Freshman 10: 10 Businesses That Can Run Out of a Dorm Room

It’s been many moons since I have step foot on a college campus. While I have many fond memories of my time in college, one memory stick out the most– how much I hated being broke. Fortunately, I was able to get a pretty decent job that kept a few pennies in my pocket but I was working 35 hours week. That kind of time commitment affected the classes I chose, the actiivites I could participate in, and the amount of time I could spend with peers. Today’s college students have many more choices avaiable to them. And the rise in entrepreneurial is also reflected on college campuses. Some of todays biggest companies started in college dorms.  Can you be the next Michael Dell or Bill Gates? Maybe.  But if you are just looking for a way to make some money on your terms, here’s a list to consider:

1. Tutoring/Coaching: If you are knowledgable about a subject and have the skill to teach others you will find someone willing to pay you.  Services like Crossloop can enable you to get clients off campus as well.
2.  Workout Buddy: Unless you are certified, I would stay away from calling yourself a personal trainer. But you could offer to assist people who need help in the working out area. For a fee of course. 
3. Iphone Apps Developer: If a nine year old can develop an iPhone application so can you. Read this interview for inspiration. 
4. Cleaning / Organizing Service: It is a dirty job but some one got to it. If you have the skills for cleaning and organizing, why not get pay for it.
5. DeeJay: With today’s technology you can be a DJ with an iPod and special portable digital turntables. No more carrying crates and crates of records.  
6. Website Designer: Put all that time you spend on Myspace to use. You can get clients from all over the country without leaving your dorm room. 
7. Ebay: I know everybody with a baseball card collection is on eBay trying to become a millionaire. But if you find the right niche you may be able to crave out enough profit to be worth your while
8.  Affiliate/Information Marketing: This is the latest craze that’s producing a thousand new gurus a day.  Do your research and get some solid information and this can be a decent money maker.  
9. Blogging: This one is my favorite (hmmm, I wonder why?). Blogs are easy to setup and usually require little money to get started. Like eBay,  there are a lot of bloggers but there’s always room for great content. And with great content comes traffic and the opportunity to monetize that traffic. 
10. Geek Services: Upgrades, backups, virus removal, crash recovery all of these things happen to college kids and if you know how to handle these things you can get paid.

There are of course more businesses that can be run out of a dorm room.  I am interested to here what ideas others can come up with. Leave a comment with your idea, let’s see if we can get this list up to 100 businesses!

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