Maybe you can use some of these principles we've learned, and am still working on!
Know yourself and what interests you and stokes your passion.
Strive to be productive and make something useful for someone else.
Shun laziness, which is destructive and leads to poverty.
Think ahead and diligently plan, getting advice as needed.
Stick to it, and you'll be rewarded. Learn new skills and apply them.
Keep track of all expenses; know your profit margin at all times.
Learn what excellence is with a quality product.
Get trustworthy advice from experienced people.
Talk to others in the same field.
If you're struggling, unsure, or are in a rut, pray, and talk to supportive and encouraging friends and others who will motivate you and tell you the truth.
Visit this Fruit Crate Label site to see how a simple webpage can be used for marketing a home business. There is actually a whole community of Fruit Crate Label collectors and dealers out there, all made possible by the internet, which works very well for uncommon products such as this. It is easy to get the word out with a webpage or website these days.
How do people do it? Here is one unusual Microbusiness / Home Business Story that can be shared with you. Having started many microbusinesses over the years, this one win's the uniqueness award. Lots of lessons were learned here, but one thing leads to another and before you know it, it's a business. A bit if advice: get lots of wise counsel, talk to others who have done it, and read books on starting a business in your particular state, and my personal secret - know yourself and what makes you tick, and what you are passionate about.
Microbusinesses can spring from just about anywhere. This is how the "The Fruit Crate Label Business" began. It is an unusual microbusiness, but a good example of how doing what you love can be profitable. If a product this unusual can be made into a microbusiness, think of the possibilities for home businesses with products that are needed by most people! Nobody needs fruit crate labels, but lots of people want them as nice decor for the home. Sales potential of this microbusiness is up to $50,000/yr or more if you push it. There are many label dealers who make a living buying, selling, and trading these labels.
Most of us have hobbies, or skills and abilities that we love. Take an "inventory" of all of your education, skills, hobbies, or other vocation or experience that you have. This exercise can help you decide what skills or interests may be marketable or useful in a home business or microbusiness. When you have completed your inventory, take a look at the attached list and maybe it will spark some more ideas.
Here is a list of some microbusinesses started and run during the past 20 years. Your interests may be different, but the principles that made these home businesses work are the same. Each one was quite the learning experience, and that's the real value. You'll get the ideas....
Here is a hobby which many of you can also turned into a second income. With practice you can put together music and perform it at numerous venues. A jazz quartet, for example, can find work at restaurants, private social gatherings, weddings, wineries, clubs, fundraisers, and many other places. Learning jazz takes many years however, and you may be more interested in other styles of music. Acoustic instrumental music, even the more eclectic, is always welcome. Solo artists, duets, trios, and quartets do this.
One can always play for free because it can be more fun to just play to give away beautiful sounds. Hospice care, retirement homes, the Union Gospel Missions, social events, and churches, frequently want music to liven up their events.
In this example, the passion for jazz piano, just kept growing because of the love of beautiful chords. That passion has always been there, and most of us have a significant amount if innate creativity that needs to be expressed. Income is about $10,000/yr, playing 2 nights a week (3 hrs per night). You can play as many gigs as you can handle. Love music? Give it a try. Find like-minded friends and put together a set of songs (10-15 songs/hour) - then work on a second set, then a third, and so on.
Eventually you can play hundreds of songs if you have music or the chords as in the Jazz Real Book, you can play hundreds of songs, without practicing but only improvising.
Find like-minded musicians and try to forge life-long friendships as well, and help others gets started by having them play with you. It is very rewarding.
This business example helped me learn to work with different people in a dynamic team, working together and compromising, and getting along when everyone has different expectations.
If you have a unique or different home business or microbusiness, please share it with us! Your example can give hope, inspiration, and ideas to others who want or need additional income.
Here is another example of a home business micro-business my wife and I began and ran for 7 years. We had annual sales over $35,000 per year (in today's dollars) just selling through a private marketing company with a few sales representatives. Our 'coffee in a teabag' was manufactured elsewhere and shipped to us for packaging. We hired people to package it here, and label the bags. The business was growng quickly, at least as fast as we wanted it to. We were invited to join a national marketing chain. However, it caused too much conflict, and we didn't want the debt so we quit. It is important to have agreement if you are going to drag your family into 'your' business - that's what I learned here. And we had to explain the product, so it wasn't intuitive at that time when coffee bags were new to the market (we were ahead of Folgers)
These examples simply show that anything is possible if one is open-minded and wanting to get out of a rut! It just takes passion, hard work, right principles, and for me, help from above! Best Wishes for your prosperity, from www.Cirrovista.com
Rental Property
Rental property is a more common microbusiness. It's a business that does take some time - we don't know a good one that doesn't! To start out, maybe a cheap, small condo could work as a rental. The idea is to learn small and then work up. Also consider living with as little debt as possible. While you won't 'get rich quick' you will stay within your means, and make good purchase decisions. We paid off our condo in 2 years. It works well for bringing in a little extra income to pay for college bills, and to have a place for the kids when they move out, or for grand parents when they get older. Key skill: thorougly check renter's backgrounds, and do not rent to those who fail to pay rent or damage property.
There is plenty written already on the subject of rental property. It's a good business, but has a higher cost to entry because of the down payment, and requires good management skills. If you are so inclined, here are some good books we've read while learning about it. Since we abhor debt, we won't 'get rich quick' in real estate. Most people use a lot of leverage, and get 25 - 60% returns on investment. But that is not our goal; our goal is to grow wealth slowly using biblical principles. After 26 years of this, we can say getting rich slowly is enough for us. Getting rich quickly has risks, and few actually make it work. A patient person who saves a little money each day slowly gets wealthy. Diversifying into 7 different areas is also a time-tested principle to be discussed in other sections at www.cirrovista.com. By the way, here are some good books on the topic if you are thinking about a foray into real estate:
Every Landlord's Legal Guide 6th Ed., Marcia Stewart, Nolo Press
Successful Real Estate Investing, Robert Shemin
The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing, Spencer Strauss
REAL ESTATE LOAN ANALYSIS
Here is an analysis per $100,000 of property, at 20% down, and $80,000 loan at and 6.25% interest, $750/mo rent, at 30 year, or ~$500/mo. principle and interest. If you pay $1000 per month instead of $500, the loan life drops from 30 years to 8.7 years!
Some proven principles and some examples below.
Think of an interest, or hobby, or work, that captures your attention and holds it like this example here:
"One Sunday afternoon I felt the strong urge to go check out an antique or pawn shop. So I responded, took off and went to the Cable Bridge Pawn Shop (like a huge junk shop, actually) and asked they Lady if she had any 'Fruit Crate Labels.' She gruffly said yes, and pointed to the record albums. She brought some labels to me, and my heart raced - here was a Forty-Nine Brand label - never saw one before in my life! - see www.Cirrovista.com or The Label Place . The label was of a gold miner in the Sierras; it was dated 3-24, or March 1924 from Western Litho. I paid $1 for it and put it on eBay. It hovered at $49 for a day, then $99, then $129 until a few hours before closing it was $169. My wife and I went to dinner and came back to a surprise! This piece of paper closed the auction at $789! I thanked the Lord for this awesome find and for that urging. There is a thrill of the hunt for old pieces of paper nobody cares much about. I've memorized over 3,000 labels and know each one's approximate value as a collectible. Knowledge and study help out in any endeavor. This home business helped me learn the art of the deal, and negotiating fairly with others too."
The Antique Mall Space for Collectibles
OK, there's more. Going to garage sales to find old stuff and antiques is a lot of fun, but you need place to put it all. So I put my stuff in an antique mall, renting a space for a monthly lease fee. It pays for itself...most of the time! But one can find really good stuff at estate sales and if you know an estate sale person, they can sometimes give you first pick. Big garage sales in older neighborhoods, where older people live, have most of the old stuff. Also, antique auctions can be fun, but as with any purchase, make sure you know what you're buying.
Specializing in a certain area of collectibles can help you become an expert faster, or at least help you to understand the value of things in your area of specialty. I specialize, too, in vintage apple and pear labels, marbles, rugs, kids toys, some glassware, ephemera such as old sheet music and prints, lamps, cookbooks, and an eclectic mix of kitchen ware. The antique mall space earns -$20 to + $500 per month depending on the month, but averages about $250/month. Other dealers specialize in different things like furniture, glassware, even cookie jars!
Investing two hours a week and $50, usually hitting garage sales on Saturday mornings, is all it takes to fill up the car with old stuff. It does take some time getting to know what's valuable and what sells. Wander around antique shops and get to know what the going rate is for things - it can vary quite a bit. Talk to antique mall owners, and find out what apace rents for. Where we live it is about $2 per square foot, per month so a 10' x 10' space is 100 sq.ft. and rents for about $200 per month. Therefore you have to sell that much just to break even. Depending on your profit margin, it could be a challenge making the monthly bills at times. Ask around and find out what is popular. At one time Coke memorabilia was all the rage, then cookie jars. Now, I'm not sure but after the stock market bubble burst things have slowed down.
Make sure the shop has a high volume of traffic nearby, such as a very busy street or intersection, and has good advertising with a lit shop sign and frequent ads in the newspaper. Some shops also charge a percent of sales, and also charge insurance. Some collect sales taxes for you, some don't.
Electromagnetic Wave Imaging Technology for Home Inspections.
This is a little bigger than a microbusiness, but it is currently small enough to qualify. A group of engineer friends of mine banded together and formed an LLC to develop and promote a new technology. Here is an excerpt from the business plan:
There are over 7 million homes sold each year and over 800,000 about 50,000 home inspection, construction, and remediation service providers in the US who inspect, repair, or insure them. At most, these home inspectors can test the furnace and air conditioner, poke their heads in the attic or crawlspace and note any obvious visible signs of trouble. Traditional home inspectors can not usually spot potentially costly expensive inner wall problems like moisture, mold, missing insulation or non-code stud spacing.
Leolis is a recently incorporated company preparing to enter the $3 billion dollar building inspection market with a patented diagnostic tool that allows our service people to see and image moisture, plumbing and electrical lines, studs, insulation and other objects located behind plasterboard, wood and even concrete walls.
Leolis is developing a trademarked inspection service, named BrightWave™, around this tool that can be can be readily expanded by the company or franchised to new entrepreneurs. The unique capabilities of BrightWave™ tools are derived from non-ionizing millimeter wave technology developed initially for the Federal Aviation Administration.
This same technology is being used today to safely scan people to visually identify objects concealed on their bodies. I can't tell you any more at this time, but here are some images (below) to see what this imaging technology can do. Needless to say, it detects a lot more than moisture behind the sheetrock!
It is a longshot, but it keeps our minds active, and we have a great time getting together and discussing marketing strategy, fabrication challenges, and other mountains to conquer. We did win a number of business plan competitions, and have been approached by venture capitalists. So, there is some interest out there for this product. We'll keep you posted.
Shown below is an image of a 5'x5' test wall panel we built, and it shows the plumbing, electrical wiring, and other structures behind the sheetrock. Water damage is also something it detects, and it is hoped that this could limit mold damage and health effects.
