Minimum Start-Up: $500
Average Start-Up: 15,000
Revenue: $35,000 - $1 Mil+
Profits: $20,000 - $500,000
One Person Business: Yes

Auditing is not a matter of magic. If you have the patience to sort through
regulatory tariff and have a keen eye to spot billing inconsistencies, you
can conduct an audit.

UTILITY BILLS

Auditing utility bills has become one of the most popular areas of
concentration for auditors because of the inherent complexity of billing for
utilities. Utility rates are highly confusing because they differ depending
on type of service, volume of useeage, and promotional packages offered at
the time of installation.

GETTING PAID

Utility Auditors earn commissions, usually around 50% of any overcharge they
uncover. And this is where you may need to exercise more of your patience.
Although utility companies would gladly settle a verifiable overcharge
(relatively quickly out of court), it may ake them up to six months to issue
any refund. This is particularly true with larger utility firms.

COMMISSION WORKS

Most clients prefer to pay auditors on commission basis for two reasons:
No upfront cash outlay, and no risk if the auditor comes back empty-handed.
For the auditor, working on commission offers distinct advantages: It makes
it easier for them to land clients, and it usually enables hem to earn more
than if they would take a basic fee.

MAKING THE SALE

The biggest challenge facing auditors is to get a poteneial client to admit
that “there is a high probability that they (the client) overpaid for their
utilities without knowing it”. This issue is usually not a problem if the
client is a small business where the owner makes all the decisions. However,
th executive committee of a major corporation may feel threatened that
they”ll be held accountable for irresponsibly overpaying for utility.

Your job is to convince your potential client that overcharging does happen
and that it is the job of an outsider auditor, and not people from within
the company, to “fix” the problem.

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A Florida video-grapher 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, its 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:

Length 1000 2500
10 min $1.50 $1.15
20 min 2.10 1.80
30 min 2.50 2.00

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.

>

VIDEO YEARBOOKS
These are growing in popularity. They usually consist of short scenes of
important high school events, such as sports, clubs, candid “people scenes,”
still photo montages, and other memorable items for the students. A well-
edited hour-long video should be able to be sold for $15 to $30, depending
upon the editing complexity of the video and the size of the school.

The larger the school, the more you can expect to sell. You should first
contact the school administration with this idea. Put together a good
presentation for them, explaining your services and how your video yearbook
will work with the regular yearbook as an added remembrance. A good idea
is to offer to donate a portion, $2 for example, per tape sold to a school
fund or student-supported charity. After the administration, you will
probably need to speak to the school board, principals, and school yearbook
sponsors. This work will be worth it, though.

Try to include in your tape, from time to time, current events or subjects
which will remind the viewers about what was going on at the time they were
in school. One caution, though. Be careful about including copyrighted
items, such as popular songs, in your tape. You will need to get permission
from the copyright holders or risk legal action.

The best way to sell your tape is to obtain permission to distribute a flyer to the
students in the school at the same time as the regular yearbook information is distributed.
Then, follow up later in the year, giving those who haven’t ordered yet another opportunity. Finally, give another chance at the end of the school year.

From time to time, go to the school and shoot material. Get sporting events,
clubs, quiz bowl tournaments, science fairs, special events, pep rallies,
ordinary day-to-day video, and, of course, graduation. If you’re ambitious,
do a video yearbook for each class! That way, students can end their high
school years with a four-video set, documenting that time of their lives from
start to finish!

DUBBING AND DUPLICATING
Here’s an easy service to offer. With a film-to-video transfer device,
commonly available for under $100, and a movie projector, you can put
customer’s old home movies on video tape. There are a few different types
of transfer devices available. The best place to check would be your local
quality camera shop.

You should be able to charge around $20 per hour of film for this service.
A good idea is to add background music to the home movies. Copyright-free
music is widely available on CD. Check advertising and marketing magazines
such as Advertising Age for ads.

You can also offer a duplicating service for customer’s home videos, so
they can give relatives (or America’s Funniest Home Videos) a copy. You
can usually charge a flat fee for this service, depending upon the length of
the tape. Editing together still photos is also a good service to offer,
particularly to people who travel frequently.

There are many other areas just starting to be tapped _ video resumes,
video postcards, even video wills. If you come up with a good original idea,
research the market for it. If you find a reasonable amount of people will
be interested in your new service, you may just have a winner on your hands!
>

If you have cable, you’ve no doubt seen local advertising on most of the
channels. There are three ways a local business could produce a commercial.
One, they could do it themselves (and we all know what that looks like); two,
they could have the local cable business do it for them (which can also look
quite amateurish); or they can have an outside individual do the production.
This is where you come in.

If your video skills are top-notch, you can produce excellent commercials for local businesses at agreeable prices. If you have marketing skills, so much the better, but it’s not an absolute requirement. As long as you can clearly answer the “4 W” questions (who, what, where and why), your commercial will be good.

The only drawback to this business is that you should use 3/4 inch broadcast
format video, which is incompatible with a home videocamera. A camera for
this type of videotape usually costs around $3000, less if it’s used. There
is a way around this expense, though.

Most cable stations have what is called a “public access” channel. This
channel is designed so that individuals and groups from the community can
produce their own shows, to be aired on the channel. Contact your local
cable company and find out if they have such a channel.

You should be able to rent time on their equipment. This is a real boon when it comes to
editing a tape, as they will have the equipment necessary to make your tape
look professional. They usually offer short courses on using the equipment,
too.

Market your services directly to the small businesses in your area.
Good prospects are auto dealerships, restaurants, retailers such as video,
book, and computer dealers, and, in election years, local political
candidates (hope they get elected - you can expect a return customer!).
Your quality production, coupled with a reasonable price, should entice
prospects to become customers.

Most commercials will be either thirty-seconds or one minute, and will be
shot on location at the customer’s facilities. If they provide the copy
for the commercial, you only have to direct the commercial. Run through
the script with whomever will be reading it, to make sure that it will fit
the time without sounding rushed.

You want to aim for a relaxed, natural sound (unless, of course, you’re working with your local crazy car dealer, in which case they may want an auctioneer sound!). Above all, make sure the script tells who the advertiser is, what they do, where they are, and why
people should give them their business. This is what the customer needs to hear.

Likewise, make sure your customer is happy with the result. After shooting
the video, edit it (you should be able to ask someone at the cable company
to help you), then review it with your customer. As long as you’ve presented
the advertiser in a good light, you’ll be in good shape.

The first few times you produce a commercial, you may feel like you’re flying
by the seat of your pants. Just relax, use good common sense, and always
remember that the job of the commercial is to convince the skeptical customer to spend his or her hard earned money with your client.

You should expect to spend a few hours during the shoot, to get enough takes
for editing. Get four or five good takes. That way, any bad parts that you
find when reviewing your taping can be replaced with a good take.

A 30-second or 1-minute spot can be shot and edited in one day. The first
one or two may take a bit longer, but that’s okay. It’s better to take your
time when learning the ropes, rather than rush through and end up with
substandard results.

Because your overhead will be low (if renting equipment, instead of purchasing), you should be able to undercut your competition. In a decent size city, you can expect to charge between $500 and $1,000. Longer commercials are more negotiable, depending upon whether or not you will be asked to write the script. The half-hour long
“infomercials” have become a bonanza for many advertisers, and they are a
goal you can work up to, as your skills grow.

Watch commercials and listen to them. Keep mental notes about how the
advertiser is presented, what message the commercial gives, and if you feel
the commercial is successful. Incorporate the best elements of the
commercials you see into your own shoots!

>

This is, in my opinion, THE business to get into with your videocamera.
You only need one camera, decent video skills, little expenses and supplies,
and, if done right, very low marketing expenses. Besides your videocamera,
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 videocamera 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 videotaped. 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. Record all 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 this 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.
>

I love to travel, but I also love to be ”as close to nature” as possible.

One of my favorite places in the world is Death Valley and I’ve been planning a motorcycle trip out there for a long time. Here’s the problem: I don’t own a motorcycle.

Motorcycles are also large and noisy.

Voila! Enter the motorized bicycle.

You probably aren’t even aware such a product exists, but for under $500 you can equip your bicycle with a very hearty ~50cc engine. This engine is capable of going 150 miles on a single gallon of gas and it get you up to a heart racing, 35 mph! (That’s really fast on a bicycle - trust me.)

Motorized Bicycles are popular in other parts of the world and are sure to become a huge success in the U.S. as well. The bike’s are surprisingly easy to operate: you have a clutch that enables you to drive the bike just as you normally would. When you want to use power from the engine simply release the clutch and the engine springs to life. If you want to turn it off, there is a conveniently located kill switch.

Special event videos are much simpler and a lot less worry than videotaping
a wedding ceremony. In many cases, you’ll only need one camera, one
microphone, and little or no editing. You’ll charge less, of course, but
your profit margin will be higher.

You can provide this service to any professional person or group - attorneys,
salespeople, financial advisors, professional speakers _ anyone who must
give a talk, presentation or lecture before a group of people. Workshops,
meetings, conferences, reunions, all are potential jobs for you.

As with weddings, meet beforehand with the person or persons you will be
taping, both to get their permission to tape them, if necessary, and to get
a feel for what they specifically want on tape.

If all they want is a tape of their speech, then all you’ll need is one camera
(two if you want a spare in case of problems), one microphone and a tripod. Set your equipment up well ahead of time, to allow for testing. Be sure to have the subject of
the tape do a test of part of their speech, so you can be sure the microphone
is set right. It’s important to have clear sound for event taping.

For panel discussions, meetings and other group events, you’ll want to have
a camera pointed at every person, or possibly at every two people, as well
as one at the whole group. Make sure every person can be picked up by your
microphones.

When you edit the tapes together, try to have the speaking person on screen as
they speak, unless that would mean too many rapid changes, which can be
disorienting to the viewer.

If taping an interview, the subject of the interview is more important than
the interviewer. While it’s good to cut in a reaction shot of the interviewer from time to time, keep the focus of your tape on the person being interviewed.

Unless you need to use multiple cameras and heavy editing, you should charge
less for event taping than you would for wedding taping. There are a few
reasons for this.

First, you will spend far less time on an event tape.

Second, you have a higher potential for return business. If you do a good
job, you have a good chance of being called in again for the next meeting or
conference.

Finally, there is always the possibility of selling copies of
the tape to targeted customers. This can either be done for the subject of
the tape, with you getting a cut, or the subject can pay you a license fee
for each that he or she sells.

An up-and-coming event to tape is the high school or college class reunion.
Offer your services to tape the reunion as a keepsake for those who
attended, or those who couldn’t attend. If you price your service right,
you may be able to work a deal where each attendee would get a copy of the
tape as part of their registration fee, with a cut going to you.

You’ll make less for each tape, but you’ll be make up on quantity. You should be
able to make $10 to $15 per tape just for copying the master onto a blank.
Set up your VCRs, start the copying, and grab a good book. Sounds like easy
money to me!

If you tape a reunion, try to get a class list so you can send
a personalized letter and brochure to those who didn’t attend. They are a
good market for copies of the tape. You will need to work out details with
the planning committee of the reunion, as they will probably want a cut of the profits, which is fair. But, you are entitled to the lion’s share, since you did the work.

When taping a reunion, make sure to get a good group shot of the attendees,
possibly panning across the group for clear face shots.

Be sure to tape any and all speeches, important class members like the valedictorian, class
leaders, sports figures, and any class member(s) who have become local or
national celebrities. Be sure to get plenty of candid material, too, which
can be edited in.

You’ll want to make sure your skills are good when holding the camera for an event like this.

Other events you may want to consider would be family events, like birthdays,
bar/bat mitzvahs, holiday get-togethers, as well as business and school
parties, award ceremonies, etc. You’ll get these jobs primarily from
referrals, which means your marketing expenses for these occasional events
will be little or none.

Scan your newspaper periodically for local publicity events like hot air
balloon races, boat races or shows, trade shows, scouting events, or other
events that appeal to a specialized crowd. Get permission to tape these
events, then work out one of these deals:

- Sell the tape to the sponsor of the event;
- Keep the rights to the tape and give the sponsor a royalty
fee for each tape sold.

Also, you could tape a group of similar events and edit them together into
a compilation tape that could be sold to targeted customers. There are many
potential profit areas in event taping, if you keep your eyes open!
>

There is a huge potential market for wedding videos. Just look in your local
paper any summer week and see how many weddings there were. Since almost
every household in the country has a VCR, you can bet that almost every
wedding has a video. Keep in mind, though, that there is also big competi-
tion in this field. If you want to make it, you’ll have be sure of two
things: you have the skills necessary, and that you can offer more in your
area.

There’s more to taping a wedding than just setting up a camera and turning
it on. If you’re married and had a video taken at your wedding, I’m sure
you’ll agree. You, the photographer, can expect to be dropped into an
environment of potential conflict. Last minute spats between the bride and
groom, conflicts between family members, still photographers, all can be a
source of headaches for you.

The best way to prevent problems is to set up a meeting with the bride,
groom, close family members, and, if possible, any other photographers that
will be at the service/reception. This way, you can find out exactly what
the family wants, any special shots they will want, any unusual parts to the
ceremony that they may want on tape, how many people will be involved, and
other issues. Keep in mind, the family will be paying you, so they will
probably want to TELL you what you can or can’t do. If what they want is
reasonable, don’t fight it. That makes your job easier. But, if what they
want is unreasonable, be honest with them, but, by all means, be tactful.

If you can meet with the other photographer(s), discuss where they need to
be to get their best shots, so you and your camera won’t be in the way.
Also, this will help you with your planning so they won’t be in your video,
and you won’t show up in the photos. This brings up the subject of planning.

Planning is all important when it comes to wedding videos. You will be
producing something that the couple will want to view over and over, that
their family and friends will be seeing. It’s your best advertisement.
So, you will want it to be the best it can be.

If you know what the ceremony will be like ahead of time, and what special
shots the couple and family will want, you’ve got the ball in your court.
Be sure to attend the rehearsal, so you can set your equipment up and plan
your camera angles. Since you’ve planned your work, all you have to do is
work your plan.

Here’s an idea of the equipment a well-stocked wedding videographer should
have or have access to:

- At least two VHS camcorders with high-quality low-light
functions
- At least one VHS VCR for editing and dubbing
- At least one free-standing light for each camera
- A tripod for each camera, preferably ones with a large range
of heights
- At least two twelve hours of batteries for the camera

- The best quality wireless microphone you can afford
(one for each camera)
- All necessary cables, with spares
- Extra tapes, the best quality available.

Don’t let this list scare you off. If you don’t own all this, you don’t
have to rush out and empty your bank account. You can either rent what you
need, or barter your services with someone who has the equipment. Then,
pick up the stuff you need piece by piece. Also, keep your eyes open for
good quality used equipment.

Other equipment you may want to consider would include a good video editor
deck, for putting your finished product together; a film-to-tape camera
attachment (can be used to create a montage of scenes from old home movies
of the couple when they were kids - a great service to offer and a unique
marketing point to offer!); and a graphics/title generator.

So, you may have wondered, why would you need more than one camera? If you
have two cameras set up, you:

- can have different angles of the action, instead of the
standard wedding video, which has a half-hour of a still camera;

and

- you’re covered if one of the cameras messes up or lighting
is bad.

Make sure your videos are special, different from the run-of-the-mill
wedding videos. Try to get a camera aimed toward the faces of the couple,
so you can capture them during the vows, and at other points. This will
also provide close-up footage to edit in at slow points. Try to have a
camera at the end of the aisle, so you can catch the exit of the bride and
groom. This camera could also be used to show the bride from the back,
entering the ceremony, an angle that you rarely see in a wedding video.
If possible, get or draw up a floor plan of the location of the ceremony.
It will help you plan your camera placement and shots.

Position your microphones where they’ll do the most good. If possible, get
either the bride or the groom to wear one, and get the minister or celebrant
to wear one. This way, you’ll have crisp, clear sound. Just remember to
warn the bride and groom not to whisper anything they wouldn’t want the
microphone to pick up! (You can always edit out any unwanted sound.)

Other places you may want a camera would be (with the couple in the 12
o’clock position): 10:00 or 2:00. Use the camera to get views of the
crowd, the parents of the couple (edit a shot of them in during the vows -
catch the emotion of the ceremony), and the entrance of the attendants.

If the ceremony is a specialized ethnic ceremony (becoming more popular,
especially with Black Americans) or unusual, you should look for points of
interest to capture on tape which will show the special meanings and
emotions of the ceremony. If the couple and family can watch your tape and
feel the same emotions they had during the actual ceremony, your tape is a
winner!

Technical skills are important, but they can be learned. The most crucial
skills are smooth panning and zooming. Before you ever do your first PAID
wedding, practice with another event - for free. Practice makes for fluency.

The worst wedding video is the most common: one stationary camera, no zooms,
never moving. People look around when they’re at a wedding, and so should
the camera, within reason. Practice a slow, smooth pan that keep the
subject in the frame of the camera. Practice smooth zooms that aren’t
jerky, and aren’t too close or too far from the subject.

You’ve probably figured that you’ll need a helper for the actual taping.
Unless the only camera that will pan and zoom is the one you’re operating,
and the others are stationary, you’ll need someone. Be sure your helper is
well-trained, with skills up to par with yourself. Ideas: a friend who
also has a videocamera (here’s a way to save on equipment costs); a college
or high-school kid with video experience (they’re becoming more common, as
more and more schools add video classes to their curriculum); or a
free-lancer (possibly a crew member from the public access channel at your
cable station).

At the reception, it’s important to get the “traditional” events: the
garter/ bouquet toss, cutting the cake, toasts, etc. Use the same
guidelines as before: keep in mind what’s important to have in the frame,
and try to tape it smoothly. A good idea may be to talk to the relatives of
the couple and see if some of them would want to say a few words about the
couple on tape (try to do this early in the reception, before a lot of
drinks have been served!).

If your videos are special and well-produced, you should be able to charge
fees that are toward the top range in your area. Premium wedding
videographers in large areas should be able to get $750 to $1000 for a
wedding. Discretely call other videographers in your area to get an idea
of what the range is. Marketing ideas:

(1) Scan your newspaper for engagement announcements. Then, use your
computer’s word processor to print out personalized letters detailing your
services. Use your library’s city directory to find the addresses you need.
Send the letters and a brochure to the lucky couples.

(2) Set up a referral network with florists, formalwear shops, printers,
and other wedding-related retailers in your area. You could offer them a
set commission fee each time a referral leads to a taping job.

(3) Find a wedding photographer in your area who doesn’t currently offer
video. Set up a deal where your photo and video services could be offered
as a package.

(4) Participate in local bridal shows. These are attended by people who
will be marrying soon, qualified prospects for your services. Have plenty
of your brochures and marketing materials handy, so you don’t run out. A
good idea is to have one of your best videos playing on a monitor at the
show (get permission from the couple on tape first, maybe offer them a
discount in exchange for letting you use their tape for marketing purposes).

(5) Advertise in your newspaper’s wedding supplement. Most newspapers
publish at least one a year.

If your taping was simple, with only one camera, you may be able to deliver
the tape to the couple at the end of the wedding. If more extensive editing
needs to be done, make sure you give the couple a realistic date when they
can expect the tape. Don’t give them a time that will leave you rushed. If
you don’t have your own editing equipment, check ahead with your local cable
station. Many times, they have facilities for their public access station
which can be rented. Many also offer short courses in video editing which
are worth checking into.
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The concept is simple: Give free paper placemats to restaurants in your area
with either a prominent color ad or their menu in the middle, and two-inch
by two-inch ads around the edge. These ads will make so much profit for you
that if you run up against a stubborn restaurant owner, you can even pay him
or her to take your placemats and come out way ahead. They’d be a fool to
refuse!

The first step in to contact printers in your area and find out what kind of
blank or ready-made paper placemats they can either print or have printed
for you.

Get a quote on at least 5,000, including at least two-color printing.
Compare your quotes and find the printer that will do the best job for the
best price. Make sure this is a printer that will work with you on the
layout of the placemats, if this is new to you.

Once you have your printing costs, which will be your primary costs, you can
figure out how much profit can be made. Your profit will depend, in part, on
how many ads you can put around the perimeter of the placemat.

For example, if the placemat is 11 x 15, you can put a total of 20 ads
around the sheet, leaving a one inch margin around the edge for the printer.
Divide the printing cost, together with your other estimated costs (phone,
postage, travel) by the number of ads, and you have your cost per ad.

For example, suppose your estimated expenses will be $600. Divide that by
20 ads and you have $30. This is how much each ad contributes to covering
the cost of the placemat. Now, figure a target profit margin. In my area,
an ad that will be seen by 5,000 people over an extended period of time
could go for $90. This would be a $1,200 profit!

Now, make a list of restaurants that would be likely prospects for this
service. The best prospects will be locally-owned family-oriented
restaurants that are visited by residents of the area. Small, family-owned,
restaurants will be your best bet.

GETTING THE RESTAURANTS: Offer to provide the restaurant 5,000 free paper
placemats with either a large color ad or a color menu printed in the middle
of the placemat. Local advertisers will be featured in small ads around the
outside. When you say the words “5,000 free paper placemats,” you probably
won’t even have to go any further! If the owner’s a hard case, offer to pay
them to take your placemats! Offer $50 and 5,000 placemats. This breaks
down more barriers than you can imagine!

If the restaurant owner has a pre-made ad or menu available, this can be
reduced or enlarged by your printer to fit the center area of the placemat.
Be sure the restaurant’s section dominates the placemat.

Now, contact businesses that are in the immediate area surrounding the
restaurant. Good prospects will be video stores, dry cleaners, grocery
stores, book stores, any business that is frequented by families. Tell them
that you have an advertising opportunity which will put their name and offer
in front of 5,000 people for an extended period of time.

Contact as many possible advertisers as you can. The more you contact, the
more ads you’ll sell. If your prices are competitive and you deliver honest
facts, you should have an easy time selling the placemat ads.

Now, take the ads to your printer and layout the placemat. Put the
restaurant’s ad/menu in the center, and the other ads around the perimeter.
Have the printer print the requested quantity, and deliver them to the
restaurant. It’s that simple!

This whole process can be done easily in less than a month. But, even if it
takes you a month, the example above cleared $1,200 profit (or $1,150, if
you actually had to pay the $50).

Once you’ve done your first one or two and know what you’re doing, you will find that you can run more than one at a time. If you run four placemats per month, you could clear over $55,000 per year!

This is just an example, and your profits could be higher or lower, depending on your area.

But, it should be fairly obvious that this can be an easy-to-run, profitable business that you can start part-time and quickly move into a full-time business!

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There is a big money business that can be started for next to nothing, with
low risk, that involves giving away special cards. These cards are DISCOUNT
CARDS, wallet-sized cards that allow the bearer to receive discounts at
participating businesses. These businesses pay to have their advertisement
on the card. They profit from the increased exposure and from gaining new
customers who come in for the discount and become return customers.
The card-holders benefit from the discounts they can receive.
And YOU benefit from the profitable advertising you sell!

This is a relatively simple business to explain. Here’s an overview:

1) Design your card.

2) Figure your expenses and set your ad prices.

3) Contact businesses that frequently use discounts or coupons (potential advertisers for
You) either in person or by mail, with an information package.

4) Gather the ads (and the money!) and print them together on wallet-sized cards.

5) Distribute the cards to the public.

That’s all there is to it. Of course, there are more details you need to
know, and those will be covered in this report.

This business works especially well if there is a college in your town, or any large number of people who either vacation there or move to town, but it can be run
successfully in any area. The best part (besides the money) is that you
can run this business from your kitchen table! Here’s exactly what you
need to do to make great profits in the discount card business.

First, think up a name for your card. A catchy name that has words like
DISCOUNT, SAVER, MONEY, BUCKS, BIG, FREE or other dollar-saving words will
stick in people’s minds. If you (or a friend) have artistic ability,
design a logo, either with your card’s name, or a picture conveying the
money-saving feature of the card.

Next, design how your card will look. It should fit easily into a wallet,
so stick to credit card size. On the front, your logo should appear, along
with, at most, six ads, in three columns of two. The back should be
divided into, at most, twenty ad spaces, again in three columns (7 on the
sides, 6 in the middle). This might sound like a lot, but they will be
readable. Don’t forget to put your business name, address and phone on the
front or back, at the bottom of the card.

You should also put together a poster with your logo and information about
the card. Leave space for a list of locations where the card can be
obtained, and for a list of the advertising businesses. This poster will
be inexpensive for your printer to produce, and can be produced on your
computer, if you have one, reducing your expenses even further.

Now figure your costs. The major cost to you will be printing, so check
with a number of printers for price quotes. You will want a one or two
color glossy card, with price quotes for quantities for 1,000 - 10,000
cards. Find out at what quantities significant price breaks occur. This
can help determine exactly how many cards you want to produce and
distribute. This number will be important when it comes to contacting
your advertisers.

Don’t be put off by how much the cards will cost! You won’t have to
worry about laying out a lot of money for the production of the cards,
because you should require that advertisers pay at least half of their
advertising price at the time they decide to advertise, the remainder when
cards are distributed. Some businesses will prefer to pay 100% upfront,
which is just fine! You shouldn’t deal with businesses that won’t pay
anything upfront, unless you have some desire to deal with collection
headaches.

You should be thinking about how to distribute these cards. If there is
a college in your town, here’s a few ideas. Contact the admissions
department at the college, explain your discount card, and see if they
would consider putting a card into the orientation materials each incoming
student gets. Also, find out places where you may put a stack of cards
for students to take. Prime locations are cafeterias and dining halls,
snack bars, libraries and any other places where students group.

For the general public, great distribution spots are similar to the college
spots. Restaurants, grocery stores, theaters, apartment buildings, anywhere
where there are large groups of people. Don’t forget that you can give a
good supply to each advertiser, to give free to their customers. All you
need to do is a few good, persuasive phone calls, and your distribution will
be taken care of easily. Stress to the person you’re speaking with that
making the cards available to their customers will be good business for them,
even if they don’t advertise on the card, because their customers will
appreciate being given these discounts and will look upon the business as
their friend for doing so.

Now that you have your printing quotes, determine how much you can charge for
advertising. Estimate what your phone, advertising, driving and postage
expenses will be. Lump these all together and you have an idea of what your
costs will be. Now, multiply that figure by five. Divide that figure by the
total number of advertisers you will have on your card. The number you end
up with is the average price you could charge per ad. Does this sound
reasonable, considering the number of cards you’ll be distributing? If so,
it should make a good starting point.

For example, if you are planning to distribute 8,000 cards with 26
advertisers, and your estimated expenses will be $1200, the formula is
($1,200 x 5)/26, or $230.77 average ad price ($28.85 per thousand), and your
profit would be $4,800. Considering the benefits the advertiser will get
from the cards (they will be kept and used for a long time, usually 3 to 6
months, and 5,000 people will be exposed to their ad repeatedly over that
period of time), this will probably be reasonable. You need to consider the
economy in your area, the size of your area, and any competition you might
have, as this can effect what you may be able to charge.

When you decide how much to charge for ads, here are a few things to keep
in mind. Ads on the front of the card should be much higher priced than on
the back, and, as a result, should be slightly larger. On the back, you can
set two different ad rates by putting using “boxed ads.” An ad with a black
box around it will be noticed more than one without, so it can be slightly
higher. A good example of ad prices corresponding to the above average ad
price would be $200 for a plain ad on the back of the card, $230 for a boxed
ad on the back, and $260 for an ad on the front of the card.

Now’s the time to contact potential advertisers. Here’s a short list of the
types of businesses that will be most likely to take advantage of your
service: Restaurants, particularly fast-food and snack establishments +
Theaters + Printers + Dry cleaners + Oil change and auto parts businesses
+ Travel agencies + Clothing stores + Hair salons + Formalwear stores
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