How to Move a Castle

by Nick Laight | Aug 26, 2026 | Blog | 0 comments

It sounds bonkers when you first hear it.

But it’s true…

Last weekend, in northern Japan, 1,800 people pulled an entire CASTLE by over two metres using just ropes and rollers.

The aim was to move Hirosaki Castle from its original position in order to repair an earthquake-damaged stone wall underneath it.

Rather than dismantle the building, engineers wanted to use an ancient Japanese technique called hikiya, where a large structure is placed on rollers, then shifted by hand.

So they called out for volunteers and got 8,000 applications – far more than they needed.

The 1,800 successful ones were put into teams of eighty people.

They all grabbed ropes and heaved together.

On Saturday they moved the castle 1.13 metres.

On Sunday they managed another 1.09 metres.

That’s just over two metres in an entire weekend.

It’s not a huge distance, but bear in mind we’re talking about ordinary people moving an entire castle!

It goes to show what astonishing feats can be achieved when you get other people involved.

And this principle can also be applied to creating and running your own home business.

Why You Don’t Need to Build Your Business Alone

Many people assume that if they start a business on a shoestring budget they need to do all the work themselves…

The research… the writing…the product development…. the content creation…

But successful businesses rarely work like that.

After all, Amazon doesn’t manufacture most of what it sells….

Airbnb doesn’t own the accommodation….

YouTube doesn’t make videos….

And Tripadvisor doesn’t personally visit every restaurant and hotel.

Businesses like these use other people to create their content, products and services.

Similarly, there are ways that you can create a business – or run large parts of it – through the work of other people.

And I don’t mean stealing work, scraping websites. or passing somebody else’s ideas off as your own.

I mean using material legally through licensing, collaboration or mutual participation.

For instance, you could…

Curate – find freely available content that’s available online, filter it and arrange it.
Commission – get someone to make a product (like a course or eBook, for example) and split the profits.
License – pay a fee to get the rights to products that you can repackage and sell.
Promote – use joint ventures or affiliate programmes to sell other people’s great products.

Provide a platform – gather online communities and get them to contribute their reviews, stories, photos and experiences.

Here are some ideas…

Public Domain Products

In the UK, copyright on literary and artistic works usually lasts for 70 years after the creator’s death. So there are countless thousands of freely available books, illustrations and photographs whose copyright has expired.

This means you can potentially republish it… repackage it… compile extracts… or add extra materials, like essays, introductions, notes, appendices and indices.

For instance you could source dozens of Victorian gardening books online then:

Select the most useful passages
Explain obsolete terminology
Add your own introductions
Compile them along a theme
Create a modern design

As a result you could have your own book, and title it something like The Victorian Kitchen Garden: 100 Forgotten Growing Techniques for Modern Gardeners.

There’s nobody you’ll need to give the profits to – this product is yours to sell however you like.

Three places to start looking are:

Project Gutenberg has more than 79,000 digitised books, mostly older works.
Wikimedia Commons has more than 100 million images, audio and other media files that are either public domain or openly licensed.
Openverse is a search engine specifically designed to find openly licensed and public-domain images and audio.

You could also take photos, illustrations, maps, cartoons and old adverts, then use them to make print on demand artworks and gift items.

Check out Public Work https://public.work/ which is packed with 100,000 images.

Compilation Products

Instead of writing a 200-page specialist book yourself, you could persuade 20 knowledgeable people to contribute ten pages each.

Or instead of creating every lesson in a digital course, you could invite specialists to teach individual modules.

For example, in The Complete Guide to Starting a Digital Business After 50 you could interview an accountant about tax…

A website expert about getting online…

A successful Etsy seller about marketplaces…

A copywriter about selling…

And five people who started businesses later in life.

Perhaps each contributor writes only 1,000 words or gives you a 30-minute interview. You can then edit, organise and package everything into a finished item.

You don’t necessarily have to pay contributors if there is value in them participating … for instance, publicity, links to their business or access to the audience.

The same approach can help you create an online summit. a podcast. special report or membership site.

White Label and Print-On-Demand

This is where a manufacturer creates the physical item but you create the brand then find the customer.

For instance, you could go to Alibaba.com, search for something like:

“private label insulated bottle”
“custom logo dog grooming brush”
“private label gardening gloves”

Then they’ll show you manufacturers who offer these products on the basis that you can change the logo, packaging, colour, material or labelling.

Another approach is to use print on demand, where a company like Printful lets you create branded clothing, mugs, bags, wall art and other print-on-demand products.

There is no need to buy a big pile of T-shirts upfront.

When someone places an order, Printful can produce it, pack it and send it to the customer for you.

Resale Rights and Private Label Rights (PLR)

With Private Label Rights, someone creates material for OTHER entrepreneurs to licence, customise and sell or use inside their own businesses.

That might include an eBook, workbook, video-on-demand training or online course.

For example, PLR.me has thousands of brandable coaching resources, while Content Sparks specialises in white-label courses and business training material.

Curated Newsletters

These days there’s no shortage of digital information.

In fact, there’s too much of it!

A lot of it is confusing, unreliable and untrustworthy.

Which is why newsletters are so popular right now.

People with specific goals and challenges are looking for a trusted voice to filter, select and organise info in a simple way they can understand.

Anything from parenting, dog training and decluttering to small business marketing, Etsy selling and crafting.

But you don’t need to research and create the content yourself.

You can scour the internet for information, then turn it into simple newsletter content that’s in your own voice, using AI to help you with structure and editing.

For example…

Use Google to search for news, articles, videos and interviews based on a few keywords.
Get AI to seek out relevant, topical content every week on any topic you ask it, with results in a matter of minutes…
Search hashtags and keywords on social media platforms like Reddit, X and Instagram – or follow quality accounts for an ever-rolling newsfeed.
Set up automated newsfeeds using Feedly, Google Alerts, RSS feeds and by signing up to newsletters, so the info comes to you every week.

You can then monetise your newsletter through paid subscriptions, sponsorship, your own products.

Or if you want someone else to create the product…

Affiliate Marketing

In affiliate marketing, somebody has already done the work to create a product that you can promote.

They will also handle the stock, take payment, fulfil the order and usually handle customer service too.

Your job is purely to find the customers – either through advertising, or by creating a free content newsletter to attract a specific niche audience.

When a reader clicks an affiliate link and buys something, you receive a commission.

Directories

You could gather links and resources around a specific topic or goal and put it into a directory.

For example:

The UK Menopause Practitioner Directory
Dog-Friendly Holidays in Wales
UK Wedding Barns
Tutors for Children With Dyslexia
Independent Record Shops of Britain

Initially, you might enter 50-100 useful listings yourself from publicly available business information.

Then you can contact the businesses and invite them to “claim” their listing and add photographs, descriptions, opening hours, services and prices.

Over time, the businesses themselves will maintain much of the database.

You could keep the basic listings free and charge £10-£30 a month for premium positioning, enhanced profiles.

Lead Generation

You could create a business that helps skilled people and small businesses get more clients.

For instance, a website called Essex Roof Cleaning could contain useful information about roof-cleaning options, typical problems, and photographs of common issues.

You could attract visitors to this site through Google search, local SEO, social advertising or paid search.

Then you add a sign up form to attract leads, for example: ‘Get Three Local Roof-Cleaning Quotes’.

These enquiries are passed to local contractors who do all the skilled work for you.

You might charge them £20 per qualified enquiry, £200 a month for exclusivity, or negotiate a referral fee for work they win.

Community Marketplace

Another option is to create an online hub where other people carry out transactions with each other.

For example, ‘Vintage Synth Hire’ could be a place where people list analogue synthesisers they’re willing to rent, and you take a percentage from each booking.

Or ‘Vegetable Garden Guru’ could be a place where experienced local gardeners and expert growers list one-hour advice sessions, consultations or workshops.

Other examples include a marketplace where retired teachers sell tutoring sessions… craftspeople sell workshops… or small businesses buy specialist templates from other businesses.

You don’t necessarily have to code the platform yourself. For instance, Sharetribe is specifically designed for creating rental, service and product marketplaces.

User Generated Content

Rather than personally gathering every useful tip, recommendation or piece of data for an information business, you could invite your audience to contribute.

In a local newsletter, for instance, you could ask readers:

Where is the cheapest petrol in town this week?
Which pubs are doing good-value Sunday lunches?
What local events should we include this weekend?

Suddenly you’ll have dozens or hundreds of pairs of eyes helping you find material every week.

Or if you ran a vegan baking website you could ask people to send in their favourite recipes, kitchen tips, and photos of their creations.

You could also encourage social media followers, email subscribers or website members to send in content on a regular basis.

For example, photos, videos, reviews, stories and insights.

Even better, create a space like a Facebook Group or forum where people can ask each other questions and help one another (you just have to monitor it to make sure users stick to the rules!).

Audience Generated Research

You can also get your audience (customers/subscribers) to do your research for you.

Every now and then, send them a short survey with questions like this:

What is the biggest problem you’re currently struggling with regarding X?
What have you already tried?
If I could create one resource to help you, what would you want it to do?

You can use the feedback to help you create, or select, products that solve their problems.

Finally….

Freelancers

If you have a small budget, you can also use the thousands of online freelancers on sites like Upwork, Fiverr and PeoplePerHour.

Jobs could include:

designing logos and product packaging
building websites
editing videos
formatting eBooks
creating illustrations
doing voiceovers

Of course, there’s a cost attached…

But if a freelancer does a tricky four-hour task for £40 that you cannot possibly do yourself…

You could spend those four hours finding more customers or creating a product to bring in money that more than covers that cost.

The question is..

How Could Other People Help You?

Whatever home business idea you’re working on, or mulling over, I recommend sitting down with a sheet of paper or a blank screen.

Write down EVERYTHING that would need to happen to make that business work.

Product creation…
Research…
Design…
Technology…
Marketing…
Sales…
Customer service…
Administration…
Fulfilment…

Then put each job into one of these four categories:

1. ONLY I CAN DO THIS

Perhaps this might include your personal expertise, judgement or ideas.

2. SOMEBODY ELSE COULD DO THIS

This could include research, design, editing, admin and tech.

3. SOMEBODY ELSE HAS ALREADY CREATED THIS

These might be affiliate products, public-domain material, PLR, stock images, templates or white-label goods… anything that you can legitimately licence or use.

4. MY CUSTOMERS COULD HELP CREATE THIS

Think about how your customers or online community could contribute reviews… recommendations… survey answers… photographs… questions… case studies and tips.

When you follow this process, the goal of setting up your home business might not seem so daunting.