How to turn 85 cents into a TWENTY DOLLAR bill in less than 3 minutes.

Originally Posted by sandalwood

Big B,

Why are you accepting debit (or credit) cards? Or is the merchant at your location accepting them and giving you the proceeds after fees? I'm suspecting you are paying some sort of "rent" to be at a car wash or muffler shop or other retail location. If I am incorrect, oh well, you'll straighten me out.

Tom

I did start out by relying on the merchant to accept credit cards for me, but that meant I had to split my take with the merchant. Then I discovered the wonders of a smart phone, and all that one can do with them, including accepting credit/debit cards.

I am accepting credit/debit cards with Square on my phone. I also have PayAnywhere, but have come to prefer Square. I've never asked anybody if they could pay with PayPal, as most everybody now has at least a debit card.

Since I got the ability to take cards myself, I haven't paid rent to anybody. If a merchant won't let me use his lot for free, I move on and find one that will. All you have to do is ask the right way.

Here's how it worked at Brother Mims's veggie, flower, and houseplant stand. When I got there Brother Mims was in an extended conversation with another man. I hung back outside the door as I didn't want to interrupt them since my business wasn't pressing. Brother Mims noticed me and motioned me inside. I went in and introduced myself to both of them, and joined in their conversation. They were discussing the economy, politics, the wars, and talking about old times. They were a couple of old guys that enjoy chewing the rag and teasing one another. As far as they knew, from my conversation, I was just another guy like them and didn't really want anything. Finally the other guy left and I continued the conversation with Brother Mims. This went on for about 25 minutes total. Finally the conversation turned from Brother Mims over to me. Who am I, what do I do, what can I do for you, and so forth. I told him I'd like to park in his lot for a spell. No problem, he says. How could he say otherwise at that point?

He can't remember my first name, so he calls me Brother Riggs. I call him Brother Mims, to stay even. Alabama is a different kind of place.

At the muffler shop, back here at home, I just asked permission straight out. I took the trouble to find out the owner's name, and found out that everybody thinks the world of him. "Felix is a good guy." they all said. So I just asked him. Introduced myself and asked him what it would take for me to park there. He didn't know, so I said "Well if you don't care, I'll just park on the corner out of the way." Go ahead, he said, I don't care. To this day he doesn't even know my name. He buys me a cold drink from the store across the street sometimes when it's been really hot.

If you offer to pay rent, they will accept. If you ask nicely, you may get it for nothing. If you don't ask, you won't get.

So Square is good. Glad to hear that. I found something on Yahoo this a.m. that you may be able to use to promote your biz.

It is an article titled:

5 money-saving DIY tips for car owners

and is on page:

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/5-money-...ar-owners.html

The number one tip is:

1) Treating hazy headlight lenses

part of the write up says to "use a restoration kit..." The paragraph implies you have to buy it. Why not attempt to contact the author or yahoo and see if they'll give your .85 kit some exposure?

The number two tip is:

2) Windshield wipers. - I wonder if your magic elixir can osmose itself to windshield wipers. If it can, you just hit the jackpot. This paragraph says all you can expect from even the best blades is a six month life span.

Just thought I'd post this FYI. As Phil says in almost all of his posts, there's opportunity everywhere.



Tom

Not to turn an easy opportunity into something complicated, but there is something more you can add to the OUTSIDE auto detailing business. Skip Rosell shared this a few years back, and I believe Jason H. and his wife had a lot to do with it: Detailing black plastic handles/mirrors and bumpers. There is a product out there that shines black plastic to a tee.

Between Headlights/Handles/Mirrors/Bumpers and perhaps wiper blades....Hmmm...that just might add up to a good sum in detailing the outside of used autos.

Marketing? This can be accomplished anywhere, and if you find used car dealerships AND Bus fleet services anywhere....the world could be your oyster. Just go out and demonstrate on any vehicle/bus for free and let them decide. No hard selling.

Hi Rick,

You Got it...

Gotta Have the Right [Useable] Location BUT! ...

Always Be LOOKING AND THINKING of Fresh New Ideas...

Current and into The Future!

Especially Great PR...

By Staying on TOP within Each particular Industry!

No Matter the Specialized and Chosen services You Decide to Get into...

Chickens and Carwashing OR WHATEVER! ...

Definitely on Top of the Industry... Applying the Following Uniqueness, Creativity and Much more...

Chickens and Carwashing...
‎
Carwash Online - 15 May 2012
WAYNE, NJ ― Rob Burke, owner of Wayne Auto Spa, doesn't just offer up clean cars, he also offers vegetables and free eggs to his customers, ...

“I care about the environment and I want to take care of what we have here.” He said he will also allow for customers to plant their own items on his land...
http://www.carwash.com/articles/8564...and-carwashing

Phil

Cracked windshield repair, leather and vinyl repair, stinky car odor removal, chipped paint on bumpers and so on. Easily get side-tracked by thinking about additional services even though they might be needed...

Stick to the original idea but adding doorhandles to brighten them up should be good enough.

As far as finding locations to do this biz, here in sunny California there is always a fair, swapmeet, antique show or what have you as an outdoor event, attracting 1000's of visitors. Contacting the promoters of the show and asking for a couple of spaces in the parking lot, could that be doable?

Just thinking...

Eva

http://www.warriorforum.com/offline-...e-service.html

This applies to the door handles,

Eva

Yep, that's basically word for word the report I wrote back in 01. It's been plagiarized so much that I finally just started just giving it away for free.

There's a much better product for doing any color of molded plastic now. Just one step restores the factory newness and a permanent high gloss. I don't want everyone in the world to know what the product is, so I'm not going to post it on here. But if you'll email me I'll be happy to send you the link to the product.

Thanks,
Jason Hatchett
This Now Pays My Mortgage Every Month!
http://MoreGreen.info

I just found and joined this cool forum. I love it already.

Since I just joined I don't have enough posts yet to PM anyone so I'm hoping that Jason will see this and PM me the name of the product that will restore the color of any molded plastic.

If not I will continue to post and hopefully add some value until I can PM him directly.

This forum is awesome!

-Neal

Originally Posted by Jason Hatchett

Yep, that's basically word for word the report I wrote back in 01. It's been plagiarized so much that I finally just started just giving it away for free.

There's a much better product for doing any color of molded plastic now. Just one step restores the factory newness and a permanent high gloss. I don't want everyone in the world to know what the product is, so I'm not going to post it on here. But if you'll email me I'll be happy to send you the link to the product.

Thanks,
Jason Hatchett
This Now Pays My Mortgage Every Month!
http://MoreGreen.info

Originally Posted by Nealva

If not I will continue to post and hopefully add some value until I can PM him directly.
-Neal

Jason said to email him for the information. You can probably find his email in his profile, or the link he posted.

Thanks Boz. I checked his profile before I made the post. He does not share his email there.

Originally Posted by Bozo

Jason said to email him for the information. You can probably find his email in his profile, or the link he posted.