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I was checking Mr. Scout’s posting history.

In regard to employment, I have a suggestion:

You can be self-employed. Here’s the scam. Many people invest in insurance. This is a way of protecting themselves against losses.

In case they have a fire, theft, or other damaging incident, their insurance MAY reimburse them for the value of the lost material.

However, some things are simply irreplaceable.

So here’s my idea. Present to your neighbors that you will help them document the precious materials they would like to protect.

You can help them update their records of ownership of DVD players and their models and serial numbers. Their TVs, “Stereos”, and other appliances that they never got around to documenting.

If such things got stolen or destroyed, the people could present a list of the items to the police for help in identifying the stolen material, or to the insurance company for reimbursement.

That’s something few people take the time to do. You could begin the process by “surveying” their home with a video camera, making a video record of their belongings. Then you follow that up by listing models and serial numbers. Don’t forget to document jewelry, but don’t record where the jewelry is kept!

Now here is the best part. Very few people take time to back up their photo albums and other precious records. You could scan their pictures into a computer, record them to DVD, or simply make backup prints of their treasures, to be kept in a safe place.

If your clients should suffer a catastrophic loss, such as those folks in California did, you could supply them with replacement photos and other helpful records, and you would be thanked endlessly for your forethought and enterprise.

But don’t let that be your only reward. Plan what your documentation would be, and how much it would cost you to implement. From that information, work up a price schedule of various services. Your school friends and chums could help you spread the word to find clients, and you should give them a “finder’s fee” reward for doing so.

This might be just a small scale project, perhaps only getting you a small reward, or even a community service badge of some sort.

But it could also “snowball” into a larger activity, which could conceivably be very rewarding.

Give it some thought, and Good Luck!

“Uncle” Bob