Hi Lawrence,

I took a friend with me one day and he watched me earn over $500 that day installing address signs.

That was 2 years ago and he is still broke but every other month he spends another $50 to $200 to join the latest MLM deal. He always thinks that everyone will buy whatever the product of the month is but he won't go out and do retail sales. He dreams of building a large downline that will sell the product for him. I showed him a copy of your MLM flyer but he still looks for a way to make $$$ without working. After a while when he makes nothing because he did nothing he looks for another hot deal to make him rich. He thinks that money will solve all his problems for him and just can't see that the problem isn't a lack of money but a lack of focused action and other bad habits. But you already know that don't you?

My flyers don't always pull in a 2 - 4% response rate. It depends on the area. To average that kind of response you have to flyer over a wide area for at least 30 days.

I was lucky on my first day of posting flyers because I got 31 orders off of 300 curb painting flyers. If I had posted flyers in another area and got no response I most likely would not have continued. But my first days results proved to me that it does work.

Then my luck changed when the city called me and said that I couldn't paint curbs because of some stupid anti-graffiti law. I switched over to the address signs to get around that problem but at $39 or more my response rate stayed at 1 - 2%.

I started to test different wording on my flyers and got the flyer response rate up. But this created another problem. People would misunderstand what the flyer was saying and think that the city was forcing them to buy a sign from me and the phone at city hall would ring off the wall from angry senior citizens calling to complain. My name and number was on the flyer but too many people still called city hall.

I managed to overcome this by preparing the people at city hall for the calls but it was still a hassle for them. So I had to re do my flyers again and print in large bold face type that I was not associated with the government in any way. The calls to city hall went down some what but not completely. But my response rate went back to 1 to 2%. Following up by knocking on doors would get me over a 10% response. So in some towns I get 2 - 4% and less in others.

Most towns in my area won't permit curb painting so I have to stick with the signs. The signs work a lot better but at $39 each or more you can't get the flyer response to stay high so...

This year I'll take your advice and focus on just the door knocking with a full color brochure in one hand and a sample sign in the other! If I get just half the response rate that you do I'll explode my income and move into a much nicer house and maybe even buy the RV I been dreaming about!

You told me about how you're using a copy of the addressing requirements for reflective numbers in your area but here all the homeowner is required is to have numbers at least 3 inches high in a contrasting color and no scripted numerals. However I did discover that some cities near me require address numbers on the back of the house as well as in the front but only if there is a street alley behind the house. Almost no one does it even though they could be fined up to $300 per day for not doing so. But the police never enforce these laws because they only want to help people and not have to hassle them over something that could help save their life.

The numbers on my signs are 4 inches and SUPER REFLECTIVE for night use. I'd like to see the laws get updated here but I'm not going to wait for that to happen because it will still take people like you and me to educate homeowners. And door to door is still the most effective sales technique there is. It's much harder to say no to some smiling face who just gave you a 30 second presentation and who gave very logical and emotional reasons to act right now versus saying no thanks to some stranger who called on the phone or mailed a letter or posted a flyer.

My friend recorded the TNT movie Door to Door about Bill Porter's career with the 102 year old MLM company "Watkins" but he ignores the message while dreaming of reinventing the wheel or finding a easier way.

If our friends really wanted to make a little extra money - posting flyers would do it for them. If they want to earn a lot of extra money - knocking on doors would do it. But that would mean they would have to stop dreaming, cut back on the web surfing, shut off the TV and invest much more time in taking action. It boils down to changing our habits from time wasting to productive. Changing habits is not so easy to do is it?

First you make your habits and then your habits make you. To change them requires more then wishful thinking. Self-Discipline separates Winners from Wishers and ACTION SUPERCEDES EVERYTHING.

That's something I still struggle with. Too much talk and too little action.

Thanks for sharing what works for you Lawrence. You're a real go getter!

Steve


How to earn up to $5000 in one weekend with your 35mm camera and one light!