I made a fanzine (Xerox copy produced magazine) covering bands that were due to play in my town.
I'd print the whole thing except for the cover, and I'd then print the cover on the day of a gig with the headline band on the front.
I could produce these fanzines at 30p, and sell them for up to £2 (exact price depends on the people in the queue I was selling to). I could also sell over a hundred at each gig. Which means £170 profit per night.
Gigs only happened 3 or 4 days a week, so I could only bag around £600 per week from this.
That said, it was quick and non-traditional. Requiring only A4 paper, a pen, and snippets from other music magazines (photos).
I did this when I was homeless and had no skills.
Now you have skills in web and mobile development, skills worth way more to people than me selling fanzines at a gig.
If you want to make some money, get the yellow pages and pick up the phone. Go find a local business park and knock on some doors. Walk in and tell them what you can do, what you offer, and explain your situation. Offer to fix their networking, their printer, their website, to add a feature.
MOST SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE NO TECH PERSON.
They pay over the odds and always have nagging little problems that they will pay to fix.
More, once you've done your role as an odd-job techie, you'll be on their books as someone who can fix something. Allowing you to tap into a little future stream of money too.
But ultimately, how badly do you want the money? Because this money is there, if you want it bad enough. But it does take some leg work to find those small companies who don't know how to find you (this is why they pay a premium).
I did something similar with a local music zine (a long time ago in a galaxy far away) and made a bit of cash, but nowhere near as much as you.
So, while I congratulate you on your resourcefulness and success, I think this advice is very particular to where you live, whether you even like local music, do you understand page layout design, good writing etc.
It's a good story (my daughters thought it was cool that their dad was in the local music scene) but lousy advice.
As for going door to door asking businesses for work? Nope. It sounds perfectly plausible but doesn't pan out so well in reality (I've done it). Wearing my business blazer, a pocket full of business cards and a really great deal on a small business website, I went from business to business all. day. long. I explained who I was, what value I could bring to their company etc but got nothing.
Why? I think because they had no intent to buy, or even an expressed interest or need. I was just one of many people walking in through their door trying to sell them something.
And that's the thing: if you are a local business with a brick and mortar establishment in a reasonably trafficked area, you are going to have as many people visit your store to sell you something as to buy something. Most times they will politely listen to your pitch, take your card, then never speak to you again.
So again, while the advice sounds plausible, it's not actually a way to make quick cash or even build a client base. Even if you want to make money "badly enough".
I've been doing a day here, a day there, all summer whilst I spend 4 days a week working on the startup. I simply call people I know with small businesses, or charities, and after a short chat to see how they are, I ask them whether they or any of their neighbouring businesses have work that needs doing.
I bill £500 per day, and have got work every day I've sought it.
Sometimes I build a Wordpress site. Sometimes I fix their wifi and network. Other times I get their backup systems working and I test them. For some charities I take my experience with contracts and project management and I review their request for bids and the offers the receive. One company pays me a monthly retainer to configure their Google Apps, as they just want a technical person who is on their side they can call should something go wrong.
I do anything that they need doing, even though my skills whoosh above their needs.
You might say that this is because of London and a surplus of SMEs needing help, and perhaps it is.
Though London wasn't the reason the fanzine thing worked, because I was homeless and hitching from town to town at the time. It worked in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Portsmouth. You might say that fanzines are just a UK thing, you might be right. I also think it's because when I didn't put the headline band on the cover I couldn't shift more than 10 copies... you sell people something they are interested in, so I put the headline band that they're seeing on the cover.
Sell value, sell what people want. People always want something, and in this time people want help with tech stuff.
You essentially repeated what I said about value and finding the right market, so that's cool.
At the time I made the zine I too was in transition, not exactly homeless because some friends who were renting an apartment let me stay with them, but I've been homeless before and simply fulfilling basic needs like a next meal and a place to sleep consumed most of my time and energy.
However, I know your advice needs to be taken with a big ole grain of salt and some major considerations because I've done it. There are better ways.
Another PS! What is great about your suggestion is that it's outside the box. It's not the typical "RAISE YOUR RATES" that you are hearing from the Borg. It's inspirational. So for that, thank you.
I'd print the whole thing except for the cover, and I'd then print the cover on the day of a gig with the headline band on the front.
I could produce these fanzines at 30p, and sell them for up to £2 (exact price depends on the people in the queue I was selling to). I could also sell over a hundred at each gig. Which means £170 profit per night.
Gigs only happened 3 or 4 days a week, so I could only bag around £600 per week from this.
That said, it was quick and non-traditional. Requiring only A4 paper, a pen, and snippets from other music magazines (photos).
I did this when I was homeless and had no skills.
Now you have skills in web and mobile development, skills worth way more to people than me selling fanzines at a gig.
If you want to make some money, get the yellow pages and pick up the phone. Go find a local business park and knock on some doors. Walk in and tell them what you can do, what you offer, and explain your situation. Offer to fix their networking, their printer, their website, to add a feature.
MOST SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE NO TECH PERSON.
They pay over the odds and always have nagging little problems that they will pay to fix.
More, once you've done your role as an odd-job techie, you'll be on their books as someone who can fix something. Allowing you to tap into a little future stream of money too.
But ultimately, how badly do you want the money? Because this money is there, if you want it bad enough. But it does take some leg work to find those small companies who don't know how to find you (this is why they pay a premium).