I just did the unthinkable to earn money as a student: Making my own business as a scribe.

I would be getting money for living expensives for college from two sources, from my father and from social security. For reasons unknown the social security office in harford county decided to cut my SSI $600 check in half to $280. Now normally I would keep half of the money and the rest goes to bills, but due to various reasons and the fact that my mom for two weeks used one of my credit cards over the limit (one day after I payed the minimum balance on that card), and social security decided to change my SSI check to a monthly retirement check because I earned irregular income throughout the year (like once every month of two), most of the check is used for bills now and the rest I keep for myself.

And my dad despite promising me to pay the rest of my $600 by the end of the month last month, said to me today that he couldn't. Guess the answer? The economy. And who knows when the real economy will recover? I don't know until 2011-2012? And I don't know when he's actually pay me that money.

I realized myself that I can't rely on anyone or anything anymore. But what can I do? I can't get a part-time job on campus because: 1. I can't get hired anyway because the I don't have the experience needed or the job has already been filed when I inquire about it in person. 2) Even if I get hired it will take a month to be actually paid, and 3) I have to file taxes to the IRS which what SS uses to determine my SSI payments and if I get any decent income in a month, that will jeopardize my SSI and my medicare benefits.

So I did the very unthinkable, making my own self-business as a scribe. I plan to type papers for students who have lots of handwritten notes or a handwritten student paper and I type them for these students for five dollars a page. Rush typing and proofreading of these notes would be extra. And it would be by hand-to-hand cash transaction only. Because I'm in a hard place, I have about $70 in cash on me. So this morning I stapled 23 flyers on message boards around the University of Maryland campus.

But I have no hope of getting any business. (Yes I am a very pessimsitc person, but that's another story.)

he made a mint.

Remember, just because we live in a the "computer age" doesn't mean all students know how to type, type well or type fast.

Go for it. Put up flyers in what ever common area you have at school. You will do well.