
Quickest way to $30,000 profit after taxes? - airwick
I'm a programmer employed full time. I need to find a way to earn 30,000 dollars or so after taxes to pay for some health related debt I incurred last year. What kind of site or online activity would you start in your free time to make that kind of money?
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rms
I've got into ticket scalping lately. It's not legal in many states but it is
completely legal in my state as long as you do it online and conduct business
using your real name. Check your local laws.

It is really, really easy. All you do is check
<http://ticketstumbler.com/blog/> for upcoming sales and refresh ticketmaster
at 10AM when they're on sale. I don't use a script, though a simple one to get
you direct to the CAPTCHA would save 2 seconds which definitely makes a
difference in quality of seats.

Some intuition about what will be instant sellouts is needed. This is the best
one going on soon: a legendary performer known for rarely touring and he is
playing tiny venues. [http://www.ticketmaster.com/Leonard-Cohen-
tickets/artist/733...](http://www.ticketmaster.com/Leonard-Cohen-
tickets/artist/733217?tm_link=tm_homeA_k1)

Don't buy seats at the back of large amphitheaters unless it is for Phish.

It's easiest to sell on Stubhub but using Craiglist can add 8-10% to your
margins. It's annoying to have to email/call back and forth with the people
though.

~~~
zain
Wow, that's genius! Let me make sure I have you straight (I've never heard of
this before)...

You check the TicketStumbler blog for hot pre-sale tickets. You buy them for
face value when they go on sale (10AM?) hoping they'll get sold out. Then, you
flip them on StubHub/Craigslist after they're sold out? What if the show
doesn't get sold out?

Also, did I understand you correctly in that TicketMaster gives the best
tickets to the first people who buy them, and you might get bad seats buying
at 10AM? How can you tell if the seats are good enough?

Thanks for the info :)

~~~
rms
Yeah, you got it. It's not just presales, there isn't a big difference between
buying in a presale and a regular sale. Presale just gives you two shots at
it.

The tickets are first come first served so whoever completes the CAPTCHA
fastest gets the best tickets. However, some will always be released when
people don't actually complete the transaction. So you can keep trying again
and again for 15 minutes or so. Whatever you do, do not try to buy different
tickets at the same time on the same computer. You cannot buy tickets for two
cities at once, you will lose all your tickets. You need a VPN or your cell
phone internet if you want to start playing that game.

The best way to decide on a show is to look at the listings on Stubhub for a
show by that artist that is already on sale. Assume that to sell a ticket you
need to beat the lowest price on Stubhub. This isn't always possible and
that's where your intuition comes into play. If you're in doubt about whether
or not to purchase, feel free to email me and ask. For now, Leonard Cohen is a
really good one to start with. The presale passwords are easy to find on
google. Phish will also be announcing more shows soon and they are just about
the hottest ticket this summer.

In a small theater, any seat is good enough. In a pavillion, only the front
sections or the front of the rear sections are ok. The back of the rear
sections in pavilions are a trap. Lawn tickets usually don't have very good
margins. In an arena, anything that isn't behind the stage is usually ok. This
is because in a pavilion the rear seats are usually the same price as the
front seats, but in an arena the upper seats are significantly cheaper.

I haven't had a show yet where I have lost money, but I make my picks
carefully. 200% profit isn't very common though. 50% profit is probably a
realistic average. I may end up getting rid of Billy Joel/Elton John tickets
soon at just a little over cost.

~~~
anewaccountname
Why would anyone want to do this? It is completely zero sum. You aren't
creating any wealth, even if you are making money.

~~~
ggrot
You are essentially performing arbitrage.

For the person who has a little more money, but not enough patience or
planning to login to the ticket website at 10am, actors like the commenter are
creating wealth for this person.

~~~
nostrademons
But if the ticket scalper hadn't been scraping the ticket website at 10am in
the first place, the ticket would still be on sale.

(Okay, it likely would've gone to someone else who got there after 10 but
before the customer. But now you're cheating that person out of the ticket
they otherwise would've had. Still zero-sum.)

~~~
davidmathers
Insert Inigo Montoya quote here.

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nostrademons
Porn, drugs, or gambling. ;-)

Joking aside, I think the easiest way to make $30k after taxes is to
drastically cut your living expenses and save $30k. To make $30K after taxes,
you'd have to make close to $50K before taxes (I assume you have a decent
programmer's salary already, and this'll put you in a high bracket). There
aren't many ways to make $50K in a hurry without a long ramp-up period. If you
could, everyone would quit their day job and make their freelance business
their real one.

~~~
falsestprophet
Good news, you can deduct medical expenses over 7.5% of your income.

<http://www.bankrate.com/brm/itax/tips/20010323a.asp>

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vaksel
Well first things first you need to realize that the $30,000 price tag takes
into account the fact that they think they are charging insurance. If the
hospital realizes you are actually paying this yourself, the price will come
down.

Second of all you need to realize that there is absolutely no reason for you
to pay that amount in a lump sum. Do you think your average person has $30K on
hand to pay? Work out a payment plan with the hospital so that you can pay it
off a small amount at a time.

Third you need to realize that there is pretty much no way to make $30K after
taxes "quickly" as a sidejob. So you need to think long term for the solution.

~~~
mattchew
What vaskel said.

You may have more leverage than you think. I'm pretty sure in my state
(Kansas) your credit rating _cannot_ be dinged for late payment on a medical
bill. Used to be the case anyway. It would be handy to know if that was true
for you too.

When my father got sick there was a flood of bills. I just sent every creditor
$20 a month. I figured they would be happy to get anything since so many
people pay nothing. I never made any formal payment plans or arrangments. This
worked fine.

Another thing you might do is challenge large bills. I challenged a big bill
with several charges, don't remember why, but they ended up adjusting it down
_more_ than what I asked for, on _different_ charges than the ones I was
objecting to. They could not explain this, just "that's what the reviewers
came back with". Give them the opportunity.

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staunch
If you can't afford to pay back $30k for health care don't forget to try to
negotiate with the hospital/doctors. You should be able to get a large
discount on that amount if you agree to actually pay it back (instead of never
paying a dime, which is what they're used to).

~~~
viggity
Just ask them one simple question: "Is that the best you can do?"

[http://www.popswallet.com/2009/02/is-that-the-best-you-
can-d...](http://www.popswallet.com/2009/02/is-that-the-best-you-can-do/)

------
Kaizyn
Just take on a conventional second job to make the money. If you reduce your
living expenses at the same time, that will make your earning requirements for
the second job lower.

Aside from inventing an innovative idea or finding an existing business idea
that is good but not yet being done, that's the only sure way to make the kind
of profit you're needing.

I'm sorry you're in such a position and can only hope that you are now cured
of the medical ailments that got you into this position in the first place.

~~~
mindslight
Sorry for downmodding you - I blame microscopic arrows and lack of undo.

Your advice is some of the best in this thread. Entrepreneurship is about
taking on risk, which is exactly the opposite of predictable money.

Perhaps a second "conventional job" isn't what's called for, but consulting
definitely is. The important part is to get paid _now_ rather than hoping to
strike it rich through sweat equity.

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cellis
_"I need to find a way to earn 30,000 dollars or so after taxes..."_

Learn objective-C and create an iphone app that is novel but incredibly
simple. Should be based on a humorous topic (e.g. iFart, Sound Grenade) That
should be able to bring in 30k in a day. If you don't have a mac to hack on,
turn your pc into a hackintosh.

Write me back with the results. Good luck :)

~~~
jneal
I find this to be the best suggestion thus far. iPhone apps are making more
and more money each day. I believe the percentage is 70/30 nowadays. So If you
sell 15,000 copies of your game at a price of $2.99 a piece you will bring in
70% or $31,395 which will be pretty close to bringing you to your goal (still
have to pay taxes.)

~~~
staunch
I think the problem is that there actually is a lot of lead time on this. I
think a lot of the explosive apps you see were people that started early and
had a lot of failures before they finally got a win. Still a bit of a gold
rush going on, but it is a gold rush. Most people strike out.

~~~
spaghetti
I've been making iPhone apps for about 7 months now. My third app was approved
less than 2 days ago. Here is a brief summary of my experience:

First app \- a 0.99 cents novelty app \- 1 month dev time \- 3 months wait for
approval \- sold about 1500 copies to date \- received about $300 from Apple
(more on the way) \- sales are down to about 10 copies / day

Second App \- simple, innovative 0.99 cents game that wasn't polished \- 1.5
months dev time \- 2 days wait for approval \- sold about 150 copies in the
first few days \- received small amount of money from Apple \- sales
immediately dropped to < 1 copy / day after the first week \- app removed from
store 3 weeks after release

Third app \- super-simple free noise making app a la sound grenade, ifart etc
\- 5 hours dev time \- 1 week wait for approval \- 250 downloads the first day
(today is the second day) \- no money yet... an ad-supported version is
awaiting approval into app store

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mattmaroon
If there were some fast way to make $30k, everyone would already be doing it.

~~~
tjic
No.

If there was some way that was EASY to earn $30k, everyone would be doing it.

Just like if there was some way that was EASY to lose 30 lbs, everyone would
be doing it.

In fact, there are drop-dead simple ways to earn $30k and to lose 30 lbs.

Take on a second job.

Tons of first generation immigrants work 60 and 70 hour weeks.

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brianobush
No easy route that is legal. if you are innovative, you can find unique
business idea - but the sole goal should not be to make money quick, since
those endeavors typically don't embody the passion to be successful in the
business. See: _The Entrepreneur's Manual: Business Start-Ups, Spin-Offs, and
Innovative Management_ by Richard M. White. Though it is out of print, you
might find it used on abebooks.com

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quizbiz
Borrow $3,000,000, loan it, collect loan with interest, pay back loan. Result
~$30,000.

Easier said than done. It is, after all, what got us into this mess.

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HeyLaughingBoy
Get a second job? You'll start making money the first week, guaranteed!

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anewaccountname
Bankruptcy is by far the fastest way for this special case where you are using
the profit to eliminate a debt. Warning: won't work for student loans from the
government.

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nikblack
I am in the process of doing this right now but I can't tell you my secret. I
can, however, sell you my secret to making $30,000 for a low price of $500.

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ryanmahoski
Record and sell hacker screencasts a la PeepCode.

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cperciva
The fastest way to $30,000 profit after taxes is to rob a bank. :-)

~~~
mindslight
No, the fastest way to $30,000 profit after taxes is to be the one collecting
taxes.

