We’ve all been there before.  The clock is ticking and we need money now.  Maybe the rent is due next week and your checking account is a few hundred dollars short.  Or perhaps you need to pay your light bill in two days so they don’t turn the power off.  Your back is up against the wall.  So what do you do?

If you’re ever in this position you are definitely feeling stressed out.  Instead of freaking out or giving up, sit back, take a deep breath, and form your game plan.  In today’s issue I will give you a game plan to get you out of this all too common jam.  It doesn’t involve internet marketing, building something, having an existing list of customers, any particular skills… Nor does it involve needing any start-up money.

After all, if you had money you wouldn’t be in this position in the first place.  So it would be useless for me to share something that involves any money to work.

Before I give you this game plan I’d like to share some things about the mindset you need to get out of this jam.  If you can develop this mindset, and are not afraid of hard work chances are you’ll never get into these types of predicaments again.  Plus as an added bonus you can use this mindset to become incredibly wealthy.  Wealthier than you’ve probably ever imagined.

When I was 19 I got a job working in the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan.  The building I was working in housed some of the biggest names in the investment banking industry, powerful law firms, the secret service, and even the mayor’s office of emergency management.  Needless to say there were some very rich and powerful people in that building every day.

However, I was not there interning for the mayor or Smith Barney.  I was there working for a company called American Building Management.  This may sound interesting, but in short I was a night janitor.  We came in at 10 o’clock at night and worked all the way to 5 in the morning.  Cleaning the building and getting it ready for the wealthy tenants.

I worked with a great group of honest and hard working people at that job.  However, I was most certainly low man on the totem pole.  I got paid the least and was literally given the dirtiest and filthiest jobs in that building.  Whether that was cleaning toilets, running the smelliest trash down to the compactor, or unclogging hair from drains.  I did it all.

I remember one particular task I had was emptying the feminine product waste bins from the women’s bathroom stalls.  Sometimes it was as easy as removing a bag.  Other times it involved putting your gloves on and getting it out.

Now, I don’t tell you this to gross you out or have you feel overly impressed about where I started.  I tell you this because I learned a very important lesson from that job.  It’s to never feel that you’re above something.  Yeah some of the things were gross or manually intensive, but you did it because you were there to make a living.

Just like many of the folks I worked with at that building.  Some of which worked there for decades.  You never heard them complain about the work they were doing.  They did it because they had to make a living and in many cases had families who were depending on them to make that living.

So if you need to make money, you need to eliminate that attitude that you’re above something.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to clean toilets or empty trash cans.  However, when it comes to making money it’s about doing whatever it takes.  This attitude and mindset will serve you well regardless of how high up the chain you get.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get back to the situation at hand…  Making you some money.  So what can you do?  Well, there are several ways to make fast money.  However, it usually boils down to one thing.  People have a problem.  You help them solve that problem.

Right now, there are thousands of people in your area who would love to give you money to help solve a problem.  They will give you this money in cash, today.  That can range from cleaning their dirty house, helping them move, watching their dog, mowing their yard… The list goes on and on.

So you’re willing to work and you recognize you’re not above anything.   After all, you need cash ASAP to get you out of your grind.  How do you reach these people?  Well the internet has made it easier than ever to put the people with problems in touch with people willing to solve them.

The easiest place to find people who are willing to pay you for your help is Craigslist.com. All it takes is a few clicks of the buttons to find paying jobs. Sure you can find long term jobs on there, but I’m guessing you already have one of those. You just need some extra cash RIGHT NOW to get you through to the next payday.

What people usually don’t use Craigslist for is the one thing that can put money in your pocket today! In the section marked GIGS you can find all sorts of people who need their problems solved fast and who are willing to pay you to do it. The best part is most of the gigs are quick, easy tasks. You’ll find animal lovers who need their pet groomed, homeowners who need their bushes trimmed, business owners who need equipment moved from one area to another, and so much more.

To keep the money coming in you should also post about chores you can do for others. Go to the Services tab and write ads about jobs you are willing to do. There are lots of posts and advertisements in this section so you need to stand out from the rest to make good, quick money.

I’ll let you in on a marketing secret that nobody tells you about.  It’s a trick that will boost your chances of getting a response and making money fast! Most of the morons who post on this site about tasks they can do for others write one big, long ad that lists a myriad of services they can provide. Their hope is to appeal to the widest range of people by reciting all of the jobs they can do. What no one tells you is that this is the worst approach and won’t
get you any return phone calls.

Any marketing expert worth his salt will tell you that people who specialize in one thing always beat out people who attempt to do a catch-all. When you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one. Plus it looks desperate, instead of looking like an expert you look like someone who needs money in the worst way. I can tell you from experience, nobody wants to hire that guy.

So instead of being the catch all guy, show you have some specialization. Write individual ads for each task you are able to do. Write one ad about pet walking, one ad about handyman services, one ad about lawn care, one ad about moving services, etc. It takes a few extra minutes to do it this way, but the return on your money will be much higher.

If you are more of the lazy type who isn’t willing to work hard you can still use Craigslist to make quick, easy money. See people also sell things on Craigslist. I’m sure if you look around your house you have one or two items that haven’t been used in the last six months or a year. Right now in my office there is a pair of golf clubs that I haven’t used in over a year and an exercise bike that has been collecting dust in the corner for over three years.

Go to each room of your house and pick out at least one item that you haven’t used in the last year.  List items for sale on Craigslist, Ebay, even the online version of your local newspaper most likely has a classified section that you can post on for free.   This allows you to get rid of stuff you don’t need and turn it into cash.  Doing this way can be much better than selling to a pawn shop since you cut out the middle man.

I’d also encourage you to check out fiverr.com as a place you can make quick, easy money. Fiverr is a unique website in which you can post jobs you are willing to do for $5 or more. If you have more bizarre skills or tasks you are willing to do then this is the site for you.  Some of the posts I saw today are for people willing to write poems…create a webpage…design a book cover…teach make up lessons…create a jingle all for a price. It’s a creative space for
people with untraditional skills who need to make quick money.

You’ll find the most success when you adopt the mindset that no task is too small or menial. As a business owner I know the importance of always thinking this way. When you first start out you have to do every task; some fun (marketing, product creation), some not so fun (account reconciliation, customer service).  This mindset is crucial to the success of a business as well as anyone looking to make money NOW!

Good luck!

Mark Patricks