side jobs

[generaltsodD2T]

Greetings WT'ers,

Couldn't find a better place to post this, hope its alright. Most observant people realize that hard times are coming. Although on a tight budget, I have been able to make some preps. Recently, I have tried to think of depression resistant jobs for side income or to replace lost income.
Locksmithing and installing home security systems came to mind. For monetary reasons, I'm not interested in formal schooling, rather I'm looking for resources to be self taught. Can anyone here point me in the right direction?

Sincerely, General Tso

[Shannon Hogan]

Ferrier comes to mind. Not self taught but courses are fairly short. You can basically work for your self anywhere horse folks are. Takes time to build up regular clientel. Got to like horses.:D
Shannon

[judomayhem]

check your pm about what a friend's grandpa did in the depression

[resqr1]

I have a perfect recession-proof full-time job...corrections. The worse the economy gets, the more secure my job is.

[ogunski]

Learn how to sell my friend. No one makes a dime until goods/services are sold. I am not referring to retail sales unless you are selling big ticket items. Commission sales is best in my opinion. It gives you maximum flexibility while also giving you the greatest income potential.

[BB82]

I went to a locksmithing school, but you could learn the same trade through a correspondence course. Be aware that some states regulate the locksmithing trade, and make sure your training is compliant with state regulations.
There are different areas of locksmithing, and not all make money. If I were to do it again, I'd concentrate on things that made the most money. In my case, it was doing auto lockout, changing door locks and doing home cabinetry hardware changes (which weren't actually covered in locksmithing school). I wound up doing several cabinet hardware changes a month, and each of those jobs paid really well. However, after a couple of years of doing that part-time, I just quit. I got bored with it more than anything.

When it comes to making money, I've found that you can always make steady money if you concentrate on what I call "people basics". That is the things that people use everyday, and that wear out or have to be repaired. That is usually something to do with: home, cars, food, appliances, heating and air, etc...

Where you get into areas that might not make money is when you start trying to pry peoples disposable income out of their hands with some product or service that they don't need.

[fldback]

I have a perfect recession-proof full-time job...corrections. The worse the economy gets, the more secure my job is.

+1 LOL! As long as I keep my nose clean and go to work every day it's a hard job to lose. ;)

[choirboy]

My kid sister and BIL live in a suburb of Pittsburgh. Some guy made up some cards and left them on windshields offering in your driveway oil changes for $25. He told them he used Valveoline or Pennzoil, if they wanted something different they could buy it and knock $5 off of the price. BIL has a LEO background and just wanted to check this guy out. Many in that neighborhood take a bus to work because it is cheaper and easier than parking.

He takes an order and asks if the customer is not home to leave a check on the engine. They can leave their car locked so long as they popped the hood release. BIL has the usual cop instincts and wanted to see if it was a scam He works rotating shifts so he called the guy while he was home but could watch him secretly.

Sure enough the guy showed up put a tarp under the car used a pan to catch the old oil and had some sort of pump on the back of his truck to suck up the old oil. He put on a new Fram filter. He left the box only in the customers trash. On his truck he had two small bulk tanks labeled with one weight of Valvoline, the second was a different weight of Pennzoil. He had a garden water can marked at 4-5-6 quarts. from which he pumped his bulk oil. He did a courtesy fluid check of everything but the tranny which has to be hot after driving and checked with a running engine. His sales slip had something like as a no cost courtesy I checked the coolant, power steering and brake fluid. As a courtesy I topped off x__________.

On his form he had a little laundry list of things to take to your mechanic.

First: taking checks and leaving sales slips showed this guy was "on the books"

As I said, BIL watched him through a window and the guy did everything he claimed to do.

It took this guy about 20 minutes to do the service call. Just because I do this all for my vehicles and I do not get a bulk/dealer discount, I figure this guy was making about $17-$18 bucks per hour, after expenses.

A work ethic and a little bit of business skill has this guy expanding. He bought another 2K pickup put about 1K of tanks and such on it and has some relative, I think nephew working for him.

Choirboy