WANTED: Your Participation - The info in this post could make you money

Skip,

Thanks for revealing your Name & Title technique.

Quirky = Different, Out of the ordinary.

And selling "a camera and instructions in its use when in an auto accident" kit for the glove compartment is certainly out of the ordinary and different. Of course, it's only different or out of the ordinary if you've never seen it before. But it's still Population Dependent, isn't it?

I mean, could I live in Tonasket and MAL selling them? I don't think I'd make a living from Tonasket sales, so would need to sell outside of the town. How could this be done so the income would be enough to MAL? The answer to this question is The answer I Ask you to ponder, and share if you wish to.

Distribution is the short and simple answer. But what Devil Details do You see in it?

Hans Jakobi (self proclaimed wealth educator who sells 6 DVDs for $3,500 and then claims to want to help the struggling little guy) had a truly entrepreneurial father. He worked in Small Town Aust. Once a week he'd drive into Big City, pick up items that the locals wanted but were not available, and bring them back, for a nice profit. He then started bringing back more and more Ethnic Newspapers due to the ethnic workforce in the town. One thing lead to another and he ended up being the Largest Distributor of Ethnic Newspapers. A point which then enabled him to MAL anywhere. But that took years to achieve. Is a shorter time frame possible? Can the steps be fasttracked? How would you turn your Auto Accident Kits into a system that allowed you to MAL from anywhere. Not just Make Some CASH, but MAL?

Of your 1,000 sales, how many were for MMO and thus circular?

And based on your experience with your Name & Title technique, how many Non-MMO Campaigns would a person have to set up to MAL? And let's define that as $30,000 a year.

Michael Ross

Phil,

Thanks for the resources.

Focusing & Starting just One business idea is the Real Problem for Many

I don't know if this is actually a Problem, per se.

Let me explain...

People get a job. If the job fulfills their requirements of that job and the negatives can be Handled, the person will Stay.

Only They are the ones who know what their Requirements are and whether the job fulfills them. And their requirements could range from Income Level, Skill Utilisation or New Skill Learning, to Proximity To Home, Perks and other elements both Tangible and Intangible. And the requirements are different for all of us. And some requirements could Outweight others. Such as maybe earning less money as long as the other requirements were there, or sacrificing some of the other requirements in favor of extra money.

Also, what I could get satisfaction out of another person might not be able to stand. And vice versa.

For example. Ages ago I wrote a piece about Digging Holes for a living. And I had the line... "dig holes for a living IF...". Whatever comes after that IF are my Conditions, my Requirements. *I* could do physical hole digging as long as other requirements were met, while other people couldn't do anything physical as that is a primne requirement of theirs.

Based on this, my induction/deduction concludes... people chop and change ideas because those ideas (what they Imagined from those ideas) do not, or did not, satisfy their requirements. Maybe the idea satisfied all requirements except Amount of Money. Or all requirements except Time At Home With Family. Or all requirements except Moral Allignment. Or all requirements except needing to sell face-to-face.

As often, what they will get from the idea is only imagined and not experienced before they go into it, their delusion is shattered as Reality shows its face. Reality arrives and they discover their Requirements don't match what they Imagined from the business, and so they drop it.

Going by the kids of today... this is going to be a greater issue in the times ahead. As they seem more out of touch with reality now than ever before. The truth is, everyone is NOT a star or champion at everything they do. They live in a deluded dream world far from reality and they cannot Handle reality - look at the American Idol auditions to see how unstuck the grossly out of tune people become when reality arrives and shatters their delusion.

A way to Soften the Reality Blow is to Lower Your Expectations about any idea you think of following. To put less stock in it as Working or being Easy and a Cash Cow. Then, when reality arrives, you can make an unemotional decision about sticking with it or not, or even getting into in the first place.

Also, I feel much of the ideas concentrate too much on What to do and not actually How to do it.

For example: In Skips Free Report he wrote "Use a software program to get the misspellings of those two phrases and use all of them for your keyword list in your PPC campaign."

That is WHAT to do - good What, but still What. HOW do I do this? Who knows? I don't know what this software is called, where to find it, how to search for it, nothing. And so I end up coming off the rails at that point. I know WHAT to do but not HOW.

The How is known by the writer but the Action Steps are Assumed to be known. Such as "When a visitor arrives, make them a cup of tea". That is a WHAT, but unless I Already know HOW to make tea, I am unglued and cannot continue.

So in addition to the Delusions and Requirements of the person, the idea might present them with things requiring How Knowledge which they don't have. Three reasons why a person will chop and change business ideas. One a problem with them (delusions) and the other a problem with the idea (what/how), with the third being the benchmark by which they pass it all by.

Money is important. And with a job the person knows it Before going into it. So they cannot be delusional about that. If the money earned satisfies that requirement and it was a Prime Requirement, the person will Put Up With "Job Crap" and stay. Otherwise, they will chop and change and leave. Just like jumping from one idea to another.

Michael Ross

Michael,

Thanks for showing the vein of Gold.

1: Find what people are searching for; what people are buying; what Someone Else is already making money from.

2: Sell via the web.

3. Sell it with better marketing, lower prices, faster delivery, additional bonuses - or - offer a Better Version for the same or less money (maybe even a version you have made in India or Pakistan like my example showed or made locally).

4. Use a fulfillment company to Handle The Orders. Like dropshipping.

5. If lack of funds prevents you from starting, then Save money from Job or other Part Time Small Potatoes ventures until funds are enough to start (don't let lack of funds stop you). Step by wonderful step. GROWING the business.

So this Could enable you to MAL from anywhere. Meaning, there is no restriction on where you live to work this. And I assume, also, that general Marketing would include OFFLINE as well as on. Because, afterall, you are competing with all the other people who are selling it online so going Offline could give you an edge, right?

One method of finding what people are buying, or others are making money from, is to do a search and take note of the Google Ads. Then a couple of months later do the same search and see if the same people are still advertising. If they are, it could mean they are making money from it and it is a viable market.

Any other Methods or Thoughts you would care to share for Discovering what people are searching for or actually buying.

What I like about your steps is, because it's already being searched for and bought, there is Little Risk to get into it. There is still risk, but with a sea of buyers is it reduced. And what you advocate is slow steady progress not get rich quick hype, even though the end result would be the same as what is hyped.

Good stuff Mike.

Michael Ross

Ankesh,

Thanks for ideas.

Stockmarket. While some big money Can be made, I feel the Learning Curve is too steep for most. Heck, even Trading Graduates come unstuck.

I understand the Quicket way to make money is by Selling Puts. But you might have to buy so you'd better have the funds and want the stock anyway. In which case, it's not a viable long term thing. But worthy of Investigating certainly.

Writing, painting and drawing... syndication Sounds wonderful. But the reality is, there are a LOT of people desiring syndication and not many spots available. Those who buy syndicated stuff are limited in number. More a Luck Of The Draw thing as I see it.

That's not to say a person should not write or draw or paint. But those things should be done because the person likes doing them first. So if money doesn't follow they will continue and eventually maybe they'll Hit It, but they won't be too upset if they don't.

Brokered Work. A far Wider Ranging element than you might care to think about. Most furniture stores are really just Brokers - they sell stuff other people make.

Interestingly, Broking can work two ways. You either create stuff the broker sells - or - you act as broker for other people's creations.

I've seen some Wood Carving work from Africa. And those guys were Good. They were trying to rip people off and using the carving to make a Larger sum of money. But if they'd been Above Board then a legit broker in the US, UK or Aust Could make some interesting money by having those guys Carve stuff for pennies on the dollar.

A $2,000 woodcarved bust of someone could be had for what, $100, making the broker/dealer a cool $1,900 just for sending some photos to the carver. And if they cannot find a carver online then a Local would come into the picture.

Think of yourself, for example. You would have better success finding someone to carve a bust then I would. I'd send you the picture - via email - which you would show to the person who did the carving. You pay them, add your profit and charge me, then I add your charge, plus shipping, plus my profit, and charge my customer - who could easily have Comissioned the work via the web. Enabling me to Broker the deal from any Tin Shack with internet connection.

Ankesh, if YOU were offered the Chance to be an On The Ground Broker/Go-Between/Source-Finder would you do it?

Similar idea to what I just mentioned... heard of a guy who makes Duplicates of Your Home and puts them into a Snow Bubble. Find someone to do that and then Broker those - people come to you to have one made, you pass on the photos and the maker makes it and sends it to you and you send it to your customer. Customised and Personalized Creations.

Michael Ross

Jim,

Thanks for the Free Report. It's a Gem. Everyone should download it and read it. In fact, I think Finders, Export, Mailorder and Strike It Rich give a good Base of Knowledge and your MiniReport just adds.

Interestingly, it's How I offloaded some Stuff I had acquired. I used the Yellow Pages to find a Seller that Buys In a Lot of that stuff. Called them on the phone and Asked them to make me an offer. They did, I used the Vice Gambit "Power Sentence" (You've got to do better than that) and they Upped their offer tremendously. Sold. Less than five minutes on the phone to sell 100 Units.

Thinking back now, as I type, dang Easiest Money I ever made. My Hourly Rate for the deal was... well, let's just say it was over $1,000 an hour.

Also reminds me of Joe Karbo's "Box Story" in Lazy Man's Way To Riches starting at the bottom of page 83 and going onto page 84 - where I got the idea from. hehe.

Michael Ross

Michael,

Thanks for sharing that Lightbulb concept...

Just Think on How many other Things in everyday Life need to be Changed, Serviced and Delivered...

Specialized Niche services is an Untapped market with incredible Potential with Ongoing Revenues in Booming niche marketplaces...

A couple interesting business models...
http://www.gomassage.net/
http://www.springwise.com/fashion_beauty/nail_taxi_1/
http://nailtaxi.com/

But you Broker the concept and Build yourself a Referral Network of Lifetime commissions...

On the mention of Light Bulbs...

A couple other interesting Light Bulb stories come to mind...

With some Good business lessons that can be Applied to Trend Watching...

Bright Idea: Product Launch Success Story
http://smallbusiness.aol.com/start/s...13183109990006

Read all about it - Levenger Co.'s reading accessories - Levenger Catalog

Great 4 page story...
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...25/ai_19128570

Phil

[Ankesh]

Thanks Michael for starting this thread. Some great money making ideas over here.

I think stock market is like predicting weather. There are just too many variables for anyone to be extremely accurate all the time. But people can predict the broad strokes.

(I'll make a post about Warren Buffet's 4-step strategy in a bit.)

Re: Syndication. Its tough. But if you are half decent, you can break in. Especially if you are a writer.

But even if you can't break in into syndication - there is licensing. This is tough too. But the pay off can be worth it. For eg: what Jimmy Krug did - wrote a report for a bank. And the bank distributed it to 1000s of people - paying a good fee to Jimmy.

Licensing is easier for cartoons etc too.

Re: Brokering.

I have done it before. I would do it again too if I knew:

* There were guaranteed buyers in the market.
* If the profit would be worthwhile.

If I did focus on brokering again - I would most likely go for big product items only and find the buyer first.

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

Any other Methods or Thoughts you would care to share for Discovering what people are searching for or actually buying.

Michael,

Instead of adding that info within the context of this excellent thread let me start a new one asking the same general question to the whole board-- which has many smart business people, and lets see what sort of answers others chime in with too. Then add my own thoughts--OK?

Michael,

Thanks for asking me to expand on my ideas.

[quote=MichaelRoss;15446]Skip,

Thanks for revealing your Name & Title technique.

Quirky = Different, Out of the ordinary.

And selling "a camera and instructions in its use when in an auto accident" kit for the glove compartment is certainly out of the ordinary and different. Of course, it's only different or out of the ordinary if you've never seen it before. But it's still Population Dependent, isn't it?

I mean, could I live in Tonasket and MAL selling them? I don't think I'd make a living from Tonasket sales, so would need to sell outside of the town. How could this be done so the income would be enough to MAL? The answer to this question is The answer I Ask you to ponder, and share if you wish to.

Distribution is the short and simple answer. But what Devil Details do You see in it?

Distribution is the way to go, but it does add "Devil Details" to the package. It is so much easier to put across face to face. But here goes:

1. I would make the kits lighter and more compact by removing the camera. This would also make them cheaper to produce and lower the selling point but increase the profit margin. Yes I know that is one feature that makes it unique but there are other selling points. (today a lot of people have cell phone cameras and I would add an instruction sheet on what to take pictures of) The Insurance form, Step-by-step instructions on what to do in case of an accident, Add a Maintainence/Repair form and set the target market at the New and Used Auto Dealers only. (easy to get info on Dealers and they spend a lot of money on their prospects)

1A I would also make sure most of the items in the package were items that were used up on a regular basis so I can get repeat sales to the same customers.

2. Would offer to make Custom Kits for each dealer by letting them brainstorm with their sales personal on what to add to the kits. Like custom referral cards, Custom Auto air freshners, etc. (all being light weight and inexpensive items to include)

3. Would set up a mail and phone campaign (and/or answering service) to reach these dealers in other areas. Also would set up a web site to promote kits to Auto Dealers. Web site would be only for lead generation (with lots of content to help them increase sales) and sales would be done by phone and/or mail and fax.

4. Once system is proven and workable (would start with my closest big city and then work outwards) I would then set up "affiliates" for each region or area.

Doing the above it would bring down the retail price from $5 or $6 dollars to under $2 bucks each. This would allow me to sell large orders instead of Mom and Pop sales. But my costs per kit would also be reduced to under 60 cents each for an increase in profit margin.

Now not everyone can do what is needed or has the knowledge to set up such a program or the resources. They would have to learn what is needed and if they did not have the investment they would have to do some "Quick Cash Concepts" to acquire the needed funds.

I know I could set up this program (with a lot of work) and once it is set up it will almost run itself with the help of good affiliates. But I think for a newbie or limited sales person this would be a daunting task.

With some more thinking on the subject I might be able to reduce the learning curve more but it would still take a person some time to aquire the knowledge needed. This world not be a quick fix to a money problem.


Of your 1,000 sales, how many were for MMO and thus circular?

I would say about 80 to 85 percent were MMO type products or IM type of products. That is because I used the $7 offer site and it is the area I work in most. Of the 15% that was other markets the total conversions and sales were less but still profitable. When I was testing this I used only Paypal sales type of products, thus limiting myself from other products and services that I believe would be more profitable. But I wanted a program that would self fund its self so there would not be a "Lag period" between start and the first paycheck.


And based on your experience with your Name & Title technique, how many Non-MMO Campaigns would a person have to set up to MAL? And let's define that as $30,000 a year.

I believe by doing 10 campaigns a day for a few months you could have, lets say 1,000 campaigns and by weeding out the bad and expanding the good campaigns you could have 100 campaigns bringing in a $1 profit a day or more. That would equal $100 per day for a total of $36,000 per year.

I don't think it is unreasonable to shoot for 10 campaigns a day that produce a profit of $1 a day. Start with one week and do 50 campaigns then see what is working in what markets and expand on the profitable campaigns and cut the losing campaigns. You can have more then 1 campaign in each market so you can expand on the profitable markets.

You will be using keywords that only produce 100 to 500 searches per month. These type of keywords are not being pursued by the experts in PPC so the competition is less and you can get top billing for under 5 cents per click.

Also some one that is hunting for an author is most likely to be a rabid fan of that niche that spends money on their passion. To make this work even better I found by revesing the authors name like so (last name first, first name last) the conversions are higher. I guess those people searching that way are more educated and that is the way they learned in school how to search for an author.

This method needs more testing then just the tests that I did to see how it works in other markets. But as you find a market that is hot you will have several campaigns set up that will hopefully pay for the long term.

Sorry I can not be more reasuring in other markets but my tests have been limited in other markets and that is why I put this out to the public. I hope to get feed back from others that try this method.

Best of success,

Skip Rosell

Michael,

Thanks for bringing up a great point.

Also, I feel much of the ideas concentrate too much on What to do and not actually How to do it.

For example: In Skips Free Report he wrote "Use a software program to get the misspellings of those two phrases and use all of them for your keyword list in your PPC campaign."

That is WHAT to do - good What, but still What. HOW do I do this? Who knows? I don't know what this software is called, where to find it, how to search for it, nothing. And so I end up coming off the rails at that point. I know WHAT to do but not HOW.

I agree with you about the "What" and the "How" but let's look at this from the writer's view.

I don't know about others but when I write a report almost every sentence lends itself to the question should I expand on this point. In fact just the point you make above "Use a software program to get the misspellings of those two phrases and use all of them for your keyword list in your PPC campaign." I though about expanding on when I wrote it.

I have to decide what to expand on and what not to expand on otherwise my report gets out of control. I mean I could start every report with how to search the web, how to copy and paste, etc. I have to decide on Who my target market is and write to that crowd. On the point above I thought instead of expanding I could put a link to the information. But that again causes problems by taking the reader away from the report and breaks the flow of the report. ( I know what you might say to that statement. Skip, what is more important the flow of the report or giving me the information I need.)

In most of my reports I try to answer the questions that I think might arise in the readers mind but cannot do that for every level of every person.

Not that one report as much as other reports I write. I wrote that as a quick answer to a post and was not trying to "Tell All". In most reports I try to include the information needed and balance it with what the reader needs to do on their own. If I answered every question to every level the report would not make much sence to me or the reader. And to leave a link to every question would make the report boorrring by them flipping back and forth.

I do leave a lot of links in most of my reports to answer questions and give the information they need and at the end of ALL my reports I ask them to email me if they have a question. Then I take the questions I get the most and update the report to include the answers.

But you would be suprised to know the number of emails I get asking questions. About 1 out of every 500 reports I sell. You see even if I don't answer the question of "how" on one point I give them a source to get that answered. All they have to do is ASK. I have also over looked a "how" question in my reports because of what you say: The writer "Knows the answer and is taking it for granted that all others do to".

When that happens to a reader, if they are really interested in making the program work, they should contact the author and ASK. It help the writer to update the report which will answer the how question to future purchasers.

To balance the report with the readers level is a hard thing to do for me anyway. I try to include the most information on the nuts and bolts of the idea and Yes I do gloss over some points. My Bad. I will have to do better in the future with the help of my readers.

I have some reports on my computer that will most likely never see the light of day because of this very problem. I have wrote so much to make it so detail that the reports have gotten out of control and I would have to charge much more for a report that started as a $10 report. Which means, I will price the report out of the reach of my core customer.

Luckly these out of reach reports are on subjects that I love to talk and write about so I enjoyed every minute of it.

Anyway that is the view from my side of things. I write to my market which I believe is like the knowledgable Sowpubbers here that know the finer technques of searching the web. That way if I mess up and don't give the how details they can do the research on their own and get the answers. If not Please, Please ask.

Best of success,

Skip Rosell