100 Best Businesses to Start When You Don't Want to Work Hard Anymore [Paperback]

Lisa Rogak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2008

Many people in their 40s, 50s, and even 60s have yearned to start their own businesses for years, but family and other responsibilities prevented them from doing anything more than dreaming. For many of them, the time is now. After a lifetime of work, these mid-life and retired entrepreneur wannabes are looking for businesses that don't require a huge investment of money or time. 100 Best Businesses to Start When You Don't Want to Work Hard Anymore is divided into three sections: --Service businesses-adventure travel outfitter, educational consultant, personal chef, reunion planner, and more. --Retail businesses-classic car sales, antiques, gourmet food store, and more. --Product businesses-custom clothing designer, import business, herb farming, pet specialty manufacturer, and more. In brief, easy-to-digest chapters, each business listed includes a concise description of the business, why it's perfect for a mid-life or retired person, skills and investment required, and where to find more information.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Career Press (November 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564147363
• ISBN-13: 978-1564147363
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,216,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm an independent journalist celebrating my 30th year of life as a full-time writer in 2011. In that time, I've written about everything from high-tech and cats to food and travel.

Writing has provided me with a fascinating, adventurous life. I wake up each morning looking forward to discovering what new things I'll learn that day. After all this time, it never ceases to amaze me that I have been able to make my living by indulging my curiosity and asking total strangers really nosy questions...

My recent books include And Nothing But the Truthiness: The Rise (And Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert, and The Dogs of War: The Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs.

I also blog at BehindTheKnife.com about kitchen tools, food, and the secret lives of chefs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Okay for ideas, March 23, 2005

By 

Stacy E. Burrell "stacyburrell.blogspot.com" (Detroit, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 100 Best Businesses to Start When You Don't Want to Work Hard Anymore (Paperback)

This book is the typical package of business ideas. The book gets 2 stars because the few pages devoted to entrepreneurship has very little substance and the information under each idea is sparse and in many cases not helpful. In addition, there are numerous ideas that require a tremendous amount of work. The author does state that what may be work for one person, may be play to another. However, this relates to doing something you enjoy or having a passion where you don't mind putting in the time or work. The title suggests that the business ideas listed in the book will not require a great deal of time or effort, which is not the case for many of the ideas(Masonry, Restauranteur for example).

This book has some value for those that have not read similar books of this type. Otherwise, I would take a pass on this one.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A Lot Less There Than Meets The Eye, August 4, 2006

By 

Tristan MacAvery "Author/Actor/Director" (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 100 Best Businesses to Start When You Don't Want to Work Hard Anymore (Paperback)

I don't mean for this review to sound cruel. The simple truth is that the book provides almost no information whatsoever past its Table of Contents. There are indeed 100 jobs listed. Each one is given about one page worth of commentary -- perhaps 500 words on each topic. The most helpful thing under each topic is that the author, Ms. Rogak, offers a book or online reference to help augment the information. Sadly, however, that's about all that's here.

In other books of this subject, each job is dealt with not only more thoroughly but with more respect for the reader's time and concerns over what might be involved. Again, without meaning to be cruel, I must say that the book feels more like an outline rather than a resource. If you took photocopies or screen shots of the pages in the Table of Contents, and then did your own research by using an online search engine to look up these topics, you'd save yourself the price of the book, plus tax and shipping.

Other books on this topic, e.g. "The Best Home Businesses for People 50+" by Paul and Sarah Edwards (listed as a "buy both" promotion here on Amazon), have a great deal more "value added" than does this book. I salute the effort of having created the book; I can't recommend it, however.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Like a Money magazine article stretched out into a small book, January 11, 2008

By 

Steven Jones (Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 100 Best Businesses to Start When You Don't Want to Work Hard Anymore (Paperback)

This book is essentially 100 two page book reports on various small businesses that ordinary people can run. It isn't revolutionary and it isn't exactly accurate. It was nothing like I expected and not helpful to me at all. I give it only 2 stars because I believe it was innaccurate on several details and that is rather a big deal. You can get most of this information in a magazine. I'm sure for some it will be helpful, but for me it was rather a waste of time.