#214: Five Ways to Earn Extra Cash (Friday, February 4)

In this economy, a lot of folks are trying to make extra money. If you have a talent, you can probably rely on that for some additional income, but if your talents can't make you extra cash, here are five tips that I've either done or considered doing:

1. Become a life coach. It sounds crazy and difficult, but you'd be surprised to know how many people are willing to pay big bucks for someone to talk them through life's challenges (just look on Craigslist). You can go do it the right way by registering with the International Coach Federation (www.coachfederation.org), or if you have a knack for motivating others, you can just...set up shop. A friend of mine went the unofficial way, and now she's charging $125 an hour. Not bad right?
2. Sublet your apartment. If you're going to be out of town (or you spend a lot of time at someone else's place) and you don't mind strangers around your stuff, you can sublet your apartment for a bit of cash. Many tourists are going with that option since it's usually cheaper than a hotel and offers more freedom. List on sublet.com or craigslist.org
3. Write people's online dating profiles. I used to do this a few years ago. Yes, people paid me to make them sound witty and cool online and I charged them $40 for it.
4. Become a tour guide. I don't know if this will work everywhere, but in New York, you can get paid about $50/hour for walking tours. You just have to know a little history about the tour sites. I researched Foods of New York (www.foodsofny.com), but considering our current weather, I decided to postpone until the summer.
5. Watch TV. It sounds crazy, but you can make about $15 an hour watching TV through Nielsen. I know because I actually researched getting paid for watching all these reality shows that I do. Visit www.iagr.net for more information.

The ideas above are the ones I personally looked into, but if you're looking for more money-making tips, check out Time Out New York's 75 Ways to Make Money Now. A bunch of awesome ideas ranging from selling one's eggs to participating in clinical trials.