Let's change gears for a moment.  The economy is rough, and you may need income.  Maybe you are ok, but you know someone who needs a way to help feed the family.

I hope this helps you or someone you know:

When I was seven I won the sales contest at the Potomac VFW.  The VFW printed up calendars with cute covers, they were the size of a checkbook.  We went door-to-door and sold the calendars as a fund-raising source.  I sold hundreds, and won.  Of course, I was cute and charming.  It helped.

Beginning the same year I made hundreds of dollars (at $10 per driveway) shoveling snow in my neighborhood, and cutting grass in the summer.  When I started a real job at 18, I advanced rapidly in technical skills and customer service - because I wanted it. In my first year, I out-sold every other technician on staff, and received a bonus at Christmas (which matched my cumulative commission for the year) and was able to buy my first truck on Christmas Eve.

See, I needed money.  As a kid I liked baseball and football cards and cherry slush puppies (similar to a slurpee).  As I got older, I liked girls, boats, 4x4's and boom sticks.  All of my likes required money, so I had to earn.

I have always had an entrepreneurial disposition, and it continues today.  Here is an interesting bit of human nature I have experienced as an employer: There is a vast portion of our population that will simply not work hard to get ahead.  Once (some) people hit a certain comfort level, they simply won't work for more.  They are willing to coast.

Three years ago I employed two dozen people in the DC suburbs in a technical service company.  I was horribly disappointed at the level of effort today's 18-30 year old folks are willing to put into their jobs.  Today, they all work for someone else, because I can't be bothered with people who choose not to succeed.

In another business (media related), we decided to hire a sales staff for a specific venture: a lifestyle magazine.

Sales people in the DC area want a minimum $52k base, with health insurance and a 10-20% commission rate before they sell the first widget.  And I'm not talking about seasoned professionals with a track record of 7-figure sales.  I'm talking about the young college grad with little or no experience with the products you are offering or the real world.

Do you have any idea of the effort a person is willing to invest when they start with a $52k base?

I do.

I hired five professionals with experience in media sales (and one young college grad without media experience) during the same week to push a particular magazine we were publishing at the time, gave them the base they requested, fuel allowance, and all the resources they would need to earn - seriously - a very easy and BIG six-figure income.  All they had to do was get out there and put the product in the face of businessmen.  I know the product and pricing worked, because I tested it myself.

The DC Metro area is such that there are tens-of-thousands of businesses, most of which advertise constantly.  Our city and suburbs are arranged so that a sales rep can visit hundreds of businesses a day, on foot.

What I got, after 2 months of carrying these professionals on my payroll, was a raft of excuses.  Mind you, I hired people with established careers.  They had lists of clients from when they sold Yellow Pages ad space, radio spots, magazine ad space, newspapers, web, et cetera.  To a person, I found they would spend a few hours each day giving the barest effort to setting up appointments.

Collectively, they moved about $50k of ad space over 2 months. (That is abysmal)  Most of that was accomplished by the one young guy who had never sold anything but door-to-door pest services - but he wanted it.  The others failed because they did not try.  I made it too comfortable for them. 

My mistake.  I learned.  Now, if I decide to give a person a shot to work for me selling a product, they get a straight commission.  If you sell, you get paid.  No sale, no eat.

One of the most successful HVAC companies in America was down in Texas.  The owner succeeded, believe it or not, by going door to door and selling HVAC systems and services like a vacuum cleaner salesman.  Every day, he'd go knock on doors.  Can you imagine how many times he heard "No thanks" or had doors slammed in his face?  But he went out every day, and it added up.  He retired a very wealthy man.

Most of the wealthiest people in the world sell stuff.  Insurance and real estate are the big ticket items, but, ultimately, whatever you do for a living, sales is involved, somewhere in the business model.  Even if you are a World Class bio-researcher, sales is involved: Because whoever is underwriting your research is looking ahead, hoping to have a product to sell as a result of your work.

Real sales is not the smarmy, fast talking garbage spewed by the stereotypical used car sales slug in plaid from the 70's.  Smart sales involves a soft approach, simply letting folks know that you have X product to offer. If they want it or need it, they will buy it.

You give your business card or promotional piece to as many people as possible, and you never try to sell anything on the first contact.  If you are a decent human being, the sales will take care of themselves.

It is a numbers game, pure and simple.  There is a certain number of people, at any given moment, who want or need a particular product or service.  The key to sales success is simply being in their orbit when they want or need your product or service.  If your sales rate is 1%, and you need to move 10 units per day, you must expose your product to 1,000 people each day.

Are you unemployed, or under-employed?  Surely you have a skill worthy of marketing, even if it is simply shoveling a sidewalk for $20.  Decide what you can do, and then go and meet every single homeowner and business owner in your AO.  You can buy 10,000 first class business cards from printplace.com for less than $100. (I buy quite a bit from printplace.com and I can endorse their work.)

Here is a business model that I know works, and anyone can do it with zero start-up cost and immediate income.

If you need money to feed your family, here it is:

Go to local businesses and meet the manager or owner.  Offer to take 5,000 of their business cards or sales flyers and hand deliver them to 5,000 households in the area.  Pick a nice neighborhood, so the merchants are reaching the best demographic.

Charge $188 for your service.  (For most businesses, $188 is throw-away money)  If you get 10 businesses aboard, you gross $1,880.  You can walk to 5,000 homes in 2-3 days, depending on the neighborhood.  If it is a townhouse development, you can get it done in a day.

You put your 10 ads in an envelope or plastic newspaper bag, and knock on every door.  If anyone is home, smile and hand them the envelope.  If they are not home, leave the envelope in the door (not the mailbox - Big Uncle has a problem with that).

You can fine tune your business.  Tell your customers to give only business cards, or only 4x9 postcards, et cetera, so that when you hand it to a resident, they are receiving a tidy little package.  You can buy nice envelopes, and if you have a few bucks for start-up, you can even have the envelopes pre-printed with your company name to build your Brand.

You can tell your customers to have special postcards printed, offering a coupon or discount that is not available anywhere else.  That way the business will know that your efforts are effective, as the customer comes in with the coupon that only you were delivering.

Why would a business owner do it? 

It does not matter what the economy is like: Businesses that do not advertise will die. Advertising is simple arithmetic.  For him to mail 5,000 postcards at First Class rates is $2,200.  Even if he uses the bulk mail process, his best rate will be $.17 per piece.  That is $850.  You only charge $188 - it is a no-brainer.

You can also explain to the business owner that with your service, the homeowner will pay special attention to his piece.  How many postcards does the mailman deliver every day?  Most of us simply throw them all away.  The message is lost in the junk.  Your service hand delivers his message, and you limit your package to only a few advertisers, so he isn't simply one voice in a big stack.

The key is to get out and get it done. 

Get a haircut.  Shave.  You do not need a suit to meet a business owner - you need sincerity and a good offer.  Businessmen look at the bottom line.  He'll want to know that you deliver the pieces, rather than just dumping them in a trash can.  So, tell him exactly which neighborhoods you will service.  He probably has a friend, relative or customer he can contact next week to verify delivery.

When you go door-to-door, dress nicely.  Jeans work, with a nice button-down shirt and a nice top coat.  Harriet Homeowner is not really interested in opening the door for Mr. Scruffy on her front step.

I promise this works.  Your mileage may vary, for obvious reasons.  If you live in a small town or rural area, the demographics are difficult to overcome.  Fiddle with your numbers.  If you decide to include 10 advertisers and you charge $198 instead of $188, you have increased your net profit margin by $100 for the same amount of work.  Charge less if you must.

The most time consuming aspect is stuffing 5,000 envelopes with all the ad slicks.  Get the kids involved.

Think about it.

Instead of hoping to be the one person hired out of hundreds of applicants for one of the few dead-end jobs out there - take your future in your own hands and get to work!

Sam
III

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