Here are some of the craziest ways people have made big money — from embezzling cash from an Air Force snack bar to choosing names for other people's children

He was an artist

The guy was a sculptor who had a unique approach to his craft. He would watch horse races, and whenever a horse won, he would create a digital mockup of a life-sized sculpture of the winning horse. He used social media to contact the horse's owner directly. The owners of winning racehorses are usually extremely wealthy — think sheikhs, oligarchs, billionaires. Occasionally, one of these owners would take him up on his offer and spend around €100,000 on a statue to commemorate their horse's victory. He only completed a few of these sculptures each year, spending the rest of his time enjoying the good life.

| escoterica / Reddit

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The snackbar king

In Air Force squadrons, it’s common for junior members to run a snackbar. At one base where I was stationed, a maintenance squadron had an Airman who was so bad at maintenance that they assigned him to the snackbar permanently.

Surprisingly, Airman CantTurnAWrench excelled in his new role, transforming the snackbar into a well-stocked, organized operation. It became so popular that many maintainers preferred buying lunch there instead of trekking to the dining facility. By the end of the year, he reported nearly $3,000 in profit to the Squadron booster club, who were thrilled and kept him running the snackbar for the rest of his enlistment.

He quietly continued his snackbar duties until his enlistment ended, at which point he received an honorable discharge and returned to civilian life. Before leaving, he trained a new Airman to run the snackbar just as he did. The new guy took over, and by the end of the year, reported a profit of around $18,000. Turns out, the first Airman had embezzled the entire amount, nearly $50,000, in untraceable cash. He had meticulously cooked the books with no oversight, leaving no evidence behind. By the time anyone figured it out, he was out of the military’s jurisdiction, leaving the squadron leadership too embarrassed to report the incident.

| theguineapigssong / Reddit

There was a hole in the market

A high school friend of mine became a millionaire by offering a simple but effective service: maintaining tire pressure for large corporate fleets. He started by randomly checking tire pressure in parking lots and then provided companies with data-driven estimates of how much they could save on fuel annually by keeping tires properly inflated. He charged a commission based on those savings in exchange for regularly maintaining their fleet’s tire pressure. It quickly caught on, and soon major companies became his clients. He started with just a van and a compressor, inflating tires all day, and now he owns two villas with swimming pools and a boat.

| Lord-Legatus / Reddit

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Pick a name, any name

An English woman has built a business helping wealthy Chinese parents choose suitable English names for their children. In East Asia, it’s common for kids to have secondary English names used in English classes and later in life, especially in business settings. Parents send her photos of their children, and for around £50 each, she suggests a fitting name.

| christw_ / Reddit

Do it for science

I found a website where you can participate in various studies and get paid for it. I’ve taken part in several, with the most notable being one where they had to brace my leg, preventing me from using it for a month. That wasn’t the worst part, though; they also took three muscle samples from my thigh. The study aimed to determine if a drug could promote muscle growth in the leg that wasn’t being used. The compensation was around $12,000 for the month, and I would consider doing it again.

| FSStray / Reddit

A $10 lesson

In the 90s, I knew a guy who placed an ad in the classified section of the newspaper that said something like, “For $10, I’ll tell you my secret to making easy money. Send $10 cash to (address) to find out how.” People would send him $10, and he would then instruct them to place their own classified ad, telling others to send $10 to learn how to make money.

| freudianfalls / Reddit

Living the life

The father of one of my college friends ran a beach rental business—providing umbrellas, sun chairs, surfboards, and so on. This was over 20 years ago, but he still spends his days at the same beach, drinking Coke and earning $90,000 a year.

He even bought a second van with equipment to set up on a different beach and hired someone to manage it. In the 2000s, this meant he was making well over six figures just by relaxing on the beach.

| Holyskankous / Reddit

The promise of a good future

I know someone who calls herself a “manifestation coach.” She sells packages and event spots for thousands of euros, promising to help people become their true selves and learn to manifest their desires. The idea is that if you believe it, it will happen. It blows my mind that she’s making a fortune (with a whole team behind her) by essentially selling air. Then there’s another person I know who sees herself as an Instagram guru. She has about 23k followers and offers an online Instagram course, but you have to pay a monthly fee. She hosted an event that cost €1800 per person, and around 200 people showed up. During the event, she unveiled her next big project: a private jet week retreat on a European island. Only 8 spots were available, priced at €8000 each, and they sold out immediately. She also launched another project—a “golden ticket” for a year of her guidance, priced at €45k. That too was sold, and the buyer is a huge fan with an Instagram following of just about 730. This person invested so much, but gained literally nothing in return.

| fluffypuffyz / Reddit

The legacy lives on

When I was a kid, there was this massive mansion complex near my dad's office. Curious, I asked whose house it was, and he told me it belonged to the person who invented the way Kleenex tissues are folded so that when you pull one out, another one pops up.

| bladegal16 / Reddit

Nothing sells like elf costumes

Despite my advice, my wife jumped at the chance to buy an $11,000 industrial embroidery machine from her aunt's coworker for just $6,000. After experimenting with various products, she found her niche — making funny sweaters and costumes for Elf on the Shelf dolls. That’s all she does, and people buy from her year-round. During November and December, she earns significantly more than I do, sometimes so much that I have to take days off work just to run the machine so she can catch up on sleep. She’s tried making a lot of different things, but nothing sells like those elf costumes.

| Finn235 / Reddit