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[–] TheBuddha 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Even if you open your own business, you're still working for someone else - namely your clients. But, it enables you to keep more of the profits and have more control over the business decisions.

There's all sorts of business opportunities out there. I co-own (silently, more or less) a few franchise locations with a local friend. Those are cheap to get into and make a good enough profit to live off - assuming you can get a good location.

If you're into tech, consulting is huge. Consultants make a ton of money, and have since back when I still owned my traffic modeling business. Some of them command four figures per day - and they're independent. If you're any good, that's always an option.

The other major thing I see is filling niches locally. I think more and more business opportunities are actually going to be local instead of international conglomerates. I see this locally (I'm on the local business board/chamber of commerce) with lots of small businesses making their way. In little Farmington, Maine (the closest "city" to me - about 10,000 people I think) there's a new company that's expanding and they just opened like a year ago. They make gi - uniforms for martial artists. They started with a $10,000 loan and a local distribution plan.

So, it's out there - you just need to grab it and have some good luck and dedication to working hard.

[–] [deleted] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

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[–] TheBuddha 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

LOL You remind me a bit of myself. I'm always dabbling in something. Technically, I even own part of a nail salon. Nope, I'm not kidding. A lady in the village wanted to open up a nail salon and the bank wouldn't loan her any money, nor would the chamber of commerce. She's single with two kids (and kind of cute), so I loaned her the money to get the equipment and put it in her daylight basement thing. It has made me zero dollars, but I'm not too terribly worried about it.

It's the little things and they add up. I'm not dependent on any one income stream. I'm also set so long as western civilization stays solvent. I've diversified so that I have assets in various markets and am really fond of municipal bonds, especially in the Eurozone. Those are pretty solid investments, for the moment. They're also pretty easy to liquidate and move, should there be a crisis.

When I sold my business, it worked out doubly well because it was late 2007 and I not only was paid in shares of the now-parent company, I plunked a goodly amount into the market which has since recovered. I think the key takeaway is that it's good to be able to make your money work for you. In my case, I use a financial manager (not the same as an advisor, whom I've also used) and I'm pretty happy with the results.

What a strange turn this conversation has taken. LOL Ah well...