Selling Mortal Kombat Codes
I never was a video game player, but after reading the following
true story about selling Mortal Kombat codes, I realize that
I missed out on some good money opportunities as a child. This
was sent to me by a subscriber to the Unusual Ways newsletter
as an entry in my Most Interesting Money Maker Contest.
You can see the other entries listed on the page Interesting
Ways to Make Money.
Sterling E Jenkins
Texas
When I was in the 7th grade, a new video game had recently
been released that started sweeping my generation by storm. Mortal
Kombat was the newest, biggest event at my school. The game was
even played after lunch and after school (in pretend, of course).
Well, if you are at all familiar with the game, you know there
are millions of codes and combination button pressing to achieve
many things in the game. All sorts of magazines will let you
have a code here and a code there, just to keep things interesting;
however there were never enough for me.
I was 10 years old at the time and I decided to type all
the codes (all properly categorized) into my computer. I used
the old style printer (with the holes on the side for the feeder)
to print out a little booklet I made for myself. I had friends
that like the booklet I'd made so much, that they wanted one
as well. So I told my friends that their payment would be to
get more magazines for more codes and I would reward their efforts
with an updated booklet.
All in all, I had about 12 pages of codes, both public
and secret. And the perfect business opportunity came from a
speech class I was taking in school that year. We had to give
a presentation of something. As it turned out, I had the perfect
thing to present to the class. The next day, I stood in front
of everyone and presented my cheat code booklet to everyone.
Of course they were interested in that I wasn't just making something
up to present; I really had something tangible.
After letting a few booklets be passed around class (and
subsequently being told to finish my presentation and sit down)
I had them hooked. For the rest of the year, I sold my booklets
during lunch and after school for $10 a piece. I never thought
to tell my dad about all of this at the time, and he got really
upset when he found an entire stash of cash in one of my bedroom
drawers. I had to give out phone numbers so he could call and
confirm I sold the booklets like I said I had.
Great entrepreneurial spirit Sterling!
Those of you reading this after the contest has ended can
subscribe to the newsletter, where I'll announce any new competitions
- the subscription form should be to the right. You can also
send me any story you have of an odd way you've made money anytime.
If I use it on the site I'll send you an e-book (I'll let you
choose from several I've written).
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