Jim Donovan, the Ageless Boomer

Find a Want and Fill It

Years ago sales people were taught that the way to become successful was to find a need and fill it. The problem with this type of thinking is that there is a world of difference between what people need and what they want and are willing to pay money to have.

People need all sorts of things.

They need to eat healthier and exercise more. Lots of people need driving lessons. This does not mean that they want them or want to pay to have them.

That said, and since we’ve been exploring opportunities of the online world, let’s switch now to ways that you can make money offline in more traditional businesses. We’ll come back to some additional online opportunities later, but for now I want to offer some solutions for the non-technically inclined people who prefer something more tangible.

Of course, these two worlds will converge for you regardless of what you do, and there is no reason why you can not have more than one source of income. As a matter of fact, I am going to suggest that you develop a habit of adding additional income sources on a regular basis.

We’ll talk more about that later, however, it is important that you have one source up and running well before you embark on an additional venture. Too many people try to launch several businesses at once and end up succeeding in none of them. The possible exception to this might be if you are working in partnership with others and each partner can be the key person for one of the ventures.

The best and simplest way you can increase your income immediately and make more money now is to start a part or full time service business.

As it was explained to me by a friend and mentor years ago, as a society or geographic locale develops and grows, it expands from providing bare necessities like electricity and water to becoming more service oriented.

Depending upon where you live, the demands and types of services will vary greatly.

For example, I grew up in New York City. If you were to open a pizzeria or Chinese restaurant in New York and not offer delivery service, you would be out of business within the week. When I moved to California and tried to call for a pizza to be delivered, my roommate looked at me like I was crazy.

Write this down:

You can always make money by offering a service people want.

I like service businesses for a number of reasons:

They have little or no start up cost.
They present very little risk.
They do not require buildings, employees or large investments in equipment.

As in my pizzeria example above, large scale home delivery did not exist outside major metropolitan areas until, in 1960, Tom and James Monaghan borrowed $500 to buy what would become Dominos.

Service businesses come in every shape and size.

I was driving around town one day several years ago and passed by a large van with the words “Lucky Dog” painted on the outside above an 800 number. When I got home I called the number and met Ed, the owner, who took care of grooming our cats until we had to change because his waiting list was too long.

Today, some ten years later I still see him, interestingly enough, at the bank. He has a solid business driving to people’s homes and grooming their dogs and cats right there in their driveway.

On another day a while back, a polite young man rang my doorbell and offered us his dry cleaning pickup and delivery service. At the time, both my wife and I were wearing a lot of dress clothes and this, to me, was a no-brainer. They would pick up the dry cleaning on a Tuesday and drop it off on a Thursday. It saved us a lot of time and had the added benefit of allowing us to know where any given outfit was and when it would be back.

Last I heard the McCormick Brothers Dry Cleaning Service had grown to six trucks and the entrepreneurial brothers had purchased their own dry cleaning facility.

Another enterprising individual, I read about, was sitting at a suburban train station one morning during rush hour and seeing all the commuters wearing dress clothes, set up a station pick up and delivery service where people could drop off their dry cleaning on their way to the train in the morning and pick it up the following evening their way home. When I learned of it, he was setting up shop at the rest stops along the New York State throughway, to take care of the auto commuter traffic.

In 1989, an unemployed college student, Brian Scudamore, was sitting in a McDonald’s trying to figure out howe to make a living. He noticed a beat up truck over flowing with junk. He invested his last $700 to buy a used pick-up and launched what has become 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Today they have over 200 franchises and are growing rapidly.

Key point:

People will always pay for someone to provide a service they do not or can not do themselves.

I called a handyman in our town recently and was told he had a two month backlog at $40 an hour!

By far, the simplest, and easiest to start service business I have ever heard about was the guy who went door-to-door, asking people if they were planning on having improvements made to their house any time in the next six months. If they answered “yes,” he would ask if he could send one of his recommended license contractors to provide them with a free, no-obligation consultation and estimate.

He then took these very hot leads to his network of contractors and received a finder’s fee if the job went through. This was brilliant.

If you consider the cost of home improvements, like a new roof, siding, driveways, swimming pools, decks, etc., and realize that he could have easily asked for and received at least 10% of the order, this is a very profitable business for just walking around in the fresh air and talking to people in nice neighborhoods. The basic start up requirements for a business like this, aside from the license and legal paperwork would be business cards and a clean shirt.

When Georgia was looking for a way to turn her love of fashion and style into an income producing business, she assembled a list of services for women ranging from closet makeovers to teaching them what to wear and how to shop for clothes. People happily paid her for her service, since she typically would save them more than her fee.

From this, she’s developed a series of seminars, tele-seminars and home study programs for the woman over 40.

What service might you offer?

As I said before, find something that you enjoy and care about.

I once bought a business opportunity by mail-order for $49.95. It was a niche advertising business and, unlike most of the people that buy these things, I actually worked at the business.

When I sold it to my partner some six months later, for several thousand dollars we had two fulltime sales people, three part-timers and a part-time phone person setting appointments. This not only provided me with a decent income for the six months during startup, it supported several other people and when I sold it, it was for a nice chunk of cash.

Be creative. Ask other people what they’d like.

Think about the types of services you would like, but can not find in your local. When you travel, see what’s being done in other places that you might do in your own area. Whenever I travel, I make a point of observing what local businesses are doing. I usually talk to one or two business people in the town or city I’m visiting. This gives me a totally new perspective on things and opens my thinking to new possibilities.

Get rid of the idea that you can not make more money.

Yes, you can!

If you want to learn how to make more money, first you have to develop a success mindset. To help you start creating this mental attitude, I’ve written a simple, easy to read ebook, Wealth Without Struggle – just click here to get your copy

Everyone’s Favorite On-line Market Place

While we’re talking about making money on-line, let’s take a look at everyone’s favorite on-line market place.

Yes, I am referring to ebay.com. The biggest shopping mall to ever come along.

Like Google’s Adsense, anyone can play the ebay game. Here is it in a nutshell.

Find some stuff.
Sell it on ebay.

Seriously, that’s the basis of this online merchandizing phenomena.

On ebay.com auctions, you will find everything from someone selling Aunt Mabel’s old posters, to giant corporations discounting their slow moving merchandise, and everything in between. There is new merchandise, used merchandise, collectable merchandise, etc, etc.

There are so many different ways to make money on ebay and other similar sites like Yahoo and even Amazon Auctions, that entire books have been written about it and there are numerous programs to teach you the step-by-step how to do it.

What I want to accomplish here is to give you some basic ideas and explain a few successful selling models that are being used, in the hope that I motivate you to start brain-storming with your friends or family, and look for ways for you to add to your household income using ebay.

Look Around

The way most people get started selling on ebay is by looking through their own house, garage and basement for merchandise that they no longer want.

Warning! Don’t make the mistake of thinking that because you no longer want something, or that it’s kind of worn, that there is not a buyer for it. We actually sold empty boxes on an ebay auction. (more on that story later).

The next level of people go around to yard sales looking for items that they can resell online. They will buy entire boxes of items just to pick out a few key things for resale. The trick, if this appeals to you, is to get to the sales very early, usually before the published time. When we were moving and ran an ad for our yard sale from 8:00 AM, I had people in the garage at 6:30!

If you’re a craft person, artist or photographer, and your not selling on ebay, you’re losing out on sizable income. One artist I know had what I consider a brilliant marketing model for his work. He would sell 5 x 7 animal prints on ebay, framed and ready to hang, for about $25. I know this because one of them looked just like our Persian cat “Smokey” so Georgia bought it. When the print arrived the package included a sell sheet for his original artwork and larger prints, which sold for hundreds and thousands of dollars. He was essentially using ebay to build a mailing list of people who buy animal art while at the same time, selling smaller prints of his large pieces. He maintained his cash flow and built his database at the same time.

What About You?

If none of these examples appeal to you, fear not, you can still play on ebay. Like Google’s Adsense or anything else, find something you’re interested in. Something you know about.

A friend of Georgia’s is a lawyer who, after having a baby, wanted to stay home and raise her child. She started selling her good quality, but unwanted, clothes on ebay and, after her initial success, expanded it into a business.

She goes to women’s homes, picks through their closets and resells their designer clothing on ebay, sharing the revenue with the person.

This is basically an on-line version of the traditional consignment clothing shop.

Years ago, Georgia did sell some clothes on ebay and still uses it for goods she no longer wants. One woman who bought some of Georgia’s things, was married to a man who would buy top quality designer suits, like Armani, on ebay. He was an insurance salesman and wanted to project an affluent image without spending a fortune on clothing. He was able to buy a suit worth about $2,000 for $200, wear it a couple of times and then resell it for basically what he paid for it. His clients would see him in a different Armani suit every time they met. This was good for his business because people like to do business with successful people.

The Secret is in the Purchase Price

Another ebay option is to sell a product that you can obtain at a good price. This is all about being able to “source” the merchandise. There are people who, because they have low overhead, can sell expensive watches at a fraction of the retail price. Some people in our area go to antique dealers put a $10 deposit on an item, take a photo of it, and then go and offer it on ebay for more than they are paying for it. If the item doesn’t sell, they just give up the $10 deposit, but they aren’t stuck with a white elephant.

The Big One

Here is the big one! I really should be charging you for this:-)

Liquidations, outlet centers and close-outs. Again you must know what you are buying, but if you do, you can build a significant income from this. The key here is knowing enough about a product or item, to know what will and more importantly what won’t sell easily and for what price.

In my Wealth Creation Audio Program, I told the story about Georgia and her mink handbag.

My wife, Georgia, had gone to the Neiman Marcus outlet center in Franklin Mills, Pennsylvania and bought a bunch of stuff to resell on ebay.

Of course, she also bought some stuff to keep for herself:-)

One of the items was a mink handbag (a pocketbook for the men reading this). The original selling price was $5,000 (this is not a typo). I gasped, “how much?” I didn’t think there were such things as $5,000 pocketbooks. Of course I now know better. The French designer, Hermes, has a “handbag” that’s $25,000 and there is a waiting list.

What economic slow down?

Georgia informed me that she only paid $500 for the bag. The bag sold later that week on ebay for $1,250. Let’s examine that transaction.

- The buyer got a beautiful, brand new mink handbag worth $5,000 for 75% off the retail price.
- Georgia more than doubled her money.
- Neiman Marcus moved the merchandise that they wanted to move.

This was a win, win, win. Everyone was happy.

This is good business. Whatever you do, in any transaction, make sure it’s a win for everyone. If it’s not, then it’s not a win for anyone. There are no exceptions to this.

The secret to this and Georgia’s other dealings is that she has a sixth sense about what will be a hot item and if it’s a good deal. A few months ago, she showed me a leopard handbag, again in Neiman’s, and said, “This is going to be hot.” It’s on the cover of “Shop Magazine” this month.

You can use this basic model for any product, at any price point, at any time.

In merchandizing of any kind, profit is made on the buying side, whether its designer clothing and accessories, cars, or real estate, there is always a perceived value and price. If you can buy whatever it is, well below that – in Georgia’s case 90% off retail – you can make money on the resale.

Be Educated

If selling on ebay appeals to you as a way to add an additional source of income to your family, learn how to do it. Here’s one of the best resources I’ve found on how to make money selling on ebay

Last week, my local newspaper ran a story that really got under my skin.

The story, “Consumers Face Economic Adjustments,” written by AP journalist, Anne D’Innocenzio, was about how one police officer in Connecticut would “like to be able to buy books and take his family to dinner but can’t because he has to budget for the increase in gasoline prices.” With the cost of Connecticut real estate, this is no big surprise.

This pissed me off on several levels.

For openers, having been raised in a family of police officers, I am appalled at the very idea that someone who risks his life daily, protecting the rest of us, has to think about how he can afford to take his family out for a meal. Obviously, we’re not paying cops enough.

As an author, it bothers me that people have to choose between buying books, (mine or any else’s) or getting to work.

But . . . what really gets to me is how we have created a society where people feel they are not in control of their own income. I won’t even touch on the fact that big oil posted record profits the same week. That might put me over the edge:-)

A century ago, most people were self-employed. Then, along came the industrial revolution and giant companies hired these people, saying, “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you. Just come to work for us”

This all worked reasonably well for a while. A century even, until the world changed and companies became more interested in the bottom line than the people who helped them build the business. This may even be a necessary evil for these companies to survive in a world economy. Although I have serious doubts considering the salaries of top executives in these same companies.

The unfortunate thing is that no one told the worker that they were now, more or less, responsible for their own earning potential. No one has encouraged 9 to 5 employees to find creative ways to give themselves a raise by supplementing their income and lowering debt. Probably because once you realize you’re not dependent on your company to live, they lose the ability to manipulate you.

This is what is necessary for people to continue to afford the lifestyle they’ve become accustomed to living.

Or, they are stuck waiting for the price of gas to drop. Fat chance.

Waiting for the government, your company, whomever, to change leaves you powerless.

On the other hand, as soon as you take responsibility, you have reclaimed your power and are in control of your own destiny.

The reason I’m writing what will probably become a book and is definitely a new seminar and workshop is that the people who are hurting financially need to understand that they can increase their income and make more money in any of several ways, in their spare time, without giving up their primary source of income.

If you want to learn how to make more money, first you have to develop a success mindset. To help you start creating this mental attitude, I’ve written a simple, easy to read ebook, Wealth Without Struggle – just click here to get your copy

This is the coolest thing since sliced bread.

Making money with Google Adsense and similar services, is so simple to get going; it’s a no-brainer. This is a game everyone can play.

You probably heard a lot lately about how people are making fortunes with Adsense. While this is certainly true, take it all with a grain of salt. It’s not as easy as a lot of people would have you think . . .

but . . . you can easily make some amount of money from it. How much is up to you.

To really appreciate how cool this is and how it works, you have to understand Googles reasoning. Google lets people buy key word positioning in searches known as “adwords,” to promote their business to people who are searching for a particular product or service.

To expand their reach, they also provide a way for people like you and I to display these ads on our Web pages. They then share the revenue with us. This is the Adsense model in a nutshell.

As of this writing, Google is doing some $6 billion in advertising a year.

You can share in this quite easily.

To read more, click here

The other day, in response to an article of mine that circulated the Web, I received a comment from a man who wrote, “. . . where there are winners, there must be losers . . .”

Says who?

This is a belief that dates back centuries and if it ever was true, which is unlikely, it’s certainly not true now.

Why do some people need to go without so you and I can be wealthy? They dont! We live in an abundant universe. Look around you.

Since it’s almost tomato season here in the Northeast US, go out and get a tomato and curt it open. Count the seeds. Now realize that each of these seeds is capable of producing an entire plant with a dozen more tomatoes, containing hundreds of seeds, and so on.

Do you really believe a loving, benevolent Creator would do less for us? Of course not.

The belief in there having to be losers in the game of life, in order to have winners, is absurd! It’s a convenient way for people to remain stuck. Of course, I know this is not you or you would not be reading this blog.

If you still have doubts about your deserving wealth and abundance of every kind in your life, download a free copy of my Wealth Without Struggle ebook.

Probably the easiest way to get started earning more money right away is by doing something related to your present career or job.

A word of caution: Make sure you are not in violation of any agreements you have with your employer or in any way competing with them.

For most people, the skills they use every day in their 9 to 5 job can be used elsewhere. Even some other skill you have from a hobby or previous career would work. My wife, Georgia, has performed work as a makeup artist even though her “career” was in high tech. She had worked in the London theater earlier in her life. We sometimes forget that we do not lose the skills we have just because we’re not working with them today.

Read more here

Lately, I’ve been hearing so much about how baby boomers can’t afford to retire, how people are buried in debt, the struggles families are having just making ends meet and so on and so on.

The real problem here, the big thing stopping most people is that they believe there’s nothing they can do about it.

They bought (no pun intended) into the idea that their paycheck is what they have to play with. I used the word play here because the more you begin to see money as a game, one which you can win, the better off you’ll be.

Read more here

As T. Harv Eker, author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, so aptly points out, we are all essentially, living out our parents money blueprint or script, at least until we have actively changed it.

Along with all the good qualities I inherited from my Mother, her “laissez faire” attitude about credit cards and her mantra of “spend now, worry later,” was one I would have been happy to skip. Until I decided to take charge of my finances and challenge my beliefs about money and wealth, I was, like many people, simply carrying on what I learned growing up.

I was continuing to live out my parent’s wealth script, which, in my case, was not a good idea. The sad thing is, they were doing the same thing their parents did and so on. Chances are, unless you’ve already addressed this issue, you’re pretty much acting out your parents behavior and using their money script as your own. After all, where else would you learn about money and finances?

As a small child, you did not have many opportunities to develop your own beliefs about wealth, but there is no reason why you cannot choose your own model now.

Action steps:

1. Take a look at your spending patterns. Are they something you would choose for yourself now, as an adult?

2. What steps could you take to immediately change this? (Example: cut up your credit cards, get help, begin learning about wealth, take a course, read a book, etc.)

To help you get started creating your own money script, download a FREE copy of “Wealth Without Struggle- simple ways to have more money”

I happened to catch the TV news the other night as they were doing a story about how we have too much debt, not enough savings and don’t know what to do about it. I posted this comment on the American Broadcasting Company’s message boards:

Cindy Taylor (and most other American’s) say- “I think often about . . . I need to save, I need to pay down my debt, I need to invest,” Taylor said. “But I really don’t even begin to understand how to do that.”

It starts with taking personal responsibility for the mess. You then use the grey matter between your ears to develop ways to increase your income while systematically reducing your debt. It may not be so simple but it’s easy enough.

We are living in a time of more opportunity for wealth than we’ve ever seen in this world. We have libraries filled with books to help and courses on every street corner.

The way out of debt is by maing more money. I’ve writen about this myself as have a ton of other people.

We have teenagers in far off countries making money on the Internet and in a myriad of other creative ways while the adults in the US sit and whine.

We have to get over being victims and take ownership of our lives once again.

The real problem is that we all (well, some of you:-) bought into the idea that your income comes from your JOB. It doesn’t. For starters, everything we need was put here by our Creator. Then, consider that your company, whoever they are, pays you for your contribution. It is not a gift. You earn it with your skills.

If Betsy Stark could not manage on her network salary, believe me, she would figure out a better way. Once someone takes responsibility for their situation, they are empowered to do something to change it.

Anyone expecting the government to step in and save them better get used to eating pet food. Decide what you want and take some action.

IF you want a head start, you can download a FREE copy of “Wealth Without Struggle- simple ways to have more money”