By Kate Perry
IF YOU’RE struggling to cope with rising interest rates and record petrol prices, we’ve got a few ideas on how you can boost your income, from selling unwanted stuff to being paid to shop or hang out at a pub.
Think before committing
Before you dive into a second job, there are a few things you need to consider.
- Make sure it’s not going to cause a conflict of interest with your day job.
- Be realistic about whether it will fit in with your lifestyle and personality. If you’re the shy, retiring type then fronting Tupperware parties probably isn’t for you.
- Look into the tax implications. It’s worth getting professional advice on this, especially if you need to set up as a contractor.
Sell your stuff
Selling things you no longer like, need or use can turn a tidy profit. While the traditional garage sale is always an option, opening up to world-wide-web will put your stuff in front of millions of potential buyers.
Everyone has something lurking at the back of a cupboard that they never use. In fact, the average Australian woman has $725 worth of unwanted clothes in their wardrobe, according to online auction website eBay.
Sian Kenneday of eBay says to get started selling online all you need is a digital camera to photograph your goods and an internet connection.
Vendors can sell their items via an auction, or set a fixed price.
Plenty of people want to do more than sell the odd item online. Ebay has 52,700 people who use the site as either their primary or secondary source of income.
One of them is Ali-Breeze King, who started off as a casual seller, but soon realised there was bigger potential and set up an eBay store selling vintage clothes . Initially she ran it in the mornings and evenings, while continuing to work her day job as a lawyer. But it got to the point she was making as much online as she was from her full time job.
“It gives you the ability to set up a micro-business risk-free. You can do it with things sitting around the house, so if it doesn’t sell it’s not the end of the world,” she says.
Sell yourself
Or rather lease out your body for the sake of medical research. Every drug released in Australia has to go through a testing process, and the drug companies are willing to pay big money to get human guinea pigs
Nick Karrasch runs Rewards for Research a firm that recruits people willing to take part in clinical drug trials. He has about 10,000 people on his database – although some of those are non-paid patient trials. Many of these are young people, but some trials have need people within specific age bands.
Mr Karrasch says there are around 700 clinical trials going on in Australia at any one time.
Payment depends on the time commitment involved – from about $300 for a few hours up to $5000 for more time intensive trials.
Of course, the reason this is a reasonably well paid sideline is because of the risks involved. Although trials are strictly monitored and controlled, things can go wrong – as shown in a UK trial in 2006 which caused catastrophic organ failure in the trial participants.
Go shopping and eat out
Believe it or not you can actually make money from shopping or eating out.
Retailers and service organisations employ mystery shoppers to test the quality of their customer service and products.
This means you can get paid to go shopping or even for spending some time at the pub.
Christine O’Brien, business manager at mystery shopping firm Shop Angels says people from all ages and walks of life are needed. She has people aged from 18-80 on her books, including full-time workers, stay-at-home mums, retirees and students.
Payment can be a flat fee which is based on the time spent in a store and how detailed the report of the visit is. Shoppers can also opt to be reimbursed, or partially reimbursed, for purchases they have made.
“So people can do a report on a supermarket and get reimbursed for some of their grocery bill,” she said.
It’s not a free ride - you’re expected to write up detailed reports of your visits – and you shouldn’t expect to get rich from it.
Terry Ashton, director of Mystery Customer which evaluates the hospitality industry, says mystery customers need to be observant and literate.
Mystery Customers sends people out to evaluate pubs, bars, pokie venues and restaurants.
Visits are a minimum of 45 minutes for a bar or pokie venue, but longer if you’re dining. Payment will generally cover the cost of the visit plus a little extra.
Because it’s the hospitality business, visits tend to be outside normal working hours, so it’s not something you can do while the kids are at school.
Razzle dazzle
The film and television industry is not solely the domain of the beautiful people –average Joes are needed to fill out background shots.
Eddy Khayat of talent management agency Blackbox Melbourne says people of all shapes, sizes, ages and walks of life could potentially find work as an extra.
Extras work ranges from commercials, to TV programs, to stage shows or feature films. At the moment Blackbox Melbourne is looking for extras for a new sci-fi movie called The Knowing, starring Nicolas Cage, which is being filmed in Melbourne.
Rates of pay depends on whether you’re just a face in the crowd or a featured extra – ie the camera might focus on you or you even have a line or two. You could make $20 an hour to be an extra on a TV commercial, but if you’re a featured extra this could jump to $2500 gross for a day’s work. If the ad is picked up overseas or in print you’ll get more again. Full award rates can be seen here.
Clients might want a range of different types for crowd shots, or they might be after a specific look for certain scenes. For example, if the scene requires a barista to be working in the background of a scene taking place in a café, the extra would need to know how to work a coffee machine.
Mr Khayat says the work isn’t glamourous and could involve hours of sitting around a set, but it presents opportunities you wouldn’t come across in other part-time jobs.
“You might find yourself standing two feet away from Nicolas Cage.”
He says most people on his books also have full time jobs.
“The only thing we say, is that is someone commits to a job, they make sure they are available and can work it around their regular job,” he says.
Open up your home
Taking in a boarder is another way of boosting your income, but you need to get advice on the tax implications. You need to make sure you can prove the money is going towards household expenses. If not, it will be classified as rent. This means you could lose a portion of your capital tax gains exemption as you’ll be seen to be running a business from your home. Get professional advice.
Second job tax
You won’t pay a higher tax rate on a second income, but you will pay tax on every dollar you earn in that second job.
In your first job a portion of your income is not taxed - the first $6000. If you get a second job, and are already claiming this tax free threshold on the income from your first job you will be taxed on everything you earn.
Beware of work from home scams
Remember the old adage if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. So be sceptical about those notices plastered on lamp posts that promise hundreds of dollars a week to work from home.
Some offers for envelope-stuffing jobs require you to hand over hundreds of dollars for a starter kit or other products, only for the ‘employer’ to disappear once you hand over the money.
Other scams involve you assembling products from material bought from the employer, only for them to refuse to pay you for the finished article, saying it’s of inferior quality.
Warning signs
- You get a job offer claiming you can make a lot of money with little effort by using your home computer.
- You receive an offer to work from home, but first you need to pay a registration fee or send your home address for more information.
- You receive information about a job which only requires you to transfer money for someone else. this is money laundering.
