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VIDEOEasy Money Your Kid Can Make
Turn your financial sinkhole into a revenue stream. Seriously.
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Your child can be a ...
Product Tester
Want to be a hobo on the product-testing train? Google the term “product testing [company name]” to see if the company responsible for your child’s addiction to a certain food or toy line needs researchers. For instance, pssst.generalmills.com can hook you up with new cereal concoctions. Just be wary of independent product testing sites — as this article warns, when you sign up, they may end up trying to sell you merchandise at a jacked-up price.
Clinical Trial Test Subject
All over the country at any given time, researchers hold clinical trials in need of healthy and sick people, and that includes children. Some trials pay hundreds of dollars a day, while others may pay that tenfold in the knowledge you gain about your child’s health. Center Watch and ClinicalTrials.gov both offer directories of trials all over the world that need test subjects (just type “child” as a search term). Before signing on, get up to speed about children and clinical trials with this guide from The National Institutes of Health and this page from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Focus Groupie
The likes and dislikes of kids are an eternal mystery, one that marketers are always greedy to crack with a focus group. These sessions rarely last longer than a few hours, and they can pay anywhere from $20 to $250. Just get your child’s name in the database of a market research company in your area and they’ll call when the right study pops up. Craigslist, library bulletin boards and other community sources may also list random focus groups.
Hair Factory
When users of The HairTrader and Hairwork say they wish they had hair like your child’s, they mean it. People who want natural wigs visit these sites to buy hair fresh off the scalp, and some have paid upwards of $2,000 for the privilege. Children can list their tresses on the sites, but to avoid predators, don’t let them show their faces in photos, and use a temporary e-mail address. Think of it as a good way to teach persistence: buyers typically want at least 10 inches of hair to make a wig, which means months of bad hair days while it grows.
Actor
If your natural-born ham really wants to act, get him or her in local plays, student films and modeling jobs in need of children. As you build the résumé, send photos to agents and managers in your area. Just don’t agree to work with anyone who asks for a fee. Getting an agent is your ticket to constant auditions, but it’s a tough slog of constant rejection, endless driving and general despair that can sap the fun out of it all. If work starts to pick up, you’ll want a manager too, one who won’t let your child end up like Gary Coleman, Lindsay Lohan, or, well, most any child actor.
Subject for an Article
Don’t let your child’s food allergies, sleep problems, sharing issues or bedwetting get you down. Write about it. Freelance writing sites like mediabistro will steer you to parenting magazine and blog markets that pay in either money or exposure. There’s always an outlet for most any take on child-rearing advice, no matter how dubious. Let this very article serve as a case in point.
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