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5 WAYS TO GENERATE QUICK CASH YOU NEED BY RUNNING A MINI-BUSINESS, PART 1

It happens to all of us. You’ve left your full-time job for the freedom of self-employment. Things are going well, but then that big bill comes due. Where will you get the extra cash? If you plan ahead, this won’t be a problem. One of the best things a newly independent businessperson can do is to run a mini-business in addition to the regular business. The mini-business acts as a fast cash generator to help you along in those tight times.

The ideal mini-business can be operated in a total of one or two days per week, with a minimum of upfront time and expense. This leaves enough time and resources for your major business. Depending on the type of full-time business you’re running, your mini-business could be an offshoot of your main business, or something completely different. In most cases, service businesses will be the most adaptable to your needs.

Before I go into some examples of mini-businesses, I’d like to cover an essential skill for every businessperson, especially if they’ll be running a secondary business. This subject is TIME-MANAGEMENT.

TIME MANAGEMENT

I remember when I first started my business. I held a full-time job at the same time and worked at least three to four hours every night, and most of Saturday and Sunday, in my own business, just to keep up. I thought there weren’t enough hours in the day. I know I drove my family crazy! Anyway, it all added up to major stress. Do you feel this way?

If you do, you need to do what I did: learn to manage you time. It wasn’t until I took a time management course that I realized how much time I was wasting on unimportant or disorganized tasks. You need to learn to say NO to the time-wasters and to organize and prioritize the important things. Once I started managing my time, I found I had enough time to get everything for my newsletter done, PLUS enough time to write full-length books and market them successfully! You can, too.

The first thing you should do is purchase a daily planning system. If you go to an office supply discounter, you should find a selection of sizes, styles, and prices. You don’t need a big, expensive one, but find one that will be big enough for your own needs. I use a Franklin planner, but any of the others will work just as well. They all work with the same principles of organizing and prioritizing.

If you don't want to purchase a daily planner, you can accomplish many of the same things with a modified "To-Do" list. Now, almost all of us make To-Do lists. They usually consist of a list of tasks that get crossed off when they're done. This is good, but not good enough. Here's what your To-Do list should look like. You can use this as an example to create you own with you computer.

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/ X / PRIORITY / TASK
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/   /          /
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/   /          /
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/   /          /
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/   /          /
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/   /          /  
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When using this list, first fill-in the tasks you want to accomplish in the “TASKS” column. Write down EVERYTHING you want to do. When you have all your tasks written down, assign priorities. Give all the important “must do” tasks an “A” priority. Tasks that are somewhat important, that can be done if there’s time, get a “B”. Totally unimportant tasks get a “C”. Once you’ve assigned letter priorities, organize your list further by assigning number priorities within each letter group. Look through your “A” list and pick the most important task that MUST be done first. Write a “1″ next to the “A”. Continue through your “A” list, and then start over with the “B” and “C” lists.

You now have a road map for your day. Do the “A1″ task first. When it’s done, DON’T cross the task out, like you might have done on your old-fashioned To-Do list. Instead, put a check mark in the box to the left of the task’s priority.

At the end of the day, you’ll be able to see exactly what you were able to accomplish. Any “A” or “B” tasks still unaccomplished can be transferred to tomorrow’s list. Cross out any “C” tasks that remain. You’ve just eliminated a group of time-wasters!

While you’re transferring “A” and “B” tasks to tomorrow’s list, think about how you could have freed up time during the day to have done them. Were you distracted by the TV for a while? Did you stroll into the backyard to talk to your neighbor? Stick to the list religiously and you’ll get more done.

This might sound corny, but making a written, prioritized list will really help you be more productive. You’ll see exactly what’s important to do, and what you can say NO to (an important skill to have!). You can’t argue with something that’s written down. Just be sure to be realistic when assigning priorities, then single-mindedly finish your tasks according to their priorities.

Give this time management system a try. It only takes five minutes a day, at most, and you’ll be amazed at how much more you can accomplish (including a secondary business)!

This is part one of a five part series.  Click to read part two, three, four, or five.

A NEW TYPE OF GIFT BASKET GUARANTEED TO BRING MASSIVE PROFITS!

The gift basket industry has exploded over the past few years and continues to be a consistent money maker for those involved in it. In many ways, it’s the ideal business. You can run it from the home. It’s an extremely inexpensive business to start (you only need supplies and a marketing budget). The product is in demand (who doesn’t like getting an artistic basket with fresh fruit, candies, or cheeses?). Competition isn’t much of a problem (you can easily set yourself off from the rest by producing specialized types of baskets). It’s a dynamic business that is changing and developing with the times.

One of the newest developments is the CANDY FLOWER BASKET. This is a new type of gift basket that will definitely set you apart from your competition. It’s very artistic and creative, and pretty, too! The Candy Flower Basket is easy to make, and will turn heads wherever it is given.

Here’s what you need for a Candy Flower Basket: You’ll need a basket, of course, preferably around the size of a medium to large flower pot (remember, we’ll have “flowers” here). Next, a large piece of flower arranging or art Styrofoam, large enough to fit in the bottom of the basket, filling it well and reaching up to around 3 inches below the lip of the basket. Also, plenty of stiff, green wire used in flower arranging; green flower tape; 2 1/2″ green wood sticks, pointed on one end, blunt on the other; thin wire; a good supply of different wrapped hard candies, preferably with colorful wrappers (yellow, orange, red, pink, and other “flower” colors are best); and, finally, a LOT of bright, colorful cellophane sheets (green and red, especially). Many of these supplies can be found at craft stores or flower arranging supply stores.

First, we’ll make our candy flowers. Cut the stiff green wire into 1 foot lengths. Make around 15 for a decent size basket. Now, sort your candies by wrapper color. You’ll need 5 or 6 candies per wire. Take one of the candies and hold one twisted end of the wrapper against the end of the wire. Now, wrap the green floral tape tightly around the wrapper and wire a few times. Don’t tear the tape; once the candy is firmly attached to the wire, continue the tape down the wire and wrap another candy around 1 to 1 1/2 inches below the first, depending on how many candies you’ll put on the wire. Continue this down the wire. When you’ve wrapped 5 or 6 of the same candies on the top half of the wire, trail your tape off another inch or two on the wire. You’ve just made your first candy flower! Set that one aside and start on the next one. Try to have at least 4 different types of candies, so all the flowers won’t be the same color.

Next, wrap the Styrofoam in green cellophane and put it into the bottom of the basket. Take your colored cellophane sheets and cut around fifty 6″ x 10″ rectangles. Don’t worry about making them perfectly sized. Take one of the rectangles and loosely fold it in half the short way (to make a 6″ x 5″ rectangle) and then in half the long way (to make a 3″ x 5″ rectangle). Don’t crease the folds, and again, don’t worry about being perfect — it’ll look better if it’s not. Insert this rectangle into one of the open spaces closed point down (the point that would be the center of the rectangle, if it was unfolded. Do this with 20 to 25 of the rectangles, until the open spaces are filled, though not tightly. Fluff the open corners of the rectangles out.

Now, insert your flowers into the Styrofoam. Space them out evenly, and put around four inches of the wire down into the foam, so it’s secure. Here’s a tip — slightly curve the wire and insert it at a slight angle, so the flowers sit realistically. Real flower bouquets don’t stand straight up.

Finally, take one of the remaining cellophane rectangles, and fold it in the same way as you did with the “fill-in” rectangles. Now, take one of the short green sticks and a six inch length of the thin copper wire. Wrap the wire three or four times around the blunt end of the stick, around 1/8″ from the end. Put around 1/2″ of the closed corner of the rectangle against the blunt end of the stick, and wrap the remaining wire tightly around it. Insert this in the Styrofoam, in between the flowers. Do this with the remaining rectangles, cutting more if necessary to completely hide the Styrofoam and fill out the basket. When done, fluff the open corners out.

You now have a Candy Flower Basket! The best thing about this is the fact that it looks BETTER after the candy is removed! Put a note in with your basket suggesting that people unwrap only the unattached end of the wrapper to remove a candy. The candies look like buds while they’re wrapped; they look like looming flowers with the candy removed! Try it with one of your flowers and you’ll see!

Take into account the cost of your supplies and your time when pricing your Candy Flower Basket. These can be a bit time-consuming, but you can always make a large stock of flowers and fill-in “greenery” ahead of time while watching TV. Or, get some friends involved. Baskets like this can easily be sold for $25 to $40, depending on the size of the basket, with only a few dollars worth of supplies. Their uniqueness will definitely be an important selling point. Make a few baskets of different sizes up, for sales examples.

Candy Flower Baskets can be a great addition to your line, if you already produce gift baskets, or they can be a fantastic way to start out in this profitable business. And don’t think it’s just for women; there are many men who are producing great gift baskets out there. Anyone, young or old, can produce these baskets and make massive profits… and have a lot of fun in the process!

HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (Part 2 of 2)

Part 1

The first part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (1 of 2)” was published last Friday.

WHY DO PEOPLE BUY INFORMATION?

An important thing to keep in mind is that every single person who buys an information product does it for one of two reasons: to avoid a pain, or to find a pleasure. Sometimes the reason they bought the product could be both. For example, why did you buy this issue (or subscription)? Did you want to learn ways to make extra money? That’s finding a pleasure. Or, did you want independence from working for someone else for the rest of your life? That’s avoiding a pain. Use this fact as a guide that will help you attack an information subject from the proper angle. Show your target market how to find the pleasure or avoid the pain, and they will buy.

How do you find information on a subject you’re writing about? There are many ways. Your local library can provide most of the information you’ll need. You can interview experts on the subject, either in person, or through the mail or phone. Write to groups and associations connected with the subject. Whatever you do, though, DON’T just copy the information you find. This will more than likely violate copyright rules.

DON’T WANT TO WRITE?

If you still don’t feel like you can successfully write an information product, or just don’t want to, there is still a way you can get a successful start in this business. What you need to do is find information that is either PUBLIC DOMAIN or includes REPRINT RIGHTS.

Public domain means no one controls the copyright. Either it is older material that never had the copyright renewed, or it was released free of copyright to the public. One excellent source of copyright-free material on a myriad of subjects is the U.S. Government Printing Office. If you want some information on a certain subject, or want to get on their mailing list, write:

Superintendent of Documents
Government Printing Office
Washington, DC 20402

The best type of material to look for, though, is information products that include reprint rights. In other words, when you buy the product, you also buy the right to reproduce it and resell it. Many times, a sales flyer or advertisement is included, with a spot left open for your name and address, so you can immediately start making a profit. This is a secret of the business that has been kept our of the general public eye. You can find droves of material like this mostly from mail order dealers who specialize in informational products. Everything from single page reports to full books are available. Besides being great for starting out, reprintable materials are also fantastic as add-ons to your own line of products. That’s what I do, and it works great!

When you purchase an information package including reprint rights, the smart thing to do is type the material into your word processor, and save it to your hard disk. That way, when you receive an order, all you need to do is print out a copy.

A breakthrough in the reprint rights business has been the emergence of reprintable material already on disk. Most of the products are contained in ASCII text files, which can be loaded by almost any word processor. Some of the disks even contain menu and printing programs, so your word processor isn’t required. I have an excellent product like this available, called the INFO-DISK Business Report System, which contains over 120 reports that you can print out and sell. The package includes personalized flyers and ads, so you can get started right away. I’ll tell you more about this later… back to the information!

By the way, you don’t have to limit yourself to the printed page. Information can be published on audio cassette, computer disk, video tape, use your imagination! If you’re writing about how to refurbish old bicycles make a video! You can do it with a regular home video camera, with some practice. Or, create your product on audio tape. This can be as simple as reading your printed info-product into a tape recorder. Thus, your customer can listen and learn while driving, riding a bike, or whatever.

Whatever publishing method you use, be sure to copyright your original material (even if you’re creating a product that will be sold with reprint rights - you still own the copyright, you just give certain people the right to reprint your work). This can be done easily and with no expense by putting a copyright notice on your product, such as this: Copyright 1993, Pat Flanagan Publishing & Design. Either spell out “Copyright” or use the official copyright symbol (the letter “c” with a circle around it). Don’t use (c), as this is not legally acceptable. If you have put together valuable information that people may want to copy, you can officially register your copyright. Call the U.S. Copyright Office at (202) 287-9100, and they will send an application form, along with full instructions.

MARKETING YOUR INFO-PRODUCT

I’ve written a lot about marketing in many of the articles in my own and other publications. All of the methods I’ve discussed are applicable for info-products. For example, read the report on this disk titled “Power marketing with your Modem” for some good low cost publicity methods.

The most important marketing methods you can use are press releases (send them frequently); reviewers (get your product to as many of them as you can); articles/columns (offer to write articles on your subjects for publications free of charge - as long as they include a short paragraph you supply that contains your name and address, and a short description of how readers can benefit from you and your products); and, of course advertising.

When advertising, the best method to use is the two-step. That’s not a dance; it’s advertising that asks for inquiries instead of selling the product outright. People write for more information, and you send them a ton of info on your products and services. This is what draws the order. It’s much less expensive, easier, and produces better results than a bunch of expensive ads which will send you to the poorhouse if they don’t pull.

There are many ways to cut your mail order ad expenses. You can use expanding classified ads (your classified ad gives a “teaser” message with a phone number - callers get an answering machine that delivers a 2-3 minute sales message, and takes credit card or COD orders); you can use print & mail dealers (they will print and mail your flyers or ads by bulk mail to large numbers of people - usually opportunity seekers - for much cheaper than if you tried to do it yourself); you can advertise electronically on computer Bulletin Board Systems; you can create your own ad sheets (your ad takes up part of a sheet or sheets of paper, and you sell the rest of the space to pay your ad’s way - this is a business in and of itself); and you can set up your own advertising agency (most large magazines and newspapers give agencies a 15% discount and an additional 2% discount if paying in advance - create a new business name with new letterhead to do this).

IMPORTANT RULES TO FOLLOW FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS

Guarantee your products - Offer a money back guarantee on your products. If you feel uneasy doing this, maybe your product isn’t as good as it could be. If you are proud and confident about what you’ve created, you shouldn’t have any qualms about doing this. A guarantee will boost your sales by building customer confidence.

Always be good-natured with your customers, even when they complain - If you’re surly with your customers, they’ll tell others not to do business with you. Enough said.

Keep your ears and eyes open - Watch what others in your field are doing. If you see a company that has come up with a good idea, think about how to adapt it to your own business.

Walk a straight path - Be honest, pay your taxes, be ethical, etc. You’ll sleep much better at night.

Don’t be afraid to admit your mistakes or failures - You won’t hit a home run every time you go to bat. If you create a product that doesn’t sell, don’t run your business into the ground trying to get it to sell. Drop it and move on. Keep plugging away, because mail order is a “get-rich-slow” business when done right.

Share your knowledge - Once you’re good at this business, help others get in. Teach a beginner what you’ve learned. This is called mentoring, and I feel it’s an important concept. It helps you stay in touch with your business, and helps the home business and small business industries grow and advance.

Above all, HAVE FUN! - Why work so hard to get into your own business if you don’t even like it? Take things lightly, and have a bit of fun. Self-publishing can be a very rewarding, relaxing and fun business. Stay at home with the family, work a few hours a day, and enjoy what you’ve accomplished.

CONCLUSION

Self-publishing your own info-products can be done by anyone who’s willing to apply themselves and reach past their limits. It’s not as hard or expensive as you think. Start small, with a few short reports, and work your way up. Look at me - I’ve publish a newsletter, a book, this disk, and literally hundreds of info-products, all from an office in my home. If I can, you can too!

Part 1

The first part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (1 of 2)” was published last Friday.

HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (Part 1 of 2)

Why did you buy your computer? Did you buy it to play games? Fair enough. Did you buy it to help you keep track of your current business? Good answer, too. Not sure why you bought it? That’s okay. That probably describes most people.

Here’s something you should know… your computer is an important tool that can springboard you into a very high-profit business! How high? 1000% profits good enough for you? If not, you’re too greedy, but if that sounds good to you, read this report. You’ll learn how you can start a highly profitable business creating and selling INFORMATION PRODUCTS with your computer.

Selling information is, in my opinion, THE best business. Why? Well, there are a number of reasons. Among them,

• It’s easy and inexpensive to start
• It’s easy and inexpensive to run on an ongoing basis
• It can be run in spare time or full time
• Anyone, young or old, male or female can do it
• It can be run from the home
• It can have incredibly high profits
• There’s no need to tie up a bunch of money in inventory

A very important aspect of this business is that people will ALWAYS want information. It’s not a business based on trends or fads (unless you’re writing about them), and competition isn’t as big a factor as in other businesses. There may be other people writing about the same subjects as you, but there will always be many angles and approaches that can be taken toward the same subject. This will make your information product unique.

There is no limit to the types of subjects that can successfully be sold. People will always want to know: ways they can make or save money; information about hobbies they either are involved in or want to start; travel tips and techniques; how-to information about various trades and businesses; and much more. The secret to doing this successfully is called TARGETING.

Targeting means that you are producing specialized information that will appeal to a specific group of people. To paraphrase an old adage, if you try to be all things to all people, you won’t succeed. But, if you try to be a certain thing for a certain group, you WILL succeed.

The trend that has shaped and reshaped this business, more than any other, has been the explosion of direct mail marketing. People are buying more and more by mail, and it seems like each year doubles the previous year. The great thing about direct mail marketing is that there are many ways you can isolate a specific group of people and market directly to that group.

To put this another way, if you put an ad in a newspaper that has a circulation of 25,000, maybe only 5,000, or even 1,000 or less, will be interested in what you have to offer. However, if you put your ad in a publication that has a circulation of 25,000 people interested in fishing, you’ve just targeted a group that will be interested in what you have to offer (as long as your offer has to do with fishing). The more you narrow down your target group to the exact people who will be interested in your information products, the more success you will see. This is targeting.

So how does your computer help you in this business? Well, besides the obvious uses of keeping your customer list and organizing your accounting needs, your computer can completely eliminate the need for inventory. That’s right! Create your info-products with your word processing program, and you can print them out whenever you need them, however many you need. That way, you don’t tie up a lot of money in printing and storage, plus, if you happen to create an info-product that DOESN’T sell (everyone does - just ask me!), you don’t get stuck with a bunch of product you can’t sell.

Also, the computer makes it easier to create these products. You say you can’t write? Well, don’t get scared away. You don’t have to be Tolstoy in this business. Here’s the secret: WHEN YOU WRITE SOMETHING, PRETEND YOU’RE TALKING TO A FRIEND! MAKE IT LIKE A CONVERSATION, AND IT WILL BE EASY TO WRITE, AND EASY TO READ. That’s exactly how I write. I do all my writing just like I’m sitting across the table from a friend of mine, or writing a friendly letter. Too many people churn out stilted, boring, college professor-type writing, thinking it sounds “high-minded” or “educated.” It’s just hard to read, that’s all. Conversational writing is the best, and the computer makes it easy. If you can type with any reasonable speed, you can type faster and longer than you could write, without getting tired.

PICKING YOUR SUBJECTS

What to write about? Make a list of everything you know. I know, that can be easier said than done. You may think you don’t know enough about much of anything to write about, but that’s not true. All of your hobbies, interests, work experiences, etc. can be great starting points.

Don’t worry about how much information you can pull out of a subject. Info-products aren’t all 200 page books. Successful information products have ranges from large books all the way down to single page reports! A three page report that costs less than 50 cents to print out and send can be sold for $5. What percent profit is that?

Pick a subject from your list that you think would interest a good number of people. Now, list the possible questions you could answer. The best way to organize them for an info-product is usually the “problem-solution” method, where you state the problem or question, then give the solution or answer. Now, talk to your imaginary friend! Tell him or her story. If it helps, talk out loud into a tape recorder! Then, type it with your word processor. You’ve just created your first info-product!

Another, more powerful way to create an information product is to find a market that is hungry for information, then research and write products that will feed this hunger. If you know the market is already there, then half your work is done for you!

How do you go about finding these markets? By doing a little creative research. The simplest method is to go to your library, and get at least eight consecutive months or more of magazines that have large classified and mail order ad sections. Look through the ads and find the ones that keep appearing in each issue. These ads are obviously drawing orders, or else they wouldn’t keep running. Make a list of the subjects of these ads. These will be some good markets to explore. And don’t worry about the competition! Offer these markets something different and better, and you’ll find success.

Part 2

The second and final part of “HOW TO TURN YOUR COMPUTER INTO A MONEY-MAKING BATTLEAXE! (2 of 2)” will be available next Monday.

WHY IS THERE SO MUCH JUNKY STUFF IN THE MAIL THESE DAYS?

I hear it all the time: “There is so much junky stuff in the mail. Most of the stuff is crooked, hard to read, copied 100 times and ugly. I wouldn’t order from them regardless of what they were selling.” I agree!

In fact — I have wondered what would possess people to actually send out some of this “junky” stuff. Don’t they realize it will cost them a great loss in potential sales? Don’t they care? Don’t they realize that they are actually LOSING money?

However, remember the old saying: “The rich get richer and the poor get poorer?” While a poor person of today can be a rich person of tomorrow — a person that stays poor their entire life does so because they have made themselves that way. They have never learned the proper way to conduct business in order for it to turn a profit for them. Some of them may have tried and tried — but for some reason, they continually made bad decisions to keep themselves poor.

Let me give you a common example of what I mean. Around the first of the month, go grocery shopping. This is the time that people shop who are on fixed incomes and draw food stamp benefits. (I consider this the poor side of America.)

Now — watch their buying habits very carefully. Very rarely will you see someone use manufacturers’ coupons to save money. Very rarely do you see them purchase a brand name product (unless its cigarettes or beer.) Most of the poor people ALWAYS purchase unbranded products. These are fine in some circumstances, but if a poor person buys a unbranded name of laundry detergent or dishwashing liquid — it will run out 3 or 4 times faster than name brands like Dawn, Ivory and Palmolive. Sure — the name brand costs more in the beginning, but the long term effects will save the poor person lots of money!

What does going to the grocery store and watching poor people have to do with junky mail? Plenty! Junky mail is created by people who will never be more than they are today — OR they are people who have been taught by bad teachers and are trying to do what they are told. The fact remains through — ANYBODY can look at other things that come in the mail and learn from them. EVERYONE gets mailings from large companies that are written by professionals to sell products. All the mail order dealer has got to do is READ them.

When a piece of mail arrives that appears professional and looks like it came from a company who had a lot of money — dissect it. Find a way that YOU can make your materials look like theirs for a price within your budget.

One problem that some dealers have who mail this “junky” stuff is that they don’t believe they can look good without investing a lot of money. It doesn’t take a lot of money to look good. Just like it doesn’t take a lot of money to take a bath every day! You can still be poor but accomplish the same goal.

Another downfall for “junky” mail pieces is that quick-copy machines have made it easy for anyone to make copies. Copy machines are at most grocery and drug stores, libraries and convenient marts across America. Some people buy a desktop copier for $300 or $400 and use it to make copies of their adsheets; while others order typesetting and make copies of their camera-ready ads so they’ll have more copies.

This is all fine and dandy if you are copying a first-generation master, but if you are running a program or commission circular dealership you can’t get by with making quick copies and expect the quality to hold up. Suppose you have a typesetter design you a 8.5″x11″ circular for your program. You will give new dealers a copy of the circular from your original master the typesetter designed.

The new dealer now has a second-generation copy. He or she signs up new dealers and makes a copy of your copy. Those dealers are now getting a third-generation copy, which is probably looking poor and worn-out by this time.

Now, the guy with the third-generation copy sends it to a tabloid publisher who prints and mails it in their publication. This particular printing is now in it’s fourth-generation. Can you imagine what it looks like now?

Don’t believe me? Try it on a copier yourself. Take a camera-ready master and make a copy. Take the copy and make another copy from it. Compare the difference between this second copy and the camera-ready master. You’ll see how the circular is deteriorating — regardless of how professional it was originally typeset! This is one reason mail order is looking “junky” and it’s up to everyone to put a stop to it!

And don’t make the decision to keep your business poor and non-productive! Instead, you could be the next Montgomery Ward!