Table of Contents

Below is a list of articles that we'll be publishing on this blog. All boldfaced articles are what we're focusing on publishing soon. As each article is published, each item below will be updated with a link and its publish date. Please check this page frequently to see what's been updated.

1. Orientation


1. Mission & Purpose


2. Intended Audience


3. Methods


4. Guiding Philosophies


5. About the Author


2. Tools To Use


1. Measuring Results


2. Publicity


3. Advertising/Sales


3. How to's


1. Choosing a good business name


2. How to setup a free blog


1. How to install RSS and why it is awesome


3. How to setup a web site for $30/year


1. How to register a domain for under $10/year


2. How to get an ISP for $20/year


3. How to setup a free site counter (10/11/06)


4. How to setup a free Paypal donation button


5. How to setup a free Cafe Press shop


6. How to setup a free message board


7. How to setup a PPC Campaign


8. How to use free Search Engines


4. How to self-publish a book


4. Lessons Learned


5. Case Studies


6. Spotlight on users


7. News commentary


8. Legalities


1. Disclaimers


2. DBA vs. LLC vs. C-corp


3. Copyright & the Creative Commons Licence


4. Trademarking


5. Contributors


9. Recommendations


1. Books


2. Web Sites

No time? No money? Start a business!

We all have them, these crazy ideas that will make us fabulously wealthy... if only we had the time. Or maybe nobody believes in our crazy notions. Whatever the reason, these outrageous ideas keep us awake at night, and often make us wonder if we should "waste" our time making them a reality. Eventually, someone convinces us it's not worth it, or worse—we convince ourselves not to pursue these ideas.

Why?

Because they're crazy. Foolish. Absurd. Preposturous. Risky.

And yet... our heart tells us that something profitable might come from our ideas if only we spent some time seriously developing them. So time is our biggest obstacle—we must first find the time to develop our ideas, and the few time we do spend must really matter. Money also works against us, but if we spend practically no money developing our ideas, what have we got to lose? What are we really risking but a few hours a week and pocket change? Big deal.

This blog's primary goal is to catalogue my journey in finding the best tools to start a small business with almost no costs and no time. I find the tools, and you use them. Hopefully, we'll have some fun along the way, too.

Finally, let's explore our blog's name:

Harebrained:

ADJECTIVE: Foolish; flighty: a harebrained scheme.
USAGE NOTE: The first use of harebrained dates to 1548. The spelling hairbrained also has a long history, going back to the 1500s when hair was a variant spelling of hare. The hair variant was preserved in Scotland into the 18th century, and as a result it is impossible to tell exactly when people began writing hairbrained in the belief that the word means “having a hair-sized brain” rather than “with no more sense than a hare.” While hairbrained continues to be used and confused, it should be avoided in favor of harebrained which has been established as the correct spelling. —Source: Bartlebys

Pipe Dream:

NOUN: A fantastic notion or vain hope.
ETYMOLOGY: From the fantasies induced by smoking a pipe of opium. —Source: Bartlebys

The challenge is simple: Is it possible to spend a few hours a week and almost no money to build a small internet business which might one day be profitable? If you've got a great idea, the only crazy thing—the only risky thing, the way I see it—is not to try at all. Failure is guaranteed if you never try.

They'll say we're crazy. They'll say we're pipe-smoking. They'll say what we're doing is risky. Good—we already knew all that.

That's why we call it a harebrained pipe dream, after all.