LayItAllOnYou

I go to college in a town of about 15,000. Half of that population is college students, so needless to say, the job market is pretty soft. I'm trying to figure out marketable skills I have that I could help me keep a roof over my head. I had previously been working on the ranch I live on, but the roping cattle they raise haven't been selling well, and my hours were cut back to virtually zero. I've got about $2000 in capital I can tap if need be to finance some type of money making venture. I could do other people's school work. I'm a decent writer, and for the right price, I'd be willing to take on just about any project for another college student. Also, I'm an accomplished cook. Maybe enter a local cookoff and if people are impressed, I could offer to cater parties/events.

Jerky is another option. I'm an expert at making the stuff, and come deer season, I could probably stay pretty busy after passing out samples of my own around campus. I'd definetly need to buy a bigger smoker if I went that route and got busy.

Any money I can make under the table is good. Being a poor college student (no income tax liability) who is unlikely to see a dime of social security, it doesn't make much sense for me to pay them anyway.

Did anyone do any self employed/entreprenuerial work while in college? I'm just trying to figure out what I can do during these tough times to get by and still have enough time to get my school work taken care of. I only need to make about $500 a month. Rent is $180 (split three ways) and I don't spend much on food since I've got a freezer full of game. Open to all kinds of ideas and suggestions.

RacinReaver

One of my mom's good friends in college used to cook up burgers and fries in her dorm's kitchen and go door to door selling them to hungry students. Apparently she made pretty solid money. My mom tried to get me to sell my pulled pork that way, but it was just too much work to make selling it worthwhile (way better to eat it myself!).

Pavelo

I know a guy who owns a little trailer concession stand thing with a big grill on the back of it and sell bar-b-q out of a car service place's parking lot on the weekends. Supposedly he does pretty well, and I always see a line out there to buy some. Personally, I am currently a self-employed college student with a LLC, and I do marketing for local real estate companies. I do not charge a whole lot, and since most of my work is done on the computer I can do a lot of it from home and on my own time. I am by no means making millions off of it but it has payed for all of my expenses, including tuition for the past two years.