One of my friends has been a manager of a local gas station and convenience store for several. We chat for a few minutes here and there when I stop in to buy gas or a soda, or every once in a while a lottery ticket. He was telling me that his days managing this store are numbered because, ironically, he can’t afford the high cost of gas to get back and forth to work from his home, about 40 miles away.

The corporate office says there isn’t a store closer to his home that he can manage, so he is facing losing his job if the cost of gas continues to go up. So we’ve been exploring ways for him to either supplement his income as store manager or to replace that income with something else. He is currently exploring ways to make money from the internet, and he sent away for a starter package of information on how to start an e-commerce site.