Down On My Luck - Challenge

Years ago...I discovered that ALL business people want ONE THING....MORE customers!

Thus...I also discovered that to "create" an "Advertising product or program" did NOT INVOLVE many dollars. To create your paper & ink "PRODUCT" was usually nothing more than using some "Press-Type" and a "mickey-mouse" sample of your "advertising product".

My "BUMPER-BUCKS" product was nothing more than a drawing on a piece of paper....costing me maybe 3cents. In fact, MOST of my "advertising products" were nothing more than drawings on paper.

One of my most successful advertisng programs was "placing Photo Business Cards on the covers of Video Rental Cases".

When "Full Color Photo Business Cards" first came out...I was one of the first to buy a "distributorship" for $495.

And I was also one of the first to find out that selling "business cards" for $250 per thousand was a HARD SELL....even in glitsy Aspen, Colorado.
(Especially when they had just pai $25 per M for their cards)

I thought these things were the greatest. Luckily, I bought a "distributorship" from an "honest" firm in Wisconsin who gave me some ideas on how to sell them.

However....with all MY sales background and "Sales Ability"....I could NOT convince biz people they should try these.

So...after a couple of weeks of trying, I managed to sell 3 orders and .....(now watch this! How "Stuff Happens" to people when you "Dare" to go out and "give a project a try....and you are CONCENTRATING ON YOUR PROJECT"!)

On the evening I received my first order of Full Color Business Cards....I had them out on my coffee table....my family was watching a Video Movie I had rented. Also on the coffee table in front of me was the blank, plastic Video Case the movie video came in.

Strictly by accident...I happened to pick up some of the full color photo business cards and just started to place them on top of blank, plastic video case.

I put one on the top of the front side and noticed it FIT with about a half inch to spare on either side. I then placed a 2nd underneath and instantly noticed there was POSSIBLY room underneath the 2nd card for a 3rd card...and sure nuff, there was.

THREE Photo Business Cards could fit PERFECTLY on EACH SIDE of a Video Rental Case. So....

BANG! It HIT me like a ton of bricks!

I realized I could fit SIX Photo Business Cards on the cover of a Video.

So...I then made up a sample with 6 Photo Cards and went to see some Video Stores the next morn.

I showed them my sample and asked them if I were to provide them with FREE Video Cases...would they
accept them and hand them out to their Video Renters....each day.

The answer was a resounding, "You bet!"

So...with the OK from 7 Video Stores...I took my samples to the same people who had turned me down, as far as buying just the Photo Cards...and I was amazed to find that these same people who had rejected the idea of buying Photo Business Cards....were NOW....HIGHLY RECEPTIVE to buying Photo Business Cards....ON THE COVERS OF VIDEO RENTAL CASES...that would be handed out to Video Movie Renters...each day.

The SAME people who rejected paying me $250 for a thousand Cards were NOW willing to pay me $495 to have their Photo Cards on 100 Video Cases for 3 months.

WOW! It's ALL in the "marketing"!

So... with very little investment and nothing more than a "home-made sample" (and the "energy and guts" to give it a try)....I was able to sell over 200 business people on the "program" AND...sell over 2,500 "Biz-Op" packages for $495 ea. (Indubinantly my greatest success)

So...my dear Sarah...my suggestion to you on this Sunday in August is to "think about" creating some sort of "advertising" program...because these are "paper & Ink" programs.

Ohhh....one other thought (bear with me)

The ABSOLUTELY HOTTEST...RIP YOUR GUTS OUT...KICK BUTT....HOT TOPIC OF ALL TIME IS.....

"How To Show Stay At Home People How They Can Make Money At Home"!

Here's the story;
(This COULD be what you are looking for)
With one of my many projects I decided I needed help so....I ran an ad that not only pulled over 500 responses within the first week BUT...the same ad continues to pull a few hundred more responses for weeks after.

I'm going to give you the exact words to run in your local newspaper;

"Home Typist Wanted! Must be able to type 60wpm. Call xxx-xxxx"

Now...have a recorded message on that number to collect names & addys of callers and send them a Sales Package for a $39 Report on "How To Make Money Typing At Home"....

Now...granted....this little thing allowed me to sell a few thousand "Home Typing" reports....some years ago and you probably could tell me..."Don! It won't sell nowadays in the 21st Century...people are more sophisticated!
To which I respond with;
HOGWASH! I'll bet there are MORE people who would pop for a $39 report om "How To Make Money Typing...From Home!"

Again....if you just "SIT THERE AND WONDER WHAT"... you will NEVER KNOW!

So....get up off your behind and go out and TRY SOMETHING....ANYTHING....EVEN IF YOU DON'T THINK IT HAS A CHANCE IN HELL OF SELLING THE FIRST COPY OR GETTIN AMY RESPONSE....YOU WILL NEVER KNOW UNLESS YOU TRY!

And...I can guarantee you something else;
The responses you get COULD lead you off into a different, more profitable tangent....an area you would NEVER have thought of had you not taken the FIRST STEP....with your first attempt.

So...the MAIN think I'd like to leave you with is;
Think....Create....and DO IT!

If you just sit there PARALYZED WITH FEAR...you are a gonner. You have GOT to get something...anything....going.

TAKE A STEP and try something!

The most successful people I've ever known...had MANY previous FAILURES....before they "Hit It!"

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to "expound".

Don Alm

> Sarah! Hang on kiddo! MANY "true"
> entroopeneers (MYSELF included) have been
> exactly in the shape you find yourself in.

> Here's a couple examples from my illustrious
> past;
> I preface this by saying "I"
> cannot take orders from another human bein.
> I have "refused" to "look for
> a JOB" when I've been "temporarily
> without cash"! WHY? Because I KNOW who
> "I" am!

> Case 1)
> Arrived in small mountain town after
> horrendous divorce in Chicago. Had $200 left
> (TO MY NAME) after train ride from Denver.
> Got off train...walked across street and got
> a "flophouse room" for a week
> ($15) (Now had $185 left)
> Asked flophouse clerk where the FANCIEST BAR
> was in town. (At 3pm in the afternoon in ANY
> fancy bar in this great country of ours. you
> WILL find the "movers and shakers"
> of the local business community. You'll find
> CEO's, Sales people and the IDEA people of
> companies..."taking an early break,
> before the "5pm crowd of worker
> bees"!)
> Went to bar. Overheard conversation of new
> manager of new radio station talking with
> his investors about "some ideas"
> of HOW they'd get some "audience
> share" AWAY from the existing station.
> All ideas I heard (too me) were crapola.
> Then I remembered a promo a station in
> suburbs of Chgo did that was VERY
> successful.
> I went to office supply store and bought a
> 3-ring Binder and a few sheet protectors and
> a "magic marker".
> That evening I created (with $5.69 worth of
> materials)....a modified Radio Promotion
> program I called, "BUMPER BUCKS"!
> The next morn at approx 9:30am (With a
> "cold-call", let em get their
> first order of business over with but...ya
> gotta reach em BEFORE their FIRST
> appointment, which is usually at 10)...I
> walk into the radio station offices and ask
> to see "Allen". Receptionist asks
> , "WHO are you with? I tell her, I'm
> with Advantage Marketing and I have a
> promotion idea that COULD bring his station
> a LOT of listeners!"
> (Sarah - the ONLY REASON WHY the
> "media".... Newspapers, TV, Radio
> stations...exist, is because of ADVERTISING!
> If their production does NOT bring eyes
> and/or ears...they CAN'T sell ads!)
> (Jerry Seinfield was making TWO MILLION
> dollars an episode in his last year because
> of ONE REASON;
> the advertising people selling ads for his
> show, could sell LOTS MORE than $2 million
> per show)
> So..."Allen" asks me to "come
> in". I show him my "Bumper
> Bucks" promo (with my $5.69 promo
> package) and how it WILL bring listeners to
> ANY Radio Station...and he reacts as many of
> these "hi-browed execs" react who
> have just seen a GREAT IDEA presented in a
> sort of "schlocky format" (Just a
> black and red magic marker)...he says,
> "Well. I'm going to have to take this
> to my "board" for a
> "review"!
> HORSEHOCKEY! HE is the "board" and
> "HE" has just "reviewed"
> my ingenious promo program which he
> "thinks" could bring desperately
> needed listeners BUT he doesn't know will
> work for sure because I have NOT given any
> "PROOF" that this promo has worked
> anywhere else before.
> So...I bring out "all my sales
> guns" and hit him with, "Allen! I
> am offering this program to YOU
> ...FIRST....BEFORE I go across the street to
> the Station that's been here for 30 yrs. I
> thought YOU would want FIRST shot because
> YOU are the new guy in town! Well, so be
> it....thanks for your time....I go across
> the street." (and I start putting my
> pages back in the 3-ring binder and he grabs
> my arm and says, "HOLD IT! I'll take
> it!"

> So...Allen paid me $2500 for the program...I
> sold 40 local businesses on the program at
> $300 each for 13 weeks....and I walked away
> with about $12,000 in my pockets.

> And...venture #2 that cost me zilcho to get
> going;
> I'm operating a "Fax Advertising"
> biz (in 1993) with my new puter and WinFax
> pro (sending Advertising Faxes "People
> who have Subscribed to my Fax-Ad
> service" when I come upon a Deli owner
> who tells me he's ALREADY sending out faxes
> to his list of customers who gave him their
> fax #'s to be faxed his Daily Specials. I
> ask him if "I" could take over
> Faxing to HIS list for $20 a day and he
> says, "Do It"!
> So...no investment on my part other than a
> PC, a Modem and a Fax program and I've got
> someone committed to paying ME $200 every 2
> weeks to send out Faxes to HIS Fax #'s.
> Now...multiply that by 3, 4 or 20 Deli's and
> you've got yourself a BIZ with LITTLE
> investment!

> You can also set up a "Permission Email
> Club" where you simply ask local
> restaurants and other biz to let you place
> your "Email Collection" bozes
> where their customers fillin a form and drop
> in the box. You send emails to these people
> an charge the restaurants and merchants a
> nice chuck o change each month for YOU
> sending emails to THEIR EXISTING customers.

> Hey! I hope I've given you "something
> to CHEW ON" here.

> Thanks for reading.....Don Alm

Hi,

Basically, Don does this:

* Sees an opportunity
* Does some stuff
* Receives money

Anyone reading this message can do two out of the three steps, I mean anyone can see an opportunity and can enjoy receiving money.

It's that other step, doing some stuff, that seems to be almost impossible for many people, including myself.

Example of doing some stuff: Yesterday I needed a Sunday newspaper, so I got dressed, left the house, got in my truck, drove to the Wag A Bag, gave the clerk $1.50, left the Wag A Bag, drove home, went back inside. The steps were done smoothly and in the proper order. There was no emotionalism. I did the steps and got the paper.

Here's what we need to do:

We need to figure out how to make it possible to do the steps Don does in one of his project and have the *experience* be the same as doing the steps to buy a newspaper.

Seems like you'd need to have a certainty at the start that you'd succeed if you did the steps.

Seems like you'd need all the tools (my newspaper buying tools were clothes, house keys, truck keys, a truck, gasoline, knowledge of where to buy the paper, $1.50).

Seems like you'd need the ability to smoothly do the steps in order without emotionalism.

Seems like you'd need the ability to get started and then move from one step to the next.

What do you think? Thanks in advance for any replies....

Best,

- Boyd

The Photo Ads on Video Rental Cases...for ex;

I got the idea for the product
I found out where to get the parts to make the product (Video Case wholesaler, Photo Card maker)
I made up a Sample of the product
I put together a Presentation to show potential customers WHAT the Product is....HOW they can benefit from the product (More customers)
I then went out to show potential customers and ask them to pay to be on my product.

The TWO MAIN benefits to doing "advertising type" products is....the cost to create a "Sample product" is very low and your potential customers are easy to find....just walk down the street and go into their stores or offices....show them your sample...explain why it will benefit them...tell them the price and ask them to buy...collect a deposit and go to the next store.

My "Bumper Bucks" product cost me less than $10 to make a Sample and get started because it was nothing more than "Ink on Paper".

Most of my "Advertising" projects were "paper & ink" products. Easy to "create" on a piece of paper. Easy to show prospects, just open up your $3 3-ring binder and flip the pages.

One of my other "big-hitters" was the Fax Ad Sheets where I created an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet with 12 to 15 Ads on it.

My "Sample product" cost me less than a penny in product "cost" and some time making the Sample ads.

I then just went door-to-door...showing my "Sample Fax Ad Sheet"...explaining what it was and how they could benefit...showing the price and asking for the order.

Fortunately, my "Ad Creations" were good enough to enable me to collect money from 1 out of every 4 business owners I'd see.

Don ALm

> Hi,

> Basically, Don does this:

> * Sees an opportunity
> * Does some stuff
> * Receives money

> Anyone reading this message can do two out
> of the three steps, I mean anyone can see an
> opportunity and can enjoy receiving money.

> It's that other step, doing some stuff, that
> seems to be almost impossible for many
> people, including myself.

> Example of doing some stuff: Yesterday I
> needed a Sunday newspaper, so I got dressed,
> left the house, got in my truck, drove to
> the Wag A Bag, gave the clerk $1.50, left
> the Wag A Bag, drove home, went back inside.
> The steps were done smoothly and in the
> proper order. There was no emotionalism. I
> did the steps and got the paper.

> Here's what we need to do:

> We need to figure out how to make it
> possible to do the steps Don does in one of
> his project and have the *experience* be the
> same as doing the steps to buy a newspaper.

> Seems like you'd need to have a certainty at
> the start that you'd succeed if you did the
> steps.

> Seems like you'd need all the tools (my
> newspaper buying tools were clothes, house
> keys, truck keys, a truck, gasoline,
> knowledge of where to buy the paper, $1.50).

> Seems like you'd need the ability to
> smoothly do the steps in order without
> emotionalism.

> Seems like you'd need the ability to get
> started and then move from one step to the
> next.

> What do you think? Thanks in advance for any
> replies....

> Best,

> - Boyd




Some of my work from home programs.

Hi Boyd

I liked your post. I've thought about this for a while - it's an important topic to me... I'd like to be able to approach creating a business "scientifically" too!

Everything I've done so far in business is in reality to some degree towards this aim - UNDERSTANDING entrepreneurship so you can create a profitable business from the beginning. I believe it's an achievable goal...

Anyhow, I think it's complicated because business is not always simple - also there are lots of "little things" which can HELP a business but which are not necessarily ESSENTIAL. I'm interested in the very BASICS - the ESSENCE if you like of what it takes to create and run a profitable business....

The bottom line is that you have to get people to buy your stuff. No matter what it is you do - whether it is a service or if you are selling products - you have to get people to buy your "stuff". If you can get people to do that, as long as your costs are not too high, then you should be making a profit and succeeding.

Anyhow - I think that these steps are essential to running a profitable business:

First you have to have a good OFFER in my opinion. A good offer means something that people will value. They'll see it or hear of it and think - wow that's a great deal! Various aspects of copywriting are actually about improving your offer - things like adding a guarantee or adding bonus products are actually strengthening the offer.

The second thing you have to do is communicate your offer to people. If nobody knows about it then you can't make any sales. This is where advertising comes in.... It's possible to have a successful business without any kind of advertising but it's probably more difficult. You have to "spread the word" somehow - and posting on forums like this one is one way of doing that (by leaving a link at the end of your post).

The third thing I think you have to have is credibilty. You can have a great offer that everyone knows about but if no-one believes your offer is genuine you won't succeed.... So people have to believe what you say. Other aspects of copywriting such as using testimonials helps with credibility. Another way of establishing credibility is to have good relations with your customers. If you've "delivered the goods" to your customers in the past then they'll believe you'll do so again in the future.

Well - that's a quick run-down of what I consider to be three key ESSENTIALS.... I think if you have those three aspects you'll be likely to do well. I know this isn't "revolutionary" - countless people have written about them before. What I've tried to do is cut through the extraneous stuff and get to the real "heart" of what I think lies at business success.

Anyhow those are what I think they are at this point in time. Of course I may add more as time goes by!

- Dien Rice

Hi,

Like you, I'm VERY interested in describing and understanding the ESSENCE of succeeding in business. This essence should include how to enable oneself to take action, in my opinion.

You mentioned getting the word out. EbaY has created an extremely efficient and user-friendly mechanism to match buyers and sellers.

Another part of the essence should relate to figuring out what to sell, which brings up the area of competition or market saturation.

Should business people enjoy what they do in business? That's a good question.

What we need is something like a HAL 9000 that can data mine the internet and build up a relational database 500 terabytes in size (a thousand copies of the Encyclopaedia Britannica is about 1 terabyte. 500 terabytes would be about the equivalent of a billion books).

Thanks for your reply...

Best,

- Boyd

Hi Boyd,

> You mentioned getting the word out. EbaY has
> created an extremely efficient and
> user-friendly mechanism to match buyers and
> sellers.

Yes, that's true - eBay does help to make things easy, I must agree... I personally think that an "eBay business" is probably the easiest kind of business to start online...

> Another part of the essence should relate to
> figuring out what to sell, which brings up
> the area of competition or market
> saturation.

Yes, that's true... When I said you have to have a "good offer" - I actually (implicitly) mean it has to be good for at least some of your customers, compared to what's already on offer (the competition)....

I think you really do have to consider what's already out there, and how what you're offering will compare for your potential customers....

This is where niches can be profitable. If you can find a "niche market" which nobody is really serving very well, it is definitely an opportunity, if you can make a better offer to that niche market than anyone else can....

I actually plan to do something to probably target the "popular physics" niche market some time in the near future (over the next few months)....

> Should business people enjoy what they do in
> business? That's a good question.

I think you really ought to enjoy what you do. After all, most people spend most of their waking hours working - so it's best to enjoy what you do!

I know some people have alternative views, but this is another reason why I like "multiple streams" of income - it helps you to find out what you like, and what you don't like. If you really don't like something, then you can just drop that stream, and replace it with something else.... "Multiple streams" gives you flexibility which you don't have otherwise....

> What we need is something like a HAL 9000
> that can data mine the internet and build up
> a relational database 500 terabytes in size
> (a thousand copies of the Encyclopaedia
> Britannica is about 1 terabyte. 500
> terabytes would be about the equivalent of a
> billion books).

Boyd, I actually know someone who's working on a project like this.... Though, if I'm not mistaken, it's for US military use.... (He does some work for the US military.)

> Thanks for your reply...

Thanks Boyd for bringing up this interesting topic! :)

- Dien

To: The military's version of HAL 9000

Your Honor:

All that stuff I said online about the gummint in 1994 wasn't really said by me. It was said by another Boyd Stone. Or if I said it I didn't mean it.

Your friend and admirer,

- Boyd "Mr. Binary" Stone

> Basically, Don does this:

> * Sees an opportunity
> * Does some stuff
> * Receives money

It's the "does some stuff" step above that is the mystery here. This part involves a human factor, and this is where most people suffer. Sarah mentions her confidence level, or lack of. This is common. Also the rejection factor.

It's the doing that is tough for people. How do you help people get beyond that in just a day or two in order to begin making immediate money? The business model must answer this. Solve this in your scientific model and you'll make millions.

Heidi


Why do the experts subscribe to HomeBizBytes?

dno
> It's the "does some stuff" step
> above that is the mystery here. This part
> involves a human factor, and this is where
> most people suffer. Sarah mentions her
> confidence level, or lack of. This is
> common. Also the rejection factor.

> It's the doing that is tough for people. How
> do you help people get beyond that in just a
> day or two in order to begin making
> immediate money? The business model must
> answer this. Solve this in your scientific
> model and you'll make millions.

> Heidi