Like the old Smith-Barney TV commercial, this method is described by that commercial's punch line: "I make money the old fashioned way. I earn it".

Most of us go out and get a perfectly conventional, 40 hour job. Note that I'm not talking about those with two college degrees that pursue careers with starting salaries of $60,000 - $80,000 a year. No, I'm referring to those who get by on $25,000 - $35,000 a year and less. This includes people working in areas that deserve far more than they're earning. Police, for example. Firemen, teachers, office workers, sales associates at Wal-Mart, etc.

Even further down the financial totem pole are those who work at some level of customer service. You know who these are. Grocery stockers, checkers, fast food workers and so on. All too frequently, they make $15,000 or less. Sometimes far less. Many of them have to work two and three part time jobs just to pay the rent. Even when the pay is decent (and used to be considered excellent 15 or 20 years ago), many wind up living on a virtual poverty level and putting on a front so no one will know it.

For example, consider someone I know who pulls in almost $30,000 a year. If you think that's enough for one person to live comfortably on, you'd be wrong. For one thing, that's gross income. By the time you get through with deductions for taxes, insurance and sundry other items, net income drops to just under $20,000 or around $1,600 a month.

By the time you pay for rent, a car (no available public transportation), car insurance and gasoline (at nearly $3.00 a gallon), there's precious little left for food and incidentals. And God help you if you have medical problems that requires regular medication and doctor's visits.

When most of us think of part-time jobs, we look at the same types of work that's normally done on a 40-hour basis. The difference? Fewer hours, though today part-time jobs can be as much as 30 hours a week. No matter how many hours -or how few- you put in at a part-time job, the one thing you won't get is benefits.

Besides no benefits, you also need to be aware of the fact that you may wind up being categorized as an independent contractor. Tantamount to self-employment, independent contractor status means that there will be no deductions from your pay AND that a 1099 form will be filed (if you made more than $600) with the IRS at the end of the year, reporting the amount you were paid.

Come April 15, you will have to file a form SE as well as a business profit and loss statement. The down side to this? You have to pay both sides of your FICA taxes (your employer normally pays half and you pay half) and, depending on how much you made at your salaried job, may wind up in a higher tax bracket that could have you paying more taxes than you would have otherwise. Conversely, it could reduce the size of your refund.

One of the more familiar examples of independent contractors would be Pizza delivery drivers, newspaper carriers and so on.

I used to drive small package/mail courier service off and on for quite a number of years. That was another independent contractor position. I used my car, bought my own gas, car insurance, etc. The only thing the courier services did was pay me at the end of the day...or week.

Part-time jobs can help keep the wolf away from the door, or at least limit his attacks to deep scratches and gouges, but there's more things to consider than how much that part-time job is paying or what the hours are. Choose carefully.

You see'em on late night television. Infomercials that promise you the moon and the stars. One testimonial after another, telling you how they made $1,800.00 their first day...or $60,000 a month...or over a Million dollars in a year and now they're living in a $350,000.00 home. Yeah, sure, and if you believe that, I've got some waterfront property in Arizona I'd like to sell you. Only $8,000 an acre with a picturesque view of the Pacific Ocean.

Do some of these programs that they're hawking work. Of course..for some people. But the ultrafine print on the screen will tell you -if you can manage to read it- that the results achieved by the people giving the testimonials are not typical. No kidding, Sherlock!

Same problem with various offerings on the internet. There are all kinds of things out there, including food supplements, vitamins and even catalog operations where they drop ship everything so you don't have to maintain an inventory. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Once again, it works for some. The ones who make the real money are those who own the warehouses and do the dropshipping.

Let's not forget MLM - Multilevel Marketing. This is a perfectly legitimate method that relys on you bringing in more people under you. Since you make a commission off of their sales, the more people you recruit, the more money you make. And that's in addition to the money you earn yourself. Once again, it works for some, but the farther down the chain you are, the harder it becomes.

Then there are the work at home schemes. Again, it is possible to make some significant money while working at home. It's called self-employment. But the spam that shows up touting the old familiar envelope stuffing schemes and others of a similar nature are pure scams. You pay an amount of money and what you get back is a list telling you how to contact companies to solicit their business. Since most high-volume businesses have dedicated mailrooms with machines specialized for folding and stuffing envelopes, what do you figure your chances are for soliciting outsource business from them?

Finally, keep an old truism is mind. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

When you mention self-employment, most people envision you owning a repair shop, hobby shop, restaurant, fast food franchise or something similar. In other words, a store in a fixed location where customers walk in off the street. Doctors, lawyers, dentists and architects are also some of those that are considered conventional self-employment. Same goes for electricians, plumbers and so on.

About nine times out of ten, the kinds of businesses I've just named also have employees. This is what people are used to and what they expect if you're not working a conventional full-time or part-time job.

While this type of self-employment can be a great way to go, it usually takes quite a lot of money to start up. Never mind the fixed monthly expenditures that it requires, regardless of whether you brought in enough money to cover them or not.

Freelancing is, as I indicated above, the ultimate..or maybe the most extreme.. form of self-employment. You have no fixed shop or conventional business location. Most business does not come to you. You have to go out and find it. As a result, freelancing is about as uncertain a way to make a living as you can possibly find.

Freelancers are a breed apart, due to the fact that most simply can't handle the uncertainty and general financial instability that goes along with it. One story was told about a magazine editor who decided to quit his job and become a freelancer. In his case, money was not a problem. Still, inside of six months he was back at a conventional editors job because he couldn't handle the uncertainty.

Consider that the word 'Freelance' has it's origins in the Polish word 'Freislander' and dates back to the Middle Ages. Those were the days when Feudal Lords controlled large estates and owned mounted knights (who were armed with lances) to protect their estates.

At some point in time, one of the knights decided that he could do a lot better if he went off on his own and sold his services (his lance) to the highest bidder. Having decided that, he declared himself a 'Freislander'...a Free Lance..which ultimately became Freelance and meant someone who works for whoever he chooses, usually the one who pays the most money.

Just be aware that, if you go the freelance route, you're stepping into a whole different lifestyle. You may be able to handle it, but can your spouse, girl friend or significant other? In some ways it's the best of all worlds. In others, you wonder why you were ever crazy enough to get into it.

If you want a way to bring is some extra money ...sometimes a lot... E-Bay can do it for you. I don't pay any attention to the spam I get in, claiming that people are making $10,000 a month on E-Bay. Some probably are, but if they are, it's a full-time business and then some.

But as long as you have products on hand that you can sell -or have the time to chase down items that you think will be marketable- E-Bay is a great way to bring in some extra cash.

The down side is that you're going to spend a lot of time packing and shipping, as well as keeping up with all the recent changes in postal charges and package regulations.

You'll also need a decent digital camera, probably a scanner and the ability to manipulate those images for maximum impact before posting on E-Bay. None of that is hard to do, but you will need to spend a little time learning, if you don't already know how.

If you have a creative bent, you can sell your own products on your own website. This is a perfect way to add a part-time operation to your conventional, full-time job. There's always the possibility that it will develop into a full-time business so that you can tell your boss to take that job and shove it. And depending on what it is you're selling, you could easily wind up with a full-time web business that functions like a part-time job, allowing you to keep your conventional job and have the best of both worlds.

What can you sell? That depends entirely on you, your interests and your skills. Do you have a hobby that you're passionate about? Can you write effectively and have information that others want? Do you make things, some kind of unique craft that stands out in a crowd? The possibilities are endless, but let me tell you about some of my websites to give you an example of what's possible. You'll find hot links to the sites I describe in the links module just below.

First up is The Modeler's Weapons Shop. Since I'm a freelance writer/modelbuilder with a passion for aircraft/aerospace, this site was a natural. Modelbuilders frequently want to create variants of aircraft that are not available in stock kits. Or they need accessories, underwing stores or other items that don't exist. The Modeler's Weapons Shop came into existance to provide those items that I would create by making master patterns, using them to produce RTV molds in order to cast copies in urethane resin.

A second website is called Model Building Services By Richard Marmo and was created (obviously) to showcase my modelbuilding services. Subjects can range all the way from aircraft and armor models in the personal markings of the crew members to invention concepts and architectural models. Whatever the client's need, I am willing to discuss the creation of a quality model.

The third website is called Scale Publications. Focus of that site is the marketing of various CD-ROMs that I produce. Two deal with aviation history, one on the B-36 and the other on the P-38. I also have a new disc that depicts the old Topps Wings bubblegum cards. You'll find a disc describing construction of Wilco! Models Prop Replicas and links to my two books, one on aircraft and the other on science fiction.

These are just three examples. Check them out and use them as springboards for your own ideas.

When all else fails, you can solicit financial support for a project you believe in. For example, I have created a photo preservation project called, what else, Project Preservation. The purpose is to scan, electronically restore and post on the internet, the several thousand photos,negatives and color slides that I have of aircraft. Many of these are copy negs of prints borrowed from WW-II veterans. These negs are starting to deteriorate and something must be done to preserve them. Even worse are the color slides. Regardless of how they're protected, many of them are beginning to fade.

Due to the great amount of time required to scan and restore each shot, the only way it will get done in my lifetime is thru financial donations to help defray the cost involved. Primarily, we're talking about time. Without that support, I have to concentrate on developing new business, which means the photos will continue to languish and deteriorate. Is this a legitimate purpose for the solicitation of financial support? I certainly think it is, since we're talking about the preservation of history, but you're the one who has to make the final decision.

And then there's the solicitation of funds to provide day to day living expenses. Some people consider this nothing more than cyber-begging, the electronic version of standing on a street corner with a sign. Well, in some cases that might well be true. But there are legitimate reasons. Seeking support for things like my Project Preservation, for example. Helping individuals who are temporarily down on their luck for another. You hear of those who have had their lives saved with a heart transplant but can't survive for long because they can't afford the anti-rejection medicine. Nothing wrong with any of these.

Nor is there anything wrong with donating to help a freelance writer pay utility bills and eat while finishing a couple of long term projects that will eventually provide substantial financial relief. That simple act of $1 or more will help preserve historical documents and ensure timely completion of projects that will bring pleasure to those who see them.

The hot link listed below may be used to support either an ongoing project or an artist in need.