The catering business is said to be one of the many home-based businesses that is so fun as it is financially rewarding. If you love dealing with people and events, love planning, and much more, love cooking – then this might be a business model that you should consider. A catering business always has room for growth, and you will never run out of ideas on how to improve on it – you can start really small by attending to private birthday parties, romantic anniversary dinners or or even small reunion gatherings. Then later on when you have much more experience, manpower and equipment, you can serve company parties, sports team homecomings, or even wedding receptions. If you are a person who can handle stress, has a lot of perseverance and stamina, and can creatively find solutions to problems, then this might be the job for you. Hard work will surely be needed, and sometimes it will stretch the limits of your patience, but in the end, it is one of the businesses that pays extremely well.

How to Start a Catering Business in Your Spare Time as a College Student

Step 1: Consider Your Skills and Your Chosen Cuisine
Do you know how to cook? Do you make your own recipes? If you think you’re more than capable in the kitchen, assess what kinds of food can you cook, course by course. Are you better at making breakfasts than full meals? Do you prefer cooking than baking? Take these into consideration. Do not force yourself to put out products that you might not be good at. If making cakes and pastries is not your forte, then it’s likely that you won’t be offering that on your menu. Also consider the cuisine of your food – will you be cooking All American style? Are you more knowledgeable on Asian recipes? Before you begin catering, you must first know what you can offer.

Step 2: Decide on Your Location
Where do you live? Do you have the necessary equipment in able to do some catering? Do you have a kitchen that will fully support your needs? If you are at home then cooking up a lot of food will not be a problem. However, if you live in a dorm, or sharing a room with another, where will you be cooking? Consider renting a restaurant kitchen or borrowing a friend’s kitchen on the days that you will be catering. Also consider storage – sometimes you need to prepare ingredients ahead of schedule. Do you have room to store these as well? Another thing to think about is if you are welcome to potential clients coming to visit your place. Find an area where you can receive them like a good host should, and where you can meet with them to discuss their requests.

Step 3: Get the Necessary Permits
Call your local health department and ask about any rules and regulations regarding catering. If you need to get a permit, do so. They will also probably ask to inspect where you will be working, and give you any certification or business license that you need. Make sure that your place of business is clean and hygienic.

Step 4: Choose Your Niche and Plan the Menu
Catering to a certain market will make your job easier. Don’t try to serve everyone and everything all at once. It is best to start small where you can control what you do and you can predict the results. Since you will be doing this in your spare time, you can consider, for example, catering to school org meetings, pool parties or private birthday celebrations. Mostly you will be dealing with snacks, appetizers, finger foods and heavy meals that are simple to make. Plan a menu that you can show to potential clients. Make several that they can choose from.

Step 5: Invest on Ingredients and Other Cooking Materials
Between getting permits and making sure that you have the necessary equipment to be able to cater, you are looking at around $500-$1,000 as an investment. Make sure that you have this financial security with you before you begin to do anything else. If you don’t have the budget then you might need to start in something really small, like baking brownies or cookies instead of full meals.

Step 6: Pricing
List down everything that is considered as an expense: materials used for cooking, materials used for packaging your food, any advertising costs (it would be better if you can market yourself offline for free) that you incurred to promote your business, electricity, water and other utilities expense, gas for travel if you will be delivering the food, etc. Then add a percentage of what you want to earn on top of that. The end result is what you should charge your clients. People who go into the catering business can earn as much as $200,000 annually if they take it seriously enough or if they live in a big city where demands are high. Small catering businesses or those who work part-time can earn as much as $50,000 per year even if they live in a small town. However, don’t let the numbers fool you – there will be a lot of expenses for this kind of business so be ready to shell out some money before you can even begin to think about earning them.

Some unique catering niches if you don’t want to do the usual:

• Boxed lunches for companies
• Breakfast catering
• Wedding receptions
• After parties
• Self catering and accommodation
• Smoked salmon catering (appetizers only)
• Dessert catering

More tips and advice:
What kind of caterer do you want to be?

10 Catering Business Success Tips

How to Market Your Catering Business

Whether you’re living on your own, got a room at the dorm, or are still back home, the problem of money is a big one, especially while you’re in college. You need money in order to buy the things you need, you also need money in order to enjoy college life as a whole and have fun.

Which is why we have continually encouraged our readers to start earning money on their own either by getting part-time jobs or starting your own businesses. And at college, one of the many ideal business models is a cleaning business, because you already have an immediate clientele: college students who don’t want to take up the chore of cleaning their own space because they are too busy doing other things. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or so they say, and we think it’s a great idea to do this.

So how to start a cleaning business when you’re in college? First, you need to decide what kind of cleaning do you want to do or are comfortable with. Some variations of a cleaning business are the following:

• Window cleaning. Your job is to keep windows clean. It might sound simple at first – but it actually involves an element of risk because of the surface (glass) and its placement (those who live several stories high). The surface area that needs cleaning also varies – some windows are made from floor to ceiling, while others are so tiny, you wonder how you’ll be able to clean it. The good new is, window cleaning is a tedious job that not a lot of people are keen on doing, and it pays well enough (an average of $300-500 a day if you’re a professional). Remember that you might not just need cleaning supplies but probably a ladder, tools that enable a far reach, etc. You might not actually score college students but landlords, building administrators and property owners.
• Household cleaning. This is the regular overhaul of cleaning. This includes sweeping, dusting, wiping the furniture and glass surfaces, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming. If you go into this business, make sure that you interview first the homeowner and get to know them in terms of how they clean their house and if they have any rules to go by. Cleaning is a relative term to many people, so make sure that you ask them what specifically do they want cleaned. Do they expect you to take out the trash? Do they also need you to do the dishes? Clean the pet cages? Water the plants? Restock their own cleaning supplies and hygiene products (i.e. toilet paper, dishwashing liquid)?
• Outdoor cleaning. This may involve shoveling snow, raking leaves, hosing and washing down the driveway, cleaning the gutters, cleaning the roofs and pipes, etc.
• Laundry services. This may involve cleaning and washing of clothes, putting them in the dryer, having them pressed or dry-cleaned, etc. This is more complicated than other cleaning businesses because you need to invest on industrial washing machines and laundry cleaning products.

Some tips:

• Give an estimate before accepting a job. You need to assess how the room or house looks, and how dirty it is, and figure out how long it will take you to clean them. Never underestimate for fear of charging too high – it’s better to be able to give a discount later rather than charge an additional fee because you extended your hours.
• Write up an agreement or contract before proceeding. It may sound like a simple task or chore, but there are a lot of security risks involved. You need to protect yourself against unwanted accusations like jewelry gone missing, or a stereo component that kibitzed because it was inserted in the wrong electrical socket, or allergic reactions to the cleaning materials you used -  a home is different for everyone so make sure that you will not be held liable for any damage.
• Clarify a cleaning schedule. Some clients would just want you to clean on a one-time basis, while others would request that you clean several times a week. Also make sure that they give you access by having a duplicate key or having someone to let you in whenever you go there to clean.
• Create cleaning packages. The better way to handle the pricing for your business is to have packages. You can modify them as you wish but it’s better to have a base where you can set the prices. For example, people who hire you to clean dorm rooms can afford considerably less than those who own a house.
• Before accepting a job, hand out a survey asking the people who live there if they have any allergies, if they prefer that you don’t enter certain rooms or don’t touch certain things, etc.
• Buy only the best cleaning products and those that are trusted brands in the market. List everything that you use and put them in a brochure, so you can show it to potential clients.
• Wear protective clothing like aprons, gloves, hair nets, and even face masks, if need be.
• Advertise, advertise, advertise. Make sure that you have a business card and a website. Find free ways to drive traffic to your site to minimize your expenses. Do word-of-mouth marketing.

People are always looking for college student money making ideas and this blog is full of them. One idea that a friend of mine came up with is making money writing resumes for all the people she knows that are graduating from college and entering the job market. This is how she spent her summer basically milking this money making idea.

Having a professional resume or CV is critical for today’s job hunters.  With the struggling economy and high unemployment rates there is more competition for jobs than ever before.  A professionally written resume increases the chances of getting an interview.  Recruiters say hiring is based 70% on presentation and 30% on education/skills of applicant.  Summer is a good time for college students to make money doing this because of all the people that graduate around the summer months.

Remember presentation – 70% of landing the job; strut your stuff!  So here’s how you can make the most of this college student money making idea writing killer resumes for other college students and others. First, if you’re not good at writing a good resume, well, this is the time when you could learn.  Also, there are all kinds of  resume generators that you can use to just crank out amazing resumes. You should also learn how to write amazing cover letters to go along with the resumes that you’ll be writing for people. And at the very least, you can use a cover letter generator for this too, like my friend did.

To get your business going, you should make several sample resumes and laminate them letting clients see what they are paying for and allow them to choose different layouts and fonts.  Check out this site http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT101043371033.aspx for basic and occupation specific resume/CV templates.  Offer a choice of resume paper.  Papers come in a variety of textures such as linen, parchment, and bamboo; colors are equally as important traditional choices include white, ivory, grey, and blue-grey.

How much can you earn generating resumes will vary on your location, do a little research for specific costs in your area.  Here are some ideas to get you going.  A $50 package includes a basic resume printed and delivered in plastic cover with a cover letter; all items saved to a CD so owner can update as needed.  A $75 package contains an occupation-specific resume printed and delivered in a plastic cover, a cover letter, a thank you letter, a reference list, and all items saved to CD.  The $100 package is the previous package plus a one page executive summary/biography.  An additional service you may choose to offer for an additional fee or incorporate into your package prices is to post the resume to online job sites for the client, a few examples www.monster.com, www.careerbuilder.com, and www.headhunters.com.

You will want to promote your business; the most common ways of doing so would be using fliers or brochures, business cards, and word of mouth advertising.  You can print out the fliers and business cards from your PC –the necessary stationary is available at office supply stores.  Invest in advertising by having fliers and cards printed for you; people give professional materials more consideration.

Hang fliers at the student union, bulletin boards around campus, and place on windshields of parked cars; post your flier on bulletin boards at local businesses in the community which you live.  Try running ads in the local or college newspaper, use free online classifieds like www.classifieds.myspace.com, www.webclassifieds.us, and www.craigslist.org to increase your target market.  If you want to globally expand your service area, there are online freelance services you can join (some charge a fee) to scout out resume writing opportunities.  Some of the freelance communities I am familiar with are http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com, www.guru.com, and www.getafreelancer.com.

To further attract clients, offer student discounts.  Referral plans are a great resource as well; you pay people a small token, say $5, for each referral that turns into a paying customer.  There are lots of college student money making ideas that you can come up with and this is just one of them. All you need to do is get your creative juices flowing and I ‘m sure you can come up with some ideas of your own.

When it comes to how to build a money making website, it’s really not as hard as you might think.  It does take time and it is not a get rich quick type of gig.  One of the ways to make money online is to build your own website.  Having your own website, over time, can eventually make you money without you even actually doing anything.  Now I don’t suggest that you just build a website, throw some ads on it and leave it alone but after a while the money will begin to roll in if you work at it.

Before you even think about money you need to know how to build a money making website. Right? Right.  Okay so here’s the deal on that.  When it comes to building a website you can pay someone to do it for you or you can make it yourself.  You don’t have to have an advanced degree in Information Technology with a concentration in  web design to get your own website up and running.

The first thing you want to do is to choose a subject for your website.  In choosing a subject, there are lots of people out there who will tell you to build a website around high paying keywords. They tell you to do this so that later on, you can throw up some Google adsense ads that  people can click on and make you a lot of money. This all sounds good in theory. But often when people do this it’s on a subject they know nothing about or have an interest in. Eventually they lose interest and the website goes down the tubes. Another reason people fail at this strategy is that there are so many people who have the same idea, the competition is extremely fierce.

A better strategy of how to build a money making website is to build one on a subject that you like and know a lot about. Figuring this out is just as easy as sitting down with a paper and pen and making a long list of all the things you’re passionate about and then narrowing that list down to just 1 topic.

Next, you need to think about the platform you’ll use to build your website. If you want to go the free route, you can use free services like blogger.com and wordpress.com to make a blog about your interests.  However, there are much better options out there that can help you  to make money much faster than those.  One such site is SiteBuildit. I love this site because they take you step by step through the entire process.

They give you everything you need from brainstorming to hosting to  building to traffic generation to propelling your website to the top 1% of all websites on the web.  Webmasters LOVE SBI. There are plenty of other options out there other than SBI that you can check out, however, SBI is one of my favorites.

Once it’s built, there are many different ways to make money from your website.
1) Google Adsense – You can place ads in different spots on your website and get paid when people click on them or by the amount of impressions. When a different ad is placed it is called an impression, Google changes the impressions after a certain amount of visits to the site.  This is a great way to make money if you have the  traffic to support it. More on traffic importance later.

2) Text Links – This is when someone offers to pay you a set fee ( weekly, monthly, or yearly) for you to prominently display their text link on your page.  Unlike Google Adsense, this would be a fixed link that would stay in place on your page. A few websites that faciliate that whole process is BuySellAds.Com, LinkWorth.Com, TextLinkAds.Com and LinkAdage.Com.

3) Writing paid reviews – Similar to writing paid Movie or Restaurant reviews,  sometimes you may run across the opportunity to review products or services for a price.  sometimes you can get cash and other times it may only be goods or services. This is usually reserved for the older more established blogs.  You would need to build a following and be a trusted site before you can expect the companies to pay you for this, however, here a few sites that actually hook you up with people who are willing to pay you to write a review of them on your blog: PayPerPost.Com, ReviewMe.Com, Blogitive.Com, LoudLaunch.Com and BloggerWave.Com.

4) Affiliate Marketing – Similar to paid reviews, affiliate marketing is when you review or suggest a product but instead of getting paid  a flat fee in the beginning, you receive a “referral fee” when someone goes to that site based on your recommendation.  Usually you provide a link that directs them and also lets the sponsor know that they came from you. Websites like www.cj.com (Commission Junction) specialize in this type of programs. Affiliate marketing is what some people refer to as a “high reward/low risk” Web site monetization option”.

5) Sell Products directly – This strategy is just like marketing except your are cutting out the middle man per say.  If you use this method then you recommend the products just like marketing except instead of sending them to the main site to buy they can simply click on a link right there within your article that can either do a popup or a separate window that allows them to buy the product.

The most important link to all this is traffic. Traffic! Traffic! Traffic!  If you don’t have the traffic then you won’t make money.  making money with your website is dependent almost entirely on people coming to your site and either clicking those ads or buying those products.  If they don’t know about your site then they can’t visit. Right? Right.

Now You’re probably asking ” If traffic is so important how do I get it”? Simple, well not really. One of the most important keys is to write about what you feel passionate and comfortable about.  The more passionate you are about something then the more you will be willing to write about it.  The more you update your website with content on a unique enough niche, the  more your website will rank well in the search engines which will then send a lot of free traffic your way.

Another way to drive more traffic is to advertise.  Yes you can pay for advertising but you can also do some advertising on your own.  For example, you can network with people in forums while at the same time advertising your website in the signature of your posts. Networking can help you out a whole lot by driving more traffic to your site while at the same time you’re sharing and receiving ideas to help make your site even better.

If you seriously want to know how to build a money making website then there are options available to help you build it and once it’s built to help you make money from it.  Remember the most important things are writing about something that you are passionate about and do your best to drive traffic to the great new website you built.  The more traffic the more opportunity to make money.  If you build your site correctly and get some steady traffic coming though then before you know it you’ll be rolling in the dough!!!

When You’re in college it’s not always easy to find a full time job.  Even when you do find one it’s hard to juggle working a steady 80 hrs a week with a full course load.  I’ve tried this myself and I know how difficult it can be.  After trying this for a semester I decided that it was too much and since I didn’t want to cut down on my classes I chose to cut down on working as much. I tried to do the part time job thing but I knew there had to be an easier way.  That’s when I discovered how to make money from writing. Writing was something that I would do all the time anyway so I might as well figure out a way to get paid doing it right? Right.

There are lots of different ways and resources on how to make money from writing.  Lots of times people will hire someone to assist with their website,write their papers , and things of that nature.  There are a good number of websites out that can assist you with finding these jobs. A few favorites and biggest are Scriptlance, , Odesk, and Elance. I have been able to secure a number of writing jobs through these outlets.

You can also make money on campus by writing papers for your fellow students. While this practice of writing papers for someone is considered by some to be immoral it is legal and if you’re good at writing it can be a lucrative opportunity.

The more you write the better you will become, remember the old saying ‘practice makes perfect’.  I would suggest writing as much as possible so that you can build a portfolio to show to potential clients.  If you are good at writing about certain topics that could help as well.  For example if you like movies, there are ways to make money writing movie reviews. You were going to see that movie anyway right?  Why not write about it and get paid?  That’s a win-win.  That is just one example of turning something that you love to do into a money making job.  If you start by finding jobs that allow you to write about what you know well first then you will have better luck and gain more experience.

Not only can you write for companies online but lots of magazines look for freelance writers to contribute to their monthly publications.  Once you have found that niche category, look into some of the magazines that cater to that group and you may find success there.  You can also write and publish your own books as well.  There are a number of options when it comes to writing it’s just a matter of finding the right one for you.  If you are serious about writing then this could be a way of making some extra money that you can explore.

Some other sites to try if you want know how to make money from writing is lulu.com – a self publishing website

I know if you are anything like me then you can’t wait until that refund check comes in the mail or by direct deposit from the government. The question is how long does it take to get tax refund back?

The answer to that is simple yet a little complicated.  The length of time it takes to get tax refunds back depends on when and also how you filed your taxes.  If you are filed your taxes electronically then you will receive it back faster than if you mailed it in.  According to the IRS it should take about 3 weeks if you are like the 2 out of every 3 people that filed their taxes electronically.  If you are that other 1 out of 3 then it can take at least 8 weeks before you receive a check in the mail.  That is, if you did everything correctly.  If this amount of time has passed and you did not get your tax refund back then there is a system in place that allows you to check on the process and see what the hold up is and when to expect to receive your money.

Now once you’ve received your refund there are lots of ways to put that money to work for you other than just spending it frivolously. For example, you can always save that money for a rainy day,  pay off your debts,  invest it, or use your refund check as start up money to start some type of business or service that will generate even more cash for you. There are lots of business that you can start up on a shoestring budget. Some ideas are:

Bookkeeping/ Accounting – this is an in-demand services that many small businesses would rather hire someone to do.  And the good thing is, you don’t need to be an accountant to do it.

Petsitter or Housesitter – people are always on the lookout for someone to watch their  homes or pets while they’re out of town. For this business, you don’t need any particular skills or training  just reliability and trustworthiness.

Tutoring – many parents would love to have additional instruction for their children. If you’ve got a subject that you’re particularly good in, you can start a home tutoring business.

Secretarial Service -there are lots of people and small businesses that have the need for secretarial services. You can offer services such as proofreading, typing and transcription services.

Catering Service-  in the fast paced world we live in, many people just don’t have time to cook.  If you like cooking, you could start your own catering services. You can also cater for business or parties.

Cleaning Services – cleaning is another activity that people don’t seem to have a lot of time for nowadays.  If you’re good at cleaning and organizing, you could easily take advantage of this in demand service.

Personal or Shopping Services – this is another great service to offer, especially during the holiday season.  One of the most important characteristics for this is dependability and trustworthiness.

With most of the above businesses, start up is quite low. Not only that but you can get going with these tasks quickly and easily. The most important aspect of getting started in any of the above businesses is advertising your services. But even this is doable.

If none of the above businesses sound like anything you’d be interested in, just do some brainstorming of your own. The type of business or service you begin depends on your skills and interest.  When starting a business or service think about something that you like and know how to do well that can turn a profit.  For example, if you like to bake cakes, cookies, pies and that sort of thing, then you could take your refund check and use it to start a business selling these items out of your your home.  If you do something you love and make money while doing it, then that’s a win-win situation.

So now that you know how long it takes to get tax refunds back, and what to do with it once the money arrives -  its up to you  how you’re going to spend it.

If you love dogs and want to earn some college money, there is a business that you can get into that will provide you with a good income and a lot of fun times.

It is a dog walking business, and it can be both profitable and fun. With a dog walking business, you will walk the dogs of your clients while they are at work. This is important because many dogs do not get the exercise they need.

With a dog walking business, you can give those dogs exercise to keep them healthy for years to come. So, if you’re wondering, how to start a dog walking business, keep reading.

To start your own dog walking business, do the following:

1. First of all, pick a name for your company that is fun and tells others what you do. It can be as simple as (your name) Dog Walking Service, or you can be more creative with a name like Pampered Pooch Walking.

2. Once you have your name, begin going to the people you know, who have dogs, and ask them if they would like you to walk their dogs. It is always good to start with only a couple of dogs until you are able to get used to walking more.

3. Make business cards (get some free here) and pass them out to people in your building or neighborhood. Put up flyers, advertise in the newspaper and get yourself into the phone book. This is a good way to market yourself. You can also start a website, do door-to-door asking, talk to kennels and get some word-of-mouth going.

4. At this point, begin putting together a schedule so you are not walking 10 dogs at once, but can space it out throughout the day. As you get more dogs, you will find more and more of your day is taken up walking dogs. If you walk 30 dogs a day, charge $10 per dog, you make $300 per day. That amounts to $1,500 a week and $6,000 per month! Not bad for a college student.

5. Lastly, make sure you have all the legal insurance, business licensing and more. You are walking dogs and dogs are a part of a person’s family. They love them, and they want to know their dogs will be safe with you. Pet first aid would be a good idea too.

Embroidery is a time-honored practice that many people are starting to turn into a viable business. When you have an embroidery business, you are helping to personalize clothing, bedding, pillows and more for people.

Whether it is putting in their initials on a bathrobe, or putting a romantic inscription on a blanket for a client, you can make good money as a college student with embroidery and that is why so many people want to know how to start an embroidery business as a way of making college money.

Obviously, if you want to know how to start an embroidery business, I’m assuming you already know how to do embroidery:). And if you want to really make money from it, the first thing you are going to need is an embroidery machine.

This machine will make embroidery extremely easy for you and most now come with software. The software lets you create a design on the computer, and then have the machine make the design on whatever it is you are using as fabric. Make sure you get a machine that is both affordable, and something that will suit your business as it grows. You don’t want to keep upgrading your embroidery machine every year.

You can start out of your home and not worry too much about licensing until your business becomes big enough. Then you need to start checking into setting it up as a sole proprietorship, or a corporation. You will want to seem legitimate and having the right licensing will do that for you.

For the first few months or years, you will probably operate your embroidery business out of your home. With the internet, you can have clients all over the world and you simply send out the designs from your home.

See why college students and others love SBI!.

Once you have all the fabric, equipment, software and licensing done, then you need to get to the promotion of your business. Some ideas include newspaper advertisements, internet ads, print ads, newsletters, posters and a website. You want to get your name out there as much as you can. Even farmer’s markets are a good idea because it will allow you to show your embroidery designs to people without having to have a store.

Knowing how to start and embroidery business can be a lot of fun and it can allow you to make college money to give you the added cash you’ll need for your books and other needs. And while it does take some work and effort to get started, once started, you will enjoy working for yourself and doing something you love.

Click here to see how you can build a successful website on your passion.

A lot of people prefer Yahoo to start a profitable online business with Yahoo. As a college student, you too can start your own online business that could be very profitable by using their service.

After deciding what kind of business you will run, you will first need to register a domain name. From time to time, Yahoo offers a $1.99 deal to buy a domain. This, of course, is an excellent deal for a college student with little money.

Also, if you’re lucky enough to sign up with them when they are running this special promotion, you’ll be able to get a FREE DOMAIN, unlimited disk space, unlimited data transfer and 25% off with Yahoo! Web Hosting.Otherwise, Yahoo Small Business offers web hosting services for reasonable rates and prices. You could choose from their available plans or packages, something that will suit your budget. You could even save money because they won’t charge you for the set up.

When registering your domain, if it is unavailable, their service will give you a list of similar names that are available that you can choose from.

There are lots of tools and applications when you host your business with Yahoo that will help you in creating a good design for your site. You will also be given some guideline on how to design your site like a professional. You have the power to make the choices to add a more personal touch to your design. When signing up to start your online business with Yahoo, you will be taken through a step-by-step process for creating the site. This is a reassuring feature for college students who may not have the skills to do it themselves or the funds to hire a professional web developer.

Yahoo’s ecommerce/merchant solution is also useful for including all the information about your products and payment or billing options on your page.

Of course, the control panel for any hosting service is probably one of their most important features. If you’re trying to run a profitable business, you will need a usable control panel interface so that uploading, changing and deleting files is easy and does not require you to be computer genius to complete. And as mentioned before, Yahoo offers this with their step-by-step wizard because in under 20 minutes, you can be up and running just by following Yahoo’s on screen prompts from start to finish.

Overall, if you’re looking for a quick and cost-efficient way to start a profitable online business, Yahoo has many features that any small business needs, including unlimited disk space, multiple email addresses, and unlimited data transfer.

Also, Geocities which is offered by Yahoo is completely free. They offer FREE web hosting service for those who need a maximum need 15MB of space or less. It is an easy service to sign up for, with just a few simple questions before you have access to all its features.

Like any other businesses, your online business also needs advertising to drive more visitors and customers to your site. Since Yahoo is one of the top search engines, placing an advertisement on Yahoo could increase traffic in your site and could also increase your sales. Don’t worry about paying too much for the advertisements because you can set a budget for these. You only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad and you can also set how much you can pay per click.

If you think that your business needs more people, Yahoo could also make the search easy for you. You can post a job for a reasonable fee and lots of qualified candidates for the job would send their applications and resumes. Yahoo will send them directly to your email address. This way, you can be sure that you can get the most qualified person for the job.

Yahoo Small Business is a one-stop shop for many of your online business needs. You will not have any major troubles or problems in setting up a website and promoting your business if you will use their services. The prices and rates are competitive even if you would compare it with others. And they offer support and assistance in case you will encounter any kind of problems regarding your site or advertisements.

Yahoo! Sponsored Search lists your business on top sites like Yahoo!, AltaVista and CNN. Sign up and get a $25 credit.

When you’re in college trying to start up your own business, some of the most important issues you face are not enough time and money. So before making a final decision, always shop around to make sure you get exactly what you need. Also, be sure to read some reviews about their service before you sign on the dotted line.

Recent data from the Census Bureau reports that 7.5 million senior women and 2.6 million senior men live alone. Seniors like the comfortable feeling of being in their own home surrounded by their personal belongings. The problem is seniors living independently face major struggles such as transportation issues, loneliness, and malnutrition to name a few. The children of seniors have turned to hiring college students to assist with the care of their parents since many are busy with their own lives.

Being a personal care giver to a senior is not only a great college money making idea but often times it is personally rewarding. Case in point, a friend of mine in New York City was hired to care for a gentleman by preparing meals, tidy up the house, laundry, and driving to doctor appointments. They talked and laughed the entire time she was there. After a week she said that he was like a grandfather and it really wasn’t like work at all. Sometimes they went to lunch, the park or wherever he wanted, she would pay for the outing and the family reimbursed her. See what a great college money making idea this can be?

Rates for personal care givers will vary by location and by what duties are included. My friend worked 30 hours per week at $15/hour. If what she did sounds too overwhelming, just tailor to suit your needs. Maybe only meal preparation and clean up or transportation to appointments anything you do will be appreciated and rewarding. Students who are nursing or medical students can make even more money because hourly rate doubles for persons that are trained to perform skilled nursing functions, including transfers, IV’s, medication management, wound treatment, and such.

Another common practice is families hire a live-in personal care giver and work as needed by the client. I saw one such ad on craigslist advertising for an unskilled live-in paying $500 per week plus room and board. If you can find an opportunity like this for the summer months you could make a fortune. Think of the money you would save not having rent or grocery costs plus you make money. If you’re looking for college money making ideas, it couldn’t get any sweeter.

Depending on how many hours you decide to dedicate to this venture you may only need one client to make the money you need. But don’t worry because finding a client(s) may be easier than you think. Before you go to the trouble of advertising, check to see if someone is looking to hire someone. Check your community newspaper and online classifieds. If you didn’t find any clients opt to advertise yourself.

Design a nice brochure or flier on your computer, and pick up a box of Avery business card stock and print them yourself. You can place fliers on bulletin boards at local businesses in your neighborhood. If there is senior high-rise apartment building near by, inquire if you can go door-to-door and speak to residents, if they shoot you down, ask if you can leave your contact information in the lobby area, or on a community bulletin board, stop back every few days and replenish the materials. You can place your advertisement on the internet utilizing fee online classifieds such as www.backpage.com, www.craigslist.org, www.usfreeads.com, and www.classifiedsforfree.com.

Lastly to get more clients to make even more, you can ask your parents or grandparents to spread the word at their place of worship. Some people are more comfortable hiring referrals made by friends or friends of friends especially when it involves going into the home such as this.

Giving this kind of tender loving care is a great service to offer in your neighborhood. Not only are you offering a valuable service, you would also be making great money as well.