• Bucknell University Venture Plan Competition – Open to teams of undergraduate university students, this contest offers prizes of up to $5,000 for the most promising new ventures.
• Great Lakes Entrepreneurs Quest Business Plan Competition – All Michigan citizens are invited to apply to one of three different categories depending on the nature of the business plan. Cash prizes range from $500 to $5,000.
• Milken-PennGSE Business Plan Competition – Open to virtually anyone, this competition judges educational business plans and encourages applications in every conceivable educational setting. The first place prize is $25,000.

#1. Rent Out Parking Space At Work

This idea is for adults who have assigned parking spaces at work and are looking to make some extra spending cash. Let your co-workers know that you would be willing to rent out your superb parking spot right next to the office, and see if anyone takes you up on your offer!

#2. Return Past Purchases

Have you ever bought something and for one reason or another you never opened it? If you don’t think you will ever need it, why don’t you try to return the item from where you bought it, either for cash or store credit.

#3. Rent Out Room In Your House

My roommate Matt will be transferring next year, and I will need to find someone new to move in and help pay the bills! If you have a spare room in your house, you could make some serious cash if you rented out the room. Depending on where you live, you could bring in an extra $300-700 a month.

#4. Tap Your Life Insurance

Yeah it might not be the smartest thing to do, but tapping into your life insurance is still a way to get some cash. Talk to a life settlement broker and see what kind of deal you can stir up.

#5. Rainy Day Sales

Find a crowded outdoor area, such as a high school sporting event, and sell plastic ponchos when it starts to rain. You can see our previous post for more information.

#6. Legal Ticket Scalping

First off, check to see if the state you live in even allows such a thing. Click here for information. Ticket scalpers make very good money, which is why there are always so many of them outside of big event venues. If your state allows, this could be a great way to make some extra cash.

#7. Xbox 360 Repair

If you didn’t already know, Xbox 360’s are known for breaking. I am a first hand victim of the “red ring of death”. For the Xbox’s that fall under warranty, Microsoft offers a deal to fix your Xbox for $100 dollars. Oh yeah, it takes a month for them to send it back to you too. Many people realized that this was relatively pricey and inconvenient, so they actually researched how to fix Xbox’s online and did the repair themselves. I gave my Xbox to a friend who said he could fix it for $20, and I had it back in less than a week working like brand new. The moral of the story? Learn how to fix Xbox’s and you can make some serious cash!

#8. Gift Wrapping Service

With the holiday season right around the corner, a gift wrapping service could be very profitable! I can’t wrap presents for my life, so I would definitely use a service like this if I could find one. If you have the wrapping skills, advertise around your area and see what kind of response you get!

#9. Holiday Decorating Service

My mom asked me to string some lights up outside the other day. While she was explaining to me exactly what she wanted me to do, I was thinking to myself that this could be a great business idea for somebody. Offer to put up lights and decorations for people who don’t have the time or don’t want to be out in the cold! In conclusion, I managed to talk my way out of helping my mom put decorations up. Bring on the coal, Santa.

#10. Snow Removal

A classic, but it still puts that cash in your pocket. Advertise around your neighbor for a price less than the local snowplow guys, and you will be sure to have some business. Consider writing up a contract and then pray for lots of snow!

We’re only in the beginning developmental stages, but we’ve been doing a ton of brainstorming and story-boarding, a necessary process to get any project off the ground. Who knew there’d be so many questions to answer?! We’re quickly finding out that you have to be prepared for as many “what-ifs” as possible in order to even begin thinking about opening a project like this to the public.

We don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but as our project progresses we’ll update you here at Finding Benjamin and you’ll be the first to know when the site goes live, so stay tuned!

photo credit : Stefan Baudy

Kevin Randall, a sophomore at the University of Notre Dame, has signed on as a guest columnist for Finding Benjamin. If you’re unfamiliar with the first-time home buyer tax credit, check out Chris’s story all about his own home buying experience!

What are you waiting for?  If you’re a prospective first-time homeowner, buy that house you’ve been eyeing up NOW.  Although Congress has been debating extending the first-time home buyer’s tax credit beyond its current December 1^st end date, a recent report by the inspector general makes that extension seem less likely.

Federal reports released last Thursday have pointed out rampant fraud in the beloved tax credit program, costing hundreds of millions. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George said his office has located at least $500 million in fraudulent claims – claims made by “first time home buyers” who were not in fact first time home buyers.  Another 19,000 fraudulent taxpayers claimed the credit on homes that they had not even purchased.

Most interesting, the report also listed more than 500 cases in which the home buyer was not yet 18.  One first time home buyer was 4 years old – apparently he’d had enough of his crib and opted for his own bachelor pad.

Humorous anecdotes aside, the staggering reports of fraud combined with the heavy cost will likely discourage an extension of the program past December 1^st.  To date, 1.4 million tax returns taking advantage of the first time home buyer credit have been filed, costing upwards of $10 billion.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid supports extending the program, but the cost is prohibitive.  Simply extending the current program would cost about $1 billion each month, but another proposal is even more expensive.  Some lawmakers want to extend the program to all home buyers – even toddlers – as well as double the maximum possible credit to a cool $16,000.  This could potentially cost $2.4 billion each month, a huge amount considering many economists believe most potential home buyers would still purchase homes even without a tax credit.

The moral of the story?  Make sure you’re eligible for the tax credit… and hurry up.  Head over to the National Association of Home Builders to see if you’re eligible and also how many bones Uncle Sam will toss your way for your first home purchase (most home buyers receive less than $8,000).  After doing some homework, begin your search, but keep in mind you will probably only have until December to take advantage of the tax credit.

Everyone loves cold hard cash, so we have decided to list ten MORE ways to make $100. Our first ten ideas can be seen in a previous post. Some ideas you may have heard before, some you might not have. While all of the ideas are relatively easy to conduct, we can’t guarantee that you’ll make $100 every time. You might have to try these ideas more than once, or even figure out how to put your own spin on it. The money is out there, you just have to know how to find it!

#1. Sell Your Hair

Believe it or not, but there are lots of people interested in purchasing human hair. So if you have some beautiful locks, you may want to snip it off and put an ad up on TheHairTrader.com. People have sold their hair for over $2,000!

#2. Scrap Metal

Salvaging certain metals, especially copper, will put a nice wad of cash in your pocket. If you see any microwaves, air conditioners, or refrigerators out by the street curb, there is a good chance there are some precious metal pieces in them. Trash sites should be full of this stuff too. Take your findings to the junkyard and receive some cash.

#3.  Sell Baked Goods

Make some flyers advertising what your up to around your neighborhood. You may want to specialize in one certain product to cut down on excess supplies being purchased. Check with your local board of health to see if any type of inspections are required.

#4. Sell Old Textbooks

Sell your old college textbooks to friends that are taking the same class that you did last semester. I did this and quickly sold two books for a total of $100. See our previous post for further details.

#5. Stock Images

You don’t need to be professional photographer to sell photos. All sorts of people and businesses are looking for certain unique photos for whatever reason, so start photographing everything you see and somebody might be interested in purchasing your photo so that they can use it. Good websites to start with are istockphoto.com and stockxpert.com.

#6. Sell Your Plasma

If you don’t mind having a needle stuck into your arm, this might be for you. Do some research and find out where the closest blood bank or plasma collection center is. If you have a clean medical history, you can expect to make $35 per donation. Donate up to twice a week and you will have your $100 in no time.

#7. Clinical Trials

As seen in our previous post, taking part in clinical trials can get you some cash quickly! Clinical trials focus on anything from drug studies to cognitive and sensory studies.

#8. Amazon Mechanical Turk

Also seen in one of our previous posts, Amazon Mechanical Turk is an interesting way to make some money. Complete tasks for companies that computers can’t do! Dave, a member of the Hop, is currently trying out Mechanical Turk and will give us an update about how that is going.

#9. Online Poker

Online gambling has exploded in the past couple of years. If you think you are a card shark, this may be the path for you, as there is lots of money circulating on poker sites. One of the more respected online poker sites is fulltiltpoker.com.

#10. Freelance Writing

If you are a good writer, freelance writing jobs can dish out some serious cash. Freelancewritinggigs.com offers tons of opportunities, with updates every day. Many people have success doing this, and so can you!

By Staff

If you are a student who’s looking for a pretty easy way to make a little bit of extra cash, but don’t have the time to start up a full-blown business, Amazon Mechanical Turk might be something for you to look into. This is basically a workplace, run by Amazon.com, where businesses can post tasks known as Human Intelligent Tasks (HITs). HITs are tasks that a computer can’t easily do, but a human can without too much effort, like finding websites and contact information for certain companies or writing short reviews of articles, products, or websites. The process is pretty simple – you have to sign up and create an account with Amazon, find assignments that you would be interested in, complete them and submit them for review, and if they get approved you get paid. The payment can range depending of the difficulty or the amount of effort required. Most HITs offered typically pay only $.02 – $.10 per completed item, but they may have 1000 or so items to complete.

The nice thing about Amazon Mechanical Turk besides the simple concept is that it’s definitely legit – Amazon is America’s largest online retailer, so you can be sure you’re dealing with a reputable website and that you’ll get your payments in a timely fashion. After the completion and acceptance of a HIT, the payment will be deposited into your amazon account, and you can transfer it to the bank account of your choice from there.

Some reviews say that the amount of money you get from Amazon MT is not worth the amount of work you have to do, and that its harder than you might think to get a task approved. And I agree – It definitely won’t make you rich any time soon. But for students like you or others who are looking for a few bucks to put in your pocket – to help out with gas money, or a late night junk-food run, it can be an easy and even fun solution – especially if you like surfing the web – and if you’re reading this, I’m assuming you do!

There have also been some concerns about ethical issues with some of the jobs posted in this workplace. For example, there are some that will pay you to write positive reviews for whatever needs to be rated, instead of writing an opinion based on your own thoughts, good or bad. Some may not have a problem writing these, while others will. Bottom line, look for those HITs that you feel interested in and that you feel comfortable completing.

There are countless other websites out there offering to help you “make money from home”. Be careful – many of these sites require you to pay an upfront “membership” before you can start working, and can often wind up in very low payments. Aside from this, many ads claiming to help you make money without leaving your house can be scams. There are legitimate sites out there that allow you to make money by filling out surveys or inputting data into forms, but be cautious before signing up for anything. The book Undress for Success by Kate Lister and Tom Harnish provides great coverage of different work-from-home scams, and is a very informative read for anyone looking to avoid these scams and try to make some money from home.

Everyone loves quick and easy money, so we have decided to list our top ten ways to make $100. Some ideas you may have heard before, some you might not have. All of the ideas are relatively easy to conduct, even for kids and young adults. The money is out there, you just have to know how to find it!

#10. Birthday Party

Host your own birthday party, even if it is a couple of months away… Be sure to invite relatives from all corners of the country, because most likely they will decline the invite and just end up sending a card with some cash in it.

#9. Stock Market

You may need some assistance from your parents with this one (entering the market). It may be a little risky, especially in these down times, but it has worked out for me. I made some small, short-term investments recently and exited the market immediately after I made some decent gains.

#8. Bank Account

Don’t let your money just sit around! Put it in a bank account and earn some interest.. It will eventually add up.

#7. Can Collecting

Go to a big name concert or large sporting event and collect 2000 cans and bottles ($100). There are bound to be thousands of cans and bottles in the tailgating areas of concert venues and stadiums.

#6. Submit A Joke

Go to Reader’s Digest and submit a joke or funny story! If it is published, they will send between $100-$300. Doesn’t get easier than that!

#5. Odd Job

Ask a friend, relative, or business associate if they need an odd job or task completed. You never know the things people will think up these days.

#4. Online Selling

Sell something of yours on eBay or craigslist that you think might have some value. For example, I am thinking about selling my old football cards that I have from when I was a kid.

#3. Piggy Bank

Crack open your piggy bank and start counting your coins. You will be surprised to see how much you really have in there.

#2. Resell Clothing

Resell your lightly used clothing to places like Plato’s Closet or Crossroads Trading Co. You might need to sell a few articles of clothing to come out with $100, but it’s O.K. because you know your closet is too crammed anyway.

#1. Lemonade Stand Challenge

The FindingBenjamin.com Lemonade Stand Challenge is a very easy way to have a chance at $100! Click here for details.

Nothing seems easier than a good “get cash quick” scheme, but when it comes to trading in your gold jewelry are the cash-for-gold companies really paying what you deserve? Perhaps not. Most are familiar with the Cash4Gold television ads… They even aired an ad during the Super Bowl starring Ed McMahon and MC Hammer. Sure these ads are very appealing, especially in these uneasy economic times, but it can be very easy to get ripped off if you don’t know what you’re doing. Choosing a reputable company to assess the value is key when it comes to getting money from your jewelry.

According to this former Cash4Gold employee, the behind-the-scenes process of the well-known Cash4Gold appears to have some questionable practices:

• The pouch that is sent to you is only insured up to $100, so if you send it in with jewelry that is worth more than $100 and the pouch becomes lost, you’re screwed!
• Your check is usually signed within 24 hours of testing your jewelry, however the check is not sent out for another 3-4 days. Why is this a problem? The “100% satisfaction guarantee or your jewelry returned” is only valid within 10 days from when the check is dated, making it easy for the company to get away with more money than it should. 
• Cash4Gold purposely issues insufficient checks just to have customers call back and complain, and that is if they are even smart enough to figure out that they have been jerked around. 

There are many other options for trading your gold in for cash, such as jewelry stores that may offer more accurate appraisals. Holding onto any items you feel are valuable is another good alternative, since it’s usually the case that stuff like that only increases in value as time goes on. But if you’re dead set on turning items in for cash, definitely make sure to do some research first so that you’ll be able to decide what price is acceptable.

Remember Bill Nye the Science Guy? With his quirky antics and silly puns, his PBS television show helped kids to see the fun side of science and physics. Even though Bill Nye show no longer airs new episodes, its creators have come up with a new successful show that has popularized another subject that can sometimes be pretty dry: making, managing, and saving money. This time, instead of using a zany, comical scientist as a host, the television show connects with young viewers like you (if you are a teenager or even younger!) who have already made it big with their product or service. The series of half-hour episodes covers all aspects of financial basics, from saving and budgeting to spending and investing. In particular, BizKid$ places an emphasis on inventiveness and creativity by highlighting the stories of young entrepreneurs, and provides tips on how you can start up similar businesses.

The recently remodeled BizKid$ website offers a blog with stories on young money makers as well as an entire teaching curriculum to go along with the television episodes. Also, a “Cool Biz Stuff” category provides tools and resources just for kids, ranging from credit calculators to a lemonade-stand simulation game.

With Biz Kid$ episodes airing on over 330 television stations, the TV series and its corresponding website are vital resources for any young aspiring entrepreneur looking for tips and advice, or even just for kids who are looking for good ways to save and spend their hard-earned money. Check it out and see for yourself!