Making money when you have a scanner personality

Being a scanner means that you often can't decide how to earn your living, and when you do, you then panic that you'll miss something else.

However, there are ways to have a satisfying life without starving, and one of them is to have multiple streams of income.

You may decide to have (or stay in) a non-taxing day job, and earn small amounts extra by moonlighting as self-employed.

You may decide to work part-time in one area that you love, and spend the other days 'sunlighting' with a different passion.

First of all, you'll need to know what sort of scanner you are. In 'Refuse to Choose' Sher describes eleven different types of scanners, and shows each how to have a rich and varied life.

For example, a 'Plate Spinner' likes to be challenged by keeping many projects on the go at once - never feeling rushed or overwhelmed; whereas a 'Serial Specialist' involves themself deeply in one area for many months at a time, only to suddenly up and change direction, to become a master of another field. Both of these people are scanners, but neither would enjoy the other's lifestyle.

Sher's book 'Refuse to Choose' tells each type of scanner how to identify which types you are (most people are a blend), and then describes tools and techniques to get you up and moving. The book is available below.

The Internet as a whole is a vast and exciting Aladdin's Cave for scanners; and now Squidoo has come along and put a huge treasure chest right in front of us.

How do you stop surfing and dreaming, and start earning?

Answers in the next section...

Firstly, it is important for you to accept that earning a living without a job, or with several micro businesses, is a perfectly acceptable way to live, and may make you very much happier.

Then you'll need to develop a thick skin, and learn to ignore or not be pressured by well-meaning friends and family. And they are well-meaning, they just don't understand our amazing minds and hearts, which can absorb and love an incredible variety of subjects.

Until you have accepted that this is OK, it will be harder for you to move and take action on your dreams. You still need to move, all the while learning these lessons, if you are not to stay stuck and dissatisfied.

Some books that can be very helpful in changing your mindset are listed below.

This is where you start. You have thousands of ideas swirling in your mind of how to make profits from hundreds of different topics or themes.

Where do you start? How do you choose?
Well, what is your current passion? What is dominating your thoughts just now?

Pick that topic. Don't worry about it crowding out other possibilities (you can make notes on those so you don't forget them), and figure out a way that you could earn $100 (or £50) from it. Write it down.

That is all you are committing to, earning $100 from it, and then looking back to see if you enjoyed it.

Could you do that? Then work out what the first step is. It may be as easy as looking up a phone number to go and see a craftsman to get some advice; it may be as hard as writing a whole ebook.

If it feels too hard, break it down into smaller steps. Just write an outline, or work out the title.

Now comes the hard part. Take that first step today - or at the latest, tomorrow. If you need a big push, commit to that step in the guest book below - and then come back and tell us how you did.

Then repeat. Work out the next step, make it small enough not to be too frightening, and commit. Repeat again as often as you need to, but earn that 100 bucks. Then you sit down and work out:
Was it fun?
Do I want to do it again?
Is there any bit of it I enjoyed and want to specialise in?
Can I automate it a bit and make room for another income sream?

Then, try again with another area of interest.

No, I am not expecting you to live on 100 dollars.

But you only need ten of these income streams, and then it's a thousand. Ten more is another. Plan on some of them being less time-consuming than others, and have fun expanding those you enjoy, and replacing those that you don't enjoy.

Nobody is forcing you to keep on doing what you don't want to do, unless it's yourself.

Maybe you'll need a part-time job, or to keep going with your main job, so long as you still have the energy to build up a rich and resourceful life for yourself.

Keep coming back to the lens, and I'll add ideas and extra stuff I discover. Please add your comments and ideas in the guestbook.

Go here:

for UK-based scanner help

if you are in the UK. John Williams runs the group and hosts fantastic monthly socials in London.

This is about artist trading cards which are miniature works of art. original paintings, collages or composites; or even prints. These have a huge following on ebay, where people can afford to buy real original art even in difficult financial circumstances.

The only rule for an ATC (artist trading card) is that its height and width measurements be 2.5" x 3.5" (64 x 89 mm). ACEOs are cards that are for sale and not just for trading.

Here's the Wikipedia article on ATCs