A Challenge....

Hi Rooster,

Since you have few assets that you can sell or invest, it seems like in this case you would be very reliant on your talents and knowledge.

What do people buy? My view is that people buy things which they think will make them happier.... That means if they are miserable, they will buy things which they feel will make them less miserable. If they are already happy, then people buy things which they feel will make them even happier. People want to move further along on the unhappiness -> happiness scale, and are willing to spend money to do so....

I think every business is really like this. People pay to go to a mechanic, because having a car that works makes them less unhappy. People pay to get their lawn mowed because they value their free time - having their lawn mowed for them makes them happier, and they can spend more time with their family. People buy music CDs because they imagine that listening to a particular kind of music will increase their happiness. People buy healthy vegetables because they feel that being healthy will make them happier than being unhealthy. I think most, if not all, businesses are like this - people buy their products or services because they feel that they will make them either less unhappy, or will make they even more happy. :)

So, what can you offer that will help make people happier? That of course does depend on what you have already, in terms of talents, knowledge and knowhow, and what assets you have access to....

Like Michael said, I think the first step is to assess what you have that you can draw on. Then, the next step is how can you use these things you have acess to in order to help make people happier?

Once you have a list of these - then you have to figure out what you can charge for your product or service. After all, the bottom line here is to make a profit. It's good to give charity, but we all need to make a profit and survive too, whether we make our profit from our job or from a business....

The final element here is competition in the area you plan to sell your product or service. If one person is selling doodads for $20 each, it's hard for someone to open up next door and sell identical doodads for $40 each. Competition in the area where you are doing your business can limit your profits, because it can limit how high people are willing to pay - they will compare your item with the competition if they can. So it's good to distinguish your product from the product of the local competition where possible.

I would also suggest to try to make your offer unique in some way - give it a "twist" of some kind if necessary. This distinguishes your product or service from the competition, which often means that you can charge a higher rate.

Anyhow, that's how I would go about it....

Since you are on a very short time limit (30 days), you will have to take that into account too...

I know it may sound "vague" Rooster, but the reason why is that the specific answer here is different for each person, because each one of us has different talents and assets. Since there is no time to learn new skills and there's not much money to buy new equipment etc., it limits you to what you can do already....

If you have money you can spend, then your options increase! That's because you can either buy stuff to resell, or you can buy equipment which you can use to help build a business.

I hope that helps!

- Dien Rice


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