Work at Home and Easy Start-Ups

I have been thinking of ways to make money from home for quite some time now. The thought of going to work everyday really gets under my skin, and what's worse is the fact that unless we win the lottery, or inherit a boat load of cash; we all have to work.

Before I delve into my latest scheme, I will share with you the only semi-successful way I was able to come across some cash. I became a mystery shopper. It cost me $12 to join, but I was paid back on my very first job. For the most part, I was in it for free meals, which worked out quite well for me. My location was important due to the plethora of restaurants looking to get some feedback. Some locations are just not populated enough to offer restaurant "shops". (Shops are what the service calls each individual job.)

There does not seem to be enough shops or jobs to make any kind of real money doing this, so what I did was simply only sign up for the shops that allowed me to go to a restaurant and have a dinner for two. I would take my girlfriend out, we would get a good meal, and I would return home to fill out the 20 minute survey. I would be reimbursed, and voila! I had my free meal. Usually, there was a limit as to how much I could be reimbursed, but it was around $30-$35, which is plenty of money for two people to eat a full meal.

The catch to these mystery shopping is two fold. The first is that once you complete a restaurant shop, you cannot repeat the same place for 60-90 days, which puts a damper on things when you complete one for each of the restaurants in the area! The second, is that for each shop you compete, the reimbursement is not instant. For most of the shops, it takes anywhere from 30-90 days to get your money back. Just be sure to save your receipts and keep track of your shops. I received all of my payments when I was told that I would!

So if you would like a way to make a little pocket change, get some free food, or maybe even a few small products, becoming a mystery shopper isn't all that bad of an idea.

With the economy in the toilet, its easy to sit around and dream up business ideas. We all ultimately want to make money by doing something that we love. I happen to love being outdoors and hiking. I don't know why it never dawned on me before, but why not put my passion for hiking, and knowledge of the outdoors to good use?

I recently came across an ad online for Hiking Guides in Killington, VT. "What a perfect job!" I said to myself. Unfortunately the posting was for on-call guides that would be used on an as needed basis. I could not be guaranteed work, but I could at least get my foot in the door for a possible permanent position in the future.

I then thought, "What is stopping me from setting up my own guided hiking tours?" Well first of all, I don't yet have the knowledge of all of the trails in the area. This will take some time, but with repetition of an enjoyed activity, this will come naturally. As I did some additional research to find out how to create a hiking guide start-up, I found very little information. It appears as though CPR certification is really the only recommendation. I would consider it a requirement for any business that I would start.

So, with a free or cheap certification, and a decent website, a hiking guide business is an inexpensive and plausible start-up for a person with a passion such as mine. Hopefully, once I spend more time in the woods, I will liberate myself from the rat race, and make a living doing what I love.