Make Money by Providing Services

The month of February I'll be offering a money-making tip every weekday. Here's the one for today:

Make money by providing services.

This money making idea is from The Simple Dollar. One example of how it works:

There’s an individual on our block who loves cold weather. He loves bundling himself up, heading out in the cold, and moving snow around - can you even imagine someone who sings when running their snowblower? This guy has realized that most people don’t want to do this and thus he’ll go around and blow off other people’s driveways and sidewalks for $5 or $10 (or whatever) in cash. After a nice snowstorm, he can easily make $100 in profit just by handling the houses near him - it takes him a couple of hours and he really enjoys it.

Are there any tasks that you really enjoy that others find mundane, like mowing or fixing computers?

This fits nicely into two themes I've discussed before -- that you can make money (and lots of it) doing things no one else wants to do and there's money to be made in snow removal (as well as other services.) Surely there's something almost all of us can do (mow lawns, deliver papers, wash cars, etc.) that can earn us a few bucks. What's that service for you? 

Comments

[rdub98]

I have about 20 years of experience with personal computers; troubleshooting hardware, software, training, building, etc. Really want to start my own business, but the economy is keeping me from doing it right now.

[Duane]

rdub98,

This economy could be very advantageous for your line of work. Consider that people may be buying less computers but wanting older ones to last longer. Also, businesses may be cutting back on internal IT support staff. While they may be decreasing full time staff they are rarely decreasing their need for reliable technology.

I know a good number of people who provide on-call technical support for businesses. They have started by branding themselves as an "after hours" tech support freelancer and turned it into a full time gig as it grew. Granted, it can be stressful crossing that Jordan, but I wouldn't let this economy discourage you at all.

[Duane]

rdub98,

This economy could be very advantageous for your line of work. Consider that people may be buying less computers but wanting older ones to last longer. Also, businesses may be cutting back on internal IT support staff. While they may be decreasing full time staff they are rarely decreasing their need for reliable technology.

I know a good number of people who provide on-call technical support for businesses. They have started by branding themselves as an "after hours" tech support freelancer and turned it into a full time gig as it grew. Granted, it can be stressful crossing that Jordan, but I wouldn't let this economy discourage you at all.

[Anitra Smith]

My favorite mundane task is making website updates or other computer "busywork" that doesn't require much brainpower. I do design work, too, but that requires 100% of my attention.

At a former job, my co-workers always thought I was nuts when I would volunteer to do that kind of busywork, but it allows me to look back at the end of the day and say "see how much I accomplished!"

[Justine]

Came across your comment while searching for info. on starting small business. Actually I would be providing a service for my local area. Any suggestions would be helpful.