Ken Steward:  

I'm not especially different from the Ken you remember, just a lot less hair, and I've learned so much more from the school of hard knocks than I did in school-school. I have been self-employed for most of the past 18 years providing handyman and property maintenance services to mostly residential properties. The past couple of years I have streamlined to just a few select homes and a 42-unit condo complex. I used to do all the work myself, but as of 2010 I rely on a full time assistant with a strong back and good sense of humor to help with productivity and morale. In the past, my work was painfully seasonal, so I took on an interesting variety of winter jobs - usually restaurant work - to pay the bills until the grass started growing again in April. I did everything from catering to bartending, from working for a local commercial satellite company to cool-sealing mobile home roofs, from 4-star 4-diamond fine dining to Fatz Cafe and pizza delivery at PapaJohns. But for the past couple of years, I have enjoyed annual income from several 12-month contra...Expand for more