Riders on the (brain)Storm

[Trey & Juliana]

SO, Two nights ago I got Trey to work on a life's purpose. last night we brainstormed money making ideas

Trey really wants to open a thrift store and we know a perfect location right near the college. Kind of like a Buffalo Exchange, that offers cool music, buying and selling jeans and ultra cool clothing items, shoes , hats and such as well as art and records.

Then we thought of our life purpose and though about making it a Non Profit and helping abused children in some way.

The thought occurred that perhaps as a nonprofit it might be possible to get lower rent, tax breaks, donations and other benefits while helping children. Perhaps we could choose a local children's or battered woman's shelter to benefit from our thrift store. There is a lot of research and we will need cash up front.



Another thought was to profit from Trey's art. He has many lifelike originals of Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Mother Teresa and many other celebrities as well as a whole line of B**** B*** Gang which he came up with, (Little cartoon boys) and after Reading KC's post I think he should license them and sell them.
He though of making a comic strip online or illustrating kids books. Another idea is to sell the art prints we have online. We were selling them on Ebay, however the fees really get to add up and not enough customers to make it on art alone. I still need to email Lee and show him Trey's art as well. Perhaps there will be room in the greeting card market for these ideas. I think this would be a better idea than the thrift store because a store ties one down to one spot. However, Trey is really into the thrift store idea.


Another idea is blogging for cash.

Perhaps starting 3 separate blogs about separate things such as economical recipes, the battle of the bulge ( weight loss) and one about saving money. I know it would take a while to get subscribers however it does not tie one down the way a store does. I know that this will be time consuming and I will need to do much research as to how one gets paid, but again KC has lots of ideas as well as the group

Trey might open a thrift store and I might start a blog or three. It is all about multiple streams of income.

I bet I could write children's books. What if I wrote books and a portion of the proceeds went to fund parenting classes .

[Trey & Juliana]

Thanks Lee, I was thinking that a Non-Profit would have benefits like tax breaks, possible donations to our store and perhaps I could talk someone into offering lower rent. I would assume that we would each draw a salary. The Profits--That which is left after the bills, stock and salaries are paid would go to a charity. I figure we could solicit donations of jeans and such, offering tax deductions. This merchandise received could be sold for more profit than merchandise we had to go out and purchase.

[Lee Martin]

@ Debbie - actually non-profit organizations "must make a profit" or they go out of business quickly. Having been involved in one since 1996 the idea is that you continue to grow and do more things for more people which includes adding staff and paying them remember not all staff are volunteers.

[Trey & Juliana]

Now keep in mind...The original plan was (and still is) to get to our number is with real estate as investment properties..renting out houses and apartments...but getting to that point takes $$$$ and with rotten credit, and no savings, and an unemployed husband in the California job market it is near impossible to get a loan. Trey insists that we buy our first house with cash at an auction, ( 50K out in the boonies) hopefully by early Spring. He does not want to have a mortgage payment. I understand this but I don not agree. I think that we can get a $50K bank owned place, still in the boonies with a 10 down payment, which will drop our monthly housing budget from $1200 rent to about $750 mortgage payment and free up more $ to invest to get to our number faster. When you are married it is difficult to spend large amounts of money on property against your spouse's will and still stay happily married. I think it may take more than the Pizza Approach on this one Adrian. I think it is going to take getting rid of deep rooted fears. ( he had a girlfriend who gambled away her house that he had a second mortgage on.) Battling his deep rooted fears, plus my own, and moving forward is an uphill battle. One battle I am ready to fight. First step is getting Trey totally round to my side. One step at a time - without him realizing it- and thinking these are his own ideas. :) on second thought..let me google that Domino's phone number.

[KC]

My initial response is: "I'd love to visit this store!"

In my imagination there's a stuffed bear up on his hind legs in the corner, and all sorts of fascinating and remarkable things, inducing an amazing sense of wonder in both children and adults.

And a lovely whole-food smell coming from a battered oven, involving different dishes containing variously oats, honey, cheese and chopped tomatoes.

With worn and thread-bare sofas where visitors use wi-fi to tap on their laptops while waiting for lunch to finish cooking, so they can start eating.

(Please, please don't "take this to heart" - this is my imagination running away with me - it's not a sensible reaction to your true business plans).

Part of the problem, now that I'm being more business-headed, is working out in advance if this is a great dream, or something that won't actually make money.

One way to "get a handle" on this is to sketch out what the actual costs and predicted income might be, on a piece of paper.

What's the current rent? Could they be negotiated down? Would they ask less if it remains unoccupied for the next 6 months? What rent do the figures show would be an affordable rent? What are the terms - presumably you'd prefer "easy in, easy out" terms.

What would we see in the weekly accounts that would tell us: "this isn't working - get out and try something else" - i.e. before you start, decide what the "walk-away now" conditions would look like.

Sorry that's a bit negative, but it might prevent getting on the slow slide downwards and not being in any way prepared to jump off.

But whether it flies or not, I think it would be a brilliant subject for a "graphic novel" - like a comic book, the story told in bubble-speech and pictures:

"Life at the Buffalo Store"

where you could talk about interesting items of stock; and the visitors; and the funky, laidback locale.

A bit like "Cannery Row", but a description of life running a funky thrift for charity.

I think loads of people online would take such a place into their hearts, and be very keen to hear the next instalment.

So even if the store doesn't fly, is it maybe worth doing so you can sketch the interior and the visitors to fill your online blog/cartoon strip/graphic novel?

What a fascinating idea.

I'm sold !

KC

[Adrian]

@ Debbie - I like the franchise idea for the thrift store ... Juliana and Trey would need to find an 'angle' to help make them stand out from the competition (a concept that I'll be exploring a bit further with the 7 Millionaires ... In Training! a bit down the track).

Looking at their Life's Purpose, they may not (or may!) need $50 mill. ... but, they'll certainly need a business that can expand rapidly!

[Debbie]

Why not do the thrift store idea online? Then it could be marketed and run wherever you are, rather than tying you to one spot.

Or, you could start the store in a physical location, get it up and running, and then hire a manager and staff to manage it. Typically, the owner of a retail establishment shouldn't be running the day to day operations of it long term. You'd get in, set up the systems and processes to follow, then hire employees to follow them. Going that route, you could later think about franchising the store so other people would run them in other locations. You could designate a percentage of your sales to the charity of your choice; or perhaps start your own charity. I don't know about making the store itself non profit - I don't understand how people earn money from a non-profit but I think they must still be able to draw a salary.

Just some ideas after reading your post :)

[Adrian]

@ Juliana - It's always a good idea to work BACKWARDS:

Step 1. Find your Life's Purpose - Check!

Step 2. Calculate your Number - I left you some guidelines on your Life's Purpose post

You'll find some great 'sample lifestyles' here (click on the links inside that post to see some sample lifestyles at different $$$$ levels).

Double you chosen 'lifestyle' for every 20 years before you intend to 'retire' to start living it ... this allows for inflation.

Multiply your final 'inflated' lifestyle number by 20: THAT'S your Number!

3. Then see if any of the money-making methods that you are thinking of have the potential to reach that Number (by the Date that you chose)?

If it's a large Number, for example, licensing a cartoon series might have the best potential: you could generate interest by starting online, then hope to get picked up by one of the traditional avenues (eg syndication in the news and/or the next 'South Park' cartoon series) supported by product sales and licensing ... and, a LOT of luck! :)