In today’s economy, it can be pretty tough to make money anywhere, but some intrepid folks are earning money hand over fist online and they’re doing it in some crazy ways. There’s a lot that can be learned from these people, especially if you’re sitting on your own idea but think it’s too out there. As these people illustrate, there’s no end to the insanity when it comes to making money online!
1 . Virtual Farming – Nearly half a million people in China are making money by playing a game, earning gold and selling it to other players with too much time on their hands and a credit card burning in their pocket! The phenomenon that is World of Warcraft, a massively multi-player online role playing game, has spawned some of the most creative ideas for making money. The game’s currency is gold, but a lot of players don’t want to take the time to earn it themselves. So, these people in China, and all over the world, spend their days playing the game, making gold and selling it in the game for actual cash.
2. Doggles – If there is one thing dogs don’t need, it’s a pair of goggles, but this idea, which got its start online, has made millions of dollars and real stores have opened up all over the world. They took their original idea, of UV protective doggles and continued expanding their product line to include vests, other eyewear and even jewelry. People will spend countless dollars on their pets and this site more than proves it can pay off big time if you have a pet related product or idea.
3. The Million Dollar Homepage – This is probably the most iconic of all the crazy ideas that have ever been born. This guy decided to set up a site and sell one million pixels for $1 a piece. He got a huge amount of publicity and ended up making his million dollars. He has since gone on to other money making projects.
4. WhateverLife – This teenage girl who had a flair for the creative set up a site to offer layouts for MySpace and free tutorials. The idea took off and she now gets around 7 million visitors to her website every month. She’s managed to land some major advertising contracts and has received offers to buy her site that have exceeded $1.5 million.
5. MyYearbook – Two teens had a simple idea; why not create an online yearbook for people? The idea turned into a social networking site and they’ve been able to raise more than $4 million in venture capital. The company now has 45 employees, 3 million members and some heavy duty advertisers.
6. Cameron Johnson – This young entrepreneur got his start at the age of nine making greeting cards, expanded into reselling Ty Beanie Babies on eBay by the age of 12 and finally sold his online advertising company for an undisclosed sum after making $3 to $4 million a month. His latest venture, CertificateSwap, that allows people to swap out unwanted gift certificates just sold for six-figures. He’s now working the lecture circuit and focusing on helping others strike entrepreneur gold.
7. LuckyWishbone – This has to rank as one of the craziest of all time ideas. Why wait around for thanksgiving when you could get a wishbone whenever you feel like it? This company manufacturers and sells plastic wishbones. They are producing 30,000 of them a month and sales have exceeded one million dollars.
8. Steve Pavlina – This guy uses his blog to write about life hacks and by all accounts he makes a ton of money doing it. He covers everything under the sun from personal development to astral projection. He makes at least $300 a day for a few minutes of work.
9. Hungry Pod – Catherine Keane decided to make a business out of loading music on people’s iPod’s and it has paid off big time. She’s making more than $100k a year, after helping out a friend and realizing the kind of market that was out there.
10. Antenna Balls – You know those little things you see on the top of car’s antennas? Jack Wall turned this into a multi-million dollar industry by selling them online.
11. The Laser Monks – These guys really saw an opportunity and turned it to their advantage. Print cartridges are expensive and old ones clutter up the environment. Refills are cheaper and help reduce pollution. Viola! They made more than $2 million in 2005.
12. I Do Now I Don’t – Joshua Opperman got stuck holding the bag, a very expensive one, after his financee returned her engagement ring. Stuck with a ring that he couldn’t get the value back on he started a service online for everyone in this situation. He now runs a very successful home business.
13. SantaMail – Ok, this one takes advantage of little kids, but you got to hand it to Byron Reese for making millions off of this idea. Parents send him ten bucks and he writes their kids as “Santa.”
14. Amazing Butterflies – Selling butterflies and making millions? Doesn’t seem conceivable, but Jose Muniz has managed to pull it off. You can get your very own live butterfly from Jose, who started the business on a bet. I guess it paid off.
15. FitDeck – Playing cards with an exercise theme. Never work, right? Well, Phil Black made $4.7 million off of this little idea. His cards all feature fitness workout vignettes from his personal experience as a Navy SEAL and a trainer. They sell for $18.95 a pack and obviously, people are interested.
Hi Ryan,
I think your estimate of Steve Pavlina’s income is low by a factor of two or three. But he’s been amazingly transparent in what he does and offers podcasts and posts on how and what he does to make money. I’ve enjoyed his blog since he started it.
Mike
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[...] With the current state of the economy, the need to make extra money online has spawned some really successful businesses. Ryan, one of the authors on Business Pundit, lists some very creative businesses in the blog article “15 Crazy Ways People Make Money In Today’s Economy“. [...]
[...] With the current state of the economy, the need to make extra money online has spawned some really successful businesses. Ryan, one of the authors on Business Pundit, lists some very creative businesses in the blog article “15 Crazy Ways People Make Money In Today’s Economy“. [...]
For each invention that makes it big– just mow many inventions get lost? Success is more that just working hard or being crazy…
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I make a few hundred dollars a day online…working 6 hours a day and it is growing exponentially, so I’ll catch up with Steve yet! Follow the link to see my online ventures.
The skill set and vision-logic it takes to make an excellent living online is daunting- it has taken me 10 years of skill set evolution to get to this point. Most geeks have a running shot at it, but if data manipulation does not come second nature to you, good luck, because the web is evolving and fast too.
What is more important than the dollar amount is the richness you bring to the world! Find a way to be happy making a living and you have won the day.
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I would also add that every dollar you make online is almost double that of what you make offline. By the time you add your expenses such as gas, work uniforms, lunch, etc.
my parents gave 10 dollars to some guy to write a letter to me! no fair!
Problem is that when you hit the jackpot people are very quick to copy the idea & saturate it quickly. This is unfortunate but keeps you on your toes
These are great. I came across the million dollar home page deal, what an idea. There have been others who have tried to duplicate it.
Pavalina’s blog is great. He has worked hard to enjoy the position he finds himself in today.
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Corey, I went to see the website you mentioned freedom.ws/courey .I need to know your code to try htis out.
Thanks
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Courey, got it.
Thanks
Courey what’s your code?
I like idea number four. I am all about socializing. Communicating within a social network would be a cake walk for me. I like the idea of long-term relationships. Thank you for the recommendations and I will be sure to read into them.
I guess you could have also mentioned foreclosures, quite a bit of money in that at the moment with all the repossessions happening.
Great article , really interesting, hopefully you’ll write many more just like this.
Out of curiousity though, where do you get all your information from?
Anyways, keep up the great work!
#3 was my absolute favorite , I’ve read the story about a dozen times and still am absolutely amazed by it
It just goes to show you that if you have an idea that your friends tell you is stupid, you go on to take that idea online and if the masses give you their seal of approval in purchasing your item, you’re billed a genius.
Thanks for the info. With all the bad money making information we get online with low rate websites, it is good to read something from someone who knows what they are talking about.
Good Article! thanks:)
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Thanks for the cool post – been searching for a while to find stats on this kind of thing and your post really did sum it up well. Now if only I could learn to implement all my crazy ideas! Holding thumbs
Please keep posting great information because you really do put good info out there on this topic!
[...] - 15 Crazy Ways People Make Money in Today’s Economy [...]
Those were 15 crazy ways, but hey they are still making good money and thats all that matters
Thank you for this, it was a huge help. I found a lot of value in this article..
Not what I expected, but I felt I had to let you know I liked it. Thank you.
I was pleased to see this. Just what I needed. Thanks.
love this article. Kinda’ inspired me to go ahead with my crazy ideas for making money.
here’s the craziest idea of them all: sell water.
Wow, I’m amazed at the 1 million pixel homepage, that was a really good idea, gives me inspiration!
[...] on topics of “personal development.” He even made businesspundit.com’s list 15 Crazy Ways People Make Money in Today’s Economy. This list includes some truly outrageous ways that people have made money in this information age. [...]
Some people naturally have good business sense and great ideas. Other have to learn how to do business and perhaps use ideas other than their own to produce results. For more ideas and some advice on becoming an entrepreneur, see Creative Wealth. Good luck to all those trying to make some extra money in these tough times.
This is a good overview of a lot of good money making stuff, and some nice other websites commented also.. http://www.moneyroads.com ! just awesome! and what a fun design!
I only comment on an article if it is worth for me to read, and this one makes me do it… For the one who created this article or what they call it “blog” I would say Thanks Thanks Thanks for the wonderful content… you rock!
I dint comment in a article most of the time, but this article makes me do it, and its so good for all readers like me. It help me learn something of what I’m looking for. Thanks and good luck… I hope I can read more of your articles.
A simple way is to make $20-$50 today, and $50-$200 within a day or two.
The greatest benefit of this program is that you make money online in a timely manner. Most people online search for ways to make money quick or instant. As a lot of people approach the internet in a time when they are quite desperate
But this time, I would like to help the people that aren’t so smart with blogging and aren’t so keen on writing for money. In fact. If I would look at the figure of 97% of all internet bloggers that fail online, it would appear that most people are gross when it comes to blogging! http://100kblogging.com/?hop=chrisd10
Give it a try!
Great post and sites! I had heard of a few of these sites, but others I had not. For some reason I love the The Million Dollar Homepage concept, who would of thought a page that looks like that makes any money. Also Steve Pavlina is a super smart guy, I enjoyed listening to his podcasts through iTunes. I actually bought StevenPavlina.com as a dropped domain and gave it to him for free as a nugget of appreciation for all of the great work he does.
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