Sunday, August 17, 2003

By JACK HEEGER
Napa Register Staff Writer

Ron Ruiz claims, "I don't have a creative bone in my body," but he was creative enough to carve out a niche in today's ever-expanding entrepreneurial world with a unique Web site that helps other people make money.

Ruiz, 48, a native Napan, spends a lot of time in front of his computer looking for stories about people who have started their own businesses, analyzes them, writes about them, adds his own comments and posts them on his Web site, www.businessfastlane.com.

He started his business in much the same way -- he subscribed to a newsletter that provided information about businesses other people operated to earn money until the publisher, who had been producing the newsletter for about 50 years, retired. That was about five years ago.

The retirement gave Ruiz an idea, and a year later, he started his own newsletter. "It was a lot of work and took a lot of time," he said, referring to the printing, labeling and mailing duties associated with the newsletter. "Then I started to think about the Internet, and I heard about the people who charged an entrance fee to their site. That's how the business started."

Ruiz charges a fee of $17 monthly, which gives a subscriber unlimited use of the site. He not only lists about 225 case studies -- all about people who used an idea to create a business and make money -- he also has links to many other sites related to the same concept. One section offers links for tips on getting publicity for a business. Another section offers links to marketing hints.

The case studies are listed in 13 categories. One shows businesses on the Internet, one deals with women's interests, one is for "kid" entrepreneurs, another lists product ideas. He has a list of tools and services that can help entrepreneurs and he has a list of scams that have cost people considerable sums of money. He does not list any multi-layer marketing schemes, he said, but explains them in his "Scam Alert" section.

Ruiz said he is "just like an investigative reporter. Instead of digging up dirt, I find money-making ideas and unusual businesses and pass them along. Then I give my idea of how you can use it or adapt it. I give it my insight." The reference to investigative reporter carries over to his own promotional material -- it features a photo of Ruiz wearing a fedora and holding an old-style Speed Graphic camera, ala a '30s-style reporter-photographer.

The Business Fastlane site started about a year-and-a-half ago, and Ruiz now claims "hundreds" of subscribers in 23 countries now. In April he upgraded the site to speed up the subscription process and business details, such as entering new subscriptions and billing. "I developed my own software that automates about 80 or 90 percent of the process for a subscription-paid site," he said, adding that he's not a programmer, but with a year or so of frustration in wrestling with those problems, he knew what he needed and hired a programmer.

After he launched the newly-designed site, subscriptions started rising. The new software has worked so well that he plans to start selling it to others who use subscription Web sites.

"Subscription sites are increasing," he said. "A few years ago they were virtually unknown." Most sites offered free information, he said, "but people now realize that for specialized information they need a specialized site."

As an example, he told of a site featuring 1957 Chevrolet Impalas, where subscribers can buy parts, get information and exchange thoughts about the automobile. "In Napa there may be only a few '57 Impala owners, but using the Internet, where you can combine everyone worldwide, it becomes a large group," he said.

Ruiz' motto is one everyone has heard -- "You don't need to reinvent the wheel." He said people can jump into the fast lane right away by finding what others do and adapt it to fit their own needs and skills. Hence the name of his company - Business Fastlane.

Selling his new software is another example of what he tells his subscribers -- take something that exists and make it work for you.

"The American dream is to be in business for yourself," he said. "It's easier than ever before -- you see what others are doing and insert your own twist."

He adds three to five case studies to the site each week. "I do a lot of reading and searching on the Internet. Once I get the mindset, I see them (business opportunities) all over the place. Wherever I look, they jump out (at me)."

Ruiz said he tries to provide as much information as possible to his subscribers, so he looks for other Internet links. He has discovered all types of success stories.

"The youngest I've found was about a kid 12 years old who had a business, and the oldest person is about 76. If you look at the site, you'll find someone just like you who's doing well," he said.

"Some are just downright goofy ideas," he said, but adding that they make money for their operators. He told of a former real estate salesman who handled rental homes. As he showed the units, he saw that dogs had made a "deposit" on the lawn, so he started a "pooper scooper" business and charges $40 per month per dog. Ruiz even lists a link to the man's Web site, http://www.pooperscooper.com.

"I found a guy who sells socks over the Internet. He went to a Japanese restaurant where he had to take off his shoes, discovered his socks didn't match and one had a hole," he said. From that a sock subscription business was started, and the business owner claims to be making nearly $1 million per year.

Ruiz said he sees people jumping on current events to build businesses, and gave as an example a Web site that sells T-shirts, www.freemarthastewart.com. He said he has case studies of at least a half-dozen examples of people who have taken advantage of current events and what they've done. "There's gotta be great opportunities with the (California gubernatorial) recall," he said.

Ruiz grew up in Napa, graduated from Napa High School and Napa Valley College, and attended Brigham Young University. He got into television production with a Utah station for a time, but realized "it wasn't as much fun as I thought. It was stressful and long hours."

He always wanted to be a pilot, so he took lessons, became rated for commercial flight but found that the airlines were not hiring pilots at that time. He moved back to Napa with his family - he had married and now has three daughters -- and he read a story about a pilot who "was flying and taking pictures" -- aerial photography. "That looked like fun, so I started a business," which he still operates.

Additional information can be found at http://www.businessfastlane.com. For some examples of case studies on the subscription site, go to http://www.businessfastlane.net/stories.