There are so many selves in everybody and to explore and exploit just one is wrong,
dead wrong, for the creative process.
~ James Dickey

Steven Kalas is a family counselor with a lively practice. He also plays in a band that’s been busy promoting their new CD, but I know Kalas for a different reason: he writes Human Matters, my favorite column in the Las Vegas Review Journal. Like many people with multiple interests, he’s found ways to incorporate his diverse interests into satisfying ways of making a living.

Of all the ideas in Making a Living Without a Job, none has ever gotten a stronger response than the notion of incorporating eclectic interests into a unique livelihood. Many people have felt stalled in their lives trying to fit themselves into the Single Occupation mold. There’s often a visible sense of relief when I suggest that it’s possible to create a business from diverse passions.

Whether you have diverse interests or a strong singular passion that you’re building around, the key to a solid business is what I call Multiple Profit Centers (MPCs). Quite simply, a profit center is any activity that generates cash flow. Whenever you add another product or service to your enterprise, you’re creating another profit center. It’s also important to realize that profit centers come in all different sizes. Some will provide the largest percentage of income for you, while others will be fillers.

There’s a practical side to the MPC notion, as well: multiple income sources can level out cash flow. No business, no matter how large or small, is immune from the ups and downs of income. To everything there is a season, including cash flow. Having a variety of sources is one way to even things out a bit, since each profit center will have its own cycle.

Here are a few more things to keep in mind when planning your profit centers.

  • They don’t have to all be the same size in order to be valid. Some profit centers will be occasional, some will peak and then decline, some will be major income sources. Keep in mind the Mall Model where you find anchor stores on the corners with smaller shops in between. Your business will be a small scale version of that.
  • Under one umbrella or separate identities? If your profit centers are completely unrelated (eclectic rather than clustered), you will probably need to have individual identities for them. It’s up to you whether or not you want to have one bank account for various things or a different one for each. Whatever makes things easier for you, is probably the best choice. At the same time, you don’t want to confuse your market by clustering things that don’t go together.
  • If it matters to you, it belongs in your portfolio. If your interests are diverse, you may decide that some ideas aren’t serious enough to turn into a profit center. More likely, your apprehension comes from the old belief that if it’s fun and pleasurable, it should remain a hobby.

    Nobody tackles this issue better than Steven Pressfield who writes in The War of Art about turning pro. He says, “The conventional interpretation is that the amateur pursues his calling out of love, while the pro does it for money. Not the way I see it. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline, distinct from his ‘real’ vocation.”

  • Differing activities can boost creativity. In the name of efficiency, we’ve turned many of the workers of this world into robot-like machines who show up in the same place at the same time to do the same things day in and day out. The capacity to think creatively is the first casualty of that system.

    Creativity thrives on variety and setting up your profit centers to give you a wide range of experiences is ultimately as good for your imagination as it is for your bank account.

  • Take inventory on a regular basis. Many profit centers require a lot of time and attention at their launch, but become somewhat self-sufficient after that. It makes sense to review the various projects you’re working on and align your attention with what each one needs.

    Sometimes a profit center becomes a noisy child and takes you away from the others. At other times, you’ll find you’ve grown bored with an idea and it’s time to consider a different future for it. Every 90 days or so, do a review and make changes where necessary.

  • Be wary of multitasking. Time magazine did a story about Suze Orman, a woman who clearly understands MPCs. She is not an advocate of multitasking, however. “I think it’s the absolute ruination of the perfection of a project,” she says. “The people who multitask do everything to mediocrity at best. While they are getting a lot done, they are getting it done in such an inefficient way that they usually have to do it again.”

    One way to stay focused, is to assign different days of the week to different projects. When you’re throwing pots, you aren’t writing your pottery seminar, for instance.

  • It’s evolution, not instant creation. Profit centers evolve over a long period of time. Ideas morph, new ones show up, old ones have served their time. The important thing is to create a business that engages your talents and imagination, and pays you to do what you love doing most. As Paul Hawken reminds us, “The business you can succeed with is distinctly and utterly you and yours. It is unlike any other business in the world.” You have your MPCs to thank for that.

Shortly before the end of the year, I was talking to Karyn Ruth White and the subject of resolutions came up. “I don’t really make them,” she said. “But I do sit down at the end of the year and write about ten lessons I’ve learned in the previous year.” Then she added, “I’ve even had a couple of them published.” What began as a personal project, got shared with others. Great idea, isn’t it?

While it could be argued that every business is informed and influenced by our personal experiences, a great deal of opportunity goes unused by people who fail to see the potential of putting that experience to work for them.

I have written a mission statement  that is a reminder to that personal experience is the crux of my business. My  mission is this: “Have a great life and talk about it.” That may  sound simple, but inherent in it is a constant challenge to keep growing and adding experiences that can enlarge and enliven other lives too.

In order to create a profit center that grows out of your own life, there are four essential ingredients that need to be present. They are:

  • Value Your Own Experience. Very often the things that are easy and effortless for us are overlooked because we assume that what we can do, everyone can do. That’s almost never true. Our special set of talents, skills and life experiences are a one-of-a-kind package, but we have to recognize why that can be valuable to others.
  • High Self-awareness. Writer Carolyn See says, “I hope I’m wrong, but I imagine about 90 percent of the human race is snoozing along, just going through the motions.” Staying awake for the journey is important if we are to find the gold in our lives.
  • Generous Spirit. We must be convinced that what we have discovered will make other people’s lives richer, happier, healthier or smoother in some way. Keeping it to ourselves seems, well, selfish.
  • Eager to Learn. Starting a business based on personal experience is just the entry point. It’s really an invitation to mastery if we use it to learn, grow and improve.

Personal experience lends itself to all sorts of enterprises. Here are some possibilities:

  • Find a Better Way. Doris Drucker, the wife of management guru Peter Drucker, found a new opportunity for herself this way. She writes, “For years my  role as the wife of a professional speaker was to sit in the last row of an auditorium and shout ‘Louder!’ whenever my husband’s voice dropped. I decided that there had to be a better feedback device and if there wasn’t, I was going to invent one. Then I decided, at the age of 80-plus, that I would start a business to sell it.”

    Solving a problem or simply finding a more effective way of doing something has been  the start of  many a successful business. As a college student, Tony Buzan wanted to learn how to use his brain effectively. When he couldn’t find any useful information to assist him, he began a personal crusade to learn all he could. As a result, millions of people are mind mapping and learning other techniques to optimize personal intelligence.

  • Tell Your Story. Benjamin Franklin said we should all write something worth reading or live something worth writing. Personal experience can be the basis for autobiography and how-to books. My bookshelves are full of personal experience stories such as Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun , Amy Stewart’s From the Ground Up, and Anita Roddick’s Body and Soul.

    Workshops, seminars and consulting are other ways of making your experience pay. You need to live it first, of course. That may sound like common sense, but at least once a week I’ll get a call or letter like the one I got from a man in Idaho who went on at great length about how confused he was about what business to start, then added a p.s. to his letter saying he plans to organize a seminar on Discovering Your Purpose.

  • Pay It Forward. A few years ago, Kevin Spacey was in a movie with that title. Apparently the message of passing along our good to others took root. Spacey took a year off from film making to put his energy into a website called Triggerstreet.com that is creating opportunities for the next generation of screenwriters. Spacey says he realized that his considerable success was the result of others believing in him before he believed in himself and now he wants to pass that gift along to others.

Your experience could be utilized through teaching or mentoring those coming along behind you too. “If you have knowledge,” said Margaret Fuller, “let others light their candle at it.” If it’s time to plan a new profit center, take a fresh look at your own life. You may be sit-ting on a gold mine, you know.

My local tv news just featured a booming business called Vegas Errands. The owner is a young woman who responded to an ad on Craigslist, and ended up starting her own service business. As the story reported, business is booming. That didn’t surprise me.

Asked whether they would rather have an extra $100/week or five more hours, the overwhelming majority of Americans polled said they’d take the time.  We’re not the only folks wanting more time, however.

An article in London’s Daily Express newspaper reports that a study found busy Brits are now spending an average of £114  ($170) each month to buy three hours and ten minutes of extra time.  The study, conducted by an online bank, concluded, “Making time for yourself, doing things you enjoy, are crucial to mental and physical health. The report shows that people are willing to spend significant sums to do this.”

All this rushing around was discussed in The Popcorn Report where trendspotter Faith Popcorn named this trend 99 Lives. She  says, “We scramble to keep up. We scramble to keep track.  And we have other crusades. To stay young, get fit, live healthy. Achieve self-fulfillment and conquer self-doubt. Win friends and influence people. Get rich, get smart. Accumulate toys and trophies. Save the planet, save ourselves. Test out the theory that nothing is impossible.” Then she concludes, “What we really want is to buy back time. Marketers that help us do that will be the all-time winners.”

Obviously we can’t package and sell time, but creating a business that saves people time is the next best thing. Once limited to domestic things such as cleaning and babysitting, time saving services have grown imaginative. Find ways that will save time for your customers and clients or create a business that has time saving at its core and you’ll be helping solve a common problem. Here are a few ways of doing that.

  • Deliver the goods. “Leave the driving to us,” was the slogan of Greyhound Bus. Today it’s a slogan that is being adopted by all sorts of delivery services.

    Grocery and meal delivery services have had uneven success in many cities, but the basic concept remains sound. While some of the larger companies have failed, smaller specialty delivery is thriving.

    I bought a sofa a while back and the store had no delivery service of their own, but put me in touch with two men with a truck who I hired for a reasonable fee. A retired couple I knew delivered tickets for travel agencies while a small courier service specializes in deliveries for legal offices.

    Then there are people who travel the country delivering cars from one area dealer to another. This is a perfect business for people who like being out and about.

  • Be portable. Savvy service providers save their customers time by coming to their homes or businesses. I’ve been meaning to find a massage therapist but hadn’t had time to do so. When a woman in one of my seminars mentioned that her daughter had a mobile massage business, I promptly asked for her brochure and called to set up an appointment. Personal trainers have also found that getting out of the gym and into their client’s homes has been good for business. And for a small fee, a man in Texas will do an inspection on a used car you’re thinking of  buying.

    Everyone knows what a drag it is to lug a defunct computer to the repair shop. The Geek Squad gave itself a competitive edge right from the start by making housecalls. While services that require special equipment (like dental drills) aren’t easily mobilized, some innovators are outfitting a van or motorhome and taking their business to their clients.

  • Edit. In this information drenched time, opportunities exist for those who can scan vast amounts of information and cull out the most important. Specialized newsletters and websites keep popping up all the time to save readers investigative time.

    Similarly, professional organizers and declutterers help clients weed out unnecessary things and activities and become more efficient.

  • The Ultimate. For years upscale hotels have offered the services of a concierge to their guests. Today that’s expanding into a lively self-employment opportunity.  What does a concierge do exactly? According to the website of the National Concierge Association, “A concierge is a caretaker, someone who wants to be needed, give advice and help other people.”

    Many people think of concierges as miracle workers. While they may specialize in the difficult, they also make ordinary arrangements that save their clients precious time. This is a particularly fascinating business for those who love challenge and diversity. Today’s concierge delights in serving their clients with grace and charm—and making it look effortless.

    If you can do something, make something, or license something that helps unclutter busy lives, you are bound to find yourself on your own fast track to success.

Several years ago, I had a lovely long-term consulting assignment which kept me both busy and solvent.  One morning I woke up and realized that it was coming to an end and I had nothing lined up.  After a few moments of panic, I decided to get serious about creating my next income source.  I didn’t have a great deal of time to devote to this, so I gave myself the challenge of finding a way to earn $100—an easily accomplished goal.  What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I had just created a new habit that has kept my business—and cash flow—moving smoothly along.

Over time, I’ve learned that there are other benefits to this simple technique.  For instance, I teach a seminar called “Making a Living Without a Job” throughout the United States and Canada.  Nearly every seminar has at least one person who tells me that they want to be self-employed but don’t know what kind of business to start.  Using this technique is a wonderful way to sample a number of different possibilities, while training you to be creative.  In other words, you’ll learn to think like an entrepreneur.

There’s an old saying, popularized by Robert Schuller, that goes, “By the inch, it’s a cinch. By the yard, it’s hard.” Any successful goalsetter will tell you that reaching goals big or small is dependent on breaking the big picture into tiny, doable steps.  That’s the essence of my favorite idea, the $100 Hour. It works with such infallible certainty that once you make it a regular part of your plans, it’s like a rocket propelling you to your goals.

You can begin implementing the $100 Hour even if you now have a job or other commitments that clamor for your time.  Begin by making a pact with yourself that you will set aside time daily, if possible, or at scheduled intervals for the purpose of finding an idea that will bring you $100.  You needn’t complete the plan in the hour, but if time permits use your surplus to get your idea rolling.  Do research, make calls, write letters—anything that advances your goal.  If you’re focusing your energies on a single profit center, then come up with an idea for expanding it in a way that will earn another $100.  If you’re going to try a number of different ideas in order to figure out what you most want to do, then this time can be spent designing a variety of projects.

A word of warning is in order here.  While this idea works wonders, your ego may tell you that $100 is too insignificant to bother with. Ignore it. After all, great fortunes and grand achievements have been accomplished by steadfast devotion to creating tiny successes—which ultimately add up to enormous successes.  The discipline that comes with using this technique is perhaps its greatest bonus.  However, once you start seeing results, don’t stop using it.   With continued practice, you’ll find it gets easier and easier to come up with a $100 idea.  At that point, you can raise the monetary stakes, if you like. At any rate, you’ll discover that the quality of your ideas gets better and better with practice.

$100 Idea Starters

To show you how easy this is and to get you thinking along these lines, I’ll give you some of the $100 ideas that have appeared on my lists and those of others who are joyfully jobless.  Each of these could be worth far more than $100 and each can be adapted and embellished to suit your interests and skills.

* Be a broker.  Match up a buyer with a seller and collect your fee.  If you’re smart about automobiles, for example, you could be a consultant for people shopping for a used car.  Or you could develop a referral service for professionals.  That’s what speakers’ and writers’ agents do. If you know a lot about art, you could broker the work of artists as a couple I saw on television do.  These folks live on an island off Vancouver and run an international art business via the Internet.  Read some classified ads and see whether you might be a matchmaker between someone offering something for sale and a potential buyer.

* Clean out a closet.  There may be cash in your trash. Isn’t it time for a yard or tag sale? I know several folks who run sales every month, earning at least $100 each time.  If you’re really loaded with old stuff you want to sell, consider renting a table at a flea market.  Clothes, especially high-quality ones that are in good repair, can be taken to a consignment shop—as can toys, sporting equipment and computers.  You could also organize and promote a neighborhood sale, and collect a small fee from other sellers in exchange for doing the advertising and promoting.  Now that recycling is trendy again, used merchandise is politically correct.

* Sign on as a temporary worker.  All sorts of temporary agencies match workers with work.  Many are general, such as Kelly Services, while others specialize in computer operators or medical workers.  Some people make a career out of doing temporary work; you may want to use it as an emergency profit center, since it can be tedious.  You may have to put in a lot of hours to earn $100 this way, but it’s nice to know you can if you must.

* Eliminate an expense that doesn’t bring you joy.  Every so often, use your $100 Hour to save $100 that you’re now spending.  It’s the same as earning it, in a way.  Quit smoking. Or find a credit card company with a lower interest rate than you’re now paying.  Find a tax deduction you’ve overlooked.  Cancel the movie channel you never watch.  Sometimes our spending becomes automatic and habitual.  It’s healthy to reevaluate and change old spending habits from time to time.

* Deliver a valentine.  There are dozens of possibilities if you’re a natural romantic. You could specialize in enhancing romance all year long. (If you’re good at this, you may not realize that you have a gift!)  How about selling a basket of erotic massage oil and other romance-enhancing treats? Or catering breakfast in bed? Or setting up mystery evenings in conjunction with a limousine service?  If you love love, this one’s for you.

* Organize a tour.  Is there a geographic area or subject that you know a lot about? Do you live near a historic battlefield or favorite fishing spot? You could create a tour right at home that would appeal to visitors to your area.  Several companies in London offer fascinating walking tours covering everything from Shakespeare’s London to places where the Beatles hung out.  If you long to travel, find a travel agent or company that will work with you to organize a trip abroad.  In exchange for marketing the tour, you can receive a free trip.  A focused specialty tour offers the best possibilities, so concentrate on planning a trip around your area of expertise.  You could produce regular $100 Hours with this one.

* Take in a paying guest.  You may not want a full-time roommate, but what about an occasional out-of-town visitor?  You could specialize in providing homey accommodations for business travelers in town for long-term assignments, or hook up with a local college that hosts visiting professors and conference-goers.  If you speak a foreign language, be a paid host to travelers who aren’t sure about their English.

* Barter services.  Some people thrive on exchanging services, building their own underground economy.  This moneyless way of doing business can be great fun if you find other traders who enjoy bartering, too.  I’ve known people who have bartered for everything from laser printers to time in a vacation home. There’s a fabulous architectural drawing hanging over my sofa that I got in exchange for some promotion services for a home furnishings consignment store.

* Clean something.  Windows and floors always need cleaning, but you might aim at something larger—like an airplane or boat—and collect your $100 more quickly. It’s unfortunate that cleaning is considered lowly work, since the opportunity to clean things is enormous.  If you find tidying up a satisfying occupation, you could easily clean up financially with this one.

* Give your opinion.  Market research companies are always looking for people to try new products or sample old ones.  For this they rely on consumers who are potential users of the product.  Check your Yellow Pages for such firms in your area and ask to be added to their database.  If you like telling people what you think, why not get paid for your opinions?

* Teach a class.  Not long ago I found an old $100 Hour list of mine.  One of the ideas was to send a proposal to Open U in Minneapolis for a class called “Making a Living Without a Job.” That single idea has brought me tens of thousands of dollars in income and hundreds of hours of bliss in the classroom.  What are the hobbies you love? Where’s your expertise?  Build a class around what you know and start teaching.  This idea can, of course, be repeated endlessly, bringing you many $100 bills.

* Throw a party.  Planning special events can be fun and profitable. Or offer to cook for your busy friends for the price they’d pay in a restaurant.  If you have abilities as a confident host, this is a wonderful way to indulge your partygoing personality—and get paid.  Companies, too, engage the services of professional party planners; or you might specialize in class reunions or wedding receptions.

* Get a grant.  Thousands of dollars go unclaimed every year.  All sorts of private foundations offer grants for a huge range of projects. If you want to do research, work on a product design, or investigate another culture, there may be a grant just waiting.  You need to do lots of legwork and proposal writing for this, but don’t overlook this option for acquiring cash.  Your reference librarian can point you to the directories of available grants.

* Contact former customers.  Remind them that you’re available and willing.  Generating repeat business can be easier than finding new customers all the time.  Don’t wait for the phone to ring. Once your have customers to call your own, keeping in touch with them should be a regular event.

* House-or pet-sit.  House- and pet-sitting are popular ways to earn money. You could have a specialty, such as caring for cats or vacant houses waiting to be sold.  One enterprising fellow offered his services through real estate agents, housesitting for people who had moved, but not yet sold their house. He’d bring in some oriental rugs and a few pieces of nice furniture, making the empty space more attractive. One woman I know got hired to housesit for a client’s home in the south of France. If you’re flexible and love a change of scenery, this could be perfect.

* Finish things.  How about a follow-through service to complete unfinished projects? If you’re handy at repairs or household jobs, you could complete things that do-it-yourselfers didn’t do.  Needlework is another area where enthusiasm sometimes diminishes before the work is done.  Busy people often start more than they can finish so you could find a gold mine here—and relieve a bit of guilt.

Every single one of these ideas can be started easily and inexpensively, so there’s no excuse for not getting your own $100 Ideas List started.  Better yet, each of these have the potential to grow into large, luscious profit centers.  You might think of them as acorns, harboring an oak inside. Get busy planting.

There was no shortage of candidates for the Most Annoying Person Award that I was mentally planning to bestow. At the top of the short list was Billy Mays, the guy who screams at us in TV ads to buy wrenches, foot powder and cleaning products.

But he had stiff competition from Stephanie, a young woman who had shattered the silence on the airport bus one recent Friday evening, by dialing up a series of friends to plan her weekend. Oblivious to the weary travelers around her, she babbled on and on. When the calls finally ended, it was all I could do to keep from yelling, “Thank goodness Stephanie’s run out of friends!” She certainly had not made any new ones on the bus, but she had become a strong contender for my award.

Both Billy and Stephanie dropped lower on the list when I rushed to answer the telephone only to be greeted by a disembodied voice which said, “Hello, we are canvassing your neighborhood to find people who want to work at home.” I hung up before the recording finished, but a few hours later I knew who the winner of my award would be, and it’s not a single person at all.

I call them the Work at Home Opportunistas and they are on the prowl. In fact, these folks seem to be causing an inescapable epidemic.

When I go to check my e-mail, a flashing banner screams, “Earn $10,000/month working from home!” My junk e-mail box is full of money-making offers every day. Driving around town, I see posters stapled to utility poles with similar come-hither messages. My personal favorite Work at Home promoter was the woman (I can only assume) who plastered the toilet stalls at the Mall of America with Work at Home cards promising $1,500/month PT, $5,000/month FT.

Suddenly, we seem to have entered a new era of schemes and scams. Many of them are nicely dressed and have photographs of appealing, supposedly successful entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, these aggressive Work at Home ads are targeting the unsuspecting. I can only imagine their appeal to someone who has just spent over an hour navigating icy roads to get to a job they don’t much like. Calling that 800 number for more information might seem like a welcome alternative.

After weeks of avoiding this avalanche of opportunity, I happened to see travel guru Peter Greenberg talking about going on a “free” cruise — another popular offer. The cruise ended up costing $1,400 and was dreadful from beginning to end. Maybe I should follow his lead and check out the home business offers, I decided.

Posing as an eager opportunity seeker, I began responding to every ad that crossed my path. I did an Internet search using Work at Home as my keyword phrase and was astonished to see page after page of offers. It would have taken me days to check out every listing on Google, so I only went for the most intriguing.

What I discovered was a pattern or system to all these offers that was soon familiar. Maybe there’s a Scam School where they teach this stuff, I mused. Answer an ad and here’s what you’ll find:

  • The emphasis is on the big money you can earn. Very often the actual business is just alluded to. Breathing seems to be the only required skill. The focus is on opportunity with a capital O. Request the free information offered and you probably will get a brochure offering to sell you the real scoop.
  • Especially popular right now are offers you can pass along over the Internet. From the comfort of your own home, you can reach millions around the world and rake it in.
  • Another familiar offer is listings (either a booklet you can purchase or on a web site you must pay to enter) of Work at Home opportunities. These are particularly terrific for anyone interested in earning pennies for tediously stuffing envelopes. In many instances, you are not told that you have to acquire the names and addresses that will go on the envelopes.
  • The offer that most amused me is the one that trains you to track down deadbeat parents and collect unpaid child support. Now doesn’t that sound like something anyone could do?
  • And what’s this repeated promise of a monthly income? Nearly every offer promises a certain income. Jobs have predictable incomes; businesses fluctuate.

Besides the fact that few people ever profit from such plans, buying into a scheme is certainly not my idea of being Joyfully Jobless. With all the possibilities for creative self-employment, these plans do little more than give working at home a shady reputation.

Sadly, as long as people lack self-confidence, there will always be shysters eager to take advantage of them. Hook up with one of these opportunistas and you’ll spend both cash and confidence — with nothing but a sad, hard lesson in return.

There’s more where this came from.
Order Winning Ways now!

My flight to London had barely lifted off when my seatmate and I began to chat. I soon learned that the handsome man seated next to me was a former art teacher who reinvented his life and now is a fulltime painter. Since English landscapes are his specialty, he was a frequent flyer to England. “Do you live in the city?” I asked.

“I lived all over the Twin Cities when I was teaching,” he said, “but now I live in a small town south of there and I just love it. It’s so quiet. I go to my studio and paint to my heart’s content.”

Not long after, I found myself seated next to another small town enthusiast on a flight to Dallas. This man was a former pilot who had left flying when he was diagnosed with a serious illness. He had just become a flight training instructor, but he was most excited about the little bed and breakfast inn he and his wife owned in a small town in northeastern Pennsylvania. It was their second such venture and he regaled me with stories about his life as an innkeeper.

While small town living isn’t for everyone, relocating to smaller places is becoming increasingly popular. The entrepreneurial revolution is partially responsible for this new wave of emigration. Computers, modems and fax machines make it possible to do all sorts of work in the most remote locations.

If you’re dreaming about becoming an entrepreneurial villager yourself, you need to decide if you want to create a local business that only serves your community or if you want to serve a clientele unlimited by geography. Either kind of business is possible in the new world of cottage industries. Since today’s cottage is apt to be an electronic one, small towns are home to an endless array of enterprises that would have been unthinkable even a decade ago. Here are a few ideas for profit centers that are especially suited to village life:

At your service. My old favorite, the service business, gets high points for small town enterprise. Even the tiniest communities can support a wide range of services.

On a recent visit to my old hometown, I noticed how shabby the houses and offices had become. This would be a great place to be a housepainter or to rehab buildings, I thought. Many small towns have a down-at-the-heels look following years of neglect as people moved away. Now that small towns are becoming fashionable again, renovation will become a popular pastime as residents spruce things up and make them charming places to live.

Even somewhat exotic services can be located in small towns if they attract a clientele from beyond their immediate area. Antique restorers and other repair specialists, for instance, often develop a reputation that attracts business from all over.

Put your computer to work. Although computers are becoming commonplace in rural areas (and the popular Gateway computers are even manufactured in a small town), many businesses in these areas use them to handle things like accounting and inventory control. If you have good desktop publishing skills, you could find an eager market for your services producing business materials, reports and the like.

Since most writers can live wherever they want, freelancers, as well as novelists, often live in small communities. With the Internet putting research sources within reach of everyone, freelancing from the boonies has gotten even easier.

And, of course, marketing online is open to anyone, anywhere. Whether you fancy selling used merchandise on auction sites or launching your own product line globally, computers make it possible to run your marketing empire from the tiniest of places.

Create a destination business. When a new highway threatened to close Betty’s Pies on the North Shore of Lake Superior, customers rallied to save this popular tourist stop. The effort paid off and Betty’s will continue to make pie eaters happy during the coming summer season.

Although many small towns have seen the demise of local businesses such as hardware stores and clothing shops, creative shopkeepers are bringing commercial spaces to life again with art galleries, antique shops, inns and unique restaurants that bring in out-of-town customers. On a road trip a couple of years ago, we stopped in winsome Goshen, Indiana, and visited a quilt shop that had collectors coming from all over the world to buy their stunning creations.

Charming villages in New England have long been home to wonderful local businesses that draw city dwellers to their shops on the weekends; this trend is gathering speed in other parts of the country, too, with artistic and innovative shops springing up in off-the-beaten-path locales. Archer City, Texas, might be just a quiet ranch town if it weren’t for bestselling author and local resident Larry McMurtry, who has turned this hamlet into a haven for bibliophiles, drawing booklovers from all over the country who love to search for used books. If it’s special, people will come.

Market products to the world. You don’t have to look very far to see that mail order has long flourished in tiny towns. Thousands of people will never set foot in Dodgeville, Wisconsin (pop. 3,458), but they’ll buy something from Land’s End catalog, which is based there. A quick survey of smaller mail order operations shows that geography is not a consideration for marketing products through the mail. You can order maple syrup directly from Vermont, Christmas trees from Michigan, and software from New Hampshire. Direct mail marketing has enormous profit potential and it’s fun, besides.

And it’s not just big catalog companies that succeed via the mail. All sorts of small specialty businesses sell their products to people all over the globe. Often a mail order business makes a great addition to other things that you’re doing. Mail order has long been popular with people wanting to live in smaller towns and still build a sizable business. It might make sense for you, too.

If small town living appeals to you, make your own opportunities in a place that you love. As Jack Lessinger says, “Build something, help something, save something. The possibilities are endless.” Small towns are still great places for entrepreneurs who also want to create a nice quality of life without the stresses of modern city living.

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For years, would-be entrepreneurs have been advised to “find a need and fill it.” Sometimes those needs are hiding in plain sight. A couple of summers ago, I decided to spend time uncluttering my life. I planned to go through every file, drawer and closet and get rid of anything that no longer seemed useful or fit my current lifestyle. If I told people what I was doing, there was an almost unanimous response. “When you’re done would you come to my house and start in on my stuff?” I was repeatedly asked. Clutter, it seems, is a nuisance that afflicts nearly every one of us.

Helping others get clutter under control is, it would appear, an opportunity whose time has come. The motivations for leading a less cluttered life are varied. Some people hope that more order will lead to increased serenity and efficiency; the environmentally conscious are motivated by eliminating human wastefulness; for others, a life transition means a change in priorities and reassessment of their material wants and needs. Whatever the reason, living a less cluttered life may require the services of others to bring about the order and balance we seem to crave. If organizing is a strong point of yours or you share concerns about a crowded planet, creating a business that helps make a dent in the problem may be a natural for you.

Reduce. Forty years ago, efficiency experts were all the rage. The new version of that occupation is the professional organizer. Although most organizers develop a specialty (i.e., law offices, home offices, personal environments), their aims are similar: to bring order out of chaos, to help their clients work and live more efficiently, and to reduce the accumulated clutter.

How does one get started as a professional organizer? Michele Hockersmith, owner of Creative Business Consulting International, says she began offering this service because it came naturally to her and it also fit in with the other services her business offers to small and home based start-ups. Eventually, she developed a very intentional science that she uses to help clients systemize both the tangible and intangible aspects of their business. Hockersmith emphasizes that she does not impose a system on her clients; rather, she watches a person to get a sense of their own natural organizing process and then fits the system around the client. The result is an organizing system that makes sense to the client and is easy to implement and maintain.

Whether it’s a business or a home that’s being organized, being a professional organizer involves a twofold approach. Initially, the organizer’s work may be hands-on — sorting, purging, filing. The client also needs to be involved in the process and educated about keeping order once the consultant has gone.

Reuse. There’s another huge opportunity growing from our desire to live less cluttered lives. Reselling unwanted or unused items is an increasingly popular enterprise. Clothing, books and antiques have long been the staples of consignment sellers. In our Reuse It culture, the idea of reselling items has taken on a wider scope. Toys, computers, records and compact discs, as well as sporting goods are showing up in stores devoted to selling previously owned goods.

Christine Fontaine ran a consignment shop for home furnishings. Her funky and eclectic store acquired inventory in a variety of ways. One source was what Fontaine called “decorator faux pas,” meaning special-order furniture that didn’t work out in the space for which it was intended. She also stocked samples from sales reps, as well as goods purchased from the general public. “I aim for furniture that is too good for garage sales,” she says. Also unique to her shop were handcrafted decorative items made by local artisans who recycled materials to create new and beautiful things for the home.

Another variation of this type of business are those which specialize in organizing and holding estate and/or household sales. The key to success in this kind of business seems to be having a tight focus, both in merchandise and market. Although eclectic antique and junk stores are still popular, reselling merchandise with a newer history seems to work best when the product line is narrow and clearly defined — such as baby goods or exercise equipment.

And, of course, eBay has made this an easy profit center for anyone to start.

Recycle. While most of us think of recycling as being environmentally responsible, businesses devoted to recycling the throwaway clutter of our lives are also enjoying renewed popularity. A story on the evening news featured two college-aged brothers who started a business recycling newspapers after their community program was abolished. Using rental trucks to pick up the papers and hiring college friends to staff the business, the brothers are earning thousands of dollars weekly, in part because the price of newspaper has skyrocketed from $20/ton to $150/ton. At the same time, their business fills a necessary void in community service.

The new interest in environmentally conscious businesses is reflected in a poll that cited that a third of all Americans said they would buy recycled products if they had the opportunity. As more people rethink their buying habits and experiment with simpler ways of living, the market for used and recycled goods continues to expand. There’s also a growing opportunity for inventors and entrepreneurs to apply principles of sound environmental management and saner technologies to their work. This, too, opens the door to numerous new business possibilities.

So whether you’re a committed environmentalist or a person who wants to relieve the stress caused by clutter, finding your business niche should be easy — at least until we have the entire planet cleaned up and running smoothly.

There’s more where this came from.
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It’s been 18 years since I first began teaching adults and I still find it an invigorating and profitable experience. Teaching adults has taken me all over the country and abroad, given me visibility in my community, brought interesting new people into my life, and led to the publication of my first book. Every class I’ve taught came about as a result of my own experiences.

Once you recognize that the things you know how to do could be valuable to others, how can you turn that expertise into a profitable teaching experience? Here are some things to keep in mind before you pick up the chalk.

Some adult programs are experience-oriented, others demand credentials. You need to determine which are which. Even community colleges offer non-credit courses taught by non-academics, so don’t rule out any possibilities until you’ve done your homework. Ask for catalogs from as many programs as you can locate in your area. Besides the obvious, don’t overlook places such as the YMCA and similar non-school organizations that offer classes.

In many areas, independent adult ed programs are being started. These programs are especially open to creative, even offbeat, program ideas. You may have a class that would be appropriate to several venues, each with its own audience. Research every local possibility.

Solicit wish lists from local programs. Independent programs and community colleges are often tuned in to similar programs in other cities and try to duplicate successful topics not offered in their area. In addition to your own class ideas, you might find a topic on the wish list that’s perfect for you to teach.

Call the program director to discuss your ideas. If they like your class topics, they may ask for a written proposal. A savvy program director will be knowledgeable about the students whom they serve and can suggest changes that may make your class more attractive to their audience. Take advantage of their expertise.

If you haven’t already done so, write a class proposal. Different schools have different ideas about what needs to be included in a proposal. Some will want a description that’s the length and format of the class descriptions published in their catalogs; others will want a more detailed description that includes your course objectives, a step-by-step outline of your class, and a copy of the handouts you’ll be using. The best class descriptions have a catchy title, a clear description of the content, and a short teacher bio. Make every word count.

While it may be good for your other business or your community visibility to align yourself with an adult ed program, make creating and delivering a good class your top priority. No program wants teachers who view this as an opportunity to do a long commercial for themselves. Check, also, on the school’s policy about marketing other products and/or services through your class. In some places it’s strictly prohibited, while more entrepreneurial programs encourage marketing as long as it’s handled tastefully and is appropriate to the class.

Realize that teaching adults is quite different from teaching children. Adults show up with varied backgrounds and more expectations. While most adult learners are wonderful, once in a while you’ll have a student you wish had stayed home. Don’t let the occasional thorn keep you from sharing your great information and thoughts with the kinder students.

Teacher payment plans vary, so ask about your options. Some programs offer an hourly teaching rate while others pay a percentage of each student’s enrollment. If your class needs to be limited in size, you’ll probably earn more if you take the hourly fee. On the other hand, if you expect to attract a large group, you’ll want to take advantage of being paid a percentage. Don’t be afraid to negotiate as generous a deal as you can.

Don’t be dismayed if your first classes are small. This can actually be an advantage if you’re inexperienced at teaching. Keep improving your material and build your confidence through repeated practice. If you really believe in your subject and give it your best shot every time, your enrollments are bound to grow. In the event that you miscalculated interest in your subject, go back to the drawing board and see if a new subject or angle might be a bigger success.

If you discover that you enjoy working with adult learners as much as I do, you’ll find continuing opportunities to expand your teaching. You can enlarge your repertoire to include other topics or you can offer your classes in other geographic areas.

Teaching can be a wonderfully portable occupation that can contribute to your growth as well as to the growth of your students. Once you’ve taken a class idea, smoothed out all the bumps, and proven it’s a winner, you’ll find new ways and places with eager new students waiting for you to show up.

There’s more where this came from.
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Helping others get clutter under control is, it would appear, an opportunity whose time has come. The motivations for leading a less cluttered life are varied. Some people hope that more order will lead to increased serenity and efficiency; the environmentally conscious are motivated by reducing human wastefulness; for others, a life transition means a change of priorities and reassessment of their material wants and needs.

Whatever the reason, living a less clutter life may require the services of others to bring about the order and balance that we crave.

If organizing is a strong point of yours, or you share concerns about a crowded planet, creating a business that helps make a dent in the problem may be a natural for you. A good starting point for uncovering ideas is the rallying cry of Planetkeepers everywhere: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Reduce. Forty years ago, efficiency experts were all the rage. The new version of that occupation is the professional organizer. Although most organizers develop a specialty, their aims are similar: to bring order out of chaos, to help their clients work and live more efficiently, and to reduce clutter once and for all.

How does one get started as a professional organizer? Michele Hockersmith says she began offering this service because it came naturally to her and it also fit in with the other services her business offered to homebased startups. Eventually, she developed a very intentional science to help clients systemize both the tangible and intangible aspects of their business.

Whether it’s a business or a home that’s being organized, being a professional organizer involves a twofold approach. Initially, the organizer’s work may be hands on—sorting, purging, filing. Then the client needs to be involved in the process and educated about keeping order once the consultant has gone.

To learn more visit http://NAPO.net.

Reuse. Reselling unwanted or unused items is an increasingly popular enterprise. Clothing, books and antiques have long been the staples of consignment sellers. As we become a Reuse It culture, the idea of reselling items has taken on a wider scope. Toys, computers, records and compacts discs, as well as sporting good and a wide array of household items are showing up in stores devoted to selling previously owned goods. Of course, many sellers are using services like eBay and Craigslist to sell directly.

Another variation of this type of business are those which specialize in organizing and holding estate and/or household sales. The key to success in this kind of business seems to be having a tight focus, both in merchandise and market. Although eclectic antique and junk stores are still popular, reselling merchandise with a newer history seems to work best when the product line is narrow and clearly defined—such as baby goods or exercise equipment.

Recycle. While most of us think of recycling as being environmentally responsible, businesses devoted to recycling the throwaway clutter of our lives are also enjoying renewed popularity.

I recall a story on the evening news that feature two college-aged brothers who started a business recycling newspapers after their community program was abolished. Using rental trucks to pick up the papers and hiring college friends to staff the business, the brothers were earning thousands of dollars weekly. At the same time, their business filled a necessary void in community service.

The new interest in environmentally conscious businesses just keeps growing. A poll found that a third of all Americans said they would buy recycled products if they had the option. As more people rethink their buying habits and experiment with simpler ways of living, the market for used and recycled goods continues to expand.

There’s also a growing opportunity for inventors and entrepreneurs to apply principles of sound environmental management and saner technologies to their work. This, too, opens the door to numerous new business possibilities.

Whether you’re a committed environmentalist or a person who wants to relieve the stress caused by clutter, finding your business niche should be easy—and keep you busy until we have the entire planet cleaned up and running smoothly.

There’s more where this came from.
Order Winning Ways now!

Although there’s currently a battle brewing over whether they should be called pet owners or pet guardians, there’s no quarrel about the fact that we are a nation of animal lovers. More than 31 million households in the U.S. own one or more dogs (the average is 1.7); 27 million homes have at least one cat in residence; birds are caged in 4.6 million homes. Exotic animals make up a smaller percentage of pets owned, but reptiles and amphibians have their devoted fans, too. Of course, this isn’t just an American passion. Canadians and many Europeans are also devoted animal caretakers.

All this creature devotion has spawned a huge market for products and services that help care for (and pamper) Fido and Fluffy. Just a decade ago, Americans spent $17 billion a year on pet products and services. This year pet purchases are expected to rise to $31 billion.

If you adore animals in general (as opposed to your own pets, whom you believe to be full family members), a pet-based profit center could be a lovely fit for you.

Pet-related businesses usually fall into one of two broad categories: products and services for animals or products and services for animal owners. If your intention is to spend as much time as possible with animals, you’ll easily chose the former. If you enjoy sharing your passion for a particular breed or kind of pet with others who are equally enamored, you might find your niche with a product that is more people-oriented.

Pet services. You don’t have to enroll in a veterinary college to have a business that caters to animals. Pet sitting, training, grooming and breeding are old stand-bys that are all relatively easy to start and ensure optimum contact with animals.

In this busy world of ours, there’s a growing need for professional pet watchers to keep animals fed and exercised when their owners are away. When Linda Leamer, a longtime cat lover, began creating profit centers, the idea of caring for cats was a natural. She began by advertising in a local paper and her business has continued to grow ever since. Referrals from veterinarians also have expanded her client base. While she admits there was a bit of trial and error in the beginning, she was clear from the start about the geographic limitations of her service, as well as the options offered. Today, she has one part-time assistant and plans to make sitting her retirement business.

Another variation of this — a particularly good opportunity for city dwellers — is dog walking. Professional dog walkers, who earn more money than you might imagine, build a regular clientele of dogs that they handle every day. It’s a little bit like servicing a route, with a built-in exercise bonus for the dog walker.

Pet boarding services and the newly fashionable pet daycare centers require more commitment of time and financial resources, but have great potential as profitable endeavors. An excellent manual for starting a sitting business is Patti J. Moran’s Pet Sitting for Profit (IDG Books Worldwide, $17.95).

Pet grooming businesses also seem to flourish everywhere. Many people simply begin advertising without any training whatsoever, although the National Dog Groomers Association of America is trying to change that. Technical colleges often have short courses in grooming and other national programs are also available. Publications such as Dog Fancy magazine have numerous listings for programs located throughout the country.

Training is another huge area of business. Dog and horse trainers, especially, are in demand. A few trainers specialize in training guide dogs for the blind or hearing impaired. Here in Minnesota, we have a business that trains unusual and exotic animals for television commercials — a unique service. Programs that train the trainer exist throughout the country, but before signing on, you need to thoroughly investigate the methods taught by a prospective program. An additional profit center in the animal training field is the do-it-yourself training video, always popular with new pet owners.

Pet products. As anyone knows who has set foot in a pet superstore, there’s a dazzling array of merchandise available to make life comfortable for a beloved pet. Small business owners can often create their own niche by producing a product that’s unique and then marketing it in an equally specialized way. Handmade coats and sweaters for pets living in cold climates have long been hot items (that pun is purely accidental) and there’s always a market for cute, colorful or utilitarian outdoor gear.

With the growing interest in nutrition, pet owners are often eager to feed their animals the healthiest possible food. Many local cat and dog treat bakeries have sprung up around the country to provide healthy alternatives. One such business was started by Anne Abrams, owner of Treatoria Food Company, which produces specialty food and treats. After moving to Seattle, several things happened that led to the creation of this business. She found, she says, that as a newcomer she was meeting the most people on her nightly dog walks at the park. She also had become interested in naturopathy and had changed her diet to reflect that. When she began feeding her own pets a naturopathic diet, she noticed positive changes and decided to produce fresh foods for other pet owners lacking the time or inclination to cook for their pets. Originally, her products were sold through her retail outlet, but today the focus is on wholesaling.

Products for petlovers. Another area of opportunity awaits in creating and marketing products aimed at the pet lover, not the pet.

A big category here is information packaging. Instructional books and magazines help pet owners do a better job of caring for their adopted animals. Much of the information is general, but niche publications also find an audience. One such publication is Wendy Ballard’s DogGone newsletter, which highlights pet-friendly destinations across the U.S. plus offers tips for people who vacation with their dogs.

Then there’s Petoria’s Secret, the brainchild of best friends Patti Pigeon and Maria Rizzuto. The women met while in a training class for their Newfoundlands. This led to the idea of marketing products to dog lovers that were more creative than the T-shirts with breeds stamped on them that were the usual offering at dog shows. Five years later, the business, which was started on a shoestring, had grown to include a mail-order catalog plus a garage-turned-doggie-boutique in Patti’s Golden, Colorado home. Much of their business comes from selling their wares at dog shows. In addition to clothing and jewelry, they have some home furnishing with a dog theme in their repertoire as well. Big sellers include a polar fleece jacket with comical dog and dog-bone appliqués and dog-bone earrings. All products must meet their stringent criteria for being whimsical.

Over the years, I have interviewed hundreds of people about their businesses, but I have never encountered the level of passion that I found in talking to people who have pet-related enterprises. Not only do they love animals, they all sounded almost giddy in talking about sharing that love through their business and having the opportunity to work with others who share their passion for pets.

There’s more where this came from.
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