Making a Living From Competitions in The UK
You may not have realised it before but there are folk out there who actually make a living from entering and winning competitions right here in the UK. In fact its probably fair to say that competitions UK is quite a little industry.
Before you say, "Well if they can do it why shouldnt I?" you ought to look into the idea very carefully. Youll need to spend time researching the world of competitions UK to start off with and youll probably have to enter quite a few before you become good at it and start winning prizes. Then when you do youll learn which are the best kind of competitions to enter to get the maximum return on your time.
Time should be your only investment in competitions UK apart from some expenditure on postage. You can minimise your outlay on that anyway by concentrating on winning free stuff online. Any competitions that cost you money to enter apart from postage should be avoided. Theres no profit for you in competitions of that kind.
If youre currently employed youd be well advised not to give up your day job in the hope of earning a living from entering competitions. Yes it can be done and yes some people are doing it already but its hardly a secure source of income, at least until you become really adept at it. For example its not the sort of occupation youd put down on a mortgage application with much confidence of success!
So, start out by doing it for fun in your spare time and let your hobby mature into a part time source of extra income before you make any life changing decisions. Of course if youre already retired and drawing your pension you dont have any such constraints. You can go straight into full time comping if you wish. Its the same if youre unemployed or long term sick with no job. It might be a good idea though to try and find out whether successful regular comping could affect any benefits you may be receiving.
On that subject it might be worth pointing out that, while competition prizes are non taxable in the UK, if youre making a living from entering and winning you might find HM Revenue and Customs getting interested. If you reach that level of success you should probably engage an accountant! You could call your business Competitions UK if nobody else has got there first.
If you intend going down this route to seriously try to earn a living or even supplement your income you will need to decide on some sort of a policy. Now, bearing in mind the objective, you might want to concentrate on competitions which offer substantial cash prizes. That would seem the obvious thing to do and should probably be the main focus of your efforts. Dont forget though that even winning goods can be profitable.
If the prizes are items you can use and would normally buy from time to time or, in some cases, if only you could afford to, then winning the item is either saving you money or enhancing your life in some other way. Dont forget, a penny saved is a penny earned! If you get landed with prizes you dont have any use for, think about presents for friends and relatives on appropriate occasions. Would any of them like to receive the item? If so youve saved money again. Otherwise theres always e-bay! Selling unwanted prizes is always profitable. After all they didnt cost you anything!
So entering competitions can be profitable and might even make you a living. Just dont be too eager to give up the day job!
Author Bio:
Emma Paterson
Plum Prizes
Free to enter competitions at www.plum-prizes.com
