I Need Advice.

well i have been wanting a new mac since osx came out but i haven't had the money. what should i do? i was thinking about shoveling snow but all the driveways are shoveled in my neighborhood. no sense in mowing lawns. it's winter. what i really want to do is sell computers but i think i might be too young. oh well... anyone got a job i could get? one to get $799 usd (for apple's cheapest computer: emac) in as little time as possible. if anyone wants a web page designed i will design one for $20 usd. don't be thinking my web design skills are bad from www.thebigb.tk because i made that page when i was 8. well it is pretty good for one made by an 8 yr. old right? well anyway if you do want a web page designed i have been wanting to make one like apple.com i even have downloaded the apple.com tabs. (i would've made them myself but i don't have the original tabs with no text. btw timan could i please have a blank white badge? almost all credit for it would go to as meaning all but the coloring/typing) well anyone have any idea for me to get a mac fast? my bar mitzvah's coming up and i'll probably get enough money for that but i am very impatient.

#87398

paper route, get on your bike, kid, and start pedaling.

#87402

Agreed.

Unfortunately, TheBigB, getting a job that will earn you that kind of money at your age is going to be nigh-on impossible. Offering your web design services is all very well.... (You may want to try putting a small ad in your local paper), but at $20 a go... That's a lot of time for not much return. I would suggest you wait about 6 years to start selling professional services like that... Then, if you're any good, you can start making some real money.

Take me as an example. I'm just coming up on 20 years old now. I've been writing for Computer Shopper Magazine since I was 17. I'm at university and I also do freelance web design work. I have a project in at the moment (not at legal liberty to say who for... suffice to say a 'large' nightclub organisation), which will ring in that amount of cash in one go. The only problem is that by this age you have other things you are interested in... Oh, and then there's bills, running a car, paying rent, etc etc etc.

Sux, I know, but I started on a paper round. Have you thought about washing cars? Thats a good one for a bit of extra cash as well... Especially if you are known and liked by your neighbours

My 2 pennies worth

Cheers

#87405

Easy way to make fast cash: Help idiots around there neighboor with their computers. I made $40 bucks helping someone set up the internet :woot:

Also, if you have programming talents (Perl, PHP) you can freelance and just ask around at large forums for jobs. You might be to young, but I made about $100 bucks working as a linux server admin for a web hosting company.

You could also sell computer parts on ebay. Find parts you don't need anymore and sell them, set a resonable starting price and you can make $100's easy with the right stuff. I sold a SODIMM of 128mb recently for 20$.

Also, since your probably still in elmentry school (I would think, I was when I was 12), see if any wanna be computer geeks want you to make a web design for them. I've had people ask me to design them stuff and made $10's easy.

You could also always burn linux cds and sell them on the internet for a $1 :canadian:

I plan on doing this to make some quick cash over winter break. I got a big pipe and lots of cdrs so I gonna be burnin' tons of linux cd's and selling them :naughty:

Or get a paper route

BTW, I'm 14.

#87409

don't give up on shovelling snow. there's actually alot of money in it, and people love having kids shovel their drive cause it makes them feel good(don't ask me why, maybe it has something to do with slave labour :6 ). Plus you'll get ripped, and impress all the junior high girls with your leet haxor skills/big bicep 1-2 combo.

And remember, your also a kid, don't get too greedy or spoiled. It'll do bad things to your brain. :banging:

and pleeese stop cramming your posts with 200 questions, filter what your thinking abit!!!!! it makes people not bother to read them fully :canadian:

#87413

Easy way to make fast cash: Help idiots around there neighboor with their computers. I made $40 bucks helping someone set up the internet 

Also, if you have programming talents (Perl, PHP) you can freelance and just ask around at large forums for jobs. You might be to young, but I made about $100 bucks working as a linux server admin for a web hosting company.

You could also sell computer parts on ebay. Find parts you don't need anymore and sell them, set a resonable starting price and you can make $100's easy with the right stuff. I sold a SODIMM of 128mb recently for 20$.

Also, since your probably still in elmentry school (I would think, I was when I was 12), see if any wanna be computer geeks want you to make a web design for them. I've had people ask me to design them stuff and made $10's easy.

You could also always burn linux cds and sell them on the internet for a $1 

I plan on doing this to make some quick cash over winter break. I got a big pipe and lots of cdrs so I gonna be burnin' tons of linux cd's and selling them 

Or get a paper route

BTW, I'm 14.

edit: i want to learn how to program php then i can make my own boardd like this but i only know HTML and BASIC.

#87422

Just be nice to your mom, helping her doing dishes, cooking, cleaning etc. Trust me she will give you some money

I always do that and thats the easiest way..... (Y)

#87425

McDonalds will hire anyone.

#87439

Originally posted by lostspyder@Dec 10 2003, 07:36 AM

McDonalds will hire anyone.

, perfect avatar and sig for that remark

#87452

I really do not recommend getting a job as such an age. Companies/Shops take a helluva an advantage because they're not legally forced to pay you a minimum wage. A good example was in high school a friend of mine worked two five hour shifts at a local restaurant for weekends and they payed her £5 for the ten hours of work. Needless to say she said alot of very loud rude words and stormed out of the place.

And web design (no offence) is left to people who actually do it for a job; like moi, and have time to sit down and do what people want. Spending a few hours or the like on three/four clients will result in you getting rejections along with lack of money and the clients with wasted time.

The best thing I can recommend is either a paper route (hell get two/three and work yourself damn hard if you really want a mac soon) or chores for people.

#87453

My advice get a paper round or a McD's job. I'm getting a paper round soon.

#87457

You know BigB, it's illegal for kids to work when they're 12. You won't even get a paper route. So my new advice is this:

Create and print out some official-looking church raffle tickets, ride your bike to the next neighborhood, and go around selling these things door to door. Tell the people you're raising money for orphan kids in Iraq, and that you will inform them if they win something. If you work really hard, you should have your eMac by New Year's. (Y)

#87462

Originally posted by ZeroS@Dec 10 2003, 06:26 AM

Easy way to make fast cash: Help idiots around there neighboor with their computers. I made $40 bucks helping someone set up the internet  :woot:

Be damned careful. Either get personal liability insurance or make them sign a waiver saying that you can't be held responsible for any damage to hardware/software/anything. I'm not joking. In a compensation culture like ours you need it. At any age. I'm 18, working towards my CompTIA A+ exam and am in the process of getting my ass covered by a large amount of insurance. If you nob up someones £2000 machine they're gonna hound you a long way.

BigB, you'll find something. Don't try and fool yourself into doing web design. Go to McD's or wash up in a restaurant and learn the computery stuff, then offer your services once your good at it or have a qualification. That's why I want an A+ cert, its something you can use to prove what you can do.

#87468

hey, don't give up trying to find a good job. Heck! i'm only thirteen and on any given week I can pull in about $200. so, just find a small family-owned place around your area. I got a great job working a small internet provider's it team!

put your mind to it, and you'll get a job

~matt

#87470

Originally posted by ji eun@Dec 10 2003, 11:48 AM

You know BigB, it's illegal for kids to work when they're 12.  You won't even get a paper route.  So my new advice is this:

Create and print out some official-looking church raffle tickets, ride your bike to the next neighborhood, and go around selling these things door to door.  Tell the people you're raising money for orphan kids in Iraq, and that you will inform them if they win something.  If you work really hard, you should have your eMac by New Year's. (Y)

thats a gud idea... Might try that! :naughty:

#87476

I remember when I was twelve........

oh and by the way, McDonalds only hires people 16 and over.

#87502

Originally posted by pixelmatrix@Dec 10 2003, 02:52 PM

I remember when I was twelve........

oh and by the way, McDonalds only hires people 16 and over.

not when i managed there. There was one kid that looked 8. I know they hired 8th graders for shure cause i rember talking to them.

#87551

I would suggest asking your parents to get you the eMac for your birthday or something. I know when I was your age I wanted everything I came across, but my parents were wise enough to only give me what they a) could afford and felt I needed or deserved (typically a treat for doing well). This is not to say that my parents didn't give me gifts or anything, but I didn't get everything I wanted, either. I don't begrudge them that, and I think it did me good - I have ambition and strive to do the best I can for myself and for the benefits I will reap from my successes.

Back on topic, I would recommend that you don't offer out "web design" services because you're simply not a professional web designer. This is not to "poo-poo" your skills - you are obviously very talented to be as obviously competent with computers as you are at your age, but you should be aware that, as has been noted before, most companies, no matter how big or small, will take advantage of you. You say "I'll make a website for you for $20", but their expectations of what they're paying for will undoubtedly differ from what you're expecting them to want. I would tend to doubt that, no matter how talented you are, you don't posess the willpower and strength that you need to argue a point with a client, especially when they don't understand why you want to do something. This problem, of course, escalates further when the client is "someone down the road whose computer you fixed" - the general public expects everything for rock-bottom prices, but to still get guarantees and suchlike (as, again, has been mentioned before).

You quite obviously have regular access to a computer at the moment, so why don't you learn everything that you can on that platform (or platforms), and then get a Mac either by begging your parents or by waiting until you can get a "well-paid" job (by which I mean something other than $20 for a website, which works out to about $0.50 an hour, assuming you do 40 hours of work on it, which you undoubtedly will, if it's to be any good).

#87558

When I was 12, I also wanted an OS-X machine. Unfortunately my experience in building time machines to travel 30 years into the future were somewhat limited (well I was only 12) so I had to put up with having a small record player and an Action man toy...oh, and an etcha-sketch for my graphics work

Yeah, opportunities for high paying work at 12 are a little scarce, drug dealing and robbing 7 elevens are all I can think of, but I can't really reccomend either of those two as I think prisons mostly have PC's

#87590

Don't get a job. Enjoy your childhood. If you start obsessing about items and money at 12, you're on your way to a very disappointing life.

You really won't be happier with a mac. Sure its cool, but it's not worth obsessing over.

#87613

Originally posted by contrasutra@Dec 10 2003, 10:18 PM

Don't get a job. Enjoy your childhood. If you start obsessing about items and money at 12, you're on your way to a very disappointing life.

You really won't be happier with a mac. Sure its cool, but it's not worth obsessing over.

Two superb posts in one night?

I'm impressed...

#87619

Don't get a job. Enjoy your childhood. If you start obsessing about items and money at 12, you're on your way to a very disappointing life.

Well spoken, Contra. I agree wholeheartedly. At 12 years old I would highly recommend playing baseball, football, tennis, joining the debate team, chasing 12 year old girls ..... whatever floats your boat. Mac's aren't going anywhere young man and the time will come soon enough when you will be able to purchase such items.

If you're dead set on getting a Mac, maybe you could ask your folks to get you one for Christmas? Explain to them that you understand they are expensive but maybe you'd be willing to do extra chores around the house to make up for the expense?

Another alternative might be to hunt down a used Mac that might be substantially less money.

Good luck!

#87620

[LOF]skinnylegs is right. Chasing 12 year old girls is lots of fun. (think: :goku:)

#87625

My advice: let go the work, it's poisoning. Concentrate on modding your pc to achieve 1000000% Mac OS X look. I swear it's harder than earning 800 bucks for some sh!tty white box with apple on it

#87638

Originally posted by smeggy@Dec 11 2003, 05:25 AM

Yeah, opportunities for high paying work at 12 are a little scarce, drug dealing and robbing 7 elevens are all I can think of, but I can't really reccomend either of those two as I think prisons mostly have PC's 

nice.... :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock: :rock:

you funny bastard.

#87718