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More Profit and Enjoyment

Carol had a website that averaged 3 visitors a month, one of which was her mother. It took her 1/2-hour to implement an idea I suggested. Within a day, she was getting over 14,000 visitors per day. Now, your success may not be as spectacular as that, but whether you’re just considering a startup or are an established pro, you can expect something very profitable to come out of $48 weekly email consultation with me. Your boost in income will way exceed the cost!





$48/Weekly Email Mentoring, Start Today!
Questions: jeff@biz5000.com

One out of four women fail in business. But wait! Four out of five men fail in business.

Even those who are succeeding could do better.

Here are some major factors:

* Not presenting your product or service in sufficiently attractive ways.

* Not knowing some techniques for building profit.

* Not being up-to-date with technology such as artificial intelligence and marketing trends.

* Not able to overcome mental blocks or negative beliefs.

* Not having balance, confidence, or focus.

However, a few emails every week with me, Jeff Napier, a business coach, can turn all this around, sometimes spectacularly. The cost is only $48/week with no long-term contract. The profit could be huge. To get started, just drop me an email telling me about you and your situation at jeff@biz5000.com or click Subscribe below. You’ll enjoy my friendly, informative style.

As the founder of multiple businesses including three bicycle shops, a mobile welding service, software development, variety arts entertainment, online book sales, computer parts sales, community exchange, pickleball coaching, website development, and now business mentoring, I’m the guy you want!

I can advise about advertising, free publicity, social media marketing, retailing, your website, employee and customer relations, and especially how to start your own business from scratch without spending your life savings.

If you need website development, marketing, app programming, graphic arts or other business services, I can hook you up with trusted professionals.

I conduct ordinary email conversations in which I educate and inspire people in business. I’m your mentor, your friend, your confidant, and your cheerleader. All this at $48/week.

Then there’s what I don’t do. I didn’t hold you to any contract. You can quit my service whenever you want. Some people get amazing results after only one week. Most take longer. Some stay with me for years for ever-growing prosperity.

I don’t set up scheduled phone calls. As I’m sure you know, for most people, remembering and managing to be available Wednesday at 3pm, for instance, is difficult.

Accuracy of facts and feelings in spontaneous conversation is less than ideal. Information in writing is more memorable than spoken information. Plus, that’s what keeps the cost so low.

In addition to tons of business experience, I am a certified master NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) practitioner. I can help you get past hidden blocks and fears. Plus, one of my businesses was website design, something I still do occasionally. I know what it takes to build a strong online presence and can teach you all the tricks.

You may be surprised by the way our email conversations can go. Sometimes it’s very specific, like how to set up a LinkedIn account. But more often, I talk in metaphors, I listen, I help you understand things in new ways, discover unique approaches, and help you feel inspired, even excited, about yourself and your situation.

Nothing should be difficult! You’ll enjoy my step-by-step approaches and light-hearted conversational style.

I can also set you up with good, reliable website developers, SEO experts, marketers, artists, or consultants in specialized fields should the need arise.

Your business growth is expected to be many times greater than the cost of this coaching! If not, you can drop me like a hot potato.

I don’t require a contract because this doesn’t work for everyone or every product and service. But when it works, it really works! You may end up being happier, and making more money than ever in your life. If it doesn’t work, you’ve spent very little money for a valid experiment.

Am I going to be your coach? I hope so. There’s so much garbage in the coaching world. There are so-called coaches who don’t actually have business experience, there are coaches who don’t know basic psychology, there are ‘coaches’ who only want to take as much money from you as they can. Watch out for anyone who asks for a big deposit, or requires a long-term commitment. A commitment can be good because change doesn’t always happen overnight. But these coaches demand a commitment so they’ll know you’ll keep paying them.

When you start with me, you pay for only the first week ($48). If you’re not satisfied at any point, don’t pay for the next week. It’s just that simple.





$48/Weekly Email Mentoring, Start Today!
Questions: jeff@biz5000.com

Here are some real-people examples to give you an idea of what you can accomplish:

A man with a video camera filmed a local government meeting and published it online. Several years later, his video business brings in over $1,800,000 per year.

Mike wanted to learn how to develop websites. He went from a regular job working for someone else to running his own website development company with three employees, so far!

Stan wanted to buy used bikes, fix them up and sell them. That’s all. That simple business may not sound like much, but it brought him over $300 in daily profit working from his two-car garage.

Young Erik bought a fixer-upper duplex house, and rented out both halves while still living with his parents. Then, he bought another, and another. Now, 20 years later, he owns seven houses all free and clear. I’m sure you can calculate his monthly profit. Well, maybe you can’t. He’s collecting around $14,000 in monthly rent, with total expenses under $3,000. Erik tells me he only stopped buying more houses because he felt that was sufficiently successful. He retired super-early and lives a stress-free life.

Tony started driving a van for an appliance company and went around fixing washing machines and driers. It paid nearly minimum wage. Still, he invested carefully. He also retired early, at he age of 44, with several million dollars.

John found a product he could make from home and sells them on Ebay. That’s all he does, and it earns him a full living.

Scott also started his own home-made product line and sold them through his own website. At one point he had 4 employees. Now, of retirement age, he still has his website, and has reduced his sales volume to where he can return to working from home by himself, which is exactly the way he likes it.





$48/Weekly Email Mentoring, Start Today!
Questions: jeff@biz5000.com

About

I created my first business, a retail bicycle store, in 1974. I started with $400, a handful of tools, and six used bikes. Five years later, after it had grown into the biggest ‘pro shop’ in the city.

As you can see from the pictures above, taken with a plastic Instamatic camera of the era, I was more interested in the mechanics of bicycling than anything else at the time. Even back then, I was a coach, teaching general bike repair, wheelbuilding and framebuilding in the winters.

I sold the bike shop, bought a motorhome and started traveling around the United States.


Jeff's GMC motorhome was much like this one, a front-wheel drive GMC with air suspension.
My motorhome was much like this one, a GMC with front-wheel drive and air suspension

Along the way, I coached two other bike shop owners from impending failure to success. One of the shops was $140,000 in debt. That shop recovered and still exists today, 44 years later!

I met a professional juggler, and wouldn’t you know it, a year later, I became a juggler also, conducting fire and knife comedy juggling shows in San Diego, Philadelphia and Waikiki, and also briefly appearing in a Warner Brothers movie.

Jeff Napier with juggling clubs
Yup, that’s me.

One day, I found a programming language called Turbo Pascal at a garage sale for $15. That took another year to learn, during which I started writing software. At one point, I created a program that was sold through WalMart, Sears, Kmart, Office Depot and other stores that eventually sold a quarter-million copies.

Fast forward through several other businesses. One was a media exchange. It was like a library, but no one needed a card, and nothing could be overdue. People could check out as many books, CDs, and DVDs as they wanted. In order to make it work, I also asked for donations of media that people no longer wanted. Far more came in than went out. Some of the items were of no interest to the general public. For instance, no one would take out a book on underwater welding. However, online, such a book could be worth over $100. So those books were sold online. At one point, my employees and I had 29,000 books listed on Amazon, Abe Books and Alibris.

In the free media exchange
In the Media Exchange

Creating websites became interesting. With my background in programming, I not only created websites, but also helped others with deep customization and problem-solving.

The biggest problem many of my clients faced was running the businesses for which the websites were created. So, I ended up becoming a coach helping these clients with best practices and techniques to succeed, sometimes in remarkably business-adverse markets.

But some couldn’t be helped. You’ve probably met people who consistently make the wrong decisions. We all do it at times. I discovered a para-psychology system called NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) that helps people get past blocks to success in life, relationships, and of course business. I studied for two years and became a certified master practitioner (NLP Marin). Now, I could assist people with not only the physical aspects of their business, but also all the reasons someone who should be successful but hasn’t been successful.

In addition to all of the above, I ran a mobile welding business, RV repair business, Ebay sales, and more recently, I’ve been coaching intermediate and advanced pickleball. You might enjoy my pickleball website: OddPickleball.com.

My More Recent Motorhome
My more recent diesel motorhome

My Wife Lyn in RV
My wife Lyn in the RV

Now, I’ve got the full package. I know most forms of business, and all the tricks to make businesses more successful. Call me whenever you’re ready for more success. You’ll enjoy my friendly, informative manner.





$48/Weekly Email Mentoring, Start Today!
Questions: jeff@biz5000.com

What people say:

“I can’t thank you enough for all your help. You have made a huge difference.”
Fay Fahron,
Columnist, Entrepreneur

“You just qualified for sainthood.”
Ann Flaherty,
Private investigator

“I’m an ebook author with an income now that never would have happened without your help!”
Amy Butler

“Learning how to design and develop websites had always been a goal of mine so I started paying Jeff for coaching. He is patient, well spoken, precise and an all-around enjoyable person to work with. If you need coaching, there is no one I more highly recommend than Jeff.”
Adam McKinley
Owner, True Social Marketing

“Working with Jeff has been a great experience. Jeff gives personal one on one help which is hard to find. When you email you know whom you will be talking with, and not get shuffled off to a random employee. It’s the sort of help I have not found in many years. Plus his rates are very reasonable.”
Scott Paul
ScottPaulDesigns.com

“Thanks so much for explaining it in detail for me. That’s exactly what I wanted, and thanks for doing it so quickly.
Regards,
Sharon”

“I received three franchise inquires after your very first email!”
Sheila McCann,
House of Bread

“As Jeff is a good communicator who is always keen to help, I have no hesitation in saying that any project whether large or small, will benefit from his considerable experience and originality.”
Godfrey Gardner,
Reedmace Ltd. UK.

“Jeff has been a pleasure to work with. From the first time we availed his services he has been very patient and diligent. We can clearly attest to the fact he went above and beyond our expectation.
Koushik Saha (Ph.D.)
California Polytechnic State University

“That was so helpful. Thank you 1 million Jeff. You are very efficient and helpful. Much appreciated. All the best,
Miranda”

You’ll enjoy my friendly, informative style.

Cheers! – Jeff (jeffnapier.com)





$48/Weekly Email Mentoring, Start Today!
Questions: jeff@biz5000.com

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Pickleball Coach

I discovered a system that is without a doubt the fastest way for people to improve their games. I call it “Socratic Pickleball,” or “Socratic Analytical Pickleball.”

For Socratic coaching, you don’t have to be a great player. All you need is be good enough to spot some of the things people aren’t doing properly. You can greatly increase that ability by watching some YouTube videos. Focus on instructional videos as well as high-level competitions.

Socratic works like this: Four players of approximately equal skill level, or three players and you as the coach play games that are ordinary doubles pickleball. However, you stop between many of the rallies to discuss strategies.

I believe this would work well for two singles players, or a singles player and a coach as well, but so far I have only worked with doubles pickleball.

The players are encouraged to interact. It doesn’t always have to be advice handed down from on high from the coach. As rallies are discussed, many interesting notions come up, many of which are presented in ways that are more memorable than just watching videos, or having the coach say ‘do this,’ or ‘do that.’ So, you can be more of a facilitator than instructor.

The player who is reluctant to come to the kitchen quickly learns to do so. The player who has never tried a long shot with forehand topspin learns how it’s done. The player who has gone into a serving slump (‘the yips’) learns ways to quickly overcome the problem. The experienced player who is trying to answer many deep shots with backspin learns why that may not be a good idea, players learn the difference between a defensive lob and an offensive lob, and much more!

In fact, this can be done without a coach. (Of course that’s not what this post is about. This is about making money as a pickleball coach.) Any four players can get together and critique at the end of rallies. Even without the coach, a lot of improvement will come to these players.

Did I say critique? It is important not to load up anyone with too much advice, especially negative advice. It is a rare human who could handle someone telling them “For the thousandth time, I’m telling you you’ve got to come to the kitchen!” without feeling resentful. In ideal Socratic pickleball, it is better to say something like, “Your backcourt play is so good, maybe you should see what you can do when you come more quickly to the kitchen,” or “I find I can cut off more angles at the kitchen.”

The Socratic method is attributed to the philosopher Socrates, who it is said would often ask questions, then allow his students to debate the relevant issues.

The version I was initially teaching was four weeks of one-hour sessions. Each player paid $285, so I was making $285 per hour. Now, I do live in Marin County, California where money flows more freely, but I think in most communities a price close to that is possible.

More recently, I’ve been coaching for free and just asking my participants to support their local food banks.

Did I mention you don’t have to be a highly skilled player? I have done some Socratic coaching and at my height, I was rated at only 4.5, and that’s when ratings were more liberal than they are today.

You don’t have to do this alone! Call or text me at (805) 843-5353. I can be your business coach to start or expand your pickleball coaching business!

Here’s what a few people have said:

Thanks Jeff. I loved joining the group! Thank you for sharing your time and amazing pickle skills with all of us. I have learned a lot from you. – C.M.

Thank you for another wonderful lesson, Maestro! – K.E.

This has all been really fun and helpful. – Jeff

Thank you SOOOO much for your wisdom, cheer, and teaching skill. – K.E.

The Socratic pickleball sessions were extremely helpful! I not only learned but got to practice some new techniques. Jeff made it fun as well as informative. I am hoping to be able to do more Socratic sessions! – Nancy Boughey

Had a great time at Socratic Pickleball! Was so helpful to stop mid-game and think about what just happened. Jeff, our Socrates, was always encouraging us to push our skills to try new approaches, all while having a fun time. And you’ll love “The Yawn” 🥱.

– Ray Michaelsen

Thank you so much, Jeff. You’re a great teacher and getting corrections while the game is in play has been invaluable.

– Lou Gurman

Thank you for all that you have taught me. Very grateful. – Laura

Jeff’s generous Socratic pickleball coaching was a bright spot in a dark season. In just four weeks, I’ve improved more than with any teacher so far, and it was always a delight to hear his wry and gentle wisdom. Now if I could only remember to bend my knees…
Katherine Ellison

Jeff’s enthusiasm for pickleball is infectious! He always has a smile on his face and a positive outlook on how to improve your game. He was extremely helpful with instruction and tips on how to play with all types of players… great experience.
DS

Jeff’s Socratic clinics are helpful, effective, and fun! He covers all aspects of play, from simple physical technique to strategy and also emphasizing the importance of a positive mental outlook. Stopping play to analyze shot sequences really helps to understand how points are won and lost. His approach is a good blend of taking the game seriously without being too serious about it!
Thank you so much Jeff!
Jeff Bayles

Jeff made the concepts so approachable, now I know I can improve everyday, and most of all have fun. It’s the little tweaks that make the difference over time and Jeff has a special way of sharing that. I hear his voice, “where’s your partner?”, “are your knees bent?’!! Thanks, Jeff!!!

There are other professional coaching variations you might also consider. Some things that come to mind are:

1. Group sessions. You can teach the very basics of pickleball to beginners. If you have the skill, you can hold workshops on speed at the kitchen, topspins and backspins, or third-shot drops.

2. You can organize pickleball festivals for which you could charge admission. This would take some organizing. You could have a day of festivities that include demonstrations by invited guests, fun and games that involve pickleball skills, food vendors, a raffle, and maybe even an evening dance.

3. I believe there are millions of pickleball players who would like to focus on drilling. Your job would be mostly to spend a half-hour or an hour with your students working on one skill at a time, such as diagonal dinking, passing shots, defensive lobs, split stepping, and so on.

4. For around $1,000 you can buy a ball machine. Add in $200 worth of balls, and you can provide great skill-building fun for your students.

You might enjoy another of my websites: OddPickleball.com.

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Creative Listener

Jeff Napier
(805) 843-5353
jeff@biz5000.com

I use creative listening in my business coaching practice all the time.

As a creative listener, I ask just the right questions to help you understand things in new ways, come up with your own inventive solutions, or feel better about yourself and your situation. This is done by phone or email. I charge $3/minute. The average call runs 9 minutes ($27). The results can be worth $thousands!

You may come up with inventive ways to fix problems, overcome frustration, worry and mild depression, make solid decisions, or discover new ways to interact with friends, family, and co-workers.

I do not tell you what to do. The purpose is to help you sort things, make sure nothing is overlooked, take mental leaps, come up with entirely new ideas, help you see and really feel the lighter side when necessary, and come away with a new perspective and hopefully with a renewed sense of purpose.

Does it work for everyone every time? No, but since it usually works and is the best approach to so many things, it’s well worth spending a few minutes, don’t you think?

You can phone me any time at (805) 843-5353. If I’m not immediately available, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. You’ll enjoy my friendly style.

What if you don’t like talking on the phone? No problem, email works well also: (jeff@biz5000.com).

Learn to become a professional creative listener. This requires almost no training, no money, and can be started right away. Helping people in this way is interesting and gratifying. Can you imagine anything better?

Become a Professional

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Mobile Bike Repair Business

If you know a lot about fixing bicycles, a great opportunity awaits.

If you know only how to fix flat tires and handle small repairs, you still have an opportunity. For any thing beyond your capabilities, you can offer to transport stranded riders and their bikes to their homes or to a better-equipped bike shop.

Starting a mobile bike repair business is easier than starting a full retail bike shop. On the other hand, a mobile bike repair business can be a profitable stepping stone to an eventual bike shop.

You could start as simply as loading some tools, a few spare parts and a good tire pump onto your bike shop, and meet stranded bicyclists on the road.


mobile bike repair trike

On the other end of the spectrum, you could equip a tall van with everything from a workstand to a vise, power source, and welding equipment. You can also carry 90% of the parts bicyclists need, and even a few accessories.

Mobile bike repair can be done in one or all of three general ways:

1. You help stranded bicyclists. They call, you roll. It’s your choice whether you’d want to keep office hours, or be on-call 24 hours a day. Keep in mind that most recreational bicycle riding is done during the daytime, but on weekends.

2. People make an appointment for you to go to their homes to fix up the families’ bicycles. This often includes full tune-ups, and could potentially include major overhauls and repairs. This can be especially lucrative because you may have four or more repairs at a single location. You might even encourage them to make a ‘neighborhood bicycle repair fair,’ inviting all their friends and neighbors.

3. You travel to a public location such as a flea market, doing repair work for people who stumble upon you, or those who know you’re going to be there. Unless you do something to publicize your presence for the first time at a place such as a flea market, your first week is likely to be really slow. However, once people catch on to you being there week after week, you can expect a lot of business.

Initially, you can lay in a stock of common replacement parts by simply buying them at a local bike shop. If you tell them your plans, they may give you a small discount, typically 10%, hoping you’ll become a steady, high-volume customer.

You may find better deals on the most common parts such as inner tubes and saddles at discount stores.

In time, you can become established with bicycle wholesalers, giving you a better markup on parts. If your only income was from repair labor, that could be good enough, but augmenting it with parts sales is icing on the cake.

Then, if you want your cake and eat it too, you can lay in a stock of attractive accessories. You might realize quite a profit by selling jerseys, locks, helmets, and maybe even carry a complete bike or two in your van.

For more general business information that will help your mobile business, see General Business Action Pack.

For more about the bicycle business in general, see How To Start A Bike Shop.

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Beyond Uber

Driving for Lyft, DoorDash or Uber is a great way to make a little bit of money. Getting started is fairly easy. The problem is your income will be limited because the companies take most of the money, leaving you something close to minimum wage. It may be even less than minimum wage.

Here’s how to defeat that: Give every passenger a business card, and let them know that you offer elite car service. They can call you for their regular business, such as weekly medical or business appointments, airport runs and so on. There are at least five reasons they may want to contact you directly rather than just using their Uber app:

1. You can be there right on time. For instance, if they need a ride at 10:15am, they don’t have to log into Uber and hope someone will come along in a reasonable amount of time.

2. You might offer to charge a little less, but you’ll still make more than if you took the ride as a company driver.

3. You can give higher-quality service, for instance offering a coffee and snacks to your passengers.

4. If you have a winning personality, which often means just asking questions that your passengers will be delighted to answer, then of course they’d want to ride with you.

5. If you feel like a safe driver, they will trust you more than whatever random driver the company provides.

You can look at the General Business Action Pack to discover other ways to promote your independent driving business.

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Used Bicycle Opportunity

Secondhand bicycles offer a unique buying and selling opportunity because they are plentiful, easy to sell, and the perceived values can vary considerably. Computers become out-of-date too quickly. Clothing generally has less value, requires sizing, and much of it is stained or torn. Furniture can be bulky. But with bicycles there’s money to be had!

Bikes at garage sales can be incredibly inexpensive. The people may be moving next week, and haven’t been able to sell their bikes for a reasonable price. The owner of the bike may be at college and the parents want to sell it to help pay for textbooks. A bike may be broken and quite undervalued by the owner. It is very common to pay $25 for a typical mountain bike, one that sold for $300 when it was new. You can put $20 worth of parts in it, perhaps $50 for labor if you don’t do it yourself, and then sell it for $150. For a few months, in a somewhat offbeat scheme to support some relatives, I did this with twenty bikes per week out of my one-car garage. I just went to as many garage sales as I could hit on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, rounding up the bikes with my pickup truck. If I didn’t have a pickup truck, I could have rented a U-Haul for $40 or so on Sunday evening, and gather up all the bikes I had purchased over the weekend.

It is great if you can display your bikes locked up outdoors, with prominent price signs where many people drive by, but most people don’t have a place to do this. You might consider a consignment arrangement with someone who does. You can place classified ads in the newspaper, and although expensive, this generally works well. In most communities, the best bet is Craigslist. You can place ads for as many bikes as you want, along with pictures, and it is all free. Here’s more about Craigslist.

When I was doing this out of a home, I mostly dealt in medium-quality mountain bikes, a few road bikes, and one or two children’s bikes. In general, children’s and low-end adult bikes don’t sell for a sufficient profit to be worth your while. A twenty-year-old mountain bike that you price at $150 or $200 is the easiest thing to sell. I also had some relatively high-end bikes when I could find good enough deals. Typically, I’d pay $100 or $150 for a high-end bike at a garage sale, and sell it for $600.

As you develop your selling business, you’ll discover that you no longer need to get all your bikes at garage sales. People will start calling to find out whether you’ll buy their old bikes. You can enhance that by telling everyone you see that you’re always willing to buy broken or inexpensive adult bikes. (Remember, there just isn’t much money in low-end and children’s bikes.)

You’ll want to be careful about stolen bicycles. They don’t generally show up at garage sales because thieves don’t operate that way. They wouldn’t want the exposure. Still, you’ll want to be careful about anything in too good a condition at too good a price being sold by people between 12 and 25 years old unless their families are at the sale with them.

If you have doubts about the history of a bike, you can ask the seller for a receipt. Often they’ll have legitimate excuses – such as they didn’t save the receipt. But if they can produce a receipt, you’ll know for sure that the bike has not been stolen. Sometimes, you can ask whether anyone has taken a picture that includes the bike. If they show you an old picture on their smartphone, it’s a pretty good bet that the bike has a good history.

In many communities, the police have worked out some sort of system to register used bikes. If you start dealing with used bikes regularly, they’ll want you to let them know about bikes you purchase. This probably isn’t as important as when you get an actual store, but you’ll want to participate if you can to protect the community at large from bike theft. The police won’t charge you any money, but they’ll want you to provide the serial number, description and source of every bike you handle. They usually ask you to hold every bike for 72 hours so they can have a chance to follow up if something turns out to be stolen. The downside is that if a bike is stolen, you’ll have to give it up, and won’t be reimbursed for what you paid. The upside is that the owner from which it was stolen gets it back.

Imagine a twelve-year-old boy who saved all summer to buy his BMX bike, has it for two weeks, leaves it unlocked in a friend’s yard, as twelve-year-olds will do, and discovers it has been stolen. The poor thing will cry his eyes out. If you can help prevent that sort of scenario, you can be proud to do so. Wouldn’t it be a great gesture to clean and tune a bike that’s going to be reunited with it’s owner? I never got the chance. I registered hundreds of bikes with my local authorities, and no bike was ever reported as stolen. Part of the reason is that the majority of bikes I purchased were broken, not shiny, valuable bikes. I think another reason is that most homeowners fail to record the serial numbers of their bikes, laptop computers, cameras and such gear.

If the police recover bikes that have been stolen, but don’t have a serial number or some way to positively identify the bike and reunite it with its owner. they hold it a while, then sell it at a ‘police auction.’ You can sometimes buy some remarkably good bikes for very little money at these auctions. You’re bidding against the general public, most of whom are looking for bikes for themselves, and know very little about how valuable certain models are. Others will see a bent wheel, or a missing cable, and just assume the bike is beyond their ability to repair for a reasonable cost.

That’s not always the case. Sometimes, the police auctions are way too popular, and you’d be wasting your time to try to buy bikes there. For instance, at some auctions, you need to pay as soon as you win each bike, so you miss the opportunity to bid on the next several bikes that go across the block while you’re waiting in line at the cashier. Of course, in that case, bringing a friend to help is a good idea. Some of the best auctions happen in inclement weather. In late fall, the police will have their last auction of the year. These will be many good bikes that accumulated during the end of the summer. There’s less interest as soon as the weather cools, and if it rains, or snows, there won’t be many bidders. You win. Mostly. But there is an unexpected catch.

When you buy a bike at a police auction, guess what? It may still be a stolen bike! Normally, this means nothing, and having gone through the process, and paid money, it is morally and nominally yours. But if the original owner discovers you have his bike, you are obligated to give it back.

Buying and selling can also be about parts and accessories. I believe a person could watch eBay like a hawk, and pick up things like Campagnolo components, and bullet headlights from bikes from the 1950s. You could turn right around and sell them for more on eBay. There is 14-speed internally geared hub made by a company called Rholoff that sells for $1000.



The Rholoff Speedhub – 14 Speeds

via: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Marcela

If you could pick a used one up on eBay for $300, you could sell it for $600 – $700 easily. Interestingly, even a common three-speed hub sells regularly on eBay for $40. You might also mix and match with your local market, using Craigslist and garage sales. I think another good eBay business could be had by buying the lowest of the low bikes locally – you know, the department store $100 mountain bikes, disassembling them, and selling the pieces on eBay. Better yet, if you can score the older bikes, maybe something like a Peugeot PX-10 from 1970, you can disassemble them, and sell the parts for a rather remarkable sum.

Low-end larger bike parts such as frames, forks and complete wheels are hard to sell profitably due to the shipping cost. Hubs, shifters, derailleurs, handlebar stems and saddles sell surprisingly well.

For more about the general business of buying and selling bicycles, check out General Business Action Pack.

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Bicycle Messenger

If you live in an urban community, or even a small town, to become a bicycle messenger is as easy as falling off a log. All you need is a bike and a cell phone. You can make up some business cards and flyers. Your first task as a messenger is to deliver the flyers to bulletin boards all over town, and to deliver the cards into the hands of as many people as you can. Don’t forget about Craigslist – a great cost-free way to advertise a service in most towns. If you live in a large city, there may already be messenger services. But there’s always room for more. Especially if you do something unique. For instance, you might deliver meals between 9pm and midnight. Or you might specialize in transporting medical records – whatever you find a need for in your city. If you’re in a small town, even as small as 5,000 residents, you can set up a general messenger service and prosper nicely.

Although messengers who use cars can deliver more quickly and can carry larger packages, many people just love the idea of the small ecological footprint of utilizing bicycles to deliver their messages, lunches and small packages.

Meanwhile, you get exercise while at work, and are likely to live a longer, happier, healthier life than one who spends their time at a desk.

Do be careful about breathing air pollution and stay aware of traffic. Statistically, you’re better off health-wise riding your bike than sitting around doing nothing. This is not a job for someone who doesn’t get enough sleep, is unaware, drinks too much, or takes unnecessary risks.

If an organized bicycle messenger service exists in your area, you might start by working for them, so you can learn intricacies of the business. Later, when you set out as an independent, you’ll make money on your own.

For general information about how to start and promote a bicycle messenger service, you might find this page helpful: General Business Action Pack.

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Mounting Specimens in Plastic

In my youth, my dad gave me a catalog from a supplier of scientific equipment. It used to be called Ward’s Natural Science Establishment. Their website is Wardsci.com. He let me buy things from the catalog from time to time. I started with some things like flasks and microscope slides. I was rapidly turning into a happy science nerd.

I noticed they had a little kit to make something called “Bio-Plastic Mounts.” With that little kit, I could take specimens such as bugs, coins, or postage stamps and embed them in clear plastic blocks. I fooled around with it for a while, then moved on to other pursuits.

What I’m thinking now is that embedding things in clear plastic could be a great business for someone. So far as I know, it’s not being offered anywhere.

Imagine, a client could send you an important keepsake, maybe a four-leaf clover, or a snapshot, or a scientific specimen, or a special coin. You embed it in plastic, and charge a lot of money!

Now there will be some difficulties to overcome. First, so far as I can tell, Ward’s no longer sells the kit. All they have is the bio-plastic material, a two-part liquid that hardens. The kit contained a mold, some of the liquid plastic, and mold release compound, plus some miscellaneous brushes and such, as I recall.

The procedure was to prepare the specimen. It had to be dry. I found out early on that any liquid would leak out and contaminate the mount. Then, I’d coat the mold with release compound, mix up some of the plastic liquid, and fill the mold about a third of the way. Shining an incandescent lightbulb on the mold, I let the plastic layer harden overnight. Then I’d set the specimen on that layer of hardened plastic, and fill the remaining two thirds of the mold with plastic. Once the plastic was hardened, I’d snap it out of the mold.

You’d think that would be it, but no, the work was just beginning. The surfaces of the mount were rough and not entirely transparent. Each surface had to be sanded until there were no bumps or depressions, then sanded and polished with ever finer grits until it became fully transparent. I did it by hand, and by the time I was done, the edges were often rounded. If I had a belt sander, my mounts would have been finished much faster, and come out much better.

No doubt you could improve on the process. There may be molds that you can acquire or make that leave a smooth enough finish that sanding and polishing is not required. There may be another, better source of plastic. I remember how stinky the stuff was. Perhaps Ward’s discontinued it because it was toxic.

If you can work out a nice process, you’d have a very nice home business on your hands! You could make mounts of things like four-leaf clovers (that you can buy on Ebay) and sell them locally such as at flea markets, or online through Ebay, Etsy or Amazon. You could let people know they can send their keepsakes or specimens to you for embedding. You would have to be practiced and careful, because you don’t want to wreck things that could be very important to your clients. But, you could charge a heck of a lot of money for a mount, right?

Taking the concept a step further, one could make coffee tables and other large things with embedded specimens in plastic.

Look at General Business Action Pack to make this business easy and profitable.

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Partnerships in Business

What if you want to start a business that requires something you don’t have? Maybe it’s time, expertise or money. You might consider a partnership.

When considering a partnership, you want to look for someone who has what you don’t have. Starting out with a partner who has the same strengths and weaknesses as you, means something won’t be covered. That’s a recipe for disaster. Generally, the three ingredients that a partnership (or an individual) needs are time, experience, and sometimes money. There’s a fourth ingredient – one that all partners need, and that’s enthusiasm. You absolutely don’t want to start something with someone who is not enthusiastic about the idea.

Before forming a partnership, carefully assess your partner’s personality. Will you be able to get along with this person? How about in cloudy weather? Is the person lazy? Does the person have shoddy ethics? Is the person obstinate? I once saw a bicycle shop almost destroy itself because one partner of the three who owned it suddenly decided that they needed new wall-to-wall carpeting just a few months after starting the store. That would have cost $10,000. I think any objective person would agree that carpeting was not a top priority in that store. It had a painted concrete floor that was just fine. But, he couldn’t be talked out of it, and the partners nearly came to blows. Finally, the two other partners bought this fellow out, at an inflated price that took them years to recover.

In another case, a partner got evicted from his apartment, and decided to live in the inventory storage area, against his partner’s wishes, leaving little room for the business, and violating the local zoning ordinance. This fellow would do things like wake up, and walk out among customers in the showroom at 11am, unshaven and shirtless. Nice partner, eh?

In putting together a performing group, whether it’s a duo, trio or a large band, all the members must have enough interest in the project that you can be absolutely sure they’ll show up at gigs on time. They must also be the sort of people who won’t embarrass the group by showing up drugged or drunk, or say inappropriate things on stage, or when mixing with the audience. You also need entertainers who are in alignment with your group’s philosophies and performance style. Finally, a band member must have ego and emotions sufficiently in check to avoid damaging the band’s potential as a group. All this is necessary, in addition to being an adequately skilled entertainer.

So, if you’re going to consider a partnership, think about all the things that might go wrong with your perspective partners. Do not mention the idea of a partnership to any of your prospects until you are absolutely certain. It is harder to burst their bubble after you’ve created it, than before they know a partnership is possible.

Family members can be the best, or the worst! I think you know what I’m talking about. A grandfather-grandson (or grandmother-granddaughter) partnership can be wonderful with the right people. I’m sure you can think of several successful family performing groups such as the Trapp Family, Jackson Five, and the Haygoods.



The Haygoods

In a retail setting, families can get away with some things that normal employee-employer relationships cannot. For instance, an uncle may own a store, and may have a 14-year-old neice operate the cash register for an hour a day after school. As a partner, she can be paid less than an adult would need and expect. At the same time, she is learning business skills and social interaction.

In another example, you may have a brother on disability with multiple sclerosis. During good times, your brother can help in the shipping department, and really enjoys being useful. Your brother can be a limited partner. During bad times, the brother is not required to come to work. During the good times, you can spend your time on inventory management, but during the bad times, you work in the shipping department.

Of course, arrangements like these are legally fuzzy, so you’ll want to check your local laws first. If you’re working with someone who is receiving government assistance of any kind, you want to carefully check the legalities and limits. For instance, you may discover that a person in a certain situation can earn up to $1,500 per month, but the amount earned must be deducted from disability payments. Or, perhaps someone can earn up to $300 per month without needing to report it. Or, in a more lucrative partnership, your family member, friend – whoever your partner is, may be in a perfect position to blow off government assistance entirely, earning a living from your partnership.

Here’s a look at another common but unfortunate scenario: Let’s say you have a brother who has been in jail twice for drunk driving. He’s unemployed again because he came to work too hung-over. You might think that if you offer this brother of yours a partnership, it will help him. Wrong! You must, absolutely must, consider partners for their strengths, not their weaknesses, if you intend to succeed. And if you don’t succeed, it will not help your brother in the slightest. It will probably make his lack of self-esteem worse.

How many partners should you consider? The minimum number you can get away with. If all you need is someone with repair skill, a good drummer, or someone who can keep the shop open during weekends, then one partner is sufficient. Additional partners means that the profit is split smaller. It also means it is harder to make decisions. Larry Page and Sergei Brin have been very successful with Google. When it came time to make decisions, they had a brief discussion, came to a consensus, and moved forward.

On the other hand, I knew of an organic restaurant that had 17 partners. One of their specialties was waffles. They had one waffle iron, and so customers had to wait up to 45 minutes for their orders in the morning. The 17 of them had a meeting to decide whether they should buy a second $30 waffle iron. The meeting, argument really, ran until after midnight, and they couldn’t come to a decision. In fact, it was weeks before they could all figure out that $30 was a reasonable price to pay for another waffle iron to satisfy their breakfast customers.

Once you’ve sorted out who your partners are going to be, you need to state some things up front. Is one going to be a silent partner? If so, how silent? How will various kinds of decisions be made? For instance, the person who’s just about to book a gig probably shouldn’t have to place a phone call to another partner before the gig can be scheduled. What happens as the business grows? Do you add more partners? Do you hire employees? How do the partners decide on new employees?

All the terms of partnership need to be discussed. More than discussed. You want the major points in writing, and a contract signed by all partners.

The very most important clause in that contract will be an escape hatch for each partner. What happens if the business loses money? What happens if a partner becomes sick or dies? What happens if two partners can’t stand the sight of each other after a while? Escape clauses need to be fluid. For instance, if a partner wants to leave early on, his value in the business is worth far less than after five years. These escape clauses must be manageable, so that it is truly possible to make changes in the partnership as needed. For instance, a very bad escape clause would be that if a partner leaves, the others have to immediately pay her $500,000. If a good escape clause and other such situations are all spelled out in writing ahead of time, all will be well in these eventualities – or at least as well as it can be.

Another consideration in partnerships is your own personality. Take me, for example. I can’t stand having to share my decisions with anyone. I have always had to have full control. I’d make a horrible partner unless I was allowed to run the show one hundred percent.

So, on the opposite end of the partnership spectrum we have sole proprietorship. The individual doesn’t have to defer to anyone before making major decisions. One hundred percent of the profit goes to the individual. That’s huge, even with just two partners. Let’s say that the profit of a business is $60,000 per year. That means that an individual takes home $60,000. But two partners owning the same business would only get $30,000 each.

There’s also an ego component. I love being able to say, “I own this.” For me, it would be miserable to say, “I own a portion of this.”

Getting back to the original question, what if you don’t have the time, experience or money to start a business on your own? And once again, there is a very simple answer. Start something evolutionary. Do you really need a drummer, or just a drum machine? Do you really need someone to keep the shop open in the evenings, or can you just close at 5pm? Start something that you can manage, and let it build as you gain experience, money, whatever you’ve been needing.

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Virtual Museum Curator

Let’s say you’re particularly interested in vacuum cleaners. If you can photograph all sorts of unusual vacuums, then you can create a virtual museum. You might or might not like to write up extensive descriptions, add videos, sound bites, a blog, discussion area, and so on. You could have a membership area, where those who pay a small monthly fee get to see otherwise hidden pages. Some membership sites are free. Instead of charging money, you give a membership to anyone who is willing to give you their email address. Then, perhaps monthly, you can send them an e-letter with advertising for collectible vacuum cleaners or whatever. If there are serious vacuum collectors, you could buy and sell vacuums on your site, or link to your eBay listings. You could even charge money for people to post classified ads on your site.

You can also participate in affiliate advertising. You can set up accounts with Amazon, an perhaps vacuum-specific outlets so that they’ll give you ads to place on your website. Most affiliate advertising depends on people actually buying products. When someone who started on your site buys a vacuum, for instance, you get a commission. Another, less-common form is PPC – Pay Per Click advertising. With this, you get anything from a few cents to a few dollars every time anyone clicks on an ad on your site, whether or not they buy anything. The most common example of PPC is Google AdSense. Most ads bring literally under 10 cents per click. However, in certain categories the amount can be outrageous. For instance, if you carry an ad on your site for a personal injury lawyer, that lawyer may pay as much as $240 for a single click to Google, of which you’ll make around $120.

Is there a way to go beyond a virtual museum? You bet! How about a ‘real’ museum? Perhaps your interest is railroads. You’ve traveled over the country taking pictures of steam engines, rail lines, signal trees, water towers, stations, engine repair shops, and so on. All you need is a small storefront. There, you build stand-alone ‘walls’ to display all your photos. No doubt you’ve collected some hardware, some of which may be antique. Perhaps some spikes, a coupling, a bell or sand dome, maybe even an entire small switch engine. You could build a replica station or engine shop. The interesting thing about many such small museums, is that they are mostly photographs. You do not need an extensive collection of tangibles to make it appealing. In your little storefront, you charge a per-head admission. You get to talk ‘railroad’ all day long with other interested parties. Ideally, it brings a sufficient income so that you can travel around the world taking more railroad photos.

For most privately owned museums to succeed, it is very helpful to be in just the right retail environment. Areas crowded with tourists are best. If you are in the right location, most of your business will be walk-in traffic. If not, you’ll need to provide brochures to the Chamber of Commerce, all the hotels, restaurants and other venues that attract tourists in your area.

I remember a motorcycle museum on the Oregon coast between towns. It had a large inviting parking lot, with signs that could be easily seen from Highway 101. That highway hosts two million cars a year. I doubt the museum had to do any advertising or publicity. Just being there was sufficient.

Look at General Business Action Pack to make this business easy and profitable.