The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Microbusiness Independence, second edition

Microbusiness IndependenceOne of the most common things we hear from Walden Effect readers is some form of "We'd love to be full time homesteaders.  But how do you find the time while working a job?"  Our answer is --- why work a job?

Over the last two years, we've made a living by selling our automatic chicken waterer, a simple product that Mark dreamed up and that we build and mail off to customers in about 13 hours a week.  (That's 6.5 hours apiece, in case you're wondering.)  We don't charge an arm and a leg for our waterers and we don't exploit child laborers in China, but we're still able to make a very good living in what amounts to less than two work days per week.

Monthly gross income over two yearsWe summed up a series of simple steps that we think anyone can follow to achieve this financial self-sufficiency and published it in the form of an ebook a bit over a year ago.  At that time, we had just barely poked our heads above the poverty line, which I thought was just fine --- it really is quite possible for a couple to live simply on $14,000 and not feel pinched at all.  Unfortunately, I could tell that our ebook readers weren't excited enough by that low income existence to quit their jobs.  So when we streamlined the process and tripled our income while putting in no extra work hours in 2010, I figured I should revamp the ebook and perhaps tempt a few hardy souls to escape the rat race.

Which is all a long way of saying --- the second edition of Microbusiness Independence is now available for immediate download for $2.  You can just click on this Buy Now buttton, or visit our Wetknee Books page to download the first three chapters for free and read more about the ebook.

Please be aware that our ebook is not a get rich quick book.  Instead, it gives you tried and true, up to date information on how to make a comfortable living in just a few hours per week by marketing your invention.  (Don't worry, we'll help you figure out what your invention is too.)  We start with basics and walk you through developing your product, selling it to the world, and living the dream with a modern perspective.  If you're aching to leave your job and are ready to tighten your belt for a few months and pinch pennies while building your own empire, Microbusiness Independence is for you.  I hope you'll download a copy and give it a try.



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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I have read Microbusiness Independence so you can consider this my testimonial. The book is a fantastic idea-generator and step-by-step guide for people who want to live 'the good life' but don't know how to go about it financially. As stated in the book description, this is not a 'get rich quick' type of book. Neither is it a tactical guide to shady business practices like much of the 4 Hour Work Week was. The first step in making the book work for you is to reduce your expenses and pay off your debts. If you can't pay off your debt with a full time job, you're buying too much stuff. Cut off the cable (you won't miss it!), stop eating out so much, watch movies at home instead of the theater, buy everything used, try more DIY projects... in short, spend less. If you can't do that, this book probably isn't going to work for you. But if you are willing to take that important first step, Microbusiness Independence outlines the subsequent steps in an easy-to-follow format that can get you and your family out of the rat race and onto your homestead in less than a year.
Comment by Everett Tue Jan 18 11:54:58 2011
Everett --- Thanks so much for your review! That's exactly what I was trying to say when I said it wasn't a get rich quick book, but wasn't sure how to elaborate in a way that would make sense to folks. I'm thrilled you laid it out so well.
Comment by anna Tue Jan 18 16:55:51 2011





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