Posts filed under 'Business Ideas'
Have you ever thought about selling name brand clothes, but don’t have enough to buy the inventory? Here’s an idea: buy cheap, sell at discounts. Here is what you have to do:
- Find the merchandise. You won’t believe the sheer amount of name brand clothes you can find cheap. Many of the major retail outlets such as Target, Macy’s, Nordstrom (just to name a few) periodically liquidate their inventory so they can buy up new stuff. Much of these products are bought by liquidation companies in bulk, who then sell it off to anyone who is interested. It’s not unusual to see shirts that you would usually see in stores for $40, being sold by liquidation companies for $5. Usually these items come in large mixed pallets, so be sure to know whats included in them. Another great place to find overstock and liquidation clothing is Liquidation.com. This is an auction site that caters to B2B, so you can find a wide range of products here from clothing to computers. Just make sure you get the shipping quotes as most of the packages are usually very heavy.
- Find a store. Normally, a discount store would be great in an urban area or shopping center with a decent amount of traffic going back and forth. Find a place you can lease at a reasonable price, and remember to negotiate it as much as you can. The lower the price for space, the more profits in your pocket. Make sure it has good display space in the front, so you can showcase your products and the store to the people outside.
- Marketing. Hold periodic sales store-wide. This is a great way to liquidate your own merchandise (at a reasonable profit), plus pull in more customers who will love to get discounts on already discounted items.
Start up can vary, ranging from $2000-$10,000, depending on how much inventory you wish to initially carry, plus the rent, fixtures, Point-of-Sales equipment etc. Make sure you create a business and budget plan prior to getting started.
July 25th, 2007
Okay, so basically I was thinking of some ways people could make money with their cars. Some of these are known, while others are my own ideas. Feel free to add in your ideas as well.
- Courier service. You probably see quite a few of these around. Basically shipping urgent mail/packages for your clients same day, probably within a few hours. There are also quite a few specialty ones that cater to hospitals and law offices.
- Food delivery service. How about delivering food from local restaurants who don’t want to hire a full-time delivery person. You can probably charge by job, or have a fixed monthly fee.
- Become a race car driver. Now who doesn’t want to do this?
- Paid advertisements. Ask businesses if they want to rent space on your car to put their ads on. You can probably charge by month for this, heck do it for other cars too by paying off commissions to drivers. Probably good for the college student crowd.
- Notary service on wheels. Become a mobile notary agent and offer your services to people who need documents notarized. You might have to work at uneven hours for this.
Thats pretty much of what I can come up with for now. If you have a creative idea too, tell us!
July 24th, 2007
I know many of you must have noticed those ads that sell you information on ebooks, normally with the claim that you can generate tons of income. But did you know thats how a lot of people make money? Yes, by selling Ebooks quite a few of these individuals make an awesome amount of income, just check out this neat article I found in Yaro Starak’s blog (these people made $250,000 in a year!). Are you interested? Then here is what you have to do:
- Get the Ebook. You can either write one from scratch about a topic you really know about (provided its a marketable idea), or you can buy one. Yes, many ebook authors actually allow people to resell their ebooks, and this can be a wise choice for you if you wish to sell multiple ones. You can find them all over the web, and even buy them in bulk from individuals (you can find a few on the Digitalpoint Forums).
- Make a Pitch Page. You will have to get a domain name for your product, and when you do, you will also have to get a web page made that will act as your sales pitch. You can either do this yourself, or have someone else do it for you. It should be able to grab a persons attention when they first see it, so its very important to have a good pitch. This is a nice example of a pitch page: The Truth About Six-Pack Abs.
- Get registered at ClickBank. This is a checkout service specifically designed for digital products (like Ebooks and software). The best part about it is it’s huge network of affiliates. Basically, all you would have to do is it set the amount of commission you are willing to share with an affiliate, and let them promote the products for you. You would be surprised to see how big the share of affiliate sales are for many ebook sites, with some of them receiving more than 80% of all their sales from affiliates.
- Market your Ebook. Aside from ClickBanks affiliates, you can also use Google Adwords to market you products, which would display in Adsense’s Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads. You can also drive traffic through a paid traffic service, but be careful; some paid traffic services drive traffic through bots and pop-ups/pop-unders. Make sure you do your research before using them.
July 23rd, 2007
Taken from “Adams Businesses You Can Start Almanac”
Startup cost: $500-$1000
Potential earnings: $15,000-$100,000
Typical fees: 10 to 25 percent of a gig
Advertising: Industry trades, local paper, direct mail, nightclubs, bulletin boards, musicians’ associations, Web site
Qualifications: An ear for what will sell, management and negotiation skills
Equipment needed: Computer, laser printer, cell phone
Home business potential: Yes
Staff required: no
Hidden costs: Band could fire you without notice; it’s a good idea to represent several
Lowdown:
You’re into the club scene; you know instinctively what’s hot and what’s not. You see a few up-and-coming bands that need representation (because truthfully, most musicians lack business skills). If you’ve got the ability to convince musicians that you can really sell them and make their jobs easier by handling all of the business details they’d probably rather not think about anyway, you can make a decent – and if you go national or garner a recording contract, maybe even a darn good – living. You’ll need to be well connected in the club scene, and if you are clued in on where to plug you band(s), you could successfully book them for regular gigs and earn a steady flow of income for yourself in the process. Of course, you need to really believe in your bands, because if you don’t you won’t be able to develop and promote them properly and it will show in your presentation. Good negotiation skills are a must.
Startup:
You’ll need some initial capital ($500-$1000) to help get your first band off the ground and to lay the groundwork for some publicity. The ability to negotiate good contracts is important not only to the band, but to you because you get roughly 10 to 25 percent of whatever the band makes. With percentages like that, you could make $15,000-$100,000 (depending on how many bands you represent and how popular they become).
Bottom Line Advice:
Expect to spend long hours on the phone trying to get bookings. At the start you’ll probably still have a day job, so expect you evenings and weekends to be tied up. Start out at small clubs and work your way to bigger ones as your band(s) get more confident.
July 16th, 2007
Taken from “Adams Businesses You Can Start Almanac”
Startup cost: $500-$1,500
Potential Earnings: $25,000-$50,000
Typical fees: $12-$15 per hour or flat rate of $50-$100 per job
Advertising: Flyer’s left in front doors, ads in local or community newspapers
Qualifications: Love for working outdoors and some knowledge about lawn care
Equipment needed:Power mowers, rakes, leaf blower, power trimmer and spreader, pickup truck or station wagon
Home Business potential: Yes
Staff required: No
Hidden costs: Insurance, transportation, some equipment rental
Lowdown:
Many people could find time to mow their own lawns if they wanted to, but it’s the weeding, trimming, fertilizing, aerating, and leaf removal that are difficult to squeeze in. By providing these services, plus the mowing, you can rake in the profits. There’s a lot of competition out there, from neighborhood kids who mow lawns on the cheap to the expensive professional lawn services that include landscaping and related services. But if you plant you seeds in the right places, develop you niche, and cultivate the business, your lawn care service can grow.
Startup:
Let’s assume you already have a truck to carry your equipment. You’ll need to shell out at least $300 for basic tools, such as rakes and edgers; more if you need to upgrade the power lawn mower you probably already have. Consider renting some of the items you don’t use regularly. Double or triple your costs if you decide to have a team of workers mowing a lawn simultaneously (you’ll make more money that way). You can charge roughly $50-$100 per job in a residential lawn care business; more if you can handle corporate accounts. Keep in mind, however, that you income isn’t limited to flat fees; many happy customers also include a tip for your trouble.
Bottom Line Advice:
By scheduling some or all of your services with customers in the same neighborhoods, you can save on transportation and rental costs. One day you might be mowing lawns and another you’ll be aerating. You might have to rent an aeration roller at a cost of $25 or more a day, but if you schedule aerations in one neighborhood for the same day, you’ll easily recoup the investment. In many parts of the country lawn care is a seasonal business. To pick up the slack in winter, you might consider adding rock salts, shovels, and snow blowers to your equipment inventory.
July 13th, 2007
What is Drop Shipping? If you’ve never heard of the term, Drop Shipping is basically selling products offered by wholesalers directly to the end consumers, while making a nifty profit in between which is usually decided by you. To be more specific, I’ll give the Wikipedia definition of it:
“Drop shipping is a supply chain management technique in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock, but instead transfers customer orders and shipment details to wholesalers, who then ship the goods directly to the customer. The retailers make their profit on the difference between the wholesale and retail price.”
Sounds like a great idea right? But you might be asking yourself how you can start, and how would you sell these, considering you don’t have inventory; its simple really.
Some of these companies may actually offer catalogues (though they may you want you to become a member prior to trusting you with their materials) by which you can show customers different products that you can offer to them. You may find many drop shippers like this that engage in selling antiques, women’s products, household products, collectables, and decoration pieces. This is a nice choice if you have an extensive number of friends and family, especially if you are active in your community since it can open may different prospects for you to form a customer base and develop a network of customers that spreads by word of mouth.
Nowadays, many drop shippers offer services by which you can sell directly through the Internet. Many of these are also geared towards people who wish to sell on eBay, which can prove to be a positive choice considering you won’t have to stock up on inventory and worry about building an excess. In fact if a product doesn’t sell, you won’t even have to worry too much as you didn’t even pay for it in the first place. Plus if you wish to work from home or work from home already, you can’t miss the chance to build some extra income from something that probably wouldn’t take much time out of your day. There is only money to be made in this business, since you have virtually no up-front costs for it (unless the company requires you to be a member).
Given these reasons, it should be a no-brainer for many people why this is an ideal choice for a home based business. But keep in mind that there are many scams out there too. Some of these scams include selling you false drop ship lists that have outdated or fraudulent companies. They may not even be drop shippers at all, but other businesses or individuals who act as middlemen between the wholesalers and retailers, which would leave little room for retailers to make profits.
July 12th, 2007
Taken from “Adams Businesses You Can Start Almanac”
Startup Cost: Between $200-$500
Potential Earnings: $15,000-$$20,000
Typical Fees: $5-$10 per drop-off
Advertising: Fliers or classified ads
Qualifications: Marketing Sense, time-management skills
Equipment Needed: A method for tracking and processing payments due to your crewmembers
Home business potential: Yes
Staff Required: Yes
Hidden Costs: Spot-checking your distribution crew, insurance
Lowdown:
Businesses are moving beyond traditional marketing avenues (magazine and newspaper advertising, radio spots, etc.) to develop less expensive, more effective alternatives. In many areas of the country, there is a return to an old tried and true advertising method, handbill distribution. If you live in an area with a high concentration of people and plenty of retailers, restaurants, and services nearby, you can develop a handbill distribution service. Unless you are willing to log alot of miles on foot yourself, you will need a crew of people to do the actual distribution, but you will have to carry out spot checks to make sure they are actually handing out each bill and not simply dumping them along the way. If you recruit and manage a good crew, handbill distribution can be an effective marketing approach for you clients and a profitable business for you.
Startup:
Aside from the fliers with which you promote your own business, your primary costs will be what you pay to your crews. You may need to carry insurance against work-related mishaps; check with your agent to be sure you are covered. You will derive your income from the clients whose handbills you distribute. Expect to bill between $5 and $10 per drop-off; add extra for jobs involving more time and effort.
Bottom Line Advice:
The simplicity of this business has great appeal, especially for those who thrive on person-to-person, face-to-face interaction. You’ll be building a service that is almost pure service, which can be quite satisfying. Expect, however, to expand a lot of your energy in marketing your operation and hiring and managing your crew.
July 12th, 2007
I recently purchased this book. 500 small and Mid-sized business ideas packed into one book. I’ll be reading into it more, seems to have many great ideas that you would normally never think of. A few include being a Dog trainer, licensing agent, bicycle rental (probably a great idea if your in the city) and many more. I would definitely recommend this book if you’ve hit a mental roadblock and can’t seem to get any ideas flowing.
Book Description
The time to start your own business is now! Whether you’re a previously employed manager seeking new opportunities and greater job satisfaction, starting up a home-based business, re-entering the job market, or just looking to earn some extra cash on the side, this book will help you discover the business that’s just right for you.
This detailed reference provides more than 500 different business opportunities to choose from; each entry features:
A description of the business
Start-up and hidden costs
Potential earnings
Qualifications and equipment needed
Marketing tips for the best ways to advertise your new business
In addition, this book contains critical advice on:
Putting together a business plan
Survival strategies
Legal considerations
Long-term growth strategies
And more!
No matter what your criteria-start-up costs, skill sets, professional and personal interests-the Adams Businesses You Can Start Almanac, 2nd Edition will prepare you to take the most exciting step of your career-being your own boss!
July 10th, 2007
