Is dog sitting a legit way to make money?

Today is your lucky day.

Here are two new sites that connect dog sitters (and potential dog sitters) with dog owners in need of a sitter: DogVacay.com and Rover.com.

Both have been around less than a year, but they look like a promising way to bring in some extra income for the right individual.

If you’re familiar with AirBnB.com, the concept is very similar. As a sitter (boarder), you offer up your services and place for potential dog owners.

Dog owners check the site for sitters in their area and pick the one they like. The sites handle the money transfer. The site is seen as a welcomed alternative to leaving the dog alone, with an unwilling friend or family member, or at the kennel.

Looking for Dog Sitting Jobs?

If you’re a dog sitter already, you’re likely constantly keeping an eye out for new jobs. It’s not every night that an owner needs a sitter, so your work is probably spotty at best. I can see how these sites will take a lot of the pain out of finding new jobs. A great lead generator.

Also, unlike Craigslist, the site is designed specifically for dog sitting services and offers a lot of the features that give responsible owners confidence in the service. This is where you want to be and this is the type of client you want.

Start a Dog Sitting Business

Hey big timer! If you’re considering dog sitting as a legitimate, full-time business, these sites would make a great testing ground for your abilities, and a great way to build an initial client base.

The sites do take a small cut of your earnings every job. DogVacay.com takes 15% initially and the rate can drop to 3% depending on your history with the site. Rover.com takes 10% initially and will drop that to 5% based on your history with the site.

Dog sitting is definitely a legit business to start. I found this great profile from PetSit.com about business owner Jason Hofmann, who shares this:

[i]n 2004 I decided to start my own full time, in-home pet care business… I got off to a shaky start. The first year things were very difficult and money was tight. I made about $14,000 that first year. By 2006, business was booming and I was able to bring on some additional help as independent contractors. By 2007, a mere three years later, my business was grossing six figures.

Dog Sitting Rates

I’m not sure what a good dog sitting rate is, but the rates on these sites are pretty good considering the effort. The rates range from $15 to $50 a night. Do this a couple times a week and this could put an extra $500 in your pocket each month.

Have you ever made money as a dog sitter? Have you ever used one of these sites to find a sitter for your dog?

Image by zenera

Make Extra Money as a Dog Sitter is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Susan Devitt and Tom Gallo of GalloLea Organic Pizza Kits

First, Tom lost his highly specialized ceramics engineering job.

To find another job in that field, Tom and Sue knew they would have to leave their home in Asheville.

At the same time, Sue—a graphic designer—lost her biggest contracting job for an Atlanta company.

She knew that there were no jobs close to home for her, either.

Instead of looking for a traditional position in another part of the country, however, Tom and Sue decided to start their own business: GalloLea Organic Pizza Kits

They’re not alone. According to Robert Litan of the Kauffman Foundation—a non-profit which studies entrepreneurship, “The Great Recession has pushed many individuals into business ownership due to high unemployment rates.”

According to the Foundation’s research, 0.32% of the population decided to start a business in 2011, continuing the trend of growing entrepreneurship since the recession began in 2007.

But just how difficult is it to become a small business owner after losing a more traditional career? I had an opportunity to talk with Sue recently about their transition from unemployment to entrepreneurship:

How did you decide to become an entrepreneur and start making organic pizza kits?

After he lost his job, Tom immediately began brainstorming ideas to start his own business, and I wanted to be on board in any way I could. Pizza Kits were not even on our radar. Tom was working on designing a better bike rack for cars and making more affordable residential masonry stoves.

While he was working on various projects, he was making pizzas (using a new bread maker) and decided he wanted to make a healthier pizza, one with a whole-wheat crust. He was using his grandmother’s Italian family sauce recipe—and constantly inviting friends over to eat all the extra pizzas.

Friends were encouraging Tom to open a restaurant because the pizzas were so amazing. But we didn’t want to open a restaurant.

However, I came across a summer class being offered at the local community college on How To Start a Food Business. I suggested we take it, thinking we might jar and sell the amazing family sauce.

The 6-week course covered all the basics, which was important for us, since we didn’t know anything about the food industry. We also found out that Asheville had a non-profit shared use commercial kitchen for start-up food businesses and farmers.

Instead of needing our own kitchen we could rent space and time as needed. As the summer went on, our idea evolved into a homemade pizza kit that would be both convenient and healthy.

What obstacles did you face in trying to get your business off the ground?

There are obstacles along the entire way that you don’t see until they’re right in front of you. Learning a business from the ground up means that you are ‘moving forward in the dark’ so to speak. You’re bound to make mistakes and spend some money unwisely.

We made a point of picking the brains of anyone we met who might have advice for us. One person would lead to another to the point where we now have a few mentors and consultants we can call with questions about the wholesale/retail food industry, which is very specialized.

In 2009, after getting the Pizza Kit to the point that we could sell it, it was time to test the market, so we started at the local Tailgate Markets—with overwhelming success. So we kept up the Markets and also started selling to local specialty stores.

Then I tried to get into our local large natural grocery stores: Earth Fare and Whole Foods. Phone calls and e-mails went unanswered, which was very frustrating. It’s difficult to be a pest and relentlessly call on grocery buyers. But that’s what I did, and it eventually paid off: I got the Pizza Kits into our local and regional larger stores.

As tough as it is to get into a store, the biggest obstacle we faced, and continue to face, is the ‘sell-through’. People need to know about our Kits before they buy. The best way to sell is to do in-store demos, but the more stores we are in, and the further away the locations are, the harder it becomes to demo.

Social media and word of mouth help, although learning to use that technology presented us with another obstacle.

And that illustrates one of the biggest obstacles for a new business: We only have 24 hours in a day, and as a grassroots company we do it all. Production, sales, distribution, marketing, PR, social media, graphics, packaging and demos.

Finally, determining a price point for our Kits has proven to be another difficulty. Cost of goods for production—whether it’s the packaging or the raw food ingredients—need to be low enough to bring the Pizza Kit to a wholesale price that can make a little money, and retail it at a comfortable price-point for the consumer market.

In the beginning we couldn’t order enough goods to get a reasonable cost, but if you sell too high, people won’t buy. As sales build you get closer to making the formula work, but it’s a difficult conundrum.

Did any aspects of your former career (experience, contacts, background, etc) help you in creating and growing your business?

Tom’s engineering background is a huge benefit, and he uses it every day. Cooking is chemistry, so that translates well. His ability with kitchen production and machinery are also a huge benefit. His research into packaging (glass or plastic? what kind of plastic will give a long shelf life?) has been an on-going project that is finally working itself out.

Tom’s engineering ability and research experience are HUGE factors in our success.

As for me, I’m a graphic designer. Packaging design, marketing, company identity (logo, consistency in visual communication, etc.) are what I bring to the table. Both of our skills and experience are vital to GalloLea.

GalloLea Pizza Kits

What do you wish you’d known when you started?

If we had known how hard it is I can’t say if we would or wouldn’t have taken this path. It’s extremely rewarding, but extremely difficult. Not just the exhausting ‘hard work’ of it all, but the obstacles of the expectations of the food industry (they are used to working with BIG companies that have deep pockets). And frequently the common perception of consumers is that ‘food is cheap’ and it isn’t. We fight against that.

How were you able to finance your business?

We’ve been self-financing with retirement funds and savings, so there either won’t be any retirement, or GalloLea Pizza Kits will be a well-known brand (or at least sell well enough for us to make a living!) At some point in our growth we will need to borrow money, but so far we have not.

What advice would you give to someone interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Have time and money to last for several years. Listen to feedback and be extremely open to change. We’ve gone through many changes, and I wish that with each one of them we had jumped on it earlier instead of fighting them!

Where do you see GalloLea Pizza Kits going in the future?

We are growing all the time. This year will be a great year for us. At our rate of growth we may be looking for our own kitchen/production facility in 2013. We have several other Pizza Kits in development to add to our line.

More ‘Unemployed to Entrepreneur’ Stories

How to Start a Clothing Company if You’re Unemployed
Unemployed Accountant? Here’s How to Start a Tax Preparation Business
Surviving Unemployment – 6 Tips for Life After the Pink Slip

All images courtesy of www.gallolea.com.

From Unemployed to Entrepreneur: Susan Devitt and Tom Gallo of GalloLea Organic Pizza Kits is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Editor’s note: I use QuickBooks Online to handle the accounting for my blog and conference business. I’ll be honest though – I don’t know much about it or how it compares to the desktop version. I turned to my accountant, who uses it everyday on my behalf, to provide a quick review for anyone interested in using it.

Running your successful business can be very challenging.

Making the sale, providing the service, and/or producing the product can (and should) consume you and your staff’s day.

This leaves little room for you to track expenses/income and put together a payroll.

You need the accounting and bookkeeping to be as easy as possible. Especially when tax season rolls around.

This is where QuickBooks comes in. Intuit’s QuickBooks has set the standard for accounting software for years and is the best selling accounting software.

Now, it would be easy to go to the store, buy the stand-alone version of QuickBooks, install it on your computer and start rolling. But did you know that another version of QuickBooks exists? It’s called QuickBooks Online! No download required.

About QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online is obviously the version of QuickBooks that you access using the Internet. A user ID and a password are required to gain access to your company’s accounting data for security purposes.

QuickBooks Online is great because you can be anywhere to use it as long as you have Internet access. Use it at your family or friend’s house, in another state, a restaurant or hotel with Wi-Fi, or your laptop on your bed if you have Wi-Fi there.

QuickBooks Online can also be accessed by Blackberry, iPhone, and Android phone.

3 Versions of QuickBooks Online

Three different versions are available for QuickBooks Online. The versions, going from limited options to unlimited options, are Online Simple Start – $12.95, Online Essentials – $26.95, and Online Plus – $39.95. Prices can vary based on the occasional promotional discount.

• Online Essentials and Online Plus are the only versions that can be accompanied with payroll functionality (approx $25 more).
• Additionally, Online Plus gives you more reporting functionality compared with Online Simple Start.
• With Online Simple start a bill cannot be created and managed. You also can’t create an estimate. But you can create invoices and manage your customers.
• With Online Essentials you cannot track inventory or have budgeting and planning. But with Online Plus you can.
• Finally, Online Plus is also the only one that can track, prepare, and print 1099’s.

A Few Drawbacks

QuickBooks Online is not without it’s negatives. If the Internet is down or unavailable then QuickBooks Online cannot be accessed and therefore no work can be done. Sometimes even if the Internet is available QuickBooks Online servers can get overloaded and it cannot be accessed.

Additionally, if QuickBooks desktop is the only thing that you know, then a big learning curve is present in becoming accustomed to QuickBooks Online.

I’ve found that the speed of QuickBooks Online is dependent on your internet speed whereas QuickBooks desktop is generally fast no matter what.

It can be very frustrating with QuickBooks Online if they want to change something as far as functionality. You have no choice but to get used to it. For instance, payroll has to be done a certain way with little to no flexibility.

One other major downside that I’ve experienced is that QuickBooks Online will time out forcing you to have to log back in to continue with your work.

What I Like About QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online also has a lot of upsides. With QuickBooks desktop, a new version has to be bought and installed on your computer every year in order to keep up with the most recent software. In QuickBooks Online you don’t have to worry about that because it keeps up with it for you.

I also like that your accountant can access it anytime he wants with his own unique user name and password to make the right changes. Direct deposit is free per employee in QuickBooks Online, but in the desktop version it costs per employee.

One of my favorite features is that your transactions can be downloaded from your bank. All you have to do is verify it is going to the right account and you are done. You don’t have to go to your bank online and print a transaction list and enter each transaction.

It is also awesome that you don’t have to be confined to one place to do your bookkeeping; you can be anywhere anytime as long as Internet access is present.

Who Should Use QuickBooks Online

QuickBooks Online (vs Desktop) is for the business owner on the go who wants to pay a little bit each month instead of a large amount one time per year (desktop versions cost from $183 to $319).

It’s also for the owner who is on a remote job site and has a smart phone or laptop with Wi-Fi capabilities. The owner is able to complete the work, and can make out an invoice right there.

QuickBooks Online is for the person who works on a variety of different computers that have internet access.

Finally, it’s for the person (like PT) who wants their accountant to look over their shoulder and make sure they are doing things right.

Try Quickbooks Online Free for 30 Days and get 1 Hour Free with a Quickbooks Expert!

What’s been your experience with QuickBooks Online?

My Accountant Reviews QuickBooks Online vs Desktop is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Advanced job hunting device.

Those are all great places to start your search.

But there are some other, more unique, possibly more targeted job search sites that you might want to try:

Jobs for Veterans – If you’re a veteran, check out the job search tool at Military.com. The site gives you the added benefit of searching by branch of service, security clearance, and current military status. Their military skills translator is worth checking out as well.

Jobs for Idealists – The mission of Idealist.org states that their site “connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.” Their areas of focus are education, health and medicine, youth, job and workplace, human services, arts, urban, religion and spirituality, victim support, as well as philanthropy. The site appears to have both volunteer and paid opportunities and has been around since the dawn of the Internet.

Jobs for Teenagers – You can apply for job specifically aimed at teens at Snagajob.com. This site is really another top tier site, but they’ve done a good job of isolating jobs in the particular category. This is the perfect tool for any teen looking for work starting in the Summer months.

Jobs for Bloggers – If you’re a blogger, writer, or content creating guru then you’ll want to check out the ProBlogger Jobs Board. I know several of the freelancers in my niche that view this board regularly looking for gigs. There’s always a solid list of opportunities here.

Jobs for People with Disabilities – If you are living with a disability the U.S. Government’s Department of Labor has created a website, Disability.gov, aimed at helping connect people with disabilities to services that might provide job opportunities in your area. You are able to search through resources at both the state and federal level.

Jobs for Seniors – Goodwill.org has a program called Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) aimed at helping people who are 55 or older get back into the work force. The program has locations in six states: New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, and Washington. But they say they help people throughout the U.S.

Jobs for Focus Group Participants – I featured FindFocusGroups.com in my podcast on finding focus groups jobs. The site is on the up and up and routinely updated with the best opportunities. Most opportunities are in larger cities though as most are in-person focus groups. This obviously isn’t a place to find permanent jobs, but it could help you bring in an extra $50-$200 each month.

Jobs for (Not Just) High Earners – TheLadders.com recently opened its search engine up to jobs starting at $45K. Their purpose for doing so was to put the emphasis on the type of job (career oriented) vs the actual salary. They have a free and $25/mo service. Plus, if you’re willing to fork over $2,495 for their Signature Program, they guarantee you a job.

Jobs for Freelancers – If you’re a freelancer, or have a skill that could translate into a one-off project, consider the opportunities found at Elance.com. They aren’t just for writers or tech geeks. They have plenty of administrative type jobs that could work for a stay at home parent.

Jobs for Everyone – There’s something for everyone at Craigslist.org. They have a massive list of job opportunities in your area. Some good, some bad, some down right ugly. Be careful out there.

This can’t be the complete list of alternative job search engine sites. If you know of others, please list them in the comments below. Thanks!

Image by Mulad

10 Alternative Online Job Search Sites is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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"That ain't workin'..."

Of course they do. That’s a ridiculous question.

Anyone with kids, who doesn’t hire a nanny/maid/chef to do literally everything, works.

I know. I have kids.

It’s work that I help perform at night and on weekends.

It’s work I love most of the time, but it does require real effort and selflessness. These little ones don’t take care of themselves.

Therefore, if a parent chooses to perform a different type of work (say, advisor to the President), that person would then have to hire someone else to take care of the kids. You couldn’t get away with just leaving your one year old in the house by themselves all day (believe me, I’ve tried). That alone is evidence that it is work to raise kids, and equivalent to a job (even though it doesn’t come with a wage).

Additionally, it’s important to note that the person who leaves to go to a job outside the home each day still has to come home and work nights and weekends with the kids.

So, now that we’ve established that we all work, let’s move on to a few related points that I think are important for stay at home parents to understand regarding their finances.

1. Understand and Participate in the Family Finances

This advice is really aimed at both parents, whether you are working at home or working in a job outside of the home. Both parents should be active participants in the financial decisions (and actions) that affect the family: debt reduction, spending decisions, savings efforts, etc. Don’t let your job choice be an excuse for ignorance. If one member is clueless to certain aspects of the household finances, it creates a weakness that could lead to trouble down the line. Stay at home parents should be listed on the banking accounts and credit accounts (including the mortgage) to maintain an active financial history, and should also consider getting life insurance.

2. You Don’t Need Two Incomes

Note: My point below obviously isn’t directed at the more than 13.7 million single parents in the United States today, who have difficult choices to make when it comes to getting support, earning a living, and caring for their kids.

In my opinion it’s an outright lie that you need two incomes to get by today. People change jobs and lower their standard of living all the time so that one parent can be at home with the kids. If this is your desire, do it. Don’t let anything stop you.

Some families choose to maintain a high standard of living and also choose to maintain two jobs outside the home. Cool. I accept that families can choose to make this move, but please avoid thinking that you *have* to. You don’t.

3. Contribute to a Separate Retirement Account

Just because you work and don’t receive an income, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be contributing to a separate retirement account. You can contribute to an IRA (sometimes referred to as a Spousal IRA) each year just like your spouse who works outside the home, as long as you meet the income limits and file a joint return. If you’re a stay at home mom or dad, go open up an IRA today and get started with your retirement savings.

4. Look for Ways to Bring in Extra Income

Make use of the free time you do have at home to generate some extra income for your family. Emily, freelance contributor to this site, is a stay at home mom, who I know makes a solid income through her efforts. There are lots of good jobs for stay at home moms and dads that you could explore. Talk with your spouse that work outside the home about trading some of the cleaning and cooking duties so that you can pursue an extra income while at home with the kids.

Image by Cia de Foto

Some Advice for Stay at Home Moms is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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This is a guest post from Tim Fraticelli, who runs Faith and Finance, where he’s on a mission to save people thousands of dollars each year with his free eBook How to Coupon.

Looking for a unique business idea?

29 million = Number of small businesses in the US.

500 million = Number of patents filed annually in the US.

50% = Half of the private sector is employed by small businesses.

All it takes is one idea and you could be there too. But coming up with an idea is the very thing that keeps a lot of people from moving forward at all.

The best business ideas are the simple ones that aim to solve a problem or fill a need. Good entrepreneurs are always asking ‘how can this be better’ or ‘what would fix this problem?’

These questions will get you thinking outside of the box and might be the fuel you need to think up a great business idea. But for those who just need a little inspiration, you can look to the business ideas listed in this article.

Turning Your Business Idea into a Business

We can talk about business ideas all day, but you won’t get anywhere unless you get up and do something about it. PT has a bunch of resources to help you get started with your business, so use them as a guide.

• 5 Things to Do Before Starting a Business
• Turning a Hobby into a Business
• My Steps to Starting a New Business or Company

20 Unique Business Ideas That Don’t Suck

Private Lesson Instructor – Music, sports, and dance are the most common types of lessons out there, but the possibilities are endless. What is something that you enjoy doing that others might like as well? You just have to be willing to teach and you can start your own studio one lesson at a time.

Event Planning – If you’re an organized person, you’ll probably do well with an event planning business. If you enjoy coordinating elements of weddings, parties, and other occasions, this could be a great side business for you. Plus, there’s little overhead involved, which means more money in your pocket.

Personal Trainer – If you spend a lot of time in the gym, why not capitalize on it? People make promises at the beginning of each year to get in shape, so be ready to heavily promote your services in November and December. You’ll also need to be ready to get people in shape for the summer, so make sure to get the word out around March each year. If you really want to make money with economies of scale, create a ‘boot camp’ class and charge admission.

Mobile Detailing – This was one of the first businesses I started as a teenager and actually lasted through college. The start up costs were less than $100 and you could easily make that with one or two jobs. Don’t limit yourself to cars and trucks – think bigger and target people with boats, planes, and RVs.

DJ for Events – How many weddings have you been to with a terrible DJ? If you have an ear for music and throwing parties, you might consider starting a business as a DJ.

Videographer – The door to technology is wide open today giving video production aficionados the ability to use their creativity for profit. A good quality HD video camera, sound equipment, and video editing software can put you on your way to creating online videos and even TV commercials for local businesses. You can even stay small scale and target small events like weddings and graduations.

Massage Therapy – Opening a spa could be a great business if done right. Obtaining your massage therapy certification can take a few months, but it may be the ticket to a great side business.

Lawn Care Business – One of my first businesses after college was a lawn care business. It’s surprisingly easy to get started as long as you’re willing to do the work. The biggest hurdle was battling the changes in weather, but it was a good business overall.

Freelance Designer – If you have an eye for designing ads and other graphics, you can turn it into a profitable business. This is the perfect business idea for creative college students or for a stay at home parent who wants to make extra money. Really gain traction with your business by joining Odesk or eLance for even more exposure.

Tutor Students – My wife makes extra money by tutoring other medical school students in anatomy. The possibilities are endless when it comes to types of students and subjects so don’t be afraid to let others know of your willingness to tutor. If you have too many people coming to you for help, you might consider hiring out others to cover the lessons.

Freelance Writer – You don’t need to be a blogger to make money online almost immediately. If you’re willing to research topics and write articles, you can start up a freelance business and make anywhere from $15 to $50 or more an article. If you have a favorite blog that you read, ask the editor if they hire staff writers and you might just land your first writing gig.

Photographer – A quality photographer can charge upwards of $2,000 – $4,000 or more for weddings and other events. A few gigs each year could result in a healthy little business for someone who is good with a camera.

Pet Hotel – Taking care of pets while people are on vacation can be a nice way to earn extra money. It can even turn into a full-fledged business if you’re willing to turn an outside shed into a temperature controlled pet hotel. I thought the idea was crazy too, until I needed to board my dog for a week and found a small business in our town called the Hound Hotel. With over twenty rooms at $15 a night, they were making a nice stream of income with their doggy hotel.

Web Designer – When PT dove into blogging full time, he supplemented his business income by making websites with wordpress. Spend some time researching custom wordpress thems and you’ll be able to develop sites for businesses, churches, and other bloggers too.

Tech Support – Small businesses don’t always have the money to hire a full time IT department and that’s where you come in. Contract with small businesses to be their 24-hour tech support or provide online support to websites owners who are clueless when it comes to fixing a crashed site.

Interior Designer –Some states require that you pass a certification test to become an interior designer. If you’re serious about this business idea, that should be good news to you – a lot of people might give up on pursuing it as a business with this barrier to entry. Don’t let that keep you from starting a business as an interior designer if you’re really passionate about it!

Create an Online Store – A while back, PT interviewed Steve Chou of MyWifeQuitHerJob.com and discussed how his wife earned a six-figure income by creating an online store. They didn’t even know how to spell HTML, but ended up figuring out how to make a profitable store online within a year. Listen to the podcast if you’re curious how they did it.

Health Consultant – This is another area that might require certification depending on your state. If you want to become a registered dietitian or nutritionist, you may need to pass an exam and take continuing education courses. But the overall job outlook for this field is expected to rise, so now might be a good time to get started with business as a health consultant.

Blogger – There’s no question that a blog can eventually develop into a business. Revenue from advertising, affiliate sales, products, and eBooks can turn a website into business in itself – but it takes time. For nearly every full time blogger out there, it started as a hobby and grew into a business. If you’re curious to read more of what PT has to say about it, read his article on how to make money blogging.

Solve Problems – The last idea is a little vague, but it’s really all about creating something that people need and going after it 100%. One of my favorite new businesses (or ‘why didn’t I think of that’ idea) is Dollar Shave Club. For $1 a month, they’ll send you a razor every month – genius! Their video has gone viral and the idea is catching on. They identified a problem and started a business to fix it – and that’s what it’s all about.

Let’s keep the conversation going below. Leave a comment, with a good business idea that you’ve been thinking about lately.

Tim Fraticelli loves to talk about business, play the saxophone, and hang out with his wife. Learn more about him at his blog Faith and Finance.

Image by Enkhtuvshin’s 5DmkII

20 Unique Business Ideas That You Can Start Today is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Have you ever been out of work, or in a part-time job for an extended period of time?

It can be demoralizing not to be able to find the type of work you’re qualified for.

The statistics show, specifically the Underemployment Rate, that it’s still a very tough job market for about a fifth of all Americans.

The Underemployment Rate (Statistics)

If statistics are your thing, here are a few to chew on. According to Gallup, the Underemployment Rate for February 2012 was 19.1%, that was up from 18.7% in January 2012, and down from this time last year (February 2011), when the rate was at 19.9%. The numbers from Gallup don’t include any “seasonal adjustments”.

The 19.1% Underemployment Rate is made up of two numbers: the unemployment rate of 9.1% and the percentage of American workers working part-time jobs, but wanting full-time employment (currently 10%). The combined number is supposed to give us an idea of the real state of employment in the U.S.

What is Underemployment (vs Unemployment)?

As noted by the stats above, the Underemployment Rate is a measure of the number of American workers that are either unemployed (and looking) or in a part-time job that is below their normal pay grade (i.e. not in the type of job they are qualified for).

So, the Underemployment Rate actually includes the Unemployment Rate. The idea here is that, “hey, he or she may be working, but it’s not a job that can support them.”

A tweet from the underemployed.

Notice that the rate does not include people who have given up on finding a job (i.e. discouraged workers). You can get a sense of that by looking at the Labor Force Participation Rate.

Michigan Underemployment Benefits

The two rates are also different in the sense that one qualifies you for benefits while the other does not.

The way I understand it, there is actually one state, Michigan, where you can file for underemployment benefits. That is, you can earn money from a part-time job and still received unemployment compensation (at a reduced level). Here’s an underemployment benefits calculator provided by the state.

To get these benefits, you just need to apply for unemployment compensation like you would if you didn’t have a job at all by visiting the Michigan.gov website. If you are currently underemployed in another state, check to see if you are eligible for these types of benefits where you live.

Who Are the Underemployed

The underemployed come from all walks of life, but they primarily fall into two categories.

First, there are people who were laid off due to the recession. These people had a job before the recession hit, but lost it because their company could no longer afford to keep them. Many of these workers have taken unemployment benefits, constantly looked for full-time employment, and even taken multiple part-time jobs to make a living.

The other major group is college graduates. Since 2009, college graduates have faced an uphill battle in finding work. Many are in the same part-time job that they held while they were in college. Many have moved back home to live with their parents. Many have settled for jobs that don’t compensate them for the degree they’ve earned.

Let’s hope that the economy improves soon so many of the underemployed can get back to work, or get back into a job that they’re qualified for.

What is Underemployment? is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Is collecting aluminum cans still a good way to make extra money?

When you were a kid did you ever find yourself collecting and recycling aluminum cans? 

I think for a time, when times were tight, my whole family would join in to bring in some extra cash.

I’d take off on my bike with a friend, or sometimes Mom would drive us around. We’d spend an afternoon collecting as much as we could from just about everywhere. 

I cringe thinking about where we might have obtained these cans. I guess most of it was on the road side though. There’s quite a bit of aluminum can litter out there.

Next time we would head into “the city” we would swing by the aluminum can redemption center. Thinking back on this place, it was probably just a middle man. He would buy from us and take them to the actual recycling center.

The Questionable Can Collecting Middle-Man

I have a random memory concerning the guy at the place where we would drop off the cans…

After weighing all our bags of cans, the man would always say, “40 lbs…$8 dollars”. It seemed every time we dropped off a load of cans, the story was the same: “40 lbs…$8 dollars.” Really?!?

It actually turned into a joke amongst my family and friends. Whenever someone questioned how much something weighed, we would all reply, “40 lbs…$8 dollars.”

It always seemed like the guy was just giving us what he wanted versus what the cans were actually worth in weight. I guess that’s kind of a sad story really. Kids work hard to earn an extra buck or two, and they get taken by the shady can counter guy.

Eventually I wised up and spent my time on more cost effective money earning efforts, like cutting lawns and washing cars.

Price for Aluminum Cans

These days, cans are fetching a little more than double the price I got as a kid. As of this post, the price for cans is around .85 a pound. Source: Scrap Metal Prices

Other Aluminum Can Collectors and Recycling Stories

Trent from The Simple Dollar collected cans as a kid. He tells a sad, but captivating story about his can collecting experience and how it affected his attitude towards money and savings. This is a great read.

Then there’s the true story of Maisie Devore, an eighty-something Kansas woman, who spent one day every month collecting cans for thirty years (video) to raise money for a community swimming pool. She was able to save $73,000 over the three decades and now the community is enjoying their pool. She still collects cans to help pay for pool maintenance.

Want to start a can collecting business? It’s all about scale. Find a local recycling center near you by visiting http://earth911.com/.

Did you ever collect cans as a way to make a little extra money? What was your favorite way to make money as a kid?

Image by Keoni Cabral

Collecting Aluminum Cans for Cash is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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Tax season is in full swing and to help you out this year, we’ve decided to team up with Go Banking Rates and Money Crashers which will give you the chance to add and extra $500 to your refund by submitting your entry below before tax day.  Everyone could use a few extra C-Notes in their wallet and entering the contest is quite simple.

• The winner of the $500 Tax Refund Giveaway will receive a $500 AMEX Gift Card.

How to Enter

Use the entry form below to like Go Banking Rates, Money Crashers and PT Money on Facebook (if you already Like us, just click “I’ve Done This”).  For EXTRA entries, follow Go Banking Rates, Money Crashers and PT Money on Twitter. You may receive one extra entry per day by sending out a Tweet about the contest (instructions in the entry form below).

Contest runs now through 11:59pm on April 14, 2012. GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

$500 Tax Refund Giveaway Extravaganza! is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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When I marched out on my own to pursue full-time blogging, one of the side gigs I maintained was freelance website design installing WordPress sites.

This little side hustle enabled me to make anywhere from $100 to $500 extra each month with minimum marketing effort.

So today I’m sharing my thoughts on this type of business in case any of you would like to pursue it. I’ll try to answer a few questions that I anticipate you might have. But feel free to chime in with your questions (and tips) in the comments below.

What Do You Need to Get Started?

Obviously you’ll need to have (or be willing to gain) a good knowledge of how websites are built. Specifically, WordPress-based sites. This means, at a minimum, you’ll need to understand:

• how to register domains and point them at host servers
• how to sign up for hosting services
• how to install both WordPress (.org) and a theme or theme framework (like Thesis) on your server
• and how to perform basic theme customization.

Most of this knowledge I learned myself by simply creating my own websites (e.g. this blog). These days, the above list of minimum skills is a lot easier to achieve than it might appear.

Isn’t WordPress blogging software? Actually, it’s an open-sourced content management system that is primarily used by bloggers. So, yes, it is blogging software, but it can also be quickly customized to have the look and feel of a static website. Simply navigate to “settings/reading” in the WordPress admin panel and set a static page as the home page.

Finding Clients for Your Web Design Business

The more difficult piece of this business, in my opinion, is finding the right clients. One of the key ingredients to being successful initially in this business is knowledge of the industry and of your competition. This will help you to target the right clients and manage expectations and fees.

Here’s what I mean. In the world of web design, there is a full range of types of services offered. On one end you have the high-end designers who charge multiple thousands of dollars initially to install a completely custom design and then may or may not charge monthly fees for site maintenance. You are not (at least initially) going to be in competition with these designers.

On the other end, you have the services catering to the do-it-yourself small business owner. These are the free platforms like Blogger and WordPress.com as well as the monthly fee only services like 1and1.com. You can’t possibly compete with these free platforms.

What you want is a client who needs something in the middle of this spectrum. They want to control the look and feel of their website, possibly even making some changes themselves. They understand the importance of having their own place on the Internet (not just a business that is piggy-backing off of a free platform).

They also don’t want to pay for monthly fees, beyond the cost of simple hosting ($8/mo). They simply need someone to help them get setup and potentially update the site (outside of the blogging functionality) once a year. For this, they are willing to spend anywhere from $100 to $500, depending on the amount of customization involved.

This is the service I provided my clients. Some call it web design. Some call it a WordPress install service. I like to think my sites were a bit more than just an install though. Here’s one of the sites I did a few years ago:

An example of a website built using WordPress.

For this particular website I setup the client (custom concrete service) with a Bluehost account (using my affiliate referral link, of course) to pay for their domain and hosting for a year.

I then installed WordPress, a free iThemes theme, and a basic suite of plugins. Then, I had a custom logo created. Finally, I performed some basic on-page SEO work, I customized the theme, and uploaded several pictures. I normally charged around $500 for this much work (approx. 20 hours).

Bonus Services You Can Offer

On top of a basic install, you can offer your clients services like: content creation, logo design (I would typically outsource this), social media account setup, Google local listing, basic on-page SEO, etc. All of these take time, so make sure you charge for these separately, or build them into your basic install package price.

How to Get the Clients

It’s not always going to be easy, but there are many ways to find clients. Post on craigslist. Create a website and market it using Facebook and Twitter. Call your self-employed friends and see if they need a new or updated website. Offer your services at 99designs, oDesk, elance, or similar service. Remember to think about your target client. Where do these people work? How can they be reached? Use that to drive your marketing efforts. Here’s more: 101 Ideas to Get More Freelance Work

Much to Like About this Business

I think there’s a lot of upside in this type of business. First, you can set your own hours. People paying someone else will expect a web design project to take a few days, so you can work on it at night or on the weekend in your spare time. Once you have the basic process down, most installs will only take a few hours. At that rate, it’s easy to see how you could take on three or four installs in a month.

Secondly, you are developing the basic skills of the Internet. This will serve you for years to come, as the Internet continues to capture more of our daily activity.

Thirdly, the costs to enter this line of business are extremely low. All you need is a basic Internet connection and computer. Technically, you don’t even need that. You could borrow both from your local library if you needed. You get my point. There are no costs. Domain, hosting, and theme fees can all be passed on to the client. WordPress = totally free!

Finally, I like this style of business because it’s the true side hustle. Meaning you do you work, the client pays, and you go about your business. No headaches. Sure there may be a few clients who need follow-up help, but you can either do that work at an hourly rate or pass them off to another freelancer, who wants to deal with clients.

If you’re a freelance web designer, I welcome your tips and advice in the comments below. Interested in starting this type of business and have a question? Ask away.

How to Start a Web Design Business Installing WordPress Websites is a post from: PT Money: Personal Finance by PT.
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