Poll: Who is making some $$$

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by RickC

Just curious: I like Sowpub and all the ideas and advice that comes from it.
However, is anyone actually learning and making any money from the advice from this forum, or any other? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be negative, but just curious if anyone has applied techniques and advice from this forum or any other in order to improve life or make a difference in their life by taking action?

Hi Rick,

Good question. Sorry it's taken me a couple days to respond, just been busy!

Of course, there simply isn't time to try to do all the businesses which are posted about here! People will pick and choose what suits them best.

Having said that, some people have posted about their successes (and sometimes their failures) on the forum over the years too, so there is also evidence in the posts.

Personally, I've made thousands of dollars from chatteling. I'm not so active in doing it at present, but I know it's something I can always start again at anytime and start making an extra income.

I've made money from info-products, and still do, both my own and other people's products. You can learn a lot from people here on how to do that.

While I didn't make money for myself, I did help a friend drive business to his restaurant, which helped him turn it around (he's a great chef, but the restaurant was failing because no-one knew about it). I didn't get paid in cash, but have gotten many free meals and discounts from his gratitude! I'm considering doing this on a more professional basis for other restaurants, as I've noticed there are often good restaurants which need help in getting the word out, and I've now proven that I can help them get business.

I also took a sales job once, at Gordon Alexander's advice, which I did mainly for the experience. I was selling tickets for a comedy club, on a commission only basis. Thanks to advice I learned from people here, I often won the weekly sales competitions. (They even offered me a promotion to a supervisor position, but since I was doing it for the sales experience, not for a potential career, I turned the promotion down so I could keep selling and gain more sales experience.) Now I know that sales is also something I can "fall back on" and make a living from if I ever want to or need to.

What's the result? With a lot of the knowhow I've learned from people here, I'm very confident I'll never starve or have to collect unemployment benefits, which is a nice kind of security!

Of course, to make it work out it's not enough to read, but you have to go out and take action! That's truly the best teacher!

My main weakness is the common ADD/ADHD type weakness (I believe I have some of the traits), which is that I don't always like sticking to things for very long periods, and I tend to like variety. However, it does make for a very interesting life!

Best wishes,

Dien

[Glenn]

Thanks Dien,

I'm interested in specifics.

Maybe The food is Different Down-Under. Or the marketing is Up-side-down.

I'd Enjoy hearing about up-side-down sales ideas.

I'll swap you some of my Restaurant Promotion ideas for yours.

Glenn

P.S. - I just had the co-owner of a BBQ Restaurant give away Samples
of his most popular side dish - some kind of pork sausages.

1st - He did it in the parking lot

2nd - He did it in a nearby Mall

3rd - He walked across the street to the 1st hole of a golf course.
Fed golfers.

S ales of his pork sausage items went up 4times. And his restaurant
clientele went up by 22%...

Glenn...

And...

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All the best,
Phil

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Glenn

I'm interested in specifics.

Maybe The food is Different Down-Under. Or the marketing is Up-side-down.

I'd Enjoy hearing about up-side-down sales ideas.

I'll swap you some of my Restaurant Promotion ideas for yours.

Thanks Glenn, those are some good ideas! I'll suggest them to my chef friend.

Here is how I helped my friend get more business for his restaurant.

When I started helping him, he didn't have a website. He was already listed on some of those restaurant review websites (such as urbanspoon, and others), but on all the websites, there was just one review (which was a positive one).

Virtually the only way he was getting customers was from local people who would walk by. What hampered him with this approach was that he is not located in the best area. He is located in a relatively low income suburb, and I think the locals don't eat out too much, and when they do, they are very price-conscious.

The first thing I did was to create a simple one page website for him.

This website has the contact details, an enticing introductory paragraph (designed to get people to want to come there), then a menu, a map (using Google maps), some quotes from my chef friend about his vision, then a brief biography about his background. Finally, there are links to articles about him and his restaurant from the media.

I next made sure he was listed on all those restaurant review websites, and that there was a link to his website from those review websites.

There were actually no articles about him in the media when I started the website, so I wrote a media release about him and sent it to the local newspapers. (On the website, I put a link to my media release, until he did start getting articles about him in the media.)

The story got picked up by one local paper, then it was further picked up by one of the two major metropolitan newspapers, which printed a full page review of his restaurant. (The top half of the page was my friend's photo, while the second half was a positive review based on an unannounced "secret visit" one of their reporters made to the restaurant one night. They sent their photographer around at a later date to get the photo.)

As you can see, this is actually basic stuff. The key is, he had something people loved, it's just that few people knew about it! I really just helped to get the word out.

There's a lot more I could do (such as develop an email list), but that's what's happened so far!

Best wishes,

Dien

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Here is how I helped my friend get more business for his restaurant.

I'll just mention that there were some definite noticeable results from what I did.

As I mentioned earlier, before I started helping out, he was only getting local people to come to his restaurant.

After I started helping to "get the word out," he was getting people driving halfway across the city to go to his restaurant. That was something he wasn't getting before. So the difference was quite noticeable.

Another difference was that these new customers were much less price-conscious, and were happy to spend more money.

So, as a result, he was not only getting more customers, but he was also getting a completely new class of customers he wasn't getting before!

In addition, there was a "snowball effect." He started getting public reviews for his restaurant on websites like urbanspoon - all of which (so far) are positive. Of course, this brings in even more customers, as people read the reviews!

Best wishes,

Dien