BJM Free Press |

WHERE TO PURCHASE YOUR OFFICE SUPPLIES

Whatever you do, DO NOT, purchase your office supplies at your local drug or grocery store. The office supplies sold here are only for people who want to write a letter back home to Mom and Dad, or to send an occasional greeting to a friend. Businesses do not purchase their office supplies from these types of stores because of the extreme difference in price. My mother used to always purchase her business envelopes at the grocery store. She thought the price was very cheap when she only paid $1.29 for 50 envelopes. Her lined writing tablet contained 100 sheets for around $1.29 also.

However, I can drive right down the street to Staples Office Supply and purchase 500 envelopes for $4.00 — 10 TIMES the quantity for only $2.71 more. In addition, I can buy 500 sheets of 8 1/2×11 laser paper for $2.99. So not only am I getting TWICE more the size of paper (her writing tablet was approximately a 6×9 area) but I also got 5 TIMES the amount of paper — and all this was only $1.70 more! What a difference! So don’t be fooled on supposedly cheap pricing of office supplies.

If you live in a small area that does not have any office supply stores, you need to contact: Quill Corporation, PO Box 94080, Palatine IL 60094-4080 and request their latest catalog. Since I have been in business-related situations all my life I have had to learn how to cut corners all the time — I have found Quill to have the best mail order prices around. Not only is everything reasonably priced — they don’t have a sale and raise prices on everything else like some other company’s do. This tactic that some company’s use is blatant abuse and demonstrates bold faced greed!

What Do I Buy?

Most every small business will need the following “staple” supplies to start with:

• paper (typing paper or paper for your computer printer)
• ink pens
• tape and tape dispenser
• stapler and staples
• paper clips and dispenser
• 1 or 2, 3-ring binders
• 3-hole punch
• envelopes (business size #10)
• 8 1/2×11 paper trays or wire baskets for organizing the “to do” and “to do later” pile manila file folders and labels
• hanging files to fit in your file cabinet (I started out using a banker’s cardboard storage box so the hanging files would fit; since I didn’t have the money to afford a metal file cabinet)
• ruler
• scissors
• staple puller
• rubber bands
• glue stick or other paper glue
• highlighter markers
• scrap note paper or post-it note pad (get in a habit of writing everything down so you can follow-up effectively)
• roladex or address book

This should be enough to set-up any basic office. Your filing system is the most important thing to your business right now. If you start it out right you can keep up with it. Neglecting to set it up correctly in the beginning will start a pattern that is very hard to break later on — and can eventually destroy your business. Let’s take a couple minutes to discuss some basic accounting procedures so you can set your files up correctly from the very beginning.

The Next Step

As soon get your beginning office supplies, before you do any business by mail you need to get a letterhead and envelope. People will not take you seriously until you do. One simple and easy way to get these two items is to type your name, address and phone number at the top of a piece of white paper. Either print it out on the laser printer of your computer or have a competent typesetter like Muchmore Marketing, PO Box 50027, Reno NV 89513 do it for you. (The cost is around $5.)

You then purchase some nice letterhead stationary at your office supply store and copy your letterhead onto the paper. Letterhead stationary is not expensive either and the best grade only runs about $7 for 250 sheets. It’s money well spent.

To obtain your business envelope, check with mail order printers. Prices normally are $24 per 1,000.

COMBAT DEPRESSION!

Last week when I visited the post office my post office box was overflowing with orders. I had so much mail that they left little Notice Cards in my box everyday stating “Too Much Mail to Fit in Box.” One day, I had to get a plastic container just to carry the mail home. At the end of the week, I had made about $1,200 in orders!

What an ego rush! I was flying high and soaring in the clouds. However, I forgot the money I needed to spend to fill the orders. I thought, “Oh, I’ll make it. It won’t cost much!” Unfortunately, I spent money unnecessarily because I anticipated receiving the same type of business the next week to make up for any overspending I had done this week. But guess what? The next week brought in a total of $150 in orders — and the week after that brought in only $10! Can you believe it? I was heartbroken!

After the $10 week, depression set in. I kept saying “What will I do now? I spent the $1,200 and only have $80 to my name. Rent will be due in a couple weeks and I’m flat broke — simply because I let money go to my head because I was temporarily “rich.”

This is one example of how a business works sometimes and it’s important to not take everything for granted. As employees of other companies, we were use to the fact of receiving a paycheck every week. Whether we worked, hard or not, our paycheck was always the same, and always on time. All we had to do was put in our 8-hours, 5-days a week.

Also, we were not used to spending any money to fill orders. If we needed to mail something, we sent it to the mail room or ran it through the postage meter. As employees, we didn’t pay for the postage out of our own pockets. Our employer took care of it. That also goes for supplies. If we ran out of paper for our typewriter, we went to the supply cabinet and got a pack out. We never worried about spending our own money to pay for office supplies.

But when you own and operate your own business money is hard to come by — especially the first few years. You generate your own income! So instead of thinking about riches and glory — think about improving upon what you already have. If you have a $1,200 week, pat yourself on the back — but don’t be stupid like I did and spend it thinking you’ll have the same amount next week. This may not happen for another 6 months!

Instead, find out “why” you generated this much money one week and hardly anything the next week. Did you stop marketing because you didn’t think you had to anymore? Did you spend time filling all those $1,200 worth of orders and generating back-end sales? (A back-end sale is placing some form of advertising in with the orders you fill that will generate additional sales. These items should be for products and services that either compliment or are the same as the product the customer purchased.)

Were all the orders that made up the $1,200 week for the same product or different ones? Where did you advertise in order to generate this response?

Was it a specific publication or a combination of several of them? Were the orders for something that people run out of frequently (i.e., printing, typesetting and advertising?) If so — you can have a special offer for these same customers in a few weeks with a money-saving coupon for them to use. This will generate repeat business and the likelihood of another $1,200 week in the near future.

However, if you do spend the money like I did, and depression sets in — just sit down for a moment and reflect on what you do have: a roof over your head, food to eat, a legitimate business that will grow and possibly steady out in the future, peace of mind and the ability to work on your own without employers and people breathing down your neck!

In addition, if you spend the money and cannot buy the supplies to fill the orders DON’T just avoid your customers and hope they’ll understand. Instead, send them a postcard that simply explains that you had such a large response that you sold out of the item. Tell them approximately “when” their order will be filled and “when” to expect it. If you can’t possibly fill the order within 30 days, give your customer the option of getting their money back or better yet — issue them a Credit Voucher to use on future purchases.

If you have no income at all and cannot possibly refund people’s money offer them something in return that you can provide. You need to find some way to compensate your customers. Remember that they trusted you enough to see your ad, write out a check and spend their hard-earned money on you. They may not have a lot of money either. Avoiding them will turn you into a “rip-off” artist with no future in the industry!

THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “US” AND “THEM”

Tonight I visited a business owner (casual friend) of mine. She owns a publishing business similar to mine but her customer base is the local market. She bids on contracts for the City, County, State and Federal Governments and draws a large income on a monthly basis.

Being the silent sort of “jeans and T-shirt” type person that I am, I sat down waiting for her to take a break. She began showing me a 37-page publication she had just completed. I thumbed through it and said, “The layout looks great but the words look boring.” (the words consisted of legal language and a lot of numbers that probably nobody really reads). She immediately snapped back; “Well you’d learn to like it if you got paid the $3,500.00 I did for doing it.”

I snapped back, “I might not make as much money you do, but I can get up any time I want, go to bed any time I want, not have to put on make-up and attend round-table meetings, put on an act to win some governmental contract, or deal with stringent deadlines and corporate bull. So, my situation suits me fine!”

Of course this (casual) friend is used to me being outspoken and she doesn’t hate me for life — but it suddenly dawned on me that mail order dealers are a RARE BREED. Most of us enjoy our little hum-drum, lonely existence. We like spending time on each customer order, not being rushed by them standing over our shoulder and asking when it’ll be done.

We also enjoy taking the time to get to know our customers as our friends. Yes — good mail order dealers build personal relationships. They help each other out. They co-op deals together and refer business to one another. In fact — they are REAL people with REAL lives. Most mail order dealers are very down-to-earth and cut through a lot of the “bull” that corporations make a part of their everyday curriculum.

In normal, high-pressure business a type of “game” comes into play. People play the game of brown-nosing just to land a big contract. They attend parties and associate with people they honesty don’t like just to be accepted and get the “inside deals.” All of these things are done for the love of money.

But in most small mail order businesses — we don’t have to conduct our lives in this fashion and live out these horrible nightmares. We have removed money as the ONLY driving force in our life and place PRODUCTS and QUALITY first. And because of this, we don’t have to take a lot of bull. We can do whatever we want. People can’t force us to do anything we don’t want to do. Money doesn’t buy us. We don’t have a price on our foreheads and aren’t displayed in the bargain-store window for the highest bidder. Therefore, we end up being our own person. This is what freedom is all about!

If you had a choice of being financially rich and physically abused OR being poor and well loved — what choice would you make? Only a fool would choose money over love and peace of mind. But that’s exactly what some people do. I’ve worked in many offices where “tattle tales” would pretend to be your friend so they could run back to the boss with lies, get you fired, and take your higher-paying job. But what happens when the boss who fired you is not there any longer? Does the “tattle tale” that got your job by conning and brown-nosing able to continue in the position forever? No. All too often, a good boss will fire them and all the efforts they expended to get the higher-paying position is short-lived. So where did it get them?

A struggling merry-go-round that never ends — that’s where!

And you know — when you think about it — the mail order business has a little bit more to offer than money. Isn’t that why we left the corporate environment anyway? We found out money is not the key to happiness — people are.

So, take pride in our mail order industry. Respect it for what it really is. Be courteous when you call another dealer and their child is screaming in the background. Be understanding and accept them for the down-to-earth reality of what mail order really is. Don’t try to force mail order dealers to act like and be corporate executives. Everyone has a special contribution to make. Everyone has a certain task they perform that is worthwhile.

Train and educate others you see making obvious mistakes. Call them up and inform them what is going on. Talking behind their back will not solve their problem. They’ll only continue making the same mistake and may not even realize it.

We are a rare breed — and it’s up to YOU to continue keeping it that way. Besides, we want to be different from the corporate world don’t we?

BEGINNERS TAKE NOTICE!

I’m not usually one that complains. In fact, I am normally the type of person that bends over backwards to help everyone — even if it means lost profits. So, being the understanding and caring sole that I am, you will normally never hear me complain.

However, I have personally been experiencing a re-occurring problem and feel that other mail order dealers are probably experiencing it too, hence the reason for this report. I hope a lot of people read and understand our problem and will try and correct it in the future. We’d all save a little on postage and help each other in the process.

What is this problem? It’s having a customer order something without including any information as to what they are ordering. Would you send Sears $20 and expect them to know you were ordering an alarm clock you saw in their catalog? Would you send your electric company a check for $15 and expect them to know what account you were making a payment on? Of course you wouldn’t — so how are mail order businesses supposed to know what you’re ordering or requesting?

And a note like “Send me info” is NOT sufficient enough. Remember the rule of “who,” “what,” “when,” and “where” we learned in grade school English? “Send me info” still doesn’t tell a business what you are ordering. Most mail order businesses carry a large number of different products. If they send you information on everything they sell, not only would it cost a lot more in postage and require a 9×12 envelope — but you’ll get a lot of different information on products you may not be interested in. In fact, the business may not include the information you originally requested because they had no idea what you were ordering and couldn’t afford to send you everything they have.

Then, to top it off — some of these people that wrote to the mail order business requesting information will get upset and file a complaint against them because they never sent the proper information. This is a big problem we see getting bigger and bigger and I hope this report will do a small part in clearing it up.

Okay — let’s be realistic. If you are guilty of inflicting pain on dealers by not letting us know what you are ordering or requesting information on — don’t worry. We don’t hate you and want you to hang your head down and slink away in shame. On the contrary — we want your business and we want to keep you happy as a steady customer. The next time you order something, read your note or letter ONE time before putting it in the envelope and sealing it shut. Ask yourself if you have provided the business with enough information to process your order. That’s all there is to it!

A correct form of writing a business letter should go something like this:

Dear (Name),

We noticed your ad in (name of publication) and would like more information on (product or service). Your attention to this matter would be greatly appreciated.” If you don’t want to take the time to write this much, you could just cut out the ad you saw and tape onto your letterhead or a note paper. Enclose the proper stamps, money or SASE for a reply and you’re ready to fold in an envelope and mail.

And by all means — place your RETURN ADDRESS on the outside of the envelope. Believe it or not, I personally receive 100’s of orders per year without a return address with a few dollars stuck inside an envelope. I have no clue “what” is being ordered and even less of a clue as to “where” to send it.

As mail order dealers, we sometimes believe that we are totally alone in this business. Since most of us work by ourselves, isolated from most of the working 9-to-5 world — the dreaded “lonelinosis” sets in. But remember — just because we don’t see our mail order dealers and distributors face to face, they are here. This statement may sound a little too elementary, but sometimes we overlook the obvious. Mail order is full of fine, upstanding and caring mail order dealers. Every one of us are breathing, thinking human beings. We fall in love, have personal problems, have bad days, have slow months, have busy weeks and have lives to lead. A majority of us have children and all of us have family and friends that occupy our time.

We should all support each other and make as many friends as we can. Although the world seems like it is self-oriented half the time, the only person that can begin a change is the one in the mirror. Think of others and try and be more understanding. I think I speak for all dealers in saying that we all WANT to fill your orders and process them as quickly as possible. All we ask if that you let us know WHAT you are ordering or WHERE you saw our ad so we can send you the correct information you need the first time around.

TURN ANY HOBBY INTO A PART-TIME BUSINESS

If you are planning on beginning a business, your best bet is to start out part-time while you are still earning a full-time income at your present job. If you are like most people who exist from payday to payday — you don’t have a lot of money to invest in a full-time business. No need to worry! Just use your favorite hobby as your business base and grow from there! There’s no telling where you’ll be at 2 or 3 years down the road. Perhaps you can even tell your present boss to “take that job and shove it.” Wouldn’t that be great?

Using your present hobby or favorite pastime as your business base has many benefits. Why? Because ANY business you decide to become involved in should be doing something you LOVE — something you believe in — something that you would work at NO MATTER what income it would generate. This will give you the stamina to see your business through the beginning hard times and times when there is more work to do than you can handle. We all know the feeling of doing a job that we hate to do. There is no way we can give it 110% of our abilities because we procrastinate getting through it and just want to get it over with. That’s why it is vitally important to dearly love the product or service you have chosen to build your business around.

Do you like cooking? Start a recipe newsletter for others who like the same thing and sell your recipes by publishing a simple booklet. Do you enjoy making crafts? Sell them through mail order (be sure and mark up the price for shipping and handling). Do you enjoy working on cars? Print and distribute flyers in your neighborhood listing your prices. Offer a coupon discount for the customer to use on their first auto repair job. Do you enjoy writing? Write a small booklet or how-to manual and sell it through mail order or to multi-level enthusiasts. Do you enjoy computer programming? Write a program and sell through shareware groups or even to mail order computer owners.

Yes — just about anything you love doing can be magically transformed into a business opportunity for you. Some items may only sell well in your neighborhood, while some products and services do well in mail order. If you decide to sell through mail order, all you need to do is write a simple ad and have it typeset. Start out with a smaller 1-inch, 2-inch or 3-inch ad. Ask the customer to send a “first-class stamp” or “$1.00″ for more information. When they write you, include a 8 1/2×11 sheet detailing your prices. Make sure you have a small order form to make it easy to order your product or service. And of course — include a cover letter stating that you appreciate their inquiry and look forward to doing business with them in the near future. You’d be surprised how many sales have been lost because a business didn’t take the time to write a cover letter and personalize the mailing.

Also, start educating yourself by reading and researching other home-based businesses. Before I opened up my business I read national publications like “Small Business Opportunities,” “Entrepreneur,” “Home Office Computing,” and “Spare Time Magazine.” Although there were some full page ads in there filled with hype (claiming to make me $1 million dollars with a sheet of paper) — the articles are excellent. Don’t spend more than $3 for information in the beginning of your business because if a company is legitimate you should be able to call them and discuss the opportunity over the phone with them. Businesses that claim to put you in business overnight should never demand a large amount of money from you. On the contrary — legitimate businesses have nothing to hide and will not charge you more than a few dollars in postage to learn the “whole” story behind their claims. Instead — use these publications, as well as books from the library on starting a business to further your knowledge of the world.

Another good move on your part is to invest a few hours by attending a meeting that is sponsored by SCORE from the Small Business Administration in your area. It’s free — and the valuable information you obtain from actual people who have been in business before is something that will be extremely valuable in the months ahead. Just call the SBA to find out more information.

Yes — it’s that easy! Of course, this is only the beginning. As with any hobby, it will take time (probably many months) to realize a profit but think of it this way: Most people that have a hobby know they have to spend money to take part in their hobby. It only makes sense to invest money in advertising your hobby to others so you can eventually make some of that money back in sales for your own business!