Hi! This is Eric with more advice for ex-offenders looking for jobs. Finding a job with a criminal record is going to be hard work. It is going to require planning, preparation, commitment and dedication.
Even with all of your hard work, no one knows exactly when the next opportunity is going to come. You could get a job tomorrow, next month, three months from now. In reality, you probably have financial demands that need to be met, whether you have a job or not; this maybe the perfect time to consider starting your own business.
There are a lot of businesses that hard working enterprising people can give in to with little or no investment or start up cost, in some cases it won't cost you anything to get in to business. So let's look at a few of those right now. You can start a painting service. Painting is a messy job. So if you have experience and some friends, I am pretty sure you can find someone who are paid for professional result and a lot lower cost than a professional company would charge.
You could also consider selling drinks or bottled water. In the hot summer months, in a playground or park or anywhere there are lots of people, folks would gladly pay a price for a cool drink. You could buy drinks at wholesale, chill them, and I guarantee they would sell like crazy.
You could also consider starting a cleaning service. People don't have a lot of time; will gladly pay someone to clean their homes or small businesses for them. You may consider starting a graffiti removal service. In urban areas graffiti is a big problem and property owners would pay someone to get this mess off of their walls and off of their property.
You may also consider starting a car washing and detailing service. Once again, people don't have a lot of time, would gladly pay someone to come to their home, wash, wax and detail their car. They would pay someone to keep their car looking nice inside and out. You can make appointments and meet them at their location; you can make a lot of money that way.
Dog walking service, busy people or home-bound people would pay someone to exercise their pets; that would be daily income for someone to come in and walk their dogs because they simply can't do it themselves.
An exterior window washing business, that's a good business. Business owners would gladly pay someone to keep their shop windows clean. You can make appointments, you could clean each window twice a month, you can make a lot of money cleaning shop windows.
Yard or basement cleaning service, a nice looking yard, everybody wants that but they don't have time to do it. Cutting grass, weeding, planting flowers, waking leaves, takes a lot of time, lot of people don't have time. But you can offer service like that so you could be making in some big bucks. Also a lot of people have cluttered yards or basements. They have been putting off, cleaning up this mess, they would gladly pay someone to get rid of this mess for them.
Holiday decoration installer and uninstaller, a lot of people love the holiday time, they put up decorations. Putting up decorations is tough and after the holidays no one wants to take them down. This would be a unique service to offer someone. You could put up holiday decorations, so you come back after the holidays and take them down, somebody paid you for that.
Also, home handyman, are you good at fixing things, working with tools, did you acquire some up building trades when you were away carpentry or plumbing. Someone would pay you to come in and make minor repairs at a lot lower cost; there is some contract of might charge them. So I am pretty sure in your community, you could find a lot of people who need things repaired in their home, you can make a lot of money doing that.
These are just some ideas of how you could earn in money while you are looking or a job. Starting your own business would be a lot of work. You have to be prepared to put in long hours promoting your business, handing out fliers, making contacts, but you know it could possibly blow up in to a full time business for you. At the very least you could make some money while you are waiting for your next job.
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