Tag: Business

  • Is a Side Hustle a Business?   Or Welcome to Tax Season 2026!

    A side hustle can be a business.  You may not see your side hustle as a business, but according to the IRS your side hustle becomes a business once you’re consistently earning income with the intent to make a profit.   The IRS doesn’t care if you call it a hustle, a gig or a hobby—they care if you’re making money and reporting it properly.  If your side hustle just supplements your main income, it is not a business, but you may owe income taxes.

    The Freelance, Gig-based Side Hustle

    Side hustles typically are freelance, gig-based, flexible, easily started and stopped.  You directly trade your time for money (e.g. driving for a rideshare, pet sitting gigs supplied by Rover) to supplement your main income.  Your side hustle is not based on making a profit, it’s basically a temporary “job”.  You do need to state this income on your Form 1040.  If you worked for an agency or business, you and IRS will most likely receive some type of 1099 form stating your income.

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  • Build Your Lists and Make Money by Writing Special Reports

    Does your business enterprise need a boost? Is more income one of your goals for 2014?  Is list building one of your New Year resolutions?   Consider using special reports to add revenue and build a business contact list for future use.

    What are Special Reports?

    Special ReportSpecial reports are short reports that contain helpful information on a subject. The reports are anywhere from a few to 30 or so pages in length. If you have the know-how, you can write them yourself or hire a writing service to do it for you. There is very little work involved in creating them but they are versatile tools for building an online business.

    Here is what you should do!
    Here is what you should do!

    One popular subject for a special reports is a how-to. A how-to directs a reader, step by step on how to do something. If you are knowledgeable with computer software and hardware, you have a perfect niche for special reports on your website. People are always having trouble figuring out their computers and looking for help.

    How-to guides on infant care, raising children, and finding romance are popular too.

    Marketing Special Reports

    There are several options for marketing your special reports. If you are trying to build a business list of customers, use these special reports as a freebie when any visitor signs up to be a part of your email mailing list. For this type of promotion, use a shorter report like a five page report on how to navigate problems with Windows Vista or MS Office 10 (if your website has a computer niche).

    You can create a five-part course and use the first part as the free promotion. This free information is your hook. Once individuals sign up for the mailing list, you can grant them access to the other installments through emails that also advertise your website products. Signing up for a business newsletter subscription can also be the reason to gift a free special report.

    Making Money

    dollar All of your special reports don’t have to go towards list building. Besides your other products or services, you can sell special reports on your website. Many reports sell for between $5 and $20 a piece, but if you offer very valuable information, you can command a higher price. Sell single reports or create various courses to interest your customers.

    People love to learn about money-making opportunities. They will pay the money for any information that is a how-to guide to making money on and offline in various ways. How have you made money? Begin your “career” as a special report writer with accounts of your successful money-making experiences.

    As you build your library of special reports and your lists, you have the option of alternating free promotional reports and new reports.  You can create combination offers – Buy Two, Get One Free.

    If you become a successful special report writer and your business is growing as your special reports sell, you can consider creating an affiliate program. This gives customers a way to help you make more money and also allows them to make money. Offer certain special reports as additional compensation for reaching a certain selling level in the affiliate program.

    2014 GOALS
    2014 GOALS

    So if your 2014 goals are increasing your income or increasing your contact list, consider writing special reports.  They are low cost to create and will both build lists and increase your profit margin.

  • 8 Ways to Earn Money with Digital Photography

    Photographer, picture image
    Photographer

    Are you a shutterbug? If you like to snap pictures at family events or just out in the neighborhood, put that camera to good use in ways that will earn you money for your efforts. This article mentions eight ways that you can make money with digital photography.

    The world of photography has changed since the instant camera was developed. With a digital camera, you can take a not so good shot and make it perfect using a variety of software options. Best of all, pictures can be printed on quality paper on your printer or at a store kiosk for just a few cents per picture.

    Technology has created memory cards much like the flash drive storage medium to file and save pictures for sharing on the Internet. You can easily upload pictures from the memory card to your friends, family and a blog or website if you have one.

    1.    Stock photography. This business is growing. For website newsletters, magazines and articles, publishers look for photos that capture the essence of their articles. It is not terribly convenient to go out and snap some pictures every time you need one. Selling stock photographs to businesses and individuals is convenient for them and lucrative for you.

    2.    Wedding photographer. Okay so if you aren’t a professional you won’t be the main photographer at first but you can be hired to take candid shots at the reception or wedding photos after the ceremony. The happy couple can order as many pictures as they want and you can create wedding CDs of the pictures you took.

    3.    Newspaper pics. If you are in the right place at the right time, you might capture photos that are worthy of the newspaper. When news happens, a newspaper photographer might not be on the scene. You can capture the moments and sell them to newspapers. Snapping shots at community events may also earn you some money from local newspapers.

    4.    Magazine photographer. Create a portfolio of photos that you’ve taken and submit them to magazines.  Looking at your work, they may hire you for assignments. Magazines are a tough market to break into so cut your teeth on other smaller assignments for local newspapers.

    5.    Local photography business. Ever gotten a mailing that shows cars for sale or houses for sale? Someone had to take those photographs. It could be you. Hire yourself out to area businesses to do the photographs for them.

    6.    Event photographer. Some families like to document their events like family reunions, christenings, bar mitzvahs and birthday parties. You can be the eyes in the room catching candid shots of everyone.

    7.    Photography website. If you know a lot about digital cameras and photography, create a website to sell photography products. Keep visitors and customers coming back with engaging content on various aspects of photography.

    8.    Teach a photography class. Those cameras look easy to use but some of those symbols can mix people up. Teach others to use their digital camera and create great pictures that they, too, can market as a business.

    Do you like photography? What started off as a hobby can become a new business venture.  

  • One Business or Multiple Streams of Income?

    Multiple streams of incomeIf you are considering going into business, you may want to consider having multiple streams of business.  Having multiple streams means that you have more than one profit center.  Now you may hold the belief that one should be focused and put all your effort into just one product of service.  Being focused is necessary but most big businesses have  a primary product or service and more than one profit center. Small businesses, too, can benefit from having more than one source of income in a changing economy.

    There are at least three reasons to consider having multiple streams of business

    Economic

    You’ve  chosen a business that  can bring in only a certain amount of profit.  You can write only so many resumes per week and then there are weeks when you have too few clients.  There is a limit to how many dogs you can walk before and after your full-time job.   You can only accept so many children into your popular after-school art classes. You love what you do; it brings in some income, but you are limited by time and/or space.

    Growing Your Main Business  

    Developing new business streams might be a way to grow your main business so it brings in more money or to enables you to do it full-time.  The resume writer can offer interview coaching or job search coaching,  of publish an e-book or paper on Amazon on how to ace interviews.  The dog walker might have a blog or website about dogs that has space available for advertising or that leads visitors to online retailers to purchase their products (affiliate marketing).  The after school art teacher could do affiliate marketing of art and craft supplies for children or create a course (online or DVD) or a membership site for moms who want to learn how to teach art to their children.  (Desired by moms that home-school and moms that are concerned because art is one of those subjects that cash-strapped school systems have eliminated from the curriculum)  These ideas are all related to your core business but they provide another source of profit.

    Variety

    You need variety and change.  You can’t see yourself focusing on one thing for the rest of your entrepreneurial life!   So make or do the several things that you want to do.  Maybe you will have a business for each season.  Maybe you will blog about something you find fascinating and do affiliate marketing for a related product.  Maybe you will write an e-book on how to do something and promote it with YouTube videos.   You probably have more than enough creativity to pull this off.

    Some of the above examples of streams are active and some are passive.   Active income streams generally involve a trade of work for money, which means that your time is consumed.  If you are already trying to do too much, you may want to consider a passive income stream because once they are set up they provide income without additional work contribution.  Some passive income streams require  significant money to start with, but significant cash is not needed to publish an e-book, start a membership site, become an affiliate marketer, or create apps.

    So how can you identify what new stream of business you should try first or next?   Barbara J. Winter in Making a Living Without a Job: Winning Ways for Creating Work that you Love offers a number of tips, that have been adapted for this blog.

    1.  Figure out what you want to do.  Brainstorm, mind map, ask your friends and family what you do best.  Then pick out one stream of income that you will be happy doing and put it at the top of your list.  Prioritize any additional ideas that you might like to try later.
    2. Estimate how much it will cost to put each of your priority business streams into operation.  This step will most likely require some research.  Interview people who are in a similar business, use the internet to find the wholesale cost of item you will need, make an appointment and talk to someone at the SBA (Small Business Association)
    3. Estimate how much profit each of your potential streams will generate in the first year.  You are looking for  a realistic view of what your profit margin will be during your start-up. 
    4. Take a look at the analysis you have done on these business streams.  Which will cost the least to start?  Which will be more profitable?   Do you have the time and energy to get the stream started?

    The best solution is to choose the business that will make the most profit and cost the least amount of money to start.

  • Ten “If You Dare” Part-time Businesses

    Since it is almost Halloween, today’s weird Wednesday post is adapted from the book 1001 Ways to Make Money If You Dare.  All these businesses have risk factors and they all can potentially provide some income. On a personal note, I would not be willing to do any of them!

    FYI: Question marks (?) indicate the risk factor and dollar signs ($) indicate potential monetary reward.

    Clean Out Attics, Cellars, and Barns
    OK, you will have to deal with cobwebs, dust, and debris, but folks are willing to pay so they don’t have to do it themselves and haul the trash away. It is also quite possible that you might find things of value in their junk.   ?? $$

    Be a Gardener – Plant Flowers and Tend Gardens
    Flowers can brighten anyone’s day, but planting seeds or transplanting seedlings can do in a lady’s nails. Get the word out in your town that you will plant the flower gardens and tend them all summer. ….
    Get more customers who have vegetable gardens. These folks start out with high green ideals as they plant the seeds or transplant the tomatoes, squash, and eggplants. Only problem is their green zeal quickly disappears as the weeds appear. Go doubly green and save their gardens for a price.        ?  $$

    Breed Feeder Animals                                                                                                                      Where do pet stores get those little mice that get fed to pet snakes? These mice are spawned for one purpose. Talk to local pet stores and see if you can under-price its feeder animal supplier.         ?? $$

    Farm Emus
    If you have some space, you can raise emus. The market for these big birds in the U.S. is growing, The birds are adaptable and do not take up as much space as livestock. Their meat is low in fat, but the entire animal is valuable. Not only the meat, but the claws, skin, oil, and feathers can be used and sold.        ??  $$$

    Build Solar Panels and Windmills
    Sunlight and wind are free. Construct and install solar panels or build windmills and help people bring their electric bill down to almost $0. To find out how visit http://www.earth4energy.com/video or http://www.makeyourownwindmill.net      ?? $$$

    Sell Write-It-Yourself Term Papers
    It’s not ethical to sell term papers to students but you can do the research and give them an annotated outline! You can do research on subjects you love then write the outlines for  papers on this topic. Provide the excerpted research and annotated outline to desperate students who can now legitimately write their term paper. Advertise on Craig’s List in college towns.             ? $$

    Home School Other People’s Kids
    Maybe you don’t want to home school your kids but if you have the teaching skills you can hire yourself out to teach on a one-on-one basis, so overprotective parents who have no idea how to teach can still home school their child.        ? $$$

    Deliver Nondelivery Take Out
    Some of the best restaurant food is take out only. Make money picking up the foods from restaurants and delivering it to apartments and dorms.         ? $$

    Be a Belly Dancer
    Secretly you watch Bollywood movies and imitate the dance moves. No one needs to know who you are. With a veil over your face you can get paid for your hip-shaking dance routines. Post your ads online and get paid for entertaining.      ? $$

    Become a Boudoir Photographer
    Scantily clad photos of oneself make the perfect Valentine Day present, but women need someone they feel comfortable with to get au natural in front of a camera. Help them relax. Use aromatherapy candles and serve some chamomile tea then start the photo shoot.         ??? $$$

    Happy Halloween

     

  • How to Boost Your Income When Your Business Is Slow

    Some businesses slow down on a seasonal basis, summer or post Christmas;  other businesses see income dwindle in response to economic factors.  So what can you do if a slowdown occurs.

    Mind Map
    Mind Map

     First, do some brainstorming and then pick an important project or goal that will help increase income.  Some ideas to jump start your thinking process are listed below.   Second, create a plan, you want to get all your ideas out of your head onto paper, and then organized before you begin.   Make it a visual, you want to be able to see your plan  Create a flow chart or do mind-mapping  to produce doable action steps.  Never tried to use mind mapping,  YouTube has some good instructional videos. 

    Here are some ideas to jump start your brainstorming session:

    • Redo your website:  Home page, About page, Product or Services page.  Make sure your copy is compelling.  What will they gain from hiring your or buying your product?
    • Your Opt-In Gift.   Is it old and tired?  Should be something more interactive like a “quiz” or a choice of the best opt-in gift.  Maybe your Tip Sheet  or White paper should be turned into a video.
    • Create more visibility for your business.  At the very least be on YouTube.  If you want to be more professional, start an online radio show or an online TV show.
    • Not using Facebook Fanpage or Twitter – get started.
    • If you have content, turn it into products and generate a new income stream.
    • Turn your content into an online course or create a membership site.
    • Offer Teleseminars or Webinars to attract new clients.
    • Plan a workshop or group program.
    • Clarify your niche.  Are you reaching out to the right audience?  Is your language and imagery appropriate?  This is important if you are not a member of the demographic group you are trying to serve.
    • Get support.  A business or writing coach; someone to help you with technology, join a Meet-Up entrepreneurial group  …… 

  • A Business on the Side. Why Should You Have One?

    Why does someone become a Halfpreneur,  begin a Side Hustle (Pamela Slim’s, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation, term for a tiny, independent venture you do during your free time) or begin a Second Act Semi-retirement career (Nancy Collamer)?   The idea of starting a side business may have arisen from:

    • seeing family or friends lose their jobs and realizing no job was truly secure
    • your own job loss and long term unemployment
    • an early retirement or retirement when you want to continue working and earning an income but you also want to work  fewer hours  at something you enjoy,
    • being one of the many millennials who want a challenge while waiting for the job market to open up.

    The current government shut down may spur some individuals who work for government agencies or for businesses doing business with the government that they too should have a side business.

    CLOSED
    CLOSED

    The reality is that even if we have a full-time job, we are all self-employed.   Even if you are happy and feeling secure in your current position, it may be wise to become a Halfpreneur and start that side business as a form of career insurance.  Your side business  can:

    • provide extra income or a financial cushion.  The extra revenue can go to what you think is important – home repairs, paying down debt, retirement savings, a vacation.
    • serve as a backup plan just in case you lose your job.
    • be an opportunity to experiment with new fields and ideas which along with exercise will keep your brain healthy.

    Once you organize your thoughts, you may discover there are almost limitless possibilities for potential businesses. Contrary to popular thought,  Everyone has skills, experience and attributes that can be used to successfully launch a  small business.  Begin by focusing on something that is in demand, fills a need and has growth potential.  If you can find an under-served niche you will have an easier time getting customers and establishing a reputation.  But don’t waste your time and energy by just starting a business that meets a demand.  This will be your business , choose something that interests you and that you are capable of doing.

    Two warnings!

    • If you have a full time job, make sure you are not prohibited from performing outside work.
    • Check the local and state laws to be certain you can comply with the laws.  For example there may be zoning laws or regulations that food items be prepared in commercial kitchens.  SCORE and  local government small business associations can assist you,

    Finally avoid potential financial and legal problems by:

    • choosing a legal structure for your business, most likely you will operate as a sole proprietor or as an LLC (limited liability corporation)
    • setting up a business bank account
    • checking with a CPA to learn what are your tax requirements.    You’ll also want to know what deductibles you can take.
    • getting any business licenses or permits that are required

  • Marketing to Your Niche (A Wednesday Spoof)

    In my last blog Anthony Ceseri recommended that for effective marketing  you market to one person at a time.   Of course that one person will be a member of a much larger niche groupm so you create an avatar of your fan, or potential customer.

    Your niche might be a group that shares an interest:  Music, Golf, Scrapbooking, Genealogy, Bridge, Cycling, Painting, Photography, Animals, Social Justice, Hunting, Wines, Anime ……  Or your niche might be based on demographics:  Teenagers, Young Adults, Baby Boomers, Retirees,  Couples, Single Mothers,  New Parents,  Parents Home-schooling their Children, Conservatives/Liberals, Disabled People,  Veterans ……  In other words, you need a group of people who want what you are offering.

    The product or service that you provide should obviously provide value and building relationships is rapidly becoming an important aspect of successful marketing.  It’s about the customers you serve and not about you!  So enjoy this spoof on how to market to young, insecure, impressionable teenage girls.

  • Effective Marketing for the Creatively Self-Employed

    From article by Anthony Ceseri, posted by MaryEllen Tribby May 2, 2013 and  by ThrivingBusiness.com  July 2013.

    Getting in front of people isn’t enough. You have to know HOW to get in front of them, so their initial reaction will be positive and they’ll want to interact with you and be your fan, follower or student. But unfortunately, many business owners, musicians, artists, and other creative people looking to promote things on the web simply don’t take the time to consider this, and as a result they’re left wondering why no one wants to buy what they’re selling. If you want to get anywhere, you have to learn how to market yourself. With that being said, let’s look at 3 important tips for eliciting positive reactions in potential customers, clients and fans.

    1. Speak to One Person
    Of course, as a creative person you want to appeal to the masses. You want a ton of people loving and promoting what you’ve created. I get it. But one thing you have to realize when you’re marketing is it’s best to address one person to increase the odds of getting their attention.

    For example, let’s say you signed up for a band’s email list at one of their gigs. Which of the following opening lines would be more likely to grab your attention as a reader?

    A.  “Hey Guys – We wanted to thank you all for coming out to our last show. We appreciated you guys being there and hope you can make it out to our next show at…”

    OR

    B.  “Hey Bob – We wanted to thank you for coming out to our last show. We appreciated you being there and hope you can make it out to our next show at…”

    Doesn’t the second one feel much more like it’s directed at you, specifically (well, assuming your name’s Bob)? The second one’s much more likely to get your readers’ attention. There’s a subconscious detachment that happens when we read phrases like “hey all you guys.” It makes us feel like just a face in a crowd, and we zone out. But when we’re spoken to directly, we’re much more likely to respond.

    To get good at this technique, a great marketing approach is to create an avatar of your typical fan. Write out the name, age, gender, occupation, etc, of one of your fans. It can be someone made-up, who you feel represents your fan base appropriately, or it can be an actual fan or reader of yours. Every time you write an email, Tweet, or Facebook post, keep that person in mind. Pretend you’re writing to him only and not to everyone on the internet. It’ll help you keep your writings engaging for everyone who reads them, because while saying things like “Hello, Cleveland” is kick-ass on-stage, it just doesn’t apply when you’re marketing yourself.

    2.    Give Value
    Another big mistake a lot of creative people make is they don’t make their promotions about their fans. They make them about themselves. They say things like “We would really appreciate it if you came out to our show. It would mean so much to us.” That’s inwardly focused. It may work on their mom and siblings, but it just won’t appeal to someone who’s a casual observer. In fact, it’ll probably turn that casual observer off, because it’s such a self-serving statement.

    Another phrase I see a lot in the songwriting world is “hey check out my songs, and let me know what you think.” There are two reasons this phrase is a bad idea: 1. Again, it’s self-serving. It’s all about the artist who posted it, which means other people aren’t likely to care. And, 2. It’s disingenuous. They probably don’t really want to know what you think, UNLESS you love it. If you hate their music, they’re not going to want you posting that on their page. I recommend staying away from that phrase altogether in online postings. It does the exact opposite of giving value.

    Instead, talk about the benefits they’ll have by buying your product, or trading their email for one of your freebies. Let them know why it’ll be a positive experience for THEM. People respond to what makes them feel good, so make them feel good. Don’t just talk about yourself. Everyone’s favorite topic is themselves, not someone else. Use that piece of information to your advantage when you’re promoting what you do.

    3.    Build Relationships
    One of the best ways to market yourself and your products is to build relationships. This applies not only to people who can help advance your career, like other business owners, but with your fans, clients or readers as well.

    As far as building relationships with your fans, if you were in the crowd for a convention, for example, wouldn’t you be much more likely to buy a product from the speaker if he engaged you in some pleasant conversation afterwards? And if you get your fans on your email list, you can continue the relationship with them by offering them cool stuff in your emails.

    And as for other business owners or mentors who can help your career along, building relationships with them is key as well. You’ve heard the phrase “it’s all who you know.” Well, start knowing people. But again, it’s about them. Don’t try to build relationships with people by seeing what they can do for you. No one will want to deal with you. Just get to know them. Later on down the line, you might able to ask for things, and it’ll be okay because you’ll have that relationship. But start out by just by getting to know them, and even see if there’s anything you can do for them. If people like you and get to know you, they’ll be much more likely to want to help you succeed.

    The opposite of building relationships is spamming people online. This includes sending emails to people who didn’t ask to receive them and posting your promotions on sites that weren’t looking for them to be posted there. Things like that will only aggravate people, and possibly even get you blocked from the sites you want to be on. You’re doing the opposite of building relationships.

    The problem is, most up-and-comers think in numbers. They think, “That Facebook page has 20,000 Likes. If I post my product there, tons of people will see it, and I’ll be a millionaire!” What’s much more likely to happen, is you’re just going to annoy the owner of the page. Think about how you feel when random people you don’t know post their stuff to your page. Instead, try to develop a relationship with the owner of the page. Maybe he’ll eventually promote your product to his page, if it’s good. And if he doesn’t, that’s fine too.

    Marketing yourself and your ideas is crucial to your success. It’s just as important as knowing the underlying craft of what your business provides. Actually, it’s probably more important, if you want what you’re doing to be more than just a hobby. So use these three tips to start effectively marketing yourself and your ideas to build a strong and thriving community of people who actually want to help you succeed. Have fun and good luck!

    If you’re a songwriter or performer (or want to be) and you’d like a lot of useful information on building a fan base and writing songs, download my free report here: http://successforyoursongs.com/freeoffer/

    Anthony Ceseri is the owner of http://www.SuccessForYourSongs.com, a website dedicated to the growth and development of songwriters of all skill levels.

  • Why Do We Work? Why Do We Start Businesses?

    Why do we work?   There are many reasons and some psychologists have used Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to explain why we work.  

    Hierarchy - Maslow
    Hierarchy – Maslow

    The basic needs, the physiological needs and safety needs, are at the bottom or the pyramid.  We work for food, safe housing, medical care, and security.  In the middle are our needs for belonging, love, self-identity, and self-esteem.  We may not expect to find love in the work force, but we would like respect in addition to feeling that our jobs match our self-identities and enhance our self- esteem.  The top level needs are for growth and not survival and might include beauty, justice, self-actualization, and knowledge.  According to Maslow we must have the lower level needs met before we can move upward to the higher needs.

     During the Agricultural Age and Industrial Age, most people worked to fulfill their basic needs.  Work was to pay the bills not to give you identity or self-esteem.  With the Information or Postindustrial era, the concept of work changed and we expected our jobs and careers to meet our higher level needs for belonging, self-esteem, and self-identity and maybe knowledge and self-actualization.  Only those who lacked an education worked for the basic needs.

     The Recession that began in 2008 changed things again.  People who once had positions that met their middle and upper level needs now find themselves unhappily working to secure the basics.  But the genie will not go back into the bottle.  Most of us want our work to be more than supplying our basic needs.  There were and are an abundance of books on how to get ahead in the workplace and if that  was not working out, there are the books that tell us how to escape from corporate America and start making money by being who you really are.  In other words, create a business based on something you feel passionate about.

    I teach Self-Assessment and Career Planning as a college course and write resumes.  My students and clients primarily want their careers to meet all their needs and provide them with financial security.  Oops the long-term financial security is no longer part of the social contract.  I also use the Life First – Work Second approach to career planning  that comes from Changing Course.com.  This coaching method asks what do you want your life to look like, before it asks what kind of work/business do you want to do.  It consists of one-three laser coaching sessions to help the client discover how to make money from their passion(s).

    Now I am finding passion to be a tricky component of starting a business.  Does your business have to be based on a passion?  Can it be based on a skill you have or based on a need in the community that you can meet without it being something you are passionate about?  What if your passion will not translate into a business of job – you’re passionate about baseball or opera – but you do not have the talent to work in these fields? (Of course, you might have the ability to write about them)  What about a passion to do anything that will make a lot of money and give you lots of leisure time?  (And there are plenty of websites that promise help you do this)

    Life first –work second.  What do you want your life to look like?  If your leisure time activities are really important to you, you certainly may want a business that provides plenty of leisure time.  If your life is your children  or grandchildren, then work should allow plenty of time with the kids.   Your business may be online, but it does not have to be. 

    Abel Gonzales Jr. works for24 consecutive days, 15 hours per day at the Texas State Fair, frying up a food that he “invented” – fried butter.  You can probably understand how inventing new tasty treats could be a passion, but 24 long days in the heat of Texas!  Abel makes enough in these 24 days for the rest of the year.  More than 11 months to do whatever else he wants .  (From Changing Course –Special Edition 9/15/13)   If creating new fried food sensations may be your passion, check out what has won prizes at the Texas State Fair.  http://www.bigtex.com/sft/Nav/foodinformation.asp

    All that leisure time would fulfill the needs of some of us and be a nightmare for others.   Assessing or knowing yourself is part of Life first.  If you are an Extrovert who gets your energy from being around people or  a person for whom work has always given structure to your life, having lots of leisure time will not fulfill your needs.  If you are a retiree who wants to start a business or are thinking of starting a business when your retire, there are many things you should consider and your need for structured time and time spent with other people are two of those considerations.

    What’s more important?  Money?  Passion?  Leisure?  Meeting some need?  Using your skills or talents?  Let the Halfpreneur know your opinion.