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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Start Your Part Time Passion or Full Time Gig Plus Unique Freebies


 

Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

 I don't want the cheese, I just want out of the trap...Spanish Proverb
 
 

Part-Time Passion or Full-Time Gig

Do you have a part-time passion? Maybe your passion is painting or maybe you dig writing. Whatever it is, maybe it's time to think about turning it into your full-time job.

James Patterson was a part-time writer. He left his career in advertising to continue chasing the dream of being a writer. According to Forbes.com, in 2015, he topped their list of top earning authors with $89 million. I'd say that wasn't a bad career choice

I'm far away from those sorts of numbers, but writing earns a living. Here's how I took writing from a part-time thing to a full-time gig.

I've always been a writer at heart. The first short story I ever wrote was even before puberty hit and was called simply The Vampire. At about 500 words typed out, I sold copies to family members that were signed, of course



   Whatever your passion it is likely you don’t have a lot of funding.  When I was a speaker and board member at COSEs annual Entrepreneurship Conference in Cleveland this was the number one plight of most start up businesses.  The standard joke was that we all started our business using ‘Hip National Bank,” meaning family, friends, credit cards and home equity loans or other creative financing methods including barter.  [I did informal, one-on-one bartering and also belonged to a local professional bartering organization which allowed me to stretch my marketing budget tremendously].
Today, because of the internet, home fax machines and overnight delivery services, many businesses can be started from home [always check with local bureaucrats to see what rules you’ll need to comply with first…or at the very least, keep a low profile at the start of your enterprise].

 
Other ways of raising money today include Crowdfunding using sites such as IndieGoGo.com or Kickstarter.com to create capital and it can be used as a marketing tool by rewarding those who donate by offering a product at a discount or a free trial.  If you’re a woman you have a distinct advantage as every area has a Women’s Business Center [WBC] with free resources.  At one time I was a volunteer for the Small Business Administration’s SBDC and you’ll find they offer many free tools and resources as well and they’re friendlier than most banks.  Go to:  AWBC.org

 
Marketing today is a bit easier as well with the advent of social networking such as Twitter, Facebook where you can create a page dedicated to your business without charge…if you have a knack for producing videos you can set up a YouTube page and use that for marketing your business also.

 
More free help can be found at ‘Count Me in for Women’s Economic Independence [CountMeIn.org] which offers business education and community support for female entrepreneurs seeking to start everything from micro businesses to million-dollar enterprises.

 
WomenOwned.com offers a wide range of information for female business owners, including in-depth advice about loans and grants.

 

I’ve been successful in several business ventures ranging from newspaper publishing to owning a country inn to being a successful author and seminar leader and was awarded the President’s Certificate for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur of the Year by Venture Magazine.  Times have changed however.  I recently made a presentation to the executive director of the Arizona Newspaper Assn. for a business concept I created which included logo and domains called Your Personal Gopher [connecting college students and 50+ seniors for odd jobs] via the internet and smart phone…they didn’t even have the professional courtesy to respond!

 

Finally, check my ecommerce site if you might be interested in this business [I would work with you] or to find books on learning how to use barter…Meanwhile, here are a number of useful freebies you can take advantage of.  Feel free to share them…
 
 
 

 

Free Birthday Presents

Add more fun to a birthday party with this little-known website.

Inside, you’ll find free gift vouchers, rock climbing sessions, meals, ice

cream, car washes, movie rentals, and bowling sessions.

Visit:

freebirthdaytreats.com and talk to the Birthday Freebie Expert who can help

you get your free birthday present and aid you in saving $10–100.

Free Birthday Treats: www.freebirthdaytreats.com

 


Build Your Own (Digital) Library

Here’s how you can get over 45,000 books mailed to your doorstep for free.

Sound crazy? Hear me out.

Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of electronic

books (or e-books) on the Internet. With the help of thousands of

volunteers, this organization digitized a good chunk of the greatest

books in history.

 Right now, they are offering to send anyone who wants one a CD filled

with 29,500 books—FREE.

To request yours, visit the link below.

 FREE Gutenberg CD:


 
Bonus tip: All books in the Gutenberg file are in the public domain.

 Current copyright laws state that 70 years after an author’s death, his or

her books fall into the public domain.

 
If you prefer to have a hard copy of ANY of the 45,000 books in their

collection, you’re legally allowed to do so. So here’s how you can get

ANY book you want for cost.

 
CreateSpace is a print-on-demand (POD) self-publishing platform.

Print-on-demand means that when you use their service, they’ll print

your book when you buy it online and send it to you.

This makes sure you never have any overhead when publishing your

book. What’s more, you can publish your book (and get it listed on

Amazon.com) for free on their platform.

 
To get your Gutenberg books in print, all you have to do is . . .

 

1. Set up a free CreateSpace account.

2. Upload the file you received from Gutenberg.

3. And print the book!

All you’ll pay is the cost to print the book.

 
More Free Books

Gutenberg is far from the only company offering free e-books.

 
Check out
the links below for even more.

 



Free-Ebooks.net: www.free-ebooks.net

Open Library: www.openlibrary.org


ManyBooks.net: www.manybooks.net

 

Book Swap

Can’t find the book you want for free? Don’t buy it just yet. Try out a

company called PaperBack Swap. It’s exactly as it sounds. You swap

books your books with other users. They have a database of over 4

million books to choose from. All you pay for is the shipping.

PaperBack Swap: www.paperbackswap.com

 

The Free Way to Get a Degree

The absurd price of a college education is becoming a burden for even

the most well-off families.

 
Although the halls of Ivy Leagues are swarming with the sons and

daughters of our elected officials, who are most likely there thanks to

their names and connections, the average American can’t even get into

those schools, let alone afford the tuition check.

 
One website we’ve uncovered will give you a free college education, no

matter who you are.

 
University of the People is the world’s first nonprofit, tuition-free,

accredited academic institution. They’re dedicated to opening access to

higher education for everyone despite financial, geographical, or

societal constraints.

 
They currently offer four undergraduate degrees: associate and bachelor’s

degrees in business administration and associate and bachelor’s

degrees in computer science.

These are two fields that are currently in high demand all over the world.

 
NOTE: Although UoPeople is tuition-free, the full ride isn’t 100% free.

Students will have to pay an application fee ($10–50) and exam processing

fees ($100 per exam). If you are unable to afford these fees,

they have a variety of scholarship programs (link below.) For more

information, visit the links below.

 
University of the People: www.uopeople.edu

Scholarship Programs:


 

Flip Designer Clothes

Do you already have a collection of lusted-after brands, but want to

trade them out for new styles? Tradesy is a site that allows anyone to

buy and sell their designer wear with other like-minded fashionistas.

Check out their site at:

Tradesy: www.tradesy.com

 

Dress Like a Celebrity

Our elected officials and their families always seem to be decked out in

top-name designers.

If you like designer wear but hate how expensive it is, you need Gilt.

Gilt provides instant insider access to some of the world’s top designer

labels for up to 60% off retail.

Also, for each friend that you refer, you’ll receive $25 to use toward

your next purchase.


 

More Resources…Worth a Share!


2 comments:

DollyM said...

Love the freebies and I sure could use the money to start a biz

lorn said...

good stuff dude!