Stealth wealth

Home Office Computing, Feb, 1998 by Jenny C. McCune

It may seem like there's a limit to the revenues your small company can generate without adding employees. But it's possible to grow and still avoid increasing your overhead by repackaging your skills, repurposing your product, and redeploying your assets. Handled correctly, a spin-off will add value to those stock-in-trade services you previously took for granted.

1. Re-geek the technology. A Web site--and the technology that runs it--can be a fount of spin-off opportunities. An application that you have developed for your particular needs may be useful to others in your field.

In 1996 James Wintner, a New York publisher of special-edition books, launched Colophon Page (www.colophon. com), a Web site for collectors, publishers, and dealers. He also developed a customized Microsoft Access database that runs on an SQL server and contains information about the rare books available through his site.

Now Wintner has started selling the database program. His first customer: a wealthy family with libraries around the world that needed a way to inventory its vast holdings. With the help of a programmer, who got a cut of the $21,000 project fee, Wintner extracted book information from the collector's clunky old database and imported it into his far superior program. The software is also drawing the attention of specialty book dealers, for whom Wintner is creating Web sites.

2. Find anew niche. If you're selling a high-ticket item that's geared to an upscale demographic, you may be able to repackage your product for another market.

Scot and Marcie Ziskind, founders of Zipco Environmental Services Inc. in Philadelphia, design and install custom wine cellars. Because not all wine aficionados can afford or have the space to build a cellar in their homes, last year the couple opened My Cellar, a 3,000-square-foot warehouse they lease in Pennsauken, New Jersey. My Cellar is just like any storage-rental facility, except that the Ziskinds have retrofitted the warehouse specifically with wine in mind. Each depositor gets a customized climate-controlled locker and is charged $1 a case per month.

Last year, its first year of operation, My Cellar broke even. The Ziskinds believe they will begin turning a profit this year or next. Maximum return? $8,000 a month or an additional $96,000 a year--a significant chunk of change to add to Zipco's annual revenues of $250,000.

3. Take your company public. If you talk a good game, public speaking is not just an effective marketing tool but may also be a lucrative sideline. Of course, you have to like getting up on a stage and talking to hundreds of strangers.

Business coach and self-described stage-fright sufferer Jennifer White never thought she could face an audience. But when the Cincinnati-based consultant was asked if she was available for speaking engagements, she decided to take some classes to overcome her phobia. Now, not only does she like public speaking, she's damn good at it, and she gives about two speeches a month on such topics as "Innovate or Die" and "How to be a Coach in Your Organization"--getting paid from $1,000 to $3,000 per appearance.

Have something to say? Start small by giving speeches--for free, if necessary--to local organizations and civic groups. Brush up your skills by attending classes offered by Toastmasters International (714-858-8255, www.toastmasters.org), a nonprofit group with branches around the country. After you've gained some experience, organizations will start seeking you out, White says.

4. Join the media elite. Public speaking may not be for you, so try leveraging your expertise by writing articles about your specialty for newspapers and magazines.

Former MTV executive David Zornow runs TNG Research, a media research firm based in his home in River Vale, New Jersey, and supplements his main business by writing a column for a monthly cable television magazine called Cable Avails. In addition to getting paid $600 for each article, Zornow says that the added exposure is good for business. "Writing a monthly column doesn't take a lot of effort since I write what I know about," he adds.

Fees for articles vary widely. To find publications and what they pay, get a copy of the 1998 Writer's Market (Writer's Digest Books). Call your town's daily paper or business journal to see if anybody needs a columnist. Or use Zornow's approach and connect with special-interest periodicals devoted to your industry.

5. Lay down a groove. If you're a can-do person, you can always teach other people what you know. But that doesn't mean you have to be in the same room with them. From videotapes to audiotapes to CDs, technology has made it possible for enterprising instructors to make house calls without leaving home.

Blues-harpist Jerry Portnoy has played with such rock and blues greats as Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, and Muddy Waters. Now the Waltham, Massachusetts-based harmonica guru--a sought-after teacher when he's not on tour--has released Jerry Portnoy's Blues Harmonica Masterclass, a three-CD set that he has produced, recorded, and is distributing himself via his Web site, www.harpmaster. com. The price is $59.95, about the cost of a one-hour lesson with the man himself. Sales have been brisk, Portnoy says: He's already about a third of the way toward his break-even point of 850 units sold.