By Holly Reisem Hanna I remember the first time I left my blog all alone. We were going on a cruise ship for a seven-night vacation, and I decided to totally disconnect since the ship's internet speed is known for being notoriously slow. My blog was only a couple of years old, so at the […]
The post What to Do With Your Blog While You’re on Vacation appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.
Do you work hard just to squeeze in a week of vacation once or twice each year? That’s better than nothing, although some might argue these rushed trips make you more of a tourist versus a traveler. And either way, if you truly love to travel, a week or two each year might not be enough, right?
So if you find yourself always daydreaming about your next travel destination, you might want to consider getting a different job — one that lets you travel. There are two types to consider:
If you want a solid, predictable income, you’ll probably want the first kind. If you want more variety, you budget well and you like occasional long stretches between jobs, the second kind might be more appealing. We’ll look at a few options from both categories in this list of jobs for travelers.
As a flight attendant, you get to travel the world or the country, depending on the airline. But how much time you’ll actually have to explore those exotic destinations can vary. Talk to attendants at your target airlines to see where they typically go and how long they get to stay between flights.
If you have customer service experience, you might be hired with just a high school diploma or GED, but airlines prefer applicants with some college. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the median annual wage of flight attendants is $48,500.
Now for the bad news: Projections show slower-than-average job growth in the future.
If you like the idea of having two- or three-day stays in cities around the country or the world, but want a better paycheck than a flight attendant gets, learn to fly! Apply to airlines that have routes servicing the places you want to see.
This is the highest-paid position on our list: The median wage for airline pilots is $105,720. Future job growth for commercial pilots is expected to remain about average for years to come.
As a geologist for an oil company, you usually travel extensively, going anywhere in the world where there might be oil. The same is true when you work for mining companies. You might be looking for gold in Brazil one month and copper in China the next month.
This job has the second-highest pay of those on our list. The BLS includes it in the category of “geoscientist” and says the median annual wage is $89,780. It also notes that employment growth for these positions is expected to be faster than average. Typically you’ll need at least a bachelor’s degree to be hired.
Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) provides a way to travel to many destinations, but usually for long stays. LanguageCorps.com says their teachers get four weeks of training overseas and often have six-month contracts, although some assignments are shorter. Use a job site like Indeed.com to search for offerings in specific countries. Enter “TESL” and or “TESOL” (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and under “where” enter the name of the country. You may get referred to a country-specific job search site.
You might find jobs just because you are a native English speaker, but GoAbroad.com says “the vast majority of employers who are offering a reasonable salary and good working conditions now expect their teachers to possess some form of qualification.” The standard qualification is a TEFL certificate, which you can get through online training. Some programs start for under $200. Whether or not you’ll also need a college degree varies by employer.
Want to travel the oceans of the world, from Alaska to the Mediterranean Sea? Get a job on a cruise ship. Here are just a few of the many different positions you might find onboard, according to CruiseShipJob.com:
There are more cruise locations than you might imagine. My brother worked briefly on a day-cruise boat in Japan, and my neighbor used to work on a ship that traveled through Antarctic waters seasonally.
The qualifications and pay vary by position, of course. As a former blackjack dealer, I know a few casino workers who did well on cruises that left out of Florida. You can find these positions posted on CruiseShipJob.com as well as general job websites.
The opportunities for working in new locales are almost endless if you’re a bartender. It’s one of those positions that offers relatively high-pay (in the right place), and yet has high turnover. The latter means you can find a job almost anywhere if you have experience and keep applying. To travel, try to tend bar on a cruise ship or just pick your favorite places on the map and go find a job for a few months.
How much you make depends on where you work, which shifts you get and how good you are at getting tips. Bartender Mike Kopczynski, who tells me he’s tended bar in five different states, made more than $760 in one epic shift at a Margaritaville restaurant in Glendale, Arizona.
The hours are long and sometimes lonely, but as a long-haul trucker, you definitely get to see the country. NationalTruckDrivingJobs.com lists job openings by state and for different categories, including tanker jobs, flatbed jobs and several more. They even have a special section for drivers who have graduated a trucking school but have no experience.
The median wage for tractor-trailer truck drivers is $41,340 per year, but you can expect that figure to grow as the current driver shortage gets worse. Right now, the industry needs tens of thousands of truck drivers, and the shortage may increase to more than 240,000 drivers in the years to come, reports Reuters.com.
If you want to travel to foreign lands and help people while you’re there, joining the Peace Corps may be ideal. You normally sign up for a two-year stint, and you may spend much of that time in one location, so this is not a way to “see the sights” as much as a way to get to know another part of the world.
This is a volunteer position, but you do get pay and benefits, and a great entry on your resume. In addition to a living expense stipend you receive while in the Peace Corps, you get health care, student loan help and a readjustment allowance of more than $8,000 when you finish your 27-month assignment.
If you’re working in healthcare, you have a number of opportunities for travel. For example, my friend works as a physical therapist for a company that assigns her to different locations around the county for a few months at a time. But nurses are perhaps the most in-demand for traveling positions.
TravelNursing.org lists positions for registered nurses all over the country, and says “most travel nursing jobs last between 8-26 weeks, with the majority of the positions being offered for 13 week terms.” They say you can make up to about $10,000 per month, and you choose the location. Good benefits are the norm and can include free housing during your assignment.
“America’s freight railroads expect to hire more than 15,000 people in 2015,” says the Association of American Railroads (AAR). Their website lists rail companies that hire for positions “ranging from engineering and dispatching, to law enforcement, information technology, industrial development, and more.” They’re based in cities from Alaska to Florida, but if you get the right position, you’ll be traveling all over.
The AAR says, “Freight rail employee compensation, including benefits, averages $109,700 per year.” That average includes a lot of different positions, so the ones that are on the trains or require frequent travel may not pay anywhere near that much.
Here are a few more online resources to help you find jobs that involve traveling:
Finally, in addition to jobs, freelance opportunities allow you to work from anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection. The Penny Hoarder has covered many of these over the years, including freelance blogging, slogan writing, travel photography and more.
Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
A friend told me he charged homeowners $20 to paint house numbers on their curbs, and paid college students $10 per hour to do the painting. Some of his employees did 15 jobs each day. My first question, as he explained his business, was why they stuck around for $10 per hour.
Doing a dozen jobs on their own, they — or you — could make $220 per day painting house numbers on curbs (and yes, that’s after expenses).
This wouldn’t be a difficult business to start. You can buy stencils, tape and spray paint and be in business an hour from now for under $30. Or buy a starter curb painting kit for about $19 from an online supply company.
Different curb painters use different techniques, but the basic routine is simple:
1. Use a wire brush to clean the curb.
2. Apply masking tape to create a rectangular background area.
3. Spray paint the background area white.
4. Use stencils taped together to spray paint black house numbers.
You can watch examples in curb-painting videos on YouTube. In addition to tape, a piece of cardboard with a rectangle cut out makes painting the background easy. Some painters use brass number stencils that slide together, but they work best on flat surfaces; on a curved curb you’ll probably want the more flexible stencils. Some curb painters paint each digit by hand.
What kind of paint should you use? At least one curb painter recommends Rustoleum Flat Protective Enamel spray paint, but many different types work. My friend recommended using a more expensive reflective paint.
Some painters might take fifteen minutes to complete a job, while others may do the whole job in a few minutes. Speed matters if you want to make a couple hundred dollars in a day. Aim for fifteen minutes or less, including the time talking to the homeowner.
Everyone with a curb should have a house number on it so firefighters and ambulance drivers can find the right home easily. And any pizza delivery driver will tell you that people regularly get their pizza late because the driver can’t see their address.
That’s your sales pitch. Practice it, along with your painting skills, on friends and family, perhaps for a discounted rate. Then you’re ready to go door-to-door.
In time, you’ll get better at choosing where and when to look for customers. If you hear “no” two dozen times in a row, you likely need to try a new neighborhood (or work on your pitch).
Look for areas where most homes already have addresses painted on the curbs. These are people who are already sold on the concept and, since even good paints only last about five years, many will have faded numbers that need repainting.
People may hesitate to hire you because they’ve heard of curb painting scams. These involve shady operators who do fast, sloppy work or even paint without permission and then intimidate homeowners into paying. Show photos of your work to prospective customers, and make it clear that they can approve the finished work before paying you.
If your city requires a permit, get one — they’re usually inexpensive. Liability insurance might be a good idea (and is required in some cities) if you have a lot of assets to protect, just in case you cause an accident while working on the curb. A general liability policy for a sole proprietor can be bought for as little as $500 annually, according to Trusted Choice Insurance.
You can work for cash, but these days you might run into people who don’t have $20 on them. One solution is to get a Square card reader for your smartphone. Square will take 2.75% of each charge, or 55 cents of every $20 sale.
Before you start your day, make sure you have more than enough tape, paint and extra stencils. A long break to run across town for supplies can really knock down your revenue for the day.
If you enjoy painting, why not consider moving up from the curb into painting houses or murals?
You can keep your startup costs low in this business. Even a permit and insurance, if you need them, will cost you only a few hundred dollars. That works out to an ongoing expense of less than $10 or $12 per week.
With low operating expenses as well, most of your income will be profit. Apart from a dollar’s worth of tape and paint for each job, your biggest expense will probably be gas for your car. If you do 10 jobs for $20 each, you might have expenses of only $20 for the day, leaving a profit of $180.
One more idea: ask a local homeowner’s association to allow you to offer a discount to every homeowner in the neighborhood by way of a flyer on doors or a mention in the community newsletter. If you can line up 50 jobs, you could knock them out in a two days at $15 each, for a profit of about $700.
Your Turn: Have you painted your house number on your own curb? Would you turn it into a business?
Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
Freedom to set your own day — that’s part of the stuff dream jobs are made of.
If you’re looking for work that’s big on autonomy and flexibility and doesn’t require a boss staring over your shoulder, a work-from-home position may be just the thing for you.
We’ve come across nine remote positions, ranging from customer service jobs to a gaming consultant gig to an online clothing stylist role.
These jobs won’t be around forever, so if one seems like the perfect fit for you, apply today.
Travel management company Frosch is looking for an online support specialist to assist customers with online travel booking. You’ll help with online booking tools and demos and work to resolve any technical issues that might occur.
Travel agent experience is required, as is working knowledge of programs and systems like Concur, Deem, Sabre and Apollo.
This job listing did not mention the starting salary, but it comes with medical, dental and vision insurance, plus other benefits like gym reimbursement and an employee recognition program. The hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Central Standard Time.
Click here to apply.
Nonprofit Megaphone is looking for a remote sales associate to connect with nonprofit organizations to get them to sign up for marketing services.
Previous sales experience is desired for this position, and a bachelor’s degree is required.
This is a commission-based job, and pay starts at $10 an hour. According to the job listing, it’s likely to start off as part-time opportunity that can grow into a full-time one.
To apply, see here.
Sutherland Global Services has an opening for a part-time gaming consultant to provide customer support for a gaming platform.
The company is looking for an experienced gamer or someone with a background in gaming technical support who also can deliver great customer service. You’ll need a computer monitor, headset and internet access for this remote position, but Sutherland will provide you with a computer with phone technology.
The pay for this position isn’t listed in the job announcement, but you can be eligible to receive a performance-based incentive bonus after training and one month on the job. This is a part-time opportunity that’ll require between 20 and 29 hours a week.
Learn more about this job and apply here.
Infinity Contact is looking for a customer service representative who can work remotely, engaging with 60 to 100 customers daily over the phone or via the internet.
You’ll need at least one year of customer service or technical support experience and be proficient in using call center software.
The job listing on Indeed notes that the salary range for this position is $20,800 to $40,000. Work shifts will be scheduled between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m., Pacific Standard Time.
You can apply here or via Indeed here.
Pest control startup Slingshot is looking to hire a customer service representative to help customers schedule appointments and connect with pest specialists.
Though this is a work-from-home job, the company will require this employee to live within 1.5 hours from its base in Orem, Utah. The customer service representative can choose to work from the office if desired.
The pay starts at $10, plus you can earn commission. Benefits include healthcare insurance, paid time off and a 401(k) match. This is a full-time gig, with at least 35 hours a week, including some weekends and holidays.
Check here to apply for this job.
Rev-Ignition Corporation is hiring a remote patient account call center representative.
You’ll answer calls, schedule appointments, respond to patient questions, check insurance eligibility, collect patient payments and document health records electronically.
The company is looking for someone with medical billing experience who has worked in a high-volume environment. Being a bilingual English-Spanish speaker is a plus.
The pay for this position is not listed but medical, dental and vision benefits are included. This job may include some evening and weekend hours.
Click here to apply.
Inventory Lab, which provides innovative solutions for online sellers, is hiring a remote “customer champion” to respond virtually to custome concerns regarding its app.
This customer service position requires responding to over 40 emails or live chats a day. The company is looking for a candidate who has excellent customer service and computer skills, is flexible and enjoys shopping on Amazon.
The pay range for this job is $33,000 to $35,000 a year plus health, vision and dental insurance and a 401(k) match. Other perks include fitness reimbursement and a home office allowance.
Though this job is remote, the company does require hirees to travel for a four-day in-person training.
This is a full-time role working Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.
To apply, click here.
The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit technology trade association, is looking for a full-time IT helpdesk technician to support its staff. Candidates can be based anywhere within the U.S., United Kingdom or Canada.
For this position, you’ll need an associate’s degree or higher in computer science or a related field and experience with management of and best practices for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows desktop.
The pay is not listed in the job description but benefits include health insurance, unlimited paid time off and a 401(k) match.
Click here to apply.
Bombfell, a men’s personal stylist clothing subscription company, is looking for a part-time men’s online stylist to analyze clients’ wardrobe needs and send them a personalized wardrobe selection every month via the company’s online styling platform.
The company is looking for candidates with a four-year degree and one to two years of fashion experience.
While this is a remote position, this job requires two days of training in New York City and mandatory meetings twice a month on location.
The job listing for this position does not include salary information, but the benefits include a 30% employee discount. You’ll work at least 20 hours a week and can set you own hours each week, but you will need to work for at least one hour Monday through Friday.
To apply, click here.
Want to be the first to know about other fun and interesting jobs like this? Like The Penny Hoarder Jobs on Facebook to stay in the loop!
Nicole Dow is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
Okay, so you didn’t finish college — or maybe you discovered that your degree in Mongolian literature just isn’t that marketable. What can you do?
It is possible to make a decent living without a college degree. Here are seven options that don’t require a single college class.
Some waiters in top restaurants in New York make over $100,000 annually, suggests an article in the Wall Street Journal. The key is to get experience where you can, then find work in busy, expensive restaurants. With an average tip of 19% of the bill in the U.S., you can do well serving a couple dozen $100 meals every shift.
Bartending is another job with big tip potential. Bartender Mike Kopczynski says he’s made as much as $700 in tips in one day working at a Margaritaville restaurant in Glendale, Arizona. Here are some other tipped positions you might consider:
Brooks O’Hara, an executive for a company that operates 142 car dealerships, says they have a salesman who makes $300,000 per year selling cars (hint: sell expensive models).
Working only on commission (common in car sales) is tough, but if you think you have what it takes, here are a few more commission-based jobs that allow you to get paid for performance:
Some jobs are so dirty or dangerous that employers have to pay more to attract employees. That’s why you can make $15,000 per month crab fishing in Alaska.
With dirty jobs, it also helps to have a union. That’s how Seattle trash collectors made over $100,000 per year in 2010. Here are some other dirty and dangerous jobs that can pay decently and do not require a college degree:
Boom towns come and go, but while the gold or oil (or whatever causes the growth) lasts, the jobs usually pay well. The Bakken oil formation is responsible for boom towns in North Dakota, where, in 2014, Walmart paid $17.50 per hour to starting employees. In 2011, you could make $25 per hour as a waiter in the area, and $80,000 annually for driving a truck, according to CNN.
Keen to move to North Dakota? Check out the booming towns of Williston, Watford City, Dickinson and Belfield.
Boom towns are best for single young people who are willing to live in “alternative housing.” While a 2014 report put the average wage in the Williston area at over $77,000, rent for new housing may have been the highest in the country at that time. Many new residents slept in their cars.
Online jobs don’t always pay a lot, but when working at home you have no commuting time or expenses. For example, you can make up to $12 per hour as a search engine evaluator without even getting out of your pajamas.
Here are three more online positions you might consider:
More than 50% of front-line fast food workers get some sort of government assistance, according to some reports. These are not great jobs — unless you use them for the purpose of getting better positions. For example, when I was young, I worked in fast food for six weeks before my first promotion. Within three months I was offered a management position. I didn’t even have a high school diploma at the time.
In an interview, McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson pointed out that 40% of the company’s executives started out as hourly employees, and over 50% of franchise owners started as hourly help. Here are some other jobs that do not require a degree and might offer upward mobility:
Perhaps the best way to get past the problem of not having formal credentials is to forget about getting a job and start a business. Being smart helps, but a college degree is not required.
You don’t even need a high school diploma. Consider these successful high school dropouts that have been profiled on Forbes and Business Insider:
Add successful college dropouts, and the list gets much longer (and includes Bill Gates).
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
The FTSE hit a new all-time high this morning (15 May) after rallying oil prices and Chinese infrastructure demand pushed the London share index to 7458.
Sure, going to the dentist is scary.
Who wants sharp metal objects jammed inside their mouth? Or those suction things — yikes! It’s no wonder a lot of us avoid the annual appointment, despite common recommendations to regularly visit the dentist.
What’s worse, though? The cost of going to the dentist.
About one in four kids under the age of 10 have untreated cavities or tooth decay.
And 34% of low-income adults over 65 are missing teeth — that’s compared with 13% of the older adults living above the poverty line.
A routine exam and cleaning costs around $150 without insurance. Multiply that by the recommended two visits per year and that’s about $300 per year for each person in your household.
That can quickly add up to thousands of dollars.
When the kids need braces, you’re looking at $3,000-7,000 for metal braces and up for more discreet options like Invisalign.
Your health plan or Medicaid may cover part of the cost of braces for children under 18. If you pay out-of-pocket, the cost could be tax deductible.
But when none of these options are available, what’s your plan? You may not be able to cover thousands of dollars out-of-pocket, but you still want the best dental care possible for your kids and yourself.
Dentists and orthodontists know this. They also know their services are often not covered well by insurance and are cost-prohibitive for many families. They’ve come together in a lot of ways to provide care to those in need.
Though you’ll see some care for adults, most subsidized or free dental care exists to help children from low-income families.
These services help cover major costs like braces, or smaller ones like the semi-annual check-up your kids need to maintain healthy teeth.
Smiles Change Lives offers braces to kids between ages 10-18. You’ll be responsible for a non-refundable $30 application fee and an out-of-pocket $650 for the braces.
Financial qualifications for SCL may be tough for some families. A family of four, for example, must have a household income of less than $48,500 (the number varies for areas of the country with higher costs of living).
In addition to the household income and age requirements, you’ll need a family dentist to complete a referral form that confirms good oral hygiene, no unfilled cavities and no more than four remaining baby teeth.
This must be based on a dental exam no more than 30 days prior to the application date.
Of course, this means before qualifying for subsidized orthodontic services, you’ll either need to be able to afford a dental exam or have insurance coverage for one. If you can’t afford this either, keep reading.
We’ve found services to assist with that, too.
The American Association of Orthodontists provides a list of Donated Orthodontic Services. It’s limited to select states, but these provide care to children who don’t have insurance coverage or don’t qualify for assistance.
They serve residents in nine U.S. states:
The Smile for a Lifetime Foundation is a non-profit, charitable organization that provides orthodontic treatment for underserved patients. The foundation is comprised of local chapters, each headed by a Board of Directors that selects individuals who qualify for assistance.
The requirements and application process vary by provider. To apply, search for providers in your area. Find the Smile for a Lifetime logo on the provider’s website to view their application requirements and process.
Here are examples of two providers in my area in Florida — you can see the differences in their processes:
Started in St Louis in 2002, Give Kids a Smile was adopted by the American Dental Association and now is a national program. The organization brings volunteers and dental professionals together to provide care and education to underserved children.
A variety of projects at schools and clinics around the country provide services including cleanings, exams, fluoride treatments, sealants, oral surgery and x-rays.
National GKAS Day is the first Friday in February each year. To find participating programs in your state, contact your local dental society.
Advantage Smiles for Kids (ASK) aims to improve the quality of life for low-income, at-risk children in Oregon and Idaho.
The organization serves children ages 10-16 with a “high aesthetic need for braces” — kids who are being teased or bullied because of the way their teeth look.
This program is referral-only and there’s no online application. Read the full eligibility requirements: If you think your child qualifies, give them a call.
To encourage those receiving assistance to “pay it forward”, ASK requires that the child receiving orthodontic care volunteer in their community each month. The parent/guardian pays $25 per month toward the cost of braces.
As its name suggests, these services are only available in San Diego. But they’re worth a look if you’re in the area.
The Children’s Dental Health Association funds a local Children’s Dental Health Center. Their School-Based Program also visits local low-income schools to provide exams, screenings and sealants to children on-site.
Many low-income parents simply opt out of dental care for themselves. Instead, they put their energy and dollars into finding assistance or paying out-of-pocket for their children’s care.
But your teeth need care, too!
Dental and orthodontic assistance for adults can be hard to come by, but it exists. Check for programs in your state, and see if either of these are a fit:
The Dental Lifeline Network’s national Donated Dental Services serves low-income people who have a disability, are elderly or are medically fragile (a dental condition is preventing them from receiving medical care).
The donated services cover oral care, dentures, bridges, crowns and other tooth repair. Qualification requirements and availability of services vary by state. Check to ensure you qualify and that the organization is accepting applications in your state and county.
If free services aren’t available in your area, or you don’t qualify for subsidized care, a discount dental plan could save you a lot of money.
For dental care without insurance, look at DentalPlans.com. The site doesn’t provide free services or insurance coverage; instead it allows you to receive discounted dental care.
For an annual membership fee of $79.95, you’ll get a 10 to 60% discount on most dental services. You’ll pay out-of-pocket for the services, but much less than without the plan.
If you haven’t found what you need here, your state might offer additional programs. Check this list from the AAO to find out what’s available in your state.
When your only option is to pay out-of-pocket, you can visit nearby dental schools for discounted services.
After years of training, students act as apprentices under the supervision of professional dentists and orthodontists to perform dental procedures, just like a private practice.
Find an accredited dental school near you.
With shifting health care coverage and many of us leaning toward self-employment, affordable dental and orthodontic care is increasingly difficult to come by.
Don’t let that stop you!
Check out the available resources your area to see what is available and get the care you need for your family.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a Staff Writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, and she hasn’t seen a dentist in nine years because of a lack of insurance coverage.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
Weddings are expensive. Some people might even say they’re an unwise waste of money… not me, of course. I’m all for celebrating love and commitment.
It’s just, you know, some people see a wedding invitation as an invoice for the cost of getting gussied up, buying a gift, traveling somewhere and giving up a weekend that would otherwise be spent on a side hustle (i.e. catching up on “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.”)
For those people who are worried about dropping thousands of dollars to attend friends’ and family members’ weddings this year, here are some simple ways to cut your costs and still enjoy the love and commitment.
Costs really add up when you start to throw in a bachelor or bachelorette party, a wedding shower (another gift?!), pre-wedding dinner (When did those open to the public?) and morning-after brunch (Yeah, the newlyweds really wanted to hop out of bed for brekky with Aunt Ida.).
If you’re strapped for cash, politely decline invitations to these peripheral events. Make your priority enjoying the wedding, and the couple will, ideally, understand.
The nerve of your closest friends to fall in love all over the country (or world)! Now your support for their union involves vacation days, airfare and hotel rooms. That was so not in the pact you made when you were 6.
If the wedding involves a lengthy trek, use these tips to save money flying or take a frugal road trip.
You can also save a bundle just by splitting expenses with fellow wedding guests. Go halfsies on a hotel room and/or rental car to save hundreds.
No one wants to be the guy who decided to “casual Friday” the wedding reception. You’ll ruin all the photos. #weddingselfies4lyfe
You can be frugal and still look fabulous.
Try renting a designer dress for a fraction of the price to buy. Or start a coalition with other frequent wedding-goers to swap outfits.
If you want to splurge for a killer garment, try selling it after the wedding.
If you get regular haircuts, manicures or pedicures, schedule them strategically to align with weddings. Or, do your own. You can nail a French tip with just a rubber band!
If you’re stuck with just one reliable outfit for the season, switch up your style with different jewelry and hair styles to avoid looking like you were Photoshopped from one wedding photo to the next.
It’s 2017. Chances are the happy couple has been living together for months or years, and they’re set for china, toasters and “hers and hers” bath towels.
Instead, put your heart into a gift that honors their relationship and helps them remember their special day for years to come.
Check out these 10 simple homemade gift ideas for inspiration.
It’s quite an honor to stand beside your best friends as they tie the knot. It’s also quite a strain on your wallet.
Here’s how one serial bridesmaid saves more than $500 on her friends’ special days — did you know you could rent bridesmaid dresses?
Want the freedom to spend what you want at the party? Earn extra money while everyone else gets married!
Take advantage of the season’s spendthrifts by raking in cash through photography, artwork, hair and makeup, music and more.
BTW, skip crowdfunding your wedding trip — if you’re attending tons of weddings, the people in your inner circle are probably doing the same.
I’m not saying I think it’s incredibly annoying when friends post on Facebook asking for money to attend a voluntary party for an outdated tradition by people they hardly like… but, you know, some people might.
Dana Sitar (@danasitar) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s written for Huffington Post, Entrepreneur.com, Writer’s Digest and more, attempting humor wherever it’s allowed (and sometimes where it’s not).
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
History’s largest cyberattack is working its way around the world, and it’s looking for you.
The ransomware virus “WannaCry” spread across much of Asia and the United Kingdom over the weekend.
But before you assume only tech novices and the clueless click on links that allow viruses to infiltrate your computer, be warned: you don’t need to make such a mistake to be victim of this ransomware.
“There’s no user interaction required. You just have to have a vulnerable system and it’s gonna find you,” Adam Kujawa, director of malware intelligence for Malwarebytes, told CNN in an interview.
This attack doesn’t care who you are — it only cares how old your Windows system is. WannaCry freezes your computer, inserts a pop-up to alert you your files have been encrypted and demands a payment of $300 to $600 via bitcoin before it vaporizes all your data, NBC News explains.
For the British government’s National Health Service, that means computers hit by the ransomware caused thousands of canceled appointments and operations, NBC News reported.
Major corporations like FedEx have also been affected by the attack.
First and foremost, make sure your Windows software is up to date.
NBC News notes that Microsoft recently released a patch to protect Windows computers, but many large corporations may not have ensured its employees installed the patch on their workstations.
If you back up your data with an external hard drive or cloud service, now would be a great time to do so.
Meanwhile, CNN reports the malware is still spreading. Better call mom and dad — and your best friend, and your boss and everyone, please — and make sure they installed the latest security update.
Lisa Rowan is a writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
Neil Woodford has made portfolio changes to his Woodford Equity Income fund - which is a Moneywise First 50 Fund - dropping GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and adding Lloyds to the portfolio, as well as stocks including housebuilders and property.
Earning five bucks at a time may not sound like much, but those little sales can add up to thousands of dollars.
That’s the idea behind Fiverr, an online platform where users sell their products and services for $5 each. Fiverr says users create 4,000 new listings, or gigs, every day.
Gigs range from the standard data entry and research tasks to the truly out-there. For example, as I write this, sellers in the “Fun & Lifestyle” section are offering:
If you don’t want to write advertising slogans on your belly or scare someone’s friend, offer one of the thousands of more ordinary products and services, like:
The stories told in the Fiverr forum and elsewhere suggest a wide variety of experiences ranging from members who haven’t sold a thing after months of trying, to others who claim to have made $1 million from Fiverr.
An article about Fiverr on the U.S. News website features Mark Mason, a semi-retired man from Chicago who offers business services like writing marketing materials and makes $150 to $300 per day for a few hours of work on his gigs. The same article explains how college student Morissa Schwartz has made $7,500 in the last year by offering copyediting services.
If you think some gigs are too much work for the money, you’re right. In fact, you don’t even make the full $5 for a sale. After Fiverr takes its 20% and you pay 2% to have your money transferred to PayPal, you’re really only making $3.92 per $5 sale.
To be successful, you need to find a product or service that costs almost nothing to provide and takes only a few minutes of your time to create and deliver. We’ll look at some examples in a moment, but first let’s look at another way to make gigs worth your time.
After you’ve made some sales, work to become a Level One, Pro League and Rockstar seller. At each new level you get extra selling tools, like the ability to offer additional options and add-on services. For example, if your $5 gig is a video about the town where you live, aimed at people moving there, for an extra $40, you could spend two hours driving around and videotaping anything the customer wants to know more about.
At the moment, the maximum additional charge for an extra is $100, but depending on your gig, you might also be able to get customers to buy from you again. For example, I’ve bought covers for my ebooks on Fiverr for $15 and returned several times to the same graphic artist.
To climb the Levels, you’ll need to get positive reviews, deliver on time, respond quickly and politely to customer questions, and follow the rules. Some members have achieved Level One status after only one month and 10 sales.
While selling gig extras is one of the best ways to increase your earnings on Fiverr, some products and services make sense even for $3.92 — what you net from a $5 gig.
For example, in two months Martin Buckley made $900 selling an ebook on Fiverr. It makes sense to sell something that has zero production cost and only takes a minute to deliver, but in addition to making $900 from that one book, Buckley had another technique: He promoted other books he was selling on Fiverr within this ebook! It pays to use every trick you can to maximize your per-customer income.
Here are some other online side jobs to consider:
Use your imagination to come up with something of real value. For example, one offer says, “I will answer 10 questions about Italy.” Most of us know enough about the place we live to offer a service like that — though I would give the customer an audio file rather than a typed response to make answering quicker.
If you have an unusual career, you could target those who might want to learn more about it by offering a video or PDF file that explains your work and how to get a similar job. Gigs where you sell the same thing over and over — and continue earning with little additional work — are some of the best.
Once you have a plan in mind, promote your service or product wherever you can, including telling your friends, family and contacts, to make enough sales to become a Level One seller — that’s when you can sell gigs in multiples or sell gig extras.
How you market yourself has a huge impact on your potential earnings. Fiverr seller Mary Ingrassia told Business Insider her business really took off when she used her cell phone to make promotional videos with Pickle, her pet bird, and put them on YouTube. She sells graphic designs and says, “Over the past year, it’s grown to five to fifteen orders per day, with people spending different amounts (between $10 and $20). To date, I’ve made $10,000 and the money just keeps growing.”
When you find something that works, try other markets. There are now many websites copying the Fiverr format, with some slight differences. Here are two:
Open a PayPal account to access your earnings. While the debit card Fiverr offers can be cheaper, you’d need to watch out for several fees, including an activation fee, a charge every time you transfer money to it and a $1-$3 fee for each withdrawal.
Just listing your service for sale isn’t enough to make it successful. You need to put it in the right category, post photos and maybe a video, and do some marketing. In the Fiverr forums, members share what has worked or not worked for them. Use this valuable information to help you make the most of your time on Fiverr.
Steve Gillman is the author of “101 Weird Ways to Make Money” and creator of EveryWayToMakeMoney.com. He’s been a repo-man, walking stick carver, search engine evaluator, house flipper, tram driver, process server, mock juror, and roulette croupier, but of more than 100 ways he has made money, writing is his favorite (so far).
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, one of the largest personal finance websites. We help millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. In 2016, Inc. 500 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the No. 1 fastest-growing private media company in the U.S.
If your business is not a brand, it is a commodity.
~Donald Trump
So maybe not everyone is a massive fan of the prez these days, but you can’t deny he knows a thing or two about branding.
And I think we can all agree that online branding is incredibly important.
This is especially true if you’re in an already crowded industry, where being identified as one of the premier brands can literally make or break you.
Gaining a high branded search volume is just one of the ways companies come to prominence and build a strong reputation.
But how do you do this?
How can you increase the number of branded searches your company receives?
In this post, I’m going to cover some fundamental strategies you can use to achieve that objective.
I’m also going to discuss some of the specific benefits of maximizing your branded search volume (besides the obvious benefit of building brand equity).
First things first.
I think it’s a good idea to quickly point out exactly what branded keywords are to make sure we’re on the same page.
Serps.com defines a branded keyword as
any keyword that contains the company name or ‘brand’ that you are working with. If you were the SEO for Pepsi, some ‘branded’ keywords might be, ‘pepsi’, ‘pepsi cola’, pepsi.com’, and so on.
In other words, a branded keyword search includes the name of your brand or some variation of it.
Why should you put the effort into increasing your branded search volume?
Will it really make that big of a difference?
In short, yes. It can have a significant impact.
In fact, Rand Fishkin of Moz, in his Whiteboard Friday last year, discussed the big rewards of influencing branded searches.
Here’s a screenshot of some of the key benefits:
Of course, there are the given benefits of improving your brand-related ranking and increasing conversions.
But what I really found interesting is that gaining more branded search volume can potentially improve your rankings for non-branded queries.
While this was only speculation from Moz, Rand brought up an excellent point.
Here’s another screenshot that explains his logic:
And this logic totally makes sense to me.
If you can get your brand to appear in a high volume of searches along with a particular unbranded phrase, it’s reasonable to think that Google could associate your brand with that phrase and deem it highly relevant.
In turn, your rankings could improve across the board.
The bottom line here is that receiving a large number of branded searches is a very good thing and can provide your company with a major boost on many levels.
Do everything possible to increase your volume of branded searches.
The way I see it, the following strategies are your best bet for accomplishing this.
Rand makes another great point in his Whiteboard Friday video mentioned above.
According to him,
We’re going to have to work pretty cross-departmentally in our marketing teams to be able to make this happen because some of the best tactics require things that SEO doesn’t always own and control entirely.
In other words, it’s important to branch out and spread your tentacles to several different areas of marketing.
Some of which aren’t even online.
Here are some ways you can do that.
Let me ask you a question.
What’s the most straightforward way to get more people to search for your brand on Google?
It’s simple.
Make them curious about your brand so they take the time to do a branded search.
But the bigger question is: “How do you create curiosity?”
That’s where things start to get a little tricky.
Rand actually suggests using old school offline techniques like TV, print, billboards, etc.
And these are totally viable outlets for brands with deep pockets.
But this approach probably isn’t suitable for smaller businesses with a shoestring budget.
However, there are two techniques that can work for almost any company.
One is simply word-of-mouth marketing.
In fact, a survey by Visible Experts listed referrals/recommendations as the number one offline medium for obtaining leads.
It’s also important to note that according to Nielsen, recommendations are still the number one way to build trust.
If you can create brand advocates that willingly spread the word about your business, the world is your oyster, and branded searches are practically guaranteed to follow.
That’s why I recommend putting a lot of effort into exceeding customer expectations, providing great customer service, etc. to create brand advocates.
You may even want to create a formal referral program to catalyze things.
Another avenue to explore is speaking engagements.
The same study I mentioned earlier from Visible Experts states that speaking engagements are just behind referrals and the second best way to build leads.
I realize public speaking isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.
But it’s definitely an effective way to generate buzz and create curiosity.
Just picture it.
You speak at a local event in front of a few hundred people.
Let’s then say half of the attendees want to learn more about your brand and search for you on Google.
Voila! You’ve just increased your branded search volume considerably.
Not to mention, you’re probably going to generate a sizable number of highly-qualified leads as well as directly boost your brand equity.
Just be sure to suggest to the attendees to check out your brand.
If you’re interested in finding speaking engagements, refer to this guide for more details.
All right, enough of this offline stuff.
Let’s bring it back to the digital realm.
You probably already know I’m a huge proponent of guest-posting.
In my opinion, it’s hands down one of the best inbound marketing techniques and is ideal for increasing brand visibility.
For example, in one of my articles on NeilPatel.com, I mention Bryan Harris, who built a full-time business generating over $15,000 a month with a single guest post on Okdork.
I also think this can hold the key to gaining more branded search volume to your website as well.
Here’s the scenario.
You land a couple of guest-blogging opportunities for online publications with significant followings.
You write some killer content that intrigues your audience and sparks curiosity about your company.
Now you might be asking, “Wouldn’t readers just click on the link to my site if they were interested in learning more rather than actually performing a search?”
Touché. That’s a good point.
And it’s true that a sizable portion of readers will access your site this way.
That’s not a bad thing, and it will supply you with both quality traffic and leads.
However, it’s not directly contributing to a flood of branded searches for you.
But I think it’s fair to say that a respectable number of people will want to learn more about you through a search.
This is especially true if you crush it and create a really engaging guest post.
I know I’ve turned to Google for more info after reading some intriguing guest posts.
If you want to learn more about the process of guest blogging, I recommend checking out this guide from Backlinko.
It will definitely steer you in the right direction.
Now, my last point.
I think it’s fair to say that receiving brand mentions (especially from big name influencers) should have a positive impact on your branded search volume.
Let’s say one of the top bloggers or experts in your industry gives your company a shout out.
All of a sudden, there’s going to be a significant number of people wanting to know more about you.
Bam! This should spark an increase in Google searches.
Of course, you can’t just snap your fingers and get game-changing brand mentions.
But there are two specific strategies that can greatly help.
One is to create content that influencers will link to.
This is an exhaustive topic that I can’t adequately cover here, but you can learn all the details in this post.
The other strategy is to engage in a straight up influencer marketing campaign.
It can not only increase branded searches but also have a profound impact on your overall marketing efforts.
In fact, “40 percent of people say they’ve purchased an item online after seeing it used by an influencer on Instagram, Twitter, Vine or YouTube.”
I suggest checking out this post from Hootsuite for the skinny on influencer marketing.
When you boil it all down, your objective is very simple.
Get people to search for your company on Google.
This is largely achieved by creating curiosity so that people can’t help but feel compelled to search for your brand.
One of the things I find interesting about this technique is that it’s an aspect of SEO that usually requires a mix of traditional, offline techniques and newer, strictly digital ones to work.
By branching out in different directions to create intrigue and curiosity about your brand across the board, you can gain more branded searches to your website and reap a host of rewards in return.
What motivates you to search for a brand online? What success have you had in increasing your branded search volume?
