I had a cup of coffee with a stay-at-home dad friend yesterday who was grinning from ear to ear. Fortunately, it was iced coffee so the spills didn’t hurt much.
He’d said he had some cool home business-type news to share. He looked more like he had controlled substances to share.
After a couple of coffee slurps/spills, he said, “I just started the ultimate time tested home business today and you’ll never guess what it is!” His grin turned a bit smug at that point and I have to admit he had me stumped. So of course, I looked contemplative for a moment or two (smoke pouring from my ears) and then casually lied, “I have a few ideas, but let me ask: Is it a service business?”
“Yes!”
“Alright then…is it…” “And it’s a product business too!!” he interrupted with that darn grin again.
“OK, then, how about…” “And it’s just a couple hours each day, the money’s pretty good and I…”
My time to interrupt! “So what is it then? My coffee’s getting warm!!”
There was that grin again. “It’s…a paper route.”
“You’re a paperboy?? Like in all the TV shows and movies???” I immediately remembered a John Cusack movie when he was a teenager and there was a running gag with a paperboy chasing him everywhere yelling, “I want my two dollars!!”
He laughed at that, which is something he hadn’t done much lately. “Nahhhh, they’re not using kids anymore, some kinda liablity problem. It’s all adults now, but some people do it with their kids and pay them for their help. Hiring your kids to help with deliveries also gets more tips and more money for everybody. YOU told me that one!”
He was right, I had told him about hiring your kids to help with your home business and the tax advantages, but i definitely wasn’t thinking of a paper route at the time.
I couldn’t stop him now. “I’m an independent contractor, so I can deduct my own expenses - car, supplies, anything I use while delivering or any stuff directly related to it.”
That was another one I’d told him.
“But you hate getting up in the morning. Now you’ll be up earlier than usual.” His kids know to tiptoe during their morning routine so they can see their dad in a good mood instead when they come home.
“Nope, afternoon route!! I get my sleep and I’m done before the kids get home.”
“And get this,” he said leaning in excitedly, “it’s like you told me about building a mailing list for your online business. I’ve got a list of subscribers I can give some free stuff here and there and maybe make more in tips or they might decide to get the Sunday edition too. Only they’re real live people!”
He was too proud of himself for me to tell him that my own subscriber lists were real ive people too, just a little more geographically scattered. He figured he was on to a good thing and I figured he was too. If he managed it well, there was fairly good money to be made without sinking lots of time into it.
No wonder these things can be hard to get. What wants to give something like that up?
The biggest surprise for me was that someone actually listened to me about this home business stuff. You’d never know for all those glassy-eyed expressions.
Technorati Tags: stay-at-home dad, home business, Hiring your kids, independent contractor, mailing list
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