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Old April 17, 2012, 01:26 AM
Duane Adolph
 
Posts: n/a
Default 17 Year Old Kid JUST Knocked on my door and he was selling...

Hey Gordon,


He says "YOU could do the same thing you know?"


Get this. After our Sowpub brainstorm session. Last week my door bell rings and a 17 year old student starts to "pitch me" on his services.

His pitch was not the greatest. He started saying something to the effect of.


"Hi My name is Aaron and I am with Aaron Professional Services. We are a registered business and we are offering..." etc. etc.


I was a little distracted as he spoke because:
1. He had interrupted me while I was working on a project and
2. He had 2 younger kids behind him a young girl and a boy about 8-10 years old. They were Playing in the background. YES on my lawn!

So I kinda stopped him and said. "WAIT A MINUTE" is this YOUR OWN BUSINESS?

and he said. "YES"

Hearing that I gave him a LOT more attention. He proceeded to tell me about his business and that he needed to make some CASH.

We spoke for over 45 MINUTES, partly by Quizzing him and Consulting him as to how I could be of service.

He was Selling 2 Services

1. Car Washing (Interior and Exterior)
2. Lawn Care Services

He had a basic flyer i.e a white sheet of paper with the following words
on top CAR WASH ( I have the actual flyer in case anybody wants to see what else was written)

I unfortunately do not recall the specific pricing details, as I was not buying. I think he was charging $35 for the Car wash.

I started to tell him how and why he should NOT call it a "Car Wash" because a car wash frames the value proposition at about $7 bucks, which makes his price seem ridiculously HIGH. Instead he should call it "Car Detailing" which would frame it as a $200-$400 value and thus his asking price would seem low....And Blah Blah Blah Blah.

I STOPPED myself, and Just asked him POINT BLANK.

DUDE Is ANYBODY BUYING this and Which Service Are they Buying??

That was when he pulled out his Sheet of paper.

...
...
It was HALF Full, so about 15 names, address, and phone numbers. And I think he may have been asking for some cash upfront. NOT SURE about that one. However, I was SHOCKED.

But that was not all.

He proceeded to tell me that he had ANOTHER PAGE That was ALREADY FULL of names.aka. $$$

WOAH!!

He says to me "YOU could do the same thing you know?"

This "Kid" proceeded to tell me about how he made $4k last summer doing lawn irrigation? the one with the machine and you put holes in the lawn.

The point of the story was that this "Kid" was out there making money. I was so impressed. So much more to the story about his background, and his "other" activities (college pro painters, telemarketing, and a SWAT team... but those are just background info)

I'll end with this in regard to ANY Sowpub.com idea ...

"YOU could do the same thing you know?"


Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post
Drive into a town and DO something OR SELL something.

There probably is some selling on what you DO...but let's look at the ideas.

IF you are going to be around the town, or if you have a product you can send to people...there are lots of possibilities.

You can clean HEADLIGHTS. DO something. You could approach the car dealers in this unknown town to see if you could clean some headlights. At 50 bux a pop, you'd have to do 10 in a day (very doable).

OR you could find one or two auto related businesses to TEACH them how to clean HEADLIGHTS. See? 10 sales vs 1 or 2.

You could do fantasy photos. OR teach the local photog to DO them, and charge him 500 bux for this add on profit center.

You could sell something, like MOOD rings in bulk to retailers.
OR you could sell PROGRAMS, like advertising programs.

The challenge was to drop into an unknown place and come away at the end of the day with 500 bux.

NOW...

Most of us are NOT going to be traveling...and we KNOW the area we live in.

So, let's take some of these ideas and try to apply them so you can still make 500 bux a day BUT, to do it day after day in your area.

Selling ADVERTISING specialties or ad programs to businesses could be one way to do it. IF you are a salesperson or IF your offer is unique, or you have something of value.

Despite what a couple of people CLAIM, they did not invent this business opportunity. One of the first things Ben Franklin did when he started his publishing businesses was to find ADVERTISERS.

Businesses need customers, PERIOD. Customers are people. People have to know about the business...so advertising of some form has been around for a very long time.

AND, you'll find very few NEW things, except as technology advances and what happens is the new technology builds off of OLD world ways.

The MOBILE ads on phones, not unlike the FAX or Telephone. It won't be long until there is a bill or legislation that gives you the OPTION of receiving coupons or offers...you will have some say in what comes over your smart device...but until then, it is the FAX all over again.

But advertising is only one of several of the so-called Evergreen methods.

I prefer the term PARADE OF LIFE over the so-called Evergreen method...which simply says that people have different needs as they go through life...likewise a business may have POL needs.

A new business is different than a 20 year old established biz.

A more mature biz, perhaps doesn't need new customers, maybe they are ready to sell the biz.

But don't forget the PEOPLE, and by that I mean you can sell to individuals too, not just businesses. MOST towns require you have some sort of business license and if you go door to door, sometimes either a temporary vendor's license or registration is needed.

Still knocking on doors is a viable way to do a business. Home improvement offers, often into the thousands of dollars are still being done door to door.

But, as was pointed out with the POTATO PEELER, you can sell to individuals in "bulk" via DEMONSTRATION...something I've done for most of my life.

It is, in fact (for most trained salespeople) easier way to sell multiples.

Let's continue the discussion on ways to make our 500 bux a day, and this time there are NO constraints.

I'll start by asking a few questions.

Do you ever encounter DEMO people in your area? Where? In stores?

Events? Fairs?

On Saturdays in many grocery stores you can find people doing food demos, which work.

At events, like Italian Festivals, you can find people doing demos of all kinds.

And along with YOU witnessing any demonstrations of products....

WHO has knocked on your door recently and what were they selling?

I expect this discussion to yield some gold as we tap into the mine shafts or our varied experiences.

So, what have you seen demonstrated? And did you buy?

What was being offered by a door to door person?

And, what, if any, IMPULSE or Point of Purchase POP item did you buy either for yourself or for someone else?

Thanks for all your participation on this subject, we'll all benefit as more and more ideas are revealed.

Gordon Jay Alexander
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