Ideas include:- drive uber- Tutor school kids- babysit - cut grass - handwrite invitations - sharpen cutlery - make YouTube channel for product reviews - write a book - teach guitar lessons- run a summer camp - sell things on eBay - organize parties for people - part time customer service emails for company- write resumes for employees - property manage - start Etsy store - air BnB a room in your house - buy clothes in thrift store and sell online - host BBQ dinner and sell tickets for food and beer Get a raise:- you can also ask boss for a 5% raise.

Custom home builds have come to a screeching halt.

I always refer out my good vendors, and so far they have always been very grateful and I get the benefit of priority, small freebies, and overall better work.With referrals, you are still a source of income as a customer, but you are also a source of income as advertisement, making you more valuable to them.If you have enough work to keep them nearly full time employed then it may be a different scenario.

Credit Absolute - just google them (not affiliated in any way just a happy customer).  

Unless you have some experience and full time dedication I would offer the following controversial thoughts...If you were going to bet on half a million dollars on an NBA game, would you bet on an average college team or the Golden State Warriors?

There aren't too many stagers who will do this, but this is one of the things my wife does with her staging business that gets her a LOT of potential customers.

The customer service reps you talk to when you call in are temps or just barely better than temps.

Great advice from @paul_timmins Dedicate a lot of time to study and learn , a little everyday will take you far Read the posts here in BP constantlyListen to the podcasts here in BPTake notes in a particular notebook or other place, this site is huge and at some point you will not remember were you read or hear it, so is good to have important things handyStart looking around your local area, for distressed houses, to have an idea of the market use resources like zillow.com,  realtor.com, home.com, homesnap.com, etc. those are free sites and you will understand the real prices looking at recent sales (less that 3 or 6 months and less than a quarter mile from the house you are studying) take notes in a log, focus in an area you understand, don't look all over the cityDon't fall for the "9,998$ special offer just for you but we need to close in 5 minutes" of the gurus and the after sell "guidances"Print some business cards, Meet people in your local Real Estate Investor associations, don't be shy, try to connect,  try to learn the ropes offering help to somebody, give value to them and probably they will help you and most of all be patient, this takes time

I have a dedicated server that I donate CPU time to them, but if I donated the cost of electricity per month in cash I would be able to deduct it.

@Lindsey Russell - I am a customer of a Turnkey Company in Indianapolis and have 7 properties there.