Hey folks. Here’s a simple, but powerful, question: can I get paid to become resilient?
I think the answer to this question is YES YOU CAN. Further, I believe it’s a smart way for both you and your community to increase your future success through the production of:
- Food
- Energy
- Water
- Products
The big questions is: how do you actually do it? One method is to start a business that targets a niche market. Something that can earn you at least $1,000 a month in income through a part time effort.
Here’s an example of that from a California company called Baia Nicchia Farm. It’s a nursery that grows a variety of plants that it sells to local farmers and gardeners. It also sells produce to local restaurants.
What’s more interesting is that Baia Nicchia recently started a seed business called Artisan Seeds that grew out of a collaborative breeding project. Artisan Seeds plans to sell the seeds of the amazingly decorative Tomatoes this project developed. To expand on their current niche, they are in the process of trying to find funding for a new product: Ethiopian pepper and mustard seeds. Early testing has shown that area restaurants love their taste.
Growing a Niche: Ethiopian Peppers
Baia is currently trying to raise money to do grow the Ethiopian plants it needs to sell the seeds. They launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the $22,000 they calculate that is required to grow the necessary seeds.
Ethiopian Pepper
NOTE: Unfortunately, I suspect that they won’t raise the money requested. Why? Lots of simple mistakes. In the near future, I’ll provide more detail on how to avoid these mistakes to maximize your potential of success.
For our purposes today, however, it’s enough to know that the idea behind it is sound. Essentially, there are an amazingly large number of niche, artisanal products out there that require resilient, local processes to produce. It’s also possible to build a community of customers and collaborators around a niche product that can provide you the income to make it worth your time.
The net result, you can get paid to future proof your life. Help you neighbors copy it and you are on the start of a resilient community. Lots more to come on this topic. Stay tuned.
Your always finding smarter ways to become resilient analyst,
John Robb
PS: If you know someone that:
- would benefit from an extra thousand a month of a part time income
- and is interested in working at home or locally, doing something that matters.
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{ 10 comments }
Tangent: Which (if any) currencies pass the resiliency sniff-test?
(Let us assume that profitability measured in USD is bound to the longevity of USD as a reserve currency; profitability measured in BitCoin is bound to the longevity of the Internet and power grid, etc)
Z, the resilient approach is to focus on production. The currency is derivative. JR
John,
There’s still time to help us out with our simple mistakes!
Cheers,
Fred
Fred. Ok. Thinking about that. JR
I didn’t find a good place here to contribute links to other sites related to resilience, so thought I post it as a comment here:
Here’s link to a website/blog of someone approaching resilience from a cultural engineering perspective – that is, how do you develop the sorts of interpersonal relationships that lead to strong communities.
http://markmorey.com/
While I agree that creating an independent income is a great idea I do have to wonder about the particular choices suggested here. Are creating niche products or services aimed at upper an strata of income earners a viable long term income source ?
Rudy, That’s a good question. An aquaponics system that grows niche food products is still an aquaponics system that can produce basic foods. Use the niche to fund its build out and operation. If things get tough, you can use it for other markets. JR
…or production of resiliency ‘services’! (suggestion based on own venture).
Reading this reminded me of a company I saw profiled a while back which installed and maintained urban farm plots for its clients. Fresh produce from your own yard without all that hard work. I couldn’t relocate the article, so I don’t know if this was the company, but a quick search turned up Seattle Urban Farm Co.
I suspect this model could quickly reach your $1000/month threshold. You’re also directly increasing resilience at a household level. This would also put you in a great position to broker sale of excess produce to local restaurants, or donations to food banks and neighbors in need.
Thanks Dan. Lawnfarming is an interesting business model. JR
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