Make Money Solving Math Problems

Have you ever heard of Grigory Perelman? He's an unemployed Russian guy who supposedly solved a math problem called the "Poincare Conjecture," and was offered a one million dollar reward for doing so. I don't know who the people are who offered this money. I assume they are extremely rich people who have nothing better to do. But the story doesn't end there. No. This supposed genius decided he didn't want the million dollar prize, and has refused to accept it.

Ok, well, he's a wealthy guy who decided to pass the money to some charity right? Well, no. Actually he lives on welfare in a tiny apartment in St. Petersburg with his elderly mom, and hasn't had a job in several years. Also, he looks like a homeless serial killer.

This man is a genius

The Poincare Conjecture is a somewhat difficult math problem dreamed up by a crazy guy named Poincare back in 1904, before calculators were invented, and before anybody found out that math was important. A few people tried to solve it, but they all got busy with family responsibilities and fixing mowers and stuff, and after a while everybody more or less forgot about Poincare and his conjecture. So for 99 years the whole thing was forgotten. Then, in 2003, Grigory Perelman posted a solution on the Internet. It took mathematicians seven years to resolve his solution and verify that it was correct. Then, in early 2010, they announced that he would be given the million dollar prize. 

For the past several months he has been "thinking about it," and just now decided that he doesn't want it. This does not seem like a genius move. 

But it does open a door for anyone who likes doing math. I don't know what they are going to do with this prize money. My guess, since the whole thing seems to be happening in Russia, is that the government will come and get him and nobody will ever see him or the money again, and eventually he will build a nuclear reactor. So this money is a lost cause. 

However, there are other math problems out there that no one has solved yet, and which have serious money associated with them. I spent several years studying math in high school, so I am a world class mathematician. There is a wikipedia page that lists six unsolved problems that have million dollar prizes attached. The way I see it, I could probably solve all six of these in a few hours, but I would like to partner with another skilled mathematician just in case I run into trouble with the train that left Chicago at 4:00 pm. I always have trouble with those train problems, and I assume, since these problems are hard, that they include LOTS of trains. I will gladly split the money with you 60/40. 

If you are a world class mathematician, and would like to partner with me to solve these problems, please email me, and we will work out a time to get together. Tuesdays are usually good. I hope we don't need to show our work.

Start a Business Selling Toads

One of the founding principles of Howtomakeadollar is that any time you can get something for free, you should get as much of it as possible, no matter what it is. This is different from hoarding because hoarders take stuff and keep it, while we take stuff and sell it.

I was thinking of this the other day while I was out hiking and saw like 50 toads. I don't know what the market is like for toads nowadays. I suspect it is fairly flat, but a flat market is still a market, and toads are free. So you may as well wrangle a bunch of them together and try to sell them off. A good rule of thumb is that if someone offers you 50 of something for free, then there has to be a way to make money off it. It doesn't really matter what it is. 50 of anything is a good deal.

Toads: Somewhere in the world there is a person who wants one

I'm sure there is some sort of National Toad Enthusiasts Coalition or toad collectors group out there that would love to buy toads off you. Let me check. Yep. After a quick scan of the Internet I have found this to be true. There is a group called "Save the Toads" here:  http://www.savethetoads.com/, and there is also a group called "Stop the toads" http://www.stopthetoad.org.au/. Both of these groups appear to be legitimate, and either one would be a good place to start hawking your toads. The first group would pay you not to kill them, and the second group seems willing to pay you to kill them. This is a perfect storm for a bidding war. All you need is a bunch of toads. Let me explain how to get them.

I did not stop to collect the toads I encountered because I was going hiking and had not brought a proper toad receptacle with me. However, if you want to pursue this opportunity, I will tell you how to do it. First, I was hiking a trail in New Hampshire known as the Pemigewassett Loop, so you will need to go there if you want toads. Secondly, you should know that the Pemi Loop is considered to be the 2nd most difficult day hike in North America. It is about 32 miles, and climbs 11 mountains, so its not going to be easy. But it is worth it because of all the toads you can get.

All you need to do is hike the loop and bring a large bag or box or something. Everytime you find a toad just grab it and drop it in the bag. I promise you will see at least 50 of them if you do this whole trail. After that its just a matter of finding a buyer. Even if you sell all 50 of them for two cents each, you still make a dollar, and I think a two cent toad is a great deal.

I've even thought of a few selling points for to make.
1. Toads are immortal. On my hike, I accidentally stepped on one, but it didn't die. It just hopped away. A few years ago I ran one over with a mower, and it hopped out the other side totally fine. (seriously). No blood, no guts, no sign of any trauma. This is because toads, like Elvis, never actually die. If this fact doesn't get you a toad sale, I don't know what will. Toads are immortal and indestructible.
2. Toads eat lots of insects. If you get toads, you will never get an ant or termite problem. Just get a bunch of toads and let them roam freely around your house. I recommend at least five toads per room. You will probably need to keep your rooms dark and damp at all times, and maybe get some rotten logs, because that is what toads like.

Howtomakeadollar was right!

About a month ago Howtomakeadollar published a groundbreaking idea* in a blog titled "Large Pool of Crude Oil Available on First Come First Serve Basis." If you have not read this blog, you need to go read it right now, because of how groundbreakingly groundbreaking it was.

*Howtomakeadollar publishes groundbreaking ideas every single day

Ok, so I assume you've gone over and read that blog now. Its a good idea right? Just go out and start collecting the oil. Its floating right there on the surface, available to anyone, so we suggested going out in a boat and filling up buckets with oil. We also suggested getting extremely large boats and filling them up.

Well, thats exactly what a bunch of people are doing now. In fact, an enormous ship called an oil skimmer has just been released into the Gulf of Mexico. It is almost four football fields long, and is capable of collecting 500,000 gallons per day. This is exactly what Howtomakeadollar suggested on May 16, 2010 (50 days ago). If some guy had followed our advice then, the big skimmer could have sucked up approximately 25,000,000 gallons by now.

Now, this is crude oil and you will get a lot of seawater in the skimmer, so lets assume that after the water is removed and the oil is refined, that there would only be about 5,000,000 gallons of actual oil left over. At $2.50 per gallon of gas, you would make $12,500,000. Aside from that, you could feel good about yourself for saving a bunch of manatees and mermaids and other happy sea creatures. Of course, while sucking 500,000 gallons per day, you would probably suck up a lot of them too, but there is nothing you can do about that.

You can see a video about this skimmer here: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/world-s-largest-oil-skimmer-positions-in-gulf-20657689

How to make money on Fourth of July

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Fourth of July is a time to celebrate our countries independence... but most importantly, like all other holidays, it is a great time to make money!

Howtomakeadollar has determined taking advantage of peoples emotions is a great way to make money.  To take it a step further, an even better way to make money is to take advantage of children's emotions.

Step by step plan for making money on Fourth of July by taking advantage of children's emotions:
1.  Celebrate 4th of July in the United States*,**,***

2.  Go to a place where there is a large group of people and fireworks

3.  Find a group of kids playing with sparklers

4.  Inform the happy children that the sparklers they are using are a fire hazard that causes over 170 deaths per year (completely made up).  Ask them if they are okay with knowingly contributing to these deaths.

5.  Inform the children that sparklers contain potassium nitrate, dextrin, sulfur, and charcoal all known components that are scientifically proven to contribute to global warming.  Ask them if they like to make mother earth cry.  Also ask them if they are okay with killing all of the polar bears in the world.  Also ask them if they are okay with the fact that if they continue to burn their sparklers every fourth of July the earth will be destroyed in exactly 7.5 years.

6.  Inform the children that the fumes from the sparklers is the leading cause of lung cancer.  Ask them if they are okay with slowly killing everyone around them.

7.  Continue to tell the children how dangerous, irresponsible, and harmful to the environment their sparklers are.  Continue this process until at least 63% of the children are in tears.

8.  At this point tell the children you are are a member of EAACUS (Ethical Adults Against Children Using Sparklers)**** and you need to confiscate the remaining sparklers and they must pay the $.50 sparkler reform tax for each sparkler they have burned.

9.  Most likely all of the children will run to their parents, get all of the extra sparklers and money and hurry back to give them to you.

10.  Thank the children for doing the right thing and assure them their grandchildren will thank them for making the right decision.

11.  Take the sparklers to the other side of the large group of people celebrating their independence and sell the sparklers to a group of underprivileged-non-sparkler-wielding children.

*The plan can be carried out in other countries on other days besides 4th of July, but may not be as  profitable. 

**4th of July may not be celebrated anymore in a couple of years, so take advantage of it while you can. 

***Once 4th of July is outlawed you can adapt the plan in the UK to Guy Fawks Night on November 5th

****Along with our Ride Shotgun for Life cards, howtomakeadollar sells EAACUS cards.  Having an EAACUS card will definitely make your story more believable.

Make Money by Being a Wardrobe Consultant

Today I saw one of those public bulletin boards where people can advertise various things like lost pets, businesses, and whatnot, and I found a business card for a wardrobe consulting business. I have heard of wardrobe consultants, but I'm a little bit unclear about what exactly they do, and who pays them. Nonetheless, I am absolutely certain that this is a high paying and important job. Why? Because the word "Consultant" is a prominent part of the business name. I mean, what if the person was just a wardrobe? I would never even think of hiring them. But a consultant? Well, thats a totally different thing that I would never think to hire.

Like I said, I don't really know what exactly a wardrobe consultant does, nor do I have any desire to hire one. My wardrobe, such as it is, does not need any consultations. If I did hire a wardrobe consultant, probably the first thing they would say is "you need more socks and all your t-shirts are stupid." So like I said, I'm not really the kind of guy who is likely to hire a wardrobe consultant.

But that doesn't mean wardrobe consulting is a bad idea. On the contrary, I think its a great idea that you, or someone else, other than me, should do.  I imagine it is pretty easy. Just show up and ask to see your client's wardrobe. Most people, if they are like me, will say "Do you mean the closet?" If they say this, you should inform them that you are not a closet consultant, and walk away. Closet consulting is beneath you, and it is a rather ambiguous job title. Does it mean that you are a consultant, but only in secret, and you don't want anyone to know about it?

Somewhere in there you should get paid handsomely.

Make money by providing a quality product

Howtomakeadollar is not always the most ethical in our business practices and the claims we make.  But that's okay, because we have an Official Fact Check Guy and an Official Accountant to keep us straight (i.e. take the blame for all of our unscrupulous business practices).  If you are trying to be a good business person; however, howtomakeadollar feels it is important to sell a quality product.  Selling a quality product is a better business practice than selling a poor quality product.  Its true.

Howtomakeadollar is proud to announce that we create quality products!  We have a lot of people who hate us (you can see a list of them on the right column of our blog)... but we also have several people who like us because we produce a quality product.  The quality product I am referring to is our custom laptop sleeve protector.  Specifically our superman laptop sleeve protectors.

Here are some of the rave reviews...

"It's AWESOME!  Thanks." - Dustin B.

"This product was made for my husband and he is a very hard man to shop for...he is all about functionality. I thought the Superman logo would be cute since he was a fan of the comics as a child. I gave him the gift when he started a new job and he really liked it. He uses it allll the time and has made comments about how perfect it is in size. I didn't know it at the time but he was planning on investing in an expensive one from a computer store. Now he has one with sentimental value and is also completely functional." -Leila H.

"Hands down the coolest think I have ever seen in my entire life!" -Andrew G.

So if you want to be successful selling a product, the key is to make a good product.  If you would like to order your own super high quality custom laptop sleeve protector, email us and we will start on it as soon as possible.  Please note that we currently have a slight backlog from all of our custom ipad sleeve protector orders that are coming in.  But your order is extremely important to us and will be processed in the order it was received.

Looking for good auto insurance quotes?

The auto insurance industry is a good business model.  Howtomakeadollar does not currently have the funds or resources at our disposal to start an auto insurance company.  We do however have the ability to refer you to a website that gives you information about auto insurance.  Check out this website on auto insurance.

http://www.automobileinsurance.me/go/click.php?tid=448655 is a website that offers CHEAP, INEXPENSIVE, and AFFORDABLE vehicle insurance quotes.  The autoinsurance.me website has a lot of useful information about all of the complex terminology related to obtaining auto insurance.  The autoinsurance.me website also has a great overview of all of the basic information you need about autoinsurance.

So, if you are looking for a website that will give you an affordable insurance quote... autoinsurance.me is the place to go.  They also have a good summary of all of the following car insurance companies: Allstate, progressive, Geico, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, and State Farm.  Good luck!  Let us know how it goes.

This blog is another in our blogsvertise posts.  This blog post is supported by advertising that is on a per click basis.  Enjoy.  We will keep you updated as to how our blogsvertise experience turns out and if we recommend this method as a viable option on getting money for blogging from sources other then Google's AdSense.