I don’t mean to criticize just to be a jerk. But this company sure does things in a haphazard and disorganized fashion.

They opened up a bakery cafe about 6 months ago, with plans to open up a few more restaurants. They hired dozens of managers for the four or five different eateries before they all opened. So from the very beginning at her new job in the bakery, at least a dozen or more managers are all arguing over how things should be done, though most won’t even be staying at the bakery but are waiting for their restuaraunt to open. Employees have come and gone. The menu has been changed a few times. Prices have been raised. It’s very chaotic.

Just last week, the second restaurant opened. And while the food was mostly good, it was mass confusion. There’s a wok station. A pizza station. A salad station, and the regular menu. It was overwhelming. They are trying to offer too many varieties of food, like a cafeteria, but more upscale. Is it a restaurant or a cafeteria or a Whole Foods? Can good pizza and good noodles be made in the same place? How do you order your food? I am sure they have a few kinks to work out since this place just opened.

But when it comes to running a business, it really is better to be a master than a jack-of-all-trades. Focus your energies and efforts. Find your niche. Be a Master in your trade. You will develop a stronger business sense and avoid unnecessary confusion and wasted time and money. Be the best at what you do in your particular craft, not some handyman who does a little of this and a little of that.

Then after you are established and things are running smoothly, then consider expanding into other areas or even another business. But trying to do too much too soon will only serve to overwhelm you.

Build momentum. Focus. Succeed.

And when we got back, I started dabbling in real estate investing. So it’s been about 6 months and I’ve made a few bucks here and there. At first, I read a book called “Earning Without Owning” and I did what the authors described and IT WORKED! Yeah, I made a few dollars.

But I wanted to make more money with each deal and I was also a little apprehensive about making huge financial mistakes. Lo and behold, a solution came. I had joined my local REIA and gone to a few meetings. I am a novice and know I need all the help I can get. I availed myself of the e-mail “Circle of Support” (where people can ask questions and get answers from other real local investors) and through that met a seasoned investor who asked me to partner with him. Why did he ask me???? He said it was because he saw that I was out there pounding the pavement and actively looking for deals. It benefits both of us because he is my money partner and an experienced investor who is my mentor; and I find deals that make us both money. This arrangement suits us both. And you will find that no matter what field you are in, many of those who have made it already are happy to help the new kid on the block.

It’s always a good idea to find someone else who has been-there-done-that when you are starting out in a new enterprise. You’ll avoid costly mistakes. You’ll make valuable contacts. You’ll have the benefit of knowledge and experience when making decisions. You’ll be in the fast lane to success.

Just make sure when you’ve “made it,” that you return the favor.

One famous and wise quote from ancient Greece that, if applied, would remedy this situation is “Know Thyself.” Applying this principle would clarify all areas of our life and mean less mistakes, including in our career choices.

Choosing a career path can be confusing for many people. For starters, many people have no concept of the work and skills involved in a chosen career. Add to that the fact that many people don’t really know themselves: their strengths and weaknesses, their skills, their personality and how it affects their career performance and ultimate happiness.

While the best personality inventory is self-reflection and self awareness, it would behoove us to take a personality test or two for some additional insight. There are a plethora of personality tests out there, and frankly, some are just a waste of time. But that doesn’t mean we should skip them all. By knowing your own personality type, you can understand how that affects your job performance and place in the workforce. Knowing yourself and then working with your personality will help you achieve your goals and be happier with your career.

Here are some links that offer free personality assesments:

Personality & Career Type Self-Assessment

Mental Muscle Diagram Indicator – Follow up with matching career choices

Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator

What’s Your Seinfeld Work Personality?

There is no personality test that can guarantee you will find the perfect job, and beware of any that make such promises. But, a little self-awareness and self-knowledge can go a long way and save you from many mistakes.

In no particular order:

1. Virtual Assistant. Virtual assistants provide office support and pay ranges from $20-$50 per hour. Duties may include: word processing, desktop publishing, business writing, office managing and organization consulting, preparing spreadsheets or databases, maintaining contact-management programs, bookkeeping, billing, providing notary services, graphic designing, doing multimedia presentations, offering answering services, preparing mail, writing resumes, designing websites, and doing research.

2. Medical Billing/Transcription. There’s big demand by hospitals, doctors, dentists, chiropractors and veterinarians who need outside help transcribing patient medical records. This field is open for individuals who can type fast and lean terminology and formatting, in classes and programs that usually last two terms. Pay arrangements differ widely, with some being paid per hour plus bonuses for increased production and some being paid per line of code. But in general, hourly pay ranges from $15-$25.

3. Legal Transcription. Legal transcription is one of the freshest entrants into the world of out-sourced transcription services. Legal transcription work is demanded by attorneys, large corporations, governmental departments, banks, insurance companies etc. Even the United States government employs legal transcriptionists. The career of a legal transcriptionist is one of the very few ones with the least competition but unbelievable scope. Legal transcriptionists are hard to come by. Another advantage of this area is that one does not need any prior work experience. Pay typically ranges from $19k- $30k.

4. Translation. For those that took a language in high school or college, or who are fluent in another language, translation careers are one of the best paying careers offered to home workers. Median pay for translation services is $45,549.

5. Editor/Proofreader. These careers are perfect for people who are great with details and have a good understanding of the English language and/or specific terminology. Proofreads, reviews, and edits materials for accurate use of grammar and content. Pay ranges from $31k- $45k.

6. Freelance writer. Freelance writing and copywriting is a great way to earn income while working from home and spending very little to get started. There are many different avenues in which freelance work is available: magazines, e-zines, web content, blogs, business writing, even E-books. Motivated freelance writers today can earn a respectable living of between $27,000 and $49,000 a year but, to succeed in this career, you need to be a “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” expert.

7. Call Center. You hear a lot about companies routing their customer-service calls to workers overseas, but a less-noticed trend is the growth in home-based call-center workers. The number of such workers in North America has tripled since 2000, according to an estimate by research firm Yankee Group, with more than 670,000 phone agents in the United States and Canada now working at home. Thanks to the Internet and better call-routing technology, more companies are finding they can outsource their order-taking, sales and problem-solving calls to home-based workers. Median pay is $27,664.

8. Graphic design. Uses knowledge of current graphic design software to produce graphic art and visual materials for promotions, advertisements, films, pakcaging, and informative and instructional material though a variety of media outlets such as web-sites, and CD-Roms. Generates and manipulates graphic images, animations, sound, text and video into consolidated and seamless multi-media programs. Must remain abreast of technological advances in the field and be able to identify areas of use in the organization. The national average for pay ranges from $39k to $49k.

9. Computer Technician. Maybe your’re the person everyone calls when they have computer troubles and even though you do not have a 4-year degree, you know enough about computers to make a career of it. This generic category encompasses computer repair, upgrades, networking, internet, installation, security, etc. This job requires travel to clients’ homes or offices. The median national average is $40,763.

10. Web Design. Designs websites for individuals, businesses, and non-profits. Maintains and provides ongoing design of the website, promos and banners, seasonal content specials, custom chat launcher design, etc. Pay ranges from $52,000 to $70,000.

11. Home/Office Organization. A recent trend and quickly growing field, services include: organizing living space in the home and clearing clutter; organizing offices, and filing systems and records; one-time jobs in preparation for estate sales, help with moving, clearing away years of clutter; on-going jobs to keep homes/offices organized and clutter-free. Pay ranges from $20-$50 per hour.

12. Life Coach. The practice of assisting clients to determine and achieve personal goals. A coach will use a variety of methods, tailored to the client, to move through the process of setting and reaching goals. Coaching is not targeted at psychological illness, and a life coach is not a therapist. A successful full time life coach, coaching 20 individual clients a month at $350 per client, would gross $7000 per month. If you work with 25 executive or entrepreneur clients at say $500 per month, you would gross $12,500 per month. Overhead and expenses for a coaching practice are usually quite small, rarely over 20% of sales. (Currently only 5% of coaches earn over $100K per year.)

Call it gray-market candy if you will. I was an underground capitalist, making cash in the seedy underbelly of the junior-high market for illicit goods.
Selling candy like this was not allowed by the school because it competed with the school vending machines. And if we were ever caught (as was bound to happen) then the teacher would confiscate all our candy and pocket our money, which was usually between $10 and $30 on any given day – depending on if we had sold all our inventory or not. I did that for two years and then other kids caught on and the competition made it less profitable, especially when your 13-year old competitor tattled on you so they could put you out of business for a day!

So I moved on to tutoring and babysitting – more conventional and socially acceptable ways of earning a few bucks. In New Orleans ever’body gotta have a lil side-hustle. I knew a few others who also were hustling for a few dollars; there were quite a few boys mowing lawns (I tried doing that, too, but nobody wanted to hire a girl!), and a friend of mine was busing tables at a Chinese restaurant and making some money under the table. All of us were young entrepreneurs earning cash in on the underground economy.

And by the way that’s what all these jobs had in common – they were all CASH ONLY jobs. But cash only jobs aren’t just for kids. There are lots of different people who do all sorts of things to make some extra CASH.

1. Childcare. The old standby. And it’s not just for kids. Many women and men (I met a man today who does daycare) are out there doing part-time babysitting or regular, full-time daycare. I have known several stay-at-home-parents who took on one or two more kids to make some extra cash. And the money you earn for yourself can add up, too, depending on how many children you watch and for how long. Depending on the laws where you live, though, at some point you may have to get a license and comply with local laws to stay out of trouble. But, if you keep your numbers down then you won’t have a problem.

2. Housecleaning/office cleaning. While many won’t even consider this for a job, you can make a pretty penny doing light housecleaning or even the heavier stuff. Rich old women, office buildings, wealthy busy moms, and other people all need their places cleaned. Again, it can just be a few extra dollars or you can build up your clientele and really make some cash.

3. Yard work. So common, it’s probably the first one you think of when you think of cash-only jobs. Sure, it’s hard work – but remember you can make some money for yourself and usually get paid in cash.

4. Running errands. This is becoming more popular as people seem to be getting busier by the year. Busy people need everything from their dry cleaning picked up, to groceries being bought, to having their fish tanks cleaned!

5. Actually, cleaning fish tanks can be it’s own category. I worked in a pet store for a bit and saw how much people spent to purchase, set up, and stock a nice saltwater aquarium. And maintaining it can be a hassle, especially if you do not have a “blue” thumb. The “fish guy” at our store was always talking about how he was going to quit and start this exact business since he already knew so many salt water fish enthusiasts who thought nothing of dropping $100-$400 every week for supplies or new fish (if they were really bad at maintaining such a fragile ecosystem). He never did do it, but it’s a totally doable and needed service.

6. Walking dogs. And other pet-related duties, like grooming. If you like animals, this might actually be fun. But I don’t like animals that much, myself.

7. Haircuts, hairstyling. Years ago a friend of mine brought me along with her to get a haircut at someone’s home; this woman (the stylist) used to work in an upscale salon but now cuts hair from her house for a more reasonable price and at her convenience. It cost me $20 for a $50 haircut, and she was done with us both in an hour. Everyone was happy.

8. Massage. Last year I really wanted a massage, but shelling out $75 for a one hour massage and going to a stuffy day spa was not going to happen. Then I found an ad for a woman who does massage from her home and later that week I had a great 1 hour massage for $40, sans the snobby spa experience. She had a room set up in her home that was just like at any spa and she did a great job.

9. Food service/prep. Food is a big industry, so why not take a piece of the cake for yourself? I knew of a guy in Louisiana who was Cajun and a great cook, so he made up lunches every day and then drove to the local shipyards and sold his edible wares to the hungry workers. Similarly, a stay-at-home mom did the same: she made up lunches and would sell them to office workers down her street. People need to eat and get tired of fast food or of paying too much for restaurant food. And most people don’t pack their own lunches every day.

10. Cakes & pastries. Another avenue of the food industry is selling cakes. I don’t know about you, but I hate paying those bakery prices for a decent cake. Well, you don’t have to. There are people (like my sister) who are professionally trained bakers and can make a beautiful and delicious cake and who are happy to have a paying customer. Start-up costs are pretty low, too.

11. Auto mechanic. We recently needed a vehicle serviced. Since we did not have any references, I went to Craig’s List and found a hippie-guy who did the job and did it well- in spite of having a duct tape bandage on a finger that had the tip severed the day before. Our car was fixed the next day at a great cash price. I was just glad he didn’t have any other accidents!

12. Computer services. If you have any knowledge of computers – networking, repairing, programming, web design, etc. then you have highly marketable skills. Why not use those skills to make some extra cash?

13. Painting. Another cash job stand-by is painting. There will always be people needing rooms painted in their homes, businesses needing offices painted, and apartment buildings needing units freshly painted for new residents.

14. Junk hauler. I am not exactly sure what these junk traders do with the stuff they get, but it works for them and those wanting to get rid of stuff the trash man won’t haul away. Maybe they sell it on eBay. Use your imagination. And be aware that what some people call “junk,” other people call “collectibles”.

15. Market peddler. Maybe you can grow produce/plants and sell them at the local farmer’s market. Or maybe you can sell miscellaneous wares at the local flea market. Either way, it’s all good clean cash.

Well, I think 15 is a good number to stop at. Of course, there are many other things people do to earn cash, and maybe you know of one that most people aren’t familiar with. But the truth is that anyone with any type of skill and/or goods and a bit of gumption can easily make a little or a lot of extra CASH.