[Luke Skyfreeper]

A ping to some folks who might be interested in this thread, or who may know someone who is...

[OldCorps]

bump to read later

[PJ-Comix]

My weirdest experience in going from broke to bucks was back when they were running all those BlueBlocker infomercials. One night something came over me and I picked up a notepad and decided to somehow get an idea from TV. I flipped on the tube and the first thing I saw was the BlueBlocker infomerical. It was really convincing, and even though I was broke, I started to dial the number to buy the BlueBlockers. Then I stopped and thought maybe I could find the BlueBlocker knockoffs. The next morning I ran into a friend with the BlueBlockers and tried them on. Then I drove to downtown L.A. and found a place where they sold the BlueBlocker knockoffs for just $10 per dozen. I bought 5 dozen, came home, and painted up several big wood signs for the Blue Block sunglasses including one that said "TRY ONE ONE AND BE AMAZED!" Plus the signs advertised them at just $5 which was way below their $49 price. The next morning I set up my signs at a roadside and while doing so I thought I heard an accident when I heard car brakes screeching. It turned out to be a car braking by my sign and a lady jumped out and bought a pair of Blue Blocks from me. It was a portent of things to come. For most of the rest of the summer I sold about $400 to $700 Blue Block sunglasses per day with very little work. By the end of the summer, copycats were all over L.A. doing exactly the same thing I was and they even copied the color pattern of my signs.

Anyway, that is what I did one summer to get myself out of Brokedom.

[expatguy]

Another idea is simply to do business for yourself.

Consider the Import Export business.

There are a lot of freepers such as myself who live and work overseas and would be more than happy to ship items to the States.

People are amazed when I tell them the prices of some items in Southeast Asia. Buying peppercorns and exotic spices by the kilo, tradition herbal medicines, textiles and clothing. All kinds of things that you can purchase here for very cheap and make a good profit selling in the States or Europe.

The last time I travelled back to visit my family I brought a few pareos (sarongs) for my family and some big thirsty bath towels that cost me only around 2 dollars each. The same items sell in shops in the States for 20-30 dollars and more.

Imagine getting a little cart in a shopping mall or doing your own distribution and selling a few of these items. Its not really that difficult.

[expatguy]

Here is an example of a guy in Hawaii selling stuff from S.E. Asia.

He sells pareos (sarongs) for 150 pieces at US1000

The things are manufactured where I live in Malaysia and the cost is a lot less.