Options For The Unemployed
from Profit PitchOptions for the Unemployed
It's rough out there in the employment (or lack thereof) world. I was laid off a year ago and by a stroke of luck my company needed me back. Other colleagues that were laid off are having a real hard tmie finding work. But there are options. This article covers some of those options.
If you are unemployed, you have joined the ever-growing ranks of people that are trying to find work. My heart goes out to you. I've been there before (aside from being laid off a year ago i had spells of lengthy unemployment periods for at least eight months. It's a lousy feeling. But there are options for the unemployed. The best part is, you can get started right away.
Making Money Online
I can already hear what you are thinking, not another one of those internet marketing ideas. I can understand your hesitation but keep reading. I believe the biggest reason why people don't get involved is because they don't really understand the concepts that well. People embark with this without any knowledge and they get creamed.
Affiliate Marketing
There are several business models that you can use: you can become an affiliate for companies that sell goods and services. With this model you basically promote the products of companies and if someone buys through your affiliate link, you get a commission on the sale. The greatest part about this is you don't have to carry any inventory. There are many people that believe that this model is oversaturated, i.e., too many affiliates. I wholeheartedly disagree. There are thousands of companies out there that support affiliates and they have tens of thousands of products and services combined. The key is to find the right area (it is called niches) that are underserved.
Selling Online
There are so many subsets of this model that books can be and have been written on the subject. Certainly, the easiest way to go about this is to use eBay as your platform. If you have never sold anything using eBay, you should give it a try. It's fast, fun, and quite easy to do once you get the hang of it.
So what can you sell? The choices here are endless. Start with stuff in your house that you no longer need or want. This will give you a good way to get started without shelling out too much money (other than eBay's fees). You could also consider selling digital products that either you or others have put together. If you are not a writer or you feel like you don't have the time, you could incorporate a concept called Private Label Rights.
Teaching
Are you great at something that you could show others how to do it as well? Consider creating content and selling it. The key here is to again, find areas that have little competition. Even in highly served subjects, if you think about it, you can probably find a subset that isn't as competitive. To start out you could give away samples of your courses (which would be a subset of the entire course) and then within the course itself show them how they can get the complete course (for a fee of course).
Services
People are always looking for others to help them with their businesses online. Whether it be writing articles or being a personal assistant to help businesses with their day-to-day tasks. There are services like rentacoder.com and elance.com where you can find plenty of work. There are many others too. This can be a great way to earn some extra income. And you get to work from home too. Some people actually do this as their living.
Mentoring
No matterwhat business model you happen to choose, you will accelerate your success by taking on a mentor. I got involved with affiliate marketing and tried it completely on my own with miserable results. I spent a lot of money and made absolutely no sales whatsoever. Not a dime. Then, I found Wealthy Affiliate University and that changed my life. Using the techniques that they showed me I have went from no sales to getting people to buy from me. But it is not just mentoring that gets me stoked about them. The tools that are available as part of the service make it a one stop shop. You really won't need anything else to get going and start making money with them. The forum is fantastic too. Many members contribute lessons and ideas that they have learned and share that success with the other members. It also gives you the ability to ask questions about techniques or some advice on products or services both within Wealthy Affiliate University and outside of the service. I highly recommend that you give it a try. You will see just how much you get with this service and you will find it indispensable.Conclusion
The job market is the toughest I have seen in years. It is unclear if my position is going to continue on and many of my friends that have been let go are having difficulty even getting interviews. If you find yourself in this situation, consider finding something online that you can do to at least get you through these hard times or even to use at as a new career path. By the way, I have a lot of fun doing this work online. I don't really consider it work at all.
