Selling Sawdust

You already know that lumber mills carve planks out of logs. And in the process, they make a lot of sawdust. This hazardous waste material poses a significant fire risk if mishandled. So what do you think they do with it?

They can store it, dump it or burn it, but they can't ignore it.

Instead, mills often sell their sawdust so it can be used in other products. It can be pressed into particleboard or used to clean up spills. What was once industrial waste becomes a profitable asset.

In their book, Rework, the founders of 37 Signals recount how that book and several others were born of sawdust---the intellectual byproducts of building and running their company.

Think about it for a second. What are your byproducts? What things, ideas, knowledge and skills do you produce during the course of your work? It requires some creativity, but ask yourself, "how can I turn these byproducts into assets?"

This is selling sawdust.