I was sooooo excited when I opened my mail to discover a contract for $800. I had sold a short story to a magazine. We went out and celebrated.

Now this is probably of minor interest to you. You may be thinking that you don’t write, so how does this affect where you are now? Your current need for more money?

Because HOW I sold this short story will tell you how YOU can make an extra pot of money tomorrow. Just follow these steps.

1. Figure out what you love to do.
In all likelihood what you love to do is what you’re pretty good at doing.

2. Match your skill or product to a venue or market that already exists.
Determine who is holding the purse strings for the money You Want.

3. Once you have identified the purse holding person (your customer) research and research and research what this person spends his or her money on.
What product or service that connects with what you love to do, is being successful. What are they hungry for?

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4. Analyze every aspect of that service or product.
Can you top it? Can you make it better? Bring an aspect to it that isn’t currently available?

5. And the last step–do it.
You must take action. And you must accept that you will fail at first in all probability. (I submitted about 10 stories before I hit on the right formula for this particular market.)

Here are three examples of how this might work:

  1. You love woodworking.
  2. You notice an antique shop in your area has a beautiful wooden sign in front. You realize you could make something like that.manlookingright
  3. You drive around and note businesses in the area that are doing well but have awful signage. You go to your workshop and make a great sample sign. You take pictures of it, make a flier, nail down prices. You deliver the fliers in person. You advertise.
  4. Your phone rings.
  5. You make more money.
  1. You love kids
  2. You live close to a hospital.
  3. You know nurses and other personnel work crazy shifts. You know daycare and after school programs close at six.
  4. You advertise in your local paper that you babysit 24/7. You set up an area in your house for your “sleep over guests.” You add a school pick-up service.
  5. Your phone rings.
  6. You make more money.
  1. You like people. You like people who are happy. You like to drive. You love sporting events.
  2. You know that it’s a 40 minute drive from your small town to the area varsity football games.
  3. You know that alumni love to go to the games. And party. Hardy.
  4. You check out the cost of renting a small bus. You calculate your rates.
  5. You advertise that you will drive up to twenty people to and from the game.
  6. You get your chauffeur license and insurance.
  7. Your phone rings.
  8. You make more money.

The secret to success is to hone your talents to something that someone really, really needs or really, really wants.

Good Luck and let me hear how you’re doing.

NOW HERE’S ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES:

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. Throw off the bowlines. Mark Twain

Best of luck. PLEASE SHARE HOW YOU ARE DOING.

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