New ways to make a bundle....

[justme]

These days, there are an amazing number of ways to earn extra money – we're talking big bucks
These days, there are an amazing number of ways to earn extra money – we're talking big bucks. You could be an eBay assistant, do some mystery shopping, give parties or twist balloons. Here are some examples:

Sell for Others
Selling your own stuff on eBay could give you additional cash but selling other people's stuff is where the real money is. This eBay service is still not popular across Asia but Americans and Europeans have already earned huge money selling their neighbours', friends' and relatives' items online. Rather than finding wholesale items to sell on eBay, help others sell their stuff and take a cut! Christopher Spencer, author of ''The eBay Entrepreneur'' and an instructor with the company's training programme, had a job as a celebrity manager when he started selling on eBay as a hobby in 1998. By 2001, he had opened a store where people could drop off their items. Now he's a full-timer and forecasts he will handle at least $500,000 to $750,000 in sales this year.
Spencer's company charges a fee of 38 per cent per sale. Assistants set their own rates, which can vary from five per cent for selling a vehicle to as much as 50 per cent for selling low-priced merchandise like houseware. To find out what others in your city are getting, go to ebay.com/tahub.
You don't have to start big. You do have to network and promote yourself. Try selling your own items first (you'll need a camera to photograph them). Write detailed descriptions and add a little razzle-dazzle.
Spencer says a person working at home could eventually list 25 or more items a day, generating $2000 or more in monthly income, depending on how much time is invested. The key, he believes, is the ability to find high-quality products to sell, whether it's Gucci handbags or farm equipment.

Lend Assistance
If you've got word processing, bookkeeping, transcription, public relations or website design skills, you may want to try life as a virtual assistant. That broad title refers to people who render various outsourcing services to business owners and professionals like doctors and lawyers, usually in the field of administrative support and other related services, says 36-year-old Filipino virtual assistant Jonathan Gabriel of Distant Support Virtual Assistants (distantsupport.com). ''The virtual assistant industry is very young and a lot of business owners still do not know that they can outsource some of their work online,'' says Gabriel. ''Is there a lot of work waiting for VAs? The answer would be a definitive yes.''
Though some work might require daytime hours, much of it can be done at night or on the weekend. Hourly rates range from $35 for basic transcribing to up to $100 for Web design. Depending on how many clients or projects they handle, VAs can earn anywhere from $50 to $5000 a month, says Gabriel.
Online forums and websites can be good places to gather how-to information from experienced assistants. Gabriel suggests the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce Forum (virtualassistantnetworking.com/forum) and Virtual Assistant
Networking Association Forum (mediamage.com/cvaforum).

Throw a Party!
Are you patient, organised and outgoing? If so, you could join the estimated 58 million people worldwide who sell products at home-based parties and person to person. In Malaysia alone, 150,000 indivi-duals sell Tupperware products through house parties and direct sales calls. Hot trends in direct sales include wine, gardening tools and scrapbooking. And companies like Tupperware offer kitchen and dining ware and other products for the home.
Julia Hiew, national sales manager of Tupperware for Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore says someone who is into the business for at least a year can earn a monthly pay of $900. But the more effort you put in, the more money you earn, like in the case of Wan Lye Duan, one of Malaysia's top Tupperware dealers, who earns an average of $10,000 each month.
A sizable percentage of Tupperware's dealers in Asia are men, says Hiew. Most Asian men are breadwinners, she says, and her company aims to help them augment their income by becoming a direct seller. For a sampling of other opportunities, check out the Direct Selling Association's website (dsa.org).

Shop for Perks
Imagine, mystery-shopping firms hire anonymous shoppers to purchase a vendor's product or try out a service, and then report to management on their experience. Mystery shoppers are only given a small amount of money per visit to cover their expenses and effort, says Nicolas Jeanjean, executive director of Albatross Asia, a company that provides mystery shopping services in China and Asia. The pay may not sound like a lot but there are some good perks to be had. ''Mystery shopping cannot be considered as a job but it for sure is an interesting experience,'' says Jeanjean.
Jody Gumbs, a 37-year-old mystery shopper in Illinois, says she earns $60 to $90 in cash on average each day, and she gets to keep the clothes and items she purchases. A few of her best perks are free clothing and reimbursement at a casino of up to $100. ''I've also gotten free oil changes and brake checks on my car,'' Gumbs says.
More complicated shops might require you to open a bank account and then close it to test the bank's customer service, or to stay at a hotel, eat at its restaurant and get a massage at the spa. You can sign yourself up at mysteryshop.org. You'll be asked to supply your age, gender and other demographic information.
Jeanjean says mystery shoppers can visit four to five different shops per mission and are recruited in order to comply with the profile a client requires. ''A Benetton customer is different from a Gucci customer,'' he says, adding that his company can provide a person who fits the profile.

Play Games for Others
If you're one of the 217 million people around the world who spend hours a day playing online games, killing virtual ogres and slaying monsters could get you a fat check every month. How can you turn your addiction into a money-making venture?
OK, say a well-off gamer wants his online character to progress immediately and earn rewards that could put him on the line-up of top characters in a certain online game but doesn't have the time to undergo the tedious process of killing enemy monsters and gathering items to promote his character.
You can offer to play his game, slay monsters, take on challenges and collect rewards while he waits for his character to progress, says 23-year-old South Korean online player Wang Hyung Wie, who uses the name WarriorWie online.
''You get to play online games for hours and earn money at the same time,'' he says. Wie earns an average of $600 per month playing at least five hours a day for other gamers.
Wie suggests starting with your own character online. Know the secrets of each stage in order to gather rewards, get tips from other players on how to effectively slay enemy monsters, when your character is already among the top characters and you already know the ins and outs of the game, you can then start offering your services to other players. ''Join gamers' forums or advertise your service to fellow characters online,'' says Wie. ''The lure of having a powerful character without sweating it out from the start will surely entice new players.''

Showcase Your Talent
Anyone with a knack for the offbeat can turn that ability into a moneymaker. When he was 10, Malaysian David Lai was fascinated watching magician David Copperfield perform on TV and got his father to teach him a few tricks. ''It amazed me how magicians perform on stage with thousands of people watching,'' says Lai.
Since then, Lai kept adding to his skills as a mind reader and sleight of hand artist and now performs in corporate events and road shows. Lai, now 21 and a member of the Malaysia Magic Fellowship, earns around $550 per show depending on the client's needs. Lai suggests connecting with other magicians and joining organisations in your area. Promote your work by listing your skills in message boards or forums for magicians. ''Get a good teacher and practice very hard,'' says Lai. ''Offers for a show with pay will surely follow.''


source: Reader's Digest

[Jeff]

There are those who are destined to be rich and poor. In this world, everything is hanging in a balance. Good and Bad, beauty and ugly, thick and thin....