Down On My Luck - Challenge

Hello Sarah,

First of all you've come to the right place seeking advice.
A more caring bunch of entrepreneurs than these guys, you'd have difficulty finding
anywhere. Dien, Gordon, Michael, Boyd, Don, Martin, Marye, Erik,
Cornell, and all the others are simply wonderful.

This is what leapt off the page of what you wrote:

"But something happens whenever I am there, or when I start talking
about selling stuff there, or make plans on how I might posssibly
increase my chance for profits, etc. I start getting excited...I
actually start smiling, I start feeling like there's a reason for
living."

Here's your key: Focus on what brings you joy. You obviously enjoy
running your little antique store. My advice is keeping doing that;
but now the challenge is in making your little retail biz a success.

As you may well imagine there are literally HUNDREDS of ways to
advertise and promote a retail store. If you need more suggestions and ideas,
please don't hesitate to write to me. I'm sure my suggestions, along
with some of the others from this board, will give you ample food for
thought.

Don't think too much however - just do!

The following are some unique ideas that won't break the bank. I
suggest you try one or two of these.

Dutch Auction
Here's an idea that is sure to attract a lot of interest and word of
mouth publicity. Place an article in your window with a large price
tag showing your regular retail price. Put another sign next to it
saying that the price will be reduced by a certain amount (eg $1)
each day until it is sold. Adjust the price each morning at opening time.

People will anxiously wait for the price to go down, and before long,
someone will become impatient and will come in to buy it before
someone else does. It is very doubtful that the price will fall below
cost before you sell it and the publicity will be very good.

Balloon Ads
Release a number of helium filled balloons outside your store each day
for a week. Attach to each balloon a certificate entitling the finder
to a free gift of merchandise if brought to your store within a
specified time. If the certificate is not produced within the
specified time (say 48 hours) offer a substantial discount on
merchandise purchased within say, a week. Helium filled balloons rise
fast and high and will usually travel a long way before bursting and
returning to earth. The chances of one being brought back within 48
hours is small, but you may get several within a week or so. You
could therefore release quite a lot of balloons and make at least
one of the free gifts a reasonably valuable one.

Publicize the promotion in store for a week or two prior to its start
and notify the media of the event. If they don't give you pre-publicity
you'll likely get some newspaper and other coverage when you actually
release the balloons. If the merchandise prizes are products you sell
(and they should be) involve your suppliers in the promotion for free
supply of the prizes.

Window Competition -
Place a jar of buttons, marbles, smarties or other small objects in
the window of your store. Invite passers by to estimate the number of
objects in the jar by filling in a card or entry form available inside
the store. This will not only get people into your store but many of
them will be people who may not normally shop with you. Include a
space on the entry form for their address and phone number and advise
that the winning entry will be notified by phone and mail. This will
give you two chances to get them to buy from you. When they come in
for the entry form and after the competition closes, you'll have lots
of names and addresses to add to your mailing list.

Who are They? -
Place a number (10 to 12 is about right) of photos of prominent local
and nationally famous people in your shop window with a sign asking
"Who are they?". Have entry forms inside your shop with a box near the
cash register for entries. Offer a reasonable cash or merchandise
prize for the first entry opened naming all persons correctly. Run the
competition for at least 2 weeks, but not more than 4.

If it is successful you could run a new competition each 2
weeks for a couple of months, then drop it for a while. A variation of
this would be a competition for kids with animal photos instead of
people, with the kids being required to correctly identify the animals.
Don't make it too hard or people won't enter. Keep all entries to
capture names and addresses.

Notice Board -
Place a notice board in a prominent place in your store with a
sign saying, "This is your Community Notice Board". It should be
available to individuals or non profit organizations to advertise
items for sale, swap or buy, or coming events. It's a cheap way to
increase traffic in your shop by a little community involvement.

God bless.
Brent Whinfield
[email protected]
Confessions Of A Software Thousandaire!
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for profit, week after week, after week, after week, after..
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> In a post a little further down Michael Ross
> posted this, “Imagine this... you are out of
> work, have no money coming in whatsoever and
> cannot get any on credit cards or in any
> other way. You are too proud to go on
> welfare, have no products to sell, no
> customer list, refuse to get money selling
> your body for sex, refuse to get a job
> working for someone else for a wage and you
> refuse to sell any of your possessions.
> Knowing what you know now, who you know now
> and having the resources you currently have
> at your disposal, what would you do to get
> yourself back on your feet before you ran
> out of money?

> You only have $1,000 left.”

> Well this very closely fits where I am right
> now. Only I don't have $1,000. I left my job
> awhile back because I was having panic
> attack caused by flashbacks of childhood
> trauma inflicted by a neighbor, and the
> corresponding depression also made me very
> ineffectual at my job as well.

> I moved back in with my parents to save
> money while I got myself put back together.
> But my car, filled with all my belongings,
> broke down halfway to where my parents
> lived. Getting that repaired took a big
> chunk of my money. I moved in with my
> parents. Then a tooth of mine broke in half
> and I had to a dentist for that. And then
> shortly thereafter there came a strong
> suspiscian that I could have cancer...and
> just about the rest of my money paid for
> tests.

> Emotionally I'm better but still not
> entirely stable. I'm afraid of getting
> another job because I've found that going
> into uncontrollable panic in front of
> customers and co-workers isn't exactly fun.

> I've been reading the posts here. Several
> months before I had my "breakdown"
> I had bought Robert Allen's "Multiple
> Streams of Internet Income." (I take
> heart from the story in that about the guy
> with manic-depression who is now a success).

> The money gets tighter (I've now borrowed
> money to help pay my car insurance, and
> already had $1,500 credit before this all
> began). And I keep thinking, "What can
> I do to make money?"

> I've done a few small things in the past
> month or two to make money. A yard sale got
> me almost $150. I bought a few small things
> to list on ebay that ended this
> weekend...the profit from that only about
> $20. This month I've managed to buy and
> resell a few things to people I know and
> made about $40. And I've invested in putting
> stuff for sale in an antique/craft mall like
> store. The money I pay to have stuff there,
> i.e. rent, is really cheap (I've compared it
> to others)...but so little of my stuff sold
> last month I again only made about $20.

> When I first started selling stuff through
> this store I told myself I was crazy because
> it seemed like an insane thing to do when
> you're broke. And I talk now and then of
> leaving...because supposedly it's an insane
> thing to pay rent for something like this
> when you're broke. But something happens
> whenever I am there, or when I start talking
> about selling stuff there, or make plans on
> how I might posssibly increase my chance for
> profits, etc. I start getting excited...I
> actually start smiling, I start feeling like
> there's a reason for living.

> But I am so stressed about the money, and
> the feelings of panic that surface now and
> then. For me Michael's "pretend"
> challenge made to get people thinking is so
> similar to where I am actually at. And I
> don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I
> can get past the barriers of thinking like
> I've always had (as someone who has always
> been an employee not an entrepreneur).

> I've always wanted to be in business for
> myself...but I've always listened to
> conventional wisdom that said you should
> have so much money saved before starting any
> venture. And it takes money to make money.
> It seems crazy to do anything when you are
> broke...but I also don't know if I'm capable
> of holding a job at this point.

> I flip back and forth between being
> determined to find a way to support myself
> to thinking that I probably am not capable.
> Did I mention that I've been incredibly shy
> most of my life? So while I've thought of
> doing things such as clean people's houses
> I've gotten too nervous to do anything about
> it such as even let people know that I'm
> available. Desperation may soon help me
> overcome that. :)

> Anyway, I hope y'all don't mind my really
> long post. For me it has actually been kind
> of a relief and release to write so much of
> this down. I hope to follow some of the
> suggestions on this board and hopefully come
> up with a solution(s) to my problem.

> Thanks.




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