Forty Fabulous Fortune Boosters

             

CONTENTS

BRIC-A-BRAC AND COLLECTORS' ITEMS

STAMP DEALING

CAR BOOT SALES

DEALING IN USED BOOKS

BOOK-KEEPING

WRITING

PREPARING CURRICULUM VITAE

RESEARCHING FAMILY TREES

CONSUMER COMPETITIONS

INVENT-A-GAME

CHERISHED CAR NUMBERS

ITEMS IN CONSTANT DEMAND

TREASURE HUNTING

ACCOMMODATION ADDRESS AND OFFICE SERVICES

UPHOLSTERY AND STRIPPING SERVICE

CALLIGRAPHY

COPY TYPING

CURTAIN-MAKING

CASSETTE TAPES

SOFT TOYS

HIRING

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

MAKING VIDEOS

PAINTING AND DECORATING

CARTOONS

WHEN WORDS ARE SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH

HOW TO..............

COME AND JOIN US

LIST SELLING

LEAFLET DISTRIBUTION SERVICE

GRAPHOLOGY

HOUSE AND PET SITTING

KEEP FIT

CONSULTANT

PHOTOGRAPHY

THE BIG FREEZE

OFFICE LUNCHES

PARTY CATERING

HERBS AND HERBALISM

BIORHYTHMS

1  SELLING BRIC-A-BRAC AND COLLECTORS' ITEMS

Vast profits are made selling toys, dolls, trains, books,

pottery, stamps, curios, even junk, at fleamarkets and

collectors' fairs.  Since the same dealers turn up week

after week there must be a good liv ing to be made here,

and still there is room for newcomers, particularly if

they can offer something a little different.  A stall at

suitable venues is extremely easy to arrange.   Either

telephone the organiser to reserve a stall on a

particular occ asion, or much more preferably, visit one

of their venues as a customer yourself to gain

experience.

2  STAMP DEALING  (Without capital or experience)

At Stamp Fairs and Collectors' Fairs, dealers carry in

their huge boxes of unsorted stamps for eager collectors

to rummage through. 'All stamps 2p each' the signs say,

and business is brisk.  Stamps in bulk are very easily

obtained as a browse through any specialist stamp

collectors' publication will reveal.  Stock can be

offered for sale on approval, as again a browse through

such magazines will prove.  Another opportunity lies in

the 'packeti ng' of stamps for sale to other dealers, or

for fixing to display boards for sale in local shops.

3  TRADING AT CAR BOOT SALES

Car boot sales offer a good income to those prepared to

investigate suitable venues and to offer reasonable stock

at realistic prices.  Stall fees are cheap in comparison

to those for fleamarkets and collectors' fairs.  Stock is

unbelievably easy to acquire, whether from your own

garage or the attics of friends and relatives, from

jumble sales or other car boot traders, charity shops,

and private sales in the Classified pages of the local

press.

4  DEALING IN USED BOOKS

Books can be sold face-to-face with the buyer, perhaps at

car boot sales, fleamarkets, collectors' or book fairs,

through the post by means of a list, or on approval to

selected customers. You can acquire all the stock you

need by means of regular and early visits to car boot

sales, jumble sales, collectors' fairs and auctions.

5 BOOK-KEEPING

The book-keepers' skills are highly valued amongst small

small traders and businessmen and women, particularly

with accountants charging high rates for a similar

service.  You will be in great demand, either on a

temporary basis as the Tax Year draws to a close, or on a

permanent part-time basis, thereby alleviating the need

for businesses to employ their own staff.

6 WRITING

Whether they choose to write readers' letters and

fillers, articles or short stories, a good living awaits

those who are tuned into meeting the requirements of the

various editors and publishers.  The market for articles

is much greater than that for short stories and usually

means a more regular acceptance rate.  Seeking further to

satisfy the lesser known and lower paying markets will

also lower potential rejection rates, as you break your

way into this highly lucrative area.

7 PREPARING CURRICULUM VITAE

A curriculum vitae consists simply of the biographical

details, both personal and career-related, of persons

wishing to change jobs or seek advancement, training, and

virtually any other change within their working live s,

which necessitates them giving interviewers, employers,

and college heads, sufficient details to make a full and

accurate assessment of the candidate.  The person who

enters this lucrative business must must of necessity

possess two things: an ability to put his or her

customers at ease whilst personal details are elicited as

fully and accurately as possible, and, access to a good

typewriter or preferably one of the most ingenious and

invaluable inventions of our time, a word processor.

8  RESEARCHING FAMILY TREES

In Government records, Parish registers, graveyards, and

in many other places, are segments of information, which

when located and pieced together, offer an extremely

accurate and interesting profile of one's family history. 

But a problem presents itself which precludes many a man

or woman from researching his or her family history -

TIME!  Time in many of our lives is an extremely valuable

commodity, and other demands allow insufficient time to

undertake sometimes painstaking research.  This is where

you come in, as a specialist, and highly paid researcher.

9  CONSUMER COMPETITIONS

Every day someone, somewhere, receives the news that he

or she is the new owner of something well beyond the

scope of their own financial resources.  It might be a

classic car, or a house in an exclusive area.  The

recipient s are devotees of consumer competitions

sponsored by manufacturers, hotels, shops, and

manufacturers, hotels, shops, and many other businesses,

as a means of attracting new customers.  To qualify for

the excellent prizes on offer every day, the competitor

competitor is faced with an array of tasks, from the

simple prize draw where nothing more is required of him

but to enter his name and address on an appropriate form,

to spot-the-ball e xercises, factual questions and

placing items in order-of-merit, to name but a few of the

many techniques employed.  Persistence and acquired

skills play their part in the vast majority of

competitions, which in addition to one of the above

preliminary tasks, require the competitor to create a

slogan or to complete a tiebreaker sentence, perhaps a

limerick, or to take part in some other tiebreaking

method.  Get a copy of 'Competitors Journal' copy of

'Competitors Journal' from your newsagent.

10 INVENT-A-GAME

Monopoly, the Rubik Cube, and Trivial Pursuits, are

amongst the most popular games and pastimes of today, and

surely none can have disappointed their creators in the

handsome dividends they provided.  A look at these

handsome dividends they provided.  handsome dividends

they provided.  A look at these examples should convince

you convince you of one notable and common characteristic

- each and every one possesses that most unique of

qualities, in the the shape of uniqueness itself! the the

shape of uniqueness itself! Create something different -

that's the key!

11 CHERISHED CAR NUMBERS

This term usually refers to registration plates with a

combination to registration plates with a combination of

letters and numbers which when read, convey some and

numbers which when read, convey some message, or else

resemble to a greater or lesser extent, some familiar

word or name.  For example, a car I see regularly bears

the registration 'JEN 1F' - clearly the property of

someone named 'Jennifer'.  Even one sale can yield

several thousands of pounds, and the procedure for

transferring transferring the plate from the donor

vehicle to the recipient vehicle is usually

straightforward, within guidelines as laid down by the

Government.

12 SOCKS OR ITEMS IN CONSTANT DEMAND

Specialising can pay the handsomest handsomest of

dividends, especially when the item chosen is one

required by every man, woman or child, all of the time. 

Hence the massive businesses set up by those who cashed

in on the market for socks of every kind, for those who

sought to provide ties of every shape and size, and for

the woman who seeing the need for a range of natural

beauty products, natural beauty products, decided not

only to provide a few everyday creams and potions, but to

stock ou t shops that covered the country.  Once the

decision has been made as to what to specialise in, and

it needn't be clothes or cosmetics, it needn't even be

for human use, then you are faced with the possibility of

providing just about every single var iation upon that

set theme.

13 TREASURE HUNTING

Treasure hunting, whether on rubbish tips, on beaches, or

in fields which provided the venue for happy family

picnics many generations ago, can turn up some of the

most useful of articles, whether for sale, or in the case

of rare specimens, for auction to waiting droves of

big-time rare specimens, for auction to waiting droves of

big-time collectors.  One woman combs the beach looking

for suitable pieces of driftwood in which to display the

beautiful flower arrangements she sells at craft fairs

and in local shops.  A man I heard of simply hunts for

attractive stones and shells which will adorn some of the

most original and appealing pieces of jewellery.  Another

man has his hoard of Victorian bottles displayed on his

stall at local fleamarkets, whilst whilst the broken ones

he finds are cut down and shaped into ornamental pieces

are cut down and shaped into ornamental pieces such as

paperweights, ashtrays, stone-shaped pieces for jewellery

and a ho st of other highly tempting pieces.

14 ACCOMMODATION ADDRESS AND OFFICE SERVICES

Not all of us want to set up business in our homes, at

least not insofar as our home address is the only contact

customers have when address is the only contact customers

have when they decide to pay a personal visit at the most

inconvenient of times. Many other reasons, including

privacy, lead people to seek the services of an

accommodation address agency which will 'rent' them an

address for business or personal use, and subsequently

collect, retain, or forward all mail received for the

custome r concerned.  Many such businesses businesses

provide additional businesses provide additional services

often of a secretarial nature, including typing, a

telephone answering service, an appointments service, fax

machine facilities, book-keeping, some financial

services, and so on.

15 UPHOLSTERY AND STRIPPING SERVICE

Whether it's a chaise longue or granny's fireside chair,

there comes a time in the life of almost every piece of

upholstered furniture when the owner prefers to have the

item recovered, instead of disposing of it to make way

for a new model.  Whether because of financial

constraints or for sentimental reasons, the answer to

their problems could easily come via the services of

someone skilled in the art of renovation and

reupholstery.  As an adjunct to upholst ery we find firms

specialising in the stripping of furniture, removing the

years of polish and grime from antique or more recent

items, and restoring them to their former glory. 

Incidentally I have come by several people who make a

very, very good l iving buying good l iving buying small

pieces of antique furniture, restoring them, and selling

them at local antiques fairs, restoring them, and selling

them at local antiques fairs, or in their own shops.

16 CALLIGRAPHY

Calligraphy is the rather grand name for the even grander

art of creating beautiful handwriting and printing.  We

see swirling flows of lettering, created by hand with the

aid of special pens and inks, adorning menus in the

better eat ing establishments, on examination

certificates, formal invitations, signs, notices,

doorplates, to name but a few of the creations that

demand a professional and thoroughly attractive

presentation.  An easy art to learn from books or local

colleges.

17 COPY TYPING

Not perhaps the way to make a vast fortune, this is an

ideal occupation for someone needing or preferring to

work from home.  Many businesses either have insufficient

workload or finances to warrant have insufficient

workload or finances to warrant employing a full-time

finances to warrant employing a full-time secretary or

typist, and would welcome the services of an accurate

typist to provide for their needs. You can also provide a

much needed service typing students theses, writers'

manuscripts, letters, documentation and curriculum vitae

for the general public, and meeting a host of other

customer requirements.

18 CURTAIN-MAKING

If you've ever tried to buy ready-made curtains at the

right price, and in a particular style and design, you'll

know the enormous problems encountered, and hence the

opportunities here for someone skilled with with a needle

or machine, who can provide a custom-made service at a

lower price than the shops.  Whether it is the customer

or yourself who provides the materials and pattern is

entirely up to you to decide, usually on an individual

basis, taking into account your customers' preferences.

19 CASSETTE TAPES

There are many types of commercially produced tape, some

for the music lover, or for the lover of novels with

little time to sit around indulging him or herself,

preferring instead to carry on with normal chores whilst

the story is read to him or her, usually by some famous

personality.  Purchasers might want to have a bestselling

novel read to them, or else discover how to relax, how to

begin learning some new hobby, even to hear a story you

have written, or to have multiplic ation tables set to

music, thereby reinforcing the learning process in the

minds of school-bored children.  Your own children's

stories could be set onto tape, thereby airing any second

string you might have to your bow.

20 SOFT TOYS

To be fair, you're never going to get rich by making

carbon copies of the ever popular elephants and teddy

bears, but create something different, and you might even

find yourself with a contract for sole distributorship to

some big comp any or business concern, such as those

specialising in greetings teddy bears carrying their

individual messages, and delivered to the doorstep of the

delighted recipient.

21 HIRING

Not everyone can afford to pay the sometimes tremendous

prices asked for today's exclusive wedding gowns.  The

same applies to those gloriously elaborate party dresses

we find children paraded in, and the designer hat mum

wears to her off spring's wedding.  And what about the

firm's annual dinner dance when madam simply must look

her best, but can't really afford the outlay to possess a

designer gown, which must of necessity not be the choice

for next year's get-together? Get the pic ture?  They

don't buy these creations at all - you do! Whether you in

fact make them or buy them, and whether you buy them new

or good quality second hand, is entirely up to you.  You

simply hire out the garments with a refundable deposit,

clean them on their return, and horror of horrors, make

any necessary repairs, then hire the items out again.

22 STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER

If I had a couple of acres of land, even if it wasn't my

own, I'd buy that horse I've always wanted.  With the

rest I'd grow strawberries - and goosberries, tomatoes,

With the rest I'd grow strawberries - and goosberries,

tomatoes, blackcurrants and lettuce.....  Then every year

I'd throw my garden open to the public to pick their own

goodies, before joining another of the long queues of

customers one sees at these P.Y.O long queues of

customers one sees at these P.Y.O (Pick Your Own)

establishments.

23 MAKING VIDEOS

If you have a child, but finances will not allow you

access to a video camera of your own, the most

fascinating and speedy part of your child's development

could soon be lost to you for ever.  So here we have

another way of offering a service, also much in demand at

weddings, birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, and

on many, many other occasions.

24 PAINTING AND DECORATING

Not everyone, myself most definitely included, relishes

the thought of donning rags once a year, retrieving

brushes thrown angrily into the garage last year, and

setting about the arduous task of decorating the home. 

Here's your your chance, all of you who actually enjoy

wielding paint rollers and paste brushes.

25 CARTOONS

Only the other day, in a top women's magazine, I came by

something so different I'm sure there can be few people

yet cashing in on this ingenious idea.  For about twenty

pounds, the customer gets a cartoon drawing of his or her

her chosen subject, created from a photograph submitted

with the order.  order.  A sample pictured in the

magazine showed a man, some features undoubtedly

exaggerated as is necessary with cartoons, and with a

head about three times too big for his body.  The piece

was framed and a copy of the actual photo from which it

was c opied was displayed alongside.  Now whilst almost

anyone would cringe at the thought of the 'Spitting

Image' crew portraying them in caricature, there was

nothing in this cartoon to offend even the most sensitive

of subjects.  The colours were muted and the whole thing

was ext remely easy on the eye - and very different!

26 WHEN WORDS ARE SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH

Baby's first shoes can be preserved for ever in a coating

of gold, silver or bronze, thereby sealing those

cherished memories of the owner's first tottering steps

for doting grans and grandads.  Every Valentine's Day

finds a rush of firms offering heart-shaped offering

heart-shaped this, that, and the other.  Can you think of

something something to rival these ingenious something

something to rival these ingenious enterprises? You can?

Great!

27 HOW TO....................

Information, they say, is free.  Personally, I doubt this

oft-quoted maxim if the speed with which new business and

self-improvement guides enter the market is anything to

go by.  For anything from œ1 to œ10, and perha ps much,

much, much more, they'll tell us how to do anything from

making a kite, to joining the ranks of the seriously rich

and famous.  Some of these guides are simply a rehashed

version of many others, and are rarely likely to create a

fortune for their 'writers'.  A 'one-off' guide or manual

though is a different matter entirely.  Anyone who has

access to appropriate information not currently readily

available, should waste no time in writing it up, then

having it typed, copied and marketed.  Many markets

exist, perhaps one of the best being the Opportunities

pages of 'Exchange and Mart'.

28 COME AND JOIN US

'Lonely in a crowd' they say, and never was a truer word

spoken.  Look at the number of advertisements we find

placed by people wanting to contact others whether for

friendship or to share a common interest.  Some mechanism

is ne cessary to facilitate the coming together of

thousands of currently isolated individuals who share

this common need or interest.  This is where the astute

businessperson comes into play, acting as a middleman who

often does little more than coordinate, collate, and

distribute details relating to the activities of members.

29 LIST SELLING

Many businesses, even if they primarily deal face-to-face

they primarily deal face-to-face with their customers,

often find the need to contact others for a great many

reasons, whether for the purposes of buying from or

selling to them.  This is often done by buyin g or

renting names and addresses from specialist operations or

from a middleman dealing in the provision of such

information.  Lists are required for many other reasons

not all of them in the field of selling.  Parents Parents

for instance, might appreciate a list of all private

schools in a certain locality.  We also find lists

offering access to hundreds of things that are free for

the asking.  There are also lists of firms requiring

homeworkers, or offering opportunities to work abroad,

and many, many others.

30 LEAFLET DISTRIBUTION SERVICE

Many firms and businesses businesses advertise their

services or goods by means of leaflets and and brochures

delivered to selected addresses, but to employ someone

solely for the purpose of delivering this literature is

not always a a cost-effective proposition.  The cost of

Post Office delivery can be similarly prohibitive. 

Leaflet distribution agencies though, are able to keep

their costs competitive by having the leaflets of several

customers included in each household delivery.

31 GRAPHOLOGY

Once almost certain to elicit mocking criticism,

graphology is the art of analysing a person's mocking

criticism, graphology is the art of analysing a person's

character from a piece of writing he or she provides. 

Certain strokes of the pen, swirls at the end of words, a

preference for using capital letters mingled into one's

handwriting, all have some deep, and until expertly

interpreted - hidden meaning.  It is the the job of the

graphologist to interpret the reasons behind certain

styles and peculiarities of writing.  A few years ago

no-one, except perhaps our American cousins, would dream

of paying someone for such an analysis.  Today however,

the technique has developed a great deal of credibility

and the services of a good graphologist are much in

demand, especially in the workplace, where many employers

now view the art as an essential staff recruitment tool.

32  HOUSE AND PET SITTING

Recently we have seen the emergence of an innovative

security service whereby you can go on holiday, perhaps

into hospital, without the need to worry that the home

will be safe in your the home will be safe in your

absence.  The entrepreneur here offers two methods by

which the surveillance of the owners' homes are are

carried out.  In the least expensive method, and one

probably adequate for most customers, the person visits

the house regularly, regularly, perhaps daily, or sever

al times a day.  He or she arranges to remove obvious

signs that the house is unoccupied, eg taking away mail,

opening and closing curtains, and so on.  The service

might also include watering plants and attending to small

household pets.  On a grand er scale, the person person

offers to actually live in the house during the owner's

absence, thereby reducing the risk of burglaries, fires,

and other potential disasters to an absolute minimum.

33 KEEP FIT

These days we're all that little bit more health

conscious, as we seek to ward of illnesses and the

effects of growing older.  Few of us though though want

to put a great deal of effort into the process.  Not for

us the long long hours of playing s quash, or jogging in

the park.  But give us a little exercise class, to music

perhaps, and that's a different matter entirely.  These

classes can become regular little meeting places, and

many a bigger bigger dance exercise studio has started

from the humblest of beginnings.

34 CONSULTANT

Many of us, whether we are, or have been employed in

professional careers, in a skilled trade, or many other

occupations, are unaware of the untapped talent we might

be able to offer to other than our '9 - 5' employers. 

Some firms and private individuals welcome the services

of trained and experienced people from all walks of life,

but have insufficient need to employ them on a regular,

part or full-time basis.  We might for instance need a

children's nanny or nurse to look after a child sick from

school, or for an interior designer to put into practice

the great plans we have for our home decorations, but

without unfortunately the analytical skills to match.  We

may feel the need to employ a recruitment s pecialist to

help our children through through the hurdles of their

first job interviews.

35 PHOTOGRAPHY

You don't have to be David Bailey to take great pictures

of junior's birthday party, for parents who confess not

to know one end of a camera from another.  You do though

need a better than average pocket-type camera.  These

handy litt le gadgets might eliminate the need to

concentrate on shutter speeds and focussing, but they

usually produce pictures no-one would be truly proud of. 

A good photographer can be in regular demand for

weddings, parties, christenings, and as a freelance for

local newspapers and businesses.

36 THE BIG FREEZE

Life being as hectic as it is, especially for the younger

ones struggling to meet mortgage repayments, repayments,

and working every hour that's sent to accomplish that

task, there is often insufficient time to make small

economies around the home.  Freezing food whilst in

season, and freezing large portions of main meals for

future use, are just two ways to make the household food

budget go that little bit further.  further.  BUT not

everyone has the time as we've already said, to stand

peeling many pounds of spuds and carrots, or to make

twenty extra extra portions of their favourite curries

and pizzas.  Someone willing willing to perform this

service on their behalf would be more than welcome,

welcome, even if there must of necessity be an additional

cost, over and above the price of the raw materials. 

Your service can extend beyond fresh fruit and vegetables

and everyday main meals.  You might for instance offer

gourmet cuisine, and freezer portions of the more unusual

fruits and vegetables we find in some of out of the way

supermarkets nowadays.

37 OFFICE LUNCHES

If you've ever worked in an office and perhaps on the

umpteenth floor, or on a building site in the middle of

nowhere, you'll know how uninviting those sandwiches you

prepared in the mad panic of the morning can subsequently

becom e.  If there are no shops nearby to allow you to

undo the damage, that's it!  You either eat the stuff, or

sit with an embarrassing rumble emanating from your empty

stomach for the rest of the day.  A sandwich service is a

boon to staff either reluct ant to prepare their own

packed lunches, or else unable to buy suitable items

within a short distance of their workplaces.  The more

ambitious amongst distance of their workplaces.  The more

ambitious amongst you might see the possibilities here

for an up-market service to management for an up-market

service to management personnel, who very oft en would

welcome the opportunity opportunity for a boardroom lunch

of something different to the 'sandwiches all round'

variety.  You might for instance offer to arrange small

buffet parties for visiting industrialists, even, as we

become more Americanised, to c ater for the growing trend

in boardroom breakfasts.

38 PARTY CATERING

Hosts and hostesses look forward to the the dinner party

they plan for close friends and business acquaintances. 

But when the hard work of preparation is done they feel

little like undertaking what now seems the impossible

task of sha king off the strains of the day, manicuring

overworked and reddened hands, and simply making

themselves presentable for their guests.  What they need

is someone to undertake the party preparations for them,

leaving preparations for them, leaving them free to enjoy

the get-together, now that the hassle of preliminaries is

a thing of the past.  This much needed service can This

much needed service can be applied to children's parties,

as much as to dinner and cocktail parties, and big family

celebrations.  Another possibility lies in catering for

the growing possibility lies in catering for the growi ng

number of home-based wedding receptions.

39 HERBS AND HERBALISM

In some shops, in garden centres and on market stalls,

even at car boot sales, we find herbs offered for sale in

the little pots they were grown in.  The little pots they

were grown in.  The cook now has a constant supply of

fresh herbs ready and waiting to be pi cked, from the

pots he or she will display on the kitchen window, or in

some other suitable position.  Growing herbs is almost

childishly easy, and it is in the marketing of them that

your efforts will be rewarded.  You can sell to shops, to

market t raders, or on order to individual households. 

Restaurants and hotels would no doubt be interested in

throwing out their pots of the dried-out and years in

throwing out their pots of the dried-out and years old

variety, in favour of something more befitting to guests

paying the prices they do for meals these days.  You

could even sell them yourself at local markets and craft

fairs.  The possibilities are endless, and speaking of

endless, have you considered the requirements of

herbalists with their much revered alternative medical

therapies? Have you indeed considered what might lie in

store for you if you decide to study herbalism yourself,

and to stock your medicine chest with the

freshest..................?

40 BIORHYTHMS

Biorhythms are cycles that rule our minds, bodies and

emotions.  Life that rule our minds, bodies and emotions. 

Life it is said, goes through a series of rhythms, and

their pattern of ups and downs have a great influence on

the functioning of the body and its emotions.  Sounds

complicated, doesn't it? But it is actually extremely

easy to chart and analyse the biorhythms of any

individual at any time in their lives.  Small wonder now

that the science their lives.  Small wonder now that the

science has gained a high degree of credibility, that

businessmen, sp ortsmen, students, and politicians are

looking seriously at the technique when making the more

important decisions and plans of their lives.  The

technique of preparing and analysing a biorhythm chart

can be studied from the many excellent text books on the

subject, and though the whole concept sounds complicated,

it most certainly isn't.  But don't under any

circumstances tell your c lients that - the library is

never far away, and we don't want them availing

themselves of the information it takes to make so

important important an analysis.