BJM Free Press |

IF YOU DON’T HAVE A MODEM, YOU’RE MISSING OUT ON FREE PROGRAMS AND A SECRET LOW-COST MARKETING SYSTEM YOU NEED TO USE!

The computer is now viewed as the most essential business tool available. The only problem is, many businesses buy a computer just for the sake of having one, with no plans as to how the computer will be used. Sure, they start to type letters on it, maybe a few marketing documents, and the customer list goes on it, but that’s the extent of computer use for many businesses. Some don’t even get THAT far. Well, those businesses are missing out on a valuable low-cost marketing opportunity open ONLY to computer users. To take advantage of this opportunity, you need to have a MODEM. First, I’ll tell you what a modem is, and an overview of how to use it. Then, I’ll let you in on some valuable marketing secrets.

WHAT IS A MODEM AND WHAT CAN I USE IT FOR?

MODEM stands for MOdulator DEModulator, and it’s just a fancy name for a telephone hookup for your computer. Modems can either be a card that is easily installed into your computer, or it can be an external unit. Basically, the only difference from modem to modem that the average user needs to worry about is the speed. Modem speed is indicated by a BAUD rate, which indicates how many “data bits” are transferred per second. The most common baud rates for modems are 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, and 14,400. Don’t get a 300 or 1200 baud modem, as they are outdated and too slow. A 2400 baud modem is sufficient for most people and is very economical (usually $50 or so).

With a modem and a special computer program called a terminal program (one is usually included with the modem), you can call up other computers and communicate with them, including transferring programs and files. You can communicate with individual computer users, or through BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEMS, or BBS’s, which are services run primarily by private individuals.

When you call a BBS, you are instructed to type your name and a password of your choice. If it’s your first time calling the BBS, you will usually go through a short registration process, similar to filling out a form. This is all done on your computer. The information you type on your end is sent through the phone line to the system operator’s, or SYSOP’s, computer, which is running the BBS. Once you are registered, there may or may not be a membership fee, depending on the individual SYSOP, though most will allow free use of their BBS by non-members for a short period of time each day. This will be all the time you’ll need, though, to use the methods I’ll describe in this report. There are also large ON-LINE (accessible by modem) services you can call, such as Compu-Serve, Genie, America On-Line, and others. These are basically the same as BBS’s, but on a much larger scale, and all have monthly membership fees, with most charging by the hour.

WHY SHOULD I CALL A BBS?

That’s an easy question to answer. The two main features of the average BBS are FILES and MESSAGES. Files are computer programs that you can DOWNLOAD (or transfer) to your computer. Here’s a simplified explanation of how you do it: First, you select the file you want from a list on the BBS. Then, you tell the BBS to send the file to you. The file is sent through the phone line to your computer. Then, after you LOG OFF (leave) the BBS, you can use the program just like any other computer program.

This process can also work in reverse. You can send a program you have written or acquired to the BBS, so other users can download it and use it. This is called UPLOADING a file.

Keep in mind that copyrighted programs, like the ones you buy in a store, CAN NOT be uploaded to a BBS. This violates copyright laws. The programs you find on a BBS will be either public domain (anyone can copy them and distribute them), or shareware (free for you to copy and try out, but there is a registration fee if you use the program regularly). Also, if you find a BBS that has commercial, copyrighted programs available for downloading, DON’T CALL IT AGAIN! You can get in BIG trouble if you mess around with copyrighted programs, including fines, jail terms, and confiscation of your computer. You won’t need to worry about this, though, if you stick to legitimate BBS’s.

BESIDES FREE PROGRAMS, WHAT OTHER BENEFITS CAN I GET FROM A BBS?

The other function of a BBS is messages. On almost any BBS, you can leave a message, either to a specific user of the BBS, or to everyone. You tell the BBS who the message is for, a short description of what the message is about, and then type the message, or upload a previously typed message. Then, when the person you’ve left the message for accesses the BBS, he or she will see a note on their screen telling them they have mail. Or, if you left the message for everyone, anyone who enters the message area of the BBS can read the note you left.

Many BBS’s participate in NETWORKS, which allow you to leave messages for people who don’t call that particular BBS, but call another BBS that is a member of the same network. There are many different networks, some dedicated to special interests or hobbies, others more general. Here’s how they work: You leave a message to either a specific person who can access the network on a BBS they call, or the message can be for everyone. The SYSOP of the BBS you call then collects all the messages in that particular network and transfers them by modem to the network headquarters, which could be in an entirely different state. At the same time, the SYSOP receives a packet of new messages from the network headquarters, these having come from the other member BBS’s. This distribution method means you can leave a message on your local BBS to, for example, your friend in Hawaii, who calls a BBS that belongs to the same network. In a few days, your friend will see a “mail waiting” note when he or she accesses the BBS. Many times, this will happen faster than if you sent a letter through the mail!

Hopefully, this will give you a basic understanding of what BBS can do for you. The programs alone will be exciting enough for anyone who hasn’t been exposed to this before. For example, the BBS I frequent, Radio Daze, has over 65,000 programs that can be downloaded! But what about the marketing secrets I promised earlier?

HOW TO USE YOUR MODEM TO MARKET YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT LOW- (OR NO-) COST

The networks are the key to effective marketing with your modem. Remember that I said you can leave a message that everyone can read. Why can’t this message be an ad? Ah ha! I have used network ads extensively to publicize my newsletter, Small & Home Business Journal, and it has been very successful. I’ll use my marketing methods as an example.

One of the advantages of the way Small & Home Business Journal is published (on disk, instead of printed) is that, for all intents and purposes, it is a computer program. I made the first issue a sample issue that is copyright free. I then uploaded the sample issue to Radio Daze BBS, as well as CompuServe, one of the huge national on-line services mentioned earlier. Thus, people could download the sample issue into their computer and use it, the same as if I handed them a copy on a disk. This vastly reduced my marketing expenses, as I could get a sample issue to someone without the expense of the disk and mailing.

Here’s where the crafty part is. I then composed an ad on my word processor explaining the benefits of reading SHBJ. At the end of the ad, I noted that there are two ways the reader could get a sample issue. Either they could send two first-class stamps to me, and I would send a sample on disk, or they could download a sample by calling Radio Daze BBS or CompuServe. I saved this ad as a text file, then called up Radio Daze, which participates in a number of networks. I went into either the small business area or the classified ad area of each network (networks are usually composed of a number of message areas, making targeting easy) and uploaded the previously typed ad as a message readable by all. For the message description, I tried a number of different descriptions, with the most successful being “Make more $$ now!!!”.

My ads then were sent throughout the networks, and were seen by others across the country as early as the next day. Soon, my sample issue was being downloaded or requested by people who sent postage. Around once a week, I repost the ads, and get new requests and downloads. SYSOPs of other BBS’s have made the sample issue available on their BBS’s, increasing my exposure. As a result, hundreds of people have gotten a sample issue of SHBJ. How much has this cost me? NOTHING. ZIP. Well, actually, I paid a yearly membership fee of $40 to belong to Radio Daze. But, when figured in with all the programs I’ve gotten from Radio Daze along the way, the expense has been incredibly low. Also, I’ve had to provide a disk to anyone who’s sent in 2 stamps. But, you know what? When people see that they can make one phone call with their modem and IMMEDIATELY have a sample issue, instead of having to wait for the mail, almost all will use that method. Wouldn’t you? I know I would.

How can you use this method to promote your products and services? On a local level, you can post an ad on your local BBS(s) telling the BBS users how they could benefit from what you have. Give BBS users a special discount if they tell you which BBS they saw your ad on. This way, you can gauge the effectiveness of each BBS. If you sell a product or service by mail, use the networks. I’ve had users in almost every state get a copy of my newsletter. Don’t try to sell your product or service directly from the ad, unless it’s inexpensive. Rather, use the ad to generate inquiries, and follow up with a complete sales package through the mail.

TIPS TO REMEMBER WHEN USING THIS POWERFUL MARKETING METHOD

In your ad, as with any ad, don’t ramble on and on about the features of your products/services. Instead, hit hard and early with the direct benefits the consumer will experience. Tell them “what’s in it for them.” This will generate interest, rather than boredom.

Be sure you put your ads in the right network areas. For example, I limit my advertising to the small business areas and classified ad areas. I don’t think many people in the genealogy areas or gaming areas would be interested in my newsletter. It would waste my time.

Don’t over-advertise. I limit my ads to once a week. If you post your ads daily or even multiple times per day (I’ve seen it happen), it clogs up the message area and turns everyone off to what you have to say. You will be advised by whoever’s in charge of the network to either cut back on your ads or, if you continue, to cease and desist. Remember, you aren’t the only one using these message areas. The message areas were designed with discussion in mind, but advertising is permitted if you don’t overdo it.

Make sure your ads are appropriate and in good taste. BBS users come in all ages, so if your product or service is for adults only, confine your advertising to “adults only” BBS’s and networks. Use the same common sense you’d use if you were advertising in a magazine.

Every BBS will have rules stated regarding usage of the BBS. Follow these rules. You’ll find yourself barred from using the BBS if you don’t.

CONCLUSION

Used properly, this marketing method can inform large numbers of prospects quickly (no real lead-time, other than message transfer) and cheaply (no cost, other than membership fees, though non-members are almost always allowed to use message areas and networks - it can be totally free!). If you don’t have a modem, by all means go out and get one! You can get a modem card for your computer for as cheap as $50. You can even get one that can also function as a fax for around $100 or less. That’s peanuts, considering the benefits you’ll get from having one! If you already have a modem, but never put it to use, now you know what to do. Now go do it!

RESOURCES

Here’s a short list of computer services and BBS’s you should try with your modem. You should be able to get phone numbers of BBS’s in your area by consulting computer user groups.

America OnLine - Call (703) 893-6288 for information on membership and phone numbers.

CompuServe - Call (800) 848-8990 for membership information, and (800) 635-
6225 to get a local access phone number.

Delphi - Call (800) 695-4005 for questions or call (800) 365-4636 with your modem, press return, at password type BW34 for a free trial!

Radio Daze BBS - Call (219) 256-2255 with your modem and follow the registration process. Information about membership and non-member use is provided.

5 WAYS TO GENERATE QUICK CASH YOU NEED BY RUNNING A MINI-BUSINESS, PART 2 of 5

Continuing from part one of a five part series:

MINI-BUSINESSES

There are countless businesses you could run as a quick cash producer. I’ll go into a few that I think are the best ideas for most people. Come of these may sound minor league, but that’s what they’re meant to be: easy-to-run, low time and expense businesses you can use to up your income.

CURB NUMBER PAINTING

Here is a great opportunity that can work for anyone in any sort of community. What you will be doing is painting address numbers on curbs for a fee. Why would anyone want this service? Answer this question in your marketing and you’ll find great success with this.

If your house number is painted on the curb in front of your house, it is easier for emergency vehicles (police, ambulance) to find the house, as well as friends and family who aren’t familiar with the area. I’m sure you’ve tried to find someone’s house at night before, but had trouble seeing the numbers on the house. I’ve seen some house numbers that I couldn’t see during the day, much less at night!

Anyway, you should be able to start this business for less than $50. Here are the supplies you’ll need for this service: reflective white highway spray paint (available from paint supply houses), black highway paint, 3″ tall number stencils, wide masking tape, a few old rags, and flyers. The flyers should read something like this:

(Your business name, address, and phone, centered at top of page)

If the police or an ambulance had to find your house at night, would they be able to see your house numbers? If friends or family were trying to find your house for the first time, would they get lost?

Not if you have curb numbers!

Curb numbers are 3″ tall address numbers painted with high-quality, long-lasting reflective white highway paint on a black background. They are highly visible both day and night. You can have professional quality curb numbers by (business name) for only (insert your price).

If you would like this valuable and helpful safety measure, please fill out the coupon at the bottom of this flyer and leave it, along with a check for (price), made out to (business name), in your mailbox. We will be painting numbers tomorrow, starting at (insert time). Thank you!

NOTE: Our service is 100% guaranteed! If you are not satisfied with the quality of our service, call us and we will repaint your numbers or refund your money, no questions asked! (Business name, address, phone)

——————————————-
Name: _____________________________________

Address: __________________________________

Phone (Optional): _________________________

Please leave this coupon, along with a check for (price), in an envelope in your mailbox before (insert time) tomorrow. THANK YOU!

Prepare a batch of these flyers on your computer, or produce an original and photocopy it. It is crucial that it look professional. Take your time, and don’t handwrite it! If you can’t produce a quality original yourself, paying someone else to do it right will pay off in increased business.

Be realistic when setting your price. This is a very low cost service for you to offer, so there will be a good profit margin built in. I would say the price range for this service would be between $3 and $10, with $5 being the most likely for success.

The best neighborhoods for this business are newer, middle to upper income developments, though almost any neighborhood will produce orders, if the price is right. Drive through the neighborhoods in your area and look for those with house numbers that are hard to see.

When you find a neighborhood that looks good, go door-to-door with your flyers. It’s not necessary to knock on doors and do a sales pitch. Rubber band the flyers to door handles, or put them in newspaper boxes. DO NOT put them in mailboxes, as this is illegal. It should only take two or three hours to blanket an average size neighborhood area. The best time to do your distribution is on a Saturday morning, so you can do your painting on Sunday afternoon. This leaves the week untouched for your main business.

The day after you distribute the flyers, return to the neighborhoods you hit. Go to each mailbox and, when you find one with an order, use your masking tape to outline a rectangular area on the curb that is big enough to contain the house numbers. Then, paint the black background. Paint all the backgrounds for the neighborhood before painting any numbers. This will give the black paint time to dry.

When painting the numbers, take your time, make sure your stencils are straight and securely taped in place with your masking tape, and spray your white paint evenly and generously. Wipe up any drips, and touch up as necessary to make your job look flawless.

If you get any calls from dissatisfied customers offer to repaint their numbers or refund their money. Don’t argue and don’t have hard feelings. You might get one or two people who take advantage of you, but that’s a worthwhile chance to take. You see, the guarantee will help to sway any people who are undecided about your service. Offering a no-questions-asked guarantee can greatly increase your business, so why not offer it? If you’ve done a good job, and offered true value for your customer’s money, you shouldn’t get many calls.

Get more orders easily by visiting the same neighborhood 2 to 3 weeks later. Leave flyers at the houses that didn’t get numbers last time. You should get new orders from those who saw your previous work.

A good idea for building order volume is to offer a neighborhood volume discount. For example, if you’ll distribute 200 flyers in a neighborhood, offer 10% off on everyone’s orders if 50 or more people participate. This can help entice people to do a little sales work on their neighbors for you! Note this offer boldly on your flyers.

My final word of advice is to practice before you do any actual painting. Pick up an inexpensive patio block and practice on it. Only an hour or two of practice should be necessary.

A side benefit of this business, besides the income it will generate, is that it will get you out of your office for a few hours each week. Enjoy the fresh air! Plus, the exercise can’t hurt anyone. Good luck!

NOTE: There is a kit for curb numbering that includes interlocking brass number stencils, 2 cans of black paint, 2 cans of white paint and instructions for $39.95 plus $4.95 for shipping. Order from Magic Systems, Inc., Order Dept., P.O. Box 23888, Tampa, FL 33623-3888, or call (800)237-9106 with your credit card.

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

PUT YOUR CATALOG ON A DISK AND MAKE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MONEY!

If you’re involved in any type of business where you sell products or services, you should know that you need to sell more than one product to be successful. Of course, there have been exceptions, like the Pet Rock, but those are few and far between. You see, if you only sell one product, you need to find those prospective customers that want that one product. Add a second product, and you’ve opened the door to customers who want it, but not your first product. Add a third, and you have more prospects, and so on.

You can present your products or services through separate ads or flyers, but it’s really more efficient and professional to have a CATALOG. That way, your customer can see all you have to offer in one place, instead of one ad here, another there. Having a catalog will increase the orders you receive, since your customers have more choices and you can show them everything in one mailing. There’s just one problem…

Catalogs are expensive.

If you’re thinking of putting together even an eight page catalog, call your local printer and ask for a price. Get a quote on 1,000, since you’ll want to have enough. My best printer would charge $150, which would be 15 cents per catalog. Then, you have the mailing cost, which would be 52 cents. You’re now up to 67 cents per catalog. Add in the cost of getting the name to send the catalog to, and you could be over a dollar per catalog. That means over $1,000 to print and send out all your catalogs!

Worse news to come… you won’t get rich from an eight page catalog. If you really intend on making it in your own business, you’d better offer at least 20 related products or services (or a combination). That way, you can hit a specific group of people and have a good chance of getting a decent return. But if an eight page catalog would cost over $1,000 to print and mail, think about a 20 page catalog! Printing alone would be $375 or more!

You can reduce your printing and postage costs significantly by having your catalog printed on a web press on newsprint. The only problem with that is, you need to print a higher quantity to make it worthwhile. Figure on at least 10,000.

There’s an easier, less expensive way to do this…

PUT YOUR CATALOG ON A DISK!

A CD will hold hundreds of catalog pages, if you do it right! HUNDREDS!!! The higher storage disks will, of course, hold more! Your customer will receive your disk catalog, put it into their computer, and will be able to view full descriptions of your products and services on their screen. They’ll even be able to print out an order form!

Right away, let’s look at costs. For a catalog disk, the disk will cost 10 cents (that’s right, only 10 cents - I’ll reveal the source for this low price later in this report). Next is postage - 52 cents. You’re at 62 cents. Your cost for securing the name to send your catalog to is the same as above.

You might be thinking, great, this saves me a big NICKEL! BIG DEAL! Well, it IS a big deal, and I’ll tell you why.

One cost that I didn’t figure in is storage. If you have a bunch of catalogs printed (especially if you had 10,000 or more newsprint catalogs), you’re going to have to put them somewhere. With a disk catalog, you can copy them as you need them. No need to have 1,000 made up in advance, unless you really want to!

Also, keep in mind the storage capacity of the disk. If you wanted a 68 page printed catalog, whew, it would break you, unless you have pretty deep pockets. A dime will get you one on disk.

Finally, consider this… you have 10,000 of your fantastic catalog printed. You start mailing them. All of a sudden, you discover you have to change the price of one of your products. Or, the source for a product dries up. Or, you want to add a new product or service. TOO BAD! You’re stuck with the catalogs the way they are. With a disk catalog, NO PROBLEM! You make the change on your master copy, and all subsequent catalogs are instantly up-to-date.

See the advantages? You can sell your products just as well with a disk catalog as with a printed one. In fact, people will keep your catalog around longer due to its uniqueness.

So, how can you get your own high-powered order-pulling disk catalog? Well, two ways… you can make one yourself, or you can have an expert put one together for you, saving you the time and effort.

THINK YOU CAN DO THIS?

If not, don’t feel bad. Unless you’re comfortable going beyond just using a program on your computer to actually construct a catalog, you may not want to spend hours upon hours trying to do this by yourself.

If not contact the company below for an estimate:

Northridge Electronic Publishing
522 Northridge Crossing Dr.
Dunwoody, Ga. 30350
404-901-9747

HOW TO GET RICH WITH CD-ROMS (2 OF 2)

This is part two of a two part series. Part one was published on Monday.

HOW TO START THIS BUSINESS

First of all, immerse yourself in the CD-ROM world. If you don’t already have a CD-ROM unit, spring for one. Here are two sources for low-priced CD-ROM units: CRAZY BOB’S (yes, that’s the actual name of the place), 50 New Salem St., Wakefield, MA 01880 (800) 776-5685 (an excellent source for CD-ROM units starting at $259, plus tons of CD-ROMs at low prices - call for their catalog); and CORPORATE SYSTEMS CENTER, 1294 Hammerwood Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94089 (408) 734-3475 (new and refurbished CD-ROM units from $149). Read the computer magazines, especially ones dealing with multimedia topics. Many of them will have lists of the top selling CD-ROMs. Become a frequent visitor at your local computer stores - pay attention to what people buy. All these will give you clues as to what the big sellers are. Take good notes, and keep them handy!

Next, decide how you will run this business - in a store, or by mail. This business can be run equally well both ways, though the methodologies are a bit different. If you run it retail, you’ll need to be in a good, visible location, with a decent amount of advertising and publicity. If you operate as a mail order business, you’ll need to put together a catalog of what you have to offer and get it out to CD-ROM buyers.

Now, put together a starting inventory. You can do this by advertising in local and national magazines. Put a classified ad out saying something like this: “CASH FOR YOUR CD-ROMS!!! Excellent condition only, must have all manuals. Send your list for quote. (Your name and address).” Good places to put this ad include Computer Shopper Magazine, Computer Monthly, PC Magazine, multimedia-oriented magazines, BBSs, and local computer user group newsletters. When you receive lists in the mail, compare them to the information you compiled earlier. Find out what your local dealers and national mail order retailers are selling the titles for. Offer the person an average of 25% of the normal selling price. Most of them will take it, rather than have the CD-ROMs sitting around on a shelf, gathering dust. You should try to compile at least one to two hundred CD-ROMs before you advertise them for sale.

When you DO start advertising, emphasize that you will take trade-ins (remember the two for one deal described earlier) in addition to selling for cash. This is a very cheap way to build inventory. Remember to get at least double what you paid for each CD you sell.

If you want to run your business as a retail store, you should consider stocking some new CD-ROMs. Allow customers to trade their old CD-ROMs in for new ones, keeping your costs in mind. There’s no reason why you have to have a hard set concrete rule, such as “you get one new CD-ROM for every three used ones you bring in.” You can set a certain dollar credit amount for each CD-ROM they bring in, if some are more desirable than others. Also, you don’t have to take EVERY CD-ROM that people bring in. Like any other product, some CD-ROMs will be total dogs that no one will want to buy, except someone who’s never heard how awful it is. Don’t take these. If you manage to pass one off on an unsuspecting customer, good for you, but you’ll probably never see them again. You want customers to return, and return, and return. You want them to buy a CD-ROM from you, come back and trade it in, then do the same again and again. That’s where the real money is.

After all, say a customer buys a CD-ROM from you for $50 that you paid $25 for. You’ve made $25 profit. That customer comes back in a few months later to trade it in. Now, that CD-ROM might only be able to bring in $35, so you offer $17 for it. You still have $8 profit. You’ll make $17 profit on it when someone else buys it, bringing the profit amount back up to $25. The customer now buys another $50 CD-ROM, giving you another $25 profit.
And so on…

If you’re running a retail walk-in store, you won’t need a huge one. In fact, a smaller store can be better than a large one. Your products are small, so a large store will just look empty, even when fully stocked. Plus, get four or five people into a small store and it looks busy. Put four or five people in a huge store, and it looks dead. You want your store to at least LOOK busy, don’t you?

The best way to display your stock is to put the CD cases out and keep the disks behind the counter. You can either put cheap racks on the walls to put the cases on, or build some cheap bins for people to flip through. The advantage to the racks is that people can see the artwork on the front of the case, which draws their attention. The bin advantage is that you can store more CD cases in less space. Plus, it appeals to human curiosity to rummage through the bins. I’d have bins in my store.

If you build your own bins, all you need to do is make a wood box that’s 16.5 inches wide and anywhere from 10 to 15 inches deep. Now, divide the box into three compartments that are 5.5 inches wide. You will be able to stack the cases in each compartment so that the spine with the CD-ROM title is showing on the top. That will make it easy for customers to flip through them. Arrange them alphabetically by title in the bins.

To keep the disks, get some 5 inch wide strips of 2 inch thick high-density foam (not the Styrofoam that flakes apart - you want the tough stuff that can be sawed). Glue this foam to strips of plywood that you have nailed either under your counter or on shelves. Next, saw slots 3/4 of the way into the foam every 1/2 to 3/4 inch. Use a vacuum to get rid of any foam dust. Now, you can insert the disks into the slots, where they will take up little space. You may want to put labels on the foam and corresponding labels on the CD cases, so the disks are easy to locate when a customer wants to buy one.

A good idea, if you can afford it, is to have a computer or two out, so customers can try out the CD-ROMs. This will drastically increase your business, because customers will be less wary of being “taken”. Plus, when it isn’t busy, you can play some games…!

Where to advertise? Use your head when buying advertising. You want your ads to be seen by people who will actually be interested in buying your products. You’d be better off to contact every BBS in town and offer to pay maybe $25/month for a full screen ad that everyone who calls in sees, than to pay the same total amount for a few newspaper and radio ads. Why is this? Because, the BBS ads are TARGETED ads. They will only be seen by people who own computers. The newspaper and radio ads will be seen by a higher total number of people, but most of those people probably won’t own computers or even know what a CD-ROM is. Good avenues for targeted local advertising are: BBS’s; computer user group newsletters; computer stores; high school and college newspapers (students are big CD-ROM freaks, especially games!); and other media that appeals directly to computer users. Be sure to put flyers up around school campuses, especially in computer labs, if possible.

It may have occurred to you that there is a hidden possibility for profit in the used CD-ROM business… CD-ROM RENTALS! Why not? Video rentals brought forth video game cartridge rentals, which have exploded nationwide. Rent your stock of CD-ROM disks.

You’ll get the student who needs an encyclopedia for the big term paper; rent them an interactive CD-ROM encyclopedia.

You’ll get the game freak who just has to play something new; rent them your newest and most exciting CD-ROM games.

You’ll get the parent who’s looking for a new educational program for their kids; there are hundreds of educational CD-ROMs out there.

You’ll get the business person who needs special reference material; rent that CD-ROM in your stock that contains the names and phone numbers of every buyer for every large company in the U.S.

How much to rent your CD-ROMs for? Well, it’s pretty much an open market, since there aren’t many (if any!) CD-ROM rental stores around. I’d say, start your rentals at $3.50/day, and see how it goes. You need to find the highest price the market will bear, without damaging your business. For example, if you can rent 100 of your CD-ROMS per day for $3.00 ($300), or 75 for $3.50 ($262.50), it should be easy to see which price to charge.

As with any rental business, you should get a heavy supply of standard rental agreements. Standard video rental agreements should do. Your customer needs to fill one out and sign it before the first time they rent. Basically, the agreement states that anything they break or steal, they buy.

Should you charge for memberships to your CD-ROM rental club? I would answer a resounding NO!!! Many video rental stores charged for a membership. Those days are over. The smart rental stores realized that they’d make far more bucks down the line by giving out free memberships and having many more potential renters, than they would make by having only the people willing to pay $10 to $25 up front, before they rent. Make up some inexpensive rental membership cards (plain cardboard will work fine), and give them out FREE, after the renter fills out the agreement.

A good idea is to stock up on CD-ROMs that contain collections of specialized programs. For example, get a collection of CD-ROMs with shareware programs on them. Let BBS owners know you have them available. Keep in mind that there are over 60,000 BBSs out there, with more starting every day. Sounds like a good market for rentals and sales.

Or, put together a stock of CD-ROMs containing typestyles and clip art graphics. Then, do a special mailing to desktop publishers, businesses that have in-house art departments, schools, etc., any business that could need these CD-ROMs. Be careful about renting these, though. If you’re dealing with CD-ROMs that contain programs that can be copied, such as graphics, make sure the contents of the CD-ROM aren’t protected by copyrights. If they are, they are only intended to be used by the PURCHASER of the CD-ROM. If they are public domain, then you may rent them as many times as you want.

I hope you can see the profit potential locked inside CD-ROMs. They are not a fad, they are a coming wave. Look at how CDs revolutionized music… they WILL do the same for computers. Establish yourself as a source of quality new and used CD-ROMs, for sale or rent, and you’ll do well! This is a fantastic business that can be easy and fun. Plus, you’ll be keeping up with exciting technology. Be sure you start right away, though. It’s hard to open a profitable video store these days, because everyone’s in on the technology. CD-ROMs are the new technology on the block, waiting to be picked up and used profitably by you!

HOW TO GET RICH WITH CD-ROMS (1 OF 2)

CD-ROMs are the way of the future. Not only do the turn your computer into a super-high-powered knowledge and entertainment machine, they can make a LOT of money for you, if you have vision and the willingness to try some new things. This report will explain exactly what CD-ROMs are, and how they can bring high profits for you.

A CD-ROM is basically a compact disk (like the kind music comes on) that can be used in a computer. CD stands for Compact Disk, ROM stands for Read-Only Memory (which means your computer can read what’s on the CD, but it can’t write new information to it). In order to use a CD-ROM on your computer, you must have a CD-ROM unit, much like a disk drive, installed in your system. These CD-ROM units can either be internal (installed inside the computer case) or external (hooked to the computer by a cable). Note: Most CD-ROM units can also play regular music CDs, as well as the new Kodak Photo CDs.

Why would anyone want a CD-ROM unit? Well, for one thing, a CD-ROM can hold tons more information and programming than a regular computer disk, almost 400 times as much, to be exact. For example, there are whole encyclopedias that come on only one or two CD-ROMs! And these aren’t just plain, boring encyclopedias, either. The high amount of storage on a CD-ROM allows full-motion video, digitized sound, and other special effects to be included. For example, if you look up the first moon landing, you might see an actual short video of Neil Armstrong stepping onto the moon, and you might hear him say his famous “one small step” speech!

CD-ROM games are incredible! Many CD-ROM games are ultra-realistic, with real actors, real speech, and thousands of possibilities.

Desktop publishers love CD-ROMs, too. There are CD-ROMs available that hold thousands of typestyles and clip-art graphics.

The ability to use CD-ROMs is almost essential these days if you run a BBS (Bulletin Board System, accessible by modem users). There are dozens of CD-ROMs available that contain hundreds of shareware programs each. Callers to your BBS can download these programs to their computer, so they can use them. With a few of these, you can have the largest file base of any BBS in your area literally overnight!

Major software companies are jumping onto the CD-ROM Catalog bandwagon. Some companies are now putting all of their programs onto a CD-ROM. These programs will be hindered in some way from functioning 100% (for example, a word processing program may not be able to save what you’ve typed). They do this so you can try the program and see if it’s what you want. If you like the program, you can call them, give them your credit card number, they will charge you for the cost of the program, send you the manuals, and give you a code you can type in to make the program fully functional. They are discovering that it is very cost effective to operate this way, plus, people get to try more software out, and potentially purchase more.

So, this is the “why” of CD-ROMs. Just how can they make money for you, you might ask?

First, you need to know how popular CD-ROMs are becoming. According to an article in Fortune magazine (February 21, 1994), about 15% of the 5.85 million computers sold last year contained CD-ROM units. That’s over 877,000 CD-ROM units, just in 1993. That doesn’t count the tens (or hundreds) of thousands of people who are adding CD-ROM units to computers they already own. In other words, this is a HUGE market!

Have you ever been to a music store where they sell used music CDs? Used CDs are as good as new ones, and you can usually buy them for half the price of new CDs. This has become an industry in and of itself. People naturally want to save money, but get the same quality of product.

Remember the number of people I mentioned earlier who either bought a computer containing a CD-ROM or bought one to add on to their current system? They’ll be buying CD-ROMs. After awhile, they’ll get tired of the particular CD-ROM they purchased. They may have finished a game, and not want to play it again. Or, they may have bought a CD-ROM that they just plain didn’t like.

START YOUR OWN USED CD-ROM BUSINESS! HERE’S AN OVERVIEW…

You can run a used CD-ROM business much like the used music CD business is run. Here’s a nutshell description of what happens in a typical used music CD store. Almost everything will function the same for CD-ROMs.

A customer brings in a CD that they want to trade-in. If the music store owner wants it for his or her stock, they’ll usually offer the customer $2 to $5, depending on the demand for that particular CD. Then, they’ll slap a price of $6 to $10 on the CD, and put it out for sale.

That’s basically all there is to it. The difference with CD-ROMs is the price. Music CDs, at least in my neck of the woods, retail for around $14 to $16 each. CD-ROMs usually start around $25, and can cost over $150! The price varies with the type of program on the CD-ROM (games are cheaper than encyclopedias, for example). If you were looking for an encyclopedia CD-ROM, and could buy the same one for either $150 new, or $75 used, and they’d both function the same, which would you buy?

The basic formula for this is to offer the customer who brings in a CD-ROM 20% to 40%of the usual selling price for that particular item. Then, you retail it for 50% to 75% of the usual selling price, depending on the demand for that item. If it’s a hot new game, give the customer a bit more and price it higher.

You don’t have to give the customer money, either. You can give them credit toward another CD-ROM from your stock. One used music CD store in my area might give me $3 for a CD I bring in if I want cash, or one new or used CD for every two I bring in. This makes a lot of sense. For example, if they paid $4 for the CD I want and I give them two CDs, they’ve basically paid $4 for TWO CDs, which they might sell for $8 each. Thus, they paid $4 for $16 worth of CDs. Not bad, and you can do this too, with your used CD-ROM business. Be sure to keep good track of the amount you paid for the CD-ROM your customer selects in this sort of trade, making sure that you will profit from the two they bring in.

Well, that’s an overview of the used CD-ROM business. Now let’s get down to details. I’ll tell you how I would run a business like this. You put your thinking cap on while you’re reading this, and I’m sure you’ll think of some ideas, too.

This is part one of a two part report.  Part two will be published on Wednesday the 23rd.