I investigated numerous work-at-home opportunities since mid-July without much luck.  Fortunately, an epiphany led me to working at home starting my own website development company among other things.

I actually started looking into making money from home over a year ago.  At the persistence of my son, I started an Amazon seller account.  (I don’t use eBay since I always found it tedious searching for items from eBay – the same product is listed 100 slightly different ways making it hard to compare the prices of possibly the same product from multiple sellers.  Then there’s the stories you hear about scams).  Setting up an account on Amazon is trivial – you do a search for the first product you want to sell, click the “Sell yours here” button, enter contact information, checking account info (so your profits be direct deposited), etc and you are instantly a seller on Amazon.  Listing products is just as easy – the description of the product is already in Amazon’s database and the shipping costs are set.  So you just enter the price, quantity, condition and any other details and you’re done.

The first item I listed was a used Staples Talking EASY BUTTON.  I then dusted off all of the old CDs I no longer wanted and listed them along with some video games that my sons no longer wanted.  What a thrill it was to make my first sale – a Sublime CD…and how funny it was to sell the Staples button.

I actually went out and bought a new one to ship since the one I had was a gift to me which I didn’t actually intend on selling…it just happened to be what was the closest to my computer when I setup my account.

My kids and their friends have had more luck selling than me – video games move much faster than used CDs…I only got rid of 33.  (The biggest profit was $25 for a CD I bought is a bar when I lived in Dublin, Ireland.)

The kids’ success got me thinking about what I could sell that would make decent money for the amount of work involved (in addition to my then full-time job).  I either needed new big ticket items with high margins that move quickly (is there such a thing?) or I needed to go on a treasure hunt and find great deals.  So..

• I went to yard sales and bought video games for next to nothing…my oldest son looked at me strangely when I brought them home…they were dirt cheap for a reason…no one wants the particular ones I now owned…and still own
• I entertained the idea of selling for friend and family for a percentage (I have a box of my neighbor’s Precious Moments figurines in my basement…only one sold so far which is understandable…who buys collectibles when the economy is so bad?).
• I investigated buying wholesale, drop shipment, affiliate programs but it went nowhere…nothing jumped out at me saying “sell me” and there are a lot of scams out there.
• I even looked into estate sales or storage locker auctions – if someone rents a unit from a self-storage company and does not pay their rent for a number of months, the contents are auctioned.  Bidding is for the most part blind since you can’t go into the unit…all you can see is what is visible from outside the unit with the door open.  It could be gold mine of rare coins, antique jewelery, etc but what do you do with all of the other worthless stuff?  And what do you to with the memorabilia that is priceless to the owner?

Nothing struck me as a great idea so I put the idea of making money selling online on hold until the right opportunity hits me.  In the mean time, I am still selling old CDs, bad video games, Precious Moments and Staples buttons…don’t laugh…I have sold almost 50 buttons so far…”That Was Easy”

to be continued…

I have had a lot of little victories today.  My niece agreed to take the rough draft of my company logo and turn it into a work of art.  She is one of the many artists in my family.  Unfortunately, no one is using their talents as their primary source of income…no one ever told us it was possible let alone encouraged us to do so.  We grew up in a generation that looked down upon artists, philosophers, etc that wanted to make careers using what the Creator gave them.  My niece started out at a young age with photography and is now at a college of visual and performing arts.  I would be honored if my logo is part of her portfolio especially if she pursues a career using her talents.

I have also been very productive today  researching the tools I will use for the website development arm of my “enterprise”.  I am currently in a 90 day trial of InMotion Hosting’s web hosting service.  So far so good.  The control panel isn’t the most user friendly so it’s not something I would want to teach my customers how to use.  Instead, I am planning on providing them with more intuitive tools such as JOOMLA and WordPress.  The WordPress integration was not only simple to setup, but it works beautifully at giving bloggers the same functionality on their own website that they would get from wordpress.com.   Now I am playing with JOOMLA…  OK, enough geek talk.

I hate to admit this, but I think the reason things are going so well is that I am able to concentrate today.  You see…it is the first day of school today for our 5 kids.  So, I am not being interrupted while working in my corner office (the desk I use in the corner of our bedroom).

Don’t force me to say it…”they” were right…numerous work-at-home guides recommend setting up an office in a separate room of the house.  They specifically warn against using your bedroom because you don’t want to mix work and pleasure.   I especially shouldn’t be using our bedroom since it acts as a family room too.  For some reason, the kids prefer using the 17 year old TV in our room instead of the 50″ plasma in the family room in our finished basement.  They must like being around us.

So the good news is is that for 7 hours on school days I will now be more productive.  Unfortunately,  I need to work more than 7 hours/day and on weekends especially while I start a business.  I knew it was inevitable…I need to move to the basement.  No…not to the room with the plasma TV…instead, it’s the room we currently use to store all of the forgotten toys that are waiting for a new home.  I’m going to miss my desk being in front of the window and  the men’s room being 3 feet away.  But I’m looking forward to being more efficient in my new quiet office…I will be able to spend more quality time with my incredible family.

My advice to you – take “their” advice and move your home office out of your bedroom to a remote, quiet corner of your house.

Hmm…maybe I shouldn’t be too hasty…I might be more productive if I did work out.  Stop…I really don’t have time for flip-flopping…I have work to do.  But first I want to smudge.  OK…I’m back…I had to remove the batteries from the smoke detector to get it to finally shut up.

Where was I going with this?  Oh yeah…I was telling you that I am blogging again but you probably already figured that out.  During my time off from blogging I took some time off.  I took 3 day trips – 2 to the Joisey shore and 1 to a zoo 5 1/2 hours away.  The zoo is home to a pair of sacred buffaloes (check out Sacred White and Black Buffalo in Danger for more info).

They are going out of business (the zoo not the buffaloes) so we wanted to see them (the buffaloes not the zookeepers) in case it was our last opportunity.

Anyway…on 2 of the road trips, I was able to do a lot of brainstorming on the long car rides and come up with some self-proclaimed great ideas  (won’t know for sure how great until their putting pasta on the table).  I wrote about the first in My First Customer in which I decided one of my primary sources of income will be starting a business doing web design.

The second brainstorming trip (does that sound like a reaction to illegal drugs?) was the day of our pilgrimage to the Woodland Zoo this past Wednesday.  I now have some ideas about my company logo and some secondary ways to make money – ideas for a couple websites inspired by my twisted sense of humor.  Clench your cheeks and pray (foreshadowing fer yous literit types).

So, I think I should start spending a day a week taking a long trip away from the distractions of everything that “needs” to get done.  It will force me to meditate and perhaps lead to even more ideas…which will add to the list of things that “need” to get done…but at least they are things that I am doing for me.

P.S.  As far as the third day trip, it produced nothing but a couple of naps, witnessing a car fire, hearing kids talk in World of Warcraft instead of English, fun with the greatest family I could ask for and gas all night long from the lettuce on my Whopper.  I hope it didn’t wake up my wife too many times like it did me.

My wife and my other best friend have been my biggest source of encouragement for me tapping into my creative side.

My stunningly beautiful wife and primary best friend is a writer, actress, model, storyteller and artist.  And she is funny as hell.  She is a stay-at-home mom first and Talent second.  She does a fantastic job of taking care of our blended family.  And recently after a 3 year sabbatical, she has taken up writing again.  I didn’t realize how damn good she is.  I can’t wait until her work is shared with the world when she starts publishing.

My other best friend is a graduate of art school who started out in the advertising business before breaking the shackles of corporate America to go into freelancing and eventually business for himself.  He is doing well…I don’t mean monetarily…maybe he is…I don’t know…  He is doing well because he strives to just make enough money to take care of his incredible family which  affords him the opportunity to spend a lot of time with that incredible family.  I want to be like him when I grow up.

Both of my best friends have at times encouraged me to pursue voice over work.  My wife has also encouraged me to get into print ads and commercials.  And my non-wife best friend has encouraged me to tap into my photography talents.  And then there is my IT talent – 20 years worth of diverse experience that I don’t want to let go to waste.  I love talking to business folks to understand what they do and how they use technology and then working with them to make their job easier and more efficient with new or improved technology solutions.  In other words, a business/process/systems analyst and project manager who acts as the liaison between a company’s business and technology departments.  It’s more interesting that it looks on “paper”.

So last Thursday, after six weeks of my head spinning about what to do next to earn money, I had an epiphany.  One that spanned a day so more like an epiphany that is on vacation and taking it easy…sitting back in a beach chair reading a good book before falling asleep to the sounds of the ocean.  It only makes sense since we were on are way down the shore for the day.

On the car ride to the shore, I got the idea to offer my IT services to my neighbor who we recently befriended.  He is a partner of a company that provides computer and phone services to local businesses.  I already knew he couldn’t take me on full time, but what about part-time?  So, I called him and proposed that, whenever he needs someone, I could help out.  He was very receptive to the idea.  So much so, that I am meeting with him and his partner tomorrow.  That was the start of the marathon epiphany.

When we got to the beach, I practiced some voice over spots that my VO coach gave me last week at my intro class.  (I didn’t realize the word rivalry was so hard to pronounce especially in an infomercial kind of way)  With some feedback from my wife, I felt pretty good about myself.  I got to thinking…wouldn’t it be so easy to be able to put food on the table  if people just paid me for using what the creator gave me?  Sounds kind of lazy – getting paid to just be myself.  Then again, shouldn’t we all be doing just that – finding a job that is fun?  I can’t remember where I heard it (and I don’t feel like researching it right now…too lazy) but I will never forget the phrase “If you don’t want to work, find a job you like” (or something like that because I did look it up and couldn’t find that exact phrase)

Later that day on the ride home, after drinking a cup of coffee to stay awake, I woke up from my nap.  (I knew I should have gotten an extra large).  No, I wasn’t driving.  It is then that the light bulb (compact fluorescent of course) lit up.  What can I do that uses all of my talents to earn a living?

website development

I can partner with my neighbor and offer to build websites for his customers.  I will:

• work with them to understand how they want to use the Internet for their business (or go to businesses who don’t know what the Internet could do for them and enlighten them).
• work with them to understand their business in order to design the appropriate look and feel of their website.
• use my voice over, photography and past web design experience to build their site.
• take care of the technical details involved in publishing it to the world and increasing traffic to their site.
• teach them how to maintain the content on their site themselves.

What do you think?

Well…that’s enough writing for one day.  I have a lot to learn…what is the best website hosting service, how to use JOOMLA, what should i call my “company”, do i need a tax ID right away…

Whoa, whoa, whoaaaaa…almost forgot…my first customer…my 6-year old came into my office (corner of my bedroom – my desk is also my night stand) this morning asking if she could use her tye dyed kit.  She had made me a tye dyed shirt for my last birthday and it is a work of art.  It was so good that all of her relatives asked her to make them one too.  Her aunt and uncle then gave her a kit which has sat for months.  So, being in the new business adventure mode, I suggested she start her own business.  We decided to charge $10 for someone to send her a plain white T in return for a work of art.  She then went to her room to brainstorm a name, a minute later came up with one and her step mom and I helped her design a company logo and her first ad (me wearing my shirt and holding her as she points to it).  We are currently advertising to just family and friends via Facebook but I will let you know when her website is up and running.

I’m done for now…really this time.  Take care!

In mid-July, I was gearing up to go on vacation; we were headed to Tallahassee to visit relatives. (vacation? visiting family?  No, it wasn’t one of those obligatory family visits that chew up valuable vacation days. We visited my wife’s sister and her family – very cool people.  I am lucky to have them as part of my family).  The plan was for me, my wife and our 5 kids to fly out on a Thursday night after my workday was over.

The day before we left, I received a company-wide announcement that three colleagues in the HR department were laid off.  Two of them I had had working relationships with at one time or another so I knew they were good people.   I told my wife that if people of their caliber are being laid off then no one’s job is safe…and it is no time to be over-confident about my performance.  (I also had said the same thing 3 months earlier when one of the best managers I have known, the head of my department, was let go when his peer was promoted to the then vacant CIO position).

So we flew out Thursday night, got in late to Tallahassee and were greeted by my sister-in-law her daughter and a wall of humidity.  The next morning I got “the call”.  It was the CIO apologizing for bothering me “at home” and not knowing my vacation had started on that day instead of the upcoming Monday.  So, I’m thinking that my manger is getting canned and he doesn’t want me to find out through the grapevine.  Wishful thinking, huh?   I was fed the line about the economic downturn, department reorganization, blah blah blah.  He was surprised when I turned down his offer to transfer my call to the HR rep handling my “transition”.  I was too sleep deprived and sweaty to realize what was going on let alone discuss details of my package.  I did give in and talk to her and give her my “home” address in Tallahassee so she could overnight my severance package.  I spent the rest of the day in a daze, in counseling with my incredible wife, talking to former coworkers and trying to pretend to have fun for my kids’ sakes.

I am a firm believer in things happen for a reason and that I will look back on this and be grateful that my former employer set me free.   I did a lot of brainstorming that week (and since then) about what to do next – finding a business/systems analyst opening at another company and doing part-time spreadsheet development while looking for work.   Or something more drastic like voice-over, print ads, commercials (my wife and friends are in the entertainment and advertising business and from time to time I have been encouraged by them to join them in the entertainment world).

I spent the rest of the vacation having a blast with my family, learning about World of Warcraft (or at least pretending to), learning how to play Farm Town (instead of WOW) and jumping off a two story diving platform into the Fountain of Youth.  It turned out that valuable vacation days were not chewed up visiting relatives since my relatives are fun and since i now had an indefinite supply of vacation days for the foreseeable future – a future of many possibilities that made my head spin for the next six weeks.

My plan was to use a blog as a way to share all of the witty and insightful posts (this is my opinion and not the opinion of all my friends and family who usually ignore everything I post on fb) with the world.  I consider myself more techy than average (i know…”then why did it take you so long to join Facebook?”) but I could not get my blogspot posts to appear on my Facebook page.  I had everything else figured out – how to post blog entries by texting from my phone and I had a great picture of me from the lap down sitting on the toilet with my Dell Mini (anyone in the market for one?).  Anyway…I didn’t want to have to post in two different places so I abandoned the idea.

Where was I going with this?  oh yeah…at that time I realized that a lot of my fb wisdom was posted while I was on the can at work and they were usually observations I made about my immediate surroundings.  For example,

• why does the guy one door down have his pants down around his ankles?
• why is the guy two doors down sound like he is working so hard to take a crap?
• did the lead singer of “3 Doors Down” come up with the name while he was sitting in a public restroom?

I knew bathroom inspiration would not last but I liked the blog name so it stuck (like a piece of toilet paper on the bottom of a shoe).  And I was right about it not lasting.  I was laid off a month and a half ago so I no longer have my favorite public bathroom to inspire me.  But I now have a new reason to blog.  Check out my About page.