First of all, a quick update on my dog, Molly. It’s not been one month since she began her experimental cancer treatment, GDF11. She has regained all of the weight she lost and is full of energy! No signs of additional tumors. It may be a bit early, but I’d say that GDF11 has licked this thing, and hemangiosarcoma is one of the deadliest cancers known to dogs.
This leads me to the crux of this post. All of this costs money. A lot of it. Surgery, treatment, and not to mention the day-to-day living expenses anyone must procure.
How does one come up with funds in a pinch? I’m not 100% certain (I still have my fundraiser up, and you can get to it by means of this post), but here’s what I’ve been doing.
Fundraiser
I’m not much of a fundraiser type. I hate having to ask strangers for money, so I have to be in dire straights in order to ask. If you have a pretty good following or at least the ability to tug on heartstrings, I suppose this will work. I’ve made $100 so far with mine, which isn’t nearly what I need. Thankful for it, but so far it hasn’t been that efficient. Any tips are greatly appreciated.
Dropshipping
This is the act of buying wholesale (sometimes upfront and sometimes on a need-to-have basis) and then selling the items for a higher price. You know, that thing that retailers do. It’s not, contrary to popular belief, selling things for a higher-than-retail price and then ordering off of Amazon or Walmart for the customer.
I’ve got an Etsy store with a few listings, and an eBay store as well. I also buy wholesale inventory up-front to sell on Facebook Marketplace.
So far, I’ve had some small sales. My profit margins aren’t that big, but if I can change that, I should be able to earn a decent living wage. My problem is that any small profits I have quickly gets spent on things like gas and groceries.
Busking
Playing music for tips on the streets is actually pretty fun. I don’t have the equipment to do it right now, but in the past, it was a nice way to make some tips. Sometimes I could even make $200 in one hour, but you have to be in a crowded spot in good weather.
I’d like to do this again, but I’d have to be able to buy an amp and mp3 player first…
Spreadshop and Redbubble
If you like designing shirts, you could open shops here. Merch by Amazon is also a good way to sell designs, but Amazon has a habit of terminating my accounts without warning, and then they have a habit of never responding to my emails when I demand an answer. Spreadshop and Redbubble are great, though.
Mechanical Turk
Another place where my account was locked, but this time they gave a reason: unable to verify my identity. I don't know how to remedy this, but when I figure it out, I'd like to start on here again. It's a platform for micro-tasks, which can be mind-numbing, but effective if you keep at it.
Well, that’s all I’ve got so far. If anyone has anything to share, do so in the comments! Or if you’ve already written an article about this topic, link to it in the comments.
