This might sound a bit off topic, but you can learn how to start beekeeping and make a descent amount of money from it. In fact, in the United States alone, there is an estimated 200,000 beekeepers. While most are hobbyist, there are many profiting from the sweet taste of honey that bees make.

Believe it or not, there are beekeepers in that live in populated cities as well. Maybe people become beekeepers for an excuse to get outside or to become more connected with nature, or maybe it’s the just the thought of sharing your own home-made honey to friends, family and local businesses. Whatever the case, it just goes to show you that there are ways to make money doing whatever it is that you enjoy doing.

But there may be even grander reasons learn how to start beekeeping. As you may have heard, there is a serious shortage of bees, which is affecting nature in a number of ways. The role of the honeybee in particular is critical to the pollination of plants. No bees, no plants. No plants, no oxygen and food for many insects and animals. Due to this shortage, many beekeepers are losing their colonies and struggling to create their product. As a result, there’s a greater demand for bee-produced products.

So this hobby and small business opportunity certainly has its challenges, but there are others. For one, becoming a beekeeper can be difficult because there is no one way to do it. The methods, techniques and strategies depend completely on your environment and local conditions, and it can take some time to figure out how to run your farm. Then of course there are the angry little bees themselves that don’t really enjoy you putting them to work, so there’s the occasional bee sting.

That can all be avoided with proper equipment. To start beekeeping you’ll nee a little money up-front to invest in:

• Bee Hives, which have multiple pieces, including the box, frames, bottom board and cover and fume boards
• Fume Boards for your liquid bee repellent
• Entrance Reducers to close the hive entrances and protect the hive
• Bee Feeders to fill with syrup to keep your bees energized and healthy
• Smoker to relax and confuse the bees when you’re working around them
• Coveralls to protect yourself if the smoker fails

Beyond that, you just need your honeybees to start your beekeeping business.

Fresh, sweet honey and bee pollination is always in demand, and this could be one of those fun hobbies that just so happen to also be a lucrative business. But before you get started, check with your local government to find out the laws in your area.

If you’re ready to take the next step, download your complete guide on how to start beekeeping.

Calculating net worth is as simple as taking your assets and subtracting your liabilities. The number you have left over is the total amount of money you are worth today. The tricky part is correctly identifying your assets and liabilities. Your home, for example, can be both an asset and a liability.

Assets are those things that you own and have a monetary value. In other words, you can sell or exchange them for cash.

Liabilities are those things that cost you money.

As you calculate your net worth, you can put the equity you own in your home in the asset category, but the balance on the mortgage falls under liabilities. The same holds true for your car.

Assets Can Include:

• Cash and Bank Balances
• Certificates of Deposits (CDs)
• Stocks and Mutual Funds
• Retirement Accounts (401k and IRA)
• Home Equity
• Jewelry and Collector’s Items

Liabilities Can Include:

• Credit Card Debt
• Student Loans
• Car Payments
• Mortgage Balances

Once you have totaled these items up and figured out your net worth, you can more accurately plan your financial future. You know where you stand financially and what your next step should be – get out of debt or build more assets.

Once you have built assets that produce an income that exceeds your liabilities and personal standard of living, you can claim to have achieved financial freedom.

For a moment, put your beliefs about the MLM business opportunity aside and let’s discuss why network marketing is a solid business model that does in fact produce great wealth for millions of people around the world. After all, consider that:

• Fortune magazine called direct selling (of which network marketing is the largest segment) “the best kept secret in the business world”
• Financial experts say it’s a “recession proof” industry
• Warren Buffet described his purchase of a network marketing company the best investment he’d ever made

If you read Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki’s book, “Why We Want You to Be Rich,” you know that they also endorse network marketing. At one point Trump even stated that if he could go back in time and do things differently, he would have started with networkmarketing.

Why does the MLM business opportunity get such high endorsements?

Because it is a great business model that rakes in huge profits for businesses and its members. A traditional distribution chain looks like: manufacturers -> manufacturer’s agents -> wholesalers -> distributors -> retailers -> consumers. But with network marketing, the company deploys a highly motivated, commission-only sales force who not only sells the product, but often purchases it themselves, and then teaches other people how to do the same. It does this by using the most powerful form of marketing… word of mouth.

What the MLM Business Opportunity is not is a turnkey, overnight profit making business. Just like any other business, it requires work and your dedication. You might recruit hundreds of people under you and none of them do a thing. But it only takes one or two people who take it seriously and duplicate what you do. When you identify those people and show them how you make money, then it can become a virtually hands-free, residual income producing business.

My thought is rather than make things more complicated than they need to be, just do what other wealthy people have already proven to be successful. If billionaires Warren Buffet, Donald Trump, RobertKiyosaki, and Richard Branson use and recommend network marketing, there must be something worth looking into.

Personally, recruiting strangers in shopping malls is not my thing, which is why I am a member of SFI Marketing Group.