I’ve learned on Ebay that broken items sell too. A broken hard drive if sold in bulk can go for 1.00 to 2.00 dollars each. A broken Super Nintendo can go for 10.00 to 15.00 dollars. Broken video cameras can go for 1/10 of their value or more, so if it’s worth $2000 brand new it can sell for $200.

Why do people buy broken items on Ebay? Mainly so they can grab the parts out of them and/or repair them. Buying manufacturer parts can be very pricey, so they’ll buy the camera and strip the good parts out and sell them or use them in their repair business.

Also keep in mind, if you’ve lost a device but still have the power supply that the power supply itself is worth quite a bit. Official brand power supplies can sell for high amounts. For example, I saw a Sega Game Gear power supply sell for 17 dollars. I just so happened to find myself a Sega Game Gear (beat up and missing pieces) and am now selling the power supply.

Keep in mind, I am not writing this article from an expert’s point of view. I am still learning and am sharing what little knowledge I have acquired. As I learn more, read more, experience more, I will keep you, the reader, up to date.

This will be my first in depth article on one of my pursuits. Ebay has thus far been the most profitable, but scrapping is where I started in my entrepreneurial endeavors. Has it been super profitable since I started it? No, but I haven’t lost money. Most businesses don’t see profits until at least a year. With scrapping I’ve seen pure profit within my first two months. 

  I suggest that everyone scrap to some extent. The easiest way to scrap is to collect cans. This is where I started. I went on a walk one day for exercise, and I started picking up cans I saw littered on the side of the road. Within less than a mile my hands were full, and after finding grocery bags along the way, by the time I got back to my house I had filled two grocery bags with cans.

Now looking back at this, I realize that walking on the side of the road collecting cans may not be very profitable, especially when considering the price of two cents a can. But, we have to consider the implications that this brings, there are tons of cans out there that aren’t getting recycled, you just have to find a way to gather them.

So after turning in my first lot of cans collected from my walks I got 10 dollars, which was rather disappointing. But, the only thing that changed is I started to collect cans passively. I have a large trash can at my Grandmother’s business, which they fill in a month, one of my good friends saves all of his cans, and of course I save all of my cans. I don’t even see this as a stretch, and even if it doesn’t make me rich, it’s good stewardship of the earth.

Money made on scrapping: $60.00

Money made on scrapping cans: $17.00

(These are very, very close approximations) 

One more thing about cans, monster tabs can be traded in for monster gear. It takes 75 tabs to get a hoodie which can be then sold on Ebay for 50.00 dollars. This puts the value of each monster tab roughly at 67 cents.

Next article on scrapping will go over scrapping electronics which has been my focus as of lately.

I found 20 drinking glasses today, almost all in perfect condition, and some even collectables. They were just in a box on the side of the road…America.

This is one of four bicycles I’ve found this month by the side of the road. I may use this for parts to fix another bicycle, just sell the good parts, and/or scrap the aluminum.

Money made on bicycles thus far, $5.00

So after dealing with stingy old people for the morning, I brought in almost enough to cover my insurance bill. I am roughly 10 dollars away! Thanks to all my friends that stopped by too, much appreciated!

What I learned most is that people that shop at yard sales are looking for items that are cheap, almost all my sells were items costing 5 dollars or below. So next time you need to bring in some cash, find a diverse set of nicknacks and trinkets, that are worth nothing to you, and sell them for low prices.

It’s amazing how worthless items in your closet can turn into cash!

So, I have an insurance payment to make by the 5th of July. I invested in some film equipment which I needed for a freelance job, and now I’m 120 dollars short of my bill. GAME ON!

Quick money is something difficult to create. Most sources of income, even your average job, will take at least a week to get paid. So what does that leave? Well I thought about this, and I realized I was sitting on a ton of gift cards, all partials that had been misplaced and then later reappeared. So I went to Starbucks had all the gift cards added up onto one, and what did I have? 27 dollars! I then sold this card to a friend for half-price, bringing in cash instantly. We both got a great deal.

Tomorrow I will be doing my first yard-sale, this of course is another thing on my list of ways to make instant cash. I have no clue how it’ll turn out. Dats wuts up.

I’m currently a broke artist.

Money is a necessary evil that all artists must face at some point in time. Why is it that artists, as creative as they are, have difficulty taking care of themselves and paying rent? I think part of this is simple to explain, to be an accomplished artist you need to invest time into your art, time is money, and to have money (until your art pays your bills) you need a job or source of income. So you get your job, and you now have money, but little time to work on your art. You quit your job to have time to work on your art and now you have time, but no money. Are these our only choices? Time or money? Maybe, maybe not…

So, getting to the point, the past few months my goal has been to invest my creativity into finding ways to produce income. My mission has been, find every potential revenue maker that requires NO OVERHEAD to start. The one thing that sucks more than your idea failing, is investing a ton of money in your failing idea.

What have I tried? Scrapping (Cans, electronics, etc), Ebay, Craigslist, internet surveys, Internet search and win sites, Istock contribution, Zazzle, freelance videography, Monster gear and rewards, and Coke rewards.

Now before I continue, you may ask, why am I spending all this time trying all of these things, some of which yielding no profit, instead of getting a job somewhere? And, the answer is simple, yes I could get a job somewhere fairly easy, and yes I would have secure pay, but damn it’s boring. What I’m doing is in fact fun, sometimes frustrating, but for the most part I wake up every morning with a smile on my face knowing that I have no clue what to expect from the day ahead of me.

It’s called adventure, and it’s something most people only experience in video games.

For those who want more detail on my successes and failures I will give it to you. If anything I hope that you learn from my mistakes, but ultimately I hope I will encourage you, the reader, to take that plunge. To do that one thing you’ve wanted to try, but haven’t because of the fear of failure.

Lets get this out of the way for you, YOU WILL FAIL! But, it doesn’t end there, you get back up, dust yourself off, and keep trekking! One thing I’ve learned is if you stick with something, you will get better, but god do you suck at the beginning of it all.