I started recording local bands while they play live. It's a cheap way for them to get a decent demo, and I make some extra cash.

With small exceptions, thats pretty much a list of 10 things I don't want to have to do.

Isn't being a secret shopper one of the biggest scams out there. Especially with the "check your email often" part?

In keeping with that, here are two more:
Buy a squeegie and a bucket. There is money to made at intersections washing wind shields

Invest in Nigerian liquidity markets. There are dozens of diplomat's widows and extended royalty looking to get funds out of the country. Just check your email often.

@Radi0logy: See? THat's why they're good business opportunities! Because people like you dont' want to do them yourself!

You can add another to the list: Residential PC Repair.

Of course, just like a lot of occupations on the list, don't expect to end up with more than $40 in your pocket once you're done the day.

With the artwork/craftwork item....it really depends what you're going to do. If you're going to make animals out of popsicle sticks or cut up some fleece and sew on a border to call it a scarf, ok, it's not that expensive.

But if you get into something more intensive it does get pricey. Painters need paint, brushes, canvas and some consumables like cleaners, gesso, etc. Potters need clay, but also a wheel, kiln, glazes, brushes, etc. If you get into lampworking glass like I did, you need glass, a torch, ventilation, safety glasses with the appropriate filters, a kiln, a more or less dedicated place to work, and depending on the glass and torch...oxygen, propane, regulators and inspections. Woodworkers will need wood (can be scavenged) but also tools, and all the fun stuff used to fasten it all together. And don't get me started on packing materials and customer consumables like business cards, boxes, and bags. In this economy it's been god awful out there for sales.

However some cotton balls, a box of pencils, a sharpie, and some string, and a ripped up t-shirt is a good way to make ghost pencil toppers. Maybe you can sell them to school kids. Oh wait, that would put you afoul of the new consumer protection regulations unless you pay for lead testing on each component of your creation.

Ok, off to find out who pee'd in my corn flakes this morning.

11. Amateur pornography.

A lot of people are artists on the side. Etsy is a great website for them to show their wares. For a really small portion of the sale price and a small initial fee ($0.20 + 3.5% of sale), you can list your items on Etsy with tagging and easy sales interface. Easier than setting up your own website.

@rickinsthelens: There are two kinds of secret shopping organizations. There's the scammy kind and the legit kind. The scam places will give you a check or money order and have you wire part of it to a third party. Real secret shopper groups don't do that. They're very much a real business, and you should never have to pay to work with them.

"Check your email often" is advisable because if you sign up for three legitimate companies, you're going to get a lot of email and you have to stay organized.

[phoenix.about.com]

Here in Florida you can become a Notary Public for about $70 and perform weddings. By law, you can only charge $20 for the wedding itself, but can add on additional charges such as travel, so it might be a money making venture especially with the regular notary duties.

@rickinsthelens: Mystery shopping itself is not a scam - but it's certainly not a get-rich-quick opportunity. There are, however, many scams based around Mystery Shopping, that try to suck people in with promises of free hotels, shopping sprees and money to burn. I do it as a sideline to FT office work and I make between $20 and $100 a month depending on how ambitious I am. People who do it FT can make much more.

This really isn't a list of inexpensive businesses to start. It's more a list of freelance things you can do; of course they can be your fulltime business if you so choose. But if you get a waiter or a bartending job you'll have cash in your pocket at the end of the same day. And it's also easy to start. And this left out the world's oldest profession.

1-4 all are specialty skills. To think that any joe-shmo can call himself a 'graphic designer' or 'writer' is bullshit.

Just because I have a stove and a frying pan - that does not mean I can be a chef.

@fs2k2isfun: bah, you make more money becoming a lawyer and specializing in divorce!

oh oh i know i know... "entertainer"... and you technically wouldnt even be lying!

@bornonbord: What you say is true:

The article is about businesses that cost little to start--nowhere does it say, "here's a list of businesses anyone can start." It's a list of businesses where capital is not much of a barrier.

Freelance writing isn't all roses. It's sporadic for most people and the money doesn't always match the amount of work you have to do.

Freelancing is easier if you're working part-time. I spent many moons trying to freelance to supplement a full-time job, and it's grueling. I stopped almost entirely because there just wasn't time. Most people think that if they choose something "simple" like movie reviews or opinion, that they'll be so good at it because it's all opinion anyway - well, the really good movie critics have a lot of knowledge and context for film. They've honed that. They're not the guy who posts "OMG The Dark Knight was the best movie EVAR!" on IMDB at 3 am.

And people who write opinion professionally usually have some authority - academic background in the subject, real world experience, and something that makes them reputable. Paying taxes does not make you qualified to talk tax reform.

Why do you think there are a billion blogs? Those who can't write professionally, blog. Granted, a great deal of bloggers are professional writers, but that's an extension of skills and talent to another medium. For every Smitten Kitchen or Cute Overload, there's a guy who thinks The Dark Knight was the best movie of all time.

Been a computer tech support guy for a while. I secure home WiFi for $25 a pop.

@menty666: I know who pee'd in your cornflakes. It was the same one who pee'd in mine; the writer of that article.

The ideas are OK but far too simplistic. I've done the Etsy (and still do) thing, there's a WHOLE lot more involved than simply: Make nice thing + Sell nice thing = Get nice money.

Also, only someone who has never braved the terrifying waters that are the Craigslist "writer's wanted" postings would suggest going there for freelance work. Those listings are what my friends and I (writers all) use for a good laugh. But we certainly don't go there for work.

@menty666: My wife started crafting this year and I agree. It's been pretty much a disaster. Her startup costs are in the thousands and she's been losing money at most shows. She's definitely not making ANYTHING for labor. I mean, you can sit at a booth for 20 hours a weekend and sell $200 of product that cost $100 in materials, $100 booth fee and $50 in gas to sell.

The economy peed in your corn flakes, and mine too.

@rickinsthelens: Funny that you mention that. I think Laura Northrup was a mystery shopper once.

As Pecan said, there are the legit kinds, and then there are the scams.

@donnie5:

Isn't that just logging into the router and creating a password and enabling the WEP or whatever is strongest basically?

@shepd: I kinda did that once unwittingly. I bought a slightly hosed up netbook for cheap - mostly so I could fix it and use it myself. So I go about fixing it - clean format and configuring Ubuntu and the like. In a month I realized I would be much better served with a laptop and a desktop instead of two laptops, so I put it up on sale for 50 bucks more than what I bought it for. After some last minute bargaining, made $40 profit on it :)

@fs2k2isfun: In IL I can only charge like a buck per notarization. And you can't marry people. Most everyone notarizes free here.

@Saboth: Try explaining that to people who think clicking on the IE icon gives them the internet or who think Yahoo is a browser.

This is like the scammers list of super scams. When I was freelance people stole my crap all the time (and I mean ALL the time)...in most cases they didn't even bother to edit it so I intentionally put in crapulous words to id my stuff so I knew who wasn't paying their bills.

And no...I did not use crapulous...but it SHOULD be a word.

@Saboth: Yep, that's it. Most people can't be bothered to read the instructions that come with their router/cable mode/DSL modem.

@Saboth: $25 is a good price for someone who is not computer literate enough to do it themselves. I run a Wifi network in my house and I always see one or two unsecured signals broadcasting around me.

@acarr260: If they do manage to read them, they barely manage to understand them.
I used to work tech support. It is astonishing how many people do not know what a router looks like, even if they just received a package that included a giant box labeled ROUTER.

Stock photography is inexpensive to start up and almost impossible to make decent money at without devoting significant time and effort to it. It's a go big or go home industry.

@SexCpotatoes: oh, that wouldn't be cheap or easy of course, but for return on investment, it's the way to go.

@JohnQPublic: I know what you mean. In college, my roommate and I painted pitchers and flower pots as a hobby and we thought about trying to sell them. They were good quality and we did a good job painting them and weaterproofing them - but the booth fees were ridiculous, more than our cost of materials! We were never going to make enough to break even, let alone make a profit.

@mistifi: Too many people out there are already producing really bad art. Lets not encourage more of it, hmm?

@rickinsthelens: As folks said, there are legitimate mystery shop programs. Some companies administer their own mystery shop programs, and some use one of a few larger mystery shop companies.

I mystery shop restaurants. I don't really make a great deal per shop once the meal is taken into account, but it's a good way to be able to go out without dipping into my woefully small entertainment budget. My mother, however, used to mystery shop more seriously as a side job when I was younger, and would be able to supplement her income to the tune of a couple hundred dollars each month.

@nstonep: You weren't doing freelance properly then. The freelance work described here involves reputable organizations. Many magazines and newspapers solicit freelance writing to supplement their publications. It's a business transaction. They pay you to write. Who owns the first run rights is always discussed, whether you're able to market the piece to other organizations is always discussed.

@h3llc4t has a slow work day: Mine has a bit, a collar, and an adapter for a dust collection system.

I've been making extra money selling homemade bird toys. I buy parts in mass quanities to make toys for my own bird, but seeing the huge markup that big companies place on bird toys I thought I'd give it a shot. So far, so good.

Parrot parents are fiercely loyal to brands that takes extra precautions with safety. Plus you average about 10-15 toys a week for the medium to large birds because of their search and destroy tendencies. That figure doesn't include all the stuff around the house you convert to toys (water bottles, pen caps, newspaper etc). Now imagine doing this for 50+ years!

The only downside is how pissy my conure gets when I make toys he can't play with.

Gawker has had a lot of articles recently about freelancers writing for reputable magazines who are having a lot of trouble getting paid. One of my good friends does a lot of freelance work, and he's having the same problem.

@pecan 3.14159265: Those sounds nice =) I forgot another cost of doing business. People that break your stuff because they just *have* to touch it.

Common exchange:
Lookiloo: "Is this glass" *digs fingernail into candle*
Me: No, it's wax.
Lookiloo happily walks away after successfully damaging product

@pecan 3.14159265: Wow...one would figure someone that fancies themselves a writer would realize that individuality beckons preference.

Who's to say the dark knight isn't the best movie of all time to Bob A Everyman in Seaford NY? And who's to say that's wrong?!?

Besides...if the mainstream and freelance media were doing their jobs properly and untainted the blogger might never have existed, except to post stories about dressing up animals.

The one about graphic design is entirely too true. It's really hard to make a decent living when you have student graphic designers doing stuff for free or for unbelievably little money. I've had so many offers to "do this design for us so we can see what kind of work you do, then in the future we will pay you", which of course, there will be no future offers.

Of course, when you find a job that actually pays you well for your work it's absolutely amazing. It's just that these jobs rarely show up.

@shepd: A buddy of mine opened up his own little mobile repair business. People call and he drives over and fixes their computers. He's doing pretty well for himself, aside from it not being a real business with paperwork and taxes and such. He charges something like $40/hour + whatever parts he buys. He started in college doing it on the side then dropped out and is doing it full time.

@pecan 3.14159265: It's interesting that people are so down on freelancing. I was working in a fairly lucrative field after college. Started brainstorming ways to make extra money to pay of my student loans, and came across a "content mill" type of site. I made $8 or so my first month, but kept researching better gigs. Just over a year later I was making substantially more freelance writing than I was at work, so I quit my day job. Now I work at home, or Starbucks, or the library and I make more money than I ever did at a "real job." I have yet to be scammed or have anything stolen from me that actually affected my bottom line. If I can do this, anyone can, because I'm definitely not an amazing writer or anything.

It absolutely feels that nowadays people value "handcrafted" a lot lower than they value "mass-produced." At the very least, people seem to expect to pay mass-produced prices to hand-crafted artwork. They don't really consider how much work is behind something that's only made once.

@Saboth: Honestly, I saw at Walmart last night that they're selling a router installation support service by Cisco/Linksys for $47. I commented to the cashier that one could wait around until someone wanted to buy that and offer to do it for them for $25. He seemed to think that was a worthy idea. I wonder if he'll try that?

@treimel:

Uh huh. And if you want to be a serious stock photographer, you're going to need a camera (a real camera, not your cell phone or a Coolpix) and several lenses, lights, gells, scrims, flashes, batteries, gear cases, and photoshop. You'll be well into 5 figures if you equip yourself correctly.

Word of mouth has been more useful for me getting graphic design work than any of the freelance sites. I signed up for oDesk and saw that many companies were requesting graphic design for cents on the hour and were successfully finding people in countries who will work for that little to do their jobs.

@SexCpotatoes: Actually, the legal profession is hurting really bad these days. The lawyers who DO have work are still making bank, but a lot of lawyers are high and dry and there are still more pouring into the workforce. With hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to pay back.

@bombhand: Well, there's handcrafted and then there's crap your neighbor makes. I'll gladly pay more for handpainted, glass or ceramic Christmas ornaments. I love the detail and the craftsmanship that goes into things like that. I won't buy an ornament that is made of felt glued to popsicle sticks, no matter how cheap.