[OT] Ideas for Self-Employment

As a kind of follow-up to daedle's poll about "would you work from home?" I think it would be interesting to brainstorm ideas for home-based businesses. These do not have to be stay-at-home businesses.

As an example, I know someone who started mowing lawns in high school. He worked for awhile for someone who already had a gardening service, then he went to work for himeself. He is as busy as he wants to be, and grosses over $40K.

Do any of you know of similar individuals? What do they do? How hard was it to get started? What special skills are involved?

Let's share some ideas!

Think of something that somebody else is doing, go to work for them and learn the biz. Then break off into your own thing.

But for a less vague idea,

I'd love to start a home-based background checking biz over the web. I'm still gathering info for that.

Think of something that somebody else is doing, go to work for them and learn the biz. Then break off into your own thing.

Click to expand...

That's one of the main problems in drywall today...one thinks they've learned the business after a few months. Years of sorrow follow. Most must learn the hard way, sadly.

If you love what you do, and there is a demand for it, then diligence and hard work most often pay off.

Here's an idea that would be useful to many but would probably only appeal to the ladies. A customer with growing and grown children (mainly daughters) decided to take all their outgrown clothes and start a consignment shop in our local village. She rented the spot, took out ads and I went there today with three big loads of clothes. The store is about half full already and she opened last week. She told me she is paying 50% of the sale price and will hold things for 3 months. I get a number attached to my clothes and the daughters were put to work sorting and stocking the inventory. After the 3 months I can have what doesn't sell back or they donate the items to the church. She profits, I profit and she has her kids all working. I can't imagine making much but then again, I'm doing nothing to earn it except getting rid of things I no longer found useful anyway. Quite a project and I wish her all the success she can handle!

Vicki

You have to be careful on trade work in California so as to not do work that is the provence of contractors.

I'm licensed as a landscape contractor and while it's OK for someone to mow grass and prune, they are likely to be whacked if they plant plants or install an irrigation system.

The California State Contractors License Board sets up stings to nail unlicensed contractors.

It also depends where you are. In the boondocks, no one worries about licenses.

However, there are lots of other options such as car repair, firewood, tilling gardens. Way back my wife made candles. Her big seller was the Cambells tomato soup can candle. We saved the soup cans (with the labels on) and she filled them with a, well, soup colored wax. She couldn't make enough - and we couldn't use enough tomato soup. Another big seller was a big, round black candle like a giant eight ball.

She has done network marketing for a number of years. For the past several years she has sold Juice Plus+ (fruit and vegetables in a capsule - I think it's great stuff). The advantage of a home business is that it let's you write off business expenses. Think about it.

I designed custom houses for a number of years. They ranged from the mundane to passive solar ones.

We were also a certified organic farm and sold tomatoes and strawberries plus a few minor crops. We finally quit when we had to either get a lot bigger (meaning investing a bunch of bucks so we had the cash flow to hire people) or get smaller. We chose smaller and went out of business.

Todd

Todd said:

We were also a certified organic farm and sold tomatoes and strawberries plus a few minor crops. We finally quit when we had to either get a lot bigger (meaning investing a bunch of bucks so we had the cash flow to hire people) or get smaller. We chose smaller and went out of business.

Todd

Click to expand...

Todd,

I don't want to hijack this thread, but if it's okay with mountainmike, can you tell us more information about your growing tomatoes and strawberries? Did you have a pick your own? Can you scrape by in that business? How's the competion?

I'm forgetting a lot of questions, but you get the gist. Any information on this type of home business is appreciated. I'm buying 16 acres on a very, very, well traveled road (State Highway) and this very much interests me.

Thanks,
Mick

Mick, I raise garlic for market. Right now I have 5 kinds. I grow organically but am not certified and will not get certified. Right now my food garlic sells for 5 bucks a pound and my seed quality for 9 bucks a pound. I should get more but there are a couple of other smaller growers who are on school teachers pensions and they won't raise their prices. I have forced them to come up a dollar but they are still at 4 bucks for seed. One variety I grow sells for 21 bucks a pound out of Washington State. the garlic is awesome in flavour. I can sell all I can plant. We double our production every year, using our own production for seed except for new varieties.

We did tomatoes, salad packs and beets. Right now water is a problem or I would be growing beets as wellas garlic. Garlic does not need a lot of water in my area.

If you have location, the work ethic, and good land you can do o.k with veggies. It is easy to over plant and get behind. If you do the gardening, have someone else run the market.

I would be interested in talking more if you wanna PM me.

Another good homebased business would be meat chickens that graze. A chicken house would be the biggest expense and then fencing. Organic grown chicken sells for 5 bucks a pound around here.

saw a business idea a while ago (here?) that seemed pretty neat.
the person describing the business had bought a digital camera and a CD burner. his service? taking photos of the customer's home and all their possessions, burning the pictures onto CDs which documented everything for insurance purposes in case of losses due to fire or burglary. besides giving the customer a CD of the photos, the business kept a copy on file as a backup in case the customer lost theirs in the fire or misplaced it.

Believe it or not, we're going into the baseball business.

For less than $10,000, we'll have 10 batting cages and 5 pitching cages. The pitching machines are second hand, and the pitching cages are home-made.

There are no batting cages within 90 minutes of here, and after feeling out the locals, it appears we could make a nice Spring & Summer income (expect to make back investment first season).

Add refreshments, pizza, and big screen TV, and kids' parties, and we're looking pretty good.

We've identified two likely buildings with parking.

We'll flip the coin in the next couple of weeks.

'nuff said.

Eddie

I am SO interested in this thread! Ghostdog, you have a PM Todd, I agree with Mick...I, too, would love to learn more about raising food crops, or other plants, for profit. DH and I are looking for ways to make money off our modest little adobe in the PNW. Please, GhostDog, and Todd...or anyone else who has anything to add...tell us how you grow, and market, your crops, without tons of red tape. We're all ears!

Or..should this be a new thread, Mountain Mike...don't mean to step on your toes. Thanks for starting this thread, BTW. To stay on topic, in my 50-something years, DH and I together for half that time, we have not yet found the perfect home-based business. We tried several MLM's, and other small businesses. But you just have to find your niche. For me, that love happens to be the love of plants, and I would love to hear about other's idea on how to play on their interests, plants, or otherwise. One of our grown Sons just started a landscape and yard business locally, and has more business than he can handle. He's thinking seriously of expanding into the house painting arena. I knew someone once who repaired small appliances, and also had more business than you would expect in this throw-away society. A very good friend started a handy-man business, while his wife worked a 9-5, and finally quit that because business was so brisk, he was TOO busy, and there wasn't enough time to relax and spend his wife's money Pick what you love, and persue and perfect it. Then do it for money. It's Just Me

How about starting a help wanted bulletin board....?



"looking for a driver...good with radios and scanners...experience with a sawed-off... a plus. High reward potential, small risk...equal oppertunity employer."

In this area, house painters, small,one,two guys(gals) are in high demand.
Mostly inside jobs,but outside as well.

A van,a plan is what you need to start.

I liked jed turtles idea.

Right now I have a few business plans. One that is starting to get some legs and is doing quit well (with a vary low start up cost) is investing in other people, like my new wife that just a year ago she got her notery and loan signing agent papers and is banking some money now, on her own. Now after years of investing in other people, I have to admit that she is the first person in my life to do so( that is take the rains and run with it). She is now talking about how she could cut out the middle man, and become like a title company. It may be a few more years befor that business plan breaks even though, heh, heh....

I sell stuff all over the world and market vary little(internut sales), buy low- sell for profit. My main business is contracting but that may bring in the dough but is hard work. As I get older I see many money making ideas. With my hands and mind I can survive! I thinks thats just attitude. And attitude is 99% making a nice liveing in life.

By the age of 25 I had done a million dollars worth of trade on my vary own. Did some of that rub off on me? Not enouf and at 35 now, I'm still a poor redneck and doing a lot more trade. However the days are getting longer and my time more valuable. I'm thinking of selling out of my contractors business. I could survive off my other plans.

There was a post similar to this one on Cory's board.
Among other ideas was one I found most interesting.

A poster detailed the arrangement he has with a local
scrapyard owner (not an auto yard-a scrap metal yard).

In exchange for 50% of realized profits, he sells anything
he finds, that happens to end up in the owner's yard,
on eBay. Rare car parts, a tugboat's ship's bell,etc. He gets
dirty; does all the work, and takes the photos and handles
shipping and correspondence. The owner would rather
have more (all) of the profit, but he doesn't understand
computers and the Net and besides, it's more money than
he'd normally get, with steel going for cents per pound.

In this same vein, a friend is parting out a 1983 Mitsubishi
Sapporo. He wanted to sell it to an autoyard. He was offered
$35 if he drove it to the yard. He was going to be charged
$25 if they had to pick it up.

Enter me, his friend. I found a collector's group in Britain.
The very same MB Sapporo was sold there and was quite
popular. Parts are at a premium.

One project I have always wanted to undertake is a small
diner. Nothing fancy, just good food and who cares how
your fellow diners are dressed. A "RoadFood" kind of place.
If you had a business license and an I.R.S. tax number,
you could buy food wholesale. Not mention everything else.
Computers. Paper. Ink cartridges...The deductions for small
businesses boggle the mind.

I know a fellow who is so cheap (and also clever) that he
attends tradeshows to buy "samples for possible importation"
-and to fill out his Christmas list. All he really needs in some
cases, is a business card to get in.

Take a look here at a Backyard Nursery business.

http://www.freeplants.com/backyard.htm

Lots of info in the sidebar here....

http://www.freeplants.com/frame set.htm

I'm starting this myself, slowly, due to some health issues.

Growing Stuff

The first thing to do is talk to the owners/managers of local food outlets that sell organic food and/or pesticide free food. There has been a revolution in our area since the passage of the national organic bill; tons of establish growers are dropping their organic certification since it is a real pain to jump through the hoops to be certified. Let me emphasize the word established, that is, purchasers recognize the farm name.

Ask what they are interested in buying from you and the quantity they might be interested in buying per day or week.

The alternative to wholesaling is the roadside stand (I'll get back to that). We also did farmers markets

You want high value crops and this typically means labor intensive or hard to grow crops. Besides tomatoes and strawberries we grew about 12 kinds of garlic and, maybe, 10 of shallots. What makes organic garlic and shallots a labor intensive vrop is the hand weeding required.

You have to be able to hit the market before home gardens start producing. Our tomato sales died once people could pick their own at home. This mean we went to extrodinary lengths to get early crops. For example, in the case of tomatoes we started them very, very early and transplanted them to larger and larger containers so that they were in 5 gallon grow bags and blooming by the time they could be set out. We kept the plants in our small greenhouses (one was 14x18 and one was 20x20). To make significant bucks we would have had to put in a bigger greenhouse, like maybe 40x100 feet.

Before going large scale we did variety tests and invited people over for taste tests the preceeding year. We ended up growing the one we had initially planned to grow but you have to grow what people want even if you personally hate it. In the case of tomatoes we tested something like 25 varieties.

We stressed QUALITY and did not try to pawn off substandard fruit. We separated tomatoes into two categories - slicers and canners - with different prices for each. Lots of people thought our "canners" were great for slicing but we wanted everyone to know thatstuff from us meant quality.

In the case of strawberries, we grew day neutral ones. These provide a longer season than either June bearers or everbearers. We currently grow Seascape for home use and we know of one farm far south of us who grow them commercially for a roadside stand. We copied commercial production mentods so far as possible while staying within organic rules. We used plastic mulch and fertigated with fish emulsion. We didn't try to fumigate the soil like commercial growers.

I also tried copying a vertical bag system that is used by some greenhouse strawberry growers in other countries. It wasn't worth the effort.

Now, can you make bucks? Yes and no. You can make bucks but your return per hour of labor is low. In other words, you can make more on a day job but if you like agriculture and working at home then it's a yes. If you want to get the most per hour, get a day job.

Roadside stands - if there is a main road with lots of traffic, fine. But remember you are stuck at the stand all day unless it in front of your house. Some growers use the honor system in small communities where locals take what they want and leave the money.

A friend of ours did a roadside stand in town here and did quite well financially. He stayed at the staand all day since it was on a major tourist higway. He hired a guy to do the actual growing at his farm. He didn't pay the guy much but provide really nice housing.

Farmers markets - the advantage is that you can sell retail. The disadvantage is that you have to have enough produce at one time. For stuff like strawberries that don't hang well, it can be a problem unless you have alternative outlets for the berries that ripen before the farmers market.

Community Supported - this is where people buy "shares" and agree to take a certain amount of produce each week. There is a bunch of information about it from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) site.

http://www.sare.org

Check out the book The New American Farmer for lots of ideas. It's free off the web or $10 (includes shipping) from the University of Vermont.

Well, I've tried to cover a little of everyhting. Is there more specific information you'd like?

Todd

I knew a young man who put himself through college either driving or following people around.
His clients were mainly people who lived alone. I used his services many times. When my car had to be worked on and needed to stay at the garage a day or so, he would follow me over, then drive me back home. Ditto with the pick-up. He would drive me to the airport, then pick me up when I returned from my trip. I loved not having to bother friends.
He also got a lot of business from people who were temporarily under medication which made them drowsy and people who had (mainly leg) injuries which made it unsafe or impossible for them to drive.
His car wasn't new, but it was well-maintained and immaculately clean. He, himself, was friendly and helpful. He was ALWAYS on time.
He told me that he had arranged his classes so that he was free after 12:00 noon. He had cards made up and distributed them where ever he thought his services might be needed (orthopedists, dentists, singles clubs, senior citizens centers etc)
He graduated several years ago and I really miss him. If another such service came along, I'd use it in a minute!
BTW, his fees were quite reasonable. Most people tipped him well---I know I did.

CC....just a note about your diner idea. My husband and I owned a small restaurant for three years, just served breakfast and lunch. It was a nice business and we did pretty good at it BUT every year we were in business our insurance doubled! Insurance costs are HIGH in the restaurant business, and it's too nerve-wracking (at least for us) to go without insurance. The employees are another problem - unless you're going to be doing all the work yourself. It's extremely rare to find someone who will actually show up when they're supposed to or even call to let you know they're not coming in. Also, they'll steal from you all too often. Those are the two issues that made us decide to sell out.

I'm really interested in the growing food ideas too.

Ghostdog, what types of garlic do you sell? Are any one or two better sellers? Who do you market to?

Todd, just noticed as I was typing this you put up a lot of good info. Thanks!

Get into Da Bidness...

<img src=http://secure.hostasaurus.com/graphics/00000001/pd-ph-vb-rz-lg.jpg>

You too can be a <B>PIMP!!!</b>

Thanks, everyone, for all the great ideas that you have posted so far (....except maybe Don's last one...).

Don't worry about thread drift...as long as your post is even loosely related to the topic, I don't mind.

I was wondering if anyone has done the "craft fair" thing. If so, did you make the items you sold, or did you import? What are some of the pitfalls?

Thanks again, everyone.

Okay - all kidding aside...

Howdy, Folks!

MM,

Sorry - I just HAD to do that.

Now, for some real ideas:

<a href="http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=53639">[ot] Ways of producing income</a>


<a href="http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1382"> {ot}List of self employment or own business</a>


This has been a topic of discussion in the past, so I thought it would be good to link 'em up here.

Enjoy!

A PS on U-pick

We did that one year and it was far more of a pain than it was worth. People would bring the kids and the DOG who both would run all over the place. Little kids would pick unripe berries which mom would then throw away costing us future product. Or the kids would get into our personal garden and pick stuff to show mommy.

Further, since these people were friends, they'd expect us to stand around and talk to them. If we did, we'd end up picking berries for them. Unfortunately, we had real work to do and that sort of made us shine on converstaions.

Incidentally, we also grew/grow high bush blueberries. It's a great crop with a big return BUT a pain to pick by hand. There were a number of u-pick blueberry farms where we lived in Delaware before our move to CA. If you are going to wholesale or retail them and have to do the picking, I'd investigate a mechanical harvester (I don't know if they make one but I assume so). Even with berry loss, you'd still make more money because of the labor savings.

Kris - pimps is a great idea. I had one friend who was an ex-pimp. He burned out after a while. It's hard work.

Todd

If you have the space dog and kitty breeding can bring in a nice supplemental income or possibly one to sustain you. My sister in law has a job but breeds min pins and pugs and gets $375 to $500 a pup and usually sells all. She usually keeps one for breeding down the road. Her husband built the pens for her and the doghouses and they just recently bought a fairly large shed with air and heat since their breeding stock is getting a bit larger. Also had girlfriend who just bought a maine coon kitten and paid $400 and said she was lucky to get it as their was a waiting list. Do some research and choose a either popular or rare breed and become a responsible breeder. I am seriously thinking about this myself. Hubbys nephew was interested in a great dane and the starting price for those pups is $1000.

Also anything as simple as a dog kitty taxi service to vets, groomers ect possible with boarding service. And anything from simple dog shampooing to learning to groom. My groomer ( we live in the country) is always busy and gets anywhere from $30 and up for bathing and clipping (no fancy grooming that I have seen) and has at least 8 or more dogs whenever I am there) Have heard of a dog food delivery service when you provide large cans to the customer and refill when needed. You make a little on the food and charge them per trip and can also sell other doggie supplies to them. Customer base can be older people who can't lug those 40 lb bags so easily anymore and people who work and don't mind paying for special services.

Hi Mike,
Here's my 2 cents,

Some people sell for others on ebay & take a commision for each sale. You would have to post, & handle the packing/shipping. Some people are not computer savvy or just don't have the time to go thru the process.

I'm a locksmith/safe tech by trade. It can be run as a one man business. Its a trade thats not too physical & can be conducted with a just a van. The downside is you'll have to pay for the training & initial equipment purchase .Its possible to learn the trade as an apprentice or to take a correspondence course. There are many branches to locksmithing. There's real estate, automotive,safes,alarms,entry/repo techs, & institutional. If you don't live by a city, This trade might not be doable. One thing to keep in mind with this trade, when times are bad, business is good. Since everything is in a van, This also can be considered a portable trade.

Good luck in your search

I've done the craft fair thing! It was a kitchen table business that I was part of. We made wooden toys, cars, rubber band guns, stuff like that. We also sold a variety of hand-painted clothing items.

It was a blast! We did county fairs and the East Mountain Rendezvous.

Had a blast, yup. Had a blast going broke! I think if it had all been managed better, we could have actually made some money!

Home Business

If you live in/near high rise apartments, start a shopping service for the elderly! I have heard some groceries are beginning to deliver as there is a great need for this service. You could expand the service to pay bills, run other errands, etc. I think it would be good to be bonded; give folks some sense of your reliability, honesty, etc.

I am a notary too. I have thought of opening a "legal service" which offers forms of all sorts for filing for divorce, child custody, wills and trusts. In our country people can do these things pro bono (for themselves) if they choose. Your service, advertising this service, would make the public aware that there are many legal processes they can file with the courts themselves.

You could also offer para legal research for attorneys, typing of legal briefs, etc.

Grow holly trees and find a resource which can use holly branches for the holidays. Expand this into making holiday wreaths for sale.

Paint goose eggs for display at craft shows. Make stationary to match your designs to sell. Use your imagination and go wild. Put your designs on e-bay and sell all you can produce.

I was fairly sucessful selling cross stitch patterns on ebay. I have software that makes patterns from pictures. The post office will give you free shipping cartons and envelopes, if you use their services.

If you are an artist design painting packets to sell on ebay. Draw a design, paint it, take a picture, copy the original line drawing, write out instructions and there you are!

Information Consultant

If you have never read Entrepreneur Magazine you need to get a copy. Even their web pages at http://www.entrepreneur.com have a boatload of information.

On this page they list several "Start-up" kits all for self employment, some for home based businesses.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/toolkit


Well, since a lot are already at home, have a computer, have an Internet connection why not this?

Rest of article at link:

Information Consultant
Captain Information to the rescue! OK, you probably shouldn't put that on your business cards, but clients will recognize your heroic powers of research when you start an information consulting firm.
June 18, 2001
Compiled By Laura Tiffany URL: http://www.Entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,290411,00.html


In the past, information consultants were generally ex-librarians or full-time librarians who moonlighted by doing extra research for clients. Things have changed a lot in the past 10 years. Now, primarily due to easier access to information online, information consultants can come from virtually any profession. Medical receptionists can become medical researchers. Magazine editors can become expert researchers in topics they used to cover in their magazines. Paralegals or legal secretaries can take their knowledge of legal matters into business doing research for lawyers. It's even possible for you to become an information consultant without any experience in the field by subcontracting work from established consultants. The possibilities are endless. Why, then, isn't everyone with any sense doing this type of work? The answer is simple: Many people are just not cut out for it. In the next section, we'll take a closer look at what it takes to be an information consultant, so you can decide whether the profession is right for you.


Startup Costs:

Office Furniture $350
Computer Hardware $2,000
Computer Software $700
Phone & Fax Machine $200
Printed Collateral
(Business Cards, Letterhead Stationery) $100
Phone Line Installation (Two lines) $150
Other Communication Devices (Cell Phone, Pager) $100
Miscellaneous Expenses
(add About 10% of Total) $360

Total Start-Up Costs $3,960

Another good one: Virtual Assistant

Virtual Assistant
Help manage clients’ offices from your home office.
HomeOfficeMag.com - February 2001
By Paul and Sarah Edwards
URL: http://www.Entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,285985,00.html

You're a valuable, trustworthy office assistant or administrator. You're successful at your job because you complete tasks in a way that makes your boss look good and feel better. But you'd rather work for yourself and be in charge of your own time. Maybe you want to be at home when your kids arrive from school, or maybe you're just tired of commuting. Maybe you dream of living in the mountains or your rural hometown, but you still want to produce an income.


The good news is, the explosion of the Internet and the global economy has produced not only the virtual organization, but also a new business opportunity: the virtual assistant.

As a virtual assistant, you take on the nitty-gritty work for independent professionals and small businesses that don't need a full-time secretary or office manager. Your tasks may include secretarial work, meeting and travel planning, project managing, and logistics coordinating.

One Last Thing for the Vegie Group

It's really important to brand yourself and your product. Besides putting a lable with our name on anything we sold, we had field days where we invited anyone to come and see our operation (as small as it was) and ask questions. We wrote a bi-weekly gardening column for our local paper. Besides regular garden stuff we wrote about our "research". We never kept any secrets about how we grew stuff so well with high quality.

I served on the board of directors of our local food co-op and was vice president of a non-profit organic food trucking company in which our local co-op had a financial stake.

I was also the chair of our local planning advisory committee and served as the foreman of the county grand jury.

My point is that my wife and I were known quantities to everyone in town. And, most importantly, we did this stuff because we wanted to and it was fun - not because we were trying to hype ourselves and our vegies.

Now, since I'm retired, I have to admit my activity level has really dropped off. I do serve on the board of directors of a non-profit corporation that provides continuing education for pesticide applicators in California and co-ordinate one continuing education seminar for northwest CA. But that's it. However, once I get all my home projects done, I'll get re-involved again.

Like all businesses, you can't sit at home and hope someone will show up to buy your vegies. You need to get out there.

Todd

My dh pressure/power washes on the side to earn extra money. He has another full-time job, and just does this on the side. It is mainly seasonal work although here (NC) he does do jobs year-round, just not as many as in the summer! He does really well with it!!! He doesn't advertise at all, just word of mouth has carried him. He usually picks up another job with each job he does too! I tell him all the time that he could do it full-time if he wanted, but he says he wouldn't enjoy doing it then. Just as long as he's happy!

Mountain Mike..Thank you so much for starting this new thread. I appreciate the links to the older ones, too, Donald. I remember reading those, and getting a few ideas from them. But this one is the right time for me, personally. And the food crop idea fits in perfectly at this time, for myself and DH. Thank you ever so much, Todd, for sharing so much with us, in regards to growing crops and marketing them. You too, Ghostdog, I have e-mailed you. You are so kind to share your valuable knowledge.

The timing is great for us to look into what it would take in order to grow on our now wooded acreage. There is one area that seems pretty perfect for clearing and getting sunlight to the area. The one area of concern I would have is getting so community involved in order to become known. We are solitary souls. We do have the people skills required in dealing with the public, and produce buyers, however. But not enough energy to deal with scads of people, outside of the time we would provide for work and sales. We are self starters, motivated, not afraid of hard work. I do have some health issues, but DH is strong and healthy. I will definitely be spending some serious research time to follow up on everything mentioned here. Perhaps a new venture will be born down the dusty garden trail...thanks again Mike. It's Just Me

briches said:

I tell him all the time that he could do it full-time if he wanted, but he says he wouldn't enjoy doing it then. Just as long as he's happy!

Click to expand...

HAHA, I agree.

I say if work was fun they would say "I am going to fun" instead of "I am going to work".

Once your hobby become your job it is no longer "fun".

Great thread. I have a home-based business but marketing it has always been the weak link. Assuming that word of mouth is always the best form of advertising, what is the best way to get the word in other people's mouths?

A friend of mine......

started out a driving service for seniors mainly....called "Driving Miss Daisy"....she has built it up into also a delivery service for groceries for her regular customers, and chauffeur service for people who want to get out regularly, but aren't able to have a license or a car.

She and her sister also started a lunchtime food service in a senior home under a contract and they soon found so many new customers in the home who needed to be driven around. Miss Daisy soon had to buy a new van for all the customers and supports herself and child entirely from this business.

She has a great personality and will go the extra mile for her ladies (mainly), and has grown through word of mouth.

Hey All,

I'm interested more in the craft show circuit. I already do some commissioned works for various people, but I'm looking for a way to reach those craft show lookers. I make some nice things from various metals, glass, etc, and sell them fairly cheap. I've thought about e-bay, and will use it for miscelaneous items, but I want a more face to face dealing.

Here's an example:

Here's one that I checked out about a year ago. I decided it wasn't going to work for me because it's strictly part time, and requires a lot of running around.

http://speedreading4kids.com/

Fortress,

Not knowing what you are selling, it's hard to be specific. But I'll pass on what my wife has learned from network marketing.

1. Anticipate that it will take time to develop your business. It took several years before it became a good suppliment to our income.

2. Find a mentor if you can. It will save time since you won't try to re-invent the wheel and it gives you a sounding board. Even if you can't find a mentor, a friend you can talk to about the business is a real asset.

3. Call everyone you have ever known to tell them about your product/service. Don't just call once but call back now and then if they aren't interested at the time of your first call. My wife rekindeled old HS and college friendships from 40+ years ago.

4. Talk to everyone you meet about your product/service. When we pay someone for a service, my wife always tells them about her business. She says, "I supported your business. How about supporting mine?"

5. If you have a logo, try to display it in stores, etc. My wife has gotten sales from people asking about a key chain she has.

6. If you get wrong number calls, tell them about your business as long as they are on the phone anyway.

7. Carry brochures and samples with you. Also try to place them in businesses for people to pick-up.

8. My wife also hands out CDs or tapes if she has a topic of interest to the person she is trying to sell.

9. Again, depending upon your business, try to set up meetings so you can present your product/service to several people at one time. People in groups tend to buy. It is a problem getting people to committ to a meeting and actually show up.

10. Although it sounds trite, self-motivation books can be a real help when you are first starting out.

11. Lastly, my wife really believes that her purpose is to help people get the food phytonutrients they need to be healthy not to just sell something.

Thee are other things but these are a good start.

Todd

Yes there is a mechanized blueberry picker. It grabs the trunk of the bush and shakes the berries off on to a carrier loader contraption. Doesn't do a good job grading though.

I have done craft shows in the past. Skim through the magazine racks at supermarkets to see whats hot from year to year. I made decorative basket lids and a few other wooden things. I now run two craft, antique,collectible shows a year as a fundraiser for our library. Some of the people that set up do the flea market circuit and sell anything and everything as a living. They are set up somewhere every weekend. Some of them are on SS or have another person in the household that works the 9 to 5 job.

My dream is to start a dog business raising West Highland Terriers, "Westies". I am planing to get a puppy in June.

Fortress,

I've been running my own business for 30 years now and it started from nothing. I produced enough work to add three other people to my business that support families. That's really something when I think about it and my long list of clientell are all people I consider my friends. Looking back when I first started out I guess what I did best was gave them more than they were used to getting. I gave freely of myself whenever I could and still today I do little gestures like giving someone what is left of a used bottle of product I had just used on their hair and say try it at home and if you like it, come back and buy some more. I'd say most of the time they come right back to purchase the product and ask me what else they should buy. I smile cause I know that they were happy in just the matter of fact manner in which I gave to them. I never expect a sale and I never push. I think people really like that. It's refreshing. A happy customer will gladly send you referrals and that is how word of mouth spreads. If you really need to speed up the process, I would just ask any existing customers to please send you referrals. Make it worth their while by offering them something if they do. Make it a big happy family and you'll do great. I always think of the saying, whatever you send out, you get back ten fold. Send out positive good vibes and you can't go wrong. Good luck to you!

Vicki