Guild advice, and new players, (part 1) change your thinking

I find that the guild has a few player who are around enough and I have actually spoken to from time to time have the age old problem of gold shortages.  How to make the gold to sustain all other areas of game play? and also get the vanity items that i think we all like to get at some level or another.  So how to pass on the advice that they need to achieve those goals... Do something different and do something... but what...  knowledge is power and defeating the stigma of preconceived notions is the first thing to do...

For years the gold short players have often had the same problems.

• Leveling, questing and raiding to spend money, and not make money...
• Durring their gaming they are trying to save their way to mountains of gold...
• Everything they want to do has a cost, (and sometimes a lottery).
• They do not look at the Oportunity to make money as an integral part of the day to day gaming it is a separate function and a separate activity, therfore it is not gaming, and not fun and hard etc..

Read on after the break..  Sorry the post is longer than I like to normally put up and out there...

• Leveling questin and raiding can make money. piles of it
• Time is money, saving your way to riches does not work. e.g. "I got these shiny valor boots for only 2K.  normally they go for 5K.  I saved 3K".... NOOOOOOOO!!! you spent 2K.  Go to your favorite super store durring a sale and get a receipt that says "YOU SAVED $5.28"  then go check your bank acount...  You will find your 10% SAVINGS really COST you $47.52.  Your bank account is smaller...  So you go back to work and turn time into money.. then save and you feel good about yourself buying things because you saved durring your shopping trip... NO.... YOU SPENT MONEY....  you have less than you started with.YOU HAVE TO engage in money making activities to make money. 
• Everything you do can be related to gold making activities (raiding? for gear, to be ready to get patern in next patch to make gold? and to have fun, so you keep playing the game and making more gold...)
• Everything is a goldmaking activity...  rather it be an oportunity cost or it be raiding or leveling...  its often oportunity cost. To date there have been very few oportunities to really make any amounts of gold through PVP...  no paterns come from PVP, no real mats come from PVP (like orbs, mining/engineering/skinning the dead body of your opponents, though that would be great fun

So what are the ways to make gold?
In order of potential profits, lowest to highest (my opinion)

1. Quest for gold... not bad if you have content to clear, and especially if you seek the "loremaster" title
2. Dailies for gold... Also not bad... this is purely turning time into money AND is HUGELY popular because you feel like you are playing the game, your killing and collecting and stuff, the added bonus is often you really want the dailies additional reward of "rep" to get gear, helm and shoulder glyphs and achievements..... you avatar is doing what it was made to do by the devs and you are playing the "GAME"
3. Farm for gold.  Farm and sell raw mats... Often better per hour gold income than doing dailies and doing quests, and also very boring and intollerable for many... mindless and enjoyable for some, and some its only sometimes...  a great filler for the pre raid moments while waiting for the raid to fill and start... ... if you raiding toon has a gathering profession..
4. Farming while doing dailies... DUHHHH
5. Farm and Craft for gold... often better gold per hour than the others  You take your farmed mats, and turn them into items that are more valuable than the raw mats were...  The beginning of becomeing an AH Goblin prince.. you have now become royalty, but will you ascend to a high place at a higher speed than the other players?
6. AH e-sport for gold.... Now you endeavor to really become a high ranked prince in the AH... to this end there are several things you cand do and several ways to do them...

• Special... selling ZA mounts, selling PVP rating, GDKP raids, selling valor boots or other "point" traded comodities.  Selling tanking for heroics, begging in trade, etc...

So, what are the ways in number 6?  thats another post, because IMO, this post is too long already...

But suffice it to say that when you play in the world of option 6... Savings is Profits
--- NOW Savings can come into play.  SAVING  on manufactuing materials expenses DOES  increase PROFITs (e.g. Buy ore, miner smelts ore to bars, bars are made into shineys...  you save the cost difference between raw ore and bars.  Or, miner makes ore > bars, JC makes bars > delicate coper wiring, Engineer makes delicate coper wiring > widgets, widgets > pets  (get the concept, dont get stuck on the accuracy of the example)