MoonLighting

One of the things we can do with this extra money we are making is to set ourselves up to make more. Many Americans rank as a top desire: having a business of ones own. The economy lately is giving no guarantees of security so why not have a back up plan. Now I am not suggesting giving up your ‘day job’. On the contrary, as with most of our ideas so far they have been of the slow and steady variety. You always want to be able to keep the paychecks coming to pay those nagging day-to-day expenses. What I am suggesting is a sideline business, ‘Moonlighting’ as it is often referred to. Who knows, maybe one day when you have a nice steady flow of extra income it can become a primary income. But for the time being lets think sideline.

As I explored in the last issue, it helps to know what you want out of life, or at least what you think you might want. I must caution against waiting for all things to be perfect before you decide to pursue a sideline. If you put off till that elusive spare time shows up this might never happen. What you need before hand is a plan, and you have to get a bit specific about it. I can almost assure you that ‘No Timetable’ = ‘No Start’. It just won’t happen. One does not have to get all Harvard Business School about this so don’t let it scare you. We will create a reasonable plan, a ’to do list’, with steps to tackle with due dates for each. Most people can simply consider their TV watching schedule and replace (at least partially) some watching time to start getting things done. Then work on them one at a time. You can always get up a bit earlier on your weekends or stay up late a bit more. It depends on if you are a morning person or night owl. If you have long commutes you might use this time to listen to educational material or dictate your plans and ideas into a recorder. (As long as you don’t get absent minded about your driving)These will be some of the tools you need to find to get started. So think on it, where can you honestly secret some time away for making your life better? This is actually always the first step and when skipped allows others things to take over any hope of making a start on a business of your own.

One of the best fits for a sideline business is the home-based service business like the virtual assistant we discussed in earlier issues. Ecommerce and affiliate businesses are also a great fit. Making your own products could also be your course. We will get into some of this next issue.

One of the great myths about starting your own business is that you are not smart enough to run you own business. This is just self-doubt, it is destructive and not worth it. If you are a person of normal intelligence with the will to just try, you can run a business. Having said that it is true being your own boss is not for everyone. I do feel that there is no super intelligence litmus test you have to pass to be successful with your own business. In the end it is all about sharing a part of your self with others and anyone can do that.

Over the next few weeks we will be discussing some no and low cost start up business idea that work. We will be looking for the type of business that will bring in steady and repeat sales. We will avoid the scams by using good judgment and research. So start thinking about it right now. Give yourself permission to think you can be something bigger than you are now. I think this is going to be fun. Some hard work, but fun.