Being a student in college, you probably have your mind set on a few things: partying, girls/guys, sleeping in and how you’re going to pay off your student loans.
Although you’re busy with a full work load, you still have plenty of opportunities to pull in a little side money that could help with your expenses.
In this post, I will tell you a unique hybrid method college students can make money online.
What is a hybrid method?
For many students, making money comes down to two methods:
- Offline
- Online
But what if you combined the real world with the net? Now you’re thinking!
A hybrid method of making money online involves using your online skills in conjunction with offline opportunities – think: ordering pizza online and then delivering it to friends for a small fee.
Hybrid methods can be powerful. With the right knowledge, you can easily make up for all that beer you bought last weekend by utilizing just one of the following methods.
Selling essays, term & research papers
The teacher gives you a big essay that’s due in a few days, how boring, right? You get it done (only after a lot of procrastination) but after it’s all said and done, you’re left with pages upon pages of work which either goes into the trash or gets deleted from your hard drive.
But what if you wanted to make a little money off each writing you do?
As long as you didn’t plagiarize (shame on you!), your essay is your work. Your essay can be sold online instead of going to the waste bin.
A few great places to sell your online papers are:
But you’re probably saying “I already know I can sell my paper online!”. Fair enough, I agree these are merely the tip of the iceberg. What we want is a way to make some big bucks!
Introducing: Article Arbitrage
You didn’t think I was going to just leave you with what everyone knows, right? If you’re ready to really step up and make money online, keep reading.
In a nutshell, I call this the “article arbitrage”. You will be buying papers for a small amount, flipping them and selling them for a profit online.
You’re taking a real world item (that’s always in demand) and using your tech skills to make money online!
So here’s article arbitrage in a nutshell:
- You create accounts for websites as mentioned above.
- You research the highest paying articles (usually tech, medical, training related).
- Let everyone know in class that you’re offering a small payout for any papers they wish to sell. Hint: remind them that they’ll just be throwing them away.
- Pay each person then turn around and list these papers online at the above websites.
- Profit!
Bonus tip #1: You don’t have to stick with your classes – seek out other classrooms at your college. If it’s a particularly large school, there could be hundreds of classes going on each semester.
Bonus tip #2: If you really want to keep your costs down. Offer to sell these articles online for people – not only will you not have to pay up front but only if the article actually sells.
Bonus tip #3: In your author byline or within the body content try promoting your affiliate links – extra money!
Bonus tip #4: You could even tell your friends or teach other students this method for a small percentage or direct payment. (I call dibs on the ebook!)
A article arbitrage scenario
I want to take you through a simple scenario under the best conditions (everyone selling you their papers) – use this as a quick example to help you understand the possibilities.
Let’s say your class has 200 students each having to write 2 major papers throughout the semester.
- 200 x 2 = 400 papers
Now, let’s say you offered each of them $2 for their paper (which would otherwise be thrown away). Believe me, if someone could simply give you a file in exchange for $2 – they’ll take it.
- 400 papers @ $2 each = $800
Yeah, it’s a bit of a hit to your wallet but now you can turn around and sell these articles online for $5, $10, $20, $30 a pop!
- 400 papers @ $5 each = $2000
Grand total?
- $2000 – $800 = $1200!
The best part about running this article arbitrage method are these papers have college level material written (hopefully) without grammar mistakes. Additionally, if you were to go many other classrooms and follow suit, you could be looking at an even larger profit.
Do you see the power of a hybrid method now?
Keeping it all safe
The one drawback to running this kind of article arbitrage is that you’ll need to ensure that you actually own the rights to the works; this can be done by creating a small release of copyright that essentially says that you become the owner of said work.
Additionally there is a moral aspect: you could be helping others cheat on their papers.
My tip: keep to websites like AssociatedContent, Helium and the other paid article websites. Always, if possible, sign a legal waiver in the event someone decides to back out at a later time. You could even be transparent and tell them up front you intentions are.
Final thoughts and suggestions
This post was meant to introduce you to the idea of using hybrid methods to make money online. As you can see from this article, it’s very possible to utilize your online skills to bridge the gap between the offline world.
If you truly want to benefit from hybrid methods simply find a demand for a product or service, learn how to bridge the two elements and get in while it’s good.
So, what do you think about article arbitrage. Would you consider trying it?