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An Invitation from the Author

The renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell was once challenged to come up with a nugget of wisdom common among all the world's cultures. He responded without hesitation, "Follow your bliss!"

Some years ago I met Bill Helbing, who teaches philosophy at the University of Hawaii. Bill subscribes to the Buddhist way of "right livelihood"--doing what he loves to do and what is natural to him. The money comes as a result of "right actions," not from chasing money for its own sake. Fifteen years ago Bill became alarmed at the rapid disappearance of much of Hawaii's native flora, and began cultivating some of the most endangered plants at his home on the Big Island of Hawaii. He now sells them to his neighbors and to commercial nurseries on the island. As the head of a family with four children, he makes good use of the extra income.

Bill is following his bliss. This isn't work; it's something he does for pleasure. It helps bring him and his family close to nature while serving the community at the same time. And he does it with an absolute minimum of technology: a shovel, a rake, a telephone, and a small truck.

Bill has thirty mountain acres in Hawaii for his enterprise. But much can be grown, assembled, drawn, and otherwise cooked up in a small space on an apartment balcony, in a rural cottage, or on a suburban estate. The space required most is that of spirit and imagination. You have a right to work as you willÑand to thrive. Towards the end of writing this book I discovered The Romance of Business, written in 1917 by Elbert Hubbard, while browsing in a rural antique store. Hubbard, one of that era's leading humanists, founded the Roycrofters in upstate New York, a guild of printers, furniture makers, and coppersmiths who lived on a large, profitable, cooperative estate. "Commerce is no longer exploitation," Hubbard wrote. "It is human service, and no business concern can hope to prosper which does not meet a human need and add to human happiness. We are moving toward the sunrising, and no man can guess the splendor and the riches and the beauty that will yet be ours. Let America lead the way!"

With the current growth of independent, home-based businesses, Hubbard's sentiment rings especially true today. Enterprise is the workshop where we care for our customers, our families, and the common good. Small business is not just a way to make money, but a way to add meaning to our community life.

I hope that, in reading this book, you have gained insight into your own potential and the possibility of balancing your life and your living. You've read about others who have made a life working independently, and you have heard some of my stories. Now I invite you to share your story with me.

Let me know how you're doing. Write to me at P.O. Box 244, Dillon Beach, CA 94929. My Email address is simply, JeffBerner@aol.com. Good luck, and stay in touch.

Jeff Berner

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