Possible money-makers for chronics

[gracenote]

visiting your galleries

Another resource for marketing from home for those in the arts is Imagekind.com
and Zazzle.com.

Both sites have really helped me keep my work in the public eye, especially since I no longer have the energy to take on gallery deadlines.

Zazzle is free and has a variety of products on can put art/graphics on, while Imagekind caters more to the Fine Art/Photography print market. I've been really pleased with the product quality from both.

Both sites have free affiliate programs too. I've not made enough from either to equal a steady paycheck, but something is better than nothing!

as an example: My Imagekind Gallery

Talkingfox,

I very much enjoyed taking a tour of your galleries. I love your "ice" series and your "moon jellies" and other underwater images. Beautiful.

I would love to see you start a thread of your own. Has your illness impacted your creativity in any way?

Thanks for sharing this. I hope some here can benefit from the links you mentioned.

 

[talkingfox]

Talkingfox,

I very much enjoyed taking a tour of your galleries. I love your "ice" series and your "moon jellies" and other underwater images. Beautiful.

I would love to see you start a thread of your own. Has your illness impacted your creativity in any way?

Thanks for sharing this. I hope some here can benefit from the links you mentioned.

Aw thanks gracenote

And yeah it's impacted my work in a big way. Photoshoots are for the most part out at the moment. I quit working on canvas 6 years ago due to both toxicity issues AND the fact that I couldn't hold my arms up long enough to finish stuff w/out crashing. Production has slowed to a crawl and I can no longer mount gallery shows until the body of work has been finished. I used to finish 2-4 paintings a month. Now I produce 4 a year.

I've actually been thinking about using the online gallery as a small research fundraiser for a month or two...

 

[Lily]

Wow

You are so incredibly talented! I love looking at all of it - Nature is great.....You must miss it. You've done a lot though. I'll be going back to look at more, often.

thanks so much for sharing your talent and all the beauty with us. I have to enjoy the beauiful outdoors from the indoors right now and paintings and photography seem to be the one way to see the beauty nature has to offer. Another reason I couldn't live without the internet.

 

[talkingfox]

you guys are very kind...thank you for the compliments.

Anyways I just hope that others in the arts fields or who do affiliate sorts of things can get some use from the sites.

 

[_Kim_]

Beautiful, just beautiful!

Talkingfox, thanks for sharing your art with us. I have a love of botanical drawings and your Silver Birch is one of the loveliest I've seen.
Now how about adding one of your works as an avatar? Dreambirdie uses one of her paintings and everytime I see a post by her, I'm reminded that she is an artist Waking Naga would make a great avatar, don't you think?

 

[Martlet]

Angel,

Sounds like you've got men on the brain.

You want us to pray that you find one? Or two?

We don't have a prayer chain but you can always start one ...

I'd be happy to join a prayer chain.

 

[Martlet]

Martlet,

Never any need to apologize for missing a post or a long delay in getting back to one. I hate to think how many I have missed, that I would have liked to respond to in the last few months as I'm coming back from a crash ... or two.

That is quite a well-developed plot line. How is the writing coming?

I'm supposed to be in bed but got up.

It's coming along well, thanks. Only problem is, a lot of editors won't touch adultery, and it has to be part of this novel. But I am on final edit, then fingers crossed that I will find a publisher.

 

[Terri]

Supporting Ourselves

A few years ago, when I realized I couldn't keep working full time I set a goal for myself to somehow find a way to make money on the Internet. I'm not talking about the get rich quick schemes but I have dedicated a significant (precious) amount of time looking into the options and it does seem to be possible to make at least a reasonable income with an info site (similar to Cort's Phoenix Rising site, which is by the way very impressive) and/or blogs with the appropriate affiliate links.

The key of course is to have meaningful, valuable information/articles on the site to entice people to keep coming back. The links to affiliate sites are of course where you make your money. A niche is important. CFS is a wonderful and valuable niche but I think the problem here is that most people with CFS have little or no money to spend. If it were possible to have a site dedicated to CFS awareness, research and info but maybe promote affiliate sites that sell services or products made only by CFS individuals you may be able to get a following by tugging on the heart strings of the healthy and wealthy (I am not suggesting using blatant sympathy but practical "We have skills and value too so please support us".

I realize something like this would be a huge project but I am actually having a good day today. I would be interested in pursuing an idea like this or something similar possibly as a group effort.

One thing I have noticed on this forum is that there are a lot of intelligent, well informed, motivated people here who had/have great skills and a lot to offer before becoming sick. Maybe we need to pull together to find ways to support ourselves.

"You can't make a cake with just flour"

Terri

 

[fresh_eyes]

Hi Terri. I like they way you're thinking there. I'm on Etsy and have noticed that lots of other craftsy types on there seem to be chronically ill (CFS or otherwise). Perhaps easier and more effective than creating a whole new site would be some sort of networking between CFSers using existing (free) platforms like Etsy, Facebook, Ebay... ?

 

[glenp]

Pet Sitting - there is a need for pet sitters. Many don't want to leave their pets at kennels and prefer a private residence

Call Centres -- I know of a lady that takes orders for pizza. When people call in to have a pizza delivered they get her at home with her head set and computer - they provide her with a computer and internet

 

[da_foles]

There could be money in Pet breeding. Breeding dogs etc. It would take a bit of work but I'm sure alot of PWC's could handle it. Something I have been thinking about since just getting a puppy.

 

[JT1024]

For those considering Medical Transcription:

This is from a website "HISTalk" geared towards Healthcare IT professionals:

I like to report on my personal technology experiments every now and then for you fellow geeks out there. Here are two winners: Dragon Naturally Speaking and SugarSync. I bought DNS Standard for $55 and it is truly amazing, deadly accurate straight out of the box and a very polite application on my modestly powered PC. I’m using it to reply to e-mails since my fingers tend to get tired after the third or fourth hour of typing after a full day doing exactly the same thing at work. SugarSync is an online backup application, of which I had tried Mozy and Carbonite without much satisfaction. SugarSync is fast, easy, and free with up to 2 GB of storage. It’s a real-time backup and has a Web interface that allows you to use or view your files from any PC or mobile device. I recommend both from my limited experience so far.

 

[coxy]

hi, When my second child of 4 got M.E (pre my m.e), i decided i needed to find something to do from home as i had to be there to look after the children all the time. I started my own business on Ebay painting personalised wine/beer glasses, it was a great success and i quickly expanded coming up with more and more idea i.e nanny/grandad birthday glasses, bridesmaid/best man glasses etc etc etc. Unfortunately within a year it all went pear shaped, i got me.cfs and quickly found myself unable t0 paint due to the concentration needed and the continous shaking in my hand! I also found myself unable to wrap and pack up all the glasses ready for postage, which was hard work, for an ill person anyway.


I didn't want to shut my ebay business down though, so i had to go into something less demanding. I now sell fancy dress. I'm able to dropshop it direct from the companys, so no posting. It gives us an income and keeps my mind busy. There are numerous companys in all sorts of goods that use dropshipppers, no need for any money up front. In my opinion a perfect job for ME/CFS sufferers.

 

[Tom]

I'm Thinking

I'm thinking, may take a few days
Are there any geeks out there
Are there any who could teach over the internet ?

I have a SimpleHelp server ,amongst other things ,web servers in .de and various other bits and bobs,wireless networks,adsl customers things like that,connections on different continents.

I'm looking , I think, of doing something more than I do now.

google south witham the company is there.

 

[PWB]

hi, When my second child of 4 got M.E (pre my m.e), i decided i needed to find something to do from home as i had to be there to look after the children all the time. I started my own business on Ebay painting personalised wine/beer glasses, it was a great success and i quickly expanded coming up with more and more idea i.e nanny/grandad birthday glasses, bridesmaid/best man glasses etc etc etc. Unfortunately within a year it all went pear shaped, i got me.cfs and quickly found myself unable t0 paint due to the concentration needed and the continous shaking in my hand! I also found myself unable to wrap and pack up all the glasses ready for postage, which was hard work, for an ill person anyway.


I didn't want to shut my ebay business down though, so i had to go into something less demanding. I now sell fancy dress. I'm able to dropshop it direct from the companys, so no posting. It gives us an income and keeps my mind busy. There are numerous companys in all sorts of goods that use dropshipppers, no need for any money up front. In my opinion a perfect job for ME/CFS sufferers.

Hi Thanks for the info, do you recommend any particular dropshippers?
Thanks PWB

 

[PWB]

I'm making pretty good money (for a bedridden and chairbound person) with online affiliate marketing and Google AdWords, and I'm donating the majority of it to CFS research.

Despite the term "marketing", it's surprisingly much more of an analytical and computer geek than creative type of work.

Hi Charityfundraiser,

Do you have any more advice on how to make money with online affiliat marketing and Google Adwords?

Thanks, PWB

 

[_Kim_]

I haven't read this whole thread, so I apologize if this was mentioned previously.

There is a resource for all of you writers out there. It isn't geared towards making money, but we all see how writing is beginning to be profitable for Jody. I know there are others here who could also use their talents to make a few bucks.

WRITE NOW: MAINTAINING A CREATIVE SPIRIT WHILE HOMEBOUND AND ILL

 

[PWB]

I haven't been on the forum for a while so sorry for the delay in reply. I can describe a little of what I have been doing. I wasn't actually looking to do affiliate marketing, but just saw an opportunity as I was doing other things online. Right now I am only advertising for one type of product and only a few brands. I started with one and built up incrementally. These are products I use and am familiar with as a customer myself as well as in the industry I formerly worked in. Not that that's actually necessary to do the marketing, but it does help because then it's not much extra work. It's stuff I would be reading about, keeping up with the news, and using anyway even if I weren't making any money.

You could just start looking at things you currently buy online, look at the company Web site and see if they have an affiliate program. I think the big companies such as the online mass retailers such as Amazon don't allow affiliate marketing through Google search Adwords anymore because it's not profitable for them. The products I am marketing are in what I would call small growing companies.

So far I mainly do it through AdWords. With more time and effort, I will try to move more of it to my own Web site as there would be no advertising cost to me that way. AdWords is quick. You can see whether something works or not in a few days. I start small and very low risk.

It's kind of hard to generally explain the technical details because I'd say the concepts and strategies are really simple, so it's really something people need to try and figure out for themselves. That's kind of the test to see if it's something that will work for you. I can answer more specific questions as they come up.

There are a lot of scummy people in this area as competition. Gimmicks, false claims, etc. I don't know how profitable that really is. I am doing pretty well being squeaky clean. I only advertise products I use, plan to use, and like. I stick to the company's rules and their own ad wording when possible.

Go where there's less or little competition. Once there are one or more other competing ad bidders, you'll both drive each other's advertising costs higher and higher until neither of you makes a profit and Google makes all the money. Buying Google stock may be just as profitable.

Thanks for your help! Do you set up your own website, or use a blog and monitize the blog?

Best wishes,
PWB

 

[JT1024]

One thought that comes to mind is helping those that are computer illiterate program their ipods.

I have several colleagues at work that have no clue what to do even though they have to use a computer everyday at work. One woman's boyfriend has his friend downloading all his songs onto the ipod for him. It occurred to me that I could make some money doing this but I don't have the time myself! I still work full time.

I would think it would be pretty easy for a lot of people on this forum to do!

 

[Misfit Toy]

A long time ago my boss actually told me that I needed to put my talents to work while being ill so I did. I am a jewlery designer. I started it 6 years ago. Have a website, sell in stores and Facebook is the way to go! I sell something a month due to FB. I work from home on my time and I am my own boss. It can be a lot of work and a lot of responsibility. I can make good money during certain months. Enough so to not have to worry about the next month.

A lot of people make things knitted but you have to be really good at it and use different yarns. There is so much knitting and from shows I do, people want something new, someone who is daring with colors and not just something or anything knit.

Hone in on what you are good at. Baking? Start baking organic foods and pastries without wheat! I would buy wheat free foods. THAT IS IN DEMAND. Also, foods of any kind for those who are ill or can't find the time to cook. Only if you are a good cook of course. Put an add in the paper or phonebook. Why not! Try it. I could probably cook if I wasn't already doing this.

And, I am pretty sick folks. I still have a small income. Not enough, but when the economy was good...I had some $$$ to burn.