A $50,000 to $100,000 A Year biz

Hello....I posted the following on another Forum and because I felt it had such "good stuff" in it, I decided to post it here too;

Here it is...
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Back in '91 when my wife and I moved to our town of 20,000 from Colorado the first thing I did was join the local Chamber of Comm.

At one of the first luncheons someone mentioned the Chamber had received over 1200 "requests for info" the previous year. (The requests are now over 2,500/yr)

This caused my "opportunity" brain to start buzzin.

This was BEFORE CD'S....BEFORE the Internet.... BEFORE DVD's. All we had in those days were 1.4meg floppies BUT....I knew a guy who had developed a super compression program for photos....which would let me place about 40 photos on a floppie.

So...the Chamber had a "package" they sent to these inquiries. It wasn't until fall of '93 when I got an updated puter that I decided to put together my "idea"...which was...."TOWN ON A FLOPPY"!

What I did was...contract with TWO Motels to pay $1200 each (one at North end of town and one South) I took 1 outside and 1 inside photos of the motels PLUS an Info Sheet on each motel.

I bought a DOS program a software guy had created in Houston. His program was set up very similar to how a website is set up now. There was a Cover Page, introducing viewers to what they can find...then click to an Index Page which viewers could click on the various Categories offered.

Each Category (Plumber, Electrician, Lawn Maint, Pest Control, Title Co, Realtor, Mortgage Loan, Painter, Auto Repair, Chiropractor...etc) was a single page in the program and I charged $495 for 1200 copies of the floppies and gave each one an EXCLUSIVE in their Category. If they wanted a Photo of their biz I charged an extra $300 ($795 total)

It was BEYOOTIFUL!

The guy who created the program was also doing a similar program in Houston BUT he was distributing his floppies another way.

The Chamber LOVED including my "Town On A Floppy" in their package.

I signed over 60 people who paid $495 to $795 (over half wanted a Photo)

I wound up producing about 4,000 floppies because I got the brainstorm of...."Having a Realtor Hand these out to people who are looking for homes". 500 to each realtor (who would be the exclusive realtor on the disk) (I charged the realtor $2 a disk)

Nowadays you could do the same thing on a CD, DVD or a Video.

What advertisers like is a PHYSICAL thing that can be sent or handed to potential customers.

Use a HTML Editor (I'm an old FrontPage98 fan) to create a website then use an HTML Compiler to wrap up the whole thing into an executable program (I suggest using Activ eBook Compiler for $29... http://www.ebookcompiler.com/)

Then...because this creates an "EXE" file and many people are fearful of exe files...ZIP IT so it has a ".zip" file extension.

In fact...thinking about the fun and money I made back then (I sold the biz and the idiot I sold it to screwed it up and let it die)....I think that I could get an easy $795 per Category NOWADAYS (business people LOVE exclusives) AND...RENEW every year.

Take this and RUN WITH IT! All you need is to make up a sample Disk or CD or DVD or Video....call it "Your Town On Disk" or "Your Town On DVD"...etc.

Show it to
1)your Chamber (get them to agree to send your Disk, CD, DVD in their packages to inquiries.
2)realtors...get the realtor to pay for 500 copies
they can hand out.
3)show it to 5 or 6 realtors (or more)
4) when you know how many copies you will need, show it to advertisers.

This doesn't take "rocket science" or a heavy investment. You can get this one going for less that $100 AND...it has the potential of bringing in $50,000 per Town.

BUT...it takes PERSONAL CONTACT! You MUST go see people IN PERSON! So...that knocks out about 99% of the people reading this because this is appearing on an "Internet Forum" where viewers prefer to sit and look at a "non-threatening" PC screen rather than leave this "comfort and safety" and go out into the "real-world" to talk to actual business owners.

Anyway...to the few who would like some more details because they are SERIOUS about persuing this...drop me an email.

And, to the others...thanks for reading. Time for CSI.

Don Alm
http://www.pjbux.com




Some of my Unique, money-making programs.

This posting might be a little premature, but actually that might be good.

This product could be produced right online and then downloaded ready to use on a floppy or cd.

We have a new site with ONLINE software that a person could use to do this project with - just doing point and click online.

You would just enter your info and images and then download the compiled exe to your hard drive ready to use either on a floppy or cd.

It does digital business cards, resumes, ebooks, catalogs, and specialty businesses, and more....

We are about a week away from going live on this - beta testing is just about done and finishing touches being added.

Something like what Don has suggested would fall under specialty businesses, and would require me to build a set of special templates for it so the software could generate the product.

If this product idea that Don has suggested appeals to you, and you are considering doing it, and would like to be able to do it online, then you can either email me or post here on the board if Dien doesn't mind.

If there is sufficient interest in this to warrant the building of the templates I will get this on my to do list ASAP after the site goes live...it takes a few days to do the templates.

You can visit the site to see more info, but please be aware that some areas of the site are not completed yet and links to order have not been activated.

Cornell


Create your product online and download ready to use or sell

A few months ago I did some feelers on offering this on my website I'm building, http://www.roseburgonline.com

and I instantly discovered the HUNGRY INTEREST and "Magic" is NOT present offering the "Town On Disk" concept OnLine.

There's something psychologically POWERFUL about a business owner being the ONLY (plumber, electrician, roofer...etc) locked into a Floppy or CD and the disk is MAILED to potential Residents.

Offering the same thing "OnLine" would NOT command the prices I can get by placing the program PHYSICALLY onto a Disk.

The Internet is TOO BIG...too vast. When I hand a potential advertiser a piece of plastic and tell him his ad will be contained within this piece of material....it's appears MORE VALUABLE.

That's been my experience anyway.

Don Alm

> This posting might be a little premature,
> but actually that might be good.

> This product could be produced right online
> and then downloaded ready to use on a floppy
> or cd.

> We have a new site with ONLINE software that
> a person could use to do this project with -
> just doing point and click online.

> You would just enter your info and images
> and then download the compiled exe to your
> hard drive ready to use either on a floppy
> or cd.

> It does digital business cards, resumes,
> ebooks, catalogs, and specialty businesses,
> and more....

> We are about a week away from going live on
> this - beta testing is just about done and
> finishing touches being added.

> Something like what Don has suggested would
> fall under specialty businesses, and would
> require me to build a set of special
> templates for it so the software could
> generate the product.

> If this product idea that Don has suggested
> appeals to you, and you are considering
> doing it, and would like to be able to do it
> online, then you can either email me or post
> here on the board if Dien doesn't mind.

> If there is sufficient interest in this to
> warrant the building of the templates I will
> get this on my to do list ASAP after the
> site goes live...it takes a few days to do
> the templates.

> You can visit the site to see more info, but
> please be aware that some areas of the site
> are not completed yet and links to order
> have not been activated.

> Cornell




Some of my Unique, money-making programs.

Hi Don:

You missed the whole thing....this isn't for online viewing as you are thinking but for the application you suggested.

The person wanting to do the business as you suggested would not have to build a web site as you suggested and then compile it....this is all done online for them...they just plug in the information and images into prebuilt flexible templates and then click compile...in seconds our software then compiles everything into a ready to use exe for them to then copy to a floppy or burn to a CD for distribution as you suggested...and there is also an autorun file specific to the generated exe for CD use.

Cornell

> A few months ago I did some feelers on
> offering this on my website I'm building,
> http://www.roseburgonline.com and I
> instantly discovered the HUNGRY INTEREST and
> "Magic" is NOT present offering
> the "Town On Disk" concept OnLine.

> There's something psychologically POWERFUL
> about a business owner being the ONLY
> (plumber, electrician, roofer...etc) locked
> into a Floppy or CD and the disk is MAILED
> to potential Residents.

> Offering the same thing "OnLine"
> would NOT command the prices I can get by
> placing the program PHYSICALLY onto a Disk.

> The Internet is TOO BIG...too vast. When I
> hand a potential advertiser a piece of
> plastic and tell him his ad will be
> contained within this piece of
> material....it's appears MORE VALUABLE.

> That's been my experience anyway.

> Don Alm

The impression I got from Cornell's post is that the software for putting the "package" together is web-based, so that you don't have to purchase that other compiler, but that it would still be written to a "master disk" (floppy/CD/DVD), as it were.

Is this correct, Cornell?

Hi Chris:

> The impression I got from Cornell's post is
> that the software for putting the
> "package" together is web-based,
> so that you don't have to purchase that
> other compiler, but that it would still be
> written to a "master disk"
> (floppy/CD/DVD), as it were.

> Is this correct, Cornell?

You are correct Chris....this is web-based software that makes use of specialized, flexible, product specific templates (simply plug in info and images) which are then compiled online into a downloadable exe which can then be copied to a floppy or burned to CD for distribution.

This is the next generation of a product I created a couple of years ago and then sold the rights to, to Jr Dorsey...it is his product but I am working with him in the development and support of this new version.

Cornell

What is the price doing this online each time versus paying one time the $29.00?

I may have missed it but saw no price. When you click order it takes you back to sales page. I realize it is not ready yet but was wondering on price.

Randy

> Hi Chris:

> You are correct Chris....this is web-based
> software that makes use of specialized,
> flexible, product specific templates (simply
> plug in info and images) which are then
> compiled online into a downloadable exe
> which can then be copied to a floppy or
> burned to CD for distribution.

> This is the next generation of a product I
> created a couple of years ago and then sold
> the rights to, to Jr Dorsey...it is his
> product but I am working with him in the
> development and support of this new version.

> Cornell

Hi Randy:

You will find the pricing and packages by following link named 'prices' on the left navigation menu.

What is the benefit versus the $29?

Using the online method you:
-sign up and order
-choose your plan
-select your media (for floppy or CD use)
-pick your templates you want to use to be in your product (pages are already built for you)
-upload images you want to use (software does it for you)
-paste and copy your content into the templates or enter it directly with your keyboard (no html knowledge needed)
-select the images to use
-select compile and in seconds your completed product is presented for download in an exe format
-copy to floppies or burn to CD's for your purposes (autorun file made for you for CD use)

Quick and simple!

If you choose to buy a compiler then you have to:
-design and build as many web pages as needed for your product
-add content and images (probably using html knowledge - unless you are well versed in WYSIWYG web page building programs such as Dream Weaver or FrontPage, etc)
-compile using compiler.
-if using CD then create an autorun file for the CD.

One can also make money in 2 ways with this:
1. as an affiliate - percentage is very good.
2. using a developer's package you can build and sell biz cards to other businesses and salespeople who don't want to do it themselves or aren't online...actually a very lucrative market....create your own biz card online just for this purpose and start handing it out.

Cornell