Another month is in the books… isn’t this year just flying by? I’d hate to go back and look at my goals for the beginning of this year. It seems like life changes too much to hit the goals I set. Perhaps I need to be more abstract and come up with things like, “Be a better person…”
Enough intro, let’s get to the meat of this month’s update. I made $1,507.40 last month. I have been dipping my toes into Build-a-Niche Stores (BANS) the last few months. I had some initial success, but it has since died down. Since there’s plenty of information out there on Build-a-Niche Stores, I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to look into. I will say that lately it’s been break-even at best, especially after paying a virtual assistant.
That leads me into another point… I’ve hired a virtual assistant. With full-time work paying me too well to focus 100% on all the ideas that I want to do, I’ve hired a virtual assistant. I pay her by the job and she helps me with a lot of miscellaneous blogging tasks that I’m just too busy to do. She’s also making it possible for me to start two new projects. One project should be starting later on this month. It’s unrelated to Lazy Man and Money, so I’m not sure how to announce here. More than likely, I’ll announce via a third blog that I’ve been trying to get off the ground. A couple of people who I’ve talked to said that it might be bigger than Lazy Man and Money. That is encouraging. Now that I have you (and myself) completely confused, I’ll shut up and just move on.
The other idea is more complex and is probably not going to be ready to launch within a month. I think it has good potential, but it’s going to cost me a lot of money to get off the ground. I don’t imagine making money for the first year. Maybe in year two, I’d start to break even. The idea after that is to see things ramp up and turn positive. I’m optimistic about the idea, I’m kind of neutral about the business plan behind it (others have skeptical about my business plan too). I’m just going to have to go forward with it and take the risk… at the very least I will learn something and it will be something to write here.
Those who take risks will never look back and ask the question, “I wonder what would have happened if … ?”
This is why I continue to read your blog. Every. Single. Day.
Keep it coming!
Joe
Congrats on continuing to take risks and develop alternative streams of income especially now that you are back to working. Keep it up and you won’t be Lazy man any more :)
I do strategic marketing and business planning for a living. If you want a second opinion on your business plan shoot me an email. I would be happy to give you a free professional opinion on it.
Well, there’s the “sleep less, live more” method to squeeze more hours out of the day.
http://www.observingcasually.com/sleep-less-live-more-years/
You could also buy one of those candle holders that holds the candle horizontally. It makes it easier to burn the candle at both ends.
:)
Best of luck with your new adventures.
Congrats! On keeping up with your entrepreneurial adventures and balancing it with work. Maintaining a balance between the two is a struggle, and you’re an inspiration for me to try it. Always enjoy your alternative income streams posts. One question: I was also thinking of being a virtual assistant, just curious about what kind of person you were looking for b4 starting out searching? Thanks for the blog!
Hi
Those targets are a pain aren’t they. I think I need to start setting more realistic goals that I can actually achieve!
Good luck with your ventures. I would be very interested to hear how you get on with the virtual assistant. This is something that I have considered using myself.
Hi. Where did you go to hire the virtual assistant? I might be interested in offering my services as a virtual assistant, but I don’t know how to go about it. Thanks.
Another great month for you. My income rise last month. Hopefully I will be at your level in no time.
LazyMan,
I would also be interested in learning about your experiences with your virtual assistant. How did you find her, how do you delegate tasks etc..
You might call yourself lazy, but now you have people working for you. If your third idea takes off, are you going to call your corporation Lazy Corp? ;-)
Hmmm, it seems there’s big interest in virtual assistants. I’ll put together an article on it.
Blogging Banks: I have LazyManMedia.com as my corp. I’ve just been too lazy to put up a website there. :-)
Actually I find it funny to name your company LazyMan. Are your employees supposed to be lazy as well ;-)
Any chance you can provide some more info on the virtual assistant? I could really use some help getting some projects off the ground.
I’m having you over this week or next so we can talk shop. Maybe I’ll get you drunk so you’ll spill all your secrets on your new projects. Or at least I’ll beat you playing Catan (when you’re tipsy)… heehee (wringing my hands in anticipation). :D