When you apply for a job somewhere, the vast majority of places want you to fill out an application and/or submit a resume.  A condition for employment is that you are truthful on your application and resume.  While checking out your application or resume, if they find you lied about employment or what you have been doing for the past several years, they will never hire you.  If you were hired and later on they found out you mis-represented your skills or your background, they may fire you.

Since a lot of business will not hire an ex-con, what else can you do for work?
Answer: start your own business.

> Since you own the business, you cant be fired.
> Since you own the business, you can work as much or as little as want to pay your bills.
> Since you own the business, you can work as much or as little as want to grow your company.
> Since you own the business, clients usually do not do any type of background check on you personally.
They may do a check on the business to see how long it has been around and if there are complaints with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).
> Since you own the business, your background wont matter, except for some businesses that require a background check to be in that business such as:

• fixing and servicing banking equipment [teller machines, coin counters, bills counters, etc.],
• working on airports [FAA rules apply, i.e. background check],
• a license to work with children [day care centers, nursery schools, after school programs, etc.]
• to name a few.

What kind of business can I start?

I. Ideally start a business where you can do the work once and get paid for that work over and over.

For example: Software programmer, write music/songs, write books, etc.
1) Software Programmer
Software programmers design a piece of software, like a game, an anti virus program, a program that checks the weather, etc.  (Programs are also called “applications” or “apps” for short.)   Lets say you created a computer card game where you can play solitaire, spades, poker, hearts, etc.  You post your computer game program on some of the large sites on the Internet that let people sell their programs online.  Somebody searches for a computer card game and yours comes up in the list of games.  They check out your card game program.  They like the game so they buy it online from the web site you have the program listed at.  The site take a small fee for selling your program and sends you the rest of the money.

A few hours later someone else is looking for computer card games and they buy your program.  The next day another person buys it.  A week later someone else buys it.  As you can see you did the work one time to create the program, but you can get paid for it over and over again.

In addition, often the sites that sold the program will send you the buyers contact information.  Then you can email them to let them know about other games and other programs you have written.  You could offer them a small discount since they would be a repeat customer.  You could offer a small discount if they buy several programs at the same time.

You can have as many computer games or other types of programs for sale online as you can create.  Just like there are many spoken languages, there are many software programming languages.  One of the easiest to learn is called “BASIC.”  You can start with other programming languages, but if possible, start with BASIC.

If you do not have any software programming skills.
Solution:
a. Some prisons may offer job training in software programming; take those classes.

b. Some work release programs may offer job training in programming; take those classes.

c. Take training classes online using the internet.  There are lots of free online computer skills classes.  Go to a search engine, like Google, and search for “free online programming classes.”

d. Training can be done from CDs & DVD’s with a PC.  See if the prison or the place you are staying after being released offers this.

e. Take non-credit classes at a local community college, four year college or university.  These classes are often short, anywhere from a two hour, one time class, to a multi-week class that meets every Wednesday night for six weeks.  These may be called adult education or continuing education classes.  There can be dozens or hundreds of non-credit classes, in all sorts of subjects, e.g. pottery, auto repair, A/C repair, woodworking, poetry, software programming, fiction writing classes and many more.  They are often reasonably priced since they do not have any college credit attached to them.

f.  Take for credit classes at a local community college, four year college or university.  You can take credit classes in software programming without getting a full degree.  Once you have completed a programming class, you can either start writing your own programs using this training or get a job writing programs for a company.

g. Take certification classes.  There are nearly one hundred types of computer certifications: software programmer, PC support, internet security, web site specialist, networking technicians, database programers, computer IT hardware specialist,wireless techs, Voice Over IP (VOIP) and more.

2) Write Music/Songs

There are people who write the words and/or the music and sell them to artist, the manager of the artist, record labels, music publishers, music producers and others.  A music producer wants an uptempo song to get people on the dance floor for a new up and coming country artist.  The music producer sits in a music studio at a large console board of dials and knobs to make adjustments to a song being recorded.  He may not have the time to sit down and write out a hit song; but he sure knows how to make the song sound great when it is being recorded.  So he checks out some songs music writers have submitted.  He buys one that fits his need.

Usually the music writer is paid one time for the song $50 – $500 depending on the song (a particularly powerful song gets more money), the artist (if Garth Brooks or Britney Spears sings your song, its worth more than if an unknown singer records it), the record label (a bigger label has more money, but it is harder to get them to check out your song).  If the song is on the new CD, they are given credit as the writer with their name on the CD album.  Once a music writer gets established as a consistent hit maker, he can take a part of the record sales for his song, rather than an upfront fee.  So if he gets 5 cents per CD or single with his song and the artist sells 500,000 CD (which is certified gold), that would be $25,000 – for one song. Maybe in a few years the song is included on a greatest hits CD and 250,000 are sold; that is another $12,500.

a. Some people only write the song lyrics (the words) and some one else puts them to music.

b. Some people only write the music and someone else writes the words to fit the music.
So if you cant read and write musical notes, you could still write the words.
You can learn the musical notes and how to read music, then write the music and words while still behind bars.

c. You can write the song (music and/or lyrics) and perform it and post it on the internet to try to generate interest so a professional performer will hear it and want to perform your song.
- The problem is it can take years, if ever, to be a consistent hit maker.
- You can write and send out as many songs as you want.
- In writing, it is said “Write what you know.”  That means write about what you know, what you have lived, what you have experienced, what you have dreamed about doing or being since you were a kid, etc.  If you have never been a cowboy, you may not be qualified to write a song about being out on the range driving cattle.  But, if you grew up on a cattle ranch, write a song about that.

d. Another option to to sell your songs to local and regional bands and artist.  Once they find you can consistently turn out good quality songs, they may come back to you time and time again for new material.  You probably wont get a percentage of their CD sales, but

3) Write Books

You can write a book and submit the manuscript to publiers and publishing houses.  If they read it and like it, it be printed as a paperback or hard cover book.  You wrote the book one time, but it may take weeks or months or writing and re-writing to get the book right.  Also, book pubslihers receive literally hundreds of book manuscripts every day.  Many never get read.   Some may only get the first few pages read.

If it is published, you may get a paid a one-time flat fee or a set amount for each book sold.  So if you got $1 for each book and 10,000 books were sold, that would be $10,000 for one book.  If it becomes a classic, it may be required reading in schools and universities.  Every year a new group of students has to buy and read the book.  If 20,000 students have to buy the book each year for school, that is another $20,000 for a book you wrote years ago.

While lots of books are published each year, getting published is still a long shot.  A better way to go is to write something and sell it online as an e-book (an electronic book, also called a digital book).  There are web sites that will sell e-books for people.  Once again, you can write the book one time, but continue to sell it over the years.  In addition, you can update the book every so often with new information, new facts, etc and sell the book again as a 2nd or 3rd edition.  Often the same buyers will buy the book again to get the new information.  Or you could write another book as a follow-up, that is a sequel, to the first book.  Many fiction writers do this.  They write a story but at the end they do not kill off the hero, he stays alive so he can come back in the next book, and the book after that, and the book after that.

- In writing, it is said “Write what you know.”  That means write about what you know, what you have lived, what you have experienced, what you have dreamed about doing or being since you were a kid, etc.  If you have never been a cowboy, you may not be qualified to write a song about being out on the range driving cattle.  But, if you grew up on a cattle ranch, write a song about that.

II. The next best option is to start a business where it makes you money without you needing to be there.

For example:
- A vending machine business (it sells candy, soda pop or cigarettes, etc. all day long without you being there).  With vending machines, you can sell just about anything.  In Japan they sell beer from vending machines on lots of street corners.

- A group of online auctions (like eBay and others).  You can have an item sell for a set fixed price or auction it off to the highest bidder.  You can set up your auction account so if an item does not sell, it is automatically re-listed again.

III. Business Ideas

All business sell three things:
1) A product, e.g. a clothing store sells clothes.

2) A service, e.g. a maid provides a cleaning service

3) A combination of a product and service, e.g. a quick lube place provides the oil and filter (the products) and changes the oil and filter for you (the service).  Or a sit down restaurant provides the food (the product), prepares the food (the service) and cleans up the table after you leave (another service).

Maid Service

The big computer company I worked for has a company jet.  The jet is parked at a hanger at the airport.  A maid cleans the offices, bathrooms and kitchen.  Only three men worked there regularly.  She cleaned just the mens bathroom (women were rarely there so the ladies bathroom stayed clean), vacuumed, emtied the trash, dusted and cleaned the kitchen (only two people ate in the kitchen and they cleaned up after themsleves).  She was there maybe 45-60 minutes, once a week.  She made $65 for one hours work.

Pet Poop

For some people, it may not seem like James Rowe has picked a businesses to have fun with. Picking up pet waste off of people’s lawns doesn’t sound like an enjoyable line of work, but it is less difficult than his previous job — working at a zoo — where he met his wife.

“This is 10 million times easier than a day at the zoo, picking up waste,” James Rowe said. “With this business, I’m outdoors and able to do something most people hate, so I know I’m providing a good service.”

When it comes to juggling three businesses, James Rowe said it’s important to stay calm. “When you start feeling overwhelmed, that’s when you start getting disorganized,” he said.  “What really makes it work, though, is having someone you trust to talk to. That’s something many small-business owners don’t have, but it’s important to bounce ideas off someone else.”

DVD Rental

Through the first three weeks, the DVD rental business has been meeting sales projections, Pat Rowe said. Once a week they load the machine with new releases. As the business moves along, customers will be able to purchase DVDs of the older releases for less than $10. “We think it’s a win-win situation where we benefit by being in different parts of the community, while the store will gain by having more customer traffic,” Pat Rowe said. “I think kiosks are becoming more popular in general…”

Sports Bus
Frank, Jr. emailed me and told me his story after getting out of the joint.  He knew parking was limited and expensive around the major sports stadiums in his area.  Some people ride public transportation or have someone drop them off and pick them up.  This way they could avoid the driving in the traffic, trying to find parking or paying high parking cost.

Frank, Jr. decided he would get a 20 passenger small bus, like they use to move people at the airport to and from parking lots.  He tricked it out with fresh paint inside and out, and a flat screen TV so fans could watch the pre-game show on the way to the game. He would park in a central location, like a large shopping mall, a local college, high school, etc.  People would meet and ride the bus to the game.  Frank, Jr. did all the driving so the customers could relax, drink and talk with other fans on the way to the game.

Frank, Jr. would drop them off right on front of the stadium.  Depending on how close or far the stadium was from his house, Frank, Jr. would either go home and watch the game on TV or park nearby and would watch the game at a sports bar.  Once the game was nearly over he would head back to the stadium.  Many stadiums have designated parking for buses and commercial vehicles.  Frank, would park in the bus loading area and the customers would meet him there.

Since he had limited amounts of seats on the bus, Frank sold the seats in advance (people payed with a credit card on his web site or over the phone).  That way he would not have 50 people show up with only 20 seats on the bus.  Once word got around sometimes people would be going with a lot of friends to a game, so they would reserve the whole bus.  Frank would use the sports bus for all of the pro and college sports games in the area.

Second, he went around to business and offered to sell advertising on the outside and inside of his bus.  On the outside everyone driving by would see the add.  On the inside the fans would be exposed to the ad the entire trip to and from the game.  So now he was making money from the fans and from advertising.

Third, he offered the bus to other groups when it was not used for games.  There are lots of groups that need to move a small amount of people but do not need a big 40 to 80 passenger bus.  Also, some locations are not big enough for the larger charter buses to fit into, so a smaller bus fits better.  Business, churches, YMCAs, community group and others all rented the bus for different events.  One was a large church that owned two large 80 passenger buses already.  They were taking their big choir on a two week tour, performing at other churches.  They had a few more people than would fit ion their two buses, but did not want to rent an entire third 80 passenger bus for the few extra people.  So the choir leaders rode in the 20 passenger bus.  The bus was roomy enough they could hold meetings while on the road and not be bothered by all other people talking.  Since the 20 passenger bus had a large open space in the middle (all the seats were against the wall and not in rows), they put a folding card table in the bus to act as a mobile desk for laptops, paperwork, coffee cups and such during meetings.

Fourth, Frank bought two more 20 passenger buses.  Now he could cover more games when different sports seasons over lapped each other.  When different sports did not overlap, he could over the bus service to more people all going to the same game, but different buses parked in different areas; one for people on the north side of the city, one on the west and one on the south side.

Fifth, Frank is now thinking about expensding into other nearby cities to grow the buseiness even more.

I was talking with Charlene about what a great job Frank was doing.  Charlene and her sister Marcie had both done a few stints on the inside over the years.  By now they were too old to be running the streets hustling, yet they had no real job skills.  Charlene told Marcie what about what I shared with her that Frank was doing in his hometown.  They thought about doing the same thing, but both being single moms, they did not want to leave the kids home alone or with a babysitter for all of the sports with night games.

After thinking it over they had pretty well decided to look into other business ideas.  Then Marcie had a thought.  What about using the buses for local area non-sport events.  So they brainstormed ideas on how to use the buses.  One ideas was to make the buses available to local nursing homes and senior centers.  They pitched the idea that they would offer the bus service so the active seniors could go on shopping trips, doctors visits and field trips.  That way the senior center would only have to pay when they need to use the bus.  Since many of the seniors could no longer drive a car, they had to rely on the public bus system to get around.  But by chartering with the sisters bus service they could use the bus on their schedule.   If they wanted to leave at 10 AM to going shopping and return home by 1 PM the charter bus could do that.

Another benefit was that the senior center did not have to buy their own bus, have a staff person licensed to drive the bus or pay for the bus insurance and maintenance, saving the senior center even more money.

Once the first senior center signed on, they knew they had a winning idea.  Driving home after meeting with the senor center Charlene saw the local childrens day care center and had an idea.  What if they would do the same thing as the senior center to take the kids on field trips.  The day care center said no because they already own and use several 15 passenger vans to drive the kids around.  They like the 15 passenger vans becuase they do not require any special license.  the day care director said they would keep their business card in case one of the vans broke down, the sisters bus service could be a back up option for the day care.

The sisters are now going after a contract with some local churches and YMCAs/YWCAs to provide bus service for them.

This is NOT financial advice.  Consult with a qualified financial adviser for financial advice.

This is NOT legal advice.  Consult with a qualified lawyer for legal advice.

This is NOT tax advice.  Consult with a qualified CPA or tax specialist for tax advice.

This is NOT business advice.  Consult with a qualified business adviser for business advice.

This is NOT training advice.  Consult with a qualified training specialist for training advice.

– Purpose –

The purpose of this blog is to provide some ideas for jobs, employment ideas and business suggestions for ex-cons.  A while back I visited a homeless shelter.   I started doing some research online about homelessness.  A common theme I read was many homeless want to work and want a stable place, but they lack the education or skills.

I learned that some homeless are ex-convicts coming out of prison that have nowhere to live at (or lose the place they were living at).  Other than a rare few church run shelters that may let the homeless live there for free (such as the first one I visited), the only options are: a) live with family or friends, b) rent a place (usually an apartment), or c) stay at a shelter; which they must take all of their stuff and leave every morning and return that evening to try to get a bed again.  When one of the options do not work out, they often become another homeless person.

Some may qualify for some type of government help with the monthly rent, but it can be hard to find what help you may qualify for and how to get the help.  There are city, county, state and federal programs.  Each program has its own set of rules on who they help (can ex-cons get help?), how much they help ($50?, $300?), how often you can get help (once a month?, once a year?), etc.

At first I thought about doing a job training class at a prison.  But that would only benefit those people in that one class.  In addition, I thought many prisons probably do not have a lot of empty space, like a classroom, just sitting around for me to use or to store equipment and computers in.

After thinking over several other ideas, I finally hit upon the idea to write down ideas for jobs or business that ex-cons could do.

Of course an ex-con that has only been in a short time that still has skills that can be used would most likely be able to go back to work doing that same job.  For example an auto mechanic that has only been locked up for six months still has the skills.  Auto repair technology has not moved past him so much in those six months that he cant go back to work as a mechanic.

I wanted to focus on people who have no skills, or no education or they have been locked up for so long that their skills are no longer of any use to them.  If an auto machanic has been locked up for 20 years, his skills are seriously out-of-date.  Auto technology, diagnostics, new tools and such have moved way past that person, except for a few basic skills, like oil changes, installing new spark plugs, etc. All of the more advanced higher paying skills have changed.

I do not pretend to know everything.  Much of what I am sharing I am getting from the Internet, from other people I have talked to about this, employment specialist who share their ideas, and maybe most important of all, ex-cons who are actually living and doing these things in real life.

This will be a work in progress.  Please share with me any ideas, critisims and suggestions you have; especially ideas for jobs and businesses.