Money Spinners

A few months ago I had been to New Delhi to attend to my personal work at New Zealand embassy. Instead of wasting money on expensive hotel rooms in Chanakyapuri, I stayed in a hotel in Connaught Place. In the evening I decided to go to Palika Bazaar and buy some cotton dresses for my wife and daughter. When I came out of my room I saw a young man who was reading The New Indian Express in the lounge. The next moment I forgot my family and Palika Bazaar.

Every week hundreds of readers send me emails with general and personal questions. One of the most frequently asked questions is: 'I am fully inspired by the useful articles in the New Indian Express and want to become self-employed. You give only brief information about different types of projects. Can you help us by giving complete profile of each project?'

After getting her BA degree, Mala got married to Venu, a diploma holder in civil engineering. A typical Indian housewife like Mala gives her time, energy, mind, body and soul to her family members with the simple and only expectation that they would love her in return. Unfortunately such expectations seldom come true. She met me four years ago.

There is an old adage that says 'For an efficient one, even a blade of grass is a powerful instrument.' It is my firm belief that every New Indian Express reader is an efficient one and has the capacity to create prosperity using any simple idea. My belief is vindicated whenever I receive an email from a reader telling me his or her success story.

Last month I received an email from Meera, an Indian housewife, telling me that she was earning decent income using one of the ideas from Money Spinners column. I talked to her on behalf of all other readers.

Maria, a baby boomer and a hippy, is an American woman. I met her in Sydney in a seminar on spirituality.

A Baby Boomer is someone who was born between 1946 and 1964 when economic prosperity arose in many countries following World War II. A hippy is a baby boomer and a rebellious youth of the 1960s and 1970s with a burning desire to change the existing lifestyle.

I met Punita in K-Mart, a super-market in Christchurch, a few years ago. After securing her commerce degree from a college in Chennai, Punita got married to a bank officer. The couple wanted to become prosperous. They decided, like any other Indian, to go abroad to earn in lakhs and migrated to New Zealand with colorful dreams.

When newspapers report that InfoSys Narayanamurthy earns in crores and Microsoft Bill Gates earns in billions, we don't question the veracity of the report. However, when we hear that our next door neighbour or a housewife is earning money - not in crores or billions, just a few thousand rupees a month - through home based business, some of us think it can't be true. Why is it so?

Every week Money Spinners column inspires me to start a home based business of my own and make money. Somehow, things don't move," Divya was sad. "Things will never move unless you do something about it. What's your problem?" I asked Divya.

Divya replied, "I am a housewife. I have a computer and an Internet connection. I can spend 4 hours a day on my business. I am ready to learn how to develop a website and promote it. After this point, I am unable to conceive of anything. I feel like a river that cannot find its sea." Sounds familiar?

I have been reading Money Spinners for months. You often say that if we are resourceful, we can discover or create countless income opportunities immediately. I am a housewife in late thirties and don't have any professional qualification. I am unable to discover any income opportunities in my life. I will never be able to earn anything on my own. One can make a lot of money only if one is dishonest," Priyanka said.

A reader asks: 'Money Spinners articles are informative. You mention many names, for example, Janaki. Are these projects real and verified?' Here is my response: 'Janaki is a real person and lives in Chennai with her husband and two kids. Money Spinners carries articles on real, viable, doable projects that I know personally. But, names are always fictitious and dialogues are often edited. Tell me, how does it matter to you whether Janaki is real or not, whether Sujatha earns or not? You must understand the spirit of the articles and become prosperous by using the project ideas.