Life & Work By Design Blog

I was on a chat room board earlier today where a lot of folks were asking how they could earn an income working at home. There are many of us who want to do this for a variety of reasons. Stay at home Moms are the usual suspects, but it might also be that you have a disability that keeps you housebound, you are caring for someone who needs you there, or maybe you just want to quit fighting the traffic. 

Whatever the reason, there are unlimited possibilities today. You can work for someone else fielding phone calls, setting appointments or doing internet research. You can set up your own internet business selling on e-bay or on your own web-site; you can be a ghost writer; a medical transcriptionist; there is no limit to the ideas.

The question most people were asking on the forum was how to figure out which offers and jobs are scams and which are authentic.  Of course you have to do your own research to check up on any offer, but I would suggest that you start with the site www.workingfromhome.com which is the work of Paul and Sarah Edwards. This dynamic couple has produced numerous books for small business owners and self-employed folks, and have a reputation for providing quality information and sound advice. Some time spent studying the resources on their site would be time well spent and you can order their books from my web-site bookstore.

Daniel Craig - Murder at the Universe Mystery Writer

I included some quotes from Daniel Craig in an earlier post called Take the Night Shift to Hawaii. As the general manager of the Opus Hotel in Vancouver, BC, he works at a career he loves that also provides a rich background for this aspiring writer. He spends his days in a resort hotel environment chock full of interesting people and unique characters. What fodder for an author!

About 10 years ago, he started getting up at 5 am to write for two hours before going to work. His first published book, Murder at the Universe, is about a hotel manager in New York who becomes a reluctant sleuth when a murder takes place on property and his colleagues become suspects.

Daniel has now been contracted by Midnight Ink Books to develop the premise into a series featuring this hotel-manager-turned-sleuth. He just finished the second installment and it will be released in June of 2008.

When asked to comment on his dual career, Daniel said,

“As a writer I can set my own schedule and am only accountable to myself. Although now that I have a book contract I’m accountable to my editor, plus there are the readers to think about too. My job as a hotel manager allows me to live a comfortable life and to have a social outlet and network while pursuing my lifelong goal of being a writer. I have a creative side that needs to write, but I also am social and like to travel and enjoy the finer things in life, so having two careers allows me to have it all. It just makes me a very busy person.”

On designing an ideal life, this energetic young man says,

“I meet lots of people who dream about pursuing a creative endeavor but can never find the time. If it’s really important to you, you must make the time. Don’t wait until you’ve done all your other activities and use whatever time is leftover to pursue your dream. There is never any time left over. As the Wealthy Barber says about saving money, pay yourself first.”

Murder at the Universe

Technorati tags: writing fiction, part-time author, dual careers, hospitality careers, creative writing, mystery series

Leslie Smith was a school teacher who loved kids so much she had three right in a row. That’s when she realized that she would have to take time out from the classroom she loved to stay home with her “Lil Darlins”. It wasn’t long before this new mom realized that babies are messy eaters and she quickly tired of changing outfits three and four times a day and doing mountains of wash. All the bibs she found just didn’t do the job so, after some experimenting and putting their two heads together, Leslie and her mom designed the Bib-A-Roo. You can see that it certainly does the trick of keeping baby clean and containing the mess! 

Leslie’s mom, Jeanne Roth, had retired but as a former small business owner ( a luggage shop and a bakery are two) she knew how to organize a start up operation. Even though they only had one product, they discovered that they had a winner and went to work finding fabrics, trims and sewing up a storm.  Jeanne handles the sewing and Leslie does the selling.

“I never knew how much fun sales really was until I made my first sales call.   My competitive edge really went into effect and I got this adrenaline rush from selling our product and meeting new people” she says.

When I asked about the best part of having their own business, Leslie answered that she likes being her own boss and doing her own thing. 

“It allows me to believe in myself and make decisions that I feel confident about.” She admits to being a Type A personality and a perfectionist who sets high standards for herself and her products so she won’t settle for a no or a maybe from a supplier.

Budgeting time is the biggest challenge. Figuring out how to clean house, cook for the family, pay bills, raise three young girls and be a good wife along with running the Lil Darlins business takes a lot of juggling, but she is willing to work hard at it.  It is a great example of a true “cottage industry” and one of my favorite ways for a stay-at-home mom to continue to be active out in the world and to earn an income.  Starting small with one product is easy to do if you have a good idea and the discipline to get to work on it.

Once the Bib-A-Roo took off, they started designing new products and have just added their fifth - the ApronAll is a great catch-all for older children to wear to protect their clothes as they do crafts, help mom clean house or cook.  You can see all the products at www.lildarlins.org  They are planning to start hiring sewers to help with production and will be attending several national wholesale gift and kids shows this fall and next year. They have come this far in little more than a year and their products are now sold in over a dozen retail shops in the Philadelphia area as well as on the internet.

A caution here - I always tell my clients that I am practical and will be objective in my advice.  Lil Darlins LLC has yet to show a profit - although I think they are probably about to get over that mountain. Too many people have dreams of earning a whole lot of money instantly when they start a home-based business. With some businesses that sell services this is possible, but when manufacturing is involved, the cycle is longer because you have material and labor expenses that have to be accounted for. Leslie and Jeanne admit they didn’t know enough about buying wholesale supplies at first - if you aren’t sure how to do some facet of your business idea, talk to others in the same type of business or better yet, go to work for them for a short time to learn some of the ins and outs.

If this describes you - social, outgoing, friendly, enjoys meeting and helping people, energetic, wants to live in other places, works well as part of a team - consider the Hospitality Industry.A young woman I know took a job after college as the night auditor at a major chain hotel in Washington, DC.  After working her way up to the accounting/billing office, she requested a transfer to anywhere in Western Europe and landed a job in London for 4 years. Continue Reading »

If you are an artist who is wondering how you can possibly support yourself selling one painting or drawing at a time, you might consider looking in the area of licensing one of your designs. A contract to use that seashells design you sketched at the beach one day might just be the ticket to provide you with the capital you need to continue your serious painting. 

In a recent article in Newsday.com, Keiko Morris offers some real-life stories of artists who have successfully done this to propel their careers forward.

The Giordano brothers learned about this niche from their father, Joseph, and continue to develop their respective fine art careers while having the financial security provided by their various licensing agreements which frequently continue to pay royalties. For many artists, this seems like a crass way to go, but Greg says, “When I got out of art school it was kind of taboo to be so commercial,” Greg Giordano said. “But I always did representational art. And it was more of a culture in our family to make art that goes on products that give people joy.”

In another example, Debbie Taylor-Kerman didn’t have a family business as a model when she discovered a market for licensing her products five years ago. A former textile designer, she was a stay-at-home mom who became enthralled with children’s picture books and wanted to do her own whimsical illustrations. She started with greeting cards and graduated to tableware and table accessories about three years ago, landing contracts with Oneida and Caspari Inc. She and her husband, Elliott, who also manages the business — called Debbie Taylor-Kerman — have bought a

Are you looking for some extra money or something interesting to do in your spare time?  Are you a person who wants to live and work “outside the box”? Then this book is for you.  Here are some of the more exotic ideas:

Pooper Scooper -  Clean up the poop on pet-owners lawns and earn $7.50 - $15.00 per visit with only a shovel, gloves and plastic bags. If you like animals and do not mind poop, this is a surprisingly growing market. Combine it with dog walking and pet-sitting for a great part-time money maker. See www.pooper-scooper.com  for more info.

Lipstick Reading - This is a form of party entertainment wherein you analyze a woman’s personality from the lipstick kiss you ask her to make on a cocktail napkin.  If you are creative, outgoing, and somewhat intuitive, you can earn $25 to $50 an hour providing this service. See http://face-and-emotion.com to learn more about reading people. 

Knights in Shining Armor - Work as an actor at Renaissance Fairs.  You can earn $7 to $25 an hour depending on your skills if you can juggle with fire, you will be hot. J Parts range from playing the Queen to being a beggar in the lane.  Upside -you get to learn to speak with Olde English. Check out www.renfaire.com

Gustatory Athlete - These are the guys (and gals) who eat 78 hot dogs in 3 minutes.  If this is one of your goals in life, there is such a thing as professional contest entrants. Big time eaters have won up to $30,000!  www.ifoce.com is the International Federation of Competitive Eating. No kidding!

Worm Farmer -  this has been around since the 60’s. You can actually get paid to raise worms for bait shops and organic farmers. Talk about silent partners - these guys just do their thing all day and happily reproduce as long as you provide them with a nice place to live.  A pound of worms can go for $20.  see www.acmewormfarm.com

Shell Picker in Kauai - these are some special shells that are tiny and special, but you can earn $100 a day crawling around on the beach.  With the popularity of shell jewelry and home accessories, I think you could do this anywhere there’s a beach. Find a jewelry maker and go get what they want.  www.niihaushellart.com gives useful information on the Kauai business.

Video Game Tester - If you still secretly want to play games all the time you could be a quality assurance evaluator (sounds much more professional).  You can earn $9 -12 per hour part-time looking for glitches, art errors, and levels that are too hard or too easy.  Check out www.gametester.com for a directory of employers and links to articles. Note: don’t ever fall for the scam where you have to pay them for the privilege of testing their game!

All these ideas came from a new book called Odd Jobs: 101 Ways to Make and Extra Buck by Abigail Gehring.  It’s brand new and available at bookstores now. 

The next time you have one of those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments, come back to this story. The product is called a “Fortamajig” and it is the invention of two college friends, now moms, with bright ideas and a lot of ambition.  They watched their kids trying to build a play forts out of bedsheets and couch cushions and decided to design a portable, flexible version that would allow creative little imaginations make a variety of forts.  They both have backgrounds in sales and marketing so they brought some expertise to the process, but their example of seeing a need and finding a solution is a classic.  Go to their web-site at www.thehappykidcompany.com  to see their product and read their story.

Manufacturing a product is not an easy process but like any other endeavor, it requires a good idea, a plan, financing and hard work. A helpful resource is:  http://inventionshowcase.com/resources.htm

So you have an idea of what you would love to do… This idea is totally different from anything you’ve ever done….But it’s a dream job that you can’t get out of your mind…..you need lots more information before you leap.

How about spending some of your vacation trying it on for size? There is a company called Vocation Vacations that has a list of over 100 different careers and jobs that you can actually experience with a mentor in that field. The list is chock full of interesting ideas.  Check it out at www.vocationvacations.com

If you don’t have time to actually take a vacation to do it, start by finding someone in your area who does what you want to do and ask them if you can volunteer to work for them for a few days, or just hang around and observe what their day is like.  Talk to them about what they enjoy about their job and what they don’t like about it.  The more you can find out about your dream endeavor, the more prepared you will be to make a decision to pursue it.

 I confess up front that I am one of those crass people who continues to drink my coffee even after it has become stone cold.  Based on that, many would say that I have nothing of worth to say about coffee shops.  But, since I spend an inordinate amount of time working, reading, lounging and just sitting in and around independent cafes I do have some opinions on the subject. There are many varieties and types but a cafe’s popularity with me does not depend as much on the coffee as the ambiance.  The size of the tables, comfort of the chairs, amount of available light, availability of outside seating, and of course, free Wi-Fi are all much higher on my scoring chart. But what I like about all coffee shops is that aside from the obvious, unnamed large chains, every one is different and truly reflects something about the personality of its owner(s). It’s still one small business where you can express yourself in the music, decor, menu and theme.

Owning a coffee shop is one of the three most popular small business concepts  - the other two are spas and animal-related businesses.  Now, think about all three.  What do they have in common? They are things that almost everyone likes to participate in -drinking coffee, getting a facial, and playing in the park with the dog.  What could be better?  That’s the problem. Just because you enjoy doing something does not necessarily mean that you will enjoy owning a business that provides those things to other people.I have a good friend, Theresa, who decided she wanted to be a coffee barista.  She quit her job in the nursing field and plunked down a hefty 6-figure sum to buy an existing coffee house in a planned community shopping center.  The previous owner had no personality, no sense of decor or ambiance, was frequently surly and rude, and yet had kept the place open for almost a year. Theresa knew that she could do better.  I was thrilled to meet her and became a regular customer in short order. But, in less than 9 months, it had a For Sale sign on the door! 

She sent me an e-mail about two weeks later entitled, “Lessons Learned” and asked that I share it with other small business wannabes. My clients know that I stress two things in my coaching.  The first is to be realistic about what you want your life to be like on a daily basis, and the second is to always get as much information and training as you can find on the venture you are considering. The first mistake Theresa and her husband made was not to learn all they could about the legalities of buying an existing business in a rented space.  As it turned out, the seller had no right to sell them the lease. This ended up being a huge, expensive and eventually fatal mistake that really caused the closing of the cafe.But as they were wrestling with this problem, another more important one cropped up. Theresa found after about 90 days that she really hated being a barista and resented every minute that she was forced to stay at the cafe.   Here is her list of reasons as she evaluated her experience:

•  I like to drink lattes not serve them
•  I am a people person and I like people but not all people are likeable and some are downright annoying
•  I am a magnet for people needing to talk, vent, discuss their problems, discuss their ailments, frustrations with work, frustrations with their spouses, frustrations with themselves, lonely older folks - you name it - they feel very comfortable sharing all with me! It’s exhausting!
• I can make a coffee house successful or at least a popular place but my shortcoming is cost management.  I didn’t learn enough ahead of time about the business side
•  I am a morning person but only after 6:30 am!
•  I thought a “family” business would be fun and did not realize that the only time I would get to spend with my family was at the business.
•  I am not cut out to run a small business like this because I would always have to be hands on and would not trust anyone else to do the majority of the work. Thus I have to work a 10-12 hour day.
• You should always work a business before buying, carefully check financials, never trust a seller and have a lawyer do all the documents
• I made a damn good latte and cappuccino
• Cell phone users can be obnoxious
• Many people have a highly inflated view of their own self-importance
•  There are a lot of wonderful people out there who are incredibly generous and kind
•  My family is pretty terrific and incredibly supportive of me.“The greatest test of courage on earth is to bear defeat without losing heart.”

Notice that about half the problems are business-related due to their lack of experience and training, and the other half are lifestyle related - even though her teenage children came in and helped after school in the afternoons, by then she couldn’t wait to leave so her time with them was actually less. The happy ending for Theresa is that her former employer was eager to have her come back and she leveraged her absence into a pay raise. What she hadn’t noticed until she lost it was that her job allowed her the freedom to move around town all day on a schedule that she was in control of; at least a couple days a week her assignments were done by about 3 pm allowing her to go home and do things with the kids; she was always home in time to help prepare dinner and enjoy it with the whole family. In other words, she had self-controlled flexibility and freedom to make her daily life work well. Most importantly, in her job as a nurse who helps hospital patients make the move to the appropriate re-hab or nursing facility, she goes home every day knowing that she has improved life for at least a couple of people in a very real way. She now knows her true calling.  She and I meet for coffee on a regular basis.