Sometimes it isn't that hard . . .

We have a friend who's a stay-at-home dad, like my husband is. He also happens to be a reasonably savvy businessperson, who's always got his hand in something to keep himself busy.

He, and quite a few friends and members of his extended family, own condos in a nearby ski resort, which they rent out most of the time. Mike's is booked between 80 and 90% of the time. The other owners consider it a great season if they can break 50%.

What's the difference? When Mike gets an email query from their listing broker, he emails back right away—usually within 20 minutes.

His relatives get the email during the day, it sits there until 8 that evening when they get around to picking it up, and then they call their prospective renter.

"You call people who email you?" Mike asked.

"Sure."

"People hate that," Mike said. "If they wanted to talk to you on the phone, they would have called you."

So now the other owners in the building are paying him a hefty commission to book their units for them. He's making a very nice side income on two or three hours a week of work, and the owners are happy because their units are actually being rented.

He felt bad for about five seconds, until he remembered that he told them how they could do it themselves.

Sometimes you don't have to be all that remarkable to be remarkable.