BEWARE - SCAM ALERT! Mystery Shopper Scam Using Social Media

Many people seek opportunities to generate extra revenue. There are, of course, more ways to approach this then there is room in this post to mention them all. A lot of the readers of this blog are "location independent" (full-time) or at least part-time "travelers. So, you are usually looking for portable, mobile or, in someway, location independent opportunities.

So, here's the deal. There are at least as many scams and possibly more as there are legitimate opportunities. The challenge is often that the scam or con is so well crafted that even the smartest of us can be duped. . . READ MORE

Is a House a Home? Is a Home a House?

These are a couple interesting questions to ponder. I mean, seriously, because someone lives in a house whether owned, rented or borrowed, does that mean that house is actually a home? And, when someone says they want a home or want to go home or have a home, does that mean it's actually a house? And for the purposes of this article, let's say that a house may be a detached house, a town or row house (attached), an apartment or a condominium.

I pose these questions because we often hear people describe other people who do not live in a house (of any of the forms I mentioned) as "homeless." But, are they really? Is it not possible that there are people on this planet and even in the United States who choose to have a "home" that is other than the forms I described? Is there a law or a policy that absolutely requires people to have homes that meet the terms, conditions and descriptions of those who choose to live in "traditional" housing?

A few days ago, Jerry K. offered up, on the Vandwellers Yahoo Forum, part of an article posted by Phil Madsen on his well-written blog, Successfulexpediters.com. The title of the article was Living a Property Free Life. I was intrigued by the part of the article Jerry K posted on the forum and followed up by going to Madsen's blog and reading the entire article. I read further and found his and his wife's biographical information. It all really made sense and seemed to dovetail with the premise of this article on my blog.

Phil and Diane Madsen are property free. They don't own, rent or borrow a home, other than the use of an address of some relatives for receiving mail. Phil is a highly accomplished individual. Among his numerous accomplishments he graduated cum laude with a double major from college, he completed a year of graduate study in theology, he served as a U.S. Army officer in the Minnesota National Guard, he is a certified financial planner and a securities broker, he is a trained auto mechanic and he founded, chaired and ran the independent political party that won the gubernatorial seat for Jesse Ventura in Minnesota. Diane, not being a slouch either, is an attorney and was Jesse Ventura's general counsel and later an attorney working for the State of Minnesota. Oh, and I forgot to mention that they won the Minnesota Governor's office with a campaign budget of $600,000.00 against the combined campaign funding of $15,000,000.00 of the Republican and Democratic candidates. Phil has been on lots of national TV shows and was offered all kinds of opportunities by the Republican and Democratic parties. He declined their offers. There's lot's more about this couple, but you can read that for yourself.

The Madsens Went Houseless

Yes, this accomplished, educated, motivated, capable, competent couple ended up HOUSELESS. But, did you notice I said Houseless and not Homeless?

You see, after all of these other achievements, the Madsens fell in love with the open road and exploring America. Their particular way of doing it was through driving a truck. They started out in 2003 working for other trucking companies after considerable trucking industry research to see what part of the trucking industry they wanted to be involved in. In 2004, they decided they no longer had a need for a physical house, cars, furniture and everything that goes with it, so they sold it all and downsized. Their life was on the road and they lived in their truck and motel rooms. In 2006 they decided to become independent truckers and had a custom designed truck built for them. It included a custom designed 11-foot sleeper section connected to the cab that was, for all practical intents and purposes a fully equipped motor home. This truck became their "home." No, it wasn't a house, an apartment, a condominium or any other kind of structure that would fit into the "traditional" definition of a house or home. But, this was their chosen home.  

They have remained on the road continuously with their truck from 2006 other than some short breaks at a small Florida vacation home they purchased in May of 2009. They will remain on the road until sometime around the 3rd quarter of 2013 when the truck will be reaching 7 years old and have something in the range of 800,000 and 900,000 miles on it. They will leave the road and sell their truck to embark on their next adventure as fitness club owner/operators.  

The Meat of this Article

So, what's my point? Well I started out asking somewhat philosophical questions. Is a House a Home? Is a Home a House? And what defines a Home or a House? And who determines that definition? In the article Phil wrote in January 2009 for his blog, titled Living a Property-Free Life, he came up with some pretty poignant thoughts on the subject.

I am quoting Phil here. I looked for a way to contact Phil to make sure he didn't mind me using this quoted material, but he has removed any contact information from the blog which he has discontinued writing. So, if someone knows how I can reach him or if Phil becomes aware that I have posted this information, I hope he'll contact me so I can be assured it's alright with him to use it - or I'll remove it if he requests me to do so. In any event, I'll be posting a link to this article that will give you access to his entire blog until he takes it down at some point in time.

Here are some ideas that really impacted me:

"About a year after we took up life on the road to live and work as truck drivers —specializing in expedited freight transport — we sold our house, cars and most household goods. That was in 2004. Since then, our legal residence consists of rented space in a relative's house. This arrangement frees us from the worry, expense and maintenance that property ownership entails. It frees us to live, work and play on the road in a way we love.

On the road we live in a high-end, custom-built truck. Except for the smaller space and no washer and drier, it provides all the comforts of home. The front half is like an RV, the back is for hauling freight.

Let's start with what property-free does not mean. It does not mean that we:

(1) are homeless

(2) are committed to poverty

(3) have taken an anti-materialistic stance

(4) are more moral than people who have more stuff than us

(5) live this lifestyle for religious reasons

(6) care about the environment more than others

(7) are financially insecure

(8) are a couple of anti-social or anti-establishment nut cases that simply don't know how to live

For us, property-free means:

(1) the truck is our home instead of a house

(2) a path to prosperity to which we are committed

(3) owning high-quality stuff

(4) viewing property as morally-neutral

(5) living this lifestyle for practical reasons

(6) helping the environment by accident, not on purpose

(7) feeling financially secure

(8) being a couple of well-adjusted people who know how to live a simple life"

Phil went on to explain what "Home" means to Diana and him and included a link to a blog article he did on the subject, which I leave for your convenience and edification.

"Home: It has been said that home is where the heart is. We feel best when we are on the road. We like to say, the truck is our home, the nation our back yard. We do not need to own a house to feel at home. For us, home is wherever the other one is if we are apart. When we are together, living and working together in a truck comes naturally. Home is not a place to be. It is a way to be. I wrote more about this in The Meaning of Home."

Read the linked article, it will show you where their hearts and minds were in 2004 as they made a huge change in their lives.

Living the Lifestyle

There is so much more to this lifestyle. There simply is no "one-size fits all." That's part of the magnificence of the human experience. There is no question or doubt about there being significant problems in society and government and more specifically, the society and government we embrace in the U.S. But, for you who just have this itch, this feeling that life is not as it should be for you, we are fortunate enough to still have a lot of freedom of choice in how we live, where we live, what we live in and how we define "home." Sure, we may have to buck the system. We may have to separate or even segregate ourselves from traditional, mainstream society. We may be called non-conformists or hippies (remember them?), but just remember the old children's song that goes, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."

Life is about living. Living should be as free as possible. We should be able to make all the choices for our own lives, right or wrong, as long as we don't infringe or deprive anyone else of this same right to freedom and making their own choices. Today, more than ever before, it's very challenging to live free and make a lot of these choices. There are so many laws, regulations, rules, restrictions, limits, constraints, etc. to overcome. But, most of them can be overcome by making choices for yourself and how you want to live your life.

There are a lot more powerful thoughts in Phil Madsen's writings and I'm hoping to cherry pick some of the others that I feel will be useful to readers of this blog. Meanwhile, if you want to read more of and about the Madsen's and their interesting life odyssey, go to Living a Property-Free Life and gain what insight you can before this blog leaves the Web forever.

Opportunities - Revisited

I posted an article on March 2, 2013 about "Opportunities." It seemed to hit a chord with some people. Of course, that's always my intention. Interestingly, as I stated in that article, and I quote myself, "I have been blessed with a never-ending stream of opportunities. Many of them changed my life. Many of them took me in directions I had never thought about or contemplated." A few days later, on March 6th, I recalled a phone conversation and linking up with someone on LinkedIn from a small town in Texas back in mid-November of 2011. At that time, I mentioned to this new LinkedIn contact that three years earlier I had left my old life on my ranch in the Shenandoah Valley, wound things down with my book publishing business and began my new life as a location independent, wandering nomad to seek out the next exciting phase and opportunity of my life.

Okay, I've had a few false starts since I left the ranch and the old life. Remember, I said that all opportunities don't necessarily turn into achievements and successes. Some opportunities fail. However, some time ago I adopted an attitude that even when something fails, I win. I ALWAYS win. The simple reason I win is because I always gain valuable experience, knowledge and information I can put to use with something else at a later date. Also, an opportunity may present itself and you're just not ready for it. When you are ready, it may not still be available to you. Believe me, I've missed that boat any number of times over the years.

The opportunity that presented itself nearly a year and a half ago with this gentleman in Texas was one I wasn't ready for at the time. However, I hadn't forgotten about it. So, on March 6th, I emailed an informal proposal to him. The result was that I not only received an immediate response to call him, but when I reviewed his Web site, I discovered that the opportunity had actually expanded.

But, even better, when I called him, we both got excited because not only was the opportunity still open for me, it was considerably better than when I first spoke to him. Moreover, the ideas I brought with me were a perfect match and blended into his program. Additionally, I could continue enjoying my "Living Free . . ." nomadic lifestyle on my own terms. And the final icing on the cake was that, I would be able to help other people, like many of the folks who read this blog, with an opportunity that can provide some financial freedom in their quest for living free.

NOT A Multi-Level Or Network Marketing Business

I'm not proposing anything to you as you read this post. I haven't made any snap decisions to get involved in this opportunity, yet. I have my own due diligence to do before I make any commitments. I recalled taking  advantage of an opportunity back in 1992 with a fellow from Houston, Texas. I flew to Houston. I met with him. I observed his operation. I gained full knowledge of his business and a complete comprehension of his role and mine. And, everythingt worked just as it was supposed to. Unfortunately, an outside third party stuck their nose in and, without full knowledge, caused havoc and, ultimately, the result was one of those "learning experiences" I mentioned earlier.

Interestingly, in this current instance, both the gentleman in Texas and I have mutual friends that we hold in high regard and have a deep respect for. Our mutual friends has vouched for both of us. Additionally, I've done some vetting as has the Texas fellow and we both feel comfortable with the potential for this collaboration.

As an aside, but an important point, over the past 30 years or so I have been involved in a number of multi-level and network marketing businesses. I have a number of friends who have made nice fortunes in the multi-level/network marketing field. While I have not found my fortune in multi-level/network marketing, I can state that I have learned enough from my experiences to consider having earned a PhD in business, marketing, sales and psychology. However, a very important thing for me is that this new opportunity does NOT involve multi-level or network marketing. That is a big thumbs up for me in this case.

So, my next step is to plan a trip to this small town in Texas to meet my new friend and his staff. I'm considering going in April to be there for the launch of a brand new facet of the business. Again, this new facet is right up my alley and in the comfort zone of my own lifetime experience. I'll study his marketing plan, discuss my participation and iron out the details of my participation. I'll also determine how to best blend in my ideas that, while related, are different from his, yet mutually beneficial. Once I've had the chance to spend that time, get to know the players, digest their business and marketing plan and determine how the opportunity can positively interface with my chosen lifestyle, I'll be able to make an intelligent and calculated decision.

Opportunities Are Everywhere

As I've stated before, opportunities are everywhere. You simply have to keep your eyes, ears and mind open to all the possibilities that cross our paths. No! Not every opportunity is right for you (or me). Believe me, my time is priceless and I've wasted too much of it on opportunities that were absolutely wrong for me. I'm sure you've had that experience, too. I've also become much better (time and experience are wonderful teachers) at knowing immediately that NO is the appropriate response right from the start for many opportunities presented to me. I hope you have, too. Again, your time is priceless and you don't want to waste it on any opportunity you know isn't right for you and then possibly missing the perfect opportunity because you're too busy running in place and getting nowhere.

I have only posted this information to show you how opportunities (and sometimes we can even refer to them as serendipities) can appear, seemingly, out of nowhere. Also, as I've noted, sometimes an opportunity isn't right for your consideration at one point in time, but at some future date it could be the match made in heaven.

I'll let you know more in the future about how this opportunity develops for me. I'll let you know if it is right for me and if I'm accepting the new challenge. If I do accept the challenge and become involved in the opportunity, I'll give you a very basic idea of what it entails and how it will impact my life. However, it won't be something I'll try to sell you through this blog. If, like me, you see something interesting, you'll be able to contact me and I'll be able to discuss it person to person with you. We go from there.

 Meanwhile, I know there are many of you looking for opportunities to improve either your present condition or your lifestyle. You're looking for ways to enjoy living freer than you may currently be living. The opportunities are all around you. As I said earlier, keep your eyes, ears and mind open. You may pass a lot of ugly frogs; you may even kiss a few of them before you find your prince or princess. Believe me, if you're taking the steps to live free (there are 12 of them in this blog that you should have read and hopefully are implementing), you are going to be so much further ahead of the majority of the people in the U.S. and the world in realizing personal freedom, happiness and joy. Finding your right vocation or avocation is one of the 12 steps that will help you realize that lifestyle.   

Opportunities

So, it's March 2013. This is an important month for me. Later this month I'll have another birthday at which time I'll commence the 69th journey of 365 days. I never gave much thought about attaining the age of 68, but here I am. Wow! My mind keeps thinking it's still back in it's 20's and 30's, but alas, the body reminds the mind that it's not quite the way it all works.

50th Anniversary

This year, my 68th going into my 69th, also is the 50th anniversary of three extremely important events in my life.

Fifty years ago this year I attended my high school commencement as I completed my 12th year of education.

Fifty years ago this year, after working my behind off at a kosher delicatessen for my summer job, often working 80 hours in a week (and leaving me little time to conduct my own small business enterprise), I commenced with my first year of higher education. I learned some of the most profound, practical and valuable knowledge in my first hour in a college classroom, thanks to Mr. Reaske, my first college English professor.

And, 50 years ago this year I met Mr. Ted Sheft and Ms. Emma Fantone, the directors of the Audio-Visual Center at Montclair State College, where they had granted me a work scholarship. It was there under the mentoring of Ted Sheft that I discovered what would end up being my lifetime career, the recording industry, along with numerous tangential opportunities.

It's hard to believe that it's been 50 years since those pivotal moments and the opportunities they opened to me. But, please, don't think that was the end of the uncountable opportunities that have crossed my life journey. I said they were uncountable because there is no way for me to even recall them all. I've even begun to forget many of the opportunities I took advantage of and gained some kind of knowledge and experience from. Some it is was negative, but most was positive and it all became part of the sum total of who I am today. I've become a very different person, in so many ways, since that year 50 years ago.

Most of us graduate (complete some course of study or training) and go through some form of commencement (new beginning or the start of something new) ceremony. Combining that which we have learned in order to graduate and then commencing with this new start or journey brings us to the opportunities.

Never Ending Stream Of Opportunities

I have been blessed with a never-ending stream of opportunities. Many of them changed my life. Many of them took me in directions I had never thought about or contemplated. Many of them ended in a failure of one sort of another. Many have provided me with the interesting and exciting life that I've lived so far. But, the best part is that I still haven't seen any end to the ongoing stream of opportunities.

Actually, many years ago I realized there was no way I could ever take advantage of all the opportunities that were constantly coming my way, so I started passing them to other people who I felt could benefit from them. Some of those people found great success in the opportunities I passed on. Many didn't do all that well, but they, hopefully, learned something from the opportunities and the experience. And, of course, many of them didn't even recognize the opportunities as such and did nothing. This is their loss, in this case, of course.

What's All The Whining About?

Here's what bothers me a lot as I'm turning over this 68th year milestone in my life. There are more opportunities than there ever have been in history, yet, I hear so much whining and excuses from every segment of the human spectrum from the young to the old, from the unskilled to the highly skilled, from the uneducated to the over-educated. It seems like they must be teaching courses in both high school and institutions of higher education on whining and making excuses.

Young people complain they can't find jobs. Okay, so create your own job. When I was a youngster the big challenges were too much competition (just like the excuses we hear today). But, we learned to go out and shovel snow in the winter and mow lawns in the summer. We could mulch gardens for people. We washed cars. It didn't take a lot of ingenuity to find ways to earn some money. Some of those small, simple, part-time "businesses" took root and those youngsters grew them into full-time businesses that provided a lifestyle for them and their families.

Today, you can't find a youngster with a shovel or a lawnmower or a pail and sponge if your life depended on it. They are too busy sitting on their butts, watching crappy TV shows or playing video games or friending people on Facebook. They expect their parents (who also aren't too much further down this road than their kids) to provide everything including a car when they reach the age where they can drive. And while they're doing nothing and missing all the opportunities, they are also getting fatter and fatter. And, unfortunately, this goes for both the male and the female of the species.

Opportunity In Complication, Stress And Time Demands

Today's world is more complicated and stressful and time demanding than at any time in the history of human kind. We're even reaching and destroying some of the peace and less stressful societies in the rapidly disappearing aboriginal parts of the world. But, along with all of this complication and stress and demand on time, comes all kinds of opportunities. Let's face it and be really honest with ourselves, if we've been around for the past 30 or so years in the industrialized world, we know it's nothing like it was growing up in the 40's, 50's and 60's. More and more families are minimally two career families (husband/father and wife/mother) both working and they need to both work to make ends meet. But, just in this one area alone, family services, someone ambitious and creative can make life better for these families while making their own lives better.

Another fact, if you've been downsized during the last five or six years, you can pretty much count on the chances of getting rehired in the same thing you were doing at an equal or better income are far less likely than you want to believe. Once a business or any organization sheds excess baggage, they find ways to get the work done far more cost effectively and efficiently by retraining the remaining labor force and implementing the continually evolving technology that replaces human labor.

If you're 45 or especially 50 or older, you can pretty much kiss those higher paying jobs in your chosen career field goodbye. It's so much more cost effective to hire young people who are anxious to get their lives started and will do it for far less money than you will with your big mortgage and multiple car payments and other costs of your position in life. It's not fair. But, life is not, never has been and never will be fair. Remember the law of he jungle - survival of the fittest? Well, guess what, we live in a modern jungle.

Old Ideas Brought Up To Date

When I was a kid we had a man who had a small business picking up and dropping off dry cleaning. We had milk delivered to our house. We had another small business that brought butter, eggs and all kinds of cheeses and other dairy products to our home. We had a green grocer who brought fresh produce. And then there was the bake goods truck that came by and provided those goods. And even for us kids there was the Good Humor man and usually one or two other independent ice cream trucks who came through the neighborhood each day during the warmer weather. Of all of those, only the "ice cream man" still exists.

There have been some attempts, several with some success, in delivering meals to one's home. Of course, the most notable success at that is Domino's Pizza. But, there are others. And I've seen instances where an individual will make arrangements with several restaurants offering different cuisines. The individual then solicits customers for his restaurant delivery service, provides the menus, creates a computerized order form and allows the customers to call in, email the order or order on-line. With the new credit card merchant services offered by Square-up and Intuit, all you need is a smart phone to charge the order.

Dog walking services are another growing business. One woman who was making a pretty handsome living in information technology on Long Island was downsized and couldn't find any new jobs at all and certainly nothing paying what she had been earning. She lived in an upscale/wealthy section of Long Island where she started a business cleaning up dog poop from the yards of those affluent folks who didn't want to do their own "dirty work." She ended up with so much business that she hired several more out of work women and while they made a nice living, she replaced her own salary plus some. I actually knew a woman about ten years ago who had a business in the Hamptons serving all those wealthy New Yorkers who had summer mansions there. She took care of all their "indoor" plants both when the people were there during the summer and during the off-season when they were back in New York City. She lived quite comfortably, I might add. Personal services of all kinds are hot opportunities.

Currently Baby Boomers are turning 60 at the rate of one every 7 seconds and they comprise about 30% of the American population. They are the largest population group in the U.S. As each year progresses, these Baby Boomers, because they will live longer and longer, will require all kinds of special services from home care, shopping, transportation, etc.

I've really only scratched the surface of the unlimited number of opportunities that continue to expand exponentially. There is absolutely no reason for whining or making excuses. Every one of us can choose to think and live as free as we want to if we'll just use some of the God given intelligence and creativity we were born with. Okay, so maybe you're not going to end up doing your first choice dream as a way to put food on the table. But, here's the thing, IF you are a living free, thinking free individual and determine what you REALLY want and need to live a free and happy life, with or without a family, you WILL find an opportunity (actually, many opportunities) that will fill all your living free requirements. Best of all, you can put it together in such a way as to make it a family endeavor, thus, enjoying time together, working as a team and teaching your offspring a positive work ethic and to be creative in their own future endeavors.

So, what are you waiting for? It won't be handed to you on a platter. You already have what you need. 

The Challenge from Down Under

So, my Auckland, New Zealand, brother (actually, one of those people who is like the brother I never had), Brian Morris, has sent me a challenge. Do, I accept his challenge? Brian, who is five years my senior, later this week, has a correspondence school he operates internationally from Auckland. For the last year or so, he's been working at transitioning out of the school business and developing an ebook publishing business.

Oh yeah. The challenge, you ask? Brian has also been teaching some workshops in ebook writing and publishing and his assignment to his class is to publish a new ebook for distribution through the Amazon Kindle publishing program by January 31, 2013. He, of course, as the instructor, is setting the pace by publishing his next ebook by that same date. Brian has been on my case for months and months about me getting some ebooks published. So, he has challenged me to write and deliver an ebook to him to launch on Amazon by that same January 31st deadline. Of course, due to the time difference and the international dateline, I'd have to meet that challenge by January 30th.

So, do I accept the challenge? What are the pros and cons? Certainly writing is not an issue for me. Actually, the number of words he requires as a minimum isn't actually much more than some of my longest blog posts. Most of those are written in less than a day. Research? Heck, with the Internet, any topic I select has a wealth of information at my fingertips, literally. Actually, I could probably scan back through my more than 200 posts and find one on a topic that I could easily expand into a small ebook. Of course, I could certainly do a book on my 12 Steps for Living Free, but I have that earmarked for a larger book I'll be publishing myself. Getting this first book done through Brian's challenge will get me off "start" and hopefully result in getting the aforementioned 12 Steps book completed and launched as well as a few others. Time is not a serious problem. Certainly I have the time to undertake the challenge, but time management is a bigger issue for me.

I honestly can't think of any cons or downsides to accepting the challenge. So, what's holding me back? Personal inertia! That's it. Nothing more or nothing less. Getting off stop and putting the pedal to the metal.

Accordingly, I believe I'm going to accept the "Challenge from Down Under." The first step is selecting a topic and coming up with a good "grabber" title. Twenty-one years ago I was in New Zealand conducting a series of seminars on "Making Money at Home" organized by my buddy, Brian. But, the world has changed a lot since that time.

Cell phones were still expensive, heavy and limited in the functions they provided. Computers were still large and laptops, notebooks, net books, ultra books and tablets were a thing of the future. There was no Internet open to the public, yet, and the World Wide Web, email and texting didn't exist for the vast majority of the world. Accordingly there was no Amazon, Ebay, PayPal, Facebook, Google, Skype and Square-up, to mention only a few, and desktop publishing was still in its infancy. The terms on-line, ecommerce, ebooks, podcasting, iTunes, uploading, downloading and others hadn't been coined, yet. It was a very different world exactly 22 years ago this month when I went to New Zealand to conduct those seminars.

I was a one person business back then. I operated from my home. My desk overlooked the lake I lived on. I was the CEO, Chairman of the Board, producer and the janitor. For all practical intents and purposes, Brian operated his business on very similar terms about a half a world away. Our leashes (freedom to leave our offices/homes) were pretty short back then and limited to remotely accessible electronic voicemail if your phone company offered it, a magnetic tape based answering machine that could be accessed remotely by touch-tones if voicemail wasn't available and a phone company issued phone calling card that allowed you to make long-distance phone calls from almost any phone or payphone in airports, hotels, etc. The two final items were a very large brief case carrying all your heavy, paper-based, necessary files, letterhead, envelopes, stamps and good typewriter skills adaptable to whatever typewriter might be available. Essentially, one-person, home-based businesses just didn't allow for a lot of freedom.

I did something in January 1991 that I had never done before. I left my office on January 2nd and out of the 31 days of that January, I was gone, approximately 25 days out of the month returning for only one short period to dump my bags, run some wash, repack and head back to San Francisco on another project for about four or five days. This was unheard of for me up until this point in time. The impact on me was the development of an an appetite for more. Yes! A lot of things didn't get done at the office/home that January. Yes! I was busy and stressed catching up when I got back. But, I began looking for ways to make this freedom more realistic and practical.

It took several years. I got my first very expensive, bulky and primitive cell phone in the spring of 1992. I upgraded my computer to a Windows based system, retiring my trusty but limited Radio Shack "Trash 80" (TRS-80). I began getting involved in the emerging Internet in 1994 and began using email as a major form of business communication. As the cell phone services and the phone technology continued to evolve, I upgraded to gain more and more freedom. In 1999 I acquired my first notebook computer and realized even more freedom.

While my businesses still utilized wired business phones, a fax machine, file cabinets full of paper and an array of "tower" computers, networked together and all on the Internet, my main personal business computer was now a notebook. In 2008 I bought a net book computer, smaller and lighter, but capable of doing virtually everything I needed to do on the road. I bought my first smart phone in 2007, providing even more capability and freedom. I began moving my working files to small, portable hard drives in 2011, so I have every file I might ever need with me anywhere in the world and they take up little space and don't add any significant weight.

My latest generation smart phone currently allows me to do almost anything I can do with my computer including access the Internet and even connect my computer to the Internet through my phone. I'm also in the process of moving certain files to the "cloud" and adapting to cloud based application programs like word processing, spreadsheets and similar.

Twenty-two years ago I couldn't have dreamed how technology would "unleash" me to wander the globe as I can today. I take care of business while sitting inside or in my car at all kinds of locations. Some of them include: McDonald's, Burger King, Denny's, Starbucks, other coffee shops, my all time favorite - Panera Bread Cafes, many on the road travel centers, airports, interstate highway rest areas, clients' offices, friends' homes, public libraries and many other places that are easily accessible to anyone traveling. Heck, this past summer I was even checking email and sending emails from 30,000 feet in a big silver tube hurtling through the sky.

Many of us take this all for granted. Many of us have figured out that technology has truly "unleashed" us and opened opportunities we never would have dreamt of before. But, I dare say, for each of us who have embraced this technology and put it to work for ourself, there are five, ten, maybe even hundreds or thousands who don't have a clue. I think it's time for me to update my "Making Money at Home" topic and make it "Making Money from Anywhere Using Technology."

So, there's my challenge. I'll let you know how it all pans out and when you can find the book on Amazon's Kindle site.   

Photo-of-the-Week #85 - Studio on the Road, Ontario, Oregon, June 2010

This week there are two photos. As an independent audio producer, I accept all kinds of different assignments. The list is very long of the places I've recorded from all over the U.S. and Canada to China. The variety of projects is equally as long ranging from a single spoken voice to a solo instrument to symphony orchestra's and sound effects of all kinds of sounds. Many people in the recording business do the vast majority or even all of their recording in a fixed studio environment. Everything is controlled. The surroundings are familiar. The equipment compliment is virtually the same for every recording session and while it may be a voice-over studio where different voice actors may be the main variable element or the kind of music and the musical talent will vary, my experience is exponentially more variable. Actually, I may be the only non-variable.

These two photos represent a recording project of two audio books I did in the small town of Ontario, Oregon, just moments away from the Snake River, in June of 2010. I decided to drive cross-country and carry everything with me for this project. The talent for the recording was the author of the two books. Upon arriving in Ontario a day or so early for the project, I scoped the town and found there were a minimal number of hotel/motel accommodations that would be able to potentially meet my needs for setting up a temporary recording studio. After checking out the likely prospects I selected a relatively modern Super 8 property. It had one suite that was over the front office and lobby. It was tucked about as far from the heavily trafficked roads and backed up to the side of a large shopping center with little or no traffic in that area.

What you see in the photos is how I transformed the bedroom of the suite into a live recording environment. The large black area in the center of the photo is actually a window looking out over the front parking lot of the Super 8. The black area is actually two pieced of 4" thick acoustical foam. You can see other foam to the right (brown) and strategically located around the room there are other pieces that I used to tune the room and make it an aesthetically pleasing sounding room. No! The acoustical foam does not sound proof the room or the window. That was one of the reasons I selected this specific property. Yes! We did have some noise interruptions, but very few during the four days of recording.  The music stand is where the author/narrator placed his script and the studio microphone is on the microphone stand and boom with specially designed "pop" filters to eliminate the popping "P" sounds that can occur.

The second photo was the sitting room outside the bedroom. There just happened to be a conveniently situated desk next to the door separating the bedroom/studio from the sitting room/control room. You can see the set up was very simple. A pair of speakers to monitor the recording, a digital, hard drive, recorder (the gray unit) and my netbook computer that I would back up the recorded digital tracks on to be sure nothing would be lost. The other important tool was my pencil that I used to make editing marks and notations on the scripts as the author was narrating so I could easily find the places that had to be cleaned up after a mispronunciation, a stutter, a stumble or some other noise, including a noise from outside the window. Optimum? No! But, more than adequate and comfortable for both the author and me, the engineer/producer. The day after the project was recorded I removed all the foam, packed up the gear and left the suite at the Super 8 in Ontario, Oregon just as I found it. Both my living and working accommodations for the project were very comfortable. Just another day at the "Office." Both audio books are now in distribution by Tremendous Life Books.

More Living Free Revenue Generating Ideas

The last post about revenue generating focused mainly on things I do to generate revenue to support my living free lifestyle. Those ideas only represented a very small spectrum of the opportunities that are available. Since each of us has our own unique and individual definition of what living free is all about, there is no single revenue generating method that fits all. Additionally, there are a number of variables that each of us has to consider.

Allow me to list some of the variables we must each consider:

How do I define living free for my life?

How old am I?

What is my gender?

What talents was I born with?

What specialized training and education do I have?

What jobs have I had and what skills have I developed?

What hobbies and avocational interests do I have?

What do I love and enjoy doing?

Do I have some other form of income (Social Security, pension, trust fund, inheritance, etc.)

Where do I live?

Will I be in a fixed, permanent location or will I be a nomad of some kind?

Do I want to work with my hands, my mind, both?

Do I have any physical limitations - wheelchair bound, blind, deaf, require a cane or crutches?

Will you require and are you willing to obtain more education or special technical training?

Do you prefer to be self-employed, work for someone else or be a contractor?

You may have some other questions that are more personal to yourself and your own unique situation. Add them to the list and answer them. Each of these questions and your honest answers to them will help define and focus your interests and reveal the right opportunities for you. If you're like most people you've only worked in as few as one field to as many as several, but none of these may have been something that would have been you first (or second, third or more) choice that your passionate about and that you want or wanted to do for the rest of your life.

Of course, there are all kinds of individual circumstances that have held priorities in your decision to accept whatever you've done in the past and may currently be doing. If you can be honest with yourself, the chances are that most of your decisions were determined by economic pressures. To be more specific, you needed a revenue source to pay your rent or mortgage, car payments, put food on the table, clothes on your back, cover medical expenses, insurance and other necessities. If you had/have a family, those pressures are even more defined and restrictive.

But, if you're reading this blog, you have some definitive interest in changing your life in some significant manner. I believe the bottom line is that we all want to be personally free. I believe it's a basic human instinct and drive. Unfortunately, we live in a society and at a time in the continuum of human development where we have changed from free-ranging "hunter-gatherers" to very much, niche defined "hunter-gatherers."

We no longer have to take our bows and arrows, spears and sling shots out on the hunt to procure our meat. We simply go to the supermarket and pick it out of the meat case already slaughtered, cut up and packaged. The same holds true for our vegetables, fruits and berries. We don't have to go out to find and pick them or till the soil, plant and harvest them. That's all done for us. We each have some form of defined niche that we call a job (or a business) where we do something productive for the good of the collective and that allows us to generate revenue to acquire the necessities of life including food, clothing, shelter, transportation, etc.

There is certainly much positive to say about our modern society and the myriad methods of providing the large variety of meat, poultry, fish, vegetables, fruits and berries. It goes without saying that everything we once had to do individually to sustain our lives is now done by efficient, effective methods and industries. You fill one of those highly defined niches as your part of the collective. Of course, this has redefined the definition of personal freedom and what it means to live free.

Unless you live in a very isolated location with little or no contact or access to the advanced, contemporary society that has spread around the planet, your personal freedom is greatly diminished. One of the many expectations of modern society is that everyone will, in one manner or another, be a productive, contributing member of the society and that is how it should be and must be for everyone to survive and hopefully thrive. It requires that we have at least one means of generating revenue to function in the society to purchase the meat, vegetables, clothes, shelter and so on. We become very judgmental and view anyone who chooses not to be productive, as we have come to define it, as anti-social, a non-conformist and a thorn in the side of society.

The question is, at this point in time, if you're doing one or more things you've chosen to do in this niche defined society that you don't enjoy doing, why are you doing it? Would you not feel freer and happier if you were able to do something that you'd love doing? It would have to be something that you'd even consider doing for free, but are able to generate some revenue from it. Yes, there actually are millions of people around the world doing exactly that. There are, of course, other questions and considerations that may enter your picture, but life is all about choices anyway, so why not choose to be freer and happier.

Here is another list of opportunities (as opposed to calling them jobs) to consider:

Writer                                                         Teacher                                              

Trainer                                                        Dancer

Music Composer                                     Music Performer

Carver                                                          Sculptor

Painter (art)                                                Inventor                                              

Architect                                                     Construction Worker

Sales Person                                               Consultant                   

Speaker                                                       Voice Actor

Actor                                                            Theatrical Director

PowerPoint Specialist                             Graphic Designer

Web Designer                                            Book Designer          

Handy Man/Woman                             Home Care Giver

Nurse (Travel or Fixed Location)       Food Server             

Cook/Chef                                                  Interpreter

Travel Consultant                                    Tour Guide

Tutor                                                            Ebay/Amazon Marketplace Sales 

Tour Bus Driver                                       RV Ferry Driver                

Truck Driver                                              Taxi Driver

Child Care                                                  Pet Care                                        

Pet Groomer                                              Pet Photographer

Photographer                                            Nature Photographer                           

Industrial Photographer                        Videographer             

Documentary Maker                              Computer Technician

Mobile RV Repair Technician              Vehicle Detailer                                   

Oversize Load Pilot Car Driver            Conference Recording Tech

Paralegal                                                     Court Reporter

Nature Hike Leader                                Editor

Delivery Driver                                         Mechanic                                           

Inventory Taker                                       Shelf Stocker

Financial Planner/Consultant            Treasure Hunter/Salvage Diver

This is a diverse list of avocational opportunities, for sure. They are off the cuff. I put them on the list as I thought of them. Most all of them can be done at a fixed location for those individuals who don't have nomadic tendencies. However, most of these opportunities can be employed by nomadic travelers to find opportunities as you travel from place to place. Obviously, some require special training or education. Others require certain skill sets and some require specialized tools or equipment. Some may require special licenses.

This is only the first of a number of lists of ways to generate revenue. Some of these ideas may not be very appealing at first glance, but there are many facets to most of them. You may also look at them and say, "Hey, I'm a lawyer or a doctor or a college professor, do you know how much money I make and how much I'd have to give up to do any of these things?" Of course I do. As noted previously, I have both a bachelors and masters degree. Both degrees allow me to work in careers that are considered professional and could earn me a nice income.

Once again, the choice you have to make is whether you're happy and free being a lawyer, doctor, professor or whatever it may be that you're currently doing. If you are, then you don't need to read any more of my posts on revenue generating for a living free lifestyle. If you're not happy and you're reading these posts, then you're searching. I'm simply providing ideas.

I knew an attorney in New York. He was not happy providing legal services. He lived well and had most of the trappings of success, but he wasn't happy and he didn't feel free. One day a small greasy spoon style diner became available. He bought it, closed his law practice and became the short order cook in his own diner. He was happier and felt freer then he ever did as a lawyer. He had found his passion. And, no, he didn't make as much money nor did he have the status he had when he was a lawyer, but happiness trumped money and status for him.

In future posts I'll explore many of these and lot of other revenue generating ideas and opportunities. Here comes an old cliché, the mind is like a parachute, it only works when it's open.

Living and WORKING Free . . . Revenue Generating

By now, I hope you've noticed that I've added the word Working back into the title of this blog. While I still refer to the blog as Living Free, I felt that there are few of us who can actually live free without doing something that will generate some revenue to support our lifestyles, how ever we have designed them.

Recently I did a couple posts on a couple of my recent "revenue generating" road trips to illustrate one of the ways I generate some of my supplemental revenue. I also know that there are numerous part-time and full-time RVers, vandwellers and other nomads who tune in and read the Living Free blog. Most of the RVers and probably a good many of the vandwellers know what "workcamping" is and participate in that revenue generating activity. Many of the nomads are "location independent" folks who choose to travel the U.S. and the world as nomads and earn income to support their travels from whatever location they happen to be, whether for a short period or for a longer duration.

Some of us are, by some good fortune and usually involving some years of focused and concentrated efforts toward a decent paying career or one or more businesses, financially independent. Financially independent can be defined as having enough money set aside in some solid investments or savings that yield decent dividends to support a frugal nomadic lifestyle. It can also mean that someone has accumulated a sizeable fortune from the sale of a very successful business or, perhaps, a huge inheritance or very healthy trust fund. And, of course, there are those who may be retired and have their Social Security stipend every month and possibly supplemental income from a regular pension or 401K, IRA and annuity plans they faithfully funded for years.

The reality is, though, that most of us want and need to supplement our incomes to some degree. The exception is a very small percentage of folks who are truly financially independent and can enjoy their RVing, vandwelling or nomading with no concern or need for additional income. So, with that in mind, I'm going to begin creating a series of regular posts illustrating the numerous and probably countless ways that any of us can adopt and adapt to our lifestyles to generate whatever amount of additional revenue we feel we require to live our dreams and enjoy our living free lifestyles.

And, it's important to remember that most of us already have skills, talent and experience we can exploit to our own benefit. As a matter of fact, most of us have the ability to select two or three or maybe more ways to generate multiple streams of income, including some that may be passive or may involve bartering. I'll explore and discuss all the possibilities I can think of. Additionally, I know there are many of you who each have created some unique revenue generating ideas and techniques of your own. So, if you won't mind sharing them with others, please let me know what you're up to and allow me to interview you so I can share what is working with you.

A Bit of My Story

As a bit of an introduction, I'm going to list all the things I have skills, talents and experience in doing. I may be a bit of an anomaly. I have often said to friends and colleagues that having as much knowledge, skill, talent and experience as I have accumulated in so many areas can be a curse as much as it can be blessing. I began my revenue generating and entrepreneurial pursuits at age 12. Yes! Like many folks, I was a "Paper Boy" delivering my hometown evening newspaper (we didn't have a morning paper). I had one of the largest paper routes in the Herald News home delivery distribution system with about 110 customers. I delivered six days a week and had to do all my own door to door collections each week. We were all independent contractors and worked for ourselves. I learned a lot from my paper route at a young age about dependability, customer service and commitment. I also learned a lot about the value of money.

I will also say that I gained vitally important knowledge and skills from every small business and every part-time job that I've ever had. But, most assuredly, the foundation was laid during my junior and senior high school years and my college and graduate school years.

I am fortunate enough to have had the opportunity of earning both a bachelors and a masters degree before the age of 24. My bachelors degree is in Education, more specifically, Industrial Arts. There has never been a day of my life that I have regretted majoring in Industrial Arts. I was certified to teach Kindergarten through 12th grade in some 14 areas of industrial technology. While I've never taught in a public school environment, I've applieid all of that knowledge throughout my lifetime and I've been teaching, primarily adults, for that same period.

I earned my masters degree in television and radio. Again, while I have never officially held a job in a TV or radio station, the knowledge has served me well all my life and I've used it in more ways then I can describe. I do not have an MBA, or at least not one with a piece of paper sporting a gold seal from some accredited institution of higher education. However, I dare say, I had already earned an MBA in multiple areas of business through the school of "on the job training" and real world experience by the time I completed my masters degree in TV and radio.

My college and graduate school years were during the volatile Vietnam era. All U.S. male citizens were required to register with the Selective Service System (aka the "Draft Board) at 18 and carry our "Draft Card" with us at all times. Unlike today and for the past 40 years or so, that little card in our wallet was basically like a ticking time bomb back then for men between the ages of 18 and about 25. One of the major discussion topics of that era was draft deferral or how to obtain and maintain any draft status other then 1A. As long as I was a full-time student, I maintained a 2S student deferral. But, as soon as I completed graduate school at the end of the summer of 1968, I immediately reverted to "draft bait" or 1A status. Very few of us wanted to be drafted into the military during the time of a very unpopular war.

I did my best to avoid being drafted and going into the military and I managed to put off the inevitable until the late spring of 1969. But, alas, my number was up and I chose to enlist in the U.S. Air Force voluntarily. Prior to actually enlisting, I went to the trouble of finding the precise job/duty assignment and location where I wanted to serve my country. Most people didn't believe one could do this, but I did whatever I had to and locked in my own assignment before I signed the enlistment papers. Obviously, it was in a location where I could serve my country well, do a job that served the Air Force mission . . . AND served my future objectives well also. And, just to be clear, no, I didn't "know" people in high places. I made my own connections.

I spent most of the four years I was in the Air Force in Washington, DC working for the Secretary of the Air Force producing radio (primarily) and TV programs and materials, writing, voicing and producing recording sessions for the highest office in the Air Force. I received an award for Meritorious Service and added much to my personal knowledge and experience in my chosen fields of recording and broadcasting. I created industry contacts and networks. And, needless to say, like everything prior to my short Air Force career, I have used all of it for the rest of my life. Once again, I turned what could have been a negative experience and four years of lost time into a massive positive for myself. And, while I never saw combat, which was one of my objectives, I'm still proud to be a veteran and have served my country when called upon. I guess post people would describe it as a Win-Win situation.

The point is that whoever you are and no matter what level of education you have achieved, you were born with certain talents and basic abilities. Add to those a lifetime of gained knowledge and experience, regardless of how long your lifetime is to this point in time. You are a valuable commodity when you add a dash of ambition and self-motivation.

So, beginning at age 12 and progressing for a period of 55 years at this point in my life, I have accumulated a massive amount of saleable knowledge, abilities, skills and experience. Everyone of them saleable or barter-able. Everyone of them providing an unlimited assortment of revenue generating opportunities. Going back to the 7th Step of my 12 Steps for Living Free, Avocation, I don't choose to pursue revenue generating opportunities in many of the areas I have knowledge and experience. So, I have selectively chosen a number of areas that I enjoy, feel extremely competent in and accordingly, while not necessarily marketing myself in all of these chosen areas, keep my eyes and ears open for revenue generating opportunities. This approach also avoids becoming stereotyped and bored. Variety is still the spice of life.

My Personal List of Revenue Generating Skills

Here then is the list of fields in which I look for opportunities to generate revenue for myself.

Audio Production (my knowledge, experience and skills are extremely broad based in

            this field)

Video Production (my primary skills and experience are in training and industrial

            production)

Voice-Over services (blessed with a rich deep voice, a reasonable command of the

            language and well over 30 years of experience I can handle a broad variety

            of assignments)

Professional Audio Systems Design, Acquisition and Integration (I am not only an

            audio producer, but also an audio engineer with nearly 50 years of experience)

Professional Speaker (I have spoken around the U.S. and overseas and conducted

            everything from 45 minute keynote addresses to multi-day seminars and

            workshops for diverse audiences on a variety of topics)

Business Consulting (I'm particularly well-versed in small businesses and home-

            based, family businesses ranging from single employees to multiple

            employees)

Book Publishing (I can even add small magazine publishing to this category since

            I have over 12 years of trade book publishing experience, started a small local

            magazine and also created and marketed an audio magazine internationally)

Audio-Visual Technician (I have years of experience coordinating various facets of

            audio & visual presentations, equipment and staging for meetings from coast

            to coast)

Meeting Planning & Production (This is another skill I developed over the years of

            working with a number of meeting planners. There are so many skills involved

            in pulling all the elements together for a successful meeting with tens of

            speakers and hundreds of people attending the meeting. My interest is in

            looking for smaller meeting opportunities).

Writing (I've been writing all my life and have had articles published numerous times,

            but this blog, the series of books I'm working on and I've recently been

            contracted to write a blog for someone else, means I've entered the realm of

            paid writers - a new field for me)

As you can probably tell there is an overlap between just about all of these specialized fields. In addition, there are many facets to each of these fields. It's impossible to get into each of the many possibilities and opportunities each of these offers me here. Additionally, there are many other areas in which I have knowledge, skills and abilities. They are areas that I'm not as interested in pursuing as revenue generating possibilities. However, I have and will provide some of these other skills and abilities on a barter basis for various things or on a volunteer basis.

So, this is my list for generating revenue as a location independent, vandwelling, professional nomad. What does your list look like? Every single reader of this blog has talents, knowledge, skills and abilities that you can put to work for yourself and love what you do. That's my definition of an Avocation. Some of you, perhaps, most of you have full-time jobs or professional careers. A small percentage of you love what you're doing. Most of you are doing it because you are wage slaves and need the jobs or careers to support your current lifestyle and debt load. To put that another way, you are not living free or working free.

I could easily make a full-time living (and have) from everything I've listed (except writing, which is my venture into expanding my personal horizons). I neither want to or need to do any of these things full-time to enjoy my living free lifestyle. That's what working free is all about. I pick and choose the projects or assignments that motivate and challenge me. If something doesn't look like it will be fun, I can choose not to accept it. How about you?

Opportunities for You to Learn

Over the upcoming months I'm going to take each of these fields on my list, one by one, and dissect them. I'm going to show you where there may be new opportunities for you in some of my chosen fields and give you pointers on how you can get involved yourself. But, I'm not only going to discuss my own chosen fields. I'm also going to explore the myriad opportunities that that exist in many diverse fields of endeavor. I'll interview people who are generating revenue in these fields. I'll give you tips and pointers on how you can explore these areas for yourself and provide resources you can tap into.

Once again, I want to remind you that I've started this blog to help others, anyone interested, in finding their own way to live their own dream, living free lifestyle. That's my mission in life. I created the 12 Steps for Living Free as part of this blog and very soon it will be an ebook and then a print book. Those 12 steps are all right here in this blog. Just go back several months and you'll find each of them. Utilize them to help you define your own living free lifestyle and take the necessary steps to realize that lifestyle.

With the current and future economic and political conditions in the U.S. and the rest of the world, being trapped in the "system" will not guarantee you any lifestyle and your personal freedom will continue to erode. You own your life and you should own your personal freedom. More to come, get ready!