Travel writing and photography are quite possibly the most fun ways to fund your travels around the globe. But what if you could supplement your travel income with an extra $3,000 a month… without leaving the chair you’re sitting in right now?
That’s a pretty chic vacation in Paris… or a really nice new camera… or two month’s stay in a gorgeous beach house in Costa Rica…
Yesterday you heard how Jason Holland and his wife earn extra spending money each month by selling princess and pirate costumes with their kids’ books.
But sometimes (in fact often), it’s the most basic things that become hot sellers. I mean something as basic as flags…
That’s what’s selling like gangbusters this past decade for Kevin Hickey and his wife Lisa.
Kevin and Lisa wanted to start an online business from home, but they didn’t have a lot of funds to play with. What they needed was an inexpensive product they could resell online for a big profit.
So they began looking for a product they could buy from an overseas supplier and distribute as cheaply as possible. They finally hit on flags. American flags, mostly.
Flags are easy to handle and ship. Plus, there was a huge demand for them around the time of 9-11, just when the Hickeys came to the market. Not surprisingly, that was the start of a new and rising trend in patriotic items.
They found a supplier of top-quality flags at huge discounts… and simply sold them online to patriotic Americans.
So… what sort of return did they get from this little bit of work from their basement?
Kevin and Lisa’s company grew from $1 million in revenue in 2002 — just one year in business — to more than $25 million in 2011.
And the truth is, this really is a line of business that’s as easy as it sounds — once you know what you’re doing and you get the right guidance.
You’ll find more details about the import/export business (and more stories from people who have done this successfully) here.
