Monetary avenues

With economies tightening belts left and right, one tends to become creative in looking out for opportunities from the comforts of one's home.

A stay home mom, someone in the midst of changing careers or even finding oneself "employment- challenged" or simply unemployed, can strive ways for some monetary opportunities to help tied over the leaner months.

Here are some ways to keep positive while waiting for that e-mail from prospective employers or simply wanting for fill those free hours.




First all of make an inventory of yourself.

 Photo credit "Cafe Handmade Virtual Craft Show" from: Mary Vogel Lozinak's page

What's your hobby? Can you venture into simple online business selling with your hobby? Why not? It's something you enjoy and fun to do, right?

Perhaps, visit Etsy and browse through their categories and seek out what will match your craft. Is it ceramics, pottery, bead work, pastries, or you have a flair for drawing and you can snatch a pattern out from air?

You can also their visit their community/forums to get the feel of the site. If you still don't know what you would like to do, there's Esty Teams where you can connect with other artists venturing to handmade arts and designs with similar interests and collaborate with them. Who knows what products you can generate with another co-handmade maker.

Network with friends who may have kiosks or stalls around town. Brainstorm ideas with them. You can always decide on the how to split the bill later to pay your friend back for the space.

If you feel you want to gauge first the interest surrounding your particular niche/craft. You can also try out sending samples as gift tokens for friends. Go for something that's usable but keeping the unique creativeness that's you on your product. You'll never know you they will tap for the next all-girls party and your product will be included as a one of the gift-away gifts. That's marketing and advertisement all together and maybe just maybe, a company (with your friend's word-of-mouth nudge) might take interest in your craft too and add it along to their gift treats for their guests or simple employee get together.

Remember to start small first before going to the next level. After you have built an adequate following, then you can venture bigger.

 Photo Credit "Epcot's Living" taken by Pauline Sweeney 

Are you into gardening? Maybe your local garden center is looking for products that your garden can happily provide for profit. Check out their bulletin boards or their newsletters for information about that. Maybe you have been a vertigarden enthusiast for years and you would like to impart your experience in sponsored talks by your garden center or your garden club.  It's another way to branch out and meet newbies or other green thumb enthusiasts.

Or do you fill like getting into the world of freelancing. There are sites such as oDesk, guru, Freelancer or Peopleperhour to check out.