All that changed quickly when a perfect storm capsized what seemed like a sturdy vessel - my life.

By spring I was flat on my back following major surgery, and I'd been "let go" from the firm that only weeks before had praised me. As you might imagine, my expenses grew daily as my resources dwindled. Poor me.

Some might say, save money for a rainy day. I had. But, obviously, it wasn't enough to survive the downpour of misfortune. Cynics might say, only the rich survive. Perhaps that's true.

Yet I have since met a well-known businessman who many would assume was rich. In a sense, he was rich: he had spent the best years of his life building a lucrative business and public persona. But when his health failed in 2004, he too en-countered a financial crisis.

Ironically, despite the disparity in our incomes - his was much larger than my own - we both lacked what songwriters and authors and others in various professions all enjoy: a residual income.

What is a residual income?

Ray Faltinsky, CEO of Freelife International, a network marketing company, defines residual income this way:

"Residual income simply means earning an ongoing income based primarily on previous activity. Unfortunately, most people in the world do not have the opportunity to earn residual income. It's simply not available for most professions - even if you are a highly paid lawyer, doctor or investment banker, you are not earning residual income."

Faltinsky knows what he's talking about. Ten years ago with Kevin Fournier he founded Freelife International, one of the world's fastest growing companies. The company is debt-free and has been called the "Microsoft of the nutrition industry" by Anson Beard, the man who financed Freelife and a fellah named Bill Gates.

But many others in various industries have done the same. Long before the tech boom, there was Henry Ford who made money each time one of his cars was sold. That too was residual income become Ford was making money whether he worked, played or slept. Nice set up, eh?

Former Beatle Paul McCartney was in the news recently concerning a dispute with his estranged wife, Heather McCartney Mills. Apparently paintings worth $19 million had been removed from a cottage owned by the couple. If the wall decorations are worth millions, how much do you think McCartney is worth? And all because he wrote some very popular songs.

Authors are also able to create handsome residual incomes.

In the late 1970s Dr. Earl Mindell was a practicing pharmacist who became disenchanted with dispensing drugs to people that often caused awful side effects. So Mindell spent several years writing a book called The Vitamin Bible that taught people how to heal themselves naturally without using drugs. He was not paid anything for his effort, because at the time he was an unknown author. And to pay for the marketing of his product, he took out a second mortgage on his home.

But when the book was released in 1979 it rapidly shot to the New York Times Bestseller list. This sensational book went on to sell more than 10 million copies worldwide, making it the #1 nutritional book ever written in the history of the world. The Vitamin Bible is still selling about 500,000 copies each year. And each time a book is sold Mindell earns a royalty.

Not all wealthy people are best-selling authors or Top-10 pop musicians. You don't have to have that kind of talent if you develop the right kind of home-based business.

A good home-based business will have at least one essential element: a consumable product . When people run out of toothpaste, they buy more. The craving for a popular or necessary product creates wealth fast.

In a sense, McCartney and Mindell made a mistake: consumers don't devour a single song or book, and then buy another, again and again. On the other hand, if they like the pop artist or author, they'll buy the next song or product. This is where McCartney and Mindell got it right: they continued to create.

I'm not a former Beatle or health expert. But I am an avid student of winning business techniques. And now that my health has improved, I've made it my business to find opportunities that will provide for me in sickness and in health.

Therefore, I no longer look for jobs. Jobs come and go. I am building a livelihood. And this change in thinking has in its own way helped me to heal.