Hustler Tips: Pay it with PayPal

Want to make some money while getting your bills paid? Make sure you pay everything with PayPal!

Here’s the scoop: many of you may know that PayPal offers 1% back on all of your purchases when you use their debit card. I don’t know why they do it, but I really don’t care either. because I’m getting some of my money back which is cool. Well, their debit card is FREE, and once you register to get one, you receive it in a couple of days. Here’s what you do from here to get the money:

• Make sure ALL of your purchases are done with the PayPal MasterCard. If you have another card that has better perks than 1% cash back, that’s cool, but if not, use this one.
• If possible, I would try to pay every bill from the rent payment on an apartment to your mortgage payment, car payment, etc. HOWEVER, make sure your creditors accept credit cards as a form of payment, AND that there is no fee to pay your bills this way. Many utilities charge a fee when you pay by credit card. Da Hustler hates that they can get away with this, because I have a merchant account to accept credit cards and in the terms and conditions, I cannot charge customers a fee solely to recoup the fees I have to pay to accept the cards. Furthermore, since I see it as the cost of doing business, I think these merchants should just eat it instead of adding to their profit margin.
• Once the bills are paid, check your PayPal account for the “Chargeback Bonus.” DO NOT SPEND THIS MONEY! Sent it to a online savings account, such as one with ING and earn interest on your bonuses. Also do not allow the money to sit in your PayPal account for even one day, because you could have been earning money with it. If you don’t have an ING account, send me an e-mail, and I’ll send you a link to get you an extra $25 in your account when you deposit $250!
• Getting $0.01 back on $1 doesn’t seem like much at first, but it adds up. If you spend $2500/month, you’ll get back $25. While it is small, this adds up to an extra $300/year plus interest if you use this method. (If you don’t want that, Da Hustler will take it!)
• To make things easier, you can setup your PayPal account to automatically take the money from your checking account in case your PayPal balance is too low to cover a charge. This way you can still have the money come from your main account while getting the benefit of the 1% cash back.

Once you do it a few times, you’ll start to get the hang of it, and it will be a transparent part of your day. Keep Hustlin’!

Hustle Tips: Getting Traffic to Your Site & FREE phone numbers!

In real estate, it’s location, location, location. In sales, it’s sell, sell, sell (duh, right?) In teaching, it’s beat the kids into submission. And in law, it’s “If it does not fit, you must acquit.”

Ok, kidding about the last two!

But the golden rule of a website — er, a successful and popular website — is to get traffic to it, almost by any means necessary. Da Hustler wants to help you by introducing some non-traditional ways of getting traffic to your website. Some may work for you, while others may give you the patented George Bush dumbfounded look, but use what works for you and pass these tips on to others that it may help!

1. Find FREE classifieds newspapers in your town. There’s tons of these types of papers, from Creative Loafing to Penny Savers to certain regional papers you might see next to the automobile and employment classifieds on the street. You might also try university newspapers, community newsletters, heck even local newspapers are trying to regain ground lost to craigslist by starting free classifieds. You lose nothing by trying these methods, because they are FREE — Da Hustler’s favorite word! (Thanks D Town Redd)

   

2. Go to the FOR SALE section and post an ad saying you’d like to sell a banging sound system, a cool new iPod, an awesome laptop, or whatever is really popular with the kids these days. Now in the description, list the product in question for a really cheap price, like a $50 iPod or a $200 PlayStation 3. The point is to price it low enough to garner attention, but not too low where no one would believe it. Where would you get the product from you ask? Well, scour the net for those “deals,” the ones that usually have you to fill out surveys or complete some other requirements before you can get the prize listed. Da Hustler doesn’t think these are the best opportunities to spend your time on, but it keeps your advertisement legit and who knows, you may get enough referrals to get yourself a free prize!Next, put a phone number in the ad that routes the calls to a voicemail mailbox. It would be best to use a number that is not your own, unless you just want strangers calling you for days (and these days, the strangers are really creepy). Don’t know where to get a number from? Keep reading.Now it’s time to setup the voicemail greeting. You don’t really have to say much, but here’s an idea for you to get started:

   
   

   “Thanks for responding to my ad! Due to the volume of calls, I’ll only take inquiries from SERIOUS people. If you’re serious about my offer, please visit (record your domain name here). Hope to hear from you soon!”

   Also in the message, be sure to spell your domain name so people will not get letters and words confused (B as in Bob, G as in Gina, O as in Orange, L as in Larry, dot com, etc.). On your site, place a small link to whatever offer you found, so the people who visit from your ad are left hanging. To help you get started, here’s a link to a FREE voicemail mailbox with a local number: http://www.craigsnumber.com (thanks SOLOW)

3. Post your domain name in your e-mail signature. As previously stated on almost every blog known to man that deals in making money and creating traffic, your domain should be listed in almost any correspondence that goes out. It doesn’t matter if it is a forum, e-mail, Match.com profile, Classmates.com profile, inmates.com profile, etc. Whatever and wherever you post information or personal opinions, make sure that you have included your link!!!

   

4. Word of mouth – it almost goes without saying, but some people try to be very secretive about their business ventures until it hits the levels of an eBay or Yahoo. NEWSFLASH!! It probably won’t hit those levels if you aren’t excited and telling everyone you know about it! Try to create a buzz with your peers, family and friends, and don’t tell them anything about the site until they see it for themselves. Da Hustler has had many lazy people try to get a synopsis of My New Hustle | Make Money Online verbally, but it just isn’t gonna happen!

   

5. This might sound a little crazy to some, but it’s actually quite brilliant and done everyday: create a funny video and post it on YouTube. The kicker is, it doesn’t even have to be related to your site content at all… it could simply be about two middle-aged wannabe MC’s freestyle battling or somebody getting owned. At the beginning and end of the video you display a graphic that says, “Brought To You By Show N Tell Productions www.yoursitehere.com.” If it’s good enough it will be seen by thousands, and that translates into thousands of hits!After the success with the first video, do another one. Be sure to keep the same beginning and ending graphics with every video you do so that people will begin to recognize it and stick in their minds. With all the free software found within Microsoft Windows, Apple’s Macintosh and on the internet (ahem, legal software) you can make videos for pennies and in less time than you think. (thanks NubiaNectar)

Sarcastic Gamer is one of the leaders in making funny videos with their tag lines embedded. A couple of their videos have even been featured as humorous spots on My New Hustle.

Stay tuned to My New Hustle, as Da Hustler reveals more ideas on how to route traffic to your site!

Hustle Tips: Pull the Plug

They say what goes up, must come down. But they never said when.

In these days of high energy prices, StarBucks addiction and global inflation, hustling is at an all-time high. Countless numbers of people all over the world are working 2 to 3 jobs just to make ends meet — or get close enough to at least wave at each other! It seems as if it can be a never-ending cycle, one that can make you grow old before you know it, wondering what happened to the past 40 years of your life.

Sometimes, however, the best way to make more money is to just save more money! In addition to the easy standard cost-cutting measures, such as not going out as much (duh), watching DVD’s instead of going to the movies (hey, you always get a good seat), and buying store brand items over the national brand (except for Honey Nut Cheerios…I can’t skimp on that one), there is another way to save a bit more money while also doing your part for the environment:

Pull the plug on the electronics and appliances you are not using.

Yes, unplug! Now if you are thinking to yourself, “I already turn off the lights when I leave a room, why do I have to now unplug every item as well?” then you are not alone. I used to thing the same thing: my computer goes into sleep mode when I’m not using it, I switch off my electrical components when they are idle, and I use natural light whenever possible. Well, it seems as if these efforts aren’t good enough anymore, and by unplugging we can actually step-up this money-saving hustle. This article tells a story about a man’s energy usage, and how much he saved by unplugging equipment versus just turning it off. If it’s a way to hustle the electric company (legally), then I’m all for it!

After you read the article, you might be tempted to start implementing the procedures, then watch your monthly power bill. Well it occurred to me that you don’t have to unplug everything! If you really want to start saving money in this manner, try flipping a few switches at your fuse box instead of putting yourself into contortions trying to get to an outlet. It not only saves you time, but it’s a smarter way to conserve the energy not being used in your home. Flip the switches before you go to bed and before you leave your home for work, then look for corresponding savings on your bill. It may not be much, but it adds up over time, and if we all did it, it would help to ensure a brighter future for our children and maybe one that is less dependent on foreign energy sources.