It was not till february that I faced my first crisis. During this time, I was just starting to dabble with stocks particularly US stocks. I have thought of many ways to get my hands on more cash with less effort, but it wasn't always easy. Anyway here are some ways that I brainstormed and rated.

So as of the day I left the army, I took up jobs as a admin staff, later on as a telemarketer and surveyor. These gave me a monthly income which still allowed me to maintain my current lifestyle, which I am pretty frugal. These jobs would require me to spend time in exchange for money, so if there is a way out, I would take it.

Since young, I always like making things, small or big, getting hands-on. I remember making a what my teacher thought was a unique model of a boat for my secondary school project while others simply stacked cubes above rectangular blocks. My current "desk lamp" was savaged out of a broken one and attached to a bookstand. I also made a ipod stand which allowed charging and audio output at the same time. So when serving the army, which had plenty of wires lying around, a group of us started to toy with them.

The thought of making things out of raw material amuses me greatly at the same time excites me too. So there I was thinking, would anyone want to buy these wire figurines or objects? I ran a search online, and I was astounded. The scale and complexity of some art are really mind bobbling. Inspired, I spent weeks running around the neighborhood looking for potential sources of cheap wire to practice on. Alas, wire isn't cheap at all. I found out that given the cost of the material, the time I spend planning and making one and also the price I am willing to sell, I would definitely not be able to survive a month or two.

In the recent years, making money online is becoming more popular, and with the introduction of adsense, it is all the more possible even for the masses. There is also a rise in professional bloggers who are able to quit their day jobs to concentrate on their online venture. Intrigued by this phenomenon, how can I be left out? The plan was to create dozens of websites and filled them up with adsense ads, so the earnings will multiply. However, it was not always easy, due to this, I spent countless hours on end, day after day, weeks after week, tweaking and updating my sites. However, the trouble was that to get clicks, I would need traffic and to get that I needed quality instead of quantity material on the sites. It was impossible to accomplish that. Even as I scale down to a few niche sites, its hard. I guess it would take a long time to build up a base.

I also liked photography, so I also tried selling some photos I took online, although there was only one sold, it was satisfying. But money wise, it wasn't viable. I did also though of e-commerce, but without the capital, it would be impossible to begin. Although now that I have the capital, I'm having doubts what to invest in.

Having been playing the flute for a number of years, the thought of buskering or tutoring others would strike me occasionally. However not having any formal training really held me back. Due to this, I too lacked the confidence that what I teach although might be helpful but may still be lagging.

Sales was also something I ventured, although its slightly more rewarding in terms of financially, it was a torture for me physically and mentally. Devoting time to sales would really be depriving me of the precious time that I can use to study.

From the looks of it, I am quite a jack of all trades, master of none. Sometimes, I do think this way. Nowadays, I see it as nothing ventured nothing gained. It was during building my adsense websites that build up my knowledge of making a website that led to me helping a friend do his for a small fee. Also I realized that it is incredibly hard to earn a living doing what you like, and it would take a lot of perseverance. Am I really destined to be working in a box, 9-5pm?

Things took a changed as I mentioned earlier, when I came into contact with the stock market. At the time, market was already pretty gloomy, but many stocks rally to obama announcing his 700 billion injection to the economy. Being a noob that I am, I bought too, and when the day came, the market had a sellout. I lost about 2-3 months worth of hard earned money! Ever heard of buy the rumor sell the news? Well, I haven't, not till the sell out happen and I lost my savings.

Some months later, I have switched from the big board stocks to small nasdaq stocks which had more upside potential or breakout. This changed in focus and strategy certainly brought about some profit for me, though not without its risks. I have now learn not to simply look at the price of the stock. There is always a price lower than the lowest price and one higher than the highest price. If unsure then don't enter, there are always opportunities. Also to buy the trend and not the price.

Thus for now, my money making machine would be trading the US market. And mind you, there is no easy money anywhere, you have to do your own research and have capital to cover your ass, before anything happens. Now lets see how far I would get..