Have $$, Want around 5 small-med muses - MUST quit job!

[brett_atredback]

Hi All,

I need some help thanks. I do have some money (mid 5 figures, possibly low 6 figures if i stretched or borrowed) and so I would like to leverage some of this as a way to create/buy muses and get out of my job. I have a 1 year old baby with a wife and full time job. This all takes up quite a bit of time and I find myself with only 2 or 3 hours each night to work on this 'side' stuff. So far, I have spent much of this time researching and reading with some action (ie did the thirtydaychallenge to learn basic internet marketing and started a blog at kickthejob.com). Anyway, I need a LOT more action yet don't have a whole lot of time each week.

So, I was thinking of options being:
- buy up to 5 muses - i would rather not have just 1 to prevent all eggs being in 1 basket - i want these to be web businesses.
- and/or partner with someone who has the muses, just may need some cash injection and someone to do a bit of stuff (note, i didn't say work!) with.

I see some sites on the web that sell web businesses (sitepoint, bizbuysell etc) so I can check these out more and I thought while doing this I would get some advice from people here.

thanks!!
Brett

[webgal]

Careful with the buybizsell businesses that are not represented by brokers.

[goruck]

for now,

forget buying anything.
That is what this forum is about.
Start with telling us about yourself.
Maybe someone can help point you in a direction to come up with a "priceless" muse.

[webgal]

If you tell us what you can bring to the party in terms of skills, you might find someone who lines up well with your thinking. You do want people who you can trust and gravitate towards.

[brett_atredback]

OK, thanks for the inputs so far.

So, here goes for the rundown:
- I am an aussie living and working in near burbs of Chicago. Been here for around 8 years with an american wife and baby girl. I want us all to move back to Australia in the 3 to 5 (preferably closer to 3) years timeframe.

- I have a masters in engineering - software and telecomms and currently working for a large chicago based tech company in the cell phone industry - i have a good knowledge of tech in general and several broad markets such as cell phones and telematics. I have a good income (low 6 figures) but completely want and desire the 4hww lifestyle together with the creation of passive muses that exponentially increase my wealth and do not swap my time for $$.

- My interests include:
- almost anything tech
- computers/internet
- home A/V
- gourmet food
- environment
- wine
- entrepreneur/success
- travel
- australia
- sports - tennis, golf, aussie rules footy, soccer
- movies, music, reading

- My skills include:
- computers/internet - several sites up at the moment and in the past - personal (brettandmb.net), new blog - kickthejob.com
- software management (project/program management)
- team management (scheduling, resources etc)
- used to be able to program quite well but haven't done it in ages - not so keen to do it again either
- i have a basic (but i think sound) knowledge of internet marketing - concept of niche research, digital products as the _great_ internet product to sell, list building etc - I do not have skills in some of the finer details (choosing a niche, figuring out a great product idea, salescopy etc).

Given the aussie connection, a persistent idea is import/export (to australia, something that is wanted in australia but cheaper and more available in us, or from australia - vice versa).

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks,
Brett

[webgal]

Very helpful. That's exactly what you needed to post.

[brett_atredback]

Thanks! I forgot to note that whilst i like the idea of importing/exporting to/from Australia (since it is something a little different and i have a unique position of being an Australian living in the US); i do have a perception (maybe wrong) that import/exporting is not 'simple' due to laws/rules/costs/shipping/product cost etc etc. For these reasons, digital products (sw, info etc) _seem_ more attractive.

Again, thoughts welcome.

thanks,
Brett

[mrhead]

The last time I looked into it, moving to Australia was quite an involved task. There were all sorts of regulations about having to already have a solid education and career path before you could even apply to work in aussie. Then you had to pass all sorts of other tests to finally become nationalized. I read this over five years ago and it's possible both that this has changed, or that this was just bogus and it's really easy to move there....but if any of this were true you could create a simple 'how-to' manual of sorts about moving to australia. Advertise it in travel/adventure magazines and basically target it towards, obviously, people who want to move to Australia.

Just an idea, it doesn't really tie into your hobbies or experience, but maybe it will get the hamster cage rolling...

-mrhead

[mrhead]

I also have always wanted to look into taking an extended vacation to the down under, but was never sure where the best place to look would be. If you have good contacts there you could possibly setup a site for people looking to take an extended(1-6 month) visit to australia, and provide things such as housing/apartment finding etc. based on a persons genre.

-mrhead

[TimW]

The last time I looked into it, moving to Australia was quite an involved task. There were all sorts of regulations about having to already have a solid education and career path before you could even apply to work in aussie.

I guess you missed the part in his post where he explains he is Australian.

[mrhead]

TimW - did you bother to read my entire post before posting that nonsense?

that idea was posted for him BECAUSE he is australian and BECAUSE he would know about this sort of things.

maybe try reading before posting in the future?

-mrhead

[Marcie]

okay, let's play nice...back to the topic at hand...

[nightowl]

OK, thanks for the inputs so far.

- My interests include:
- almost anything tech
- computers/internet
- home A/V
- gourmet food
- environment
- wine
- entrepreneur/success
- travel
- Australia
- sports - tennis, golf, aussie rules footy, soccer
- movies, music, reading

Given the aussie connection, a persistent idea is import/export (to australia, something that is wanted in australia but cheaper and more available in us, or from australia - vice versa).



Thinking out loud:
short term to get a feel of all the elements of setting up a muse - I'm looking at your home A/V interest. How to pimp your house with built in surround sound speakers (from the kitchen to inside the shower) integrating your current toys (ipods, and so on). How to automate your lighting with remotes and timers, etc. The first muse is more of a way to play with the muse process, including SEO, finding advertisers or drop shippers in the field, writing a small blog, and so on.
Long term:
I'm mostly looking at the word "environment" and adding it to some of your other interests:

luxury green australia travel
That sounds like a niche with benefits.
green and connected offices
How to have an environmentally friendly home office and still be completely connected, how to set it up, what to avoid, how to get rid of your old stuff in an environmentally friendly way, charities that except old equipment, how to clear all your data thoroughly. (Include suggested green manufacturers and get paid by them every time you make automatic sales.)
Now I'm going to coin a new phrase here: up-niching
Up-niche the previous idea!)
Focus your services and information on commercial buildings, banks, hospitals, software corporate office, universities. Make a full-proof system. Create a relationship with all of the products that you recommend and make commissions (and figure out how to automate this)
Wine vacations in australiaThe vinyards, b&b's, hotels (all that you receive commission from), wine tasting, special experiences such as wine crushing, bottling, etc.
Boating
You didn't mentioned boating but it sounds like it fits your personality. Any of the above skills applied to boats. Setting up audio/video equipment, the newest ways to generate power, turning your boat into a green lean sailing machine, again sell the information and get kick backs from the product placement, all automatically with almost no input.
Importing and exporting as you mentioned
You can outsource the whole customs/shipping pain in the _ part. Importing to Aussie when the usd is low, and exporting if the tables turn. Then up-niche again. What products can you import to corporate offices, banks, and so on. It could be as simple as an energy saving light switch

Okay, so some of these ideas are not that great, but I hope it's the start of a brainstorm session.

[TimW]

TimW - did you bother to read my entire post before posting that nonsense?
...
maybe try reading before posting in the future?

Yes I did...or so I thought. then in re-reading it after this message, saw that I missed one line....that was the key to it all.

Oops. My bad. Sorry about that.

[brett_atredback]

hey everyone - particularly nightowl - thanks a lot and that was some awesome brainstorming - i think it shows i need to do a lot more of this type of activity. It is always amazing how you think you've run out of ideas or that none of your ideas are great yet see others pull some out with 'somewhat' ease!

Anymore people, feel free to join in the brainstorm! I will review and add some more of my own! I hope to repay the favor with people in similar spots - ie just needing the first few ideas to get a few (or just 1) muse going.

bs

[brett_atredback]

btw, interesting pickup on boating - i am definitely interested in boating and got keel boat certified the summer before last.

[mandasol]

btw, interesting pickup on boating - i am definitely interested in boating and got keel boat certified the summer before last.


That's odd. One of the companies I am working with is an entertainment company and they are opening a bowling center with a Venice Italy theme and wanted a Venetian Gondola as a display piece. Ebay...nothing, Google...just pictures of venice, Boat dealer...just yachts, sail, speed and pleasure boats. We finally found one custom boat builder that only makes one model 24 ft long out of fiber glass, with a long lead time, and no options. We had designed the space for a 18 ft maximum boat, so we had to redesign the space to handle the longer craft. It would have been great to have a resource for specialty boats, or boat builders. There are a few sites out there but are very unorganized and not very helpful. I don't know if there is a way to make a profitable business of connecting specialty boat builders with buyers, but there may be something there.

[nightowl]

btw, interesting pickup on boating - i am definitely interested in boating and got keel boat certified the summer before last.

One of my muses is being pyschic (not really).
Congrats on getting certified!
I have a little Boston Whaler dinghy called Oblivia. I love her, she can get me to the British Virgin Islands in 15 minutes. (I know, powerboats are cheating...)

I found this site: www.siliconsolar.com

Use the search on the word "boat"
and some pretty interesting products come up.

Then go here:
http://www.siliconsolar.com/p/wholesale-and-dropshipping.php

they dropship!

You could challenge yourself to choose three of their products and see how fast you can create a site, write how-tos (something that is missing on the manufacturers site), go through all the processes and make your first sale.

There are too many options available on siliconsolar that it makes it confusing for people who are not experts.

Include onyour site a link to boat classified and become a boat classified affiliate: http://www.webclassifieds.us/index/listings/page13285.htm
and here:
http://www.boatclassifieds.us/idevaffiliate/

And use all the knowledge you gained from getting keel boat certifiedto drive traffic

[BrettnAustin]

- i have a basic (but i think sound) knowledge of internet marketing - concept of niche research, digital products as the _great_ internet product to sell, list building etc - I do not have skills in some of the finer details (choosing a niche, figuring out a great product idea, salescopy etc).


Brett,

First off, great name - there's not many of us around, we're always getting scooped up by girls and then hidden away somewhere in the burbs...

There's been a lot of good ideas tossed around but I'm wondering if any of the "how to" ideas fit your style since you claim to not have the copy writing skills you feel you need. But if you want to approach that market (which is quite lucrative) you can still do quite well by using video to display and market your products.

All you have to do is be a persuasive salesman in person. And with a name like yours I'm assuming you must already be extraordinarily handsome : ) You can also get around copy writing by creating a "swipe file." A swipe file is simply a folder you keep on you computer with all the sales letters you read which you feel are very successful. After you've gathered enough (about a dozen is good) then carefully look at them all. What do they have in common? What is similar about all the headlines? How effective are the subheads? Why? How long are they? Do they include testimonials? If so is it in the begging or several paragraphs down? What are they using to increase credibility? Etc., etc., etc.

After you've throughly analyzed your swipe file now's the time to start coping and pasting. Copy the best headlines, sub heads, bodies, opening paragraphs, first sentences, call-to-action sentences, etc. and paste them all together. Now you've got to repurposing it. It's kind of like making paper mache. Take all the clippings from newspapers and paste them together then gloss it over with some nice paint - or semi-custom content in your case.

After you finished repurposing you can have a copy write editor look it over, just be careful that they know internet marketing and are more helpful in adding to the structure and outline than they are being critical of its format and "unconventional stylings."

If you still have questions about muse creation, feel free to drop me an email and I'll send you my formula for going through the creation and evaluation process.

-Brett

[brett_atredback]

Brett - funny post. Thanks for the copywriting tips - i definitely like the concept of digital products for the reasons listed in the book. I think i have enough skills to write an ebook particularly since they are not meant to be too high a level in terms of pure English etc. I would rather just outsource it though if i knew the market was there due to time limitations i have with a JOB, wife/baby etc. Same goes for sales letters really. When i get to that point, my plan (might be dodgy - you tell me) was really just to get some form of template from someone like yanik silver's site or something similar and then work with that or else again, outsource someone decent at it . Guess I'll cross that bridge when i get to it.

nightowl - interesting challenge! I assume you mean after I tested the market viability somehow - thru adwords or natural traffic etc?

Folks - this whole muse thing - one of the reasons i posted or stated originally that i was thinking of buying something is that i have it in my head i am not good at picking/finding muses/niches. I need to get that out of my head and be positive and do a lot more brainstorming. The thing with the muse/niche concept is that you need (obviously) a viable market. It seems to me that once you find the muse/niche that is viable, you're over a large hump and on the 'somewhat' downhill stretch. I am not sure how many people are on this forum that have already got their muse and got their TMI. I would be interested to know if they got better at picking/finding muses/niches with time or they just found 1 and that's all they needed or what.


thanks.

[Design_Nerd]

Brett_A- I completly agree with you, I have a design background (mostly furniture adn architecture, some graphic and web design) and although I was trained to be very createive, I was also trained to be very critical. It would be cool if we could set up some kind of "Team" or schedualed chat to help support others like us, and to spread our knowledge base out. Not a partnership or anything, but a small group that has similar goals and is willing to put a time line to them. I am realizing that I am my own worst enmy :)

Ok, sorry back on topic.

[brett_atredback]

Design_Nerd - It sounds like you need a masterminding group for accountability - i would recommend finding people near you that a like minded and you can meet with to brainstorm, discuss ideas, set goals, get accountability etc.

[Design_Nerd]

Good idea brett - didn't mean to hyjack the thread.

[brett_atredback]

No worries.
So, i re-read my thread title - I guess my assumption of need for number of muses could be thought about a bit. Question to everyone - if you're trying to hit a TMI above around $300/day - do you aim for 1 large muse or several small to medium ones? The diversification aspects to me point to several, but you could argue against that with concepts such as focus, economies of scale etc.

thanks,
Brett