Ideas on creating new lines of income? Brainstorm with me!

Silver Chronicles

Jr. Member
Nov 3, 2012
60
9
Midwest
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M6
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I love buying silver! All types of it. But the problem is finding enough money to fulfill my unsatiable desires. I have a job but cannot spend all my money on silver. So this got me thinking, how can I develop more streams of income. I have tried recycling aluminum cans, but it can be a very futile effort trying to come up with enough cans. I have also tried freelancing, but I have only so much to right down and they pay is not at all large. My idea is to try everything I can such as recycling, freelancing, odd jobs ect.., but I can only brainstorm so much? Does anybody have any other good ideas for side gigs that could help us all fulfill our treasure desires? Just throwing it out their!

HH Michael
 

Chadeaux

Gold Member
Sep 13, 2011
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Southeast Arkansas
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Try hauling of old appliances for free. Apparently there's money in it as a fella I know got fired for keeping some appliances he picked up for his employer. They weren't working, but apparently if you know how to properly disassemble them the innards are worth some money on the metals market.

What kind of freelancing have you been doing?
 

austin

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Jul 9, 2012
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You're gonna hate this, but one day I took a mental health day off from teaching and rode the bus downtown here in San Antonio. I went to the cigar store in the old Menger Hotel, got a couple of great smokes and then went out to sit on a bench in Alamo Plaza and enjoy one. Finished it on this beautiful Spring day and decided to get a raspa or snow cone as they are called up north. There were two vendors, one at each end of the plaza. I chose the middle age woman closest to the Alamo, placed my order, paid my dollar and just was chatting with her. She asked if I was homeless. I replied that no, I was a high school teacher and skipped out for a day. She laughed and said she understood because she had been a teacher before she got into raspas. Turned out she owned both stands, she or her husband and kids ran them, it cost $200 a year for the Alamo Plaza location permit, they sometimes stayed home on really cold days(we get about 6 of those a year) and she had never been happier. I asked how she could live on that salary instead of teaching(she and I worked for SAISD and made about $50000 a year) and she laughed again. She told me that Spring, Summer and Fall days, 10-5, they averaged between $2000-$3000 a day, depending on conventions, Alamo Bowl and so on. Their supplies were little paper cups, plastic bottles of syrups and crushed ice. That was both locations. She said it cost her about $.18-$.20 to make a raspa and they could make them cheaper, but they really filled them up with syrup. I sat there smoking my other cigar and watched tourists, workers, well, lots of folks stop by and grab a raspa. I left at noon and I promised myself never to look down on a raspa seller again. I guess maybe location is everything...
 

Aug 20, 2009
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Not too shabby austin,need a decent location for that though,it is everything,its not around my neck of the woods lol.I've been doing some thinking,havent come up with much.I've been looking everyday on craigslist for antiques that i know i can sell for a profit.I have quite a few stashed away if need be.Also junk cars that are drivable for cheap,not many of those left either.Good money in scrapping cars if you can get them cheap.
 

SpiritRelic

Hero Member
Sep 16, 2012
899
117
The metal scrapping thing is big here in my city.I have one friend that really makes a lot off of scrapping old a\c units.He gets hundreds of dollars on each load.Of course he gets most of that because of the copper.But what really surprised me is a couple of months ago my other friend had to work on his car muffler,so he cut the catalytic converter out.He got fifty dollars for that old converter.He said that the converters had rare metals in it that sold for big money.But most of my alcoholic friends do love the metal scrapping thing when they need quick money.It got so bad here with people stealing a/c units from businesses and homes for the copper that one now has to have a permit if one plans do scrap copper.
 

Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
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Southeast Arkansas
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Smee's late boss owned a furniture store. It was actually a way for him to stay in the precious metals business. As the owner, he advertised that he also purchased antiques and old coins, gold and silver jewelry.

You would be surprised at the number of people who would take a smaller pay day just because he could pay them today for their rings, COINS (his favorite as he made his fortune as a coin dealer and bought the furniture store to insure his kids had a place to work and earn a living) and even old glass and other beautiful antiques.

The coins were he favorite. One day (and Smee posted the coin here as a what is it) a man came in with an ancient coin which dated from about 100 C.E. (A.D. for the latin freaks) minted in the area around the small countries that were absorbed into Soviet Russia. Lots of silver and gold coins on a regular basis. He knew his coins as he was a professional at grading coins. He actually made the money to begin dealing by being able to help buyers avoid getting taken at the coin shows.

Smee (my neighbor) wrote a simple program where he would put in the spot silver price (can be obtained or even a web page set to keep you up to date) as well as what percentage of spot he was willing to pay (usually 75 - 80% . . . and set before opening the doors) and then go to the main screen (i'll see if he can get me a link to download it) before opening. When a customer comes in he clicks on a picture of the coin he is buying. Next screen he puts in the number of coins and he gets a price to offer the customer. They get to see the entire process once the price and percentage are set . . . and he knows if he wants to offer a little extra if they balk at the price.

Remember to watch the prices during the day, quickly drop your spot price if spot goes down . . . if it goes up, sometimes not in such a hurry to update it.

What you don't always tell the customer is if the coin grades really high. Remember, you are a precious metals buyer until the end of the day.

When you go home, you separate your important/valuable coins from the melt value coins. Then you can be a coin dealer. That is where the real profit can come in.
 

Keppy

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Nov 19, 2006
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You're gonna hate this, but one day I took a mental health day off from teaching and rode the bus downtown here in San Antonio. I went to the cigar store in the old Menger Hotel, got a couple of great smokes and then went out to sit on a bench in Alamo Plaza and enjoy one. Finished it on this beautiful Spring day and decided to get a raspa or snow cone as they are called up north. There were two vendors, one at each end of the plaza. I chose the middle age woman closest to the Alamo, placed my order, paid my dollar and just was chatting with her. She asked if I was homeless. I replied that no, I was a high school teacher and skipped out for a day. She laughed and said she understood because she had been a teacher before she got into raspas. Turned out she owned both stands, she or her husband and kids ran them, it cost $200 a year for the Alamo Plaza location permit, they sometimes stayed home on really cold days(we get about 6 of those a year) and she had never been happier. I asked how she could live on that salary instead of teaching(she and I worked for SAISD and made about $50000 a year) and she laughed again. She told me that Spring, Summer and Fall days, 10-5, they averaged between $2000-$3000 a day, depending on conventions, Alamo Bowl and so on. Their supplies were little paper cups, plastic bottles of syrups and crushed ice. That was both locations. She said it cost her about $.18-$.20 to make a raspa and they could make them cheaper, but they really filled them up with syrup. I sat there smoking my other cigar and watched tourists, workers, well, lots of folks stop by and grab a raspa. I left at noon and I promised myself never to look down on a raspa seller again. I guess maybe location is everything...
.......austin ...... This has not a thing about jobs ... I had to say she said you looked like a homeless person................. The othet day i went to see my grand son and he is a high school teacher........... And my first words to him was ... God Jared you look like a homeless person............
 

austin

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Jul 9, 2012
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.......austin ...... This has not a thing about jobs ... I had to say she said you looked like a homeless person................. The othet day i went to see my grand son and he is a high school teacher........... And my first words to him was ... God Jared you look like a homeless person............

Actually I was wearing a University of Texas cap and t-shirt, jeans and old cowboy boots. I thought I looked all cool and even a tad debonair.
 

OP
OP
S

Silver Chronicles

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Nov 3, 2012
60
9
Midwest
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So! So far selling furniture, dumpster diving, and selling snow cones can bring in money. Think the snow cone one is beast! There are alot of vendors outside Bush Stadium here in St. Louis in the summer, but it is very high competition! I have actually given thought to diving into park dumpsters for aluminum cans while I metal detect, but I thought I might get more states than I already do with my weird contraption.:laughing7:

HH Michael
 

Coin Town

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Jul 25, 2012
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Silver Chronicles said:
I love buying silver! All types of it. But the problem is finding enough money to fulfill my unsatiable desires. I have a job but cannot spend all my money on silver. So this got me thinking, how can I develop more streams of income. I have tried recycling aluminum cans, but it can be a very futile effort trying to come up with enough cans. I have also tried freelancing, but I have only so much to right down and they pay is not at all large. My idea is to try everything I can such as recycling, freelancing, odd jobs ect.., but I can only brainstorm so much? Does anybody have any other good ideas for side gigs that could help us all fulfill our treasure desires? Just throwing it out their!

HH Michael

I'm a professional by day and an artist by night...I make some extra $$$ by being creative with a pencil and paper (or a Mac & and new idea)
 

Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
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So! So far selling furniture, dumpster diving, and selling snow cones can bring in money. Think the snow cone one is beast! There are alot of vendors outside Bush Stadium here in St. Louis in the summer, but it is very high competition! I have actually given thought to diving into park dumpsters for aluminum cans while I metal detect, but I thought I might get more states than I already do with my weird contraption.:laughing7:

HH Michael

Ya didn't really read my post well. The furniture store wasn't the point.

You like silver, you want to make money. I 'splained a cheap way to get started doing both.

Read it again. Could be a furniture store or even a snowball stand.
 

OP
OP
S

Silver Chronicles

Jr. Member
Nov 3, 2012
60
9
Midwest
Detector(s) used
M6
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Ya didn't really read my post well. The furniture store wasn't the point.

You like silver, you want to make money. I 'splained a cheap way to get started doing both.

Read it again. Could be a furniture store or even a snowball stand.

I see, he combined his furniture with his coin collecting.
 

Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
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Nope. He advertised that he purchased old coins and antiques. The store was just an address where he hung out with friends when he wasn't buying and selling coins.
 

packerbacker

Gold Member
May 11, 2005
8,310
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Northern California
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What part of the Midwest are you from? Have you considered welfare?
* In 9 states welfare pays more than the average first-year salary for a teacher. In 29 states it pays more than the average starting salary for a secretary. In 47 states welfare pays more than a janitor earns. Indeed, in the 6 most generous states, benefits exceed the entry-level salary for a computer programmer
Hourly Wage Equivalent of Welfare
Hawaii
$17.50
Alaska
15.48
Massachusetts
14.66
Connecticut
14.23
Washington, D.C.
13.99
New York
13.13
New Jersey
12.74
Rhode Island
12.55
California
11.59
Virginia
11.11
Maryland
10.96
New Hampshire
10.96
Maine
10.38
Delaware
10.34
Colorado
10.05
Vermont
10.05
Minnesota
10.00
Washington
9.95
Nevada
9.71
Utah
9.57
Michigan
9.47
Pennsylvania
9.47
Illinois
9.33
Wisconsin
9.33
Oregon
9.23
Wyoming
9.18
Indiana
9.13
Iowa
9.13
 

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Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
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Southeast Arkansas
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OUCH!!!

On the other hand, not too bad a starting point for a budding coin dealer to live on until they're established.

With all that money to give away, how can we be broke

ROTF_LMAO.gif
 

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OahuLife

Tenderfoot
Nov 25, 2012
8
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Honolulu
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Every first Monday of the month is bulky item pickup day in my neighborhood. During the weekend prior there are literally tons of junked electronics, appliances and furniture. If I had a garage (maybe a warehouse) and some free time, I'd load my truck up and scrap a bunch of the TV sets, ACs, and maybe a few other items to recycle.
 

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