Poll: Who is making some $$$

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?

We can read all we want, but has anyone taken action on: Domain investing/flipping, headlight cleaning, auto detailing plastic handles/bumpers, cemetery headstone cleaning, local or national lead generation, ebay/Amazon selling, Amazon FBA, social media services with Facebook, dog scooper business, selling ads on boards, helping realtors with leads (lead gen again), chattel (Gorden and Jim Straw), Reputation management, consignment selling on ebay. I'm sure I've missed a few ideas and suggestions.

Who is doing what, and is the income ok? I'm just wondering. We all get bombarded with the next great golden nugget. I really want to know what is working for people (those that actually take action). and what is not. What is involved and what is not. I know a forum is a small place to offer such information, but a forum can also be a place to get to the point and cut to the chase.

My experience: I tried getting my hands dirty with the cemetery headstone cleaning. Only 2 calls with a 8 week ad, and neither were interested in my cost of $65.00. Wanted it for cheap.

Chattel? Tried buying here and selling there. I learned that what may sell in my area cheap, and I thought was a great item, doesn't mean much in another area. However, I did not give it much time, It is a learning process.

Lead Generation and Facebook services are the new "IN" with the gurus. Many, even small local businesses either have their "Own" people to do their work (which actually sucks and they don't realize or admit to it) or are not interested in new clients or using Facebook to engage the customers they spent a lot to bring in the door. Stupid is as Stupid does. Not worth my time.

I've babbled long enough. Instead of just ideas, I'd like to hear of successes or even failures here. We all seem to need to pay for this information from the gurus out there. And I can't stand gurus!

If I find something that works for me and is a good income generator, I will share what it is, in detail. Without charge. Wouldn't that be refreshing?

[Ankesh]

Thanks for asking.

1. I've been registering and selling specific domains since some time now. I don't do it in a disciplined manner as I used to however. I don't buy and flip. I register and flip.

2. I've been putting in 2 hours a day behind international chatteling.

Wrote a post on it sometime back:
http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthre...31778#poststop

It is doing really really well.

If I had to sum up why I succeeded, it would be: because I found an awesome untapped marketplace - a constant source of buyers.

With chatteling, you have to find the buyers before you go and find the sellers - and procure the goods to sell.

Since my post, I've seen a couple of competitors come up too - but surprisingly, sales haven't gone down. The market is growing faster than the competitors.

3. I have been earning from infoproducts since a long time, but I've never dealt with amazon yet. This will change over the next month as I am funding an amazon / kindle project. Hopefully it will do well - but too early to say.

Want a sneak peak? Send me a message - I would love some early feedback too.

[Glenn]

Dear RickC,

#1 - There are lots of fellow sm biz owners here who have different ideas,
Ways of thinking and find links to Stuff I'd NEVER discover on my own.

So.

Sowpub is a great place to find Case Studies, stories and content for my
F-r-e-e New Idea Testing Ezine and my sales letters and info products.

#2 - SowPub networkers are a great barometer of the popularity of ideas.

If I post and find myself ALONE in my enthusiasm. Which happens a lot.

I WALK AWAY from that idea - cuz it won't sell.

#3 - I forget how it happened or who or where.

But someone on SowPub sent me to a Steven King mono-graph about HIS
OPINION of The utility of gun control.

Interesting.

Then I Discover King is SELLING his article on Kindle! What NERVE.

EGAD.

Kindle will let you SELL 25 page articles!

Now instead of a long book or two I'm preparing to list some articles
on kindle - saved me ooodles of time.

Thanks,
Glenn Osborn

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Glenn

EGAD.

Kindle will let you SELL 25 page articles!

Now instead of a long book or two I'm preparing to list some articles
on kindle - saved me ooodles of time.

Hi Glenn,

It's interesting that you mention Kindle Singles, as I just bought one a few days ago!

The one I bought is "My Seinfeld Year" by Fred Stoller. If you see his picture, you'll probably recognize him, as he's appeared in guest roles in countless TV sitcoms.



However, for one season, he was a writer on Seinfeld. It didn't quite work out for him, though he did write the script for one of the classic episodes. He wrote the script for "The Soup." That's the episode where Jerry meets another comedian, Kenny Bania, who gives him a free Armani suit. All Jerry has to do is buy him dinner. However, when it comes the dinner, all Bania has is soup, so he argues it doesn't count, so Jerry still owes him dinner! (This happens more than once!)

Apparently, this really happened to Stoller, which is where he got the idea for the script. It turns out that Larry David (co-creator of Seinfeld) encouraged the writers to keep a notebook of their everyday experiences as possible inspiration for script ideas.

Anyway, I recommend this Kindle Single, especially if you are curious about what goes on "behind the scenes" on a show like Seinfeld...

I like the potential of Kindle Singles. It's certainly worth exploring!

Best wishes,

Dien

[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...

SowPub Creativity! ...

Phyllis Ann of Food Power...

Excellent knowledge resource worth Digging into for some Good ol' Food for thought...

Fresh new [mouthwatering] Suggestions, revenue Sharing!

Quick example into some Very {Twistable} ideas and business models...

Image related Business ideas, models and opportunities are Wide-Open, standing-by, waiting in Untapped and endless, [Specialized] marketplaces!

Only Limited by your very [own] Imagination, Now and into the Unforeseeable Future! ...

Produced into multiple formats, ideas, concepts, including Video(S), Kindle and [Endless] other product (type) Creation opportunities...

Show off Your Food! In this day and age when the country is obsessed with the Food Network, food photos are prevalent on social media sites. Focus on mouthwatering photos to attract guests and lure them in! ...

Phyllis Ann of Food Power...
http://e2.ma/webview/nqgod/0f984c445...25a4fd858baaaa
https://www.google.com/search?q=http...ient=firefox-a

Another Quick addition, Almost Free, under [$0.01] at the time of my posting, Simply for Idea brainstorming more on the Above...
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CYPKEN2/...r_B00CYPK EN2

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

Hi Rick,

Great questions… Subject(S)! …

Responses so far…

For me it’s All about Never-ending Trends and [Trending] Topics……

Research related to All kinds of Wording and Keyword phrases…

No matter Where, How or Who posts a Particular idea and/or the Sharing of Some Kinda idea…

Wherever…

Gets me Even more Ways of Finding new Specialized information…

Keeps the [Brain] Working over-time…

Leads into Lots of Different opportunities…

Domaining, Specialty products that limited people Are seeing the [untapped] Marketing possibilities & Opportunities…

Definitely into Long-term real estate, Trending investments…

[Unique] Inventions! ...

All sorts of Interests, Stuff to Keep our [Eyes] on and Wide open Too…

Up-and-Coming business Models, Concepts…

Ankesh posted as {Usual} some Real winners to Dig extremely Deep into…

Especially certain Wording, Topics…

And a few [other] Givaways! …

My usual Quick Food for Thought and a little Bit of Research to Think about…

Much, much More! …

Just to Get some Thinking…

Learning from Failure: The ‘Dark Side’ of Being an Entrepreneur…
https://www.google.com/search?q=Lear...ient=firefox-a

3 Things Small Businesses Can Learn From Google Product Failures
http://smallbiztrends.com/2013/07/go...-failures.html

20 things to Do to Practice Focusing on one Thing at a Time…
https://www.google.com/search?q=20+t...ient=firefox-a

All the best,
Phil