Friday, December 27, 2013

Craigslist for felons: When employers won’t hire Craigslist will…

Being the author of The Craigslist Hustle comes with its perks. The one thing I love most is being able to share what I’ve learned over the years buying and reselling items on craigslist for profit with motivated individuals around the world. I have a heart for people who are in “hopeless” situations, because I have been there in times past and didn’t see a way of escape.  As a result of being laid off by my employer years ago, I came across Craigslist and mastered an approach that helped my family of five during one of the most trying financial periods in our lives. I now share these same tips in my book The Craigslist Hustle that I use even today to buy and resell items for profit. I not only buy and sell for profit on Craigslist, but I also go to Craigslist to find my service professionals as well. I have found carpet cleaners, mechanics, carpenters, dog groomers, painters, and so on.
Well, this summer when my outside air conditioning unit blew out and I diagnosed it as much as I could from watching YouTube videos, I decided to find a professional on Craigslist. I went to the services tab, typed in the key word Freon and several posts appeared in the results. I then read through a few of the posts to get an idea of what services were offered by the individual as well as the fees charged. Once I located the person I was interested in hiring I did a little research. I weeded through posts from the past 45 days to see how many times this person had listed his services a HVAC repairman. This was important to me because if anyone is serious about their business they will promote it on a continuous basis. This person had posted over two dozen times which is about once every other day. That is outstanding in my eyes and so I moved on to the next step which was to see if he listed the same phone number in each post. This is important as well due to most people in the services section will switch up their phone number in the post if they are trying to hide something or avoid bad reviews from the Craigslist community. I also did a Google search of his phone number and found out his name, verified he was a HVAC repairman and even listed with the Better Business Bureau.  I was at peace in giving him a call and letting him come to my house to diagnosis my air conditioner. He came out and was very professional and we had great conversation. He went above and beyond what I could have imagined and had me up and running in about 30 minutes. He put in five pounds of Freon (R-22) and changed out my capacitor all for around $120! For those of you who have ever had these services done you will know this is a great deal. I asked him where did he learn how to work on air conditioners and that’s when he told me a little of his story. Before he told me he said, “I hope by now you’ve already judged me and your opinion doesn’t change after I tell you this.” He went on to tell me that he served 25 years in prison for murder, is now a different man and had been released for three years. He said that while he was in prison he learned to work on heating and cooling units and was transported all over the state repairing units at various correctional facilities. Once he was released he learned about Craigslist through a friend and to make a long story short he has been making over $80,000 a year repairing heating and cooling units via Craigslist.


I have a few friends who have felony criminal records who have paid their dues to society and attempted to join the workforce. They found that a lot of places will not hire individuals who have felonies, or they could only receive minimum wage despite having a college degree. I have been blessed with the opportunity of being able to teach classes in a couple of local correctional facilities in my home town. I use my book The Craigslist Hustle as my guide and teach inmates who are nearing release straight from my book how to buy and resell items on Craigslist. I also teach the men how to promote their services on Craigslist as well. The inmates I teach were charged with non violent felonies (mainly drug convictions) and just looking for a fresh and legal start. These individuals have talents that blow me away! I meet barbers, artist, mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, vocalist and so on.  I show them how they can take the same hustle they had on the streets making money illegally and use it to promote their skills on Craigslist. “When employers won’t hire you Craigslist will,” is one thing I share with the men. I’m not writing this blog to scare anyone, but yet encourage you to encourage someone you might know that is in this situation. I teach individuals how to deal honestly and professionally at all times.  If you stumbled across this blog and wondering how to make extra money via Craigslist regardless of what your current situation is then go check out my webpage www.mrcraigslisthustle.com. The Craigslist Hustle, let’s get it!

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