What do you do if you need some extra cash? Here are some ideas on how to earn more dough:

Consider taking a second job. Doing part-time work some evenings after your day job or even on weekends is a sure-fire way of earning extra cash. Just make sure that whatever part-time work you do, should not interfere with your main occupation.

Consider creating a small business. If you do not wish to take a part-time job, you can always resort to other work such as selling items. If you are good in something, for example, playing the piano, you can moonlight as a sessionist, or you can offer lessons. If you are good in baking or doing handicrafts, you can also sell them online or in local fairs.

You can clean your house and put up a garage sale, or sell your items on auction sites. Not only will you earn extra, you also get to rid yourself of clutter.

Maintaining a shop is a good business when you know how to work it. Of course selling is always the objective but how do you get people to actually buy? Aside from giving out big discounts, what else can you do to make the buyers come to you?

Any shopkeeper knows that the challenge is in getting the buyers to step inside and take a look-see. That is where you can start selling. But with all the other shops in the area, how can you pull those customers in?

When it comes to attracting customers, the window display plays a crucial part. You want people to stop in their tracks and see what you have on the shelves. To get a magnetic window display, you need to summon all your creativity skills.

Work on a theme. Check out the best window displays you’ve ever seen about town and study how they achieved a very effective display. What themes are they using? How do they execute their themes? What’s their style? What makes it effective and what part of it doesn’t work for you if you were a buyer?

When it comes to choosing a theme, you can either use the current season, a pop culture, a trend, a color, etc. What is your featured product? Put emphasis on your featured product by presenting it on your window display. Make it your front liner.

Remember that your display should be artistic, not messy. There’s a difference between being creative and being untidy. If you’re using a special lighting, make sure the spotlight stays on the product and not scattered to the whole window.

Be unique. Before you start with your theme, check out the displays of your competition so that yours will definitely stand out. If the other shops are using mannequins, for example, work with other materials so that you can catch the buyer’s eye.

It is not a secret strategy that if you want to make it big in whatever you do, you have to involve the press to get some media coverage. The only problem is, the press is not exactly the easiest kind of people to please. But since you have no choice, you have to do whatever it takes to achieve such friendship. Here’s a few tips to help you get started.

Call them. Once you get started in the PR industry, you will have no choice but to introduce yourself and make yourself known to the people you need to know. Lift the receiver and start making those courtesy phone calls. Tell them you’re their new contact in your company. Use the phone call to update everyone that you’re the new girl and if they’ll need anything from your company, you’ll be the one to assist them. That would make your phone call seem significant and memorable. It’s also a way for them to write your name and number on their address books.

Rotate. When you’re holding a press con, mingle with all the groups. Take a bite of your meal then chat with one group, get your drink and make conversations with another group. This is also how you can maximize an event. Make sure to ask for everyone’s business cards and
to give out yours.

Give them media tokens. Even the gods are taken away with gifts. Send them a gift on their birthdays and on every special occasion. Convince your company to invest on media gifts because media coverage is priceless.

A newsletter is one of the most effective ways of spreading word. You can use it to promote, to preach, to market, or to advertise whatever you want. Organizations and some companies still see some value in spreading the news around. The problem is how you can make one that’s sure to generate your desired results.

Choose your medium. In a paperless universe, it is definitely cheaper to do it online. You can always send it out via e-mail or have it available for download. A blog as a news zine can also work too. Having it printed out can be an option (a bit more expensive too) and you might have some limitations like color (printing in color is expensive!). A photocopied newsletter (while it can work with small runs and very localized distribution) can be a bit shabby at times.

Settle on your content. A newsletter should consist of good material. If you’re running a business, your newsletter content should contain updates, new items on sale, promotions and discounts. Your goal is to inform the public about your product or service. That way, your objective will always be satisfied.

Make good write-ups. You may have good content, but can you compose compelling write-ups and articles? Remember, you want people to read your newsletter from cover to cover so make sure you write your content in the most interesting way you can. And make sure you proof-read your articles. Bad grammar is just not acceptable.

Hire a good artist if you’re not good with designs. A newsletter is not just about the text, but it’s also about the visuals. You want your newsletter to be fresh and appealing so invest on a good layout and design artist who can give life to your newsletter with kick-ass design.

If you want to do it yourself, desktop publishing is the way to go. But you have to at least gain a simple understanding of design concepts before you proceed. Some design concepts to take note of – 1) Clear readable font size, 2) effective color schemes, 3) pictures (make sure they’re scaled or cropped so they won’t look distorted), and 4) effective use of white space (to prevent visual clutter).

Ask for feedback. In one part of your newsletter, you can put a feedback form where your readers can fax you what they think about your newsletter. You can get very helpful suggestions from your readers and increase readership if your newsletter keeps on getting better because of their feedback. Plus, you can earn the readers’ loyalty.