Profit by Imagination

Welcome to the Profit by Imagination Small Business Idea and Home Business Idea Blog

2013-06-17T23:04:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Profit by Imagination Blog. Herein you will find posts about ordinary people making a living and a difference with creative, unusual, or simply amazing small business ideas and home business ideas. The individuals profiled in this blog have discovered their profitable passion which drives purpose and meaning in their lives. Some have grown their profitable passion into million dollar small businesses. Others are simply making good money or their small business idea or home business idea is still in it's infancy and growing. All would not trade what they are doing now for anything in the world. They know they are doing what they were born to do. Some are even building their profitable passion around a non profit organization. A profitable passion does not always have to be about making lots of money. It can be more about making a difference in their communities or even the world.

What the Profit by Imagination Blog is not about is the latest and greatest online
money making system or income generating software promising a 6 figure income practically overnight with little or no work, even while you sleep. Those things to do not work for most people. Trying to make money with whatever online money making system that comes along is not a profitable passion. As I document in Don't Seek Success – Be Happi, making money for the sake of making money under the belief that money in and of itself is the key to happiness is a false cultural myth that continues to pervade society. The most successful people do what they do out of passion and purpose, not money. As a result of pursuing their passion, they make more money than they ever dreamed possible, but the money is not the end game. The men and women you will read about in the Profit by Imagination Blog all have real a small business or home business based on their unique profitable passion. They have imagined what could be by using their creative ability and imagination to build their business around their own one of kind small business idea or home business idea.

The Profit by Imagination Blog is designed to spark your imagination and entrepreneur spirit. My hope is that these inspiring posts will motivate you to find your small business idea or home business idea based on your own profitable passion. If you would like help pursuing your profitable passion, go to Profit by Imagination University. I am looking for a small select group to coach and mentor in finding and launching their profitable passion. This select group will be featured as case studies in the upcoming Profit by Imagination book to be released late November 2013 and their progress documented in the Profit by Imagination Blog.

Be Great!

MB.

Grounded Jet Pilot Phillip Donlay Gets Swagger Back with a Profitable Passion Home Business Idea

2013-06-17T16:26:00.002-07:00

One might say Phillip Donlay was born to fly. His grandfather was a private pilot and would take Philip up and let him steer the plane at 4 years old. Donlay writes for the Huffington Post in an article entitled, “Philip Donlay, Former Pilot Turned Author: 'I Wanted My Swagger Back,” “I would sit on his lap and he would let me steer. It would scare me to death, but I couldn't wait to get back up.”

Philip’s passion for flying continued through his teens and he became a licensed pilot at 17 and by the time he was 20, Philip was a co-pilot of a jet plane for a Saudi sheik. That experience gave Donlay valuable jet experience and in 1980, he became a corporate jet pilot – a job he loved and held for 28 years.

During the height of his flying career, Phillip started feeling pains and had trouble sleeping in his mid-twenties. By the time he was in his forties, he suspected something more was going on. As a jet pilot, a physical was required every 6 months. Philip writes, “It finally got to the point where I had to find the answers. I didn't want to hear them -- in my mind, jeopardizing my career and not being able to fly would be the absolute worst thing that could happen to me. As it turned out I did have medical issues. It took my career away from me…I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called ankylosing spondylitis at 52 -- it's an autoimmune arthritic condition.”

Phillip Donaly was ultimately grounded and had to reinvent himself. Donaly finally found his profitable passion with a home business idea that would allow him to be productive doing something he loves and allows him to manage his illness.

But not before;

A final attempt to salvage his career and love of flying. Donaly says, “the quality of life without drugs was just almost unberable. I went to the Mayo Clinic to get a second opinion on this just to salvage my career. They uncovered some cardiac issues. I had arterial blockage. I had a triple bypass heart surgery [in 2008 and] that was the end of my career at that point.”

He says, “It was horrible. I don't like change. I loved my job, I loved doing it and I still miss it. It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me at that time. I was a wreck. It took me a while to try to find my purpose again. I think we all need that, and men are even worse at -- we are what we do. One day I was a senior jet captain, the next day I'm just a guy living on the 4th floor.”

With almost unbearable pain and a career cruelly taken away from him by an unfortunate medical condition, Philip Donlay could have easily become bitter, angry and resentful, looking out the window of his 4^th floor home, wondering, “why me?”

Phillip would have none of that, though. He explains, “When I couldn't fly anymore I really did need a purpose. I was really lost. I needed something that would give me some focus and some drive. I wanted my swagger back. I wanted the swagger that I had as a jet pilot.”

Donlay found his swagger by turning his passion for airplanes into a successful home business idea and career writing novels with, what else?, airplanes in them!

Of his writing career, Phillip says, “Writing gave me that. [Purpose] It gives me a reason to get up in the morning; I have to use my brain, I have to be useful, I have a purpose now. I have goals and I set them for myself. Everything was rescaled from flying around the world in a private jet -- including the salary. Once all of those issues that I thought were the worst things in the world settled down, it turned out to be the best thing.

Phillip concludes, “I've seen the world at 600 miles an hour and now I get to see it at 60 -- so it appeals to me. As a novelist I can write anywhere. It's a better world now than it was 10 years ago, and I would never have guessed that. I'm healthier and happier now than when I thought I was at the top of the world and where I wanted to be.”

Phillip Donlay did not let the end of his career end his passion for airplanes and flying. Instead, it was a new beginning. Phillip no longer flew around the world and no longer had the big salary, but he found purpose in his writing and a way to continue his lifelong passion for flying and airplanes. He simply found another way.

All of us have passions that can drive purpose in our lives. Sadly, few of us pursue our passions and purposes in life in any meaningful way. If you are passionate about basketball, but playing the game at a high level is not in the cards, do what Phillip Donlay did, find another way to pursue your passion. Basketball teams need coaches, trainers, and the like. Merchandising apparel with team logos is big business or come up with your own small business idea or home business idea with a new product or service associated with your passion. Teams also need broadcasters and media researchers, bloggers and writers. You could even do what Phillip Donlay did and write a novel about basketball or a true account about a player or amazing game. All it takes is imagination! Don’t let life circumstances get in the way of your passions and purposes in life.

As Walt Disney is reported to have once said, “Think, Believe, Dream, Dare!”
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Do you want help finding your own small business idea or home business idea based on your own profitable passion? Visit the Profit by Imagination University Coach and Mentoring Program. In less than 90 days you will have your profitable passion small business idea or home business idea launched. Plus your progress will be documented in this blog and your case study featured in the upcoming Profit by Imagination book to be released in late November! Learn more here.

Note; This post originally appeared in a slightly different form in my Don't Seek Success - Be Happi Blog.

Be Great!

Daughter with Downs Syndrome Inspires Mom Connie Feda to Find a Profitable Passion with an Awesome Home Business Idea

2013-06-10T08:58:00.000-07:00

While browsing a toy catalog Hannah Feda, 9 years old at the time, told her mother that none of the dolls pictured looked like her. Hannah, now 13, has her wish thanks to her mother.

In an article for the Huffington Post by Jessica Samakow and an accompanying video entitled Dolls For Downs: Mom Connie Feda Creates Dolls Inspired By Her Daughter, Connie Feda explains how Hannah’s observation inspired her to imagine a home business idea that would create and sell a doll that looked like her beautiful daughter.

Hannah has Downs Syndrome. Connie’s mission and passion is to "represent children with disabilities in an honest, favorable light and give kids with disabilities a friend for life." The article notes “With the help of sculptor Karen Scott, occupational therapists and other parents of children with Down syndrome, Feda was able to create dolls that physically reflect what her daughter and other kids see in the mirror.”

Watch the video on Connie Feda and Dolls for Downs below.

Connie told WPIX TV, “My favorite thing is the hand. Look at them, they’re so cute and pudgy.”

Connie has designed the Dolls for Downs to be far more than to simply be a “friend” for life. As Feda explains in Dolls For Downs: Mom Connie Feda Creates Dolls Inspired By Her Daughter, the dolls will teach “eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, and tactile input. "Our clothing is easier to get on [and] has friendlier sized snaps and buttons. ... Kids play naturally, so it's the perfect [toy] to practice essential skills like buttons, snaps, ties and zippers, hair brushing and story-telling,”

Connie concludes “I want Hannah to see a doll with Down syndrome and see something beautiful, because that's what I see when I look at her.”

The first five dolls named, Ellie, Nikki, Hannah, Grace and Aziza can be pre-ordered at Dolls for Downs. Connie Feda hopes to launch the project on May 1, 2013.

Connie Feda has found passion and purpose through an awesome home business idea through a simple and sad observation from her young daughter, Hannah. I suspect it will be a profitable passion, indeed.

Do you want help finding your own small business idea or home business idea based on your own profitable passion? Visit the Profit by Imagination University Coach and Mentoring Program. In less than 90 days you will have your profitable passion small business idea or home business idea launched. Plus your progress will be documented in this blog and your case study featured in the upcoming Profit by Imagination book to be released in late November! Learn more here.

Note; This post originally appeared in a slightly different form in my Don't Seek Success - Be Happi Blog.

Be Great!

MB

Shelly Fisher's Modest Home Business Idea Evolves to A Million Dollar Small Business Idea that Saves Lives

2013-05-24T12:44:00.002-07:00

Every parent who has ever lost something made with love as a gift from a child knows the panic Shelly Fisher felt when she lost a beaded earring made by her 7 year old daughter while the family was vacationing on the Jersey Shore. What Shelly did not know, is the loss of that earring would result in a profitable passion and a creative small business idea driving an amazing purpose which quite literally saves lives. Actually Shelly stated out with a simple home business idea that evolved into her incredible small business today.

In an article for the Huffington Post, Fisher tells how she found a bead store on the boardwalk thinking the owner of the store could quickly make a replacement earring and her daughter would not be disappointed with her Mother losing her special gift.

Fishers says,

“I just thought she’d make me something but instead, she said ‘I’ll show you how, but you have to make it yourself.’ At first I thought, You’ve got to be kidding. But actually, it was a great marketing technique. Once you try it and see the results of your work, you’re hooked and you buy more beads!”

Shelly was hooked and after some art classes and a house full of beads and crystals, she was the one making jewelry for her daughter and her friends.

At that point destiny was about to set in for Shelly. As she explains to the Huffington Post, “My friend Lisa showed me a pink crystal bracelet she was going to buy for her mother, who is a breast cancer survivor. It cost $120 and 10 percent of the proceeds would go to breast cancer research. But I knew it really only cost $25 to make. So I convinced her to let me show her how to create one. I knew her mother would love the fact that she made it herself and that way she could take that extra $100 and donate it directly to the charity.”

That is when Shelly and Lisa, both of whom had been active in their children's school and local charities had an epiphany and realized they could use their jewelry making talents to help charities and other groups raise money. Shelly and Lisa “began designing awareness bracelets -- jewelry that the charities could sell as fundraisers.”

Shelly Fisher and her friend Lisa had found their profitable passion and purpose helping charities raise money and having the time of their lives doing it, but their purpose was about to evolve in a way they could have never expected, that would result in saving lives.

Shelly recalls how it happened, ““I was at a meeting with the local chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation,” Shelly remembered, “and one of the other moms stopped me and said. ‘I think what you’re doing is really nice, but it would be great if you could create a medical bracelet that younger people would want to wear.’ Her daughter Kristen was 16 and she was diabetic. She was about to start driving and her mother was concerned that she could be pulled over and end up at a police station, rather than a hospital, because an officer would mistake a drop in blood sugar for drunk driving. But her daughter wasn’t willing to wear the traditional silver medical alert bracelet. She thought it would make her stand out -- to be defined as the girl with diabetes.

“As a mom, I instantly said yes, as long as her daughter would help us design it, so we knew she would wear it. But I walked away thinking, 'What do I know about medical bracelets?'”

Kristin models the Medical Alert Bracelet
She Helped Design with Shelly Fisher

Shelly immediately began making phone calls to find out what needed to be included in a medical alert bracelet. With that information, She and Kristin began brainstorming design ideas.

It wasn't long before they had come up with a leather watchband bracelet, replacing the actual watch with a medical insignia that matched the band. Kristen chose two colors -- neon green and pink. And it was at that point that Shelly thought, if Kristen was willing to wear a bracelet like this, maybe other kids would too. So once the mold was made, she ordered 400 more and posted them on a website a friend’s son created for her.” (Huffington Post).

Shelly says, “We thought if we could just make back the money we invested and make a difference in even one person’s life, we were doing a good thing. Lisa and I were doing it from our basements and maybe selling ten a week. If we sold more than one in a day, we were doing a happy dance around the table!”

Soon they were getting requests for other types of medial alert bracelets and Shelly and Lisa realized they could help others with all types medical conditions where an alert bracelet would be appropriate. Shelly says, “And then I walked by a kiosk at the mall,” Shelly recalled, “where a young person was using an engraving machine and I thought, 'How hard could it be?' So we ordered one. Let’s just say the lesson that was supposed to take five hours, took nine hours with us. We weren’t as bright as we thought!”

They did however catch the attention of a sales rep who thought he could get their unique medical alert bracelets on pharmacy shelves. He left his name and number and Shelly tacked it to a bulletin board and left it there for two years!

Shelly explains that sometimes timing in everything; “This was just a hobby for us. Lisa really didn't want anything more from it and I was raising three children. I knew it was a big leap and the time just wasn't right -- so with the engraving, maybe we were selling 30 bracelets a week and we thought that was great! But then one day it occurred to me that I no longer had to feel guilty about working between three and six o’clock, since the kids were all involved in after school sports -- and that’s when I took the piece of paper off the board and called him.”

Shelly and the Sales Rep took the concept to a Pharmacy trade show and when the buyers began asking for custom bracelets for themselves or members of their families, they knew they were on to something.

The designer medical alert bracelets caught the attention of the media too. Shelly recalls, “Just as things were taking off, I got a call early one morning from someone in our office. He said, ‘Did you know we’re in the Wall Street Journal?’ And I laughed. I thought he was kidding. But we were on the front page! A reporter had discovered our bracelets on the internet, ordered four styles and featured them in an article called The Jewelry Prescription. That was my real 'aha' moment, when I realized we could change the way people looked at medical alert bracelets.”

According to her website, Medical ID Marketplace partners with Ronald McDonald House Charities, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Make A Wish Foundation, and many others. Other corporate customers and partners (current and past) include The Coca-Cola Corporation, The McDonald's Corporation and The Hershey Foods Corporation. The company has more than 150 styles that can be customized for any medical condition or simply with emergency contact information. (Medical ID Marketplace ).

"The little bracelet that once brought on a celebration, when more than one was sold in a day, is now flying off the shelves -- with as many as 11,000 going out in any given week. The first year it hit pharmacies, Shelly’s hobby became a million-dollar business.

“This all began with the hope that I could help one teenage girl fit in with her friends -- so that she wouldn't be branded by her illness,” Shelly said, “And while I feel really fortunate, it’s important for people to know that success doesn't have to be on a grand scale, it just needs to be something that fulfills you.

“Find something that makes you feel like you’re contributing and take the first step. You never know where it will take you.” (Huffington Post).

Does Shelly's story inspire you to find your own Profitable Passion? Is so and you will like some help, I am currently accepting applications from a small select group of people for my Profit by Imagination University Coaching and Mentoring Program. In less than 90 days you will have your profitable passion small business idea or home business idea launched. Plus your progress will be documented in this blog and your case study featured in the upcoming Profit by Imagination book to be released in late November! Learn more here.

Note; This post originally appeared in a slightly different form in my Don't Seek Success - Be Happi Blog.

Be Great!

MB.

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Subscribe and Get Two Free Chapters of The Highly Acclaimed Book; Don't Seek Success - Be Happi and The Special Report; The Profitable Passion Primer - How to Find Your Profitable Passion!
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Subscribe to the Profit by Imagination Email Newsletter; Get Two Exclusive Free Gifts!
Subscribe and Get Two Free Chapters of The Highly Acclaimed Book; Don't Seek Success - Be Happi and The Special Report; The Profitable Passion Primer - How to Find Your Profitable Passion!
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