Earning a bit of extra cash to help with everyday living expenses is not so easy when you have class schedules, family and/or extracurricular activities to work around. Being your own boss is a great way to get around this problem.
There are many money-making opportunities for students that are not usually advertised in the paper or online. “I was down to my last ten dollars and a friend asked me if I wanted to clean her house,” said an AWC student that wishes to remain anonymous “She was willing to pay me pretty good. I hate cleaning houses, but I needed the money. After I finished the first job for her she referred me to all her friends and the next thing I knew I had five regular customers that supplemented my income nicely.”
Not only can you pick your own hours, you can also pretty much set your own wage, keeping in mind your competitive market. And, with 80,000+ snowbirds in Yuma every winter, the opportunities lie at nearly every other door!
Some of these do-it-yourself jobs include cleaning houses, house sitting, chauffeuring, cooking instructor, yard or car maintenance, painting houses or rooms, window cleaner, shopping, teaching crafts or even becoming a wedding/party planner. Whatever your skills are, there lies your money-making opportunity. If you don’t really have any skills that you can think of, you can be a companion to an elderly person or a dog walker.
If you act professionally and do a great job, you will be hired back over and over. Plus, snowbirds LOVE to socialize and they will let their friends and neighbors know about the wonderful (or lousy) job that you did.
One tip to being your own boss is to treat everyone as a dear friend whether you plan to continue your part-time business or not. Get to know your customers personally, their likes and dislikes, past and present dreams, etc. This will ensure a good return of satisfied customers, plus they will remember how you treat them, which is a good thing because they make great references for future jobs, too.
Having your own part-time business may not make you rich, but it can help pay for those midnight snacks as you shovel your way through your stacks of homework and put gas in the car (or pay the internet bill) so you can turn it all in on time!
