I don’t know if it’s just me, but lately I think I see far more get-rich-quick schemes on TV. Dean Graziosi just came out with a special real estate book for a down market (you can only buy it off TV) and I’m starting to see more of Donald Trump selling his seminar.  These programs offer a lot of promises, but they can’t guarantee much.  I don’t have a get-rich-quick scheme, but I do know of some ways to get some extra money without exerting much effort.  These won’t make you wealthy by any means, but it may take the edge off a little bit; maybe reward yourself with some ice cream or something.  What follows are a few ways to make some extra pocket change.  All you need is a computer and a little time.

Online Surveys:  There are a myriad of companies that reward people for completing surveys.  Most surveys take from 10 to 30 minutes to complete; the time varies based on the number of questions and how quickly you can navigate through the questionnaire.  All you have to do is join a panel for one or more of the companies and you’ll start receiving surveys.  Most companies will have you fill out a profile questionnaire so they can send you specifically targeted surveys.  Each company rewards users differently from points to drawings to cash, and sometimes a mix of all three.  One thing to remember is that you should never pay to join a panel.  If a survey company is going to pay you money, there is no reason they should require money from you to join.

Because I used to work in the market research industry, finding this method of earning extra cash was pretty easy for me.  The key is finding the good companies.  Here are a few of the ones that I trust and that provide reasonable rewards:

 Greenfield is the first panel I ever joined.  My first experience was negative.  I earned points for magazine subscriptions, the choices were lame, the magazines never came, and I kept getting charged for the subscription because of some auto-subscription deal.  I’ve given Greenfield another chance and they are much better now.  They’ve moved to giving cash for many surveys, plus entries into drawings for a larger cash prize.  So far I’ve had no issues.

Survey Spot is the second panel I ever joined.  Survey Spot has been the most consistent company in my experience.  Like Greenfield they offer cash on some surveys and entries into drawings on all surveys (you can qualify for the drawings even if you are disqualified from the survey).  I don’t have much hope for winning a drawing, so I tend to only do surveys if they specify a cash amount (usually between $2 and $5).  I’ve never had any issues with this company.

E-Rewards is yet another company I use pretty regularly.  I was introduced to them by somebody I knew who worked in market research and my experience has been pretty good.  To join the panel you do need to have a membership with one of their sponsor companies; for example I was able to join because I have a Borders Rewards card.  The rewards are essentially points, they call them dollars but you can only buy from their ‘catalog’ of goods.  Most of the rewards are magazine subscriptions.  Unlike my first experience, I actually get the magazines and they do not auto-renew.  The selection changes, but for the most part it’s a good selection.  There are various other  rewards, like airline miles for a number of different airlines or borders bucks.

MyPoints:  MyPoints is a glorified advertising company.  You sign up and get points for reading email advertisements; all you have to do is click on a link to earn the points.  I get about 5 emails a day and I just click on the link and build up points.  You can also earn points by purchasing from a member site via the MyPoints website. The companies are reputable, like LL Bean, Barnes and Noble, and Old Navy to name a few.  I don’t buy much online and it takes me about 6 months of checking my email to earn a $25 gift card.  It’s not a big money maker, but the gift cards are easy presents for B-days and Christmas (nobody will ever know).

Mystery Shopping: I haven’t done any mystery shopping, but it is a legitimate business.  The basic premise is a company pays you to patronize their business and evaluate the experience.  You could be asked to visit a local McDonald’s and rate the service and food.  You will paid enough to cover costs if you are required to make a purchase, and often something extra for your inconvenience ($10-$15).  Mystery shopping has the potential of scams.  Recently a scam was exposed where folks were being asked to wire money using Western Union.  Any mystery shopping deal that promises high returns is a scam.  Mystery shopping is not lucrative!  It just takes the edge off a little.

Cha Cha:  I was recently made aware of a company named Cha Cha.  It’s basically a search service for folks looking for quick answers to questions, but they don’t have convenient internet access (usually somebody with a cell phone that can text).  Cha Cha offers positions called Cha Cha Guides to look up the answers to the questions that come in.  The pay isn’t a huge money maker ($.10 - .15 per response), but it’s consistent and is likely more interesting than a number of other options.  Cha Cha provides an estimate that most people will make in the $5-9 per hour range.

You won’t be rolling in the dough or hangin’ with Donald Trump if you use these sources, but it will provide a little extra cash.  With any simple task, the returns won’t be huge, but they’ll be legit.  When high returns are promised, that should be a major red flag.  Most of this work is low skill with many willing people; i.e. low demand (relatively speaking) - high supply.  Smart Money has a nice little article on “work-from-home” scams that’s worth reading.  While I use some of the companies above and have found success with them, it’s still important to do your own research to make sure that you are comfortable with the requirements.  This is not an advertisement for any of the companies, just a starting point on where some extra cash can be made and legitimate sources.

I hope everybody has had a chance to see the Sham-WOW commercial.  It’s become one of my personal favorites.  I think it’s Vincent the pitch man that really does it.  Here are two clips, first is the original commercial for the Sham-WOW, followed by somebody’s investigative look at the commercial (not the best, but at least he’s trying).  Whenever I see somebody like this on TV, I always make sure my wallet is safe.  Can’t trust ‘em. If anybody has tried the Sham-WOW I’d love to know if it actually works. Of course I’d love to test the product myself, but I don’t want to spend the money.

My wife is an amatuer photographer.  About 2 and a half years ago we splurged and bought her a nice Canon camera, which ran in the $1000 range.  It’s not top of the line, but certainly not cheap.  She absolutley loves the camera and we have a massive number of pictures of me and the kids, and one or two of her.  Though she’s enjoyed the camera, she’s been dying to get new lens that’s both sharp and has a good zoom on it.  The perfct lens for her is the Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L, which runs at about $1200.  She’s wanted the lens for over a year and we’ve been waiting patiently to save the money so that it doesn’t kill the bank account.

We’re close to actually purchasing the lens from Amazon, which has the best price at the moment.  At least that’s what I thought.  I did some searching with Google and found the lens for $850.  I’m always in the mood for a bargain and a chance to save some money.  And, $350 is not a bad discount to take.  Though I’m up for a good deal, something seemed a little odd.  The price at Amazon is actually quite discounted already.  The lens can easily go for up to $1800.  How was this company (Sonic Cameras) able to price this so much lower than even Amazon?  With today’s technological tools there’s little excuse for being a lazy consumer.  Before we even took the time to consider purchasing from this company, I decided to do some research.

What set me off first was the price.  It was just a little too low for me to trust it.  While I like a good deal, I’m suspicious when it’s too good.  The second thing that troubeled me was the company.  It wasn’t anything more than the fact that I’d never heard of them.  I’m very cautious about just purchasing something from a company I’ve never heard of.  At least with Amazon I have a history and they’ve developed pattern of trust.  The third thing that stuck out to me was that when I put the lens in the Gooogle search, it didn’t show up in the shopping results.  It merely came up as a sponsored link at the top of the search.  These may not necessarily be deal breakers, but they certainly caught my eye and caused me to do more research into the company.

My results were not good.  In fact I could not find a good review.  I even found a whole webpage called Sonic Camera’s Sucks.  I also read a number of reviews on sights like Rip-off Report and Yelp.  The big problem with Sonic camera’s turned out to be their tendency to pull the old bait and switch.  Many of the reviewers told stories about ordering an item and them being sold something different that was supposed to be better.  In some cases the product (usually a lens) turned out to be completely incompatable with their camera.  Others reported they experienced the upsell, where they were asked endlessly to add other items to the order.  Unlike most companies online, Sonic Cameras calls to confirm your order and get your information, though the primary reason appears to be getting more stuff onto your order.

The real point here is to be aware of where you shop online.  This is especially important with big purchases.  You should have sense of the price range of the product you’re looking for.  If it’s outside of that range, then there has to be a reason.  So either find out why, or go somewhere else.  Finding customer reviews of businesses is essential for businesses that you’ve never done business with and who don’t have an established reputation.  Reviews are helpful too, so that you know how to handle things if there is a problem.  Many reviewers offer very detailed reports of how they handled things and how well problems are resolved.  There’s no excuse for not doing your research and it’s better to learn from somebody else’s mistake.

It looks like we’ll be shelling out the the whole $1200 for the lens, but at least it’s from a retailer that we can trust.

Being in the Silicon Valley during the current economic crisis has been interesting. It has been especially insightful to compare the “Dot Com” crash 8 years ago to the current crisis and to see how the crashes have effected businesses differently.

I was surprised to realize that many businesses, especially in the tech sector, learned from the mistakes of their ancestors. It has been this resilience that prompted me to put together a short list of ways small businesses can survive the current crisis - and even come out on top at the end.

1. Cash is King - Regardless of the size of your businesses, cash is going to be king over the next 18-36 months. Up to even a few weeks ago you could pretty much count on your local bank giving you a small business loan or being approved for a business-use credit card. Unfortunately, the liquidity of the market has “thickened” dramatically and has made those opportunities shrink to almost nothing. You’ll no longer be able to rely on loans and credit to get you through the month. From now on… cash should be your #1 priority.

2. Don’t Focus on Growth - This sounds like bad advice for any small business owner, but the truth is that many businesses are going to continue along the same growth pattern as before and find themselves beat to hell by the time they emerge from this crisis. This is the time when you need to hunker down and just wait out the storm. This will benefit you not only in the short term by ensuring you don’t go bankrupt, but will also put you in the perfect position to make strategic growth decisions after the crisis is over. For example, by keeping you expenses down and your cash account padded, you will be in a position to spend quickly right out of the gate - purchasing your competition or just beating them to key customers - because you have saved for what I like to call the “sunny” day.

3. Focus on Value - Since you’ll be cutting back on expenses, spend time on the things that don’t cost that much money but add value to your business. Instead of spending $10k replacing an old machine, spend $100 in phone charges to re-connect with your customers, or improve customer service. Invent new ways to add value to current products without spending a ton of money. That investment of time and energy will pay for itself 10x.

4. Collect - One of the things you can do to add value to your business and increase cash flow is by collecting on your accounts receivable. If there was ever a time to go after those delinquent customers… now is the time. If you don’t have an invoicing system in place there are tons of free and fee-based services out there - from PayPal to FreshBooks. You can even use Excel as long as you are actively trying to collect that cash.

5. Don’t Give in to Hoarding - During this time when “cash is king” you should avoid buying in bulk or otherwise stockpiling supplies or inventories. Although the parable of the ant and grasshopper might come to mind, now is not the time to be hoarding. That extra spending drives expenses up, depletes your cash reserve, and at the end of the day might be worth nothing. What good is a pallet of copy paper at a discount if you don’t have a business capable of using it. You will always be able to buy these items later even if you pass up a small discount now. That “savings” could prove disastrous to your cash flows.

6. Leverage Technology - There are tons of websites, web services, and other technologies that can help save you money. For example, trade in your $600 flight and $400 hotel for that sales trip to Chicago for an online meeting service instead. These days you can share a presentation, hold a conference call, or even converse via webcam - with nothing but a DSL modem and $50 a month for the services. You can also step up efforts to find better prices on products or services you normally use - by simply performing a simple Google search. Buying you your widgets from ABC Company for the past 5 years shouldn’t prevent you from searching for XYZ Corp who is offering the same widgets at 50% off.

If you google “reasons behind high gas prices” you’ll get about a thousand different answers. High state or federal taxes, supply, demand, OPEC, President Bush, oil companies, Wall Street speculation… the list goes on.

And to be quite honest, I’m not sure who to believe. The republicans are using the issue to push for more drilling. The democrats are using the issue to push for energy policy reform and investments in “clean tech.” But the truth is buried so far beneath politics, lies, and misdirection that it’s impossible for you and I to find the truth.

It’s not a blip, said Marilyn Brown, professor of energy policy at Georgia Tech, citing data showing surging transit ridership, dropping sales of sport-utility vehicles and sharply increased demand for gas-efficient vehicles. I think the difference between now and 1979, when prices were comparable when you adjust for inflation, is there’s a sense of sustained pain. There’s a sense that the era of cheap energy is a thing of the past.

However, as the prices have continued to climb it seems to have had an effect. USA Today is reporting that Americans drove 22 billion fewer miles from November through April than during the same period in 2006-07, the biggest such drop since the Iranian revolution led to gasoline supply shortages in 1979-80. The decline in total miles traveled, though only 1%, means that many drivers are cutting back far more because the number of drivers and vehicles grows by 1% to 2% a year.

But I suppose my question is: if we’re driving less and more people are buying fuel-efficient cars doesn’t that mean that demand for gas is lower? And if demand for gas is lower, should the market respond by decreasing prices? The fact that the market hasn’t kicked in makes me suspicious that other forces are at work here. And something tells me they’re working to make a buck from you and me.