5. Real estate investing

Most millionaires and billionaires made at least some of their fortunes in real estate. However, it's not as easy as late night infomercials make it sound. There's a lot to learn. It helps to have good credit and money available, but there are techniques for buying and selling property with little, or no money, out of pocket.

There are dozens of 'gurus' hawking their real estate courses on TV and the Internet. They have shrewd business models that lure you in with slick videos and cheap introductory prices, for example for the first month's CD and perhaps a coaching call. After the first month, if you don't cancel, the price goes up. If you forget about it you might find unwanted monthly charges on your credit card.

Not that all real estate courses are rip-offs. Some are worth the several hundred dollars they're asking. If you're going to attend a local seminar, before plunking down your credit card call them and ask if there will be additional sales pitches at the seminar. If they say yes steer clear, as you may be pressured into spending thousands of dollars on 'advanced training.'

Much can be learned about real estate investing for free, or little charge, by going to youtube and watching real estate investing videos and attending local real estate investor groups. These groups often bring in national trainers for much less than they would normally charge.

If you have the determination to succeed in real estate there's big money to be made. If you have limited funds there are several alternatives to conventional financing, like hard money and private money. Or you could partner with someone who has good credit and/or money to invest together.

Another possibility is becoming a licensed Realtor. There are expenses up front like clothes, flyers, etc. Borrowing could be a way to pay for them. Like real estate investing, there's good money to be made as a Realtor, especially if you have good people skills. The market is gutted with properties and mortgage rates are historically low. It's a buyer's market and people are still buying houses. Being a Realtor can also make it easier to do your own investing.

There has never been an opportunity like we have now to be successful in real estate!

Work from home, Nigerian scams and other stay aways

Don't be lured into work from home, envelope stuffing or multilevel marketing (MLM). They don't work. Why would a company outsource things that make them money to complete strangers? A representative from the Federal Trade Commission said the majority of their complaints concern 'home-based businesses' and in 21 years she hasn't come across one that works.

Multilevel Marketing: 90% of those who try MLM make little or no money. The ones that do make money are the companies' founders who sell, usually overpriced, products to their distributors. You then have to try to recruit people into your 'downline,' which usually break down when they don't make money or lose interest.

About the only good thing about MLM is you can buy a product that isn't available locally, which aren't many. I buy my colloidal minerals that way, but I don't do the recruiting business. Amway and Mary Kay are examples of multilevel marketing companies. MLMs are glorified pyramid schemes. Not that Amway and Mary Kay don't good make good products. I've used some myself (Amway's L.O.C. is a great organic cleaner).

Envelope stuffing

All envelope stuffing opportunities are a scam (most companies use envelope stuffing machines). Here is how this supposedly works: An ad will say you are going to be paid $1 - $5 for every envelope that you stuff and all you have to do is send in $29.95 for their package. You then receive a package that contains letters and some sample ads that you are supposed to run and get others to send in their $1 for the sample information. Then when other people who respond to your ad sends you $1, you then are instructed to fold the letters and stuff them in an envelope and mail them back and if they purchase the $29.95 kit (just like the one you received), then you will get a commission off of that as well. It doesn't work except for the company selling you the $29.95 kit. You might get a few people to send you the $1 for info, but not enough to make any money.

Pyramid schemes

Pyramid schemes have been around for hundreds of years. They continue by preying on a constant supply of gullible people lured into the possibility of making substantial money in a short period of time. They're based on an exponentially increasing number of people sending, or giving money (usually $5), to four or five people and taking the top person off a list and putting yourself at the bottom. Not only are pyramid schemes illegal, they don't work. There's one that's been circulating around the Internet for years that claims it's legal by sending worthless 'reports.' Ignore them.

Nigerian scams begin by getting an email explaining someone wants to transfer a large amount of funds and needs your assistance. You're then asked to send, usually by Western Union, money to setup an 'account' or some bogus 'fee.'

6. Asking for money. Ask and you shall receive. As with most adages that have lasted through the ages this one has a kernel of truth. You may be thinking: I'm just supposed to ask for money? Yes! You may think it's far-fetched for someone to give you money, but it happened to me and I know of others who've had their SRS money donated!

It may sound simplistic, but you can't get what you need if you don't ask!

We're often taught since childhood that it's better to give than receive and sacrifice ourselves to help others. Some equate asking for money as begging and the stigma attached. This mindset keeps people from transitioning and / or stuck in a marriage for the 'sake of the family.' Then they find themselves middle-aged when they begin their transition, missing most of their lives as their true selves. Do you have a well-to-do friend or associate? You could explain your situation to him or her and ask if they could help. If they can't perhaps they know someone who might. Don't give up on the first 'No.' The more people you ask the greater the possibility the next person will help!

Manifesting abundance - are your receiving channels closed?

Do you know people who appear to be lucky and get the things they want or find things? I did and wanted to know how they did it! Several years ago when I heard about a class on 'manifesting abundance' I signed up. Basically, the class taught us how our negative thinking (of not deserving what we wanted) and attitudes affected our abundance. Though I don't live in a mansion and drive a Mercedes (yet!), I've gotten most of the things I've wanted like my SRS, a camera to document my SRS and often find things I need.

Basic principles of manifesting abundance

• Acknowledging the universe's abundance and opening ourselves to it. For example, look at how abundant nature is with its constant growth and creation.
• Changing our mindset into deserving the things we want and need.
• Manifesting through visualization.

Food for thought

• The universe always says Yes!
  
• You have to give to get.
  
• What you give comes back threefold - a pagan belief.
  
• Negative thought attracts negative action and vice-versa.
  
• Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

7. Sugar daddy or mommy (though they may be harder to find)

Having someone pay for your surgery is not as rare as one would think! I'm not encouraging gold-digging or using somebody for their money.

Men love to give gifts to their girlfriends. What better gift than to make his girlfriend a complete woman! Especially when it's going to benefit him! The trick is to find a man, but with a seemingly never-ending supply of admirers and men who are fascinated by us that shouldn't be too difficult. The second is to find one with money. With the volume of men out there the chances are good. Even if he doesn't have the money to pay the cost of your surgery, you could pool your money and save up.

The Internet has numerous personal GLBT ad sites. One is adultfriendfinder.com. They have state-by-state listings. They are a swingers site, but there are many single men looking for women. If you're not getting much response it could be due to your ad. How you word it is important. Including photos will increase responses. Periodic tweaking of your ad is a good idea. Not only to find out what wording works best, but to show you're regularly logging-in. Who's going to respond to an ad that says you last visited on May 19, 2008? My ad on adultfriendfinder.com went from zero responses to almost daily after I rewrote it (I've since removed the ad since it's no longer needed).

It goes without saying that before getting involved with a man be sure he knows you're pre-op! I once had a couple respond to a personal ad. Though my written ad said I was pre-op, my voice ad didn't (mistake). We talked on the phone and setup a dinner at a nice restaurant. The night of our dinner I waited and waited, but they never arrived. I called them later that night—they were into real estate and had looked at some property they found out about last minute. During our conversation it came up that I was pre-op (at the time). The man became very angry, he'd assumed I was a genetic woman and said if he found out I'd be lying at the bottom of a cliff! Bastard.

8. Foundations and philanthropists.

Philanthropists are wealthy people who give money to causes and people. Most of us have heard about a philanthropist giving money to one, or more, people who need help. Though finding one who will pay for your surgery may seem like finding a needle in a haystack, I thought the same thing about asking for donations on my website!

There may be foundations, or philanthropists, that can help. Some may not be well-known. I recommend doing research, both online and at a library, for foundations and philanthropists.

9. Ask for donations on a website

If you've never made a website (they're easy) there are many easy-to-use website design programs. To find one I suggest doing a google search under free website software. Also, some ISPs have free website design programs (check your Internet Service Provider for info). A donor found me through my website.

There are several successful personal donation websites. One is Save Karyn. Karyn lost her high-paying job and found herself $20,000 in debt. Through her website, and selling items on eBay (that I also recommend), she was able to get out of debt. You'll notice that she also has helpful advice on her website. I suggest doing this on your donation website. It says you want to give help, as well as receive. It's like the vacuum cleaner salespeople who make house calls and give the prospective customer a set of steak knives before the sales pitch. I suggest studying Karyn's, and other personal donation, websites for tips on creating your own.

Karyn's website is also on wikipedia.

Get your own domain!

A domain is a piece of the Internet real estate you own. For example, Yahoo.com is a domain, albeit a very popular and lucrative one. Givemesrs.com is an example of a domain name (that last I checked wasn't taken!). A website that's a subdirectory of a domain will be something like: www.users.aol.com/~givemesrs. A domain will draw more hits and is easier to remember.

You can call a domain whatever you want as long as it's not taken. It'll cost a little more to get your own domain plus hosting, but with competition and rock bottom prices good deals abound. I've seen free domains with hosting. A domain costs around $10 a year and hosting around $5 a month. Be sure to check into the hosting company to make sure they're dependable (an up-time of 99% or higher) and good customer support (free 24/7) is also important.

Ways to promote your website

The more people who visit your website the greater chance a generous person with money will see it. Include your website in your emails. If you post messages in newsgroups, especially TG/TS, put your URL (Universal Resource Locator or website address) in your sig. A sig, or signature, is a few lines of text usually at the end of emails and newsgroup posts (see below).

[your email or post]

website URL - for example: http://needsrs.com

Be sure to include http:// in front of your website address to make it a clickable link!

Content, content, content

There are services, such a Pay-per-Click, that will cause your website to be ranked high in search engines. However, they cost money. A free way is to have a lot of content on your website, even if it doesn't pertain to gender identity or SRS. Search engines send out spiders that search webpages. The more content a website has the more likely a spider is going to report that back to the search engine. For example, I have a section on this website about vitamins and arthritis. A woman, whose husband was in transition, found my website through a search on vitamins.

Search engines also rank your website by the number of links to it on other websites. Get people to link to your site. Email the webmaster/mistress of another website and ask if you can put a link to their site if they will reciprocate by posting your website link. Some webpages on this site rank in the Top 10 on Google.

Get a web counter. There are numerous free ones that tell you how many unique and repeat hits your site is getting, which webpages are viewed the most, how long they stayed. Even where they're located and what operating system and web browser they're using! I recommend stat counter because it's free and allows you to use an invisible counter (most other stat counters want a link or visible counter). Work towards getting at least 100, or more, hits a day. This website receives 300 to 700 hits per day.

Since many people have asked for free website design software I'm including a link to one. Please note that I haven't tried the program and cannot vouch for it. Instant site maker

I realize both luck and my website getting hundreds of hits a day probably contributed to my success. That's why I stress working on ways to drive more hits to your website. I also recommend putting a visual meter, like the the 'thermometers' you see on non-profit websites, to measure your progress and to start with an arbitrary amount even if you haven't gotten a dime. It's the same psychology bartenders use to get tips by putting a $5 bill of his or her own money in the jar at the start of their shift.

If you create a website asking for donations I'll post a link to it here. Send me an email with your link. In return all I ask is to post a link to my website on your website.

SRS donation websites
Elisa's SRS donation website
Saving for surgery
Almost Alice
Becca's Support in Transition
Help BrianaLynn pay for the costs of transition
Zak needs top surgery
Welcome to TransTrae
Tanya's SRS Fundraiser page
Karolyn SRS
Lucky is looking for a miracle
AJ Needs an Angel
Brandi Lynn Lace

Websites move or are taken down. Some links may not work.

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