Question about creative or different sources of income

[Miniv]

Do you rely on a salary or wage only? Or do you make money in other ways (ie, the horses, of course)...?

I'm always interested in new ideas that people have found.

We do breed and sell our horses, of course. BUT we've cut back so much we don't make really any income from it anymore. We also used to do Mini Hauling, but because of the economy we've had to find other sources of income......

-- Larry works part time for the Oregon Observatory

-- We sell items on e-bay that I find at yard sales/thrift stores

-- Larry is also just starting another part time job as an assistant to the manager of a mobile home park.

We have a friend who is doing very well taking "vintage" items and "re-purposing" them, selling them.

What do YOU do? (I KNOW there are some interesting and creative folks on here!)

 

[Debby - LB]

re-purposing vintage is a awesome way to make a little money, that stuff really sells well. I used to paint cute things and sayings on weird stuff like slate, old barn wood and Magnolia leaves, all of these sold well, so well I didn't have the time to keep up with the orders. I have not painted anything in years now though. When I have time (what's that) I make a little extra doing pet photography.

 

[MindyLee]

Besides working a full time job as a recieving at TSC,

Im a mini and goat farrier for my county marking yr # 10 this yr. $20 per mini trim/$5 per goat $10 house call fee

I also breed neatherland dwarf bunnies $20-$60 per baby

Breed calico bantam cochins and frizzles, sizzles, silkies $10 per chick

Sell hatching eggs $20 per dozen

And in future iris flowers.

And sell a foal once in a while...

 

[poniesrule]

I guess I just do one thing so I can support the horse habit ha! My husband isn't an animal person at all, so I had to find a way to support my hobby myself (we won't get started on how he supports HIS hobbies, but whatever) it's easy & fun, and can be really rewarding. I sell Tastefully Simple. It's also a good Mommy's Night Out without the kids!!

Someday when I have a tiny bit more space, I would like to raise rabbits. What kind, no idea, but I just love their little personalities! It would be a great learning project for the kiddos too.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Sounds like poniesrule and I are sisters-in-law!! LOL

Once I get settled from this move, I'll be doing more hand-crafting and repurposing for resale. I've purchased enough things from the local flea markets, I may as well start selling on a regular basis. I really want my horse activities to be as self-supporting as possible.

Fortunately, my husband does understand "spend money to make money", so if I make it feasible on paper he'll support it.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

re-purposing vintage is a awesome way to make a little money, that stuff really sells well. I used to paint cute things and sayings on weird stuff like slate, old barn wood and Magnolia leaves, all of these sold well, so well I didn't have the time to keep up with the orders. I have not painted anything in years now though. When I have time (what's that) I make a little extra doing pet photography.

Debby, you intrigue me with the magnolia leaf art. Are you willing to share your technique? Do you have pictures to share?

 

[MiniNHF]

I have a main salary income, full time job (7-4).

Alternate income:

• Horse Lessons (bigger horses) but when the economy took a nose dive thats the first thing parents cut so I havent done many. But I am going to pick that back up when I move and get my own farm vs relying on another farm (having to pay their insurance and giving them a cut)
• Graphic Design

 

[Miniv]

Love all these ideas!

Regarding Rabbits.......My daughter is doing 4-H Rabbit and Poultry. I highly recommend parents encourage their kids to become involved in either 4-H or FFA. She tends to have 3 litters a year and sells the babies for about $5 to $10 each. No major money is being made, but a lot of learning! If she insists on keeping a kit, I make her cull an adult to improve her program, otherwise we'd be OVERRUN with bunnies!

 

[Performancemini]

The vintage idea sounds neat. I am racking my brain for possible ideas as, so far, I am having trouble finding another job after an ankle/foot injury. It looks like I may have strength and flexibility problems permanently with it. So far the few places I have applied don't want to take me on. I don't really have really usable computer skills, so an office job of some kind won't work. I have mainly worked in the food service industry (school cafeteria, fast food counter/food prep, and cake decorating). To do cake decorating at home, I would have to basically have a seperate kitchen; as here they require seperate appliances, utensils, etc. from your personal home ones. And there are a lot of great bakerys, both store and specialty, around here. I like to draw/paint and shop the flea markets and garage sales, etc.-of course I need some spending money to do it. Hmmmmm.

 

[Debby - LB]

sorry Dragons Wish Farm I don't have any of my own left at all. I preserved some leaves with glycerin before painting them to keep them pliable but when doing that the magnolia leaf changes to a rusty color. I learned later I could have put green food dye in with the water to keep them green.

Almost all of mine were done on fresh green leaves, a few were mounted in glass frames to preserve them. I used acrylic paint and then sprayed them with a sealer. I have also painted on Oak leaves. I did some of my Magnolias vertical, those had gold thread hangers attached to the stems but most of mine were horizontal paintings with little landscapes, barns, a horse near a creek etc.

I wish I had some left but the two I kept that were Christmas themed were given as gifts long ago. Maybe one day I'll have the time to do some more.

 

[Marty]

We are retired and social security doesn't even cover it. Mr.Retirement opened up a small engine repair shop out of our garage. He repairs mowers, weed eaters, 4 wheelers, generators and that kind of thing. He never advertised; its all by word of mouth and he has plenty of customers bring him stuff every day. Business is booming spring and summer. Its tax free dollars.

I have a greeting card business which i've had for about 10 or so years. My customers tell others and word gets around more and more each year.

But the best and most fun business I ever had was my Tack consignment shop. When we had our flooring business in town we had a very large store with warehouse, showrooms etc. We had so much extra space that I opened up a side line and Horse $ense was born. It cost me $20.00 to get started (that was for lumber for a sign). Other than that it cost me NOTHING to make money.I advertised for free on Craigslist and told the feed stores about it and within two weeks my store was overflowing with used tack for resale. I had a variety of saddles, bridles, show tack, english and western wear, boots, you name it I had it. I had a large outside lot for horse trailers for sale. People were driving like a hundred miles to bring their stuff for me to sell. They told me how much they want and I'd do a modest mark up but the stuff had to be "gently" used or I wouldn't accept it. I would do this again on a heartbeat out of my home but we live in such a remote and out of the way place, I wouldn't have the foot traffic like I did when located in the center of town. However it could be done I suppose if you wanted to use ebay and be shipping the stuff but I only did local sales. This was my first day.

 

[poniesrule]

Anyone do any composting & sell natural fertilizer? The neighbors saw me emptying my garbage cans of 'brown gold' into my garden yesterday and asked if I had more (duh!) gave me an idea.... don't know if I should start a compost pile or just do it in its true round form..... That's something I used to do with my rabbits when I was younger, but I used that in true form... thoughts??

 

[Miniv]

Marty, you do BEAUTIFUL work with your cards and I remember your used tack shop. I know that used tack is popular on e-bay....found out by accident when a friend asked us to sell his saddle and a pair of BOOTS for him.

Poniesrule, You should look into the composted manure idea... Around here people sell horse, rabbit, and chicken poop for money and people come and get it. They sell it either by the trash bag or by the truck bed full.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The vintage idea sounds neat. I am racking my brain for possible ideas as, so far, I am having trouble finding another job after an ankle/foot injury. It looks like I may have strength and flexibility problems permanently with it. So far the few places I have applied don't want to take me on. I don't really have really usable computer skills, so an office job of some kind won't work. I have mainly worked in the food service industry (school cafeteria, fast food counter/food prep, and cake decorating). To do cake decorating at home, I would have to basically have a seperate kitchen; as here they require seperate appliances, utensils, etc. from your personal home ones. And there are a lot of great bakerys, both store and specialty, around here. I like to draw/paint and shop the flea markets and garage sales, etc.-of course I need some spending money to do it. Hmmmmm.

You would be in big demand here for cake decorating! There isn't anything around here. I get pressed for time and try to get someone to bake a celebration cake and end up doing it myself as there just aren't any around here. The closest is a super Walmart 22 miles away. Why do you need the health department involved if you are just doing it part time? If you decide to do that, I think you could advertise on Craigs list.

 

[Performancemini]

Well Marsha, if the Health Dept. gets wind of it around here they will shut you down and you would probably get fined. I can get a home business license since it would be something I would be making myself; but I would still be required to have a 3-hole sink and seperate making/baking items from our personal ones.

Actually, I was just RE-contacted today by a name brand decorating company about teaching classes in the area. I have had to put them off 2 or 3 times due to my foot/ankle and hand and also that I need some training and retraining. Well, today they got back to me and want to talk with me about taking their training courses. I would be teaching in a local (and, Hurray!) nearby store. So the hours and days would probably be somewhat flexible to my schedule (mainly for the few shows we attend and the county fair). So maybe I will have a job after all!

 

[Shari]

Wish I knew of something to make a little more money. Can't figure anything out around here. Everyone wants everything for free. sigh ~~
Luckily DH has a good job, but it barely pays the bills with all the outrageous fees and taxes they have here.

 

[Marty]

I sell my manure and this is my biggest season. I advertise on Craigslist every year for 20 bucks a truck load and we load it with the tractor. That's how I get my winter hay money.

A lady on my road does incredible cakes! Everyone goes to her for cakes. Its all under the table, tax free dollars and nobody around here is that mean enough to cause her any grief about it.

and speaking of food.........my Ashley has started a chicken business. Some kind of rare chickens and special eggs. I don't have a clue but she knows what she is doing and is making a "killing" on doing this in her own back yard. I can't believe people would pay so much for any of that stuff but apparently they do

 

[Marsha Cassada]

eBay is not as much fun as it used to be, nor as lucrative. Shipping costs are so high now and the fees for sales plus shipping plus paypal really knock the bottom out of profit. And it's hard work. Searching for saleable stuff, photographing, descriptions, keeping up with emails, finding packaging, following up with disgruntled buyers... Gee, it's like a REAL job!

I've thought of doing house cleaning, as it would be money in my pocket. But I'm afraid I wouldn't want to clean my own house. I know there is a market for that service.

I would like to pet/plant sit, but driving into town every day would cost a lot so not sure it would be financially feasible.

Another market is B & B. People who have overnight guests who don't have a spare room, or don't want their guests to go to a motel. I don't like to cook, though, so maybe I could just do one of the B's!

 

[Performancemini]

Maybe I could do cakes by word of mouth and get by. I have a phone interview today for the cake decorating classes.

I had a friend suggest, since I enjoy baking, looking into doing it at summer farm markets, alone or with another craft. But that ties up weekends too much. And around here it's hard to get in them because the area is so big that the spots applied for fast.

I had the idea of a small scale tack consignment shop. We are in the country, but not too far out and on a busy road for traffic from neighboring small towns that go into our city to work. Not sure how to get started and if that is allowed under the home business zoning either.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

We have considered doing a feed store here but we live on top of a hill and our driveway is pretty hard to get up in a 2wheel drive in winter. Customers wouldn't want to support a seasonal feed store lol. I also make dog collars and put the dogs name and phone # on them, they've been pretty popular with the few people who have seen them and my son thinks I should expand my product line and sell at the farmers market but like like you performanceminis, I don't want to give up my weekends all summer long.