When Mark and I first started sharing Microbusiness Independence with the world, I was surprised by how many readers came back to me and said one of two things. First came: "Can we sell your chicken waterers for you?" I tried to explain that it was the uniqueness of our product that helped our microbusiness grow and thrive, but then I got the second comment: "I can't think of a unique product to make and sell!"

For me and Mark, ideas have always been the easy part. I probably come up with an ebook idea every week, only a small percentage of which I'll ever have time to write. Meanwhile Mark dreams up a similar number of undeveloped product ideas. But if you're among the multitude of readers who got stuck at the "What can I sell?" stage, Tim Young's How to Make Money Homesteading is the solution to your problem!

Tim splits his book up into three types of money-making ideas --- ways to make money from the land itself, ways to use your skills to make money, and ways to produce products to sell. There are probably hundreds of ideas scattered throughout the relevant chapters, including gems such as making chicken tractors for your neighbors, becoming an artificial insemination expert, and hiring others to provide classes on your land. There's also a stern admonition to eliminate your debt before embarking on your homestead microbusiness, which I thoroughly agree with, along with a chapter on saving money on the homestead and one on rethinking retirement.

My only complaint with How to Make Money Homesteading is that Tim doesn't separate the wheat from the chaff when presenting his money-making ideas. In my experience, unless you scale way up and/or bring your wares to a big-city population, selling farm-fresh eggs and similar products won't even pay minimum wage. But a chapter near the end of the book on marketing helps you disentangle some of the pros and cons of different types of businesses. Plus, the eighteen profiles of homesteading families (including one on us) show what's worked for other people on-the-ground, giving you an idea about the advantages and disadvantages of each money-making endeavor suggested in the book.

Which is all a long way of saying --- if you're scratching your head about how to make a living off the land, you should definitely read this book as part of your brainstorming session. And you're in luck because Tim has kindly offered to give one of our readers a free paperback copy of How to Make Money Homesteading. Enter the giveaway below for a chance to win!

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