Low Cash- Job Options

[muyongshi]

Well just what the title says...my money is starting to run dry big time and so now I am considering options to help offset some of my costs (one being moving to a cheaper place which since no furniture the initial cost is the same but long run is cheaper). I am studying full time (20 hours a week) and savings only has about 1-2 semesters left but at the rate which cost of living is going up it will be down to only 1 in no time. So now I am wondering about some sort of side job that could help earn a little extra cash. I do not really want to teach/tutor or do anything that has to do with teaching English.

I know, what else is there right? Well that is one thing I am trying to find out....Does anyone have any ideas or things they have done? And how did you go about doing it?

One thing that I've thought about was becoming a music tutor...

[studentyoung]

One thing that I've thought about was becoming a music tutor...

It will be great to be a music tutor, if you can play piano or violin very well (with a high grade certificate is better.) You can go directly to musical instrument shops to try your luck.

I also wonder whether you can get some online part time jobs from your home country, which could be better paid than those in China, for example online translation, web design, web master, etc.

Good luck!

Cheers!

[roddy]

You've neglected to tell us what you can actually do.

[gougou]

Assuming you don't really look like Snoopy, you might try modeling - that's something were being foreign ensures a high mark-up (which is true for teaching English as well, but that you eliminated already).

For teaching music, you'd be competing directly with Chinese - which means low wages.

[muyongshi]

Well the problem is that I'm not sure what I can do as you so put it. My skill sets are more in the area of general business/management/sales and those type of things. Which I don't think I would work out as a great salesman here. 1.3 billion people who have better Chinese than mine....

One of my friends has a 音乐培训班 so I would just have to find the students and dust off my trumpet....

What type of online jobs are available (and the translation one sounds nice but where would you look for that)? I now basic html but there are once again many more people that are qualified so that is out of the question.

Modeling with my gut??? No thanks, and I prefer to be behind the camera anyway. I'm an amateur photographer that has apprenticed under many proffessionals so I have thought about stock photography but there are so many people doing that with whole studios to use so that makes it harder.

I guess I'm just looking for any and all ideas. I will eliminate based on what I think I can or cannot do, but unfortunately I am in many sense a jack of all trades, master of none

[roddy]

I don't know if the wages would actually be that low - I've seen RMB100 per hour for music tutors. Not sure if that's plausible where you are, but it's not that low and if it's something you enjoy doing.

I wouldn't rule out teaching English though - the work is easy to find, you'll be lucky to find anything better paid easily, and with some money still in the bank and a business / management background you can quite possibly take it slowly and only pick the sweeter jobs.

[muyongshi]

Also just out of curiosity how much do people think I can play the "foreigner card". I live in a city with very few foreigners but a lot of rich Chinese. Is it possible to be kind of "greedy" and make 500 RMB an hour on torturing, I mean tutoring a little brat?

[studentyoung]

Is it possible to be kind of "greedy" and make 500 RMB an hour on torturing, I mean tutoring a little brat?

500RMB an hour on torturing a little child is very common in Hong Kong, while in China mainland is totally another story. In Shenzhen, the highest pay for a musical professor with many years of teaching experience is 150RMB/hr for torturing a primary school student under 10 years old.

Cheers!

[roddy]

Generally speaking I think you'd need to be torturing Korean or Singaporean brats to make that kind of money. I'd also expect you to have quite a bit of torturing experience.

[cdn_in_bj]

Is it possible to be kind of "greedy" and make 500 RMB an hour on torturing, I mean tutoring a little brat?

I highly doubt that - they may be rich, but they're not stupid.

[muyongshi]

Since it may turn out to be the easy option (even though I dread the thought of it) in peoples experience who is better to teach English too, kids (where you would have to deal with the parents) or college students (where you have to deal with them bugging you all the time) or adults (who can be good or could be annoying)?

Also what would be the better way to go about advertising so as to not be way too overwhelmed with hundreds of requests?

[shanghaikai]

I'd go with posting some flyers at a local university looking for students to teach. That's the easiest group to advertise to since they're fairly concentrated in one area. However, they may not have the most money and often have options for free language exchange.

Children are more difficult to deal with depending on their behavioral disposition. They can be cute and sweet or little nightmares. That said, their parents may be more predisposed to paying a higher sum of money in the interest of their child's future. It'll be harder to find these customers though but you can try another route: asking elementary schools or day care programs for an under-the-table position.

Adults can be flaky and unreliable due to their competing priorities. They're also hard to find and advertise to with most grassroots measures. Maybe take out a cheap classified in the local newspaper or, again, post a ton of flyers perhaps in some residential areas.

Good luck!

[Rincewind]

Aside for teaching English, I've taught accounting and also maths. The wages are pretty much the same no-mater what you teach. A junior teacher will get 50 yuan, most will get 100 yuan and a few good teachers will get significantly more than that.

I had some success running cooking classes. I've only done 3 of them as a trail but they have been popular so I'm going to do more. You don't have to cook anything spectacular, just regular western fair goes down well. I did chili con carny, pancakes and a Victoria sponge. If you get a dozen people at 25 yuan a head then you'll get 300 yuan for a hours work. Take of say 30 yuan for the ingredients and you still have a handsome profit.

[volga_volga]

once is a small town in China frequented by tourists (Chinese & Western) I observed a Chinese family, parents trying to teach their daughter to use knife and fork - they ordered a Western dish from the menu. She took knife in the wrong hand; I watched poor creation struggling (equally her parents struggling) for 5 min then decided to intervene, to teach the proper use - they were forever grateful and not at all offended. That made me thinking, with so many big city Chinese being obsessed with all things Western a school that teaches them about the way of life in Europe/US (manners, food, eating, entertainment) could be an interesting business idea. And it's fun as well!!

[volga_volga]

another 'get rich quick' idea, how much is the current going rate for the (fake) marriage to a foreigner by a mainland Chinese? I think there is a lot of benefit for a Chinese to be legally married to a foreigner (easier to get exit permit; can have more than one child; easier to get visas etc). any ideas what's the offer price? how difficult is to divorce afterwords?

[gougou]

a school that teaches them about the way of life in Europe/US (manners, food, eating, entertainment)

Like this?

[volga_volga]

i was thinking of something more democratic ie not just for the rich or upper middle class... those probably know already how to use knife and fork

for the OP, this can be combined with English language classes to make them worth of premium rates

[cdn_in_bj]

another 'get rich quick' idea, who much is the current going rate for the (fake) marriage to a foreigner by a mainland Chinese? I think there is a lot of benefit for a Chinese to be legally married to a foreigner (easier to get exit permit; can have more than one child; easier to get visas etc). any ideas what's the offer price? how difficult is to divorce afterwords?

Interesting question, but I think you've drifted off-topic here...

[volga_volga]

deep apologies if Off Topic, but actually this option does not even require any working but gives cash

The most popular method to get into the United States is fake marriage, a method that appears legitimate but is actually illegal. The broker got into the business as a "fake spouse."

...

...the cost of a fake marriage usually runs about $75,000 and that the money is paid in installments. U.S. citizens who serve as a fake spouse can make up to $65,000, depending on how likely they are to pass U.S. and Chinese government scrutiny, which consist of many steps.

...

They stay married for a couple of years, and then go on their separate ways, joining the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 Chinese who enter illegally each year.

[muyongshi]

I don't think I would like to get involved in that type of "scam". Thanks though....

So does anybody of anyone translation service companies that are looking for people for small jobs? Maybe something like this. Ideas? Thoughts?