Half the size – twice the price

On Thanksgiving weekend Joanne and I traveled up to the Amish country in Ohio to visit my dad in his retirement home.  As always, I am amazed at the micro enterprises that cover the back roads of this farming area where I was raised.  At one shop, where I bought some fresh unpastuerized apple cider, we saw a pile of miniature straw bales, about half the size of regular bales.  My brother told me a local Amishman had rebuilt a hay baler to produce the tiny, decorative bales.  While regular sized bales sell for about $2.00, these half sized ones sell for $4.00.  That’s the power of a unique idea. 

 

We also visited the local winery featuring Amish Country Wine.  And we stopped in at Homestead Furniture where we’ve had a couple of beautiful custom pieces designed and made for our home.  There is certainly some amusing irony in the Amish being winemakers and having the latest laser technology.   But the point is they are great about finding unique ideas and building a successful business around them.

If you have an idea, you’ve got to have a well thought out business plan.  The importance of a comprehensive, thoughtful business plan cannot be overemphasized.  Much hinges on it: credit from suppliers, management of your operation and finances, promotion and marketing of your business, and achievement of your goals and objectives.

Here’s a free Business Planning Guide – you will see examples and questions to help you develop your idea.  You’ll also see information relative to taxes, insurance and legal issues.  I love to see simple ideas produce unusual success –

If you have an idea you want to turn into income this next year you may want to check out the growing group of 48Days.net Members who are sharing ideas and growing their businesses. There’s no cost to be involved and you can tap into the best braintrust I know of anywhere. 

Now, tell us about your unique business idea – that may defy logic.

Faster and Cheaper – Good News or Bad?

About six months ago we started looking at the possibility of a 48 Days iPhone app.  At that time we were told it would be a $20-30,000 process of development.  While we were in discussions we had a couple other companies tell us that because they were doing similar applications they could do our project for $8-10,000.  Yesterday our social media consultant pointed us to a website called Mobile Roadie where for $499 we can build our own app and be ready to go. 

So are the changes described here good news or bad news?  For me as a user, it’s great news.  If you are a technology guy who based his business model on developing $30,000 applications, it’s bad news.  If you are a musician who wants to build a fan base for your latest album it’s great news.  If you’re a record label with a four-story building and 80 employees it’s probably bad news.  If you are an author it’s amazingly good news.  You can go right to your audience without waiting to get your book on the shelves at Barnes & Noble.  If you are a traditional publishing house these changes just wiped out your big company advantage. 

Change always presents the good news – bad news options.  If you see change as threatening, you will likely see the bad news.  If you believe progress always requires change, you will likely see the good news.  If you can build your business in a way that embraces change, you will recognize ways to take advantage of change rather than feeling victimized by it.  And it doesn’t matter if you are mowing yards, filling teeth, preaching sermons, writing books or building houses.

That’s not our “policy”

Yesterday I attended an art show and reception at our local library in which my wife Joanne was one of the featured artists.  During the course of the afternoon I also wandered over into the library and naturally found myself in the business section.  Not seeing any copies of my books there I then did a quick search on the library computer and found that the 5 copies of 48 Days to the Work You Love they have in circulation were all checked out with a long waiting list for those as they are returned.

So I walked up to the desk and talked to the nice mid-60s lady and gentleman who were overseeing the library on this lovely Sunday afternoon.  They confirmed that their five copies of 48 Days to the Work You Love are always checked out and always have a hold list.

I then suggested that I walk out to my car and get three additional copies that I would give them immediately.  But after a brief raised eyebrow they quickly agreed that they had no policy for that and there was no way to integrate those books into their system.  The only solution they could come up with was that I might call the library director on Monday, although they thought she was on vacation for a couple of weeks.  I went back to the art show and drank another round of Joanne’s wonderful summer mint tea. 

Have you ever known someone who sends money to an anonymous organization on TV rather than helping the out-of-work lady down the street pay her rent because giving to the lady would not be “tax-deductible.”

Do you remember when people got new cars on Oprah and then sued her because they didn’t know they’d have to pay taxes?

Would you stay in the 20-mph speed limit in a school zone at 3:00 AM in the morning if your child’s head was bleeding and you were on your way to the hospital?

Do you politely send your resume to the company you want to work for rather than call or show up because they say “No phone calls please”?

What are the “rules” and policies in your life that are keeping you from receiving new abundance and success?

Need an Extra $15,000?

Need an extra $15,000?  I have a proposition for you.  Recently I purchased 5000 copies of the Spanish edition of 48 Days to the Work You Love from my publisher.  While sales of 48 Days to the Work You Love continue to rock I didn’t really have any plan for these Spanish versions and as of right now they are just sitting in our warehouse.  So before I initiate my own plan to sell these out I’m offering you an opportunity to exercise your creativity and innovation.  Many of you are looking for new opportunities.  New opportunities come easiest with new ways of thinking, so here’s your chance. 

This book retails for $9.95.  I’ll give you anything over $3.00 each. So if you discount them 40% and sell them for $6.00 each you’ll get 5000 x $3.00 or $15,000.  Sell them for $7.00 each and you’ll get $20,000.  Get a deal for $3.50 and you’ll get $2500.  You determine where you’ll end up. 

You could:

• Have one included in each freshman welcome packet at the University of Mexico this fall.
• Include a book in McDonald’s Happy Meal.
• Have Bank of America give a book as a bonus with any new account opened in San Antonio.
• Recycle the paper and print your own book.
•  ??????

What I want is an imaginative but doable plan to sell all 5000 copies.  I don’t want a plan to sell 50 or 100.  I reserve the right to accept or reject any plan presented – but trust me, I’m open to something really radical.  You’ve got until the end of July.  You don’t need any investment, any credit approval process – only your unique plan.  And I do mean a plan – I don’t want just an idea that I have to implement.  You make the arrangements – close the deal!

This could be your ticket for several months’ mortgage payments or your nest egg for your own business start-up.  The clock is ticking.  Be the first with a real plan and we’ll let everyone know how brilliant you are.   Just post your plan here – you’ll obviously be credited with the idea if you’re first in line.

Does Everyone Have Passion?

This week a reader asked:

“How do you identify PASSION when that word seems so intense? You’ve addressed this before & I’m reading 48 Days but the word “passion” itself seems too intense for me. I have a hard time saying that there is anything other than my loved ones that I feel “passionate” about… How do I identify passion when I can’t recognize what it is?

Yes, I do talk about the importance of finding your passion – as a pre-requisite to finding work that you love.

The dictionary defines “passion” as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.  Others meanings would include a strong excitement, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.

Well, I hope you do have things in your life that you’re excited about – and those should help you identify your passion.  Having a little life experience is a great help in uncovering our passion – because it’s not so much bringing something new into our life as it is uncovering what’s already there.  Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists, the problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

I see the same thing in working with adults.  I agree with Picasso that all children have passions.  You cannot find a two or three year old that does not show passion in many ways.  How do we lose that as we grow up?  I observe that “life happens” and often we just become numb to what our passions are.  The responsibilities of life sometimes crowd out those things that were once most important.  But we ought to be able to look back at our life and see recurring themes.  It may be when you’re working with elderly people, or with plants, or when you’re working on ideas rather than with people at all.  There is no right or wrong; but you should be able to see these patterns that help you identify your true passions.  So it’s rather like peeling an onion – just peeling back the layers to expose what’s already there rather than discovering something new that you’ve never been aware of before.

So enjoy the process of unpeeling your onion – and watch your passions come into view once again.