You can provide consulting services for businesses and offer them flexibility and responsiveness that they cannot match with in-house resources. If you have the contacts and experience, this is a highly remunerative activity with many of the perks of corporate life. You get to wear power suits, carry a briefcase, and wear at least two kinds of electronic messaging systems. You also get to attend meetings with powerful people in distant places, so your frequent flyer miles accumulate and you stay current on the restaurants of a dozen cities. The only downside is that you are so closely locked to the rhythms of corporate life that you are for all intents and purposes, a contracted corporate employee without a benefits package.At a less stratospheric level, you run your own business, either by yourself or with assistance from a small staff. You have developed a range of products or services and a means to deliver them profitably to customers on a regular basis so that your company continues to flourish and prosper. You call the shots and you ensure that customers are pleased with your service. Your customers refer other customers to you so your advertising costs stay at an acceptable level. You have all of the problems that any CEO faces, and you get to handle most of them yourself. You debug production, struggle with suppliers, refine designs, work nights to meet deadlines and sweep the floors and put the garbage out. Your earnings potential is open-ended, but you may need a 27-hour day to achieve the targets you have set.
At a more easily confronted level, you provide a service to individuals, or sell goods via the internet or in person on a part-time basis. This allows you to evaluate micro-business opportunities while continuing to receive income from your regular job. Your micro-business earnings, while they may eventually become substantial, are generally not sufficient to support your family for some time. It is vital that you arrange for more than one source of income.
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