Drying Herbs Articles & Resources

Sound familiar?

I've received several emails like this over recent months from
people who have been dudded by the charlatans who seem to
come out of the woodwork at the mere whiff of a victim, er ...
prospect. This latest one though got me wondering exactly why
it is that so many people seem to be looking to make a profit
from promoting or participating in someone else's business
opportunity or product rather than creating their own, using
their own ingenuity. And this applies not only to scams but to
legitimate business opportunities (yes, they DO exist). After
all, no matter how legitimate the opportunity, at least some of
your hard work and effort is going to benefit someone else.

Now, admittedly, promoting someone else's product (such as
by way of affiliate programs) is a good way to get started in
your online career, but it's not going to make you really serious
money. By "serious" I mean sufficient money to represent a
worthwhile return on the investment of time and effort you must
expend to earn significant commission income. By spending the
same amount of time and effort promoting your OWN business,
your return must necessarily be much greater. After all, you
keep 100% of the profits for the same work!

Why is it that some people, let alone those who have already
been burned, keep looking for someone else to deliver the
answer to their prayers rather than creating it for themselves?
Or worse, give up entirely? I'd be willing to bet that, for a goodly
proportion, the answer is "I don't have any products of my own
to sell" or "I don't have any good ideas" or "I don't know where
to start".

Now, it may be that you're just dabbling with the idea of an
online business and, for you, promoting a few affiliate programs
while you gradually get more involved is a good place for you to
be right now. Many of us started out doing exactly that. But for
those of you who are ready to get into this in a serious way,
have you thought about doing it for yourself? Why not let go of
the idea there is a perfect opportunity out there with your name
on it if only you can find it, and instead devote your time and
your energy to creating it using your own brainpower?

I believe, absolutely and without equivocation, that ANYONE can
make money with their own business. The key is to make sure
that what you choose for your business is something you are
passionate about. If you are passionate about what you do, your
natural enthusiasm and motivation will lead you to develop ways
to exploit that passion in a way that can generate income.

Let's say one of your absolutely favorite things in the whole
world is gardening. You've always loved to garden, you have
ever since you first got your own place and you do it every
chance you get. Think about how you might translate that natural
interest into a profitable business endeavor.

Here's just one suggestion how you can turn your green thumb
to your financial advantage: start a gourmet herb business! You
could indulge your passion for gardening by planting a herb garden
in your backyard, drying and packaging the herbs you grow and
marketing them to a niche market. Your niche may be the
gourmet market, for example. You might decide to experiment
with various combinations of herbs to come up with some exotic
gourmet herb blends that are truly original.

You would need to invest in a small greenhouse perhaps and
learn about how to dry herbs and all the other facets of a herb
business. But once you've mastered that, and experimented with
various blends to create a unique product, it's simply a matter
of packaging them attractively for your market.

As far as marketing's concerned, this would take place both
online and offline. You will, of course, have your own website
from which you offer your exotic herb blends for sale. Your
website would contain a profile of all the various herbs, what
they are good for, recipes and other resources that your site
visitors would be interested in. In time, you may even expand
into producing herbs for the homeopathic market! You could
supplement your website by publishing a weekly or monthly
newsletter devoted to all things herbal, including hints and
tips for your subscribers wanting to grow their own herbs or
who are interested in the health benefits of herbs.

Offline, you could approach local businesses in your area to
stock your products and attend weekend markets to build
your profile. By placing advertisements in local newspapers
and taking an active role in your local Chamber of Commerce
you would make the contacts that you need to become
known within your local community.

Other ways to indulge your passion for gardening while at
the same time operating a profitable business venture include:
growing your own vegetables to produce gourmet pasta
sauces; starting a packaged seeds business or a garden
design consultancy service. It doesn't matter. Just make sure
it has something to do with what you are truly passionate
about.

Gardening is, of course, just one example. Perhaps your
passion is sewing, needlecraft, woodworking, computers,
sports, parenting, travel, automobiles, leadlighting or any
one of a million other things. There is absolutely no reason
in the world why you cannot take that passion and convert
it into a money-making enterprise, particularly with the
internet as a marketing medium.

So, for those of you looking for the right business opportunity
"out there" somewhere ... STOP. Let go of the coattails,
reach inside yourself and grab the one thing you are TRULY
passionate about above all others. It's your ticket to a
profitable, home business of your very own. And best of all,
it's 100% all yours.

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Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online .