Bootstrap businesse $

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

Above all (and as far back as I can remember), my aim was to be a cartoonist... but every book or article I'd ever read on the subject had spent so much time preparing the reader for rejection that I was left with the sinking feeling that I didn't have a chance. Finally, however, I came across two articles in THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS Handbook of Home Business Ideas and Plans"How to Be a Cartoonist" by MOTHER'S editor/publisher John Shuttleworth and "The Lonely Worker" by Karl Kohlerwhich had just the upbeat, inspirational attitude I needed to get me moving. Now don't get me wrong... I knew it would be tough to break into cartooning, but I figuredand rightly sothat there were enough other sure-fire homebased enterprises available to keep me going while I got established.

First, I thought, my family and I would need an inexpensive place to live... and since I'd read "Getting Paid for Living Good" (MOTHER NO. 15, page 25), I knew just how to seek out the rent-free situation we were looking for. It was a matter of simply "asking around" until someone offered us the trade we sought: the use of a nice two-bedroom home on 160 acres of land, free firewood, gardening and hunting privileges, and enough seclusion in which to cartoon to my heart's content... all in exchange for overseeing the property.

Next we needed a quick way to earn some cash... and puppeteering ("Profit From Puppets", MOTHER NO. 57, page 97) turned out to be the perfect answer. I scrounged up a variety of scrap materials from around the house and created several puppet characters and a portable stage. Then I arranged for my debut (a sort of practice run performance at our local hospital)... word of mouth proceeded to land me my first salaried position (at the neighborhood library)... and now I have all the outside bookings I care to handle.

I started puppeteering with a fee rate of only $10 per 20-minute show... but I'm now paid in excess of $100 for each performance and have been earning more than $750 a month! Like any enterprise, however, my business has its slow periods... and when that's the case, my family and I set out toward our own private woodlandon the property we caretaketo pick and peddle a variety of plants, just as MOTHER taught us in "You Can Make Money Harvesting and Selling Botanicals" (Issue No. 47, page 148).

Meanwhile, I've been spending my every free minute cartooning (initial investment: $6.00 for paper, stamps, and manila envelopes)... and mailing off copies of my creations to publications all over the nation. And, finally, all the hard work and waiting have begun to pay off: Two of my cartoons will be featured in an upcoming issue of Eastern/Western Treasures magazine... six appeared in the May 1979 issue of Wilderness Camping magazine... and the latter feature has recently been scheduled to run as a regular column!

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print