Unusual Ways To Make Money

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My wife and I recently returned from a trip to San Francisco, and we saw some new money making ideas while there. For example, in the Fisherman's Wharf area, there was a man in a sparkling robot-like costume who walked around and talked to people using a voice-distorting device. I'm not sure what he was supposed to be, but he certainly attracted a lot of attention. We tipped him a dollar and took a photo with him, as did a family with kids a moment before.

The first time we saw this kind of street performer was actually in Banos Ecuador, where a man had painted his entire body gold, designed to look like a coin-operated creature. He stood on a box on a street corner, perfectly motionless until somebody dropped a coin in the slot. He would then start to move and twirl his staff. Once he stopped, someone from the crowd (there was soon a large one) had to put more money in the "machine" to start him up again. We contributed that time as well.

I don't really know how much a person could make doing this. The costumes themselves could be expensive, but that's just about the only cost. Of course tourist areas are the place to try it, and the busier the better.

Coin Collecting

Also along the wharf in San Francisco, we saw several dollars worth of coins on top of wooden posts sticking out of the water. It was next to where we waited for a boat tour to load. I guess it's fun for people to see if they can get a coin to land on the top of the posts. Someone could have climbed down to them and along the boards that connected them to collect the money, but it occurred to me that a hundred times as much must be laying at the bottom of the harbor, since it isn't easy to throw a coin and have it stay atop a nine-inch wide piece of wood. I wonder if anyone practices their scuba diving there?

Of course, this and collecting coins from other places where people throw them are ways to survive if someone was living on the street. There isn't likely much to be made, but I do try to include any way to make money that I come across.

Selling One's Own Cds On The Street

While walking one night in the North Beach area of San Francisco, we asked for directions from a young man who was singing hip-hop. He had a speaker in a bag hanging from his side, and walked around making interesting sounds (somewhat like music). It was entertaining, and after he walked a block with us to help us find what we were looking for, we bought one of his $4 CDs.

Again, I have no idea how much he might make as a street performer selling CDs on the street, but perhaps it pays the bills. It does suggest some other ideas as well. Cds can be made on a computer for less than a dollar each. A person might record a narration for a tour of a city and sell it to tourists for $5, so they can drive around, listening and learning about the things they are seeing. It could include information on the best restaurants and other attractions.

Used Car Market

We never did make it to the huge flea market in San Jose, even though we stayed near there a couple nights. But the advertising for it did remind me of another money making idea I read about a while back: a used car flea market.

People want to sell their cars, and others want to buy them, but it is a lot of work both for the seller to find prospective buyers and the buyer to travel all over looking at cars for sale. The solution is to have a market place where sellers can sell their cars and buyers can therefore find many to look at in one place, kind of used car flea market.

I read about a man who rented a lot on weekends and charged $25 or so for owners to display their car there. This is less than the cost of a classified newspaper ad in many cities. The man running the lot advertised in local papers of course, bringing in hundreds of buyers. As I recall, he made a couple thousand dollars each weekend. I imagine that sellers and buyers were happy to have this place as well.

If you did this, you could make extra money with various products and services. You might charge to clean up a car for sale, for example (find a mobile car "detailer" and take a percentage of the work he gets). You might arrange with a mechanic to do inspections on the spot for buyers, and you would get a portion of his charges of course. You could sell cold pop and snacks too.

One last thought. It would seem that one of the best ways to make money in San Francisco and the surrounding area is to have a hotel. We arrived during the week and thought it was expensive, but the rates doubled when the weekend came.

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