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EPISODE 41 ~ MAKE MORE: Professional Cuddler: YES, This is A Real Job and a Great Side Hustle!

Some people are making money by becoming professional snugglers.

If you just did a double take, trust me, I did too.  When I saw an article on Student Loan Hero about this, I was intrigued but skeptical.  So I checked my sources like a good journalist in the era of fake news.    Rolling Stone and The New York Post have both written about professional snuggling, but somehow that didn’t reassure me!  But then I found articles from respectable outlets like Business Insider and The Wall Street Journal.  If these somewhat dull publications are covering snuggling, it must be true!

Seriously.  This is a thing.  Snuggle Buddies is a nationwide agency that says on its website: “Whether you want to cuddle for friendship, relaxation, or therapeutic reasons…Many people do not get the amount of human touch they want or need on a daily basis, and a professional snuggling service is the solution…Depression, anxiety, and stress have all shown to be improved with therapeutic touch.”

Now, to be clear, that touch is supposed to be 100 percent platonic!  No sex, allowed, people!  In fact, professional snugglers AND clients must sign an agreement that no sexual activity of any kind will take place.  For their safety, the professional snugglers check in with a Snuggle Buddies rep when they arrive at a location and when they’re finished with a session.

One thing I find weird: At least on the Snuggle Buddies site, they are only looking for FEMALE snugglers.  I get it, that men may have a harder time finding somebody to snuggle with.  I mean, we women can easily get a cuddle any time we want.  But then again, can we get a snuggle from a man who won’t try to do more than snuggle?  That could be a new market!

But I digress… Let’s talk about the advantages of snuggling as a side hustle:

•Most clients want to snuggle before or after work, so it works well with a traditional schedule.

•If snuggling is good for the clients because human touch releases oxytocin, which lowers blood pressure and stress levels, then you’re getting that same benefit for free.

  • There are no start up costs.  You snuggle at your place or theirs or maybe a park or movie theater. 
  • There’s no heavy duty skill needed.  Just a positive attitude, nurturing demeanor and ability to overcome embarrassment.
  • And the money is decent.

So let’s talk about the money.  Snuggle Buddies says it typically charges $80 an hour for snuggling services and gives you half of that, so forty bucks.   Sam Varnerin of Boston was a structural engineer and started snuggling on the side to pay off student loans.  She made so much money through platonic cuddling that she went into it full time on her own.  She says she now works just 18 hours a week and makes $3,000 to $4,000 a month! 

So, there you have it, my weirdest “make more segment” so far.  Please, please, pretty please, if you are inspired to try professional snuggling after hearing this, will you let me know, so I can interview you later?  You KNOW, everyone wants to hear from a professional snuggler on Easy Money!

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EPISODE 40 ~ MAKE MORE: Solar Panels Can MAKE You Money Even If You Live in an Apartment!

Kiran Bhatraju of Arcadia Power is staying on and we’re transitioning from how Arcadia can help you save money to how Arcadia can help you make money.  Thanks for sticking around, Kiran!

My husband and I are actually researching installing solar panels on our roof right now.  Should we do it?  Will it not only save but make us money?

•  When you install a solar panel on your roof, you get money back in the form of tax credits and you save by not having to pay to power 100% of your home with more expensive traditional power.

• D.C. is the best place in the country to install solar panels, if you have the ability to do so!

•  And yes, you can make money. The upfront investment that you make in the panels will end up paying for itself, and then some, in time in the form of these savings.

• How quickly the panels pay for themselves depends on how much power the panel(s) generate each month.

  If we install solar panels, once they’ve paid for themselves, what’s the average amount of money we could make per year per panel?

• This number varies largely state by state. In D.C., prices for installing solar are actually significantly lower than the rest of the country. In 20-years you could be making upwards of 20 thousand dollars in savings with a small 3 kW system

• I recommend checking out EnergySage.com. It’s an excellent tool for evaluating your estimated upfront costs and expected return on investment. 

What if you live in an apartment and don’t own your own roof, so you can’t install solar panels on it?  What’s your solution for people in that situation?

• Great question. The vast majority of Americans can’t do rooftop solar. There’s only about 8% of Americans that can.  

• For the other 92% of Americans who want to tap into solar, we offer a nationwide community solar program on our platform.

• With community solar, anyone can ‘purchase’ a solar panel that is then hosted somewhere else.

• Your investment in one of our panels works the same way that it would if it were in your own home — you get money back every month depending on how much power the panel you purchased generates.

How much does it cost to buy a community solar panel through Arcadia?

• Our community solar panels cost around $100 each, depending on the project.

I know Arcadia describes it as “saving” money, because the less expensive solar power offsets the member’s more expensive traditional power.  But, really, aren’t your members MAKING money off of solar?

• Yes, technically they are!

• It feels like savings after you make an initial investment in community, because we credit your power bill each month with a certain amount of money that correlates with how your panels performed.

• This is money that you are making off of your solar panels, and we are simply crediting it towards your monthly power bill.

And how do they get this money they are making from solar?  Do you send them a check?  Credit their power bill?

• We credit your monthly Arcadia Power statement (i.e. your power bill).

OK, the question everybody’s been waiting for: how much can people make per month by investing in community solar?

• With community solar, it’s roughly an annual return of 3% percent. This is higher than the return that you would see if you invested your money in a savings or checking account, and you can feel good about investing in renewable energy making it onto the U.S. power grid. 

Kiran Bhatraju, CEO of Arcadia Power, thank you so much for joining me on Easy Money.  Folks, if you’re intrigued, I will link you to a list of the states that have deregulated power AND I will link you to Arcadia Power’s own website where you can learn more.

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EPISODE 39 ~ MAKE MORE: Opinions: Get Paid Extra Cash Simply By Sounding Off

Many thanks to entrepreneur.com where I first spotted these “make more” ideas.  Let me take these in order from least to most involved. 

#1: Give your feedback on new websites and apps. You know, let them know if you spot misspellings or if their navigation system is confusing.  Some of these jobs only take 5 minutes but pay $10.  Some websites that offer this opportunity: UserTesting.com, UsabilityHub.com, and validately.com.  As always, I will link you to these resources so you don’t have to remember them.  You just have to remember EasyMoneyShow.com/39, which is the Show Notes page for Episode 39.

#2: Take online surveys. You register and they contact you when you fit the demographics a survey is looking for.  Tons of companies do this.  Here are a few: SurveyJunkie.com, OpinionOutpost, and SurveySpot.  Again, you can find all of these later at EasyMoneySHow.com/39.

#3: Sign up for focus groups. This is the classic scenario where you and a group of other consumers sit around and express your opinions about some product or service, while the nervous clients watch through a one-way mirror hoping you really, really like them.  These gigs used to be very local, but now there are websites to sign up.  Try FocusGroup.com, Global Strategy Group or SIS International.

#4: Give video opinions.  I touched on this in Episode 29 and did an in-depth interview about it on Episode 37 and I’ll mention it just one more time right now.  Promise!  Companies like DScout hire people to give short video insights into their consumer habits and opinions.  These digital scouts can make hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. Check it out at dscout.com.

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EPISODE 39 ~ SAVE MORE: Hotels: Save On Travel By Booking Your Room, Then Re-Booking the SAME Room for Less

Save more money with The Easy Money Show

Here’s a way to save money on hotel rooms by taking advantage of the fact that room rates are always changing.  Just book a room and then a new website called Pruvo tracks price drops for you and helps you re-book the room when the price has gone down.  My guest is Doron Nadevi, Chief Marketing Officer for Pruvo.  Doron, welcome to Easy Money.  

 

Doron, tell us how Pruvo works.  It’s a little unusual in that you book yourself a hotel room first and THEN Pruvo goes Into ACtion.  Explain.

1.  Book a room

2.  Forward your email confirmation to Pruvo

3.  Pruvo searches for price drops for the exact same room at the exact same time.

4.  Pruvo alerts you to re-book the room at a lower rate.

 

So you re-book the room at the new, lower rate and then cancel your old reservation.  Does this mean your original reservation must be the refundable type in order for Pruvo to work for you?

Yes, Pruvo´s only requirement to “do our magic” is that your reservation be a free cancellation reservation.

 

Does Pruvo work no matter how you booked your room originally?  Through a search engine, an online travel agency or through the hotel’s own website?

Correct.  Our system can process ANY hotel reservation ANYWHERE in the world in ANY language, as long as it is a free cancellation reservation.

 

Pruvo’s entire business model is based on the fact that hotel rooms often go down in price.  How common is that?  Do you have a statistic for us?

There is a 40% chance of a price reduction after a hotel reservation has been made. 

 

What is the average price drop you snag for your customers?

The Average price drop is 12%, and it can reach up to 67% off the total reservation amount

 

And what are your greatest hits?  The biggest dollar savings you’ve found for people so far?

$950 in a hotel in Koh Samui in Thailand!

 

How do the savings Pruvo finds compare to what you could get using AAA or AARP or member discounts at hotels?

• Pruvo can process any reservation, even if they were made with special membership discounts like AAA or AARP.

• Many times the prices with these memberships are fixed discount rates. , plus, since we have many price drops of 30-50%, rarely to membership discounts reach that amount. 

• So, AAA/AARP members who book their hotel with their rates should use Pruvo as an “insurance policy” to assure that they are getting the best deal available.  If not, Pruvo will make sure to notify them so they can get the better deal.

 

Does Pruvo’s software just scan for posted prices on all the online travel agencies?  Or do you go beyond that?

• We monitor prices 24/7 on more than 25 online travel agencies, which would be hard for an individual to do.

•      Pruvo´s algorithm also searches hidden deals and membership discounts

• And we check for other things like obscure promo codes that consumers often miss.

 

When people re-book their rooms, they do so through your “Rebooking Wizard.”  What is the advantage of using that?

Great question. 

• When we alert someone of a better price and they are directed to the rebooking wizard in our site, they will see there the provider of the better deal, the payment terms (pay now vs pay at the hotel), special conditions (promotional code, coupon codes), final price and a strict reminder that FIRST they need to rebook the cheaper option and only AFTER they cancel the original one. 

• When clicking on the offer provided by the OTA, they will be taken to the OTA page with their relevant hotel reservation (Hotel and dates), so all that is left to do is choose the exact same room and pay.

 

How much does it cost to use Pruvo?

Pruvo is 100% FREE.

 

How does Pruvo make money?

Pruvo makes money by receiving a commission from some of the main suppliers of the hotels where reservations are usually made, such as Hotels.com or Expedia.

 

How long has Pruvo been around and how much money have you saved your customers so far?

Pruvo launched in May 2016 and as of the 31st of January 2018, we have saved our customers $650,000 on their hotel reservations.

 

Doron Nadivi, Chief Marketing Officer for Pruvo thank you so much for joining me on Easy Money.  And, thanks also for providing a guest blog post about hotel savings hacks and a You Tube video explaining Pruvo further.

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EPISODE 38 ~ MAKE MORE: Remote Jobs: Stay Flexible And Work For A Top Company By Telecommuting To Work

Today, I want to reveal the top companies for remote jobs in 2018, which could well be the top companies for remote jobs well into the future.

This list comes courtesy of FlexJobs.com, which compiled it by analyzing its own jobs database of more than 49-thousand posted positions.  FlexJobs looked for what it calls “remote-friendly” listings, which means the opening must offer some level of telecommuting.  So, some of these jobs are 100 percent work from home, others are mostly home-based and some give working from home as an option.

Interestingly, FlexJobs says about a quarter of the companies on the list also made the list the previous four years.  This shows working from home is shifting from a budding trend to an accepted practice.  In fact, FlexJobs says working from home now tops using public transit as the preferred commuting option in most large metro areas. 

One more thing, before I rattle off the list of employers: FlexJobs looked at the TYPES of positions most likely to be offered on a work-at-home basis.  There were some surprising ones that you wouldn’t normally think of as home-based: namely teacher, nurse and program manager!  More expected work-at-home positions were: writer, developer, analyst and sales rep.

OK, with no further ado, here are FLexJobs’ top five remote employers:

•VIPKID, an English language learning services company.

•Appen, a technology services company.

•Conduent, an IT company.

•Rev, a startup that itself works to give professionals more opportuneities to work from home.

And

•LiveOps, which offers remote customer service agents.

There are more well-known companies on the list, like Amazon, Dell, Intuit, United Health, Hilton and Williams-Sonoma.  Check out  the entire list of companies with remote jobs.

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EPISODE 37 ~ MAKE MORE: Earn Money Online: Make Quick And Easy Cash By Reviewing Videos With Your Opinion

Companies are hungry for information about what consumers want.  It used to be that they would hire a focus group vendor, gather a group of people, and have a moderator ask them questions —all while spying on the group through a one-way mirror.  That still goes on but there’s a new way companies are getting the insights they seek and it’s a money-making opportunity for YOU.  Namely video reviews.  I touched on this in Episode 29 and got so much positive feedback that we’re going deeper.  A company called DScout pioneered the process.  DScout stands for digital scout and with me today is Cam Balzer, VP of marketing for DScout.  Welcome, Cam!

Cam, describe what Digital Scouts do for Dscout and your clients?

• Dscout sends people—we call them scouts—on “missions”… sets of activities that researchers are interested in learning more about.

• Scouts complete these missions with their iPhones or Androids by taking a few moments to capture a photo or video and answering a few questions, turning their opinions, ideas and aha moments into a catalyst for change.  Plus they get rewarded.  To be a scout, all you have to do is get dscout on your mobile device and start applying to studies today!   You can find us in the App Store or on Google Play.

• For researchers, these missions give tremendous insight into how people use products and services that they can turn into improvements to their company’s products or into new products or services

How did DScout get the idea for doing consumer research this way?

• Dscout was launched about 6 years ago just as smartphones were getting more popular and powerful… with cameras in every pocket

• An innovation and research consulting group in Chicago called Gravity Tank saw the opportunity to use all those cameras as a research tool to study people’s everyday experience as it happens instead of in artificial settings like focus groups

• Product and Technology companies loved the idea and it’s grown and evolved from there.

Give us a case study.  Describe a scouting job that’s available on DScout as we speak and what the scouts are required to do for the assignment.

• Sure. the Opportunities change frequently…

• but one that’s live today is headlined “Calling all TV Surfers.”  

• We’re looking for scouts to show us how they watch their favorite TV shows and movies! What is convenient and what are pain points about the way they watch?

• In the application we’ll ask some questions about the services you use and how you use them. And then to upload a video of yourself answering one of those questions.

• Then in the mission, we’ll ask you to record several moments where you’re watching tv or using your tv service.

How sophisticated do these videos need to be?

• Basically selfie style.  slightly more thoughtful versions of the videos you might record for snapchat or instagram stories.

• From 30 seconds to a minute, sometimes 2 minutes, while you’re doing something: narrating it and showing us

• Usually ask you take a few minutes to compose their thoughts before recording.

• we really care about what you think, so we want to make sure your message comes through. and a thoughtful video in an application can improve someone’s chances of getting chosen for the paid mission.

Ah, so people have to apply for missions.  What percentage of people are typically chosen?

• really depends on the study and how broad the audience is. Sometimes we’re looking for very specific kinds of people and if you fit the criteria, you’re in. broader activities can be more competitive… but maybe one in five or ten on average

• But the applications are pretty quick to complete so people typically apply for as many as they can

The scouting assignment you described has 2 parts.  What are they, to give people an even more concrete idea of what the job takes?

• Sure!

• Usually you’ll get a warm up section where we ask your general thoughts or for background info about an activity or need or opinion

• Then you’ll typically be asked to capture a series of moments on a topic: 2 times  It might be documenting all the steps in a process…. Doing your laundry or shopping for a specific item for example. Or show us your unboxing experience of a new product.

• Or we’ll ask you to inventory items: maybe frozen foods in your freezer or your favorite workout clothing

• Finally, we’ll often ask you to reflect on the moments you captured and the broader topic overall. How do you feel about your tv streaming in general.

• All stuff that’s pretty easy to do in your everyday life

About how long does it take to complete a DScout assignment?

• Varies quite a bit:

• some missions might only have one part, that could be completed in 15 minutes.

• other missions might have multiple parts requiring 1-2 hours of your time over the course of 1-2 weeks, all at times that are convenient to you.

• the payment is pretty proportionate to the amount of time or effort we think a mission will take. If you have to go out of your way to do the task, the compensation will typically be larger

• The streaming study will probably take an hour or hour and a half over the course of 5 days

OK, tell me what everybody wants to know: how much does the ___-minute assignment above pay?

• If your application is accepted and you complete the required steps in the allotted time, you’ll earn $40

How do scouts receive their pay, by the way?

• We pay scouts via paypal within 2 weeks of completing the mission.

I’ve seen testimonials from your scouts who say they enjoy this work for more than just the money.  What’s the other draw?

• Our best scouts just really enjoy sharing their ideas and experiences, for a variety of reasons:

? scouts sometimes get the opportunity to try a prototype or get a new product in their home to unbox and try. People have even got a brand new, pre-release internet connected fridge.

? They like that they can influence the way companies solve problems.  They like sharing their understanding of what’s important in a solution.

• And two of the coolest reasons we’ve heard from scouts:

? ** They like learning new things about themselves

? *** They like being pushed out of their comfort zone to do new things — may be uncomfortable at first but leads to feeling of accomplishment (record video in a store, sketch a product idea)

Who are some of the clients that a scout might work for through you?

• Clients are reluctant to reveal themselves so they can gather “pure” responses from scouts

• But we’ve got some over their logos on our site: range from Sperry to Square to Sonos to Salesforce

But back to the money.  Share a success story.  How much money are some of your most successful scouts making on DScout?

• we’ve had some scouts earn in several thousand dollars

• More typically, people can earn several hundred in six months or a year

How on earth can people make that much money $30 and $40 dollars at a time?

• The key is that many of these assignments take just 5 to 10 minutes A DAY over 3,4 days or a week.

• And scouts earning a lot more are getting into bigger, longer studies and doing a lot of them

• Either way, the best part is that you do them as you go about your normal life.  In fact, you SHOULD do them as you go about your normal life, because that’s what our client companies want to see: real opinions from real people.

How long has DScout been around and what are your stats so far?

• We’ve been offering these scouting opportunities since 2012

• We’ve had over a hundred thousand scouts use dscout,

• they’ve completed more than 12,000 missions.  

• We’ve paid those scouts a total of more than $2.5 million.

Are your currently looking for new scouts?  If so, how do people sign up?

• YES. Always new studies being run.

• Download the app and simply enter your email and create a password to get started. You’ll then see all the projects that you might qualify for and you’re free to apply to as many as you like.

• Just keep in mind that researchers are looking for articulate, honest, thoughtful responses to the videos, so it’s best to pick projects that interest you

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EPISODE 36 ~ MAKE MORE: Side Hustle: How To Make Sure Your Side Hustle Doesn’t Conflict With Your Day Job

When we talk about “making more,” often we’re talking about a side hustle, an extra gig you do in addition to your day job to bring in additional revenue.  Well, it’s important to make sure your day job and your side hustle don’t get in each other’s way.

Many thanks to Jenny Odegard of forbes.com for this great advice.  She points out that the simple act of researching, developing or arranging your side business on your employer’s computer, could mean your your employer gets a piece of the action.  Yikes!  Here are several ways to steer clear:

  1. Only work on your side job on your personal computer.  Even hooking up your personal computer to the company WIFI could expose you to problems.  Along the same lines, don’t use the company software, company phone or cell phone or even the company copy machine to pursue your side hustle business.  At the very least, the company could fire you for not making good use of work hours and resources.  Worst case scenario, your boss could have enough proof to claim that the invention or idea you came up with belongs to the company instead of to you.  The solution: Buy your own computer and other equipment —they’re cheap these days.
  2. Work on your own time on your own computer or other equipment.  Odegard, who is an attorney, says waiting until after work hours and then working from your employer’s desk is not good enough.  Go home or to a co-working space and do the work there.
  3. Read your employment documents.  Even if you didn’t sign a formal contract, you may have received an offer letter or an employee handbook or —more ominous— what’s called an intellectual property assignment agreement.  Make sure you have copies of these documents and know what’s in them BEFORE there’s a problem, not after.
  4. Final suggestion: don’t work on your side hustle with coworkers at the office.  Odegard says it’s actually OK to pursue a side hustle with co-workers.  Hey, probably half the startups in Silicon Valley start this way.  But collaborate away from the office.  Keep a clean line of separation.  Don’t even discuss your side hustle with these colleagues at a company-sponsored happy hour or holiday party. 

Bottom line: it’s called a side hustle because it’s NOT part of your main career.  Keep it that way in regard to equipment, time, and colleagues —and keep it safe.

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EPISODE 35 ~ MAKE MORE: Unboxing Videos: Earn Extra Cash By Opening Boxes On YouTube

Now it’s time for our “Make more” segment, and who would have thought that people can add thousands more to their income simply by opening boxes?

The global Unboxing trend is sweeping the web. With viewership growing by 57% over the past year, these short and simple videos are exactly what you might think: someone opening a box to reveal what’s inside. Unboxing categories are endless.  From style and shoes to new tech equipment and quirky knick knacks, anything and everything can be found …now with a suspenseful reveal on the internet.

Becoming an unboxing character has massive perks. E-commerce merchandisers hire and sponsor individuals to film themselves revealing their products for marketing and exposure. Not only are they getting paid to simply open a box, but you get to keep all that’s inside! Some unboxers are becoming YouTube sensations adding tens of thousands to their annual income.

Take Toy Box Collectibles, two individual YouTubers who teamed up to make videos featuring toys being taken out of their boxes. What started as a family-fun channel turned into over 600,000 subscribers and 100,000,000 video views!   How’s that for exposure!

I ran the Toy Box collectibles numbers through a YouTube earnings calculator and it showed that with stats like that they can easily make a quarter of a million dollars a year!  JUST from advertising.  Not counting being paid by product manufacturers!  Um, Opening boxes who knew! 

And, of course, It’s easy to start out in the unboxing industry, simply find a camera, open a box and show some personality! 

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EPISODE 34 ~ MAKE MORE: Egg Donation: Earn Thousands While Helping Others Start A Family

Today, we’re going to talk about making money by making a life. Way back on Episode 2, we talked about being a surrogate mother. Today, I want to cover becoming an egg donor, which is less involved because you don’t have to carry a child, but more involved because you’re contributing your own DNA. My guest is named Candace, and she has donated her eggs 5 times resulting in the birth of 6 children.

YOU FIRST DONATED EGGS WHEN YOU WERE IN COLLEGE.  I THINK WE’VE ALL HEARD THAT THIS IS POSSIBLE, BUT HARDLY ANYBODY HAS EVER DONE IT. WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO GET INVOLVED?

I initially became interested in this while I was working at an IVF clinic. I’m not sure if I wasn’t working there if I would have otherwise been exposed to this. I was finishing my college degree and bartending to get through college and they had a receptionist job open at clinic so I got in and fell in love with the field and then decided to donate my eggs to research initially. I did not get paid for that. The research was for a cure for gestational diabetes and I wanted to be helpful since my Dad has type 2 and there were benefits for genetic testing free of charge so I could make sure I didn’t have any abnormalities.

YOU THEN WAITED A FEW YEARS BEFORE DONATING EGGS TO ACTUAL COUPLES WHO WANTED TO CONCEIVE.  WHAT IS THE PROCESS LIKE?

I was 26 when I donated to a family for the first time. My last time was when I was 31. There is a matching process. Sort of like a dating website. Couples see the profiles. I fill out my profile, add pics and a couple finds someone who fits their background. Then agency tells me a couple is interested and I can read and decide whether to donate.

You go through an IVF cycle. Inject with medicine to try and develop more follicles then would in your normal  cycle. Produce more eggs than you normally would. My first donation I had over 60 follicles. Normally you’d see single digits. Turns out I was a really good donor.  After egg retrieval they have to fertilize to see how many embryos. Then tell you when transfer into surrogate or parents. All of mine took.

SO THE BABIES THAT ARE BORN HAVE YOUR DNA.  DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF AS THEIR MOTHER, OR WHAT’S THE RELATIONSHIP?

Because I don’t have kids as my own, I look at them as my nieces or nephews. I’m not their parent but it is my DNA. For me it is very easy to make that emotional separation. I haven’t met any donors who seem to find it hard. A lot of my girlfriends did it.  I don’t feel any motherly connection to the children.

ARE YOU IN TOUCH WITH THE PARENTS YOU DONATED TO AND THE CHILDREN WHO ARE REALLY HALF YOU?

It is preferred to generally be anonymous but I was open to knowing couples too. That is more rare to have the open situation.  It’s pretty exciting, especially the two I knew. I really wanted them to have a positive pregnancy. Two weeks after the baby in France was born, they drove here and I got to meet him two weeks after. Ever since then we go meet each other. I go there or they meet here. We had a huge family BBQ. I have 17 nieces and nephews, five siblings and everyone got to meet.

AND DO THE CHILDREN UNDERSTAND WHO YOU ARE TO THEM?

I Skype the boy and he asks who I am.  He is 3. He still really doesn’t get it. We Skyped on his birthday and he asked who is she and why is she calling. They explained I was part of helping make him and I think each year it will grow into more detail. To me it is super special. I am happier with my open donations and knowing the children. It is peace of mind to know they are doing well and have a good family life.

WE KNOW HOW YOU ENHANCED THE COUPLES’ LIVES WHO WANTED CHILDREN.  BUT HOW DID THIS AFFECT YOUR OWN LIFE?  DID THE MONEY YOU EARNED MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

The money helped me get through school and not kill myself bartending and getting up at 7am for my first class. Gave me more flexibility to focus on school and not just trying to life. Then I put it into savings and that was huge for me. And now I was able to go and finish my Masters. Got me thru Bachelors and get me to my Masters. Was huge for me.

One of my girlfriend’s had $20,000 credit card debt and it helped her pay that off and then be able to buy a house. Win/win. Giving someone something who has a huge desire for so long. A lot of couples have gone through heartache. You can help them and help yourself.

ALRIGHT, THE QUESTION EVERYBODY’S BEEN WAITING FOR ME TO ASK: HOW MUCH MONEY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT? On your first donation you make about $6,000. That helped trying to get through college. Each consecutive time after that you go up about $1,000 if you are proven donor. Made about $10,000 with the last one.

THAT’S CERTAINLY TEMPTING.  CAN ANY WOMAN DO THIS?

Nobody can just do it. You have to do psych evals and be healthy and the right weight. You want to be at your peak health. You have to go through interviews and take a test to make sure I am emotionally stable.  Not easy. Can be time consuming and you do have to take time off. At the mercy of the cycle itself so you have to be flexible. You are injecting yourself with medication.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR WOMEN WHO ARE OPEN TO BECOMING EGG DONORS?

I would definitely have the right people. Important to have someone who understands process so go thru agency or clinic. Lots of unknowns. Legal aspects. Medical aspects. Need someone to help mediate.

Candace, thank you for being my guest on Easy Money. And folks, Candace treasured this process so much that she now works for extraordinary conceptions, a firm that helps match egg donors with prospective parents. She’s provided the firm’s detailed list of requirements for becoming an egg donor, so you’ll know more about what it takes. You can find that list as well as this week’s guest blog post at easymoneyshow.com/34.

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EPISODE 33 ~ MAKE MORE: Cash For College: 5 Ways To Make Extra Money to Pay Tuition

I want to talk about clever, creative ways to make more money for college.

1.  My first idea: Cooperative Education

Cooperative education, also called co-op education, involves working full time at a company while also enrolled in college. Students can earn as much as $25 per hour (That’s roughly $50k a year).  Colleges that offer Co-op education include Purdue, Cornell, University of CIncinatti and Northeastern U in Boston.

2.  Second idea: paid internships:

More companies are paying because Federal and state departments of labor, as well as prominent plaintiffs’ law firms, are getting aggressive in this area. They sue when an internship is really just unpaid work and more and more companies are deciding to pay rather than risk it.

3.  Number 3: Employer reimbursement programs

Today, there are tons of different employers that will pay for all or part of your tuition, including: Chipotle, Starbucks and Chrysler.

all recently announced expansions of, or additions to, their tuition reimbursement programs.

Number 4: Cool on-campus jobs.

You could…

•Play in the pep band.

Yes, that’s often a paying gig!

•Be a Newspaper writer or editor.

Not every college has a newspaper that pays its writers, but plenty do,

•Teach a Fitness Class.

Your college’s campus gym probably offers group fitness classes and somebody has to teach them.

•Work as an Event Caterer

Most colleges and universities have their own catering company.  I did this myself.

Do Tech Support:

Colleges have LOTS of computers and the pay for this one is usually high.

Bank Teller at the campus credit union.  Typical pay: $18/hour.

Hospital Research Assistant or Lab Assistant.  $10-20/hour.

5.  And final idea to snag money for college:

Many people don’t realize that you can apply for scholarships ALL 4 YEARS.  You can and you should. 

I hope these ideas to make money for college are helpful and on next week’s podcast I will share ways to SAVE money on your college tuition.

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