The Finance Castle

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been much of a beach person. The whole process of getting to the beach, fighting traffic and overpopulation along the shoreline, getting there, unpacking in the intense heat while the sand burns your feet, sitting in the sun with about a bazillion other people for awhile, getting sand everywhere, packing up your stuff when you’re too burned to tolerate it anymore, finally getting home to shower only to collapse into your bed and pass out never really appealed to met. Yet as I sit here on the deck watching storms come in from out to sea, feeling the wind pick up and whip around my face, I have to admit that there is some appeal to the locale, though not for reasons you might think.

I certainly prefer the beach at night over the day. While I love swimming in the ocean and I’m hoping to one day take up kitesurfing, there’s nothing quite like enjoying the sounds of the sea under the moonlight. It’s cool, comfortable, and more or less enchanting. I love it.  They say some people prefer the mountains and some prefer the ocean, and I consider myself firmly in the former camp, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still enjoy it every once in awhile. Renting out a place in a less populated area with just enough to do really helps, too.

Popularity: 8% [?]

As soon as I got my first office job, I began to wonder why more employees didn’t work remotely. In many cases the transition wouldn’t really be that difficult.  You’d just need the proper software, a designated work computer, and maybe a work phone. I’m oversimplifying of course, but what I found is that most companies didn’t let their employees work from home because they were afraid that everyone would want to do it, not because it wasn’t feasible.

As I write this, I’m cruising down I-95 South heading to North Carolina for the week. Thanks to my wife’s Palm Pre Plus I have a fairly solid 3G connection to work from, and I have to say its awesome.  I’m not much of a gadget geek, but being able to pop open my laptop from almost anywhere and have everything at my fingertips is great.

With that said, I’m not sure how many of the bloggers I see working from laptops under a palm tree do it. The glare is pretty horrendous when the sun is angled the wrong way!

Popularity: 8% [?]

In many of my pasts posts I’ve mentioned the idea of starting up a number of different microbusinesses in order to support myself. Now that I’m officially out of the 9-5 grind and working on a number of different projects, I’ve been presented with the unique opportunity to really go after it.  I originally did some brainstorming with a  microbusiness portfolio all the way back in June of 2008, sort of a predecessor to more well known bloggers who can put forth the idea in a much more concise format than I can such as the Art of Nonconformity post about $100 businesses. Since then I’ve had a number of successes and a few failures along the way. Here are a few ideas that have succeeded along my journey:

Success: Niche Sites

I used to post my Adsense income on a more regular basis and I intend to do so in the future, but my portfolio of smaller sites has recently blossomed and is appoaching $6k in profit annually. That’s some serious walking around money, but the whole process has taught me a lot about SEO and niche sites as a source of income in general. Most importantly, I’ve learned that much of the niche building process is hit or miss. Some of our “greatest” site ideas have been flops and seemingly worthless domains have turned out to be real money makers. A coworker of my brother also lost much of his site portfolio’s content in a catastrophic crash and rather than build it back up from scratch, sold the names to us for a song. That strategic acquisition really helped us out quite a bit in the revenue department (one site especially). We’ve had $20.00 days and we’ve had $0.30 days, but the journey so far has been awesome. Expanding it out, however, will likely continue to be a volatile process.

Success: Freelance Writing

I was crushed when I was still working my 9-5 and was told that I would not be allowed to write for other publications (this blog included) while employed there, but now that I’m out I’m once again building up my writing gigs. I currently write over at Walyou covering various gadgetry and software and a few other small sites.  I’m in the process of building a site dedicated to this aspect of my business alone, as well.

Success: Beekeeping

Beekeeping was a hobby I got into thanks to my oldest brother, and while I never thought it would ever make any money, we’re getting there. Unfortunately for us it’s a slow process, building up the hives to the point where we can harvest the honey is time consuming and takes a lot of patience. Outside of the potential revenue from honey sales, however, my brother has made a tidy side income doing presentations about the bees. The audience ranges from horticulturists to schools, and he’s currently seeking out grant money to start an eductional program teaching about the bees to kids. The potential of the project looks promising, but will still take some time to pan out.

Up And Coming: Web Design, 5 Jobs Portal

I’d really like the opportunity to build a portal for myself and my brother’s efforts into microbusinesses, and we are working on building out a blog that will do just that. While I love TFC and will continue to write here, I feel like a dedicated blog toward lifestyle design, passive and alternate income would be a lot of fun and something I’d like to pursue. We are also starting to fish around for small web design projects, such as a former coworker who’s starting up a photography business.

Popularity: 9% [?]

After reading the most recent issue of the Caretaker Gazetter and finding the idea rather fascinating, I applied for a nearby historical building (ie. mansion) which is owned by the local municpality looking for a caretaker to keep the place neat and tidy for tours as well as be available to setup and breakdown chairs during events that they host there such as weddings, do light maintenance on the property, be a security presence in the evenings, and so on. This seems like a rather good deal to me in exchange for no rent and a 2 bed room apartment inside an old mansion, but being new to the trade I was curious if any others out there had done this sort of thing before and know what questions to ask.

Given my other commitments, my biggest concern was having enough time to fulfill my duties as caretaker in a satisfactory manner. How many hours exactly would it take to do the average chores like dusting, cleaning, etc. and whether the hourly breakdown of those duties made it a worthwhile trade off for free room and board. I’ll be sure to work all of these things out during the interview process and see if is a good fit for us, but what do you, the readers, think? What would you ask if you were applying for a prospective housesitting position?

Popularity: 9% [?]

I recently read over an article chronicling a number of individuals who live on $18,000 a year by choice in order to pursue their passions and it got me thinking. On one hand, I admire these people. Hopping off consumerism merry-go-round (I’ve tired of the hamster wheel analogy) and living life they way you choose can and should be commended. On the other there are a few pieces I think are missing from the equation.

Emergencies:

As it stands I have just under $10k stashed away as an immediate cash emergency fund. If my car blew up or I was injured in some way I have that cash on hand and I’ve had to tap it only a handful of times in the past few years.  How much can these individuals put toward their emergency fund? Will it keep up?

Health Insurance:

Since many of these individuals are part-time workers, I’m curious as to how they cover themselves for health insurance. Going out on your own to get insurance is very expensive and would take a large chunk out of that $18k income.

When I look at my current budgetary guidelines, I wonder what I would have to cut if I was making exactly $18k (I’m assuming before taxes). My car, for example, is currently paid off, but I do have a car fund that will be ready for the inevitable day that my car bites the big one. That would have to go. I also pay as much as I can towards my student loan, which would have to be brought down to the minimum. Doable, certainly, but likely outside of my comfort zone.

Popularity: 9% [?]