Fair warning: this entry is a one-woman brainstorming session. If y’all are bored and tune out I’m not offended.
The fog picture is a two-pronged thing. One, fog in the desert is extroardinarily rare, and we were tickled to get photos during one of those moments.
The second is brain fog lately. So much to juggle…
Y’all know I’ve always got one project or another percolating. It’s getting down to the wire, though. Time to narrow things down.
The “easiest” one in the pipeline is hiring myself out to build knowledge bases for small to mid-size businesses. Presumably big businesses already have it covered. I can start a knowledge base in my sleep. (And have.) I say start, because by definition it’s an ongoing project.
The second-easiest one is writing a guidebook on how to create a knowledge base. I know I can do it; but so help me, the prospect of writing another book right now makes me hyperventilate.
The “harder” ones involve the invention, creation, and sale of products.
For products, invention and design is the easy part. I also know how to get a prototype made and connect with a drop shipper. It would take me a few months and a few hundred bucks to get from idea to product for sale.
The same manufacturer could conceivably create both products I have in mind. Despite them being created for vastly different markets, they’d use the same materials and related designs.
For the record, one product would be for photographers. (This will probably be the first one we make.)
The other would be for care homes and hospitals, and has nothing whatsoever to do with photography.
See what I mean? It’s not an exaggeration to say they’re for vastly different markets.
I can do all the above, in terms of knowing how. Unfortunately, my stamina is shot to hell, so I have to take one at a time.
As I’m writing this, the gears in my brain are grinding out the details. If I build knowledge bases, the rest gets put on the back burner indefinitely. If I write the book, it will take me a few months at best, then I’ll have pay to promote it — but it doesn’t require a 40-hour work week once written. In theory, I could write and publish, then simultaneously promote and work on creating the products I mentioned before.
Believe it or not, the manufacture and drop-shipping involves the least amount of effort on my part (short of hiring a ghost writer to do the book.) It’ll cost more money up front, with the tradeoff an exponentially higher income potential. So while there’s more risk, I’m still leaning into those. I’ve already bought one domain name, as a way of holding myself accountable for making it happen. It’s the easiest to create and test.
All the above are part of my retirement plan, because I don’t trust the current political shitstorm not to go south. It’s another reason I’m looking at drop-shipped products. While there are no guarantees, we could literally pack out to anywhere in the world and still run the business.
As always you are thinking. I expect you will choose the best option and then be on your way. I hope all works out.
Thanks Terri. I have a couple of other distant-maybe scenarios on the horizon too. Would cost more upfront but provide a better and more reliable return over time. Of course with the current political mess in the USA, I don’t really want to count on much of anything these days.