BJM Free Press |

BUSINESS IDEA FOR BEGINNERS

Did you know that you can market mail order materials in your own area, to your own friends and co-workers without losing any money? It’s easy! All you have to do is find a product, mark up the price to take care of your commission and sell it.

One of the easiest items to sell in your local area is printing. Call any print shop (Minuteman, Quik Print, Pip, etc.) and ask them the price for printing 1,000 copies of the same original (one-side). Prices will differ across the nation, but I have found the medium range to be between $60 and $90. However, most mail order printer’s prices range between $20 and $30 for the same job! That’s about a 50% difference — even going by the lowest local rates.

Okay — now we have an idea. Let’s do our preparation and I’ll lead you step-by-step into the marketing of this idea. Let’s stick with our example of printing. Before you begin to advertise printing services in your local area, you need to locate an honest and good mail order printer. If you don’t, you will be stuck with unsatisfied customers if the order isn’t right.

In order to locate a good printer, you will need to read mail order publications. Compare prices and services. Look at the quality of their advertisement. Is it professional looking? Does the printing look sloppy? Find a printer with the lowest prices but the most services. It is more important to have someone who is reliable, ships on time and never lets you down versus saving $1 per order.

Three printers we recommend are, however, there are many other good ones in mail order:

Kem’s Graphics
549 Friendship Rd
Seneca, SC 29678

JRS Printing
PO Box 2508
Calcutta, OH 4392

Tom Leash
64 W Main St
Dallastown, PA 17313

To get a current Big Mail of up-to-date information, write to the following and request a copy of their current publications to get you started:

George Norr
PO Box 70268
Salt Lake City, UT 84170

G&B Records
PO Box 10150
Terra Bella, CA 93270

Once you’ve narrowed your company selections down to a few choice ones, you probably will want to send each of them a small order. Keep records of the date you sent each order and how long it took to get back. I would mail all my orders on the same day. This way, you would automatically know “which” printer was the fastest in shipping orders. (This fact is very important when dealing with local customers who want their order yesterday or last week.)

Now, compare the quality of the printers you have selected. Choose the best! Remember, when you deal with local customers you will have to provide the same type of commercial quality they are used to receiving locally. Even though they will be paying less, no customer should expect “less.” Your business will grow if you offer the same quality for less money.

After you have selected the printer you want to use, write them a letter. Explain that you are going to market their services locally and would like to obtain their “best” price. Often times, they will discount their prices even more just to get repeat business. This brings you in more commissions.

Now, all that’s left is to make yourself a price sheet listing YOUR prices (marked up from the prices your printer charges you and how much the same item sells for locally). Pass these price sheets out at work. Place on car windshields. Tack on bulletin boards. Advertise in the paper. Drop off at small business establishments. Contact people in the paper who are planning a wedding or pass out flyers in your neighborhood. When you get an order, you keep your portion of the customer’s money and send the order to your printer, who normally dropships to you or your customer.

This is only one idea for selling mail order printing in your local area. There are 1,000’s of other mail order products that are superior as well as a lot of talented folks who provide exceptional products that cannot be purchased at all locally! Just choose one that interests you and find a way to sell it in your neighborhood.

Another way of selling locally is by contacting Coal Publishing, 27 South 4th Ave, Highland Park NJ 08904. Start a newspaper in your area and have local businesses place advertisements. When you have secured advertisers, send the ads and payment to Coal’s “Small Business Keeps America Growing” newspaper services. Copies are professionally printed and shipped back to you. Have kids and teenagers help you distribute them and you’re in business. This idea can net you as much as $1,000+ per week once you build up the advertisers for it.

Selling locally is the quickest and easiest way to start a business of your own without any money. It’s better than working for McDonalds. Just look around — opportunities do exist everywhere!

THE CHEAPEST WAY TO DISTRIBUTE 8 1/2 X 11″ CIRCULARS

Most of you may already know this, but beginners don’t — and they overlook this golden opportunity that mail order offers them — co-op dealing!

Co-op is short for “co-operative.” That means that two people share in the cost and distribution of a product or service. In other words, it’s kind of like having a “buy one get one free” coupon for 2 hamburgers. You and a friend will split the cost of 1 hamburger, giving you both a hamburger for lunch. This way, you both saved 50% over the cost of buying each one separately. This is one common example of co-op dealing — and you can do the same thing in mail order.

Co-op dealing is very beneficial (and usually safe) for everyone involved. One example of co-op dealing in mail order is to send your 8 1/2×11″ camera-ready circular to a co-op printer and they’ll print your ad on one side, their ad on the back side and ship them back to you for a low cost of around $10 per 1,000. You get your printing almost free and the other dealer gets his or her flyers mailed on the back of yours free.

But what do you do with them when they are mailed back to you? If you’re new to mail order it’s doubtful you have a mailing list to distribute them to. Plus, postage costs alone would run you about $290.00 first-class. At this rate it would have been cheaper to send the camera-ready to a tabloid or adsheet publisher rather than by a co-op. But don’t despair.

Simply have the printer ship your copies to a co-op circular mailer instead of sending them to you. A couple good circular mailers we recommend are BMG Services, PO Box 429, Johnson KS 67855 (your cost is only 1c for each 8 1/2×11 pre-printed circular) or Thorn Gifts, 1807 Stillwater #5, St Paul MN 55119 (your cost is only 5c for each 8 1/2×11 pre-printed circular.) Why the difference in price? BMG mails by bulk rate and Thorn mails by first-class. Either method is effective and sure beats paying 29c each.

In addition, you benefit from the mailing list of the circular mailer. If this particular mailer sells a mailing list, having them do a 1,000 or 5,000 “test” mailing for you would be a way to test their names. You should get a few responses from a mailing of this size but it all depends on “what” you are offering and the “price” you are offering it for. It’s very difficult to sell any item for more than $50 on a 8 1/2×11″ circular. For items costing more than $50, you need to use the two-step approach. In other words, use the 8 1/2×11″ circular to generate inquiries and follow-up with the complete sales materials that constitute the higher price the customer may decide to pay.

Another idea is that you could contact a dealer with products and services not conflicting with your own and ask them to co-op mail for you. In this deal, you would pay for the 2-sided printing (with the mailer’s ad on back of yours) and he/she would mail them for you free of charge. It works!

Another way to co-op deal in mail order is by co-op advertising. High Mountain Advertiser and Popular Advertiser are both long running co-op publications. You place your ad the first time through a dealer and all future ads are 50% less. Then you have the option of mailing pre-printed copies with your name in the publisher’s block as an authorized dealer. When other people order advertising, they will send their orders to you. You keep 50% of the money and send the rest (along with the order) back to the publisher. This way, you can have your 8 1/2×11 circulars printed and mailed in a publication at a 50% savings.

Coal Publishing, 27 South 4th Avenue, Highland Park NJ 08904 also offers co-op advertising in their “Small Business Keeps America Growing” tabloid. For the low cost of $35 per tabloid-size page, you can have your 8 1/2×11″ circular along with four 2-inch ads printed and mailed to a whopping 5,000 circulation. All you are responsible for is the mailing of 200 of them. Any beginner can handle mailing 50 per week to a mailing list or to their own customers. Besides, no one can offer you a 5,000 honest circulation for this price. This is a real money-saver!

If you market the direct mail method, it’s a good idea to send a good circular you plan to keep around for awhile to a mail order printer and have 1,000 printed on ONE SIDE. Then, you can use the back of 100 or so for testing purposes of other circulars. Run down to the copy shop and run the circulars through the copier by printing on the back side. Only run 100 or less and send them to the best names you can find. If they pull orders, you may have a winner and can have 1,000 printed. Nothing is more annoying than being stuck with 1,000 circulars with something you want to mail on one side and something outdated on the back.

Happy money-saving!

WHY AREN’T YOU USING A COMPUTER?

Let’s see — what excuses can you come up with?

My business is too small at the moment and I can do everything by hand.

I feel more comfortable doing everything by hand — it works best for me.

A computer takes too much time to learn. Besides, a computer is only for those “programmer people” who understand all that mumbo-jumbo.

You can’t teach an old dog a new trick. Computers are for young minds. I can’t change now.

I’m not sophisticated enough.

It worked right for me all these years and there is no reason to change now. Why fix something that isn’t broke?

I could never work a computer. I can’t even type a letter — let alone, work one of “those things.”

Perhaps I will get one someday but right now my budget cannot afford it.

Does it sound like you’ve come up with a good enough excuse yet? Perhaps you can turn this report into an exercise and try and dream up more.

However, the fact remains that all those excuses are only “myths.” YOU CAN afford a computer and YOU CAN increase your productivity while increasing your income — ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

All you have to do is get a computer!

As a business owner you took many risks in starting your business. You didn’t let opinioned people stop you. You didn’t come up with excuses not to start your own business — you just did it. What happened to that part of you?

A computer is nothing more than an appliance. It doesn’t know more than you do — you control “it” and tell “it” what you want “it” to do. The only problem is you have to understand how to make “it” work to YOUR advantage. It’s really not difficult. In fact — it’s fun!

Always remember that a computer is a stupid thing. It only knows what “yes” and “no” are. It only knows “on” and “off.” As complex human beings we not only know “yes” and “no” but also “maybe.” We know about “on” and “off” but we also know about “lukewarm.” Since we think on multi-dimensional planes and a computer only knows two — in reality WE are really SMARTER than our computer.

So stop being scared to turn the darn thing on. Call up a computer store in your area and start trying to locate a 1-week night class for beginners. Or better yet, locate a neighbor or family member who has computer knowledge and get them to show you a few things one evening after work on their home computer. Play a few games on it. Feel comfortable in knowing that you can actually touch the keys and it won’t blow up.

As a computer instructor in the late 1980’s, most of my time was spent in training beginners. Computers were not quite as popular as they are today and everyone was “more” emotional about touching them. In order to help my students relax and learn how to work with their mouse — I installed a Solitaire game on each computer. I then allowed the students to “play” the entire first and second day of classes.

Since most everyone already understands the concept of playing the game of Solitaire with regular cards, they immediately were introduced to something they already felt comfortable with. So instead of concentrating on how hard it was to work a mouse on a real-live computer system — they actually forgot they had a mouse in their hands. Their concentration was diverted toward the Solitaire game itself.

Once this wall of fear was broken — students learned at astronomical rates! Believe me, if I can take a 62-year-old lady directly from typing with a manual typewriter to producing high-quality brochures and flyers on a computer — you can do it too!

One of the keys to learning is by having people-to-people instruction for a couple hours if you have never sat down at a computer before. Some people will require more people-to-people instruction before they feel comfortable, while others may be able to do it all by themselves. (Gene Brown is a mail order friend of mine that did just that. He is a self-educated computer operator and is now wondering “how” he did without his computer before. Gene will be the first to tell you that he cannot believe the time and automation benefits of having a computer has made to his business.)

But all that’s fine and good — right? You still have apprehension because any type of change is worth speculation. In that case, go get you a copy of a “Computer Shopper” magazine. They are sold on most newsstands or at your local supermarket. If you can’t find one, write to them at PO Box 51020, Boulder CO 80321-1020 and request a sample issue for the cover price of $3.95. You’ll change your mind!

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?

WANT TO BE A PUBLISHER?

Does the job sound prestigious to you? If so — you have never been a Publisher; especially a mail order Publisher. Overhead expenses for printing and mailing are financially draining and every month you are held to stringent deadlines. You also must know what you’re doing to generate enough paid advertising to meet expenses for every single issue. Sometimes, you have to take a big loss and end up spending your own money just to get the issue out. Yes — there is a bad side to being a Publisher!

But if you are just starting out and you want to become a Publisher, you should start small and get your “feet wet.” One easy and excellent way to start your publishing career is to start your own short and simple 3×6″ or 5×8″ unclassified ad column.

Choose a publication that you wish to run your small unclassified ad column in. Try and start with a minimum 5,000 circulation. Your first issue will probably cost you money out-of-pocket to get the thing rolling. Don’t fill it with all your own ads though. Instead, select some well-known publishers who advertise in adsheets and tabloids and print their ads instead. Make sure they get a copy of your unclassified ad column with a note explaining that you ran their ad free of charge so they could give your publication a try. Most of these advertisers will send you a PAID order back because they will appreciate your generosity.

However, they will also tell others about you and generate free word-of-mouth advertising. Word soon gets out about people who try to help others and your business booms! Publishing any type of publication that is dominated by your own ads certainly shows that you are a new publication without any advertisers. This is bad publicity — especially since this is your first issue and you’re trying to generate much needed business.

All that’s left to do is typeset these paid ads onto your 3×6″ or 5×8″ unclassified ad column (see sample at end of this report.) When full, send to your chosen publisher just like you would any ad of this size and your circulation is met to your customers. (You might also want to request extra copies to send checking copies to the advertisers on your sheet.)

As more people send their unclassified ad orders to you, the size of your publication will grow. Pretty soon, you can publish a full 8 1/2×11″ unclassified ad sheet. Who knows? If business keeps growing, you may join the ranks of the Big Guys and Gals making lots of money publishing their monthly or bi-monthly publication!

Give it a try. Unclassified ads are not as popular as display advertising, but with a smaller format (3×6″) you can generate enough paid orders to pay for the printing and mailing. Besides, the customers’ ad will be easily noticed in a smaller publication than a large one and people will look forward in sending you their monthly ad orders. Hope to read your column in a future mail order publication! Good Luck!

SAMPLE ADLET

This sample adlet (typeset to 3×6″) brought in a total of $34.25. Normal prices to advertise a 3×6″ ad to a 5,000 circulation is $16 - so you MADE $18.25 with this one issue alone. Think of the profit potential when you grow larger!