BJM Free Press |

Dancing For Profit

Although the national obsession for group exercise has begun to level off, estimates claim 23 million Americans participate in aerobics in health clubs and exercise gyms.

This includes people enrolled in programs run from community facilities, YMCAs, and gyms, to dance studios in shopping malls.

This figure represents 10% of the US population who exercise occasionally, definitely a fraction of what it used to be 10 years ago when the craze was at its peak and America was waking up to the urgent message of the importance of exercise.

NEW MARKETS

The decline of enrollment-based fitness programs has forced many studios to expand their services.

For example, some jazz exercise studios now offer skin care and nutritional counseling. Some offer shiatsu classes.

The biggest problem for any stationary fitness program is being able to organize classes that work around the schedule of its potential clients.

The interest in fitness remains. The market did not dwindle as the figures suggest. The biggest challenge in this industry is identifying new ways to deliver its services to the market.

BUNS OF STEEL

If you are an aspiring exercise entrepreneur, here are three avenues by which you can deliver and sell your services to your market:

1 - CORPORATE CONTRACTS

Many businesses recognize that healthy employees are productive employees, something the Japanese realized decades ago.

You can send instructors to a business location to conduct exercise classes that are subsidized by the employer.

2 - SATELLITE CLASSES

You can lease community or church facilities, recreational centers or school gymnasiums and hold classes for people in that community. Some very large apartment complexes have halls, or function areas, where classes can be held.

3 - VIDEOS

Students who attend your class once can continue the routine on their own time. That’s the convenience video can offer.

Instead of coming to an organized exercise class, people will attend an exercise class in front of their VCRs.

In fact, a video tape can be an excellent add-on product to corporate contracts, satellite classes, or studio classes.

The Prize Is Always Right

Giving away a prize as an incentive to sell a product or solicit a donation is a time-tested marketing ploy that never fails. The only problem is that the market has become oblivious to sweepstakes.

Promoters are giving away the same old prizes time and time again. Without adding anything exciting to the sweepstakes, you might as well offer $10 million or your efforts (or your product or charitable cause) are likely to be ignored.

In this age of mega-million lotteries, the type or value of prizes offered speak the language of the market. If your product is just as good as that of your competition, or if your charity is just as worthy as any other that seeks donations, then you’d better spike your campaign with a sweepstakes that is unique as can be.

THE PRIZE

A few years ago, a church in Daly City, a bedroom community west of San Francisco was planning a fund raising campaign that involved selling “raffle” tickets to the congregation.

The plan was to sell the tickets for around $5 each, and for which one lucky ticket holder could win the grand prize of a brand new Toyota Tercel.

To say the least, the idea was worn out and unimaginative. A friend coordinating the project decided the raffle could be improved, and consulted me on what the fund raising committee can do to make the sweepstakes more attractive.

My suggestion was to give a different prize. Why not give away a business - a store!!!

VIDEO STORE PRIZE

We went to a new strip mall that was being constructed and leased a storefront for $1,100 a month.

Next we ordered signs and shelves and an initial inventory of 1,200 used video tapes for which we spent a total of $15,000.

For under $20,000, we were able to put together the basic framework of an operational video store. We hanged a banner outside that says “You can win this store. Call for info”.

$200 A TICKET

Because the church wanted to raise $25,000, we decided to sell 250 tickets at $200 each - for a total of $50.000.

Out of this amount, $20,000 will pay for the grand prize, $25,000 goes to the church and $5,000 for my friend for organizing the project which lasted for 6 weeks.

To achieve the same results, and using instead an $8,000 car as a prize, it would require the church to 8,000 tickets at $5 each, a much more difficult fund-raiser by comparison.

For Mature Audiences Only

It is not the intention of this publication to proliferate or encourage sexually oriented merchandise. However, as an observer of entrepreneurial activities, this medium would be naive and pretentious to ignore a profitable, legal business that could possibly be of interest to others.

The concept is plain and simple. Renting video tapes is profitable business. Renting adult videos is even more profitable.

Most adults will watch x-rated tapes (adult videos) only occasionally. This attitude does not warrant them to purchase video tapes. They would rather pay a premium to rent the tapes that they want.

BUY WHOLESALE

Sources for adult videos include local distribut6ors, used tape distributors, and catalog houses.

The average adult video costs $40. In volume, you can buy them wholesale for around $15 each.

RENTAL REVENUES

Since adult videos are not sensitive to release schedules, they do not get dated in the same manner as theatrical films. As a result, adult videos generally enjoy a longer shelf life.

Because of this, it can be rented more often and over a longer period of time.

Where the average video can be rented approximately 40 times over a period of 12 months, adult videos can extend well in to 50 or 60 times.

If you rent your videos even at $2 each, you can expect rental revenues of around $100 per tape per year.

If you purchased the video for $15, you have just multiplied your investment 4 times.

Furthermore, you can offer your year-old tapes for sale for around $12 each.

(Note that selling adult videos across state lines is a Federal offense. If you want to sell tapes, sell them to your members in your local area. Likewise, you should check your local zoning regulations regarding this business.)

OTHER CLUB BENEFITS

An adult video & book club can be more attractive and more profitable if the benefits and activities offered to members go beyond books and videos.

You can offer club members special cruises where members of the opposite sex can be paired and offer special discounts available to couples.

You can also organize parties that charge admission, where single people can meet.

Producing How-to-Videos

A Florida videographer produced a How-to Wedding Planner tape and sold over $250,000 worth of videos in just 12 months. Think about it: If you sell your video for $25, all you need to do is sell around 80 videos a week, or 325 videos a month to gross $100,000 a year.

A typical “small” production can sell as much as 1,500 videos a month, or 18,000 units a year, at $25 each.

It’s the Topic

If there is one single factor that makes or breaks a How to video, it’s the choice of topic. Another factor to consider is the length of the material. To remain interesting the average how-to video must be fast paced and relatively short not exceeding 45 minutes. More successful videos are no more than 30 minutes long as this is a tolerable length by which a video can effectively cover a topic and remain interesting.

Duplication Cost

The length of your video also affects your duplication cost. Following is a rate structure for duplication charges based on set quantities for a factory load VHS tape:

The Shoot

Who’s going to do the shooting? If you decide to do it yourself, where will you get the camera? What format are you going to shoot it in?

The average cost of renting a 3/4 inch U-Matic camera, with wireless mics, and standard lighting equipment is around $495 a day. A camera person with an assistant will cost an extra $250.

The Editing

Once you’ve shot all the footage you need, you edit the work, assembling the footage in an orderly and coherent fashion that will effectively deliver the thought.

Depending on how you shot your footage, editing can take 20 to 50 times the estimated finished length of your video. This means a 10 minute video may take 4 to 5 hours to edit, and so on.

Studio time ranges from $40 to as much as $100 an hour, depending on the special effects you want to have available for your editing project.

Packaging

Full color printed sleeves start at around 40 cents a piece if you order 1,000 or more. You also need face labels on your tapes, as well as shrink wrapping for protection.

5 WAYS TO GENERATE QUICK CASH YOU NEED BY RUNNING A MINI-BUSINESS, PART 4 of 5

Continuing from part three, mini-businesses:

INVENTORY VIDEO TAPING

This is an excellent secondary business to run. You can easily control how much time you spend on this, and it has great profit potential!

You only need one camera, decent video skills, little expenses and supplies, and, if done right, very low marketing expenses. Besides our Video camera, you’ll need an instant camera and an engraving tool, which together should be able to be found for under $100.

Here’s the business in a nutshell: You videotape household and business inventory and valuables for insurance purposes. Then, if a robbery occurs, the owner has a video documentation of the missing valuables for law enforcement and insurance agents. Your primary prospects for this service will be upper-income families and businesses that specialize in high-ticket items or have a high investment in equipment.

The first step you should take to run a property inventory taping service is to meet with your area law enforcement agencies to find out what regulations, if any, they have. Remember, you will be going into other people’s houses and will have full knowledge of their valuables. If you have endorsement from the law, your customers can feel comfortable that you won’t use this knowledge for the wrong purposes. The person you want to meet with would be the one in charge of neighborhood watches or community services. Normally, police agencies are enthusiastic supporters of services like this, as it makes their job easier. Others to meet with include insurance agents, private detectives, fire officials and attorneys. Not only will you gain valuable information from them, you will be building up a network for referrals. Be sure to keep a good record of who you meet with so you can send them business cards, brochures and periodic reminders of your services.

While meeting with insurance agents, take care of your insurance requirements. You should carry liability insurance, and you should also get bonded. The extra expense is worth it, as it will both help to get business and will protect you and your customer.

Your service will be ripe for publicity, so prepare a good press release. You should be able to find a good book or two on publicity releases at your library. Get these releases to every daily and weekly newspaper in your area, as well as local business magazines and television stations. When your service gets written up in the papers, keep a clipping of each article to use in your marketing materials. Send a copy to all the insurance agents, attorneys, private detectives and law enforcement agencies in your area. You WILL get referrals from this!

Another idea for publicity is to set up a booth at local home and garden shows, preferably in the home protection areas (alarms, etc.). This will establish your name in the minds of consumers. If you don’t mind public speaking, offer to give a short seminar on home inventory protection and how your service can help prevent theft. You can prepare one presentation that can be given numerous times at different community-related functions and locations, such as country clubs.

Now for the meat of the service; when you set up an appointment with a customer, make sure they know you will be charging by the hour, so it will be to their advantage to have things such as jewelry, china or antiques laid out and ready to be taped. Take your camcorder with extra tape and batteries, an instant camera with plenty of film, your engraver, forms for listing valuables, and a three-ring binder for the forms.

When taping valuables, be sure to get a clear picture of them, including any distinguishing characteristics. Be sure to fill out your forms completely, listing special features or characteristics, such as type and weight of gems, etc. Jewelry is probably best photographed with your instant camera, as is any small valuables. Large antiques and other primary household items are easily videoed. Be sure to get any brand names and model numbers clearly taped.

After taping the individual items, walk through the house. Be sure to get any computer and video equipment, phones, TVs, art and other items that would be tempting to thieves. Engrave the client’s social security or driver’s license number on the back or bottom of items that won’t be damaged by doing so and record this on the forms, including the location of the engraving and all serial numbers. If the home is burglarized and police recover the stolen goods, this will help the client get his or her valuables back quickly and easily.

Don’t forget to tape the outside of the house, including patios, walkways and landscaping. This can help the client establish value in case of vandalism.

In businesses, videotape the office equipment, as well as the offices themselves, inside and out. In specialized businesses, be sure to tape any special equipment.

A good idea is to provide window stickers for your clients that tell potential thieves that items in the house have been marked and recorded. These stickers can be purchased or printed. Your local law enforcement agencies may even be able to provide these to you at a low cost.

When through taping, give the tape a quick run-through to be sure everything’s ok, then give it to your client, along with the binder. Encourage them to store these in a safe deposit box, in case of fire.

How much should you charge? A typical mid-sized to large home should take two hours, at most, to tape, if the owner has prepared everything ahead of time. You can charge anywhere from $50 to $150 per hour, depending upon what your local market will bear, with $75 per hour a good figure to start with. You should be able to see how this business can add up!

In your marketing materials, stress the fact that your charge is a small price to pay, considering it is a crime deterrent and will result in far less stress and time on the customer’s part if a mishap does occur. You can feel good that you are providing a service which will help people in bad times. Remember to be professional while in the client’s home, don’t make any comments which could be construed in bad ways, and be assuring about the safety and reliability of yourself and your service.

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