As well as being a fantastic sporting occasion, the London 2012 Olympics are also likely to boost the UK economy - here’s how you can get a slice of the profits.
The London Olympics haven't been far from the news headlines in recent years, but with less than 6 months until the big event, more and more people are beginning to look at how the Olympics can help their businesses or personal finances.
Here are some ways you can make money from the London Olympics.
Rent out your home
If you live in London then renting out your home during the Olympics could be an easy way to make some money.
Demand for accommodation across London during the Olympic fortnight is likely to be very high, so if you are willing to hand over your keys for 2 weeks you may find that you could earn a healthy profit.
Properties near the Olympic Village are currently being advertised for over £5,000 a week during the games. Whether they’ll actually be booked for this amount is yet to be seen, but it is clear that demand for Olympic accommodation is high.
Even if you don’t live close to an Olympic venue, if you have a property in the capital or close to good transport links you could still be able to rent out your home.
Plus, if you don’t want to give up your whole home for two weeks you could advertise a spare room or use of your garden as a mini camp site to bring in the cash.
Where to start
If you want to rent out your home, perhaps to pay for a luxury holiday while you’re away, there are several dedicated websites that you can use to advertise.
Here are just some of sites you could list your property on:
Take plenty of photos of your home and make sure to explain clearly why your home would make a great base for visitors to enjoy the Olympics.
Look at how much similar properties in your area are being advertised for, so you can make sure you’re advertising your home at a competitive rate.
What else do you need to check?
Renting your pad out during the Olympics isn’t simply a matter of posting an advert online, packing your bags and waiting for the money to start rolling in.
Firstly any money you do earn from renting out your home will have to be shared with the taxman, although if you’ve decided to rent out a room you may be able to claim some of this back through the government’s rent a room scheme.
You will also need to check that your home insurance will cover renting out your home, even for just a few weeks – most standard home insurance policies don’t cover commercial rents of this nature, so you may need to take out extra cover to ensure your home remains protected.
Finally, if you are repaying a mortgage on your home then your mortgage provider may also have to be informed of your plans.
Most standard mortgages don’t allow your home to be rented out on a commercial basis without transferring to a buy to let mortgage; however given the short term nature of renting your home out during the Olympics your mortgage provider may be willing to be more flexible.
Sell Olympic themed memorabilia
While only a select number of companies are chosen to be official suppliers to the Olympic games, there is no reason why you can’t be creative and sell Olympic-themed items to celebrate the games.
It may be that you already have a specific skill which you can use to create something, be it carpentry, painting or writing.
Try to think of something that encapsulates the 2012 Olympics and will appeal to the thousands of people visiting the UK during the games.
While in past years you would need to pack up your stock and head to London to take advantage of the games, with the accessibility that the internet has helped create this option is much more readily available to the individual living outside the capital.
The official suppliers to the games may also be looking for products from third party suppliers, so if you can create something on a larger scale you should consider approaching approved providers for business.
Host an Olympic event
A great way to celebrate the Olympic games and hopefully raise a small profit is to organise an Olympic event.
This could be anything from a BBQ to a traditional street party depending on your location and what type of event you feel would be the most popular.
While you will likely need to spend money setting up and advertising your event, if you are successful you could easily outstrip your set up costs and bring home a tidy profit.
Get permission
The first step to hosting an Olympic event would be to find a suitable location.
Whether this is on public or private land, you will need to seek permission from your local council office to host the event and to sell goods.
Without the go-ahead from the council then hosting your Olympic event is unlikely to get up and running.
What is going to be at the event?
Once you’ve established where you'll host your event, you will need to organise exactly what will be at the event so that people will want to attend and make you a profit.
Some attractions, such as live music, a bouncy castle or a DJ will need to be paid for, in which case you will need to decide exactly what type of event you want to host and the attractions that are most suitable and cost effective.
Other local businesses may pay you for the right to sell their goods at the events, especially caterers and local craftsmen.
Essentially you will need to strike a balance between what will attract people to your event and businesses and stalls that will make you a profit.
Set tickets prices
Whether you charge entry to your event and exactly how much you charge will depend largely on the nature of your event and the type of people that are likely to attend.
If you are hosting a music festival where people will spend the majority of time listening to live music you will likely need to charge more for entry.
However, if you are hosting a fete or family event with plenty of stalls then you may decide that to attract more people to your event you will charge less for entry or offer free admission.
Promote your event
Once you have booked your venue and finalised what will be happening at the event, you will need to start advertising it within your local community and to other businesses.
A good place to start is to contact local media outlets, including local newspapers and radio stations to be included in their ‘what’s on’ event lists and to book advertising if you feel that it’s appropriate.
Provide a service
During the Olympic fortnight there are going to be hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting London, many for the first time.
If you live in London or one of the other Olympic venues why not set up a walking tour guide to run throughout the Olympic fortnight.
Although there are already several well established tours operating in London, with the number of additional tourists expected to flood to the event there is likely to be increased demand from visitors wanting to get a feel for the area and to see the sights.
Offer parking
Getting around London during the Olympics is likley to be even more hectic than usual, with traffic levels on the roads expected to be much higher.
This means that parking spaces are also likley to be at a premium during Olympic fortnight.
If you have a garage or parking space you don't use you can look to profit by renting it out during the games.
You may also want to look at renting out your car or your bike too!
