Who here is setting up potential business opportunities in case your present employment falters or fails entirely? Are you putting away the stuff you would need in a business to make items that would be useful in a 7-10 situation? If so, what businesses do you see as potentially viable? Some of my ideas:

Fishing lure manufacturing.

Sailboat-based commercial fishing.

Video studio (7-9).

Blacksmith.

Furniture manufacturing.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 28, 1999

Answers

Hello Mad Monk! We would probably focus on helping organize several community gardens in our area, and a farmer's market. That would hopefully provide food to feed all the families of the growers, and a little money to help with living expenses.

We're in the process of setting up a Bed and Breakfast, and we also have camping facilities. We plan to keep that as a goal. I think people will keep traveling, if it's possible. We're already written up in several of the travel books, so we need to keep positive energy flowing in that direction.

Other ideas we've come up with are:

bicycle repair

sign painting

teaching a class, or workshop on how to do something that we know how to do, that would be helpful for other people to know

-- Margo (margos.corner@bigisland.com), October 28, 1999.

I agree with the hypothesis that travel (in some form) will continue. I also believe that people will want to be entertained...

All of which will happen, of course, only when they are reasonably well fed and housed...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 28, 1999.

I have learned how to make solar ovens and I am collecting supplies to start a small buisness making and selling them.

Actually, if people are too desperate I might make them and just give them away.

-- Stanley Lucas (StanleyLucas@WebTv.net), October 29, 1999.

post y2k transportation company: diesel trucks and mule carts run on vegetabel oil and grain, coupled with road clearing (hope to tranfer over a few tow trucks) and shipping food to cities and towns. first guy toget a business like this up and running will be making profits both ways, buy produce from truck farms trade it in the cities for consumer goods & valuables... if a 7-10 you won't be able to begin until things settle down of course...porbably not until fall of 2000, but for the long term it's a very good idea cause it helps link other small businesses together, making them more profitable, and allows for a division of labor, that way, 99% of the population isn't scratching shit with the chickens.

-- jeremiah (braponspdetroit@hotmail.com), October 29, 1999.

I agree with you Stanley...I'll give away lures to those who really need them...or at least the materials so that they can make their own! Post Y2K, if TEITRAH, it will be about survival and helping each other survive, rather than about money.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), October 30, 1999.

Great ideas! We recently had Hurricane Irene pass through here and there are a lot of trees down. Miami-Dade County is cleaning it up and throwing away tons of good firewood! So I have been tooling around with my jeep, trailer and Chainsaw and loading up on free firewood. In a worst-case scnario, I can always sell it by the wheelbarrow load.

-- Joseph (caris@prodigy.net), October 30, 1999.

TEOTWAWKI necessity:

Establish "Barter Central", clearinghouses for barter items. Develop a "Barter Standard" and issue debt free scrip for the items in the clearinghouses. Offer services that allow persons to bring any useable item in and barter it for something else of value or "sell" it into the clearinghouse for scrip, to be used either for payment of services or products. "Clearinghouses" could be specialized and offer catagories of products such as unique food items, clothing, medicines, water etc.

-- Ronald Patton (ronpatton@mail.com), October 31, 1999.

Anyone who provides loving, good quality childcare, for barter or for money, will always have work.

-- Amy Marsh (canaryclub@aol.com), November 03, 1999.

And midwifery will be VERY important.

-- Amy Marsh (canaryclub@aol.com), November 03, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr (pic), near Monterey, California

I have given entrepren eurship some thought.

I'm working on getting a nearby Y2K ready farmer (on 50 acres) to start up a Community Supported Agriculture [CSA] operation. If he is agreeable, I will go door to door in my neighborhood to get as many people as possible to sign up to help by paying a membership (this will allow us to increase our already large stock of non-hybrid seed). I expect that we will also get the members to agree to provide labor and pull guard duty, if necessary. There will need to be some provision for getting off the hook in case of theft by marauders or government.

I'm also stocking supplies to make solar ovens and pasturizers, however, I don't expect to have enough to make this a long term business.

I have tools (a nice chisel set) to make good durable sandles from car tires! If things get real bad, shoes may be needed more than ever, and at the same time, hard to come by. If there's no oil to speak of, car tires may be not so hard to get. Even well used ones can still make fine sandals. I still need to stock up on lots more strap.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage), November 04, 1999.