1001 Ways to Make Money If You Dare (151 page)

941 MIX A SIGNATURE DRINK.
There's a difference between being a bartender and being a mixologist. Bartenders serve up drinks created by others; mixologists create their own unique concoctions. The tips and crowds will be better if you're able to come up with a specialty drink that gets people talking and sitting at
your
bar for
your
drink.

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942 MAKE JAMS AND PRESERVES.
Buy fruit in bulk at your local farmer's market and turn your kitchen into an assembly line, mashing, boiling, and canning. You can enlist family members in this, and reward them with some homemade raspberry jam on their toast the next morning.

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943 OPEN YOUR OWN MICROBREWERY.
This will require some significant outlay if you're going to be serious about it. You can set it up in your garage or basement if they're reasonably temperature controlled. Beer-making kits won't really produce the amount you need to make money; look at sales of secondhand equipment for a big brewing vat.

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944 INFUSE YOUR OWN LIQUORS.
You'll need some big jars, a couple of bags of sugar, six or seven gallons of
cheap
vodka (expensive vodka doesn't work as well), and fruit such as raspberries, strawberries, peaches, and apricots. Store the steeping liquor in a dark place like your cellar. And invest in some nice bottles to sell it in.

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945 BOTTLE YOUR OWN WINE.
Ideally, grow your own grapes, too, but if you can't manage that, buy grapes from the farmer's market. Your kids will be happy to take off their shoes and tramp around in them, mashing them to a nice pulp for the fermenting process. Start saving old wine bottles; you can reuse them for your own vintage.

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946 BECOME A SOMMELIER.
If people actually listen when you start talking about wine then clearly you know your stuff (or you're a good BSer). Put that knowledge to good use by becoming a sommelier. Many community colleges and adult ed institutions have courses that you can take to bone up on the vino.

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947 PLAN MENUS FOR RESTAURANTS.
Are you a foodie with a talent for organization? Congratulations — you're a menu consultant. Create some sample menus, drop them off at restaurants, and offer your talents for a fee. You probably can't charge more than a couple hundred dollars, but the free samples are worth something.