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One Minute Odd Job Tip

I grew up going to one of the largest county fairs in the country, not for the carnival, but for livestock exhibition.

Oh yeah, we’d find some time to walk down the midway and ride on The Zipper or throw some rings over bottles. Most small towns in the area also had a Fireman’s Festival or Fall Festival or something like that, and they were all great fun.

At all of these events there are various people who work.

Some are traveling “Carnies” who work the rides or the games. Some are locals who have a food concession or some such thing. At some of the small town festivals, there are even arts and craft shows where you can sell your handywork.

These are just some of the opportunities at fairs and carnivals during the summer.

>>> NEXT WEEK: I saw an ingenious twist on a business that I’ll include in next week’s newsletter.

Strictly Business:

Sometimes it’s just fun to look at things in reverse.

My wife and I have lived all over the U.S. and in two European cities. Whenever this subject comes up, people assume that we went to all of these places because of work.

But we’ve never moved anywhere for work.

Instead, we decide where we want to go, and then we figure out how to make it happen — how we make money is not the deciding factor in what we do.

In today’s world, this is bizarre to people.

I think this is a fundamental reason for dissatisfaction and unhappiness in so many people’s lives these days. They put “money”, and all of the things that surround the making of money, as the most important thing in life.

It isn’t!!

We’ve been in New Mexico for about four months every year for the last three years. In New Mexico is the Los Alamos Labs facility. This is where nuclear research has been conducted for decades. The people who work there come from all over the world and make very good money, compared to the rest of New Mexico.

But one thing we’ve noticed is that there’s a very high cancer rate among those who live and work in Los Alamos. The people who work there love the money. But at what cost?

Is the money REALY that important when you’re dying of cancer?

Money is NOT the most important thing in life. Quality of life and day-in and day-out satisfaction and peace are more important to my mind. Does this come at some cost? Of course it does.

As I’ve said before, don’t live your life by default. Don’t just do what seems the easiest or what everyone expects you to do. You are the master of your life, live it with purpose! Actually, decide what you want from your life and design your life to achieve that.

The resources (money) will be there for whatever you want to do, if you always ask, “How can I….?”

Some Odd Jobs You May Never Have Considered:

Number 1 — Carnie — (E Quadrant¹)

OK, this could be fun, or at least interesting.

Carnies don’t exactly have the best reputations, but I’ve never actually been in that world. Being a carnie would require traveling from town to town all summer - maybe even all year, as they may work in the south during the winter.

I’m not sure how you would find a gig like this.

You could dig around online and see what you could find. Or, when a carnival comes near where you are, you could just go and talk to someone there. I’m guessing that they might have some significant turn-over, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you couldn’t land yourself a job just by asking — and possibly immediately!

Number 2 — Fair Employee — (E Quadrant¹)

State Fairs are huge businesses with millions of dollars of income and hundreds of thousands of attendees. These businesses are open for only ten days or a couple of weeks a year, but preparation goes on all year, so there are all kinds of opportunities.

I get an email from the Minnesota State Fair almost every week looking for someone to fill a particular role in their organization. Yes, there are year-round jobs with them, but more what we’re going to focus on is the seasonal gigs.

Fairs, both county and state fairs, need dozens — even hundreds — of people to take tickets, direct traffic, clean, help vendors set up, supply the needs of the livestock exhibitors, and the list goes on and on.

If you have a county or state fair close to you, or in an area where you’d like to spend some time, you can probably log onto their website and find a jobs section.

Be prepared: For the time that you’re needed, you’ll probably do nothing but work, eat and sleep, but it could be a great adventure and some decent money too!

Number 3 — Work in the Commercial Building, or Be a Vendor of Your Own Product — (S maybe B Quadrant¹)

We always love going to the Minnesota State Fair and walking through the commercial buildings.

One thing about Minnesota, there’s a lot of innovation there! A lot of new inventions get floated in the commercial buildings. There are some things that I picked up there that I still use and have even bought again.

If you have a unique invention or product, you can get a space at the fair and show your wares.

It’s a lot of work, and at large venues like a state fair, the cost can be pretty spendy. But that’s the price you pay to get in front of thousands or tens of thousands of people.

The Minnesota State Fair can be very difficult to get into, because there’s a lot of demand for the space.

However, we know from the experience of a friend who was a vendor, that if your product is unique, you could have a leg up. The Minnesota State Fair is always looking for new, unique, innovative products that will draw people.

So, don’t be afraid to exploit the out-of-the-ordinary nature of your product.

I’ve been mostly talking about the commercial buildings, but the other aspect of being a fair vendor is to be a food vendor. If you can put something unique on a stick, you may have a business.

Every year, new, unique and even bizarre “Fair Foods” are introduced. Have you every heard of deep-fried bacon on a stick? Deep fried Oreos? Chocolate-covered bacon?

If your particular talents reside in the culinary field, this could be a great avenue for you to pursue.

Just for fun, you can go to the Minnesota State Fair website, or any state fair for that matter, and see what was on the menu for last year. This may even spark some of your creative juices.

Who knows? Your new taste treat may be the State Fair Hit-of-the-Summer!

Number 4 — Parking Cars — (S Quadrant¹)

Every time we’d go to the Minnesota State Fair, we were amazed at the Entrepreneurialness (is that a word) of the residents who live close to the fairgrounds.

They’ve turned what could be a nuisance — thousands of cars on the street — into a business.

You see, parking at the fair is a premium, and it costs to park on the fairgrounds. Also, oftentimes any parking you can find requires quite a walk to get to the fairgrounds, so people who live in the area will turn their yards into parking lots. They will find a way to fit as many cars as possible onto the city lot where they live. I don’t know how much they charge to do this, but it must be competitive, and worth doing.

It just goes to show, if there’s a need and you can find a fix for that need, you can create a business.

This Week’s Quotes:

Charge less, but charge. Otherwise, you will not be taken seriously, and you do your fellow artists no favours if you undercut the market.

— Elizabeth Aston

Success is the necessary misfortune of life, but it is only to the very unfortunate that it comes early.

— Anthony Trollope

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example.

— Mark Twain

Taxation is the price which civilized communities pay for the opportunity of remaining civilized.

— Albert Bushnell Hart

A Book for Success — How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This is an old classic, but still very relevant — maybe even more so as people seem to be losing the ability to interact effectively with others face-to-face.

I don’t know how many times I’ve read this book, and it’s about time for me to read it again.

Simply put, if you struggle at times with being misunderstood or getting your point across effectively, this book will help you.

Humor — Resume Bloopers

-- "I’m interested to hear more about that. I’m working today in a furniture factory as a drawer."

-- "Hobbies: enjoy cooking Chinese and Italians."

-- "2001 summer Voluntary work for taking care of the elderly and vegetable people."

-- "Skills: Strong Work Ethic, Attention to Detail, Team Player, Self Motivated, Attention to Detail."

-- "Objective: Career on the Information Supper Highway."

-- "Experience: Stalking, shipping & receiving"

-- "I am great with the pubic."

-- "My duties included cleaning the restrooms and seating the customers."

-- "Revolved customer problems and inquiries."

-- "Consistently tanked as top sales producer for new accounts."

-- "Planned new corporate facility at $3 million over budget."

-- "Seeking a party-time position with potential for advancement."

-- "Received a plague for Salesperson of the Year."

-- "Reason for leaving last job: maturity leave."

-- "Am a perfectionist and rarely if if ever forget details."

-- "It’s best for employers that I not work with people."

-- "I would like to work for a company that is very lax when it comes to tardiness."

-- "Spent several years in the United States Navel Reserve."

-- "I have a lifetime’s worth of technical expertise (I wasn’t born – my mother simply chose 'eject child' from the special menu.)"

-- "Reason for leaving: Terminated after saying, 'It would be a blessing to be fired.'"

Some Random Final Thoughts—

Is there someplace you’ve always wanted to visit, or even live?

Why not step out and explore the place a little bit? See if there’s a way for you to do that!

I was talking to a person in Santa Fe once, and he was bemoaning how horrible it was to live there. I said to him, “Well, there are roads that go out of Santa Fe.”

He immediately started talking about how leaving is not possible. And you know what? It’s not possible for him.

Summer is coming, and spring is a great time to explore other opportunities.

If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.

¹ Cashflow Quadrant references the book, Cashflow Quadrants, by Robert Kiyosaki. In a nutshell, there are four sources of income — “E” Employee, “S” Self-Employed, “B” Business and “I” Investor. We reference these quadrants at the beginning of each of the jobs we talk about in Odd Job Tips Newsletter. To see more about this concept, please refer to this issue of this newsletter.

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Disclaimer: All information in this newsletter is for entertainment purposes and should not be construed as financial, career, or any other kind of advice. Use any information from this newsletter at your own risk. C’mon, put on your big boy pants, and take personal responsibility for your own actions!

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