After my last entry, I guess I should clarify – for those who don’t follow me on Facebook – that we’re not in imminent danger of starvation. We’re doing reasonably well, though I’d breathe easier with a few more cash flow options.
I did invest a couple of hundred bucks (literally only about $200) on some stock. Pot stock, sort of. The legal marijuana option is a hot topic, and I figured I’d gamble on 100 shares of what I think would be considered penny stock. It’s legit enough to be offered through my eTrade account, but pretty sure instead of the NYSE, it’s traded in back alleys somewhere. Rather than investing in direct marijuana sales, I invested in a website (Leafbuyer.com) that’s a kind of Priceline.com for legal weed – where to find it for less, etc. I don’t personally use the product. I’m not a prude about it, nor am I stupid. I think the market’s too strong to dismiss. If you want to get high and it doesn’t harm anyone, go for it. If you’re doing the medical version thereof, good for you! If I can make a buck or two from it, better yet.
I logged into my investment account on principle, knowing that a week into things doesn’t mean a thing, I lost I think $4 in value (for all 100 shares combined.) Given the fiasco in the White House has sucker-punched all markets, I honestly consider that pretty good. Besides, it’s only been a few days AND I wasn’t going to invest anything we couldn’t afford to lose.
We also did a different type of preliminary investment, and we’ll see where it goes. Stock photos are big deals these days, but the low-cost options are being gobbled up by the big boys. I used to have a $10 a month membership, which Adobe acquired and tripled the cost. If I absolutely had to have it I’d probably pay that, but like most designers, I can’t justify shelling out that kind of money unless it’s making me some significant money. I belong to a lot of author forums, and most bemoan the loss of reasonably priced sites. I have some connections to photographers and I personally can do other types of illustrations via Photoshop. Figuring our upgraded hosting, we’d only need about 5 subscriptions at $10 a month each, and we’d be making a little bit of money. (This is operating on the thought of paying photographers a percentage, too – otherwise our profit margins would be even better.) Anything over that would be gravy. The spousal unit and I can easily handle upgrades, and spousal unit knows photography well enough to approve and reject submissions. He got voluntold for the job.
Could end up making pennies, or could take off. 100 subscriptions – not a huge figure, obviously – would put us squarely in the black and pad our income nicely. 300 subscriptions would be enough to pretty nearly replace my income as it sits now. Not that I’d retire with that, not for a single website. But there are other types of businesses that would be doable for similar investments. If this one comes together, we could expand into other areas. The idea is as much as possible, keep the upkeep and outlay on the low end.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch – er, job – I’m on a pilot team for a new program. I take all promises from this company with a grain of salt, mind you, but the scuttlebutt is it might spell more money, because the scope of the job will change significantly. We shall see.
Good luck with everything. I sure hope your pilot team turns into a good job very soon.