Even in a Bad Economy, You Can Earn Extra Money Doing Demonstrations and Merchandising

If you're looking to make extra money and think there aren't any jobs out there, you will be happy to learn you can still make money in a bad economy by doing demonstrations in stores and merchandising jobs. Even if you can't find a career, there are jobs currently advertised online to do reset work in local stores, surveys, audits, demonstrations, collecting data from stores, and doing other work. Some assignments might last a week. There is some permanent full-time work out there. Even if you are looking for a permanent job but can't find one now, this kind of work can provide some income for you.

As one who has earned extra money doing merchandising and demonstrations, I speak from experience. The fact the Internet is full of such opportunities now shows that work is available even in bad economic times. I have earned as little as $8 an hour, but as much as $15 an hour. I have stocked pet food in pet food stores, demonstrated light bulbs in Walmart for $15 an hour, stocked various items in drug and grocery stores for $11 an hour plus gas mileage, judged bubble gum blowing contests, and handed out a variety of food in stores. There are many other types of work out there that are available that I have not done. I have even been offered full-time permanent work, but had to turn it down, because I had a slightly better job already.

Store reset jobs sometimes provide some of the most steady and most lucrative work. Store reset work can involve a lot of things. It can involve putting up shelves. It can involve stocking, moving stock, or restocking. It can involve cleaning or moving shelves. It can involve stocking the product according to the diagram in a planogram.

When I had less work than normal at my work at home job for awhile I worked a couple of hours a day at home and then drove to a variety of locations--one per week--several days a week to work on a store reset at a drug store. I was paid $11 an hour plus enough gas mileage that I didn't even mind driving a few miles to do my job. There are temporary assignments out there, and there are some companies that hire people full-time in some areas to do this type of work.

One of the best resources for anyone looking for a demonstration or merchandising job is the website, www.NARMS.com. You can sign up on do a job search and look for jobs yourself. You may be asked about your experience, but you can get work doing some of the easiest jobs even if you do not have the experience. Think of any similar work experiences that relate to the particular job you are applying for and go ahead and apply.

There is steady work out there for those who want it. I have done a lot more of this type of work in the past. I do not do as much now because I am concentrating on earning money writing. I still do get jobs e-mailed to me, however. Some of the jobs e-mailed to me lately have included: reset work; stocking; mystery shopping; auditing movie theaters; servicing products in local stores; drug store or pharmacy merchandising servicing health and beauty products; and collecting data.

If you are interested in such work, reply to one of the listings. Tell all relevant work experience.

If you get a job doing a demonstration, you might work at a grocery store, department store, pet food store, or some other type of store. You might have to provide your own microwave oven to cook food that you are going to demonstrate. You might have to provide your own table to use to demonstrate products.

While many of these types of jobs offer just extra income, there are some career positions. Some jobs offer a 401K. You might find them by searching the job bank, but you have an even greater chance by searching the career connection portion of the website.

Even though NARMS may provide the best chance of finding merchandising and demonstration jobs, if you do an online search, you will find other opportunities. You can do a general search or search job boards, such as monster.com. In some areas, you might even find career positions.

On the website, www.simplyhired.com, I did a web search for demonstration, Findlay, Ohio, the city I live in of about 35,000 people, and found links to three possible job leads. There were other links, but they were not relevant.

I did a search for merchandising jobs, Findlay, Ohio, on www.indeed.com; I found links to a variety of job leads.

There is interesting, well paying work out there for those willing to look for merchandising and demonstration jobs.

Citations: NARMS Job Bank, no author listed, NARMS.com

Simply Hired, no author listed, Simplyhired.com

Indeed, no author listed, Indeed.com