BJM Free Press |

Producing Newsletters On CD

Brandel Communications is currently developing a newsletter that will be released on Compact Discs, mailed to you once every two months.

The subscription rate is $195 a year. (Our production cost: around $3 per CD. With 6 CDs a year, our total cost is $18 per subscriber.)

Instead of print or video, we have decided to tap the CD market, the fastest growing communications media.

Minimum Start-Up: $2,500
Average Start-Up: 10,000
Profit Margins: 50% to 75%
One Person Business: Yes

OPPORTUNITY SEEKERS

To offer a subscription to this (still unnamed) newsletter, we are running full page ads in opportunities magazines, as well as implement a direct mail campaign.

Our initial marketing thrust will be directed at individuals seeking to start their own business, or a second source of revenue.

The Biz Opp market is at a strategic crossroads where new economic opportunities intersect with our growing disenchantment with conventional employment.

This market thinks! And it is quick at recognizing new opportunities. This is why we decided that the growth of How-To CDs depend on the variety of titles available.

WE CAN REPRESENT & SELL YOUR CD TITLES

While we are selling subscription to our newsletter, we offer customers the opportunity to purchase other CD titles.

We also have a regular New Titles ad which lists new Power Guides and How-To CDs available.

Every time we send out a newsletter and a catalogue, we include your CD on our title list and orders are sent directly to you. We do not take a commission or a percentage of your sales.

Your customer’s orders and payments come directly to you. You fulfill the orders and keep the money. We will design and print your ad for you.

CREATE YOUR OWN NEWSLETTER

We will accept advertising from those of you who plan to produce your own CD newsletter.

Producing a newsletter on CD allows you to collect subscriptions in advance, which is extremely helpful in generating cash flow during your start-up stages.

Producing a newsletter gives you a continuing link with a market that shares your common interests. Consider also the interest factor for a newsletter in CD form is quite high.

There’s Gold Inside Your PC

A friend once asked, “How was your life before Personal Computers came alone?”

Honestly, I can’t really recall. It’s been more than 15 years since I bought my first computer.

It’s very convenient piece of equipment which makes my work a lot easier. Everything I’ve done with it is work related. However, by itself, I’ve never really learned how to make money with my PC until I met this poker player from Las Vegas who earns an average of $15,000a month with his PC.

But best of all, with his idea, you don’t have to know a single thing about operating a computer to get into this business.

SHAREWARE & PDs

A shareware is a “sample” version of software. Individuals who write software usually “give away” copies of shareware so potential customers can “test drive” the product before they purchase the full version.

This “try before you buy” has made the shareware concept extremely acceptable, both by the people who design software as well as tens of millions of computer owners.

Public Domain (PD) software are programs developed without any copyright or patent assignment. Since it is Public Domain, any one can use it without having to pay rights to its designer.

FREE COPIES

The Las Vegas man researched some of the best sharewares and Public Domain software he could locate.

He bundled together 7 to 10 of them into a single floppy disk and started selling them for $20 & up.

He made several disks containing different varieties of sharewares and PD software. He sold the disks individually and as a group. He was making so much money you’d think he was doing something illegal.

One day, competition caught on and he needed a twist. A friend of his introduced him to me and I developed a new plan built around the same product he already has. Since other people started selling similar disks at the same price eh was charging, the competition started eating up his market. He needed something new.

What I did was design a gift certificate offering free software. We gave certificates to stores, libraries, and mail order houses to give away to their customers.

The certificates offered a collection of shareware and PD software - FREE OF CHARGE. Just pay minimal shipping and handling fee of $8.69. Since it cost him 69Cents to reproduce each disk, he makes an $8 profit per certificate.

NAFTA Exporter: Mexico

To draw attention to a vast export promotions arsenal available to individuals and businesses seeking to export to Mexico, a program called EXPORT MEXICO was developed through a partnership between business and government.

Mexico is our fastest-growing export market. With the implementation of the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), this market is expected to provide even greater opportunities.

Why Mexico?

When your fastest growing export market is right next door, you’ve got to harness it and seize the opportunity.

Exports to Mexico have Increased from $12,.4 billion in 1986 to $40.6 billion in 1992.

Mexico’s 86 million consumers prefer U.S. goods. 70% of every dfollar Mexico spends on foreign products is spent on U.S. goods.

Rising levels of disposable income among Mexican consumers helped increase our exports by 50% since 1991.

THE NAFTA FACTOR

In the last decade, the Mexican market has become more open, instituting unilateral, market-opening reforms.

The North America Free Trade Agreement will help further accelerate the growth of U.S. exports to Mexico, opening new doors to U.S. companies.

NAFTA will create the biggest market in the world right at our doorsteps, over $6 Trillion with 370 million people.

NAFTA will make nearly half of all U.S. exports qualify for ZERO tariffs.

NAFTA will open Mexico to U.S. service exports, including such industries as insurance, banking, accounting, advertising and more.

GETTING STARTED

If you’re seeking to export to Mexico, you can call Flash Facts facsimile service and order Mexico market information sent to you via fax, free of charge. The number to call is (202) 482-4464.

The system includes among its many documents NAFTA updates and upcoming trade events.

You can also call (202) 482-0300 to consult trained desk officers from the Department of Commerce’s Office of Mexico regarding the most cost-effective ways you can enter the Mexican market.

SPECIAL FINANCING

The Commerce Department’s Office of Mexico publishes a comprehensive manual called “A Guide To Financing Exports To Mexico”, which you can obtain free of charge by calling the Flash Facts line and requesting document number 0420.

Making Money With Giveaways

The guy who thought of giving away free rolls of film every time you have your films developed at his photo center - is a genius!

You know the rest of the story, and so do thousands other photo centers around the world who copy this excellent promotion.

STRETCHING DOLLARS

A budget conscious market is always out looking for a free lunch.  For this reason, you can build a marketing system that self-liquidates its associated cost, distributing gift certificates that offer free this or free that - all the customer has to do is pay a minimal shipping and handling charge.

FREE SOFTWARE

In Las Vegas, I met a poker player who sells software he put together for $29 and higher.

To double the volume and reach other markets, he decided to repackage his software. He gave it a new name, made a new floppy disk label, and offered it at a ridiculous price: FREE

To receive the software, all you have to do is fill out the gift certificate and send it back to him with $8.69.

THEY WENT APE!

He was giving the certificates to schools, businesses, and stores who give away the certificates as their own promotional gifts to their customers. Because the cost to produce and mail this disk is cents, he was making $8 with every certificate that was redeemed for the free software.

$800,000 IN 27 WEEKS

Take a snapshot of this picture: Say, a total of 1 Million certificates were circulated. Let’s say you paid half a penny to print and distribute these million certificates. Your cost is $5,000.

If you generate a 7% conversion, you’ll earn $560,000.00

NUMBERS GAME

If you give other people permission to make copies of and give away your certificates, your cost to circulate 1 Million certificates will go down. But your opportunity to make money remains the same.

1% response = $80,000
2% response = $160,000
3% response = $240,000
5% response = $400,000
10%              =$800,000

Utility Auditing Business

Auditing is not a matter of magic. If you have the patience to sort through regulatory tariff and have a keen eye to spot billing inconsistencies, you can conduct an audit.

Minimum Start-Up: $500
Average Start-Up: 15,000
Revenue: $35,000 - $1 Mil+
Profits: $20,000 - $500,000
One Person Business: Yes

UTILITY BILLS

Auditing utility bills has become one of the most popular areas of concentration for auditors because of the inherent complexity of billing for utilities.

Utility rates are highly confusing because they differ depending on type of service, volume of usage, and promotional packages offered at the time of installation.

GETTING PAID

Utility Auditors earn commissions, usually around 50% of any overcharge they uncover. And this is where you may need to exercise more of your patience.

Although utility companies would gladly settle a verifiable overcharge (relatively quickly out of court), it may ask them up to six months to issue any refund. This is particularly true with larger utility firms.

COMMISSION WORKS

Most clients prefer to pay auditors on commission basis for two reasons: No upfront cash outlay, and no risk if the auditor comes back empty-handed.

For the auditor, working on commission offers distinct advantages: It makes it easier for them to land clients, and it usually enables them to earn more than if they would take a basic fee.

MAKING THE SALE

The biggest challenge facing auditors is to get a potential client to admit that “there is a high probability that they (the client) overpaid for their utilities without knowing it”.

This issue is usually not a problem if the client is a small business where the owner makes all the decisions.

However, the executive committee of a major corporation may feel threatened that they’ll be held accountable for irresponsibly overpaying for utility.

Your job is to convince your potential client that overcharging does happen and that it is the job of an outsider auditor, and not people from within the company, to “fix” the problem.