Throwing some 80's New Wave at ya, Cyndi Lauper with "Money Changes Everything." And kicking a trash can full of pretend trash, because... well I don't know. Hey, the 80's were weird. A different kind of weird than today, anyhow.
I've been slowly working my way through the book, The $100 Startup, since I left Lancaster three weeks ago. It's a book that caught my eye in a library a couple years ago, but just not enough to pick up and read. While working with the bike business up in the desert, I thought it might give me some ideas that would help in my work there. The object on that was to get a lot of traffic to a big website real fast, and create an enormous cash flow quick. That is basically the opposite of how I tend to work. I work slow, step by step, and build gradually towards things. Ultimately, I realized I wouldn't be able to do what was needed there, and I headed back to Orange County (CA) to build my own small business.
At this point, talent-wise, I focus on three things: I do a unique form of Sharpie marker artwork that actually sells. I blog, write and publish zines and small zine books, and really want to get into writing actual books when I can. In addition, I have become good at building a web presence and building online traffic to websites for little or no money. That last skill is one nearly every small business can use, and one I could teach pretty easily in a zine, a small book, an ebook, and online course, a workshop, or in one on one consulting. The biggest issue I'm dealing with right now is that I'm homeless, and I got down here with about $20 in my pocket. That's not the greatest place to start.
I've been focusing on scraping up money both in homeless ways (panhandling), and through selling drawings (I've sold two in the last three weeks). Having been in and out of homelessness for many years, usually while working full time, I'm actually good at surviving on the streets. It's a lame thing to be good at, but I learned by necessity. So I've spent three weeks building a very basic level of stability, which is one of the many things people don't understand about homelessness. Like everyone else, I need a place to sleep, preferably a place where I don't get harassed, beat up, attacked by wild animals, or murdered. I've got that figured out, for the moment. I also need a place to go to the bathroom, a place to eat, a place to clean up or shower, a place to charge my old laptop and phone, and a place with wifi to write, blog, connect, and promote my work on social media. I also need money to buy food, and to buy what's needed to use restrooms, wifi, do laundry, and other basic stuff. So I've got those basic things figured out, temporarily. Things are always sketchy, and can change at any time, but I've got places to do the basic things, and can scrape up money for food, bus fare, and to survive day to day. That gives me a bit of a base to build from.
Once I hit that basic survival level of relative stability, then came the next stage, building a business straight from the streets. In this next phase, I need to get my California driver's license, I need an address to do that, then I need a 30 day bus pass, because that saves me $80 a month, then I need a small storage unit, because carrying everything I own every place I go really sucks. Then I need a P.O. box so I have an actual mailing address. Then I can get a bank account, and THEN I can open an online store, and THEN I can actually sell my artwork, zines, books, and BEGIN to build a business, create a decent cash flow, and finally make enough to rent a weekly room, or maybe a room in an apartment somewhere.
That's the way I've been thinking about things. Like everyone, I tend to get into ruts in my thinking. "I need this to do this, so I can do this, so I can do that, so I can FINALLY do the thing I really want to do." In reading The $100 Startup," I learned a lot of people starting small businesses do the same thing. They think of all these things they need to do, buy, build, and get ready, so THEN they can begin to get their business going. But then I read one little paragraph, a simple idea from a small business woman, Naomi Dunford, whose business, IttyBiz, helps other small business people get their ideas up and running. Naomi's thought was this:
"Many aspiring business owners make two common, but related, mistakes: thinking too much about where to get money to start their project, and thinking too little about where the business income will come from."
-Naomi Dunford, quoted on page 165 of The $100 Startup
That thought hit home with me. I was basically stuck in homeless guy thinking, "How can I panhandle or sell a couple of drawings to get all these things I need, so THEN I can start building a little business?" Rather than "Where and how can I sell some copies of my drawings or a zine,starting right now, to start earning an income now, and buy these things I need, to keep building the business into an actual, legit business. Yesterday was a weird day, everything felt a bit off. I kept just missing buses, and everything seemed more frustrating than usual. Living homeless, especially when you're reasonably smart, talented, and hardworking, is incredibly frustrating. Over the course of the day, I realized this was a big part of my problem, I was focusing on how to scrape up a few hundred dollars in "start-up money," rather than just beginning to sell the things I can get ready to sell over the next couple of days or weeks.
I pondered this idea all afternoon, and things started to fall into place again. I realized that I need to just start providing the service and selling the products I have now, and I thought of a few ways I can start doing that, in my current situation. So today and maybe tomorrow, I'll be getting the basic things together and ready so I can start doing that. That decision took a ton of weight off my shoulders. I don't need to stress about getting a 30 day bus pass. I'll get one day by day, until I can afford a 30 day bus pass, or to get my driver's license, or this or that or the other thing.
So that's the thought I'm working with right now, thank you Naomi Dunford for sharing that with Chris Gillebeau, who wrote The $100 Startup. Maybe this idea will resonate with some of you out there in a similar position. That's what this blog is all about.
Buy The $100 Startup on Amazon (not a paid link).
IttyBiz - Naomi Dunford's website (and links to her blog and shop)
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