Page 52 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

GET PAID TO DO WHAT YOU LOVE BY
MAKING SURE IT CONNECTS TO WHAT

OTHER PEOPLE WANT.

“Passion, though a bad regulator,
is a powerful spring.”

—RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Like many of us, Gary Leff begins his day with email. As a CFO for two

university research centers in northern Virginia, he’s in touch with colleagues
from morning to night. It’s a good job that he enjoys, and he has no plans to
leave. But the “early early” morning email traffic comes from another source:
Gary’s part-time business as a specific kind of consultant.

Like me, Gary is an active “travel hacker,” earning hundreds of thousands of
frequent flyer miles every year through various airline promotions. Many
executives also earn plenty of miles, usually from business credit card charges,
but earning miles and redeeming them for actual vacations are two different
things. The executives typically have no idea how the process works and don’t
have the time to learn. How many miles do you need for any specific trip? What
if the airline tells you no seats are available? If you don’t know what you’re
doing, it’s easy to get frustrated and give up.

That’s where Gary comes in. For a fee (currently $250 for up to two
passengers with the same itinerary), Gary will set up the trip of your dreams
based on preferences you select. Clients tell Gary where they want to go, which