Source property for wealthy investors

We all know how much money there is in property, but on the surface (with house prices as high as they are) you might be thinking this market is off-limits.

Truth is, lots of people make a great deal of cash simply sourcing suitable properties for wealthy investors who simply have no time.

The trick is to find properties below market value (BMV) by avoiding estate agents and instead flyering your area with your contact details offering to buy houses. Then approach investors with a no-brainer offer to pass on the details of cut-price property in exchange for a % of the sale value.

Most cities will have monthly networking events for landlords and property investors. Track these down, sign up, put on your best suit and go along with lots of business cards. Or you could start on LinkedIn or even Twitter to build some initial contacts.

As you might imagine, this isn’t necessarily a quick way to make money but once you’ve got a few investors in your phone book it can prove to be very lucrative in the long run. If you’re interested, I recommend readingthis book.

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Network marketing

Also known as Multi-Level Marketing (MLM), this is a business model that allows you to generate ongoing income in two ways: by making a commission selling products and by recruiting other members who go on to sell. The later allows you to make money from the sales made by those you have recruited.

Importantly, this is not a pyramid scheme (they are illegal) because there is an end goal which involves a customer buying a product or service of value.

It’s also not a ‘get rich quick’ scheme. You will have to work I’m afraid! However with the growth of social media, network marketing is becoming easier and lots of people are now making a decent living from it.

This is a serious way of making good money on your own terms and it’s well worth reading up on it. I recommend getting “The Business of the 21st Century” by Robert Kiyosaki.

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YouTube videos

According to recent stats we now watch more videos on YouTube than searches on Google. And with the recently introducedYouTube Partner Program you can now profit from making and uploading videos. You will receive a percentage of the advertising revenue collected per 1,000 views.

Depending on how successful you are (virality, subscriber base and topic) you can make a lot of money, and there are plenty of stories every week of more and more YouTubers making it their career.

For more tips read our guide to making money from YouTube.

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Sell your stories and videos

If you have an interesting story then you could try selling it to the papers. It could be anything from sleeping with a professional footballer to getting caught in a clothes horse!

One of the Save the Student team was unfortunate enough to have a pigeon fly through and smash their window at university and sold the story to The Sun for a tidy £50.

You could also film your mates at all times and send it into You’ve Been Framed to net yourself £250 and a few seconds of fame.

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Sell clothes on eBay

Everyone’s best friend when it comes to getting rid of junk is eBay. Online auctions are a sure-fire way to turn that sleeveless jacket (which came in and out of fashion in a week) into hard cash.

Some eBay sellers look at trends and try to predict what will be big ahead of the market. If you are good and don’t mind taking a risk then you can buy early in bulk and sell on when the craze hits.

For lots more tips on selling on eBay read this guide.

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Busking

If you can sing or dance then this is your time to shine baby! Did you know that Justin Bieber started off busking? That’s right, with a little work you can be as annoying as him.

There are really no tips for this except choose a good spot with high footfall, make sure you are good and play your heart out. Some buskers in the past have been known to make upwards of £20 hour.

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Freelance work

Perhaps you enjoy writing, managing Facebook pages or doing a little bit of graphic design in your spare time. There are so many freelance jobs out there that require simple skills or just time that someone else might not have.

And the best things about freelancing is that you can work for clients in the UK and around the world with just an internet connection from home, to your own hours whilst developing valuable skills.

A great place to start is with the leading freelance site Elance.com. Or try using our student job search to find freelance jobs.

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Rent out your body

Ok, ok – this isn’t what you think. “Renting out your body” can go as far as you want it to go. For example we reported on a story a while back about students who are turning to lap dancingto make a quick buck.

If you are comfortable taking off your kit for a more acceptable cause then why not try life modelling. Sit there in the buff while budding artists capture your every curve (or pokey bits) in frightening detail! Try RAM, a website especially designed for these kind of jobs.

You could also get involved in clinical drug trials. If this scares you a little then you can find more information here about what’s involved.

Warning: Do not do anything you are not comfortable with, no matter how desperate you are for money! There has been an unhealthy rise in student prostitution in recent years – do not fall victim to it!

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Rent out your house for filming

Directors for TV and film are always on the hunt for houses to film in. For instance, a scene forCoronation Street was recently filmed in the student house one of the Save the Studenteditors used to live in!

Not only can you make good money but it’s crazy seeing your own place on TV. Start out by looking at My House Your Shoot.

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Become a freelance interviewer

Do you have ambitions to take on a career in HR? Do you love asking questions? Believe it or not, there are companies that will ask you to carry out interviews for them and pay you for your time. It couldn’t be simpler.

You could make £185 a week plus have your travelling costs covered. The downside is that you will have to commit to at least 20 hours a week, so make sure that you have the time! Apply at NatCen.

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Work as a charity collector

Ok so this job takes a certain kind of person, as you’ll have to take a lot of rejection and be persistent.

But if you are bubbly, personable and reckon you could sell ice to an Eskimo then this could actually be a great student money making idea. You get paid commission on new sign ups (typically around £20).

Have a look at Wesser as well as charity websites like Oxfam.

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Rent out your car parking space

Some student accommodation comes with a drive or garage. If you aren’t using your parking space and you live in a busy area then you might be in luck. There are plenty of people that may work in the city centre and are fed up of paying through the roof for daily parking.

Advertise your space on Gumtree,Parklet or Just Park.

Or, check out our full guide to renting out your parking space.

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Sell on your education!

Become a tutor to local GCSE or A-level students (find out more about tutoring here). There are now a few online tutor sites too, so you can go also global without too much hassle.            

You may feel as if you aren’t qualified to be a tutor, but seeing as you are at university you will most likely have the qualifications to tutor for GCSE or even A-Level. Some parents may feel that their child will react better to a younger tutor, and it can be great experience, so why not give it a go?

You can advertise on SchoolsTrader or sign up with UK Tutors. You can expect to earn around £10 an hour. However, make sure you don’t have to do too much tutoring around your exams! 

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Be an extra

Do you fancy yourself as a budding young actor or just that person that walks past in the background shot of an episode of Eastenders? It could be you if you apply to be an extra.

The pay isn’t bad either – £60-80 a day on average, and you hardly have to do anything!

You can apply at Be On Screen for a number of opportunities or 2020 casting is another agency (just know they take a cut from your earnings).

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Mystery shopping

Today becoming a mystery shopper is easier than you think and you can get rewarded handsomely.

We’ve recently come across a really fun smartphone app called Roamler that pays you in cash for completing various tasks in your local area. So definitely check that out first!

More traditionally, there are plenty of agencies that pay you to visit all sorts of shops to feedback on how they are performing. For more info on where to apply see our guide to becoming a mystery shopper.

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Buy and sell domain names

A domain name is just a website address (eg. ‘savethestudent.org’ or ‘mysite.co.uk’) and there are lots of extensions (.com, .net, .co.uk etc).

They cost as little as £1.99 to register with 123-reg.co.uk or GoDaddy.comyet premium domain names can fetch £1,000s if not millions when sold on. In 2007 VacationRentals.com went for a cool $35m!

Now you’re probably not going to come across anything like that, but you can still turn a quick profit with a bit of searching. The trick is to find available domain names which have some commercial value, snap them up and then list them for sale on a site like Sedo.com.

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Become an Amazon ‘Mechanical Turk’

Don’t ask us what this means, all we know is that it’s an easy way to make fast cash from your sofa. The concept is based on ‘internet crowd-sourcing’ where businesses advertise specific, scalable tasks they need completing quickly.

There are a variety of tasks (known as HITS), but most commonly they involve mindless data entry or form filling. You are rewarded in cash (though $USD) for the work you do, and you can choose for what and when you work. Give it a go [Update: Currently US signups only, tryClickWorker].

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Sell second-hand course books

One great way to make money is to buy other students’ text books at the end of the year, and then sell them just after freshers’ week – when the new intake of students know that they need them!

You can either advertise on campus or list them online very easily onAmazon.co.uk Books Trade-In (just bear in mind they take a commission on books sold).

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Gigs on Fiverr

Fiverr is now the world’s largest marketplace for people to make money selling small services (known as ‘gigs’).

What you offer could be absolutely anything, from writing and translating,social media posting, playing pranksand teaching to creating music, voiceovers and short video clips for people all around the world!

The default price is $5 (hence Fiverr..), but you can attach extra services to gigs for more money. Whilst it might not seem like much, it can quickly add up and there are plenty of examples of people making a really good living from the site. The key is to get a system in place which minimises the time spent on each gig.

But there is another way to profit even more from Fiverr for potentially far less work. How? By simply reselling gigs elsewhere. For example, find a decent logo designer then reply to jobs on Elance or even local classifieds. A $5 spend can easily become $50+, and it’s repeatable!

If you’re not interested in selling at all there’s SO much good stuff you can get done for yourself. Have a browse and get inspired!

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A part-time job

A part-time job is the obvious first choice, opted for by most students looking to supplement their student loan. It provides a pretty steady flow of income and can enable you to gain valuable work experience.

However, depending on where you live, jobs are not always easy to find. Check local classifieds, our student job search, student job websites and your university careers service for vacancies.

It’s also worth signing up with the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, a free service which will match you with both part-time jobs or graduate opportunities.

Read our guide to finding a part-time job whilst studying for more tips.

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