings started to pick up toward the end of the month after I made a change to the color scheme of one of my sites. We shall see what earnings will be for a full month will the revised sites. What I have learned is that ad placement and color scheme have an effect on click ratio for adsense ads.

Amazon affiliates $1.60—I put up links to Amazon’s books and gadgets on my blogs. I probably will stick with this for a while and experiment with placement and color schemes to see if these changes will make a difference.

Adbrite $.88—Not even a buck generated. Plus, the ads are very intrusive. I’ll give adbrite another month or two to see if revenue picks up. If not, I’ll ax adbrite and look at other options.

Shoppingads.com $25—All this came from a sign-up bonus so the net “real” income is zip. This is another thing I’ll be looking at to determine whether to keep or ax.

Associatedcontent.com $142.70—I wrote a bunch of articles and got paid for ‘em. Plus, associatedcontent pays an incentive for page views to articles I wrote. This is a good income generator. No big bucks but steady bucks. What I have been doing is writing articles for my blogs and submitting these same articles to associatedcontent. What this accomplishes is added content to my blogs and some direct income for the articles.

Overall, it’s been a decent start. I’ll be happy to make $200 in February and average that for every month in 2008. My day job and my responsibilities to my wife and family take up a bunch of my time, so I won’t have as many hours to devote to my work-from-home venture. But we shall see.

Photocredit: floridatoday.com

A Hawaii writer's resource: Hawaii Publishers Association

For everyone living here in Hawaii, one of the things we're experts at is what it's like to live in Hawaii. We are experts about where the best place is to buy groceries, to get gas, to watch movies, to go for a hike. Name it, we're Hawaii experts of one sort or another.

Just think if we all had the gumption to write about our experiences. What stories we would tell.

And if at this moment you have a hankering to write about your Hawaii experience and perhaps make a buck or three for it, there are potential markets for your work.

A nice collection of links to Hawaii-based, Hawaii-centered publications has been provided by the Hawaii Publishers Association. I counted three dozen links to Hawaii-based magazines, 11 newspapers, 2 book publishers, and 9 "multi-title publishers."

Photo credit: www.hawaiipublishersassociation.com

PTR email for bucks--Do Your Homework First

If you grew up in Hawaii and are old enough, you might remember the TV show "Checkers and Pogo." Well, I grew up in Hawaii and am old enough, so not only do I remember C&P, I was even on their show.

One of my favorite parts of the Checkers and Pogo show was when they celebrated the birthday of one of the kids on the show. And one of my favorite parts of a birthday celebration was when the kid had a chance to reach into the penny jar to grab as many pennies as he or she could. Man, did I dream of having a chance to stick my big mitts into that jar to grab a whole bunch of pennies. Well, I never did have that chance when I was on the show but I did win a game that I entered, but that is another story.

Anyway, the point of this as it ties into to work-at-home is that those paid-to-read (PTR) email companies on the web are just like those pennies in the penny jar: there are so many PTR companies out there, many more than I imagined.

Currently, I am enrolled in three, and have earned about $70 from the three combined in about a month of occasional email reading for bucks. What gets me is that after checking this blog, the three PTR sites I have chosen are not even in the top 20 of the most favored sites.

What this tells me is that if I had done my homework beforehand, I might have made much more than $70.

So what I recommend is that you do your homework before sticking your hand into the PTR email penny jar. If you do, you stand to make some bucks, potentially a lot.

Photo credit: iolani88.blogspot.com

In-Home Childcare Business

I don't have the stats, but my guess is the number of parents who have to work to make ends meet and thus need childcare assistance is likely to grow.

As such, the demand for childcare providers is likely to grow. If you are considering establishing a childcare business in Hawaii, one place to look is PatchHawaii.org. Their website is very comprehensive and is worth a look.

On Marketing

Marketing is an important aspect of developing and growing an at-home business, and, for that matter, any business.

I will admit I'm a neophyte at marketing, but I hope to learn and apply.

One of things I hope to develop at some point is an eZine to spread the word about at-home business ideas and opportunities.

I found this blog post that has some ideas to consider.

Thanks, Mrs. Turner

My wife came home this morning and handed me a copy of a magazine titled "Start Your Own Business" (Winter Edition). I didn't ask here where she bought it, probably at Longs Drug in Kaneohe.

Whatever the case, I browsed through the mag and found some interesting articles, including ones titled "75 Boom Businesses to Run from Home For Under $500" and "Lowcost Launch" which listed 20 work-from-home business opportunites that could get off the ground for under $100.

The mag has a website for those interested: http://www.sbomag.com/

One of the many suggestions is to sell things online via ebay.com. I know of a couple people--my former officemate at work and my niece--who have done this as a way to make some extra cash and they had success. Even if ebay selling isn't for you, you might consider taking a look at magazine.

Thanks, Mrs. Turner. Appreciate the magazine.