Though it takes a keen eye and is not for the faint of heart, I have found some great local jobs from craigslist. You have to be careful that the job is real (look up company beforehand, never give the company money etc) and you have to check the postings every day because so many people respond to jobs. Craigslist is great for admin/clerical jobs, and I have found some interesting writing internships to boost my resume from it. 🙂

I have always been one to believe in hard work pays off. I had made posters which I posted around the town I lived in, I would actually make cold calls to neighours to see if they needed help with shoveling their driveway, cutting their grass, walking their dogs, helping them around the house/yard etc. Because I was in such a small town and my birth father was well known in the town it helped me tremendously with cold calls. Other ways have been going door to door with a shovel in the winter after a snow storm to see if anyone needed help clearing their driveway. Another method that had worked was going door to door to those who had dogs to see if they needed a dog walker or someone to help take care of the dog (grooming, doggy day care while people left town etc.)

By the age of 18 I was really well known around my town and had built a name for myself so work came pretty easy. I will not say that the work itself was easy but it was definitely worth it. When you’ve live on your own at 16 you find unique and creative ways to make money to make sure you’re able to have a place to live and food in your stomach.