The following is a guest post by Sally Shaws. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

No business is ever instant. If you want to make a living at something other than being employed by someone else, you have to carve out your own success. This takes time and hard work. But you knew that already.

It’s a fundamental truism of working for yourself that you never put all your eggs in one basket. Keeping this rule can be difficult when ideas prove to be bigger than you first thought, or if your point of entry into your chosen market place is low and you find yourself competing for low-paid gigs.

There will inevitably be times when work is scarce, so how do you plug gaps between payments?

A Second Job

Having a second job adds some stability to the situation. Just knowing you can pay your rent no matter how your primary business performs can really free you up to go for quality business.

Having a second job can sometimes bring more problems than it solves. Dividing your brain between two situations – even if your secondary situation is fairly menial – can reduce your productivity, causing your primary business to suffer.

When I was a student, I met many artists who were waiting tables to supplement their incomes. Agreements with management were always loose, and while they might have agreed to work 25 hours a week, they would often find themselves working 40, or 50 hours, leaving themselves no time or energy to work on their primary business. They got distracted and fell into the trap of making their secondary job their primary income. How? By not considering the next point.

Discipline

If you take a second job, be disciplined. Divide your working week into three sections:

Time for your primary job – this should take up a significant amount of your week.

Time for your secondary job – this should bring in enough money without taking time away from your primary job; your future.

Time for yourself – this is extremely important. Don’t neglect yourself and your family, if you have one. You need some time off to recuperate, even if it’s only one day a week. Making sure you have one designated day off brings structure to your week.

Plan Ahead

If you can only work for twenty hours a week, state that from day one. When I was building up my writing business, I made sure my part time employer knew that I would only be available for 24 hours a week and never on a Sunday. This allowed me to keep my week structured, my income steady and stop me going in to melt down during busy periods. It also made sure I didn’t starve when there were dry patches.

Other Options

If there are no second jobs available in your locale, or what is available simply doesn’t suit your needs, you might consider participating in paid medical trials like those run by GSK. A friend of mine did this to earn extra money to travel. It’s certainly not for all, but he got to travel to around south-east Asia for several months.

Why Might this Be a Good Idea?

Simply because you can make up to 2,000 pounds, dollars, or Euros (depending on your location), for lying in bed for two weeks and swallowing a couple of pills when told. Volunteers can participate in up to four trials a year – that’s eight grand for eight weeks of your working year. Consider that most low-paid part time jobs will pay you around that amount for part-time hours across about 50 weeks a year and occupy much more of your time.

How Does It Work?

Drug companies have to put every new drug they create through rigorous testing to prove its safety and effectiveness before bringing it to market. Certain drug trials require healthy participants and they will pay for your time.

If you are accepted as a volunteer, you’ll be sent a list of trials that you’re eligible to participate. You simply choose the ones that suit your schedule and return the form. For each trial, there is a consent talk in which you a doctor will run through the trial and what it’s testing for. You’ll learn about the protocols – what you have to do – and you’ll learn about the risks. Of course you can ask questions and its worthwhile preparing questions before you attend. If you wish to continue, you’ll be obliged to give consent. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to go.

Is It Safe?

Clinical trials in Europe and the U.S. are governed by laws and if you choose to participate, you should sign up with one of the larger companies. Why? Because they are more prominent and therefore can’t afford to be conducting their drugs trials outside legislated protocols.

There is the potential for unexpected side effects, however, if you do experience any consider that you’re in the best place to receive treatment for those side-effects. And you can leave at any time.

The Road to Success

It’s absolutely possible to take a business of any kind from nothing to “successful”. How you define success is up to you. Some roads may be longer than others, but the most important thing is that you keep your goal central. However you decide to supplement your income, remember that those part-time jobs are never forever.

About the Author:

Sally Shaws is a freelance writer who also regularly blogs about ways to boost your income and earning extra money online. She writes about all sorts of things including flogging your stuff on eBay, earning cash through volunteering for medical trials and renting out your car to other drivers for income.

The following is a guest post by Evan Fischer. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

Not every business will have to face legal proceedings.  In fact, you may never see so much as a summons, much less become the target of a lawsuit (especially if you run a small, freelance, or home-based operation).  But that doesn’t mean you can afford to go unprepared for the possibility.  Running a business is a big responsibility and it comes with specific legal obligations that you must be aware of and meet.  And the truth is that it’s much better to avoid a lawsuit than to have to face one, even if you are prepared for it.

So, here are just a few ways that you can protect your business and hopefully steer clear of any potential legal troubles.

Hire Representation

First and foremost, you should consider putting a law firm on retainer.  Granted, this could be a big expense for a small business, but it could also save you a lot of money in the long run.  The idea here is to secure legal advice and services early on in order to avoid costly lawsuits down the road (that have the potential to put you out of business).  At the very least you need to separate your business assets from your personal ones (especially if you are self-employed or otherwise unincorporated, or you work out of your house).  And there’s a lot more an attorney can do for your business to prevent legal issues.  Of course, he can also represent you should you ever have to face legal proceedings.

Use Your Brain

Your best tool for preventing a lawsuit is your brain.  By thinking things through you can often engineer solutions that will keep you from being sued.  For example, you can probably come up with a laundry list of things that people might sue over, such as faulty products, failure to deliver, accident and injury (if you employ others or if your products may be unsafe for, say, small children), and so on.  If you know about these possible issues going in you should be able to find ways to avoid them.

Get It In Writing

Nothing protects you better than a contract that is legal and binding, especially should a courtroom situation arise.  This means that you need to get everything in writing.  Certainly we all want to believe that others will live up to their word, but a smile and a handshake will get you absolutely nowhere with a judge.  However, a comprehensive contract could specify arbitration or mediation (rather than filing suit) in the case of a dispute.  Or it could lay out terms so specifically that they simply aren’t open to interpretation.  A good contract could halt a lawsuit before it even starts.

Do Unto Others

Most people these days just want to be treated fairly.  While there are those who prey on businesses that they perceive to be weak as a way to earn a living, the majority of your customers, employees, and business associates are just average people trying to get by and it doesn’t take much to keep them happy, especially in this day and age of impersonal interactions.  So if you’re willing to bend a little, makes some concessions, and offer reparations for disputes (not to mention excellent customer service) you’re bound to come out ahead.

Get Insured

It never hurts to have a “just in case” scenario.  So, just in case you should face some kind of lawsuit, be prepared with business insurance.  It will protect you and your business should anyone come after you.

About the Author:

Evan Fischer is a writer for http://www.Maryland-Injury-Lawyer.com/ , a law firm that protects the livelihood of clients who have suffered from an injury due to another person’s negligence.

In today’s business world, the war between computers and the old paper file systems has long since been won. The advantages of modern computer and server systems are endless; information can be shared across the world with the click of a button, and that literally acres of space isn’t taken up by paper file systems are just a couple. The process of organizing and ordering all of these ‘assets’ that were once physical but are now stored on a computer system is known as digital asset management, and by doing it right, businesses of any size can start to run more efficiently.

Using Central Servers

The very first step in executing efficient digital asset management is to use a central server. By storing all the company’s files on one accessible server that can be accessed by any computer on the network, your employees will be able to get to the information they need as soon as possible, without even getting up. Even delicate or restricted information can be hosted on a central server, and then protected by a password or list of approved parties, to safeguard against unwanted views, alteration, or deletion.

This is also an important factor for PR and marketing employees, who will have a reputation to forge and uphold with exterior contacts. If the system is easy and efficient for them to use, it will ensure that brand identity is properly enforced with the correct outsourcing of information in a timely manner.

Using Folders

Although it may seem obvious, sorting files with folders is another way to efficiently streamline businesses’ digital assets. It’s amazing how many people still just lump all their files into one folder, with no discernible order, certainly not for anyone else who has to use the system. Putting things in organized folders on the servers will improve efficiency, and all it takes is to split up files into relevant areas; finance, customer contacts etc. This way, all files can be found a lot quicker. The same goes for businesses and computer systems of any size and although of course it’s much more important for larger organizations with thousands of files, it is still imperative for smaller businesses too, and will save a significant amount of time.

Creating Backups

Although very easy to forget, you should be keeping backups of all your files, especially valuable data that it would be impossible to get back. You could of course, physically print out all of the documents or transfer them onto a CD for safe storage, however it would be much more efficient to setup an online backup system. The whole system would be backed up daily, adding any new files that have been created or transferred onto the system, and replacing the files that have been changed since the last backup. The information can also be stored off-site, so that in the worst case scenario of fire or theft, no data is lost. Putting off this side of digital asset management is also a bad idea, and the sooner a relevant system is in place, the better.

Streamlining Your Business

If done properly, digital asset management can make a big difference to the efficiency of your company. Modern computing means that information can be shared in seconds, and by making use of these tools of modern business, productivity can increase significantly, leading ultimately to increased revenue. Companies that don’t put these sorts of techniques into practice soon will find themselves falling behind competitors because of small issues which are relatively easy to iron out.

About the Author:

Jamie Simpson is a UK blogger currently writing on behalf of Brandworkz, specialists in brand management software.

The following is a guest post by Sachin. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

Many of us are turning to starting, running and owning our own small business. This is a general trend here in Australia as more and more long-term full employment opportunities decrease and with the easy nature of Australian small business taxation laws. Just about everyone that I know is earning their own money and long gone are the days where we were all full-time employed. Most are successful at the beginning, but as with any successful business, it will grow and so we need to look at the ways that we can deal with that. You may need to increase your own skills, or that of people that you will hire, in areas such as sales training, to ensure that your business skills grow with your business. Lets look at some of the reasons why…

1. Keeping in Touch

When you are running your own business, you may fall out of touch with what is the standard norms in your business. By being a part of formal or accepted education and training programs you stay in touch with the rest of your industry and requirements. Training is an excellent way to stay abreast of new laws and regulations.

2. Training the Trainer

As your small business grows you may need to contract out or employ others. That means that you will need to get them to do things the way you want them too. You many be very good at what you do, but you might not be that good at teaching others how to do it. Training for the trainer is crucial and understanding skills and techniques of imparting information is extremely important.

3. Expert Knowledge

As your business grows, expectations on your personal performance and that of your staff will become greater. The larger you become the more professional people will expect you to be. This can be a radical shift for many people, who have always seen themselves as a small family business, for example. You will not be viewed this way by others, and this can be very damaging to your business. Perhaps now that your coffee shop has grown it is time for you to get some formal and accepted customer service training, even though you already have many years of working in the business. Expert knowledge can greatly enhance your hands on experience, making you top of your class. There are many hats that you are going to have to wear, get expert information and training on each one of them.

4. Future Growth

If you yourself become a part of training it will be easier and more effective in the future for you to recommend and set-up a training regime for the people that you employ. How will you know what is right for your people and how can you have them educated in areas that you are not formally sound in? Don’t just rely on your experience, package and wrap it ready for future growth and development. Your own training is training for the future.

It is all too easy to get out of touch and assume that we know what we are doing because we are experienced in our field. There are always ways to increase and ratify our experience and knowledge. Training and education will only enhance your skills and potential.

I thought I would so something different in this post and give you a different kind of flavor here on the blog, and most likely some laughs, too. I’m into music and videos, and I spend some time on YouTube every now and then. It wasn’t until I came across a post on Daily Blog Tips that included Daniel’s Top 6 Geek Parody Videos, which inspired me to do something similar.

Don’t worry, this is completely on-topic and related to entrepreneurship, as my title suggests.

I added a couple of Daniel’s favorites here as I also enjoyed them, and I did some digging on YouTube to uncover some other great videos as well.

I hope you enjoy them!

My Top Funny Entrepreneur Music Video Picks

One of the great ironies of human life is that so many people never get to do the work for which they’re best suited. Talents often go to waste, and the world is poorer as a result. Recent surveys indicate that people employed in areas where they have special talents are far more productive and much happier. If you’ve ever done sales training, you’ll appreciate the logic in this situation. Sales techniques geared to customer motivation are far more effective. Careers, too, are reinforced by motivation and sabotaged by the lack of it.

Enter the New Economy

In the past, personal talents were referred to as “hobbies.” Rather dismissively, they were sometimes called “amateur” pastimes, even as businesses. The New Economy is a very different ball game. Thanks to the internet and much better global communications, people can turn their talents into paying propositions. Many freelancers, in fact, work on that basis and do extremely well.

Some people are able to turn multiple talents into multiple businesses, with multiple income streams. Most work is outsourced, but some are direct suppliers of their products and services. It is interesting to note that in Australia alone, 25% of the workforce is believed to be self-employed.

The defining gifts of talents are their skills, and skills are the things most in demand in the New Economy. The simple fact is that talented people do better work, and the New Economy job market wants quality. Many of the “portfolio professions” like writing, graphic arts and media are performance-based, and a good portfolio can get you more work than a degree.

Another irrefutable fact is that highly talented people are also highly productive. They can do easily the things that others find hard, and they’re also usually innovators, with unique products and ideas. This means that the value of their work is much higher, both for themselves and for their business associates.

What’s Your Special Talent?

A real talent is a skill at which you truly excel. You do these things effortlessly and well, and enjoy doing them. Just about everybody has one or more talents, and it’s now very easy to put them into practical use. Whatever your personal talent, there is practically no limit to the possibilities of turning it into a paying career.

Many of the world’s most highly talented, successful people say that they don’t even consider their jobs to be a type of work. That’s a good indication of the best use of talent, where work becomes pleasure. When considering your own best talents, consider the things that you do best and enjoy most. These are your real strengths, the skills most likely to lead to success. If you think you need more training or experience, you’ve even got a perfectly good excuse to enjoy yourself while getting it!

Talent is a way out of the daily grind and the misery of mediocre jobs and lousy income brackets. Check out the professionals in your area of talent, and see how they got started. You’ll find that all they needed was a little persistence, and their talent did the rest.

If life is what you make it, your talents can make your life a dazzling success.

About the Author: Tim Millett is an Australian freelance writer and journalist. He writes extensively in Australia, Canada, Europe, and the US. He’s published more than 500 articles about various topics, including sales training.

The following is a guest post by Darla Nicole. If you would like to write for this blog, please check out the guidelines here.

Do you want to take ownership in your financial destiny? Chances are you, like every other American, have thought about being their own boss at one time or another. But most folks abandon their dream of starting their own business because they don’t know where to begin, think they don’t have the money needed to fund their venture, and they don’t know where to go for help. And while you might think that now isn’t the best time to start a small business, with the economy being what it is, keep reading.

In spite of unemployment figures hovering just above 14%, our basic needs remain constant. Did you catch that? Needs; not wants. These two facts make starting a small business (and being successful doing so) attractive on two levels:

1. Starting your own business can replace the job/income you lost.
2. Starting your own business can often provide necessary goods and services for less money to those who have less to spend.

No matter what type of business you are thinking about starting, there are plenty of free government resources out there to help you get started. By visiting www.sba.gov or www.grants.gov, you can review and apply for free money or low interest rate loans to get you well on your way. This is especially beneficial to women and minorities – the government is more than happy to help women and minorities with business funding. In addition to the money available to you, there are resources to help you in areas of bookkeeping, taxes, marketing, and other important business needs – all for free.

Other sources of free money are available, as well. You just have to know where to look. Many are restricted to certain types of businesses, so keep that in mind before you ask.

• SARE (sustainable agriculture research & education) Grants are available to those whose business or project centers around agriculture. No, that doesn’t mean you have to milk cows, shear sheep, or combine wheat. SARE grant recipients have developed farmer’s market co-ops and/or markets, opened ‘schools’ to teach healthy food preservation (canning/freezing) and nutrition, and developed agri-tourism businesses.
• If you are interested in agriculture, your state’s department of agriculture will have details for state and federal programs for grants and low interest rate loans for female and first-time farmers.
• If you’re an out of work educator, your church many be more than willing to talk to you about spear heading a day-care and/or pre-school. Using their facilities, you will be able to fall under the guidelines and regulations for non-profit childcare providers. A church considers such a venture a great way to serve the community, and as an evangelistic tool. You will be paid to use your skills and basically be your own boss, without investing anything more than your time and talents.
• Colleges and universities often have research programs available to qualified individuals at no cost to those doing the research.

Many small business ventures require little or no investment, and believe it or not, online mba degree
programs aren’t required either. Anyone with any level of education can start their own small business. Let’s look at a few of those and how they can work for you. In the interest of not being repetitive, don’t forget that no matter what small business venture you choose, you have the ability to reach millions through Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace at no cost. Most communities offer free or low cost classifieds in the newspaper, radio, or internet. Take advantage of them. Another wonderful tool at your disposal is to develop your own website. Webstarts.com allows you to build your own website (they provide the tools) for absolutely no charge. They also offer upgrade packages for as little as $5 a month, but even if you don’t want to spend the money, the site is easy to use, and updating the text and pictures on your site is as easy as it gets.

• Whether it’s your full time job or just a side line to make up for the rise in gas, heating, and grocery prices, there are tens of thousands of people making a pretty decent income by selling their hobby. If you can sew, knit, crochet, bake, make unusual jewelry, sites like Etsy.com allow you to create your own virtual store that reaches across the world. Etsy charges 3.5% per sale plus a fee of $0.20 per item listed for sale. Other sites like E-bay and handmadecatalog.com are two other popular sites to help you market your goods.
• Are you known for throwing the best parties ever? Does every kid in town want to be on your child’s guest list? Sit down and map out a plan for pricing a variety of party plan packages to organize, set up, supervise, and clean up the party at either a public place or the client’s home. Then using Publisher or a similar program, put together some fliers and mail or hand deliver them throughout the neighborhood, child care facilities, schools, youth clubs and organizations, and your family and friends.
• Parents will do just about anything to keep their financial woes from affecting their children’s activities. If you are qualified to tutor or give music lessons, chances are you can do so for a lot less than actual learning centers such as Sylvan, which charges more than most parents can pay.
• Secretarial, IT, writing, graphic design, and marketing jobs are being outsourced more and more every day. Freelancers save companies money by eliminating the need to pay benefits, employee taxes and salaries, and provide office space for performing these duties. Elance.com is an excellent source to gain employment in your area of expertise for little or no cost. Job seekers set up a free profile, and bid on jobs using ‘connects.’ There are different levels of membership ranging from free to $40 per month. You can also network with other small businesses that want and need to budget their money wisely.
• Elder care or sitting is one of the fastest growing needs in our society. Check with your state’s social and senior services agency to see what regulations you need to follow to offer such services. Elder care will most likely require you to become a CNA (certified nurses assistant). Classes are usually offered at a low cost through your community’s adult education center. For elder sitting, nothing quite that detailed is required, but it would be advisable to be competent in the areas of CPR and general first aid. Once again, a simple flier telling potential clients who you are, what your qualifications are, and what you have to offer, is an inexpensive way to advertise in senior centers, retirement homes, medical offices, and hospitals.
• Do you understand the ins and outs of tax forms, the health care system, insurance, or the rights of battered women, children, or the elderly? Advocacy is an honorable service to offer and, for the most part, can be performed from the comfort of your home office.
• Any service or product that promotes ‘living green’ will be well received, as will those that offer fresh produce, home grown agricultural products, and organic products. Local markets, co-ops, and virtual stores like localharvest.org will allow you to advertise and sell your products for a small fee.

Starting a small business can be an exciting adventure that brings both profit and personal fulfillment without spending a lot of money. The key is to find what you can do best, and offer it in such a way that will make it beneficial and cost-effective to those you wish to do business with.

About the Author: This is a guest post from Darla Nicole, contributing writer at CreditDonkey.com. She searches the internet looking for the best credit cards to recommend her friends. Darla reminds you that “financial literacy begins at home.”

First, I apologize for the delay. I was without the internet for a few days, and I wasn’t about to attempt to write an entire blog post on my Droid 2. That just wasn’t going to happen. Fortunately, I could still check my email and Facebook for the time being.

I’m fully back online now, so I wanted to get this income report up right away.

Every month I do a detailed income report, showing you exactly where my income comes from. This gives you an idea of the various income streams that are available, as I strongly believe you shouldn’t place all of your eggs in one basket, as discussed in this post.

This is also a way for me to measure my success (or failure) from month-to-month. Each month will vary in income, and that’s all part of working from home as an affiliate marketer. This acts as a motivator for me to keep pushing forward to reach my goals.

I hope you find these income reports helpful and give you encouragement that it is possible to make money on the internet.

Let’s see how I did last month…

Income from ReplaceYourSalary.com

• ClickBank: $19.34
• PayDotCom – $28.17
• Paul’s Backlinks: $8
• Google Adsense: $17.64
• SFI: $6.84
• Project Payday: $6 (commissions earned from promoting the program, not actually using it)
• AdFish – $26.40
• ResponsiveData – $21
• AshMax – $19.50 (Total monthly commissions from GDI and FTS)
• Affiliate Power Group – $21.81
• Ads – $90

Total = $264.70

Income from Micro Niche Adsense Site

My micro niche site keeps improving each month. Google Adsense earnings for this month from the site totaled $8.75. This amount is included in my total Adsense income as reported above. I finally was able to add another page to my site, providing more related content for those searching for that topic. I believe adding more related pages will bring in more targeted visitors and produce more Adsense clicks. That’s the goal, anyway.

Total Online Income

Total online income from all sources comes to…

$264.70

Income from GetBackYourExAdvice.com

No income as of yet. I’ve been slowly building backlinks and adding more content to the site. Expect an update very soon regarding the site and what exactly I’m doing to market it.

December was by-far my best month to date. One of my goals last year was to reach $1,000 in income for a single month, and I finally did it. Now, the next goal is to do it consistently. I will be doing much less proofreading in the months ahead, so the bulk of that income will be gone. That means I’ll need to boost more income out of this site and try to get the ball rolling with my new niche site.

That’s my current plan.

As always, I welcome your comments below…

The following is a guest post by Art Decker. If you would like to guest post for this blog, please visit the Write For Us page to view the guidelines.

Depressed about how the recession is affecting the U.S.? Think the situation is hopeless? I confess that I have days that I do as well; however, I also think taking a step back and looking at other economies and their response might benefit us all. Consider Mexico for a moment. Have you ever crossed the southern border of the United States, even for the day? As soon as you cross, street vendors come up to you asking if you want to buy something. The vendors are frequently children with gum to sell – others who you may encounter on the road want to wash your windshield.

With the most minimal amount of cash, these young entrepreneurs purchase what they can afford – gum, a squeegee brush and bucket – and turn it into a business! More than 40 percent of those children don’t go to school. Yet, these young street vendors show an innate entrepreneurial drive that we can all learn something from – even those of us who consider ourselves older and wiser. Regardless of your start-up capital – which these tenacious children have shown is fairly irrelevant – anyone can, with creativity and determination, start a business from scratch and be in control of their own success.

Even in these times, I see examples right here in our country – people who ignore the negative outlooks realizing that true change is an individual decision. In fact, I am continually amazed at some of the unique low-cost business ventures that I have come across as part of my daily work. Rather than letting lack of a store front or office location be an obstacle, these guys have found creative ways to to solve their problems.

Here are some examples…

The Neighborhood Store

As grocery stores in inner cities go out of business, some neighborhoods have become what sociologists call “food deserts” — places where the only grocery store for miles around is the convenience store in the local gas station, where fresh or even canned or frozen fruit and vegetables are not to be found. I know Americans like fast food, but there is still a demand, however minimal, for more nutritious fare. I have found that some enterprising chefs are driving to discount stores to buy food in bulk. Then, they rent some climate-controlled self storage units, from which they sell canned vegetables and frozen foods. Some of these enterprising businesspeople even cook, freeze, and sell meals they make themselves. One even specializes in gourmet jams made from fruit she grows in her own garden.

Becoming the neighborhood retail store: A variation on the “food desert” theme is the “retail desert.” In areas where few people can afford to buy expensive, fashionable clothing, a few seamstresses and tailors are making a living by buying discount clothing in bulk, and then customizing it to make it look more unique. Like their “food desert” counterparts, many of these individuals often take advantage of self-storage units as a convenient and relatively low-cost way to store their items.

Tutoring

Some communities have wonderful public school systems — and other communities don’t. But, children all over need an education. Some tutors have taken to renting a quiet space in which to study and teach during the school year. It pulls children away from the lure of the television and helps them to see the value of concentrating on their homework in a quiet location.

Renting Strollers and Bicycles

I was amazed by the creativity shown by Fred (one of my tenants). Fred didn’t have a lot of money. But, he had been going to garage sales and buying strollers, bicycles, and even small foldable grocery carts when he found them in good condition. Sometimes he found strollers or bikes that simply needed a minor repair, and he fixed them. Fred shrewdly rented a ground-floor storage space downtown in Chicago’s Loop, where parking fees are astronomical. Banking on the idea that tourists would want to take the “L” downtown to see museums, rather than deal with the Loop’s traffic and parking nightmare, Fred converted his self-storage unit into a stroller, bicycle, and small cart rental outlet. He took out small free classified ads on websites such as Craigslist and has since become the Loop’s best-kept secret! I even noticed that he has some of those folding chairs that can be used as walking sticks or canes when one is not sitting on them.

Artisans and Craftspeople

In every part of the country, the culture is a little different, and the biggest difference I see is between the city and rural areas. In both venues, I have seen artisans and craftsmen pursuing their trades from low-cost storage facilities (usually rented). In the country, I’ve seen leather workers repairing halters and bridles and braiding nose bands by hand for polo ponies. In the cities, I have seen craftsmen restoring antique furniture — or in some cases, building new furniture. I have even seen artists making mosaic tiles that can be used to decorate upscale kitchens and bathrooms.

For every person and every neighborhood, there seems to be a unique business idea waiting for the entrepreneur with the right combination of skills, business sense, and creativity. If I had a dime for every one of them, I wouldn’t be worrying about this recession — I’d be a wealthy man.

About the Author: Art Decker is a division manager with Self Storage Company, which operates a group of websites, including a Texas self-storage locator. Art leads a busy life, but enjoys meeting new people and interacting with customers when traveling between sites, like from Austin to the Fort Worth self-storage center.

The following is a guest post by Kyle Simpson. If you would like to Guest Post on this blog, please contact me.

Some people just seem to have a better grasp of the English language than others.  Whether they know grammar, spelling, and punctuation like the back of their hands or they have a proven ability to turn a phrase, they can inform, influence, and inspire with their work.  And yet, a strong background in poetry, prose, or even technical writing does not necessarily ensure the ability to make a living with your craft.

So, here are 5 simple tips to help you get it together and adapt your writing style in such a way as to provide for a viable occupation.

1. Try everything.  You won’t really know what you’re capable of until you try, so get your hands on all kinds of work.  Write for publications and blogs with all different subjects, try your hand at marketing or advertising, create an e-zine, or pen some technical service manuals.  The ability to diversify will only make you more marketable (and it will help you figure out what you excel at and what you might want to avoid).
2. Join a service.  As a freelance writer, you will spend a lot of time hustling for jobs and fielding rejections.  This can be extremely disheartening.  To avoid some of the hassle, join a free website like Elance or ODesk that allows you to create a profile (that companies seeking service can peruse) and apply for jobs posted by their patrons.  If you get good reviews and offer a variety of samples, you may soon notice that you receive enough offers to keep you busy indefinitely.
3. Keep learning.  The best writers hone their style through both research and practice, so don’t be too hasty to rest on your laurels.  Just because blogging is big right now doesn’t mean it will keep you employed for the next ten years, so make sure you learn the ins and outs of different types of writing so that you have something to fall back on if the bottom of your bread-and-butter workload suddenly drops out.
4. Be professional.  This means you deliver what the client wants and exercise due diligence to ensure that your submissions meet their standards.  For example, an informative article written for a celebrity blog (think TMZ) is probably not suitable as a press release (even if they contain the same basic information).  And if you can’t tell the difference in style, you are going to be hard pressed to expand your business.  So put in the time to learn various formats so the client isn’t forced to explain your job to you (or give you the send-off).
5. Own it.  Your skill with language and proactive attitude will help you land jobs.  But it’s the personal flair you add to your work that will interest people in hiring you again and again.  Putting your personal stamp on your writing is what makes it desirable, so don’t be afraid to own it.  All famous writers are recognizable in their way.  For example, you wouldn’t confuse Stephen King with Edgar Allan Poe, or Jane Austen with J.K. Rowling.  In the long run, a signature style will get you a lot further than dotting the “i”s and crossing the “t”s.

About the Author: Kyle Simpson writes for Medical Coding Certification where you can find more information about a career and training in the medical field.