INFODISK 500
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PROVIDES INFORMATION ON ALL THESE...AND MORE...
1. Home Based Businesses + Using The Internet
2. One-Person Businesses + Getting Started With BBS
3. Computer Businesses + Using Internet E-Mail
4. Mail Order Businesses + How To Place Ads On Internet
5. Services Businesses Ideas For Beginners In Business
6. Classified Ads That Work & How To Start Your Own Business
7. Part-Time Businesses & Sources for Free Products
8. Sources For Business Information
9. Sources For FREE Ads
10. Sources For FREE Publicity
11. How To Place Ads On The Internet Free
12. Money-Making Projects
13. Legal & Tax Tips & Insiders' Tips & Strategies
14. Legal Business Forms
15. Business Financing Sources + How-To Business Reports
16. Merchant Account Sources + How- To Financial Reports
17. Bulletin Board Directories
18. Better Business Bureaus
19. Chambers of Commerce
20. Top Businesses For $500
21. Top Businesses For $1000
22. AND MANY MORE...

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS(FAQ)

USING BULK E-MAIL TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
(Adopted from: http://dpcpress.com/bulk_email.html)
(Answers to some actual questions that customers have asked us over the years)
"I would love any help or advice you can offer. Thanks. Sincerely, KF,
Denver, CO"
"If you were willing to help another hard working business person by
answering some questions I would appreciate it very much: JH, Ft. Myers, FL"

"Can you tell me how to go about promoting my business to 6000 email
addresses without manually typing the same message to each of 6000 people?
Thanks a lot. LS, Mt Tabor, NJ"

Q1. Do you ever receive negative responses to your bulk emails?
A1. Occasionally, when people change their mind. However, we email only to
those who have shown interest. (These are the same lists that we offer for
sale.)

Q2. What do you do with negative responses?
A2. We include ALL negative responses in our permanent REMOVE filters.
Therefore, a person with negative response is out forever from our lists.

Q3. What is the worst thing a pissed off person can do to you?
A3. He/She can complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Normally, a
good service provider is aware of such occasional disgruntled Internet users,
and will typically ignore the person. If the service provider reacts negatively
because of such disgruntled cry babies, then it's not worth having that service
provider and you can easily switch to one of the over 4,000 service providers
nationwide. Here you can find a convenient list of all those service providers:
http://thelist.iworld.com/

Q4. What kind of information should one include in a bulk email?
A4. Our bulk emails include all of the following information:.
Web page address (Example: http://dpcpress.com/ )
Phone Number (Example: 919-467-5206)
Fax Number (Example: 919-467-6704)
Postal Address (Example: DPC Press, PO Box 5643, Cary, NC 27512-5643)
Email Address (Example: drdln@dpcpress.com)
Other helpful web links (Example: http://members.tripod.com/~drdln/ )
An online-order form (Example: http://dpcpress.com/dpcform.html/ )
A remove disclaimer (Example: See next question)
It is not necessary to include all of the above information in your bulk emails,
but you should make sure to provide enough information so that your customers
can easily contact you or learn more about your offer.

Q5. Should I request the recipients to let me know if they are not interested in
my offer?
A5. Yes, definitely!! We ALWAYS include the following message in our bulk
emails.
" If you would rather not receive this or other information we may have
about E-marketing ideas, just reply to this message by placing REMOVE in the
subject line, and we'll take you off our list FOREVER by including your
email address in our REMOVE FILTERS. Enjoy!"

Q6. What is the response rate one can expect from bulk emailing? (percent and
number per day)
A6. Obviously this will depend on your offer. However, our experience shows that
a good program can generate up to a 2-5% response rate, which as you may know is
outstanding.

Q7. What percent of undeliverables should one expect?
A7. Email works differently from postal leads--so it's impossible to have the
same number of deliverables for email and postal addresses. People change their
email address much more frequently then their street address so you should
expect a slightly higher percentage of undeliverables. In addition, email can
also be rejected due to network problems or autoresponders. However, you should
ALWAYS demand that your email list provider compensate you for any undeliverable
email addresses no matter what the reason.

Q8. What kind of email software would you recommend?
A8. We prefer Eudora, because it is a very popular program and is available for
FREE download at: http://www.eudora.com/. However, there are many other fine
email programs available that many of our customers use, and they never have any
problem with our email lists because these are formatted to work with any email
program.

Q9. Can you tell me how to promote my business to the email addresses I
received? I hope I don't have to manually type the same message to each of
6,000 people.
A9. No, that will take you for ever. You should use multiple addresses at a
time. Our lists come ready to copy and paste (import) into any email program.
See the next question for the best way to do this.

Q10. What field should I use when sending email messages to potential customers
(To:, CC:, BCC:)?
A10. The best way to send your message is to copy and paste 100 or more email
addresses at a time into the BCC (blind carbon copy) field. If you don't use
BCC, your message will be dumped under a long list of email addresses and the
recipient will be distracted. By using BCC you make sure that the recipient can
concentrate only on your offer. If you don't know how to use BCC, please read
the manual for your email software program (or ask the provider of software
program such as AOL).
NOTE: Keep in mind that with our lists you can send email ANY way you feel most
comfortable, because our lists are formatted to work in ANY format with ANY
email program.

Q11. I have been placing classified ads on yahoo to promote my business, but
that gets just a trickle of responses. Will email work better?
A11. Your low or no response is because most people do not go to web sites,
classified sections or newsgroups to read your ads. Mailing directly to a
recipient's mailbox is the only way to make people read your offer. But you
should ALWAYS make sure to use email addresses of people who will be interested
in your offer.

Q12. Is bulk emailing the only way to promote your business?
A12. Bulk emailing is the most effective way to promote any business. In fact,
this is the only way to make sure that people read your offer. However, you
should do it right and never (we mean never-ever) bombard people who are not
interested. You should not waste money on mass emailing to random addresses
collected from the Internet using Floodgate, Lightening Bolt, Freedom or other
similar programs. The only result you will probably get is your account
suspended or threatened because of bulk emailing to people who are not
interested in your offer and are fed up with junk mail.

Q13. Should I use a bulk email service?
A13. The problem with a bulk email service is that you can never be sure if your
offer was mailed as promised. As a result, we would advise against using bulk
email services if you can avoid it.

Q14. Is it worth sending my offer to those who have sent me their offers?
A14. No, it's really not very beneficial to do this, because you are sending
your offer to a seller not a buyer. In other words, you are simply
counter-offering with no sale of your own.

USING FAX-BLAST TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
(Adopted from: http://dpcpress.com/faq.html)
List selection is the key to a successful mail order business.

Q1. Is there any advantage to using Fax Numbers over Postal Addresses?
A1. Fax numbers are FASTER to use and avoid postal complaints.

Q2. What kind of Fax software would you recommend?
A2. We prefer WinFax PRO, because it is a very popular program and includes
important features such as sorting failed faxes. For more information and a
free trial of WinFax PRO go to: http://www.symantec.com. However, there are
also many other fine fax programs available that our customers use. But no
matter which software you choose there is never any problem in using our fax
lists because they are formatted to work with any fax software program.

Q3. What do you do with failed fax numbers?
A3. Although many people try resending failed faxes, we always remove these
numbers from our lists. These are the same lists that we offer to our
customers.

Q4. Should I request the recipients to let me know if they are not interested in
my offer?
A4. Yes, definitely!! We ALWAYS include the following disclaimer in our fax
messages.
" We apologize if we have faxed you by mistake, please fax to 919-467-6704
to be removed permanently. Thanks!"

Q5. Why are fax lists more difficult to find than postal addresses?
A5. At least part of the reason is the difficulty in locating opportunity
seekers who also have a fax machine. We have been able to locate these people
because we are a multi-level-marketing (MLM) company who has been using a 24-hr
fax line to receive orders and inquiries for the last 14 years. Another reason
is that until recently, there hasn't been much incentive to use fax numbers
because fax-blasting was very expensive. However, with recent reductions in
long-distance telephone rates fax-blasting has become an excellent means of
promoting a business.

Q6. How do you determine if a company is dependable?
A6. Here are a few points to pay attention to (also applies to other services
such as postal and email addresses):
Number of years in business (Companies can stay in business for a long time
only if they draw repeat customers)
Ease of accessibility (toll-free phone number, 24 hour fax line, email, web
page etc.)
Credit card acceptance (Only reputable companies can obtain merchant status
because they are thoroughly investigated by their bank and credit card
company)

Q7. Why is it important to deal with a list company that has a large database?
(This applies to both fax numbers and postal addresses.)
A7. If a list company has a very small database of addresses, they are likely to
sell the same names over and over. In addition, they are probably not
continuously adding fresh names (and that's why their data base is small). Also
such companies tend to offer an outrageous refund guarantee like $1 or $2 for
each undeliverable. This is a marketing technique to imply the freshness of the
list. What it really means is they have a small database, non-deliverables
removed daily, and the same old names sold again and again. Companies that
operate in this manner are not even companies, but rather individuals who run a
small operation to sell names.

USING MASS-MAILING TO PROMOTE YOUR BUSINESS:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
(Adopted from: http://dpcpress.com/faq.html)
List selection is the key to a successful mail order business.

Q1. What are the key points to consider when selecting a postal list?
A1. Some of the common points to look for are:
Get names from the prime source!
Choose a company that guarantees their lists with a cash refund for
undeliverables.
Make sure you get names of buyers and not sellers.

Q2. Many companies claim to be the prime source for all their addresses! How
can you tell?
A2. Mailing list companies are notorious for trading or purchasing addresses
from second or third parties. However, these companies typically don't offer a
cash refund for undeliverables because they are not the prime source and can't
be sure of the reliability of their lists. Therefore, you should NEVER deal with
a mailing list company that does not offer a prompt cash refund for
undeliverables, because they are probably not the prime source.

Q3. How do you determine if a company is dependable?
A3. Here are a few points to pay attention to:
Number of years in business (Companies can stay in business for a long time
only if they draw repeat customers)
Ease of accessibility (toll-free phone number, 24 hour fax line, email, web
page etc.)
Credit card acceptance (Only reputable companies can obtain merchant status
because they are thoroughly investigated by their bank and credit card
company)

Q4. What is a fresh list?
A4. A list that is 30 days old or less is generally considered to be a fresh
list. No matter how good your offer is, an old list can quickly kill you
business.

Q5. What are in-house mailing lists?
A5. An in-house mailing list is a list that consists exclusively of addresses
compiled from recent orders and inquiries. We offer only in-house lists.

Q6. What is the best time to send mailings to your potential customers?
A6. You should make sure that your mail doesn't reach customers over the weekend
or at the beginning of the month as they are likely to be busy with other
activities at these times. Count on 3-4 days for first class mail to reach
customers within the continental United States. Holidays are also a bad time to
send mailings (unless your offer relates to the holidays such as a Christmas
gift) because people are preoccupied with family activities or on vacation at
these times. In general, you should aim to have your mailing reach your
customers in the middle of the week. We find that the best times for mass
mailing are September to November and January to May.

Q7. What is the response rate one can expect from mass mailing?
A7. Obviously this will depend on your offer. However, our experience shows that
a good program can generate up to a 3-6% response rate, which as you may know is
outstanding. Our lists have shown a response rate as high as an unbelievable
15%, but again this will greatly depend upon your offer.
Q8. Which works better: hand addressed envelopes or peel & stick labels?
A8. Our experience shows that hand addressed envelopes receive more attention
and therefore a better response rate than peel and stick labels. This is
probably due to the fact that hand addressed envelopes appear to be more
personal.

A NEW MARKETING DIRECTION

Like the picture filled catalogues that first invaded our homes
during the early days of mail order, infomercials now serve as
standard fare on our televiewing menus.

In fact, references to "those latenight things on TV" are no
longer accurate, because infomercials now air and make money
during daytime and mid-day hours as well as latenight, selling
every conceivable product, from Ginsu knives to Body by Jake.

Direct response television is faster and more effective than
conventional mail order in marketing products direct to the end
users for several reasons:

1. It's audio visual. Direct response television
presents your sales message with both sound and pictures.

2. It's instantaneous. You can monitor your sales results
seconds after your message is delivered.

3. It's cost-effective. Airing you infomercial may cost less
than a conventional mail order campaign. Example: You can
buy a half hour of airtime at WNEU and reach over 200,000
homes in Pittsburgh for around $200. With conventional mail
order marketing, $200 will only buy 689 first class stamps.
Add to that the cost of mailing lists, production, and printing
of your mailing piece.

The future of marketing is in the consumer's own living room, in the
TV set, where a new, more convenient way of shopping is taking
shape.

For the advertiser, the reasons for using infomercials and DRTV
are obvious. Producing a half-hour infomercial is a lot cheaper
than opening a new store in the mall. And for a month's rent, an
infomercial can be aired on cable stations that reach 60 million
homes nationwide.

it is inexcusable for an entrepreneur to ignore infomercials and
DRTV spots as integral parts of his marketing mix. At the same
time, if you're looking for a new frontier with exceptional growth
potential, DRTV is an exciting new territory with no boundaries -
a territory that has all the ingredients for success you'll ever need.

TV-01.
THE ADVANTAGES OF INFOMERCIALS

SHOPPING WITHOUT GUILT. Direct response television lets
consumers shop without having to confront a salesperson.
Buying from the tube eliminates any pressure on the consumer.
The ability to shop hassle-free makes retail television an attractive
alternative.

TIME. Regardless of the product, convenience is always a strong
sales motivator. Nothing is more convenient than picking up the
telephone to place an order.

UNIQUENESS. Many products sold through direct response are not
available through retail outlets. When they are, the DRTV version
of the products will have either unique features (like no-smear
lipstick) or carry substantially lower prices.

IMPACT. An audio-visual sales presentation is both compelling
and convincing. Since department store sales people are often
unfamiliar with the uses,operation, and versatility of all their
products, retail outlets consistently fail to get consumers excited
about a product. Conversely, a simple product demonstration
presented via an infomerical can convey product knowledge,
attract interest, and produce an immediate decision to buy.

CANADIAN MARKETS

The Canadian government has passed new laws to clamp down on
U.S. mail order and infomercial companies. The goal is to make it
expensive and more difficult for Canadians to order from U.S.
addresses. The ceiling on tax-free imports dellivered by mail or
courier will be increased from $20 to$40. The Canadians also have
a $5 handling fee on any taxable parcel.

800 NUMBER ACCESS. If your infomercial or DRTV spots airing in
U.S. markets spill over to Canada, make sure your toll-free 800
number can be dialed from Canada. Be particularly concerned with
superstations like WGN or WOR.

3% SHARE. Your sales from Canadian TV viewers will depend on:
(1) the product you're selling, and (2) the TV stations you use for
your U.S. airings. Some U.S. companies obtain as much as 3% of their
total sales from Canada.

TV-13.

WHAT IS AN INFOMERCIAL ?

The term infomercial (also called "advertorial") refers to a very specific
form of TV advertising. Let's break apart the pieces and identify the
parameters and ingredients of an infomercial.

1. An infomercial is an advertisement.
2. An infomercial must be program-long.
3. An infomercial must solicit a specific
direct response from the viewer.

IT IS AN AD. First and foremost, an infomercial is simply another
form of advertisement. It is a commercial message, and as such
represents the viewpoints and serves the interest of the sponsor.
It is a "paid program."

IT IS LONG FORM. Unlike conventional 30 and 60 second TV ads, an
infomercial runs at least a half hour. The reason: a half hour is
the smallest block of airtime a TV station will sell without
interrupting its programming schedules. (NO program on TV is
shorter than 30 minutes.)

IT SOLICITS A "DIRECT" RESPONSE. An infomercial must solicit a
response which is specific and quantifiable. The solicitation and
the delivery of the response must be direct between the advertiser
and the viewer.

Unfortunately, the term infomercial is not universally understood
in the industry, and infomercials may be called different things by
different people.

The list of official sounding names, from "documercials" to
"long-form advertising" is "paid programming," is endless and can
be confusing: some term do not adequately define the scope of this
new form of advertising.

For example, the term long-form advertising seems to be a favorite
among media people. Unfortunately, the term describes only the time
aspect, disregarding purpose and content. Of course, it does reflect
the focus of those in TV circles, as opposed to the broader
perspective of those in the marketing community. What will become
of the term long-form advertising when paid advertising program
extend to an hour or longer? Will we upgrade the term to longer-form
advertising and then longest-form advertising?

By contrast, the term direct response advertising is obviously of
a marketing heritage. But like the former, the term is incomplete
because it does not qualify the medium being used. Mail order is
also a form of direct response advertising.

Finally, there are those who feel uncomfortable with the term
infomercial because it sounds too gimmicky or colloquial.
We think otherwise. More and more companies re accepting and using
the term infomercial, and because of that we feel it will stand the
test of time.

WHAT ARE DRTV SPOTS?
The term DRTV spot as used in this report refers to standard length
direct response advertisements that are aired within or between
regularly scheduled programs.

Like infomercials, DRTV spots are designed to solicit a specific
direct response from the TV viewers. Unlike infomercials, however,
they are not program-length ads. Although standard length is usually
one or two minutes, spots may run anywhere from ten seconds to
three minutes.

You product and the type of response you are trying to generate will
dictate when DRTV spots may be more cost-effective than infomercials,
and vice versa.

SOLICITING A RESPONSE: Infomercials and DRTV spots are both designed
to solicit a specific response directly from TV viewers. What do you
want the viewers to do? What do you want to get? These are the two
fundamental questions you infomercial or DRTV spot must answer
effectively.

Regardless of which form of advertising you use,
certain rules always apply:

Be Explicit: Tell the viewers exactly what you want them to do.
Some advertisers get so engrossed highlighting the fantastic features
of their product, they bury their solicitation message and fail to
stress what they want the TV viewers to do.

Be Direct: Solicit a response that is direct - and measurable.
If your objective is to get the consumers to visit their nearest
shopping center to look for your product, this is not direct response
advertising/. Infomercials and DRTV spots require the viewer to
respond directly to you (the advertiser).

Must Be Measurable: The response must be quantifiable. Even if
you're running a simple opinion poll, the response must be something
that can be measured in a way that defines the success or failure of
either the advertisement itself or of the product being advertised.

LEADS OR SALES:
Infomercials and DRTV spots commonly solicit either a direct purchase
or an inquiry about a product. Again, be explicit. don't give the
viewer an option. If you do, your response mix will be inaccurate,
confusing, and counterproductive.

LEAD GENERATION:
A lead generation infomercial or DRTV spot asks the viewers to call
your toll-free 800 number and to leave their name and address to
receive additional sales information about you product or service.

SALES GENERATION:
A sales generation infomercial or DRTV spot prompts the viewer to
call your toll-free 800 number to place an order for you product
or service, paying by credit card or COD.

STICK WITH A SINGLE RESPONSE OBJECTIVE;
ANYTHING ELSE IS PURE WINDFALL.
Your infomercial that solicits viewers to make a direct purchase
may also generate calls requesting additional information.
Although these unsolicited calls must be treated as highly qualified
leads, they cannot be used to measure the actual success of you
infomercial. Since you principal objective is to generate direct
dollar sales, all the calls that generated leads must be treated
as windfall.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN CUSTOMERS TO GO THE SHOPPING
CENTER LOOKING FOR YOUR PRODUCT ?
As a rule of thumb, infomercials and DRTV spots are never designed
to encourage retail sales. However, some consumers want to look and
see a product before they purchase it. Others don't have a credit
card or fail to note the ordering information provided in you
infomercial.

This large contingent of potential customers can provide you with
extra profits from retail sales generated by your infomercial or
DRTV spot. An increase in retail sales of a number of products has
been directly attributed to infomercials or DRTV spots.
For example, exercise machines like the ThighMaster and certain
types of sunglasses, like BluBlockers, have enjoyed increased retail
sales due to direct response advertising by the aggressive marketers
of those products.

CREATING A TREND.
Direct response pioneers like The JuiceMan and
The Juice Tiger sold truckloads of juice extractors with their
infomercials. These two competing brands, however, did more than
sell juice machines on television - they convinced consumers that
juice was important and showed them how juice machines can help
them lead healthier, happier lives.

Consequently, these infomercials helped the retail sales of almost
every brand of juice maker. With their new awareness, consumers
became receptive to the idea of owning a juice machine.
Suddenly a product line that once collected dust on department
store shelves became a top seller. Stores began merchandising
juice machines, allocating prime store footage to display different
brands. Without any new advertising effort, juice-making machine
manufacturers now enjoy additional retail sales that were generated
by The JuiceMan and The Juice Tiger infomercials.

This example proves that an infomercial may effectively sell
directly to a specific TV audience while simultaneously producing
retail sales. You can see how retail sales can be generated without
any additional advertising expense - since the infomercial or DRTV
spot which prompted the retail sales actually paid for itself through
direct sales to TV viewers.

OUTPERFORMING RETAIL SALES
Moving consumers from conventional retail buying to direct response
television buying is another triumph that demonstrates the power of
infomercial marketer.

Until recently, women bought cosmetics from department stores or
their Avon lady. Victoria Jackson began to sell complete systems
exclusively through television infomercials. The only way customers
could buy her products was by responding to her paid TV programming.

Prior to her infomercial, 3 out of every 4 Victoria Jackson customers
bought cosmetics exclusively from department stores. In response to
Jackson's success, Avon is designing an infomercial campaign of their
own.

A NEW FORM OF TV ADVERTISING Today's infomercials are a far cry
from the "long-form" televised sales pitches (5 and 10 minute
commercials) of the early '60s. This was when half-hour shows
sponsored by soap manufacturers gave birth to the term soap opera.

TV advertising three decades ago was largely confined to promotions
which: (1) told viewers that a particular product with certain
features existed, and (2) motivated viewers to go to the nearest
retail outlet to buy the product. Television then, in the strict
sense of the word, was nothing but an advertising medium.

Today television has evolved from a mere advertising medium into a
dominant distribution vehicle. Today's infomercials and direct
response TV commercials go beyond product promotion. They actually
give the consumer a means to directly purchase the merchandise being
advertised. Conventional TV advertising presents a product that
is available through retail outlets or a distribution network.

Direct response TV ads actually sell products direct to the TV
viewers. Direct response marketing remained the domain of mail order
and other print forms of direct marketing until television matured,
and advertisers began to recognize its direct marketing potential.

In fact, the terms infomercial and DRTV spots came into being because
television gives the advertisers a platform conducive to direct
marketing.

Coverage 98% of all U. S. households have at least one television
set. In this Electronic Age, TV has surpassed all other media as
our primary source of information and entertainment.

Cable TV 60% of all TV households in the U. S. have cable service,
providing a wide variety of channel selections in comparison to an
all broadcast environment.

Longer Hours Since we've evolved away from being a 9 to 5 society,
television executives recognized the profitable viewership base
found in late night hours. Remember when TV stations signed off
at midnight?

Airtime Availability With thousands of national, regional and local
TV stations, and with extended programming hours, airtime is readily
available. The growth of Cable TV, satellites, and superstitions has
brought television a long way since the time when we only had CBS,
NBC, and ABC.

TV-03.
PRODUCING YOUR OWN INFOMERCIALS

Although most advertisers hire experienced production firms to develop
write and produce their infomercial campaigns, many entrepreneurs produce
their own.

Self-managed, self-produced projects have become a popular option for a lot
of advertisers because of relatively lower expenses, because of the nature
of the products themselves, or because the advertisers want creative control.
Folowing are the main reasons why this is so:

FINANCIAL INTEREST. Some entrepreneurs don't want to share profits with
partners or investors. But without them, most start-up companies do have
the capital to hire a full-service infomercial company.

PRODUCT APPEAL. The entrepreneur's product is untested as an informercial
item, making it difficult to attract partners or investors.

CREATIVE CONTROL. Many entrepreneurs argue that they know more about their
product than anyone else. They therefore prefer not to leave the creation
of their informcial to an outsider.

Three stages are normally involved in the creation and production of any
infomercial or direct response TV compaign:

1. CONCEPT STAGE

2. PRODUCTION STAGE

3. MEDIA STAGE

TV-101.
THE BIRTH OF DRTV

A comparison of infomercials and DRTV Spots with all types of TV
advertising from 30 years ago reveals what made direct response
TV advertising feasible. Three services made available during the
last decade made direct response television possible.
They are:

TOLL FREE 800 NUMBERS -
The consumer is now able to respond or interact directly with the
advertiser. The numbers are widely available, convenient, and
most importantly, free to the consumer.

PROLIFERATION OF CREDIT CARDS -
Over 100 million credit cares are in circulation in the U.S. alone.
This tool enables a huge number of consumers to make purchases over
the telephone.

OVERNIGHT DELIVERY -
To get consumers to respond to your sales offer right away, make
sure you give them the satisfaction of having you product right away.
Remember, consumers are willing to pay a premium to get you product
overnight. They want it now!!

MERCHANT ACCOUNT - Service bureaus that handle order taking for you will
almost certainly require you to have your own merchant account.
Without a merchant account, you will not be able to accept credit
card payments. Needless to say, this will seriously affect your
overall sales figures.
If you do not have your own merchant account to process
credit card orders, it is essential that you use a service bureaus
or enter into a joint marketing venture with a company that is able
to extend you this privilege.

ACCEPTING CHECKS OVER THE PHONE - Don't limit your phone in sales to credit
card holders. By expanding the way TV viewers can pay for their
purchases, you increase you probability of making a sale (with the
introduction of checks-by-ph9one, your potential market is likely to
grow by another 30%). Check Verification makes you product available
to millions of people who do not have a credit card but do have a
checking account. Here are some practical reasons why you should
consider accepting check orders over the phone:

IT COMMITS THE BUYER - The buyer doesn't have to write a check,
write his name and address on a piece of paper, look for an envelope,
get postage, and then mail the order. These steps can take anywhere
from a few minutes to a few days. The longer it takes, the higher
the odds your potential buyer will change his mind.

INSTANT GRATIFICATION - Your customer's order can be cleared and
processed faster if he doesn't have to mail a check which you bank
has to clear before the order is processed. With Check Verification,
you get the money within 48 hours and you customer receives you
product sooner.

COMPETITIVE RATES - If your ticket price is over $59.00, you unit
cost to process a check order by phone will be almost the same as
the commission the bank charges your merchant account. As this
service become more readily available, and as merchant account
become more difficult to acquire, accepting check orders over
telephone is a feature DRTV marketers can no longer ignore.

CONTINUITY PROGRAMS - Develop a product or service that will fit into your
back-end marketing program. Remember, the easiest person to sell is
one who has already purchased from you.

A continually program will product sales or products or services to
customers who have just made a purchase through an infomercial.
The best way to promote a continuity item is through a brochure or
other sales literature inserted with the original order.

Developing a successful continuity program will only enhance you
bottom line, particularly since your advertising message is usually
delivered at not additional expense to you. Furthermore, your
continuity item is being offered to satisfied customers, because
your company made their TV buying pleasant and satisfying.

SEEK RELATED ITEMS - Continuity items should normally be related to
the initial product. The consumer purchases your initial product
to satisfy a specific need, so it stands to reason that auxiliary
products catering to this same need stand a higher chance of success
than totally unrelated products.
For example: If an exercise machine is you main product in
the infomercial, a monthly vitamin subscription plan can be an ideal
continuity program of you.; It is related to the customer's
original need (to be healthy and fit), and you can count on a hefty
profit margin because you advertising costs for the vitamin
subscription are minimal.

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING - Continuity may also be looked at as a means
to establish a marketing relationship with your customers. Through
profile response cars and other dynamic data, you can product a
catalog that features several products that cater to the needs and
wants defined by your customer base.

To continue with the example above, you can offer your customer
(who originally purchased exercise equipment via your infomercial)
a wide variety of products and services in a catalog - duffel bags,
running shorts, portable CD players, you name it. As the cost of
acquiring new customers increases, selling more to the same customers
expands the potential for DRTV in almost any market.

BE YOUR OWN COMPETITION - When a product becomes an infomercial success
story, vultures hover in a hurry, trying to duplicate your product
and you marketing campaign. Such competitors are called knock-offs.

In more cases, knock-offs are cheaper versions - in both quality and
price. However, one of the most brilliant knock-off DRTV campaigns
we've seen broke all the files:

1. The company introduced a product of a higher quality and at a
higher price than the original.

2. Both products came from the same company, so the company was
actually competing against itself.

3. The same celebrity hosted the infomercials for both products.

The product was Stair Climber Plus, an upscale version of its
predecessor, Super Step. Both infomercials featured Bruce Jenner,
clearly showing the manufacturer's intent to present competition
that did not exist - in the process preempting any legitimate
competition. Neither infomercial mentioned the other product, and
for a while they were running at the same time.

WHAT DOES THIS STRATEGY ACHIEVE?
Producing your own knock-offs, by competing against yourself,
preempts competitors by giving them less room to maneuver. Instead
of competing with just one other brand, they have to position their
products somewhere between the two that are already in the market.

BROADER MARKET FOR YOU - There is nothing wrong with producing a
cheaper or more expensive version of your own product. It expands
the appeal to other market segments that may be outside the range
of you original product.

GUARANTEED SUCCESS - If people bought you original product, your
knock -off is likely to score the same success with its respective
market segment.

CREATES A BANDWAGON EFFECT - When viewers see two stair-climbing
exercise gadgets competing against each other, it creates more
awareness of stair-climbing as a method of exercise. Furthermore,
the competition creates the sense that the product is both a popular
and effective way to exercise.

TV-102.
TV ORDER SLATES

Whether you are using informercials or regular DRTV spots, you
are limited to a few seconds to give your audience information
on how and where to place their orders.

Order Slates contain information about your name, address and
telephone number as it appears on the TV screen. Here are a few
tips on how to effectively design your order slate:

TOLL-FREE 800 NUMBERS.
If you do not have the capacity to handle multiple simultaneous
calls, you need to hire a service bureau to handle you order taking.

Most infomercial source companies have affiliations with their own
service bureaus to provide order taking service. Because the service
bureaus have special arrangements with your source company, their
rates re usually lower, making them a favorable choice.

If you decide to go with your source company's service bureau, make
sure they are willing to:

1. Give you your own unique 800 number.

2. Give you call reports on a daily basis.

3. Give you a copy of the itemized call statement from the phone
company at the end of each month.

If you decide to hire you own service bureaus, shop around for the
best rates. Avoid bureaus with exorbitant set-up fees, usually more
than $500.00. Make sure the bureau has the capability and the
experience to handle your requirements, and that they operate
24 hours a day.

BUSINESS NAME.
A standard order slate will show your 800 number along with your
business name and mailing address. Remember that a TV viewer will
have to copy all this information in order to write a check and mail
it to the correct address. So make your wording short, clear, and
easy to spell.

If your business name is long or complicated, you may want to open
a new bank account using a different name. Acronyms usually work
best. For example, if your business name is Communicators
International Enterprises, register a new account for C.I.E..
Both you and your customers will benefit from such a change.

YOUR MAILING ADDRESS Since mailing addresses appear on the TV screen for
just a few seconds, post office box numbers or short addresses are
easier to remember and spell.

For example, if your business is in a city named
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, you might want to drive a few miles south to
get a P.O. box in Miami. Its not only more recognizable, but it is
shorter and easier for viewers to spell.

TV-06.

USING CELEBRITIES

Using a famous face to sell your not-yet-famous product can be quite
effective. It's one ofthe oldest tricks in the book, probably as old as
television itself.

If you can afford it, using a celebrity, a recognized face, or a high-profile
person can greatly increase sales of your product.

CELEBS LEND CREDIBILITY. A celebrity lends credibility to a product or service.
Consumers are more likely to be persuaded to accept a product they see used or
endoresed by someone they know.

CELEBS ATTRACT VIEWERS. A famous face can stop a channel hopper who may be
curious to see what that celebrity is talking about. A celeb can easily
increase the viewing value of an infomercial.

12. CHOOSING A CELBRITY

Who should you get and why? That's the starting point of any celbrity search.
How are you going to use the celebrity in your marketing campaign? Will the
celeb be a spokesperson or an endorser? Here's a checklist to consider:

APPROPRIATENESS. Telly Savalas may be an effective endorser for the Player's
Club, but would be suicide for a hair care product! Believability is a key
factor.

SPOKESPERSON OR ENDORSER? Decide which role the celebrity will play.
A spokesperson is someone who interviews customers who've used the product
being advertised. Someone presented as a customer who has actually used the
product is an endorser.

SUPPORT ALL CLAIMS. Advertisers must provide documentation to support all
celebrity claims made whether as a spokesperson or endorser.

INSURANCE AND INDEMNIFICATION. Celebrities acting as endorsers may seek
protection against possible lawsuits. he or shoe may demand that an ad-
vertiser maintain product liability insurance naming the celebrity as an
additionally insured party. They almost always require indemnification
from the advertiser.

There are, however, definite budget parameters for a successful negotiation.
Costs of celebrity acquisitions may be determined using one of the following
compensation packages: (1) a guarantee fee with back-end participation, or
(2) a straight buyout.

GUARANTEE & PARTICIPATION. Here you will be required to pay the celebrity an
up front fee plus a percentage of your gross or net sales. The up front
guarantee can range anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000. The back-end percentage
may be between 1% and 5% of either your gross or your net sales.

In this type of compensation package, however, the celebrity's guarantee
fee is actually part of the back-end participation. The guarantee fee is
actually a deductible advanced guarantee which is subtracted from the
cumulative value of the back-end percentage.

For example: You hire Celeb X for a guarantee fee of $10,000 plus 5% of your
gross receipts over a campaign period of one year. If you generate gross
sales of $500,000, Celeb X's total participation fee will amount to $25,000.
However, since you already advanced $10,000, you will only owe difference of
$15,000 at the end of the year.

STRAIGHT BUYOUT. This compensation package is a one time fee you pay a
celebrity for appearing in your infomercial. Among other factors, the length
of time you want to use the infomercial and its geographic distribution
(local, regional, or national) will determine how much you pay.

14. CELEBS: PERKS & MORE

The basic compensation package is usually just the beginning of the
negotiation process. The following factors are equally critical to a celeb
who is evaluating your acquisition offer:

LENGTH & EXCLUSIVITY. Usually celebrities don't want to be bound for long
periods of time. Most agreements are for one year with renewal options.
Exclusivity is also crucial. It prohibits the celebrity from endorsing or
acting as a spokesperson for a competing product. Exclusivity also defines
where you may and may not use the celeb's materials and where the celebrity's
image may be used.

RELATED MEDIA. If the celeb's appeal is strong enough to make a big difference
in your poduct's appeal, you may want to use him or her in your print ads,
sales literature, or even your packaging. Although this usually requires more
work for the celebrity, the perceived value of his/her participation in your
overall marketing campaign will definitely mean more dollars in the compen-
sation package.

TRANSPORTATION & ACCOMMODATION. Since most celebrities belond to a union, you
will be required to hire them under union terms. This means first-class air
travel and accommodation wherever you are shooting your infomercial. If the
celeb demands to bring a companion, the perks should be extended.

Celebrity Endorsement Network - (818) 704-6709

Ingles, Inc. - (213)464-0800

Jack King Celeb Brokers - (310) 652-5700

STAR GUIDE - This is a trade-size directory of over 3000 names and addresses
of TV and movie stars, musicians, sports celebrities, politicians, and other
famous people. Updated every year. Complete alphabetical index. Over 175
pages. $12.95 Published by Axiom Information Resources, P. O. Box 8015
Ann Arbor, MI 48107.

TV-12.

MEDIA JOINT VENTURES

Purchasing television airtime requires a substantial amount of upfront
capital. It is therfore common to seek joint ventures to finance your
media buys.

Entering into a joint venture with a TV station simply means that the station
is willing to extend you the airtime in exchange for a percentage of your
sales. Or they will finance you for a flat fee based on units sold or inquiries
generated during each airing.

Since TV stations rarely advertise this aspect of their business, you may have
to call a number ofthem to find those who accept per order (PO) or per inquiry
(PI) deals.

There are also media brokers who put together similar deals. Service bureaus
who broker turnkey infomercial projects also have access to TV stations that
will do PO/PI deals. See the listings at the end of this Guide.

Regardless of which route you take, you will be required to produce customized
material that shows an 800 number exclusive to the TV station on which your
material is being aired. This will allow both you and the station to track
the number of leads or sales generated by each airing.

6. PER INQUIRY

If you have a lead generation DRTV spot, some TV stations, particularly those
with huge inventories of unsold commercial time, will accept payment based on
the actual number of leads each airing of your ad generates.

Per inquiry deals are usually confined to 1 and 2-minute DRTV spots. TV
stations seldom extend half-hour airtime for a lead-generation infomercial.
If they do, however, expect to pay a premium foreach inquiry you generate
with each airing.

Some stations may require a quarantee to run your DRTV spot on a per inquiry
basis. For example, if you sgree to spend $1 for each inquiry, the station
may require you to give them $300 in advance until you've generated the
equivalent of 300 leads.

7. PER ORDER

Per order deals are usually available for both DRTV spots and half-hour
infomercials. With per order advertising, the station amy charge a fixed
amount for each unit sold or a percentage - between 30% and 75% - of the
gross value of the product.

As with per inquiry deals, some stations may want a quarantee before they
air your infomercial or DRTV spot. The guaranteed amount is usually based
on the percentage the station expects to earn from the selling price of
your product.

For example, if your poduct sells for $100 and the station wants 50%, the
station will want a guarantee based on $50 per unit. If the station asks
for $1,000 as a guarantee, it will run your infomercial or DRTV spot until
you've sold 20 units.

TV-11.

JOINT-VENTURE PROJECTS

Financing is a common roadblock for most start-up businesses, particularly
if the business involves direct response television, which people outside
the industry often perceive as an extremely high risk.

Infomercials, a relatively new form of marketing, have their share of critics
who consider their stability to be suspect. Because of this - and the general

volatility of television - conventional financing is often out of the question.

Start-up businesses and individual entrepreneurs often seek friends and
family members to provide seed captial for infomercial production and test
marketing.

A simple infomercial with no celebrities, elaborate props, or post-production
effects may cost anywhere from $10,000 to $15,000 to shoot and edit in 3/4
inch U-Matic format.

Add to this another $10,000 to $15,000 for TV airtime, and you are looking at
a minimum of $20,000 to reasonable launch an infomercial campaign on your own.

INFOMERCIAL MARKETING COMPANIES (IMCs)

IMCs are among the best sources for financing for two primary reasons: (1)
they are familiar with the industry and have available funds, and (2) their
hands-on involvement with your campaign provides helpful expertise.

AIRTIME INVENTORY. The strength of IMCs lies in their huge inventory of
excellent TV airtime available for half-hour paid programs. Most of these
companies buy huge blocks of strategic (early evenings and weekends) airtime
from most major cable networks.

QUALITY PRODUCTION. Most IMCs have their own production facilities. Those
that don't, usually have access to the best production houses in the country.
These production capabilities are usually combined with talent agencies that
enable them to negotiate the best rates for celebrities.

MANAGEMENT. The third benefit to usingan IMC is its experience in managing
informercial campaigns. If a major IMC takes on your product, your campaign
is likely be handled by a team of experienced managers.

2. PROVEN PRODUCTS ONLY

Two major constraints are normally imposed by IMCs. One has to do with your
product - IMCs do not take on every product that comes their way.

Presenting your product to an IMC is like an author selling his manuscript
to a major publishing firm. Your product must pass a set of litmus tests
before the IMC will consider risking their dollars on your product.

If you have only a prototype of your product, it may be more difficult to
sell to an IMC. If the IMC does buy it, they usually want to get involved
with the actual manufacturing of your product.

Conversely, if your product has been successfully sold in some other form
of direct response marketing, or if you have already produced and test
marketed some version of your infomercial and have impressive sales
performance numbers, IMCs will be more receptive. Furthermore, having
numbers to substantiate your offer will give you negotiating leverage.

3. CONTROL

Some entrepreneurs hesitate to deal with an IMC because ofthe control factor
both financial and creative. Without any numbers to bakc your projections,
your figures are mere speculation.

As a newcomer to the business, you will not have the leverage to dictate
financial terms nor will you have a free hand in determining how you
product should be presented.

As with most other businesses, the leverage goes to the party with the
most to offer. if you are new in the business and have an unproven product,
you do not have the luxury of shopping aroung for the best offer. On the
other hand, if you have a proven product, particularly one that has been
test marketed via an infomercial, you can compare offers and negotiate the
best terms.

4. OPEN DEAL

There is no set structure for financial terms between entrepreneurs and
IMCs. Each company has a formula for structuring a deal, which may vary
from one product to the next.

You will be better off focusing your evaluation on two factors: (1) How
much money you stand to make based on their projections; (2) How much time
it will take for you to make your first dollar.

Needless to say, where profit projections are concerned, IMCs tend to be
conservative. When your objective is to convince them that your product will
make them a lot of money, the IMC will naturally argue the opposite. There-
fore, when evaluating an offer, consider your own projections objectively
while viewing the IMC's figures as being pessimistic.

5. GOING UPSCALE

To provide leverage for dealing with major IMCs, entrepreneurs commonly
launch their own small scale infomercial campaigns to produce performance
figures favorable for negotiation.

The strategy usually follows this sequence: (1) You produce a simple
infomercial to test market your product; (2) You buy airtime in a number
of secondary markets and track the results; (3) You present your product
and your test market numbers to an IMC.

A MAJOR INFOMERCIAL COMPANY CAN REV UP YOUR SALES AT AN ACCELERATED PACE
YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO AFFORD ON YOUR OWN.

With a heftier production budget and a huge inventory of prime infomercial
airtime, an IMC can do wonders for your campaign. You can reshoot your basic
infomercial to feature celebrities and give your new infomercial a glossy look.
And with the expanded access to better TV airtime, your sales can soar at a
rate you may not have been able to produce on your own.

TV-10.

27. TYPES OF MEDIA BUYS

To appreciate the true value of a particular media buy, we have grouped TV
stations into three categories and analyzed their rates based on their
comparative coverage. The three categories are:

NATIONAL. These TV stations are either cable networks or national super-
stations. (To illustrate, we'll use Nickelodeon at 1:30 a.m. on weekdays
which costs $12,500.)

PRIMARY. These are local broadcast TV stations in major cities with at least
one million TV homes. ( We'll use WPGH, the FOX affiliate in Pittsburgh, at
1:30 a.m. on weekdays which costs $900.)

SECONDARY. These are local broadcast TV stations in smaller or secondary
cities, with usually less than 500,000 TV homes. (We'll use WWAT, and
independent in Columbus, Ohio at 1:30 a. m. on weekdays which costs $150.)

Charting comparative rates and effective reach of each station yields the
following:

TV GROUP RATE TV HOMES CPM*

Nationals $12,500 63 million 0.20

Primary $900 1.2 million 0.75

Secondary $150 350,000 0.43

*The acronym CPM stands for Cost Per Thousand ( M stnads for Mil, Latin for
thousand). Based on the preceding table, if all the potential viewers being
reached by each respective station were watching that station at that time,
it would cost you 20 cents to reach every 1,000 viewers watching a widely
subscribed to cable network, 75 cents for a primary station, and 43 cents
per 1000 viewers in a secondary market.

Although it seems obvious that you may want to split your media buys between
the national and secondary markets, often this is not possible. Here are some
of the reasons:
> Airtime on national stations is hard to come by. Fewer than 20 cable
networks and superstations fall into this category, and most available info-
mercial time has already been purchased or is controlled by major media
brokers and infomercial production houses.

> In the test market stage, it is unwise to invest a lot ofmoney in national
media buys. It is better to spread your budget over a string of secondary
markets to get a better feel for viewer feedback.

> Finding good secondary markets involves a fair amount of research. It is
best to deal with media brokers who specialize in this category.

28. TESTING

Always test media on an OTO (one-time-only) basis. Even Fortune 500 companies
with multimillion-dollar budgets always test their products and the media where
they are placed. No one can accurately predict the outcome of an untested
campaign. Lay out a sensible test campaign and evaluate the results accord-
ingly.

For do-it-yourselfers, secondary markets with airtime rates between $150 and
$400 offer ideal, low-risk vehicles for test marketing your infomercial.
Although TV stations in secondary markets do not generally offer the best
CPM (compare to nationwide cable channels), they charge the lowest entry fees
required to get a fair "let-the-market-decide" type of evaluation for an
infomercial.

29. APPROVAL

As soon as the first draft of your infomercial is completed, make several
copies and send one to each station you are considering.

But before you send any tape for approval, contact the station to confirm
that they have available airtime. The approval process can take anywhere
from a day to a month, depending on who you know and the overall attitude
at that station.

30. MEDIA BROKERS

Media brokers are independent companies that sell airtime for stations
nationwide. Stations pay these brokers a commission based on the cost of
airtime purchases.

Brokers come in all shapes and sizes, depending on the type of TV stations
they represent and their volume of business. In some cases, brokers who
buy a lot of media time have better pricing leverage. Therefore two brokers
may have different rates for the same time slot at the same station.

BROKERS WORK LIKE A ONE-STOP SHOP FOR TV AIRTIME ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

If you want to buy airtime outside your state, a broker will come in handy,
giving you vital information about TV stations in different markets. Brokers
are particularly helpful when you're buying airtime on a network affiliate
(ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX), a cable network (ESPN, A&E, CNN), or a superstation
(WGN or WOR). Brokers give you access to as many stations in as many regions
as you want, but you only have to deal with one person, saving you the hassle
of negotiating with each station individually.

However, if you are buyingairtime from stations in your city or in a
geographic area that you're familiar with, using a broker may hurt rather
than help. For example, if the station you wantto use does not recognize
your broker, that broker may try to convince you to advertise on a station
that will pay his commission.

Likewise, a media broker may cost you more if you are buying large quantities
of airtime. By placing your order as a direct account, you can negotiate
a rebate on the portion of the fee that the station would otherwise pay a
broker.

31. TARGETING BY ZIP CODE

If your media buy is sensitive to demographics, one method of buying will
deliver precision, especially if you buy from cable service companies on a
local basis.

From Beverly Hills to the Bronx, expanding your geopgraphic exposure is as
easy as qualifying the socio-economic profiles of you audience. Marketers
now use ZIP codes to identify the geographic distribution of their
potential viewers. As markets become more segmented, a new method of
categorizing American neighborhoods is gaining ground.

THE CLUSTERING OF AMERICA. This is a book by Michael J. Weiss which dissects
different lifesytles in contemporary America based on the U.S. Postal
Service's Zone Improvement Plan - better known as ZIP codes.

THE 5 DIGITS OF YOUR ZIP CODE CAN TELL A MARKETER WHAT YOU ATE FOR BREAKFAST

Weiss explains that your ZIP code, which actually regpresents the community
where your live, reveals a lot about the people who live within its boundaries.
The 5 digits of your ZIP code are not being usedto tell marketers the kinds of
magazines you read, what you eat for breakfast, and the brand of toothpaste
you are likely to use. Marketers re even using ZIP codes to decide what kind
of celebrity to use in their advertising. (From The Clustering of America, by
Michael J. Weiss; Perennial Library, Harper & Row, New York; ISBN
0-06-091599-4; $10.95.)

TV-09.

24. BUYING ON C.P.O.

If your media buys are to be based on any single common denominator that
monitors performance, it should be Cost Per Order (CPO).

In direct response television, the bottom line is your CPO - how much it
costs you to generate one sale or one inquiry.

THE LOWER YOUR CPO, THE HIGHER YOUR PROFITS. Remember, with DRTV, media
buying has nothing to do with programming or demographics. It is strictly
a numbers game. The fewer dollars you spend to reach your viewer base, the
better your CPO.

CPO SHOULD GENERALLY BE UNDER 50% OF SELLING PRICE. To determine your CPO,
simply divide your airtime cost by the number of orders you generated from
that singel airing of your infomercial. This amount should be less that 50%
of your selling price.

25. PERFORMANCE RATIO

Performance ratio is a percentage derived from dividing your CPO by your
selling price, or by dividing your total sales revenue by your total media
cost.

Although the maximum CPO should be 50% of your selling price, few advertisers
consider 50% to be acceptable. Ideally, your CPO should be 1/5 your selling
price, which means you should receive $5 for every dollar you invest in media.

For example, if $1,000 worth of airtime produces 50 sales, your CPO is $20,
which means it costs you $20 in media time to sell one unit of your product.

> If your selling price is $40, your CPO is 50% of your selling price
($20 divide $40), a 1 to 2 ratio.

> If your selling price is $60, your CPO is 33% of your selling price
($20 divide $60), a 1 to 3 ratio.

> If your selling price is $100, your CPO is 20% of your selling price
($20 divide $100), a 1 to 5 ratio. This means that for every dollar you
invest in media time, you're getting $5 back.

26. MONITORING & EVALUATION

The success or failure of an infomercial can be determined by one or two
airings. If the first airing produces marginal results, you may want to
give it a second shopt for comparison. If the second airing is equally
disappointing, go back to the drawing board.

Immediately evaluate the performance of each airing the morning after.
Although orders may continue to straggle in two or three days after an
infomercial is aired, each airing's performance can be largely determined
by evaluating it within 12 hours.

EACH AIRING MUST BE PROFITABLE NO IFS, ANDS OR BUTS. YOUR ONLY OTHER
CONCERN SHOULD BE TO COMPARE THE CPO AND RATION OF ONE MEDIA BUY TO THE NEXT.

Infomercials are not like regular programs, which can build viewership with
an increase in frequency. If your infomercial does not deliver a profitable
return after one or two airings, it probably never will.

Furthermore, if after one or two airings, your infomercial proves profitable,
your next task isto develop a media plan that will increase those profits.
By selecting stations, time slots, and air dates that will produce the
lowest CPOs, you can dramatically increase your profit ratio.

MEDIA

From an economic standpoint, media isthe most important stage in your
infomercial project because it involves the largest chunk of your budget.
How you buy your TV airtime dictates the profitablity of your diect response
campaign. If you buy wisely, you can make a fortune. Buy poorly, and you
can lose a fortune.

Our discussion of media buying will be based on half-hour infomercials.
Unless specified otherwise, figures, stats, and examples used in this
chapter will be for half-hour, sales generation infomercials.

Besides actual media buying, product fulfillment and other activities
generally associated withthe media stage of your infomercial campaign will
be considered.

STATE OF TELEVISION

When the American TV viewing market was being served by only three or four
stations - ABC, CBS, NBC, and in some cities, an independent station -
behavioural and social patterns were mainstream and demographic diversity
was not an issue. Viewing patterns were, therefore, quite similar everywhere.
Back then, media buying was relatively easy.

Now the reverse is true. With cable service, satellite programming, low-
power and full-power broadcasting, the route to today's TV audiences is
more complicated and difficult to follow. Today, the U.S. TV viewing public
is divided into over 200 markets, each with 20 to 30 channels to choose from.

Fortunately, television retailing pioneers have paved part of the way for us,
making it possible to identify certain media-buying styles that work well for
infomercials.

For example, those who cultivated DRTV have proven to us that buying late-
night TV time is cost effective. Since latenight airtime costs less, it
delivers one of the lowest cost per order, or CPO, figures obtained, enabling
marketers to break even with fewer orders.

There are three types of commercial TV stations, distinguished by how their
programming is delivered to the public.

BROADCAST

These TV stations use the airwaves to transmit their programs over a specific
geographic area. By design, all broadcast stations are local, to the extent
the power of their antennas transmit their signals to TV viewers. Some broad-
cast TV channels are also carried by the local cable service in the station's
primarily broadcast area.

Based on their transmitting power, there are two tyoes of broadcast TV
stations: (1) low power, usually operating on UHF frequencies, and (2)
full power, those you usually get as channels 2 through 13 if you don't
have cable. These depend on your antenna to pick up the TV signals.

Based on how they are owned, managed, or operated, TV stations can be either
independent or network affiliates - more often called network channels.

The four recognized broadcast TV networks in the U.S. are ABC, CBS, NBC, and
FOX. It is difficult, if not impossible to acquire TV airtime on any of
these networks. With the possible exception of Ross Perot's half-hour paid
announcements during his '92 presidential election bid, no half-hour paid
programs are aired on the broadcast network level. On a local level, however,
network affiliates have different policies regarding paid programming.

CABLE

These are TV stations whose programming is delivered exclusively through a
cable system, meaning homes without cable service have no way of watching
thses channels. Since these stations send their signals to different cable
service companies across the country, they are also referred to as networks.
The extent ofthe coverage of any cable network depends entirely on the number
of local cable service companies carrying its programming.

The following are the 10 most widely distributed basic cable networks.
Figures are as of March, 1993, represented in total million households.

Cable News Network CNN 66
Cable News & Business CNBC 65
USA Network USA 65
Video Hits VH1 64
Nickelodeon NIK 63
Lifetime LIFE 61
Headline News HLN 61
Entertainment Sports ESPN 61
Discovery DSC 61
Music Television MTV 61


SUPERSTATIONS

A superstation is a local broadcast station whose programming is being
received by cable markets outside its primary broadcast area. Without the
cable aspect of their coverage, they are nothing more that local broadcast
TV stations. Without the broadcast aspect of their coverage, they are
strictly a cable channel.

Superstations are either regional or national in their coverage.

A regional superstation has its programming carried by cable companies
within the same state or region where the superstation operates. Examples
include WPIX in Florida and KTVT in Texas.

A national superstation has its programming carried by cable companies in
more than one state. The three major national superstations are TNT, WOR,
and WGN.

Georgia-based TNT, part of the Turner Broadcasting Group, is know for
programming dominated by its extensive collection of old movies. TBS also
has strcit guidelines on direct response programming and rarely accepts paid
programs. WOR and WGN have a more enterprising position with regards to
their airtime. They have extensive market coverage and their rates are
extremely competitive.

SUPERSTATIONS SUBSCRIBERS

WWOR 35 million
WWGN 42 million
WPIX 12 million
KTVT 4 million

TOP TV MARKETS

Television, both broadcast and cable, reaches over 93 million homes in over
200 major U.S. markets. 63 million have cable service. The 10 largest TV
markets in the U.S., with a total of 26.6 million homes (28% of all viewing
homes), are:

TV MARKET TV HH %HOMES W/CABLE

New York 7.0 58
Los Angeles 5.0 57
Chicago 3.1 77
Philadelphia 2.7 70
San Francisco 2.2 64
Boston 2.1 71
Washington, D.C. 1.7 57
Dallas-Ft. Worth 1.7 47
Detroit 1.7 59
Houston 1.5 50

TV-07.

SHOOTING YOUR INFOMERCIAL

You can write your own script and direct the actual shooting of your info-
mercial, but you should never shoot and edit your own informercial unless you
have all the necessary equipment and knowhow. Home systems simply do not
work. Never shoot your infomercial with a camcorder. It will never get
aired!

PRODUCTION TAKES PLACE IN TWO STAGES: THE ACTUAL SHOOT AND POST- PRODUCTION.

During the actual shoot stage, all the footage that will form part of your
infomercial is shot. Your responsibilities should focus on selecting and
hiring the camera crew.
After all the footage is shot, you enter the post-production phase. It is
time to edit your infomercial, taking out the bad cuts and putting all the
good shots into one coherent presentation, adding music and special effects,
and more. During this stage, you will be responsible for selecting and
hiring a post-production facility with the right editing system and a
competent editor.

Hire the same company to shoot your infomercial and then do all the editing
and post-production work makes sense for three reasons: (1) The post-
production people are already familiar with your project and how it was
shot; (2) Rates are usually cheaper for a packaged deal; (3) If you worry
about confidentiality, you'll only have one supplier to worry about.

16. CHOOSING A TAPE FORMAT

If you have the money and demand the highest quality, shoot your info-
mercial on film rather than on video tape. You will have more flexibility
and the highest quality post-production effects available. Keep in mind
however that a film project can cost as much as 10 times more than an info-
mercial shot on video tape. For this reason nearly 95% of all infomercials
are taped.

Chances are the production company you hire will try to convice you that the
best tape format to shoot is the one they have in their studio. Those who
use Beta will tell you Beta is the best. Those who use 8mm will tell you
about the miracles it can do. If you shop around, you are likely to hear
the advantages and disadvantages of every format there is.

BETACAM. This is currently the favored video format because it delivers the
highest video resolution. Since Beta equipment is expensive, expect to pay
more to shoot in this format. The popularity of Beta mastering tapes is
disturbing, since no TV stations require Beta as an actual broadcast copy
tape. All in all the Beta format is overrated because it is not used at the
television stations themselves. (Average daily rental of a BetaCam with
camera crew - $995.)

3/4-INCH U-MATIC. If you want basic broadcast quality at a good price, use
3.4-inch U-Matic. You can shoot and edit without having to change formats,
and you can make same format dubbed copies of your finished master for
broadcast copy. (Average daily rental with camera crew - $495)

S-VHS. This is a higher grade VHS with 400-line resolution. Although not
particularly recommended as a "finishing" format, it works perfectly for
non-sensitive outdoor shoots. If you're shooting testimonials from
different locations, S-VHS will provide portability and acceptable quality.
(Average daily rental with camera crew - $295)

HI-8. Some production outfits build their system around this 3-chip Hi-8
camera format. In spite of its impressive specifications, Hi-8 has inherent
shortcomings. Unless you want a home video effect for authenticity
purposes, you should avoid this format at all cost.

1-INCH. Whereas all the previous formats are in cassette form, 1-inch tapes
come in reel form. Since most cameras and editing systems are not built
around the 1-inch format, it is never used for production. 1-inch tapes are
used primarily for broadcast copy. Whether you shoot your infomercial in
Beta, U-Matic, or S-VHS format, you may need to dub your finished master into
a 1-inch copy for airing with some TV stations. (Average cost of 1-inch dub
copy - $100.)

17. FINISHED LENGTH

From the first frame to the last, your infomercial should be 28 minutes and
30 seconds long. Your first frame should actually be the standard disclaimer
stating that "this is a paid program" from your company. Your last frame
should state that "the preceding was a paid program" presented by your
company.

18. POST-PRODUCTION

This isthe part ofthe production process where you create the tone of your
infomcercial, so we'll review what's involved.

This portion of the production process is usually considered the editing
stage, although it involves much more than just editing your footage. Text,
graphics, background music, and video and audio effects are all added
during post-production.

How you cut, fade-in, fade-out, insert, roll, and merge one scene with the
next lends to the overall tempo of your show. This is where you can run
wild with animation, 3-D graphics, split screen, multi-screen, and much
more. With today's technology, your infomercial's ultimate look is
limited only by your imagination and your budget.

DESKTOP LEVEL. For rock-bottom, basic post-production work, you can use a
studio with a system built around a desktop video system. Popular desktop
brands like Video Toasters and Matrox will give you basic broadcast quality.
(Average rate - $75 per hour.)

A-B ROLLS. This is a system that has two source tape players that can be
integrated simultaneously in a variety of ways, using a wide assortment
of effects. Although some companies using desktop-level video editing
systems have A-B roll capability, most post-production houses with this
capability use more sophisticated, top-of-the line editing systems.
(Average rate - $125 per hour.)

NON-LINEAR. This is the future of post-production. It is called non-linear
because your program is edited without using a tape. Instead, the hard
drives of a computer store and manipulate the images you've shot. The system
is highly digital and usually comes loaded with effects. And since it edits
at the speed of a digital hard drive, your work is finished faster and with
more creative flare. (Average rate - $250 per hour.)

TV-05.
PRODUCTION OF YOUR INFOMERCIAL

7. INFOMERCIAL FORMATS

The right format is at the heart of every infomercial project. To begin with,
the show is usually a half-hour in length, and there will be significant
expense for production.

Your production cost, the way you present your information, the pacing of your
show, and its ability to keep the audience glued to the TV depends on your
infomercial's format.

Following are two examples of effective formats. Time-Life produced their
"Rock N Roll of the '60s" infomercial as a music video documentary hosted
by a disc jockey who presents a succession of music videos from a broadcast
control booth. Psychic Friends Network made their infomercial a talk show
hosted by Dionne Warwick before a live audience.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE ONE MOST EFFECTIVE FORMAT. Shoot your info-
mercial in a format that best demonstrates the benefits of your product.

Having a roomful of people with serious bald spots may not be the most
aesthetically pleasing sight on television. However, it was certainly the
most effective way for Ron Popiel to introduce his GLH Formula, a baldness
treatment.

If you're having trouble deciding between different formats, watching some
of the most popular regular TV programs may offer some interesting clues.
One thing to think about is what your viewers are accustomed to watching on
television today. One example of popular programming is tabloid-type
programs like "A Current Affair", "Rescue 911", and "Hard Copy." These
shows present investigative segments which explore specific subjects in an
exciting and entertaining manner.

8. RULES OF SCRIPTING

Once you've established your primary objective and decided on a format, it's
time to write your infomercial.

Rule #1. Unless you're an experienced writer who can create a fast-paced,
well-staged, logically arranged, audio-visual sales presentation,
don't even try writing your infomercial.

Rule #2. Instead, prepare an outline for a script writer. Explain what your
product is, its use, its user benefits, and its economic value.

Rule #3. If you think you possessthe inherent talent to pen your own
presentation, keep this in mind:

KEEP SELLING. Every word must draw blood. You're not there to look cute or
impress your competitors with how creative you are. Focus on the product.
Never stop selling. Remember, if the TV viewer does not reach out for the
phone to place an order, it won't work.

KEEP IT INTERESTING. With the advent of remote control, your infomercial
must be engaging. You may have a potentially good product, but if you
cannot hold the viewer's attention, the remote control is your worst
enemy.

9. BLOCKSCRIPTING

An infomercial is divided into several smaller segments that are usually
repeated within the half-hour show. This is a result of infomercial writers
using block scripting (also known as "pocket" scripting) for an informercial.

As a rule of thumb, to keep an infomercial interesting, something entertaining
and informative must be happening every 60 seconds.

When preparing your outline, imagine a channel hopper landing on your info-
mercial at any given part. You have about 60 seconds to give this viewer
an idea of what you're selling to keep him interested. If you fail to keep
that viewer's attention, you've just lost a potential sale. A fast-paced
script will keep your viewer watching.

10. SCRIPTING CHECKLIST

Decide which of the following elements will make up the core of your
presentation. These ingredients will influence the style of your show and
the manner by which your product will be presented to your TV audience.

TESTIMONIALS. This format presents satisfied customers talking about their
successful experiences with your product. You can have actual product
endorsers, or you can hire paid performers to do dramatized endorsements.

INTERVIEWS. If you choose to include this format in your infomercial, you
must decide whether the interview will panel (with a moderator) or one-on-
one (an interviewer with one quest at a time). Will the interview be in a
studio or on location?

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS. A celbrity can add credibility and recognition to
your product. A familiar face can make channel hoppers stop and watch
your infomercial. Effectively used, a celebrity can be a wise investment.
(See section on Celebrities.)

CASE HISTORIES. A product with a demonstrable before-and-after effect, such
as diet plans, cosmetics and fitness products, can provide a compelling
argument for your product.

DEMONSTRATIONS. If your product's primary selling features are convenience
and ease-of-use, you must capitalize on product demonstration as the
backbone of your presentation.

ORDERING INFORMATION. This segment usually lasts 30 to 45 seconds. This
portion of the infomercial tells the viewer the product's price, accessories,
tie-in items, bonuses, and refund guarantees that come with each order.
It shows how the product is packaged and gives the delivery options available.
It can be integrated into the DRTV spot or is presented independently.

DRTV SPOT. This is usually a 2 minute spot that summarizes vital points about
your product and the ordering precedure. To emphasize important points, most
effective DRTV spots use footage lifted from the infomercial itself. The spot
should be repeated at least 3 times within the infomercial.

TV-04.

THE CONCEPT STAGE

In this section, we will discuss what you need to know in formu-
lating your direct response campaign. It assumes that you already know
everything there is to know about your product, and that you believe your
product will do well on TV, either because it has sold well elsewhere or
because similar products are already doing well with DRTV.

1. DETERMINE WHAT YOU WANT.

Certain fundamental questions should be answered before you continue: What
do you want the viewers to do? What do you want to get out of your DRTV
campaign? Do you want sales or leads? Are you better off with a lead
generation DRTV spot or a sales generation infomercial?

A reminder: Whatever type ofresponse you decide upon, that response must
meet these criteria:

BE EXPLICIT. Tell the viewers exactly what you want them to do. Some
advertisers bury their solicitation message. By becoming engrossed in
highlighting the fantastic features of their product, they fail to stress
what they want the TV viewers to do.

THE RESPONSE MUST BE DIRECT. Provide your viewers with a direct response
pipeline to you. Remember, an infomercial or DRTV spot that asks viewers
to visit their nearest shopping center to look for your product is not
direct response advertising. An infomercial or DRTV spot requires the
viewer to respond directly to you.

THE RESPONSE MUST BE MEASURABLE. Even if you're running a simple opinion
poll, you must be able to measure the response to determine the success or
failure of your product or service or of your advertising itself.

2. LEADS ONLY

There are three practical reasons why you may prefer to produce a lead
generating campaign as opposed to a sales generating one:

PRODUCT FEATURES ARE TOO COMPLICATED. If the uses of your product cannot
be described in a simple, entertaining manner, you will have serious
problems with a sales generation DRTV campaign.

SEVERAL MODELS. If your product line contains a variety of models that
may confuse the viewer, you're better off sending follow-up sales material
that distinguishes the features of each model.

COSTS OVER $100. This Guide is more concerned with the rule rather than
with the few exceptions to the rule. If you can sell a $500 item with a
sales generation infomercial or one minute DRTV spot, fo for it. You are
special; you deserve to be a millionaire. But you are an exception to the
general rule that a DRTV product should cost no more than $100. (One
exception to the rule is offering an installment payment plan. We'll tell
you more about that later.)

3. TWO-STEP CAMPAIGN

A lead generation DRTV spot or infomercial is alway a prelude to direct
mail campaign, hence the term two-step is applied to the use of a DRTV spot
or infomercial to generate leads. The following usually takes place:

THE VIEWER CALLS. In a lead generation DRTV spot, you advertise a toll-
free 800# for viewers to call to leave their name and address in order
to get more information by mail. The calls are answered by live operators
or by an automated voice-precessing system.

YOU SEND SALES INFORMATION. Brochures, videos, or other forms of sales
material are sent to induce the recipient to place an order. Example:
NordicTrack sends an impressive combination of a video and a booklet of
their product lines to people who respond to their DRTV spot.

4. DUAL-PURPOSE CAMPAIGNS

A lead generation infomercial is not the most efficient way to spend your
advertising dollars.

Therefore, lead generation advertising should usually be in the form of
standard-length DRTV spots, not infomercials. If you have already decided
to use and infomercial, at least offer the viewers the opportunity to make a
direct purchase. This will offset the costs of production and media.

If you do want to generate both actual sales and lead inquiries, be explicit
about it. If you show only your 800 number order line, you may alienate
people who want to call for additional information. On the other hand, if
you ask for lead generation, you probably won't get any sales.

If at all possible, have two telephone numbers: one for sales, one for
inquiries.

5. PRICING

DRTV advertising should not dictate the price of your product, which must
be identified before you start formulating your DRTV project. However,
certain factors should be considered in determining the price of your
product.

ECONOMIC VALUE. This factor has nothing to do with your manufacturing cost.
It isthe perceived value of your product based on the convenience or satis-
faction it is likely to provide the consumer. A $100 toothbrush cleaner has
little economic value, since a consumer would purhase a replacement tooth-
brush for $2 before investing $100 on a toothbrush clearner.

SHIPPING & HANDLING. The consumer sees this as a cost added to the price of
your product. You should view it as a way to pay not only shipping costs,
but also your cost of order taking. Furthermore, where possible, upsell
the buyer to order overnight delivery at a premium charge.

PAYMENT PLANS. Payment plans for creditcard buyers come in a variety of
packages, depending on the category and base price of the product. For
products under $100, plans offering 3 payments are the most common. On the
high-end of the spectrum, for example, Crosswalk, and exercise machine has
a plan offering 10 payments of $49.95

Several studies indicate that the number of infomercials offering payment
plans have increased threefold over the last two years. Since the single
pay threshold is usually $100, you should offer a payment plan if your
purchase price is $100 or more.

6. CREATING URGENCY

Try to create a sense of urgency by offering an incentive. No matter how good
your product is, no matter how low the price, offering a bonus is an old
strategy that usually works like a charm. Bonuses entice viewers to purchase
immediately.

TV PRICE. You may offer a special TV price lower than the regular retail
price of your product.

PRICE BREAK. This technique is usually effective for consumables. You can
offer a 50% discount on additional quantities of the product purchased at
the same time.

FREE PRODUCT. Offer a special item free to those who purchase through
your special TV offer.

YOU CAN MAKE MONEY GIVING AWAY FREE

COMPUTER DISKS...

We have specialty computer software
designed for businesses and
entrepreneurs to use as giveaways,
premiums or value-added incentives.

You can purchase a software disk from
us for $29 per title. This price includes
the software Master Disk itself as well
as your License, giving you the rights to
make copies of the disk for your own
distribution.

GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR FREE SOFTWARE
DISK!!!

Give away copies of the software disks -
FOR FREE - but charge $10 for shipping
and handling. To do this, simply print
"Free Software" gift certificates which
you can distribute through schools, fund
raisers, libraries, retail outlets, etc. You
can even get corporate sponsor(s) to pay
for the printing and the distribution of
your gift certificates - in exchange for
having their name printed on the
certificate as the company that's giving
away the free computer software disk.

LICENSEE PACKAGE

A basic Master Disk Business Pak comes
with one title of software and your
reproduction rights to make a maximum
of 10,000 copies of the disk. Of course,
you can sell the disk any way you want
to, at any price you feel comfortable
with. You can give them away for $5
each, or sell them at retail prices of $25
to $49 each. It's entirely up to you.

TO ORDER.... Send $29 to the address
shown on the main screen on this
program disk.

PUBLISHING CATALOG ON A DISK OR CD-ROM

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.

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 or CD-ROM.

A 5 1/4" 360K IBM-compatible disk will hold around a 70 page catalog, if you
do it right! 70 PAGES!!! 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 360K 5 1/4" disk catalog, the disk
will cost 10 cents. Look at Computer Shopper for disk sources that run
clearance sale on low-density disk. Although with today's computers a 360K
5 1/4" disk may seem like a dinosaur, at 10 Cents, the bargain may still
serve its purpose.

One cost that was not figured in is storage. If you have a lot 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 it's uniqueness (disk catalogs are just starting to be used).
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. I'll explain
how it's done, and then you can make the choice.

First, you need to write your product/service descriptions. Use any word
processor that can save documents as "ASCII" files. These are plain text
files that can be written and read by most word processors, or directly from
DOS (by typing "TYPE (ASCII filename)"). You'll want to apply all the
principles of successful marketing copy writing in your descriptions.
Center them around the benefits the customer will receive from your product
or service. Don't list features, list how the customer's life will be
better because of the features. Don't worry about length, you have plenty
of room on your disk! Also, you aren't constrained by how many words will
fit on the page, because your catalog will be viewed on the screen, and will
only be printed if the customer desires to do so. Save each of your
descriptions as a separate ASCII file.

After you have your descriptions typed and saved, you can assemble your
catalog on disk. You will need some sort of program to let your customers
choose which product they want to read about, and to display and print it.
The best programs I have found, which I use on my disk catalog (and on this
report disk) are "MooMenu" (a menuing program) and "See" (a text file viewing
and printing program). These programs are public domain (they are free to
copy and use), and they work together extremely well. Another option is to
use the program "Writer's Dream," a shareware program designed for producing
books on disk. I'll use the MooMenu and See programs for the example to
follow.

First, you need to make a menu of your products and services. This is the
"table of contents" the reader uses. With MooMenu, you construct your menu
with your word processor. For each menu selection, you start with a letter,
then the name. For example, "A. The Super Widget." Then, on the next line,
you would type an execution command that would direct your text viewer
program to display the appropriate text file. For example, "SEE WIDGET.TXT".
This command will not appear on screen with the menu. Do this for all your catalog
items. You will have plenty of room on your screen, so you should plan out an
attractive heading that shows the name of your catalog, the issue or date information,
and your business name and address.

Now, create your order form in the same fashion. Type it on the screen in
your word processor and save it as an ASCII file. Don't forget to put your
name and address, as well as any ordering and shipping information you'll
need from your customer, on the form.

If you have more products or services than will fit on a single screen, you
will need to create a second sub-menu that will be called from your first
menu. For example, your second menu screen might be called "MENU2.MOO".
You would put a selection on your menu, such as "More Products & Services".
The next menu command line you'd type would be "MOO MENU2.MOO".
The MOO at the start of that command tells the MooMenu program that you
want it to display a new menu. The second menu functions like the first.

The customer inserts the disk, types "go" and presses return (like you did,
with this disk). The menu then appears. The reader can either press the
letter corresponding to the item they wish to read, or they can move the
onscreen cursor with the arrow keys to the item they are interested in.
If they would like to print the description, they can press "p" while the
description is loaded and it will print. To leave the description and return
to the menu, they would press the escape key. It's fairly simple and
requires little or no instructions to the reader.

Assembling your catalog on disk doesn't require a bunch of glue, cutting,
pasting, typesetting, printing, or any other of the hard-work jobs that
traditional publishing requires. All you have to do is copy your description
files onto a disk, as well as your menu file(s), an dyour menuing and display
ing/printing programs. I'm able to fit the MooMenu and See programs on a
360K disk and still have room for around 70 pages of text, so you shouldn't
run into any space limitations. Then, produce a label for the disk, either
from a professional printer or a laser or dot matrix printer (I do mine on a
laser printer and they come out beautifully!). That's it!

You've now reached the production/distribution stage. Copy your disks,
label them, and send them out! Here are some money-saving ideas that will
help your cash flow:

+ Try with all your might to keep your shipping weight under one ounce.
It's easy to do that with a 5 1/4" disk, as the disk, sleeve, a cardboard
stiffener (a 5" x 5" square of stiff cardboard that protects the disk) and
a lightweight envelope weigh just a hair under one ounce, in general.
Shop around for the right envelope. I use 6" x 9" white 24# catalog
envelopes. 3 1/2" disks will automatically cost 52 cents to mail, due
to their weight.

+ Don't use disk mailers. They're heavy and expensive. You can send your
disk in a regular envelope if you use a cardboard stiffener. Mark on the
outside of the envelope in the largest print possible, "HAND CANCEL ONLY
- DISK ENCLOSED - DO NOT BEND!" I feed my envelopes through my laser
printer, which prints my return address and the hand canceling phrase
in large white on black letters along the bottom of the envelope. I've
only had one damaged disk the whole time I've been doing this! See, it's
cheaper in the long run to send another out, than to spend five times as
much on the mailer itself, and at least twice the postage, on every single
disk mailed.

136.
PUBLISHING WITH CD-ROMS!

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.

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. They may have bought a CD-ROM that they just plain didn't like.
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.

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 desireable 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 big
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 warry 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: BBSs; 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 is easy and fun. 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!
135.
A NEW TYPE OF GIFT BASKET GUARANTEED TO BRING IMPRESSIVE PROFITS!

The gift basket industry has exploded over the past few years and
continues to be a consistent money maker for those involved in it. In many
ways, it's the ideal business. You can run it from the home. It's an
extremely inexpensive business to start (you only need supplies and a
marketing budget). The product is in demand (who doesn't like getting
an artistic basket with fresh fruit, candies, or cheeses?). Competition
isn't much of a problem (you can easily set yourself off from the rest by
producing specialized types of baskets). It's a dynamic business that is
changing and developing with the times.

One of the newest developments is the CANDY FLOWER BASKET. This is
a new type of gift basket that will definitely set you apart from your
competition. It's very artistic and creative, and pretty, too! The Candy
Flower Basket is easy to make, and will turn heads wherever it is given.

Here's what you need for a Candy Flower Basket: You'll need a
basket, of course, preferably around the size of a medium to large flower
pot (remember, we'll have "flowers" here). Next, a large piece of flower
arranging or art styrofoam, large enough to fit in the bottom of the basket,
filling it well and reaching up to around 3 inches below the lip of the
basket. Also, plenty of stiff, green wire used in flower arranging; green
flower tape; 2 1/2" green wood sticks, pointed on one end, blunt on the
other; thin wire; a good supply of different wrapped hard candies,
preferably with colorful wrappers (yellow, orange, red, pink, and other
"flower" colors are best); and, finally, a LOT of bright, colorful
cellophane sheets (green and red, especially). Many of these supplies
can be found at craft stores or flower arranging supply stores.

First, we'll make our candy flowers. Cut the stiff green wire into
1 foot lengths. Make around 15 for a decent size basket. Now, sort your
candies by wrapper color. You'll need 5 or 6 candies per wire. Take one
of the candies and hold one twisted end of the wrapper against the end of
the wire. Now, wrap the green floral tape tightly around the wrapper and
wire a few times. Don't tear the tape; once the candy is firmly attached
to the wire, continue the tape down the wire and wrap another candy around
1 to 1 1/2 inches below the first, depending on how many candies you'll put
on the wire. Continue this down the wire. When you've wrapped 5 or 6 of
the same candies on the top half of the wire, trail your tape off another
inch or two on the wire. You've just made your first candy flower! Set that
one aside and start on the next one. Try to have at least 4 different types
of candies, so all the flowers won't be the same color.

Next, wrap the styrofoam in green cellophane and put it into the
bottom of the basket. Take your colored cellophane sheets and cut around
fifty 6" x 10" rectangles. Don't worry about making them perfectly sized.
Take one of the rectangles and loosely fold it in half the short way (to
make a 6" x 5" rectangle) and then in half the long way (to make a 3" x 5"
rectangle). Don't crease the folds, and again, don't worry about being
perfect _ it'll look better if it's not. Insert this rectangle into one
of the open spaces closed point down (the point that would be the center
of the rectangle, if it was unfolded. Do this with 20 to 25 of the
rectangles, until the open spaces are filled, though not tightly. Fluff
the open corners of the rectangles out. Now, insert your flowers into the
styrofoam. Space them out evenly, and put around four inches of the wire
down into the foam, so it's secure. Here's a tip _ slightly curve the wire
and insert it at a slight angle, so the flowers sit realistically. Real
flower bouquets don't stand straight up. Finally, take one of the remaining
cellophane rectangles, and fold it in the same way as you did with the "fill-
in" rectangles. Now, take one of the short green sticks and a six inch
length of the thin copper wire. Wrap the wire three or four times around
the blunt end of the stick, around 1/8" from the end. Put around 1/2" of
the closed corner of the rectangle against the blunt end of the stick, and
wrap the remaining wire tightly around it. Insert this in the styrofoam,
in between the flowers. Do this with the remaining rectangles, cutting
more if necessary to completely hide the styrofoam and fill out the basket.
When done, fluff the open corners out. You now have a Candy Flower Basket!
The best thing about this is the fact that it looks BETTER after the candy
is removed! Put a note in with your basket suggesting that people unwrap
only the unattached end of the wrapper to remove a candy. The candies look
like buds while they're wrapped; they look like blooming flowers with the
candy removed! Try it with one of your flowers and you'll see!

Take into account the cost of your supplies and your time when
pricing your Candy Flower Basket. These can be a bit time-consuming, but
you can always make a large stock of flowers and fill-in "greenery" ahead
of time while watching TV. Or, get some friends involved. Baskets like
this can easily be sold for $25 to $40, depending on the size of the basket,
with only a few dollars worth of supplies. Their uniqueness will definitely
be an important selling point. Make a few baskets of different sizes up,
for sales examples.

Candy Flower Baskets can be a great addition to your line, if you
already produce gift baskets, or they can be a fantastic way to start out
in this profitable business. And don't think it's just for women; there
are many men who are producing great gift baskets out there. Anyone,
young or old, can produce these baskets and make massive profits...and have
a lot of fun in the process!

134.
WHY IS THERE SO MUCH JUNKY STUFF IN THE MAIL THESE DAYS?

I hear it all the time: "There is so much junk in the mail. Most of the stuff
is crooked, hard to read, copied 100 times and ugly. I wouldn't order from
them regardless of what they were selling." I agree! In fact _ I have
wondered what would possess people to actually send out some of this "junky"
stuff. Don't they realize it will cost them a great loss in potential sales?
Don't they care? Don't they realize that they are actually LOSING money?
However, remember the old saying: "The rich get richer and the poor get
poorer?" While a poor person of today can be a rich person of tomorrow -
a person that stays poor their entire life does so because they have made
themselves that way. They have never learned the proper way to conduct
business in order for it to turn a profit for them. Some of them may have
tried and tried _ but for some reason, they continually made bad decisions
to keep themselves poor.

Let me give you a common example of what I mean. Around the
first of the month, go grocery shopping. This is the time that people
shop who are on fixed incomes and draw food stamp benefits. (I consider
this the poor side of America.)

Now - watch their buying habits very carefully. Very rarely will you
see someone use manufacturers coupons to save money. Very rarely do you see
them purchase a brand name product (unless its cigarettes or beer.) Most of
the poor people ALWAYS purchase unbrand products. These are fine in some
circumstances, but if a poor person buys a unbrand name of laundry detergent
or dishwashing liquid _ it will run out 3 or 4 times faster than name brands
like Dawn, Ivory and Palmalive. Sure _ the name brand costs more in the
beginning, but the long term effects will save the poor person lots of money!

What does going to the grocery store and watching poor people have
to do with junky mail? Plenty! Junky mail is created by people who will never
be more than they are today _ OR they are people who have been taught by bad
teachers and are trying to do what they are told. The fact remains through -
ANYBODY can look at other things that come in the mail and learn from them.
EVERYONE gets mailings from large companies that are written by professionals
to sell products. All the mail order dealer has to do is READ them.

When a piece of mail arrives to you that appears professional and
looks like it came from a company who had a lot of money - dissect it. Find a
way that YOU can make your materials look like theirs for a price within
your budget.

One problem that some dealers have who mail this "junky" stuff is
that they don't believe they can look good without investing a lot of money.
It doesn't take a lot of money to look good. Just like it doesn't take a lot
of money to take a bath every day! You can still be poor but accomplish the
same goal.

Another downfall for "junky" mail pieces is that quick-copy machines
have made it easy for anyone to make copies. Copy machines are at most
grocery and drug stores, libraries and convenient marts across America.
Some people buy a desktop copier for $300 or $400 and use it to make copies
of their adsheets; while others order typesetting and make copies of their
camera-ready ads so they'll have more copies. This is all fine and dandy if
you are copying a first-generation master, but if you are running a program
or commission circular dealership you can't get by with making quick copies
and expect the quality to hold up. Suppose you have a typesetter design you
a 8 1/2x11" circular for your program. You will give new dealers a copy of
the circular from your original master the typesetter designed. The new
dealer now has a second-generation copy. He or she signs up new dealers
and makes a copy of your copy. Those dealers are now getting a third-
generation copy, which is probably looking poor and worn-out by this time.

Now, the guy with the third-generation copy sends it to a tabloid
publisher who prints and mails it in their publication. This particular
printing is now in it's fourth-generation. Can you imagine what it looks
like now? Don't believe me? Try it on a copier yourself. Take a camera-ready
master and make a copy. Take the copy and make another copy from it. Compare
the difference between this second copy and the camera-ready master. You'll
see how the circular is deteriorating _ regardless of how professional it was
originally typeset! This is one reason mail order is looking "junky" and it's
up to everyone to put a stop to it!

And don't make the decision to keep your business poor and non-productive!
Instead, you could be the next Montgomery Ward!

133.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR JUNK MAIL

The term "junk mail" is a well-known term. To the common guy or gal on the
street, "junk mail" to them is advertising flyers from the local grocery
store and pizza shop that arrive in their mail every day. To the mail order
dealer, it means something totally opposite because a mail order dealer in
St Paul MN is not going to get a pizza ad for a shop in Jackson MS.

Therefore, "junk mail" refers to pyramid schemes, chain letters and other
worthless information that you are inundated with as a newcomer. Often you
will get so much of it that you will think this is all mail order has to
offer and quit. THIS IS NOT TRUE. This is only one phase of the mail order
industry _ and it's too bad that beginners get hit with the bulk of it.
As you continue to grow in the mail order business, the amount of "junk mail"
you receive will diminish compared to the legitimate offers and orders.
This is how you know your business is growing in a successful direction.

Back to the matter at hand. How can you make money with this mail?
One way is by studying and analyzing the piece of mail from a marketing
standpoint. Since people obviously are making money with "junk mail"
(it would have phased out long ago if it didn't) it's up to you to find
out HOW they are doing it.

Is it the words they use? Normally, "junk mail" offers appeal to a person's
emotional wants and desires. They claim to offer hidden secrets, untold
wealth and quick cash. They make false claims by telling people they can now
send their kids to college, buy their wife a beautiful diamond ring, take a
well-deserved vacation to an exotic tropic island and pay off all their
debts.

When the person reads this stuff and forms visions of sugarplums in their
heads, they will rush right away and send away for the product immediately.
What made them believe you? How was the "junk mail" written to cause a person
to immediately react in this manner? These are things you have to study and
determine. Then, use this new found knowledge to sell your own product.

The problem with "junk mail" is that if a person gets all hyped up and sends
away for the product they have built it up to be bigger-than-life. And when
the product or information they ordered arrives, it simply is a sheet of
paper or another piece of "junk mail" trying to sell them something else.
The person feels cheated, stupid, and taken advantage of.

People may always exist that will respond to this type of "junk mail."
But you can use the same marketing concept to provide the people with
something REAL. This way, they won't feel cheated, stupid and taken
advantage of. This is where the "junk mail" authors who wrote this stuff
in the first place overlook the true marketing potential.

More money could be made if the person buying something is satisfied and
makes a repeat purchase. In fact, newcomers are eager to learn and will
buy anything to get started learning. By taking advantage of them only
means that you will make one sale in that person's lifetime. But if the
product is good and worthwhile _ they will order from you again and again.
Many newcomers today will be big businesses tomorrow. And I'm sure if a
newcomer found a honest company that really helped them break into the mail
order field they would continue to do business with them when they really
did make millions of dollars. See what I mean? The back-end sales for a
lifetime would be worth the investment.

I'm not saying that you can take a piece of "junk mail" claiming to make the
person $1 million in 30 days or less and turn it into a valuable and
worthwhile product. Since this is a downright lie, there is no way to market
this honestly. However _ you can study the piece of "junk mail" to determine
what words and phrases were used and how the ad is written so you can
understand how to present a REAL product that people will be eager to buy.

Then, pass the word and tell every new person you come into contact with
about these pie-in-the-sky-schemes. You might even want to try writing to
some of the people listed on the chain letters. Explain how all this "junk
mail" only appeals to their emotional needs and how the company who
originally wrote these materials are USING them to only get their money.
If everyone passed along this information _ it wouldn't take very many years
before we could put a stop to all this nonsense.

If people slack off on buying it and see the scam for what it really is _
the cons will diminish!

132.
AVOIDING COMMON MAIL ORDER MISTAKES

Not everyone has worked in an office atmosphere all of their life. And when
this type of person decides to go into a mail order business they don't know
the first thing about communicating properly to other dealers and potential
customers. This lack of communication can close a new mail order business
faster than lightening. Here are some tips to make your transition smoother:

Address Your Envelope Properly
You should use a #10 business-size envelope (not the short ones you use to
write to your mother.) The envelope should contain the full name and address
of the person you are writing as well as YOUR full name and address in the
upper left-hand corner. If the letter is undeliverable because a dealer has
closed due to death or illness, you will get the letter back if your return
address is in the upper left-hand corner. In addition, if something should
happen to the contents inside the envelope the dealer can contact you because
of your return address. And try to avoid handwriting your return address.
Sometimes these are impossible to read. If you can't afford pre-printed
envelopes by all means order some address labels for $1.25 per 1,000 from
Walter Drake (you know the kind that are advertised in your mail box
everyday.) Neon or glistening-type return labels are hard to read so try to
avoid those too. Plain white ones with black ink will do fine.

Include a Note or Letter
Nothing is more frustrating than to receive an order from a customer with a
check or cash enclosed with NO explanation of what the person is ordering.
Beginners often forget that the average mail order dealer has 100's or even
1,000's of products and services they offer. Many of those items might be
priced the same. An example of a good cover letter would be:

Dear (fill in the name):
I noticed your ad in (name of publication) and would like to order
your (name of product you are ordering.) Thank you for your attention to
this matter. (Your name and address)
You can write this information on a post-it note and attach to your check,
however, it is more professional to use a standard sheet of 8 1/2x11" paper
and put your name and address at the top of the sheet. This way, if the
envelope is non-readable or your return address is marked up in any way,
the dealer can read your name and address and fill your order. In your cover
letter you might want to mention that you are new to mail order and would
appreciate any information to help you out. Often, dealers extend a helpful
hand to help others.

Don't Expect Your Order in 2 Days
Some people will see an advertisement, order an item on Monday and expect
to receive it back by Thursday of the same week. This is impossible. Try to
rationalize that it takes 3-10 days to receive first-class mail. Then it
takes another 3-10 days for most dealers to fill their orders. Not everyone
can provide 24-hour service, especially if the mail order business owner is
very busy. Some of us have families, children and personal lives that take
up part of our time and we don't spend every waking moment processing orders.
Most beginners don't realize that there are some mail order people processing
an AVERAGE of 200-1,000 pieces of mail PER DAY. It's hard to imagine.
And since most of us don't have employees to help us, we work ourselves to death.
We love it though _ but please try and have a little patience and understanding
when placing an order. Besides, if you place an order with a national mail order
house, don't they tell you to allow 4-6 weeks for your order to arrive? Give
small dealers the same courtesy.

Having a mail order business is a lot of fun. It is exciting and you get to
meet a lot of great people. However, it is also a business and should be
treated as such. If you are really serious and you have never had any office-
related exposure, at least take an afternoon to read a book you can get free
at the library on starting your small business. It's well worth its weight in
gold and you can start making friends and reaping the rewards of getting
money in your mailbox on a daily basis.

131.
HOW TO AVOID COMMON ADVERTISING MISTAKES

Advertising isn't hard to do. You prepare an advertisement or write a
classified ad to sell your product or generate interest to send people more
information. But the way most people make mistakes is either by their
inability to write effective ad copy and by sending it to be published in
the wrong publication. Here are some pointers to follow:

Writing Effective Copy
Never try to sell anything costing more than $5 in a small display ad or a
classified ad. First of all, you don't have enough room to tell people
everything they need to know to entice them to order.

Instead, you need to employ the "Two-Step" method of advertising. Request
the reader to send you $1 or 4 first-class postage stamps for more
information. When they respond, you will send them a brochure, flyer, order
form and cover letter so they can place an order for the real product.

Now that pricing is out of the way lets talk about writing your ad copy.
The best way to learn how is to read the ads other people have written.
Don't copy them word-for-word, but use them as a guide to write your
own ads. Once you get the hang of it, you'll be writing effective ad
copy just as well as the pros.

Advertising in the Right Publication. Although this may sound a little
silly and you think it is only common sense to know this _ people will often
overlook this fact when choosing the publication they will be advertising in.
Instead, they will look for the lowest price for the amount of circulation
they receive. Unfortunately, this does not work out. Even though you need
to look for good deals that make it easy on your pocketbook, you will be
throwing money away if you don't pre-qualify the publication you choose.

One way of pre-qualifying the publication is to send for a sample copy.
Most publishers will send them to you free of charge for the asking. If you
don't know of any mail order publications, just write to Glenn Bridgeman,
PO Box 10150, Terra Bella CA 93270 or William Lee, Rt 1, Box 10790,
Madisonville TN 37354 and ask them to send you some. (Be sure to enclose
$1 or 4 first-class postage stamps in with your request to offset postage
costs.) If you tell them you are new to mail order and are interested in
publications to advertise in, you certainly will find the $1 you spent is
well worth the effort because both of these publishers are very reputable,
honest and helpful.

Study the publication to see what other people are advertising and how they
are advertising it. Contact some of the people who sell items similar to your
own with the hope of networking with them. You would be surprised how much
free publicity you can get just from corresponding, calling and networking
with others.

Once you locate a publication you want to advertise in, give it a try for
3 months. If you don't get any response or only a few orders, try another
publication. There are millions of them and eventually you will hit the right
target market that will be interested in what you have to sell.

Don't Stop With One Publication. Just because you locate the target market
of people who are interested in purchasing your product there is no reason
you can't advertise in more than one publication. In fact _ if you don't,
your ad will become stale. If the same people continue to see your ad every
month they will probably get tired of looking at it. Besides, if they wanted
the product they would have ordered it by now. Don't tire them out! Alternate
different size ads and get rid of ones that don't work well.

Leave your ad running as long as it brings in orders for you but also
advertise in 5, 10, 20 or 50 other publications also to generate a steady
stream of orders and to reach more people.

Key Your Ads. Many beginners in mail order never key their ads so they
know what publication people saw their ads in. In fact, I personally never
did this myself and ended up losing a lot of money. So please don't make the
same mistake I did. Keying your ads means that you place a code of some sort
in your address so that when people write and order something from you, you
immediately will know where they saw your ad. Keep a record of every name
and address of the publisher you send an advertisement to. Record the date
you sent the ad and the date you received a checking copy, proving that your
ad appeared. Also record the "code" you used so you can immediately identify
where it came from.

If your address is "123 Anytown St," it could become "123 Anytown St,
Suite A" for one publication and "Suite B" for another. The postman will
still deliver your mail to "123 Anytown St." Of course, if you live in an
apartment complex and there are apartment numbers you could turn "111 Johnson
Apt A" into "111 Johnson, Apt A-1" for one publication and "Apt A-2" for
another. Post office box addresses are also simple. Turn "PO Box 585" into
"PO Box 585, Dept A-1" for one publication and "Dept A-2" for another.

People will sometimes even change their name on the ad for keying purposes.
You might see the name "Harriet's Recipe Book" instead of Harriet Ranger.
Harriet might also use "Harriet's Cookbook" or even "Harriet's Solution to
Stress" on her ads relating to these products. Use your own imagination and
pretty soon, keying your ads will be a normal part of your life.
Be sure and keep track (on your Record Sheet) of how many responses you
receive from each publication. After 3 months, look over your Record Sheet
and get rid of the publications that didn't do well. You'll go broke if you
spend $10 per month advertising a 2-inch ad if you only receive $1 back in
orders. After awhile you'll be able to see where it pays you to advertise
your particular product and then you can send in larger ads to those
publications. Never stop using this method and you'll never stop getting
orders in your mailbox. It's a win-win situation for everybody!

Tabloids -vs- Adsheets. Another question about advertising that many people
have is whether its better to advertise in tabloids or adsheets. Many people
will sell you information on the best day to mail and the best time of the
year to advertise. They think they have it down to a science and will
convince you of their methods.
However, there is NO set rules that can be employed by everyone. That's
because there are a wide variety of ways to approach various products. If
you sell travel services and read a report that told you not to advertise d
uring the summer months, you'd go broke. The summer is the travel industry's
biggest money-making season!

Don't get hung up on specific statistics made by people who claim to be
expert researchers. There is no way to determine what is best for you than
to try it yourself and see what works. You are the person in control of your
business and you are where the buck stops. Take advantage of your authority
and try every angle you can think of until you determine what's best for your
company's product and/or service.

Tabloids are a fantastic advertising vehicle and adsheets are too. Sometimes
people feel a small 1" camera-ready ad gets lost in a tabloid filled with
100's of them. This may be true in some circumstances and not true in others.
Do you look at 1" ads in tabloids? Of course you do. You scan the pages and
your eye is always directed to one or two on the page that catches your eye.
Ask yourself "why" they caught your eye. Was it because the ad was placed in
a specific area on the page? Was it because of the headline or the word
"free"?

Classifieds work well in tabloids and adsheets and sometimes they don't,
Look in the back of the Globe or Enquirer. Don't they have page after page
of classified ads? If nobody was reading them and responding to them, the
advertisers wouldn't be submitting advertising to the Globe or Enquirer for
them. So evidently, people DO read classified ads _ even if there are 100's
of them. Test the waters and do what works the best for you.

125.
DO YOU GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS ENOUGH INFORMATION TO WORK YOUR PROGRAM?

Of course you do _ right? Check again! More often than not I have watched
people join a program, receive a camera-ready circular and are expected to
know what to do with it. While the originator of the program knows exactly
what to do, most of your customers do not. What may seem like common sense
to you is not as understandable to others who purchase it.

Every program you sell should come with an instruction sheet. Just like any
product you purchase will come with an instruction sheet. It just makes
good business sense to include an instruction sheet or booklet with anything
you sell.

Guess what? This sheet or booklet can be used to YOUR advantage.
By explaining step-by-step how the program works, what it's goals are, the
benefits of working it and what steps to take in order to work it properly,
you can offer different options to your customer to help them. If you supply
camera-ready circulars, you could offer to print copies, supply pre-printed
envelopes and mailing list names for an additional price. This is called
"back-end" sales.

And if you don't provide these items, you can find a wide range of mail order
dealers that can. Hook up with a good supplier who will reduce their prices
slightly so you can make a profit and send orders directly to them from your
"back-end" sales. This little bit of extra money is what helps your program
become more financially solid.

One problem that so many programs fail is because they are not managed and
structured properly. Remember the old saying: "A 3-legged stool is not
easily broken?" It's true. The more "branches" you have in a program that
generates some cash flow the better. DON'T get this confused with
nickel-and-diming people to death. Just give them the product they pay
for and offer them extra products they can purchase that compliments what
they already have.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make when you are the Prime Source of
any program is to promote the program your dealers are also promoting.
Instead of it bringing in more money it has the opposite effect _ it
destroys the program!

Let's say that Melanie joins Jeff's program. Jeff is the Prime Source and
provides Melanie with a camera-ready circular with her name on it. Melanie
begins printing and mailing the circular in her own mailings but one day
she spots Jeff advertising his own circular in a tabloid. What does Melanie
do? She STOPS mailing her circular. Why? Because Jeff looks like a greedy
dealer who is after all the profit. Jeff is only giving Melanie 50% when
people respond to her circular and Jeff gets 100% if people respond to his
circular. Also _ Melanie does not want to be in competition with Jeff and
drops out of the program. It's not fair to Melanie.

And what happens to Jeff's potential income when all his dealers see the
circulars with his name on them? You got it _ they all drop out. Now what
happens to Jeff's income? Right again _ it drops considerably!

Instead, Jeff should pick out a few of his dealers who are trying their
best to make money with his program and offer to mail pre-printed circulars
for them free of charge. Remember that Jeff is making money from every sale
generated by his dealers, so by promoting his own product he is still making
money. Besides _ if he helps his dealers make a few dollars, what will his
dealers do? That's right _ they'll keep participating in Jeff's program and
most of them will re-invest the commission money they make into printing
and mailing more of them.

Also, when they begin to make a little money, they will tell everybody they
know what a wonderful program Jeff has. And guess what? Jeff will get more
dealers promoting his program _ which means more money for Jeff in the long
run. Jeff's a success because he made his dealers a success.

And finally _ Jeff's reputation will be escalated because all his dealers
will know he's an honest guy to do business with. Guess what? Jeff's business
income increases! Not just because of the program but because people are
interested in other things Jeff sells.

It's only good business sense to help your dealers by providing them with
tips and information to work your program. Sure, there will always be people
who buy into your program and not work them _ but you'll lose a lot more
money if you step on their toes and become their competition! Be wise!

124.
HOW TO RESPOND TO REQUESTS FOR FREE INFORMATION

Here's a common dilema: You receive a letter enclosed with a copy of your
ad that specifically states "...for more information, send $1." However,
they DON'T enclose the $1.

One respondent was brave enough to include a cover letter that stated he
was enclosing $1 for more information, but conveniently "forgot" to put it
in the envelope. Is this really an unintentional mistake? Did the person
really forget to send the money? Probably not. Why do I make that assumption?
Because the frequency of them are too numerous to count. If it was just
"human error" the same tactics wouldn't be used by 90% of them. (I did have
one clever gal though purposely seal and re-open part of the envelope to make
it appear like the money had dropped out. It was obvious the envelope had not
got caught in machinery because I used to work for the post office and know
how the mail is processed.)

Unfortunately the poor mail order dealer who is trying to run an honest
business will go ahead, take the financial loss and fill this order. They
rest on the "hope" that this person will place a large order in the near
future once they receive their information; which will make up for the $1
he/she conveniently forgot to enclose in the beginning.

But thereis a way to combat this problem. Here's what you do: Instead of
filling the order for more information, write a short letter on your business
stationary.

Thank the customer for inquiring about your product and graciously inform
him or her that the letter was received without proper payment. but send the
information anyway. Do not sacrifice 32 Cents for an 18% conversion. In the
long run, after you've written and mailed the letter, it is better that you
send the free ($1) information anyway.

Also, enclose 1 or 2 ads in with your letter. This way, it only costs you
32 cents to respond to their request and you don't lose money on someone who
is only after a "free ride."

Believe it or not, there are actually some people who just enjoy receiving
mail. They never place an order or spend any money. They just enjoy receiving
mail. And some people actually spend time just to see what they can get
"free." They envision mail order companies as huge enterprises and have a
vengeance to rip them off because they are jealous and have nothing to
account for in their own personal lives. I know this sounds harsh _ but
there are people like this.

And on the rare occasion when a customer writes back and claims to have
answered your ad and sent $1 for information already, you simply reply:
"I'm sorry. In checking our records we find that you did, in fact, make an
inquiry on (date). Unfortunately, you did not enclose the $1 payment as
stated in our ad. We understand mistakes like this can happen since most of
us lead hectic daily lives and we apologize for any misunderstandings."
Then _ leave it go at that. The customer will get the message. You aren't
being cruel and calling them a liar. In fact, you are being rather innocent
in the entire matter. The only difference is _ YOU are in control of the
situation.

Somewhere there's this unwritten law that says you have to send NEW customers
tons of circulars the first time they write you for more information. Not so.
Customers who are worth the time and investment you make will supply you with
repeat orders and you don't have to send them boxes of stuff. Instead, send
just a few offers at a time. This way, it will take many mailings to get
copies of all the circulars you promote and it will appear to the customer
that you are adding and growing in your business.

Think about it! And for those of you who make it a habit not to send people
the requested first-class stamps and postage money to offset the cost to send
you the information you are requesting _ watch out! Most of us are people
just like you are. We work hard and cannot afford being nickel-and-dimed to
death either!

129.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY PLACING CLASSIFIED ADS

With many small mail order publications, the cost of classified ads is
extremely reasonable. The trick is that you have to run several to pay off
any money unless the publication is not dominated by classifieds. Otheriwse,
people will simply skim them over and more than likely miss your ad.
Therefore, before advertising in any publication, make sure you write and
request a sample copy. This way _ you'll know up front how noticeable your
classified ad will be. You also will know the length of classified ad to run.

(Example: if most of the ads are short, you can run a longer one and
be noticed easier.)

Probably the most effective classified advertising is in national publica-
tions like The National Enquirer, Star Magazine and Small Business Opportu-
nities. But who has enough money to pay for a classified ad in these when
the rates are $6 to $10 per word? You do! That's right! Now there is a way
that almost everyone can appear in these highly-circulated and target-
marketed publications for $50 or less!

First of all, get yourself a Voice Mail Box. You can get these through a
wide variety of places but I personally use American Voice Mail. (Contact
them by calling 1-800-347-2861 or by writing them directly at 2233 Barry Ave,
Los Angeles CA 90064.) You don't have to live in California to establish
service with them. You don't have to go through a credit check or have valid
telephone service. You can even have a PO Box with no street address. Anyone
can establish a Voice Mail Service. There are no previous requirements.

Simply call them up and establish your Voice Mail Box over the phone. It
will be activated within 24-hours and the charge is around $10 per month.
You also have to pay the first and last month's charges within 10 days after
establishing your Voice Mail Box, but $20 is very little to invest for the
convenience and marketing advantage that will now be open to you! Once your
Voice Mail Box has been turned on and your payment received the company will
mail you information on accessing your Voice Mail Box and how to leave a
message on it.

Now start placing classified ads asking people to call your Voice Mail Box
number instead of sending in $1 or a first-class stamp for more information
(like you do in your ads now.) When they call, you will have a recorded
message describing your product or service in more detail. At the end of the
message, you will ask the person to leave their name and address so you can
mail them additional information with an order form.
Now, 24-hours a day, your Voice Mail Box service will be working for you.
Once or twice a day, you can call the Voice Mail Box yourself and retrieve
your messages (this doesn't cost you anything.) Write down the names and
addresses and immediately send them follow-up materials as promised.

You would be amazed how effective this form of marketing really is. The call
doesn't cost you anything and you have up to 2 minutes on your recording to
tell the caller more about what you're selling. It sure saves classified word
space and cost _ plus, callers are more excited about your product or service
when they hear a "real" voice telling them about it. You'll get a lot of
fantastic leads and increased business!

Here are a few examples of classified ads you can run in national publica-
tions that will draw inquiries for you:

Start your own publishing business.
Call (number) Make money with me.
Call (number) Free business information.
Call (number) Start a real business.
Call (number) Free gift.
Just call (number) Make $1,000's.
Call (number) Stay home and make money.
Call (number)

Of course it depends on the product you are trying to sell. You want to make
your ad generalized so a lot of people will call it and listen to your
message. You can qualify them and eliminate people not interested in your
product or service because when they call, you'll tell them everything you
wanted to say in a classified. If they listen to the entire message and leave
their name and address to receive your materials _ they are probably
interested in what you have to sell.

However, don't be too generalized. If your product is bookkeeping services,
say "Low-cost Bookkeeping services. Just call (number)." If you offer items
for re-sell, say "Distributors needed for new product. Call (number)."
And if you sell gift-type items, say "Free gift catalog. Call (number)."
After you test a few out first in the low-cost publications _ you'll be
ready for the big time! Have fun!

128.
THE LURE OF EASY BANKRUPTCY

Here is a true story about bankruptcy, and the advantages it offers. A
husband and wife team of practicing psychiatrists, with a joint income of
$78,000 per annum, accumulate personal debts totaling $22,000, and also have
outstanding a $33,000 mortgage on their com-fortable suburban New York home.
They are not in arears, nor even over their heads. They simply seek more
discretionary spending power.

Their solution to the problem? They file for bankruptcy and are able to
immediately reduce their debt load to a mere 10 cents on the dollar,
repayable on an extended schedule in very small amounts. An officer in one
of their finance companies notes that they could refinance the mortgage or
even sell the house. But you will see in a moment why that was not
necessary.

Traditionally, personal bankruptcy has been a desperate last resort for
those so deeply in debt and harried by creditors, that there really seemed
to be no other solution. The typical profile included low-income, under-
educated clerical workers or laborers, or perhaps transient non-homeowners.
Common age groups were those who were in their twenties, or those over sixty
five years of age.

This is no longer the case. Today's profile includes people with good jobs,
even families with two incomes. It is not surprising to find those with
six-figure incomes declaring bankruptcy. The process comes no longer out
of a dire necessity, but it is now a means by which people can rid themselves
of debts that cramp their lifestyle.

The most common applicants for bankruptcy include recent college graduates
who file in order to avoid paying back government-guaran-teed student loans.
Their rationale? They feel society owed them an education.

You will also find older, "keep up with the Joneses" types filing for
bankruptcy. For suburban executives to Wall Street professionals, they are
unwilling to live within their means.

The passage of the Federal Bankruptcy Act of 1978 made the whole process
much easier. This change significantly liberalized personal filing
procedures in the name of consumer rights.

Chapter 7 makes no reference at all to the debtor's income. It permits
debtors to clear the slate by turning over all their assets except those
specifically exempted to creditors. Among the exemptions: Up to $7,500.00
equity in the debtor's house (15,000 if both file); $4,000.00 in accrued
dividends; $1,200.00 in automobile equity; $500.00 in jewelry; $200 per
category of household items (including clothing, books, etc.) and more!

Chapter 13 requires that debtors show only a regular income to handle a
reasonable three-year pay-back plan. The court's definition of reasonable
happens to be as little as 1% to 10%, even when a payment of 50% could
easily be managed.

127.
SIGNATURE LOANS

Here is another passport to success in taking advantage of a good deal or
profitable transaction when it passes your way. "Signature loans are your
key to the vault", and because they are based on your signature alone, they
are also known as "Character Loans". No co-signer or collateral is involved
in a real signature loan.

With pen in hand, based on your prior credit history and also your own
experience with the bank, your signature can draw from $1,000.00 to
$250,000.00. It all depends on your ability to pay the money back.

Once you get your first signature loan with a bank, walk in on the day it
is due and pay it off with two cashier's checks or with two different stacks
of money. The first check or money stack will be to cover the principal of
the loan. Be sure to tell him how well you did for yourself as you hand over
your payment. Tell him not to make any plans for the money as you may need
to rent it again soon. As you pay back the interest portion of the loan,
remind the loan officer that your good performance and his smart decision
to give you a loan in the first place was a profitable experience for the
bank as well. Remind him that it's the rent paid on these loans that keeps
the bank in business.

Now, let's suppose that your original loan was for $3,000.00. As you get up
to leave the bank, turn to him and say, "Oh, by the way, I may want to rent
$5,000.00 in a couple of weeks. Will you hold on to $5,000.00 for me?"
What you are doing is pre-qualifying for a $5,000.00 loan. You are saying,
"Hey, Mr. Loan Officer, are you going to raise my next signature loan to
$5,000.00 or is $3,000.00 the limit?" What can he say? You have just paid
off the $3,000.00 loan, and the rent for the loan, and you have just
reinforced the point that the rent, or interest, on the loan is what keeps
the bank in business and pays his salary. If he answers with something
like "We'll see.", sit back down at his desk and say, "You mean you're not
sure? What seems to be the problem?"

It is very important at this point that you get some kind of answer from him
in advance. It is very unlikely that a "Yes" will come forth, but a "sure"
or "I suppose" will do. Do not leave the bank until he commits to the next
loan. With each new loan, raise the dollar amount by $2,000.00 increments,
until you have reached $10,000.00. At that point, you will be able to raise
the amounts of future loans in $5,000.00 and $10,000.00 increments.

When shopping for aggressive banks, ask the loan officer you are deal-ing
with if they are a "commissioned" loan officer. They are the most aggressive
as they are paid a commission on all the loans they write. These people will
be more eager to make you a loan.

126.
HOW TO GET DOLLARS IN YOUR MAILBOX THRU MAIL ORDER

There are a wide variety of ways that you can get dollars in your mailbox
through mail order. In fact, there are so many this report doesn't even begin
to have room to list them all. However, we will attempt to help you to get
started in the fascinating business of mail order. It isn't difficult at all
if you learn to take it slow. Save your money! It won't cost you a lot
initially and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to generate a second income
quickly.

A word of caution though: People everywhere are in constant need of
information. And they'll pay you money to get it. The only problem is that
some mail order reports you see advertised have been on the market for over
40 years. Everybody, including their mother and cousin has seen these 1,000's
of times and already know what they are.

As a beginner to the mail order world, you naturally have never seen these
old reports and think they are something brand new. The publisher will sell
you a package of them with reprint rights and never give you information
about promoting them to make money. Therefore, before you get involved in any
programs that claim to make you lots of money be sure and check them out.
Don't fall into the same trap everybody else does that begins a mail order
business. Instead, discover the vast array of products and services being
offered by millions of reputable and down-to-earth folks!

How do you do this? By writing to some of the honest mail order dealers who
have been in business for a long time. One of these people is Gloria Rivers,
5308 NE 49th Street, Vancouver WA 98661 and another is Gary Davis, PO Box 80,
Foyil OK 74031. Both of these reputable people will help steer you in the
right direction.

In the meantime _ back to the subject. How can you get dollars in your
mailbox through mail order? Just follow the steps below:

1. If you have never read a mail order publication of any kind, write to
Gloria or Gary (above) and ask them to send you a "Big Mail" filled with
tabloids, adsheets and other publications. Be sure to enclose $1 or
4 first-class postage stamps to pay for the postage to mail the package
back to you.

2. Go through the publications you receive and study the advertisements
that other people are running.

3. When you find something that interests you, order the product or request
more information. Don't spend a lot of your hard-earned money until you
know what is involved in selling the particular item you have selected.

4. Some programs will give you free camera-ready ads (just like the ones you
read in the mail order publications) that have your name and address
already on them if you decide to sell the product or service they offer.

5. All that's left to do is to run the camera-ready ads with your name and
address on them in other mail order publications. (You can receive a
collection of these over a period of a few weeks simply by writing
letters to publishers who are advertising in the same publications
Gloria and Gary send you.) You'll be surprised how much valuable
information and contacts you can get just from studying the tabloids
and publications _ which are free.

6. When people respond to your ad they will send you money.
7. You either fill the order yourself or send it to the "prime source"
to complete. Then you simply pocket your commission.

The mail order business is a fascinating business that anyone can get
involved in. In fact, once you are exposed to the products and services
you can purchase through the mail, you will never go back to paying retail
prices again. You can buy everything from groceries to shampoo to printing
to publishing services through the mail. And the prices are always 50%
(most even 80%) less than you would pay locally.

Why are prices so low? Because you are dealing with people who actually make
the product or perform the service. No middleman. No secretary at the front
desk. Mail order is filled with mom-and-pop operations who take good ole'
American pride in what they sell. You'll get better service and better
products at affordable prices.

123.
PRE-APPROVED CREDIT CARDS

Pre-approved cards are the result of one bank who now has you as a customer,
and sells your name to another bank or a series of banks so they can offer
you their credit cards. Here's how it usually works:

Many smaller banks want to be credit card issuers but, because of limited
facilities for credit card processing, it is sometimes difficult for a
smaller bank to cash in on the credit card boom. What's been developed is
an interconnect system where large banks will process credit card
applications and issue the credit cards for the little banks.

For example, let's say that Mini Savings & Loan wants to get in on the
Plastic Pursuit. However, Mini does not have the facility or the staff to
process credit card applications and issue credit cards. What Mini has to
do is contract the service with Maxi Bank.

Since Maxi has several banks that they provide this service to, Mini Savings
& Loan is just a welcome addition to their roster of client banks for whom
they process and issue credit cards.

When you apply for a credit card at Mini Savings & Loan, your application
is actually forwarded to Maxim Bank who runs a credit check and, granting
you have good credit, issues you your choice of VISA or MasterCard with
Mini Savings & Loan's name on it.

However, since Maxi is the issuing bank and since it has your credit on
their file, they can very well send you an application for their own credit
card. They can also sell your name to their other client-banks who can offer
you their credit cards on a pre-approved basis.

Another source that sells your name is the credit bureau. Because they can
program their computers to search for names of existing credit card holders
with clean and healthy files, they can provide issuing banks with a premium
mailing list of people to whom the banks can send pre-approved credit card
applications.

122.
AN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE TIP

So often we forget that our customers are our boss. I think I discovered
one significant reason why most of us fall into this "rut." The day we
began our business we were as happy as could be. The customer was king!
We didn't have many orders so we bent over backwards to make sure that all
our customers were happy. Some of us might have even went overboard and
"went into the hole" just because we were so overjoyed that we had received
a customer order!

But, later on, we became much more busy. We were putting in long hours,
neglecting family and social life and realizing that being in business does
have it's gloomy side. While we tried our best to give each customer personal
attention, some customers couldn't be pleased if we hung ourself with a new
rope! Therefore, new policies had to be established. Prices had to increase
for you to invest into business growth. And somewhere in-between all this we
lost the zeal for customer satisfaction. Instead of the customer being "king"
he/she was now a "pawn."

What originally began as a eager desire to please your customers has now
turned into a daily struggle. But who could blame you? You can remember
spending $100 and 30 hours of time trying to help a beginner get started in
mail order. However, after that beginner learned all your trade secrets they
left owing you money and never giving you the time of day again. This made
you cautious. Then how about the customer that pretended they were going to
send you a $500 order, wasted an hour or so of your time (and long-distance
phone charges) just to get them quotes before they sent in their money.
Then _ after all the toil and added expenses, you never heard from the
customer again. How irritating! At least, you thought, they could have sent
you a "Thank You Note" for all the trouble they put you though.

But 20 minutes later, you get another phone call from a customer wanting to
put you through the same thing. Only this time _ the guy is serious. Do you
give this guy the same treatment you gave to the first customer? As a human
being _ you normally can't because you are ruled by emotion. It takes someone
with a lot of self-confidence in their own character to treat each customer
like a big business!

Just treat every customer you talk to the same way you would treat someone
from a big business _ who was getting ready to send you a $10,000 order!
Unfortunately, some business owners allow owning a business to go to their
heads. After they start becoming successful, the owner will think he/she is
"king" and makes all the rules. He/she feels that their reputation speaks
for itself and customer's are eager just to do business with them.

This normally happens because income increases and you don't "need"
certain customers who you feel have been a thorn in your side. But although
it is perfectly fine to do this _ if you dispel a customer solely based on
the "amount" and "quantity" of orders he or she sends you _ that's a big
mistake. Those small guys and gals might just grow up and become BIGGER
businesses than you someday! Wouldn't you rather have them on your side?
Wouldn't you rather be in a position to work with them _ perhaps on a
multi-million-dollar contract together? One never knows what the future
holds so try to BE NICE _ even if you have to grin and bear it!

That's why it's even more important to stop and think again. Are you
guilty of having a business ownership ego? If you allow it to go too far
you could lose your business entirely. Egos are a very tricky thing to deal
with. A hurt ego's downside is normally jealousy, deceit and even criminal
activity. Rage does nothing but tear you up emotionally inside and always
erupts in bad behavior and lost relationships. Never, ever, go into a rage
over the phone. If other people are screaming at you _ you will either calm
them down by remaining calm yourself or show them up for being emotionally
unstable. Rage is truly the result of an unstable personality trait. It's
really NOT normal. So get with the program and be calm (and nice.)

Everyone is in business to make money _ however, making it at someone else's
expense is suicide! Perhaps some of you reading this are laughing inside
yourself. You know I speak the truth! If you are the least bit intelligent
you can easily see that making a fast buck through the expense of other
people is a way to live a very short life. If you can only see the moment
and not the future in your life _ you belong back in grade school, perhaps
kindergarten! It's true that "Humility Demonstrates Superiority".
121.
ARE YOU A COPY CAT?
IF SO _ YOU'RE IN FOR A SHORT LIFE!!

Yes! That's true! More and more, everyday, new dealers are entering mail
order and copying the work of others. Some of them are not even aware they
are doing anything wrong. Besides, they are trying to learn from others so
why not copy them?

You have to make a distinction here between "copying" in order to improve
upon someone else's idea OR "copying" in order to make a lot of money for
yourself. Let me give you an example - A business associate of mine created
a rotating-type adsheet. You know the kind. A person pays $10 to be placed
in Position No. 1. All other ads are rotated to the right until they move
off the sheet. If done properly _ the person who paid $10 to be on the
rotating adsheet should NEVER come off. However, people take this idea -
try to copy it _ and turn it into a scam. They intentionally take a good
concept and make it into a rip-off where all the profit is made by the prime
source. How unfortunate!

In fact _ this is exactly HOW rotating adsheets got a bad name. Here's how
it really is supposed to work:

Gail pays Max $10 to have her 2" C/R ad placed in Position No. 1. She
receives a camera-ready copy of the rotating adsheet back in the mail with
her ad in Position No. 1 and 8 other 2" ads from other dealers. Gail is
responsible for printing and mailing copies of her particular rotating
adsheet to generate advertising for 9 people (including herself.)
Gail mails Shawn a copy of her rotating adsheet. Shawn wants to take part
in the promotion so he sends Max $10 with his 2" ad and a copy of Gail's
rotating adsheet. Max places Shawn's 2" ad in Position No. 1 and moves Gail's
2" ad to Position No. 2. This way _ Shawn is mailing copies of Gail's ad
along with his own. Now Shawn mails a copy of his rotating adsheet to Gary.
Gary wants to get involved so he sends Max $10 along with his 2" C/R ad and
a copy of the rotating adsheet Shawn mailed him. Max places Gary's 2" ad in
Position No. 1, Shawn's 2" ad gets moved to Position No. 2 and Gail's 2" ad
is now in Position No. 3.

Technically, Gail will NEVER reach Position No. 9 because the chance of this
generation factually happening is 1 in a million. So essentially _ Gail's ad
should never go off the sheet.

Unfortunately though _ some people have taken the concept of helping people
like Gail and turned it into a money-hungry game for themselves. Instead of
moving the ads in the proper positions, they might place Gary's ad in
Position No. 1 and Gail's in Position No. 9 (instead of 3 where she actually
belongs.) And then maybe Shawn won't be on Gary's rotating adsheet at all.
The rip-off artist doesn't realize that Gary might be personal friends with
Shawn and they might compare adsheets. The scam artist is only interested
in their gain and in not paying commissions due their hard-working people.
Eventually NOBODY ends up making any money and the idea goes down the tubes!

What happens is that these unaware "copy cats" eventually mail their ad or
booklet to the mail order dealer who originally designed the material; or,
even worse _ mail to someone who knows the dealer personally that has been
conveniently "left off".

There's no way around it.

And when your "copy cat" material is discovered you can be in for some
BIG TROUBLE! When you commit perjury of prime source-designed materials your
name will be mud within a matter of weeks. Your act will be reported in
almost every tabloid and adsheet and you will be exposed through rip-off
columns circulated to 1,000's of people.

But not only that! A good mail order attorney can sue you and repossess any
assets you may have. Most small businesses start out as sole-proprietorships
(not incorporated.) Because of this, your personal assets can become the
possession of the attorney filing suit.

The best way to avoid all this hassle is NOT to copy the materials of other
people. Sure, you can look at the work of other designers and get an idea as
to how you would like to present your materials; but, taking the actual copy,
cutting out pieces of it and inserting your own info is downright criminal
and uncalled for! The word "design" means to create from scratch!

Good mail order dealers work very hard and put in a lot of hours for a
meager salary. When they have put all their efforts into designing a program
or an advertisement it's very demeaning to our industry as a whole if someon
e was selfish enough to "steal" and "forge" it only to destroy its original
intent!!

117.
SELF-PUBLISHING: A GENIUS MONEY-MAKING IDEA

For a lot of people, publishing a book may look like it costs lots of money.
For example, on a short-run press, this book costs around $2.10 to print.

For the uninitiated, self-publishing is one of the easiest ways to make money
in the world. Of course, it requires some talent, but they are easy to learn.
Take a look:
1. Choose a subject to write about. Select something you enjoy or want to
know more about yourself. As just an example, we'll use "Household Hints"

2. Now, to collect the information to put in my book about "household hints"
I would go visit my mother, talk to my aunts and cousins, call friends on
the phone, and in general _ ask everybody I came into contact with to
give me their favorite "household hint." After a few months I'd have a
lot of stuff.

3. At this point I would start categorizing all this information. I'd put
all the stuff about "kitchen tips" in a separate file from "home remedies".
Each separate file would be a new chapter in my book.

4. Then I'd begin typing out my book on a computer or typewriter. If I were
to type the book myself, I would simply number each tip as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
with a heading for each tip.

5. Okay. Now the book is ready to print. You've read everything and there
are no misspelled words or obvious grammar mistakes. You are ready to
see the final result of your labors. How much will it cost? Let's assume
that my "household hints" book is going to measure 5" wide by 8" tall
(like a sheet of 8 1/2x11" paper folded in half.) There are 2 pages on
each side or 4 pages front and back. These are the best size for mail
order unless you write a 100-page novel.

My "Household Hints" book would be a total of 24 pages. That means
it will take both sides of 6 sheets of 8 1/2x11" paper to print each
one of my books. That includes the cover and everything.

Based on standard mail order prices, you could have 250 of these books
printed for $109 or about 44c each. 1,000 would run even less _ $200 or
about 20c each. That's cheap! Even if I sell each one for just $3,
I'll make over $500 profit.

Another method of saving money with printing of booklets is to have
the mail order printer print them at the same price you would pay for
8 1/2x11", 2-sided printing (around $25 per 1,000) without having them
collated, folded and stapled. This way, your cost would only be a total
of $150 per 1,000 or 15c per booklet.
This method is great if you want to do some of the work yourself.
Your only expense would be a saddle stitcher from an office supply
store. This is a long-armed stapler and the cost is around $45.
Of course you would not want to make this investment if you were only
going to be publishing one book per year _ but if you plan to go into
heavy production, it would be worth your while. I personally don't care
to do this myself because I'm saving tons of money. I'll get paid in the
long run for my time.

6. Now, the only thing left to do to make my book a success is to sell them
and make some money back. One idea would be to call all the people who
gave me the information for the book. I'd put a price tag of $5 on the
cover and offer it to my friends and co-workers at a discount of
$3 or $2. Everyone whose name or contribution is in a published book
will want a copy for a keepsake _ at least.

It's not that hard to create your own money-maker. There's no hidden secret
to it. You don't have to pay $29.95 for the same information. We're GIVING
it to you free of charge.

Every single human being has a book inside of them! Everybody knows
something that other people don't and everybody has interests that other
people don't have the time to learn about. There is a subject that interests
you that would interest others. Guaranteed!

So, get busy. Pick a subject, gather the information and type it up! You'll
be a hero before you know it. Neighbors will begin to label you as a
notorious writer. You'll be able to hold your head high, and you'll be
able to start putting ",Writer" at the end of your name on your business
letters. Won't that be something?

116.
USING YOUR PRODUCTS
AS A PROP IN A MOVIE OR A TV SHOW

Casual advertising is one of the most effective way to present your product
to the market, and by placing them as props in movies or TV shows, your
product is exposed to a wide audience based, and with some implied level
of endorsement.

When Clark Kent spooned Cheerios into his mouth in the movie Superman, it
was not because the director or the writers found it essential or
entertaining. It was the results of a negotiation made between the film's
producers and General Mills.

To be able to do this, it is customary, even essential, to hire a broker who
specializes in placing products in movies and TV shows.
For movies, brokers work out the detains of placing your product in a film
and guarantee that the product will be used in a very positive way.
For TV shows, the most common areas are game shows where your product can
be given away as a prize or mentioned as a prize sponsor.
(Dramatic or comedy TV shows, including series and soaps, refuse to take
"casuals" because of the conflict it may create with regular sponsors of
the show.)

COST: Movie casuals may cost around $25,000. Of course, the price varies,
depending on the stars of the film, the length of time it will be help up on
screen, and your products' identifyable role in the movie.

BROKERS: Associated Fil Promotions, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd.,
Los Angeles, CA 90067; Donald Degnan Co., 400 Madison Ave.,
New York, NY 10017.

115.
EXAMPLES OF MAIL ORDER SCAMS

After spending the last few months investigating certaiun types of mail
order businesses, it was obvious that some of them were border line
questionable, if not a verifiable scam.

EXAMPLE 1 Collect names for us. We pay $20 each. Guaranteed!
The truth is, this company WILL pay you $20 for each name you collect for
them. What they DON'T tell you is that each person has to spend $100 or more
by placing an order before you get your $20.

The customer is led to believe that all they have to do is get out their
phone books and start sending the company names and addresses. In return,
the company will send them $20 for each name and address they send them.
When they send away for the details they discover the scam and think
everybody in mail order is operating this way. Result: Mail order is labeled
as a scam and illegal business activity.

EXAMPLE 2 "How to get 100,000 people to send you $10 each. Send $10 to..."
This is cute advertising, but you have to put a legitimate product behind
claims like this. One of the materials I found was a book with this title.
And you get the book for sending $10 to the publisher. Some so-called
seasoned pros will abruptly judge this as a scam. To some extent, these
people are not pros. They're just jaded. For mail order neophyites, this
is very intriguing. Besides, it only costs $1 to find out. What the
beginner finds out is that they are expected to run the same ad in
newspapers and tabloids. Other people will send $1 for information and
their mailbox is "supposedly" flooded with $1 bills. This ad is NOT illegal.
It asks you to send $1 for information and you DO get the information.

These types of ads are all a bunch of paper-passing _ and I classify them
under the heading of a "Legitimate Scam." You can't complain that your order
was not filled. You can't complain the idea is not possible. You can't
complain the ad promised something it didn't deliver.

Likewise, do not confuse scam-sounding ads with legitimate lead-generation
ads." A mail order buddie of mine will run an ad that states: "Want to make
a lot of money? Call (his telephone number.)" This is NOT necessarily a
scam or rip-off. Since there is no cost involved _ it might be worth your
time and effort to call the number and see what this dealer has to offer.

Also, some dealers run ads that don't tell you what the product is because
they have an entire package of information they want to send you. It would
be too costly to advertise the complete information in a small 1" or 2" ad,
so they run "Lead-Generating Ads" to bring them inquiries. This is also
not illegal and is common business practice. You'll also find that real
"Lead-Generating Ads" DON'T ask you for a lot of money up front. They only
tell you enough about the product to entice you to send in a SASE
(self-addressed stamped envelope) or $1 for more information. They are
unlike the "Example 2" at the left that basically tell you the scam before
you order it! (It may take a little time for you to make the distinction
between these fine lines.)

Many people overlook the power of the printed word. Instead of complaining,
people should be writing their mail order publishers when they are
ripped-off, providing them with documentation and a summary of these mail
order scams.

Use wisdom. Get your facts straight. Have documentation to back-up your
findings and submit them! Wouldn't it be great if everybody in the world
were honest? What a wonderful world this would be!

114.
MANAGING YOU 1-800 TOLL-FREE SERVICE

Aside from cost, or the fact that having an outside answer you business
calls, there are some smart rules regarding 800-lines and how you should
handle them.

Keep 800 lines in-house when the product is technical or when consumers are
likely to ask a lot of questions.

Only a hire a service bureau when the volume of calls in moderate, less,
or comes in cyclical pattern. Personnel and space needs for an in-house
operation may be greater than what your business can currently afford.
One advatange of using an independent service bureau to handle your calls
is that it is a fixed cost tied in to the call itself. Unlike having an
operator sit in the office 8 hours a day, the amount you pay a service
bureau is limited only to the number of calls they handle for you.

If you were to establish an in-house operation, your phone clerks should use
a video-terminal that displays information about the product as well as the
customer.

Your 800-lines should be staffed until 5pm Pacific Time, three hours later
than many copanies in the East Coast have closed. Also, think of offering
promotional call days to help boost sales and direct sales during certain
hours or certain days of the week.

112.
BASICS OF PROMOTION ADVERTISING

Promotion advertising differs significantly from consumer francise-building
advertising. The latter is long-term in nature and aimed at giving customers
reasons to buy. Promotion advertising is short-term. It pushes for the order
by providing incentives, coupons, rebates, premiums and contents.

The usual medium for promotion advertising is print. Some big-budget
advertisers use broadcast (radio and television) to get consumers to look
for their promotion advertising in their local newspapers.

As a rule, promotion advertising should be specific and should call only for
consumer to perform a desired action. Resist including extraneous points in
the promotional ad. Focus on a simple call to action.

For example: Your ad copy may ask the readers to (1) Redeem this coupon
and save $2, or (2) Buy two packas and get the third one free, or
(3) Fill out coupon and enter sweepstakes to winn $100,000, or
(4) Buy two of the products and receive a free gift worth $10.
Most promotion events are price or added-value oriented campaigns.
As such, it is imperative that when writing copy, the ad should appeal more
to the wallet than the emotion.

Final point: Do not make your redemption procedure complicated and confusing.
Avoid have a more that one time of offer wherein the consumer is forced to
use math in order to determine which ones make him/her save more money.
Your task is to make it easy for the consumer. Avoid having to make them
decide. That's too much work for them.

113.
LEGIBILE HAND WRITING AVOIDS CONFUSION.

What happens if the fulfillment house who handles your orders misread
your handwriting? What happens if they can't read your correct street
address or zip code?

One problem is that some people fail to put their return address on the
envelope. There is no excuse for this! The Walter Drake Company will sell
you 1,000 address labels for $1.00. They are inexpensive, handy and a great
antidote to your address being misread by other people.

Another problem is people trying to abbreviate their city and state in
one line, where there is absolutely no reason to. For example, some people
will abbreviate Minneapolis, Minnesota to MN,MN.

A common problem with many people who have just started a mail order business
is that they have never been in business before. They have no idea how to
fold a business-size letter to fit in a business-size envelope. Many have
never worked in an office environment before and have no clue about running
an office effectively. They are taught by some to hand-address envelopes so
that people will open them. In fact, I just read something the other day
that came through the mail that said: "Using mailing labels on your
envelopes will get 88% of your letters tossed in the trashcan!"

The fact is _ ANY legitimate mail order dealer will open an envelope
regardless of what is on the outside. They are only concerned with the
contents INSIDE the envelope. Ask yourself: Do you go through your mail
each day and throw away anything with a label on the outside? If you do,
you are definitely part of the minority. EVERYONE uses labels these days.
It is the 1990's folks! The age of the computer! No one has the time to
hand-address envelopes anymore. Hand-addressing them only shows that you
are a newcomer to business.

But back to the problem at hand. If you have been mentally programmed to
believe that hand-addressing envelopes and hand-writing your return address
on your materials is okay, make sure people can READ your writing plainly.
PRINT rather than write. Make sure people can easily see your "a" is not
an "e." And by all means _ if you have an uncommon name, print it plainly.
You wouldn't believe how many people scribble their name for me to typeset

So, before you get upset and wonder "why" you never received an order;
ask yourself if you originally sent it with a handwritten note and/or
abbreviated address. Chances are, the company may not have been able to
read your handwriting! And to combat this problem in the future _ please
invest $80 in a typewriter or $300 in a starter computer. If you can't make
this investment right now, then work your regular job until you can.
And last but not least _ if you have no exposure to office procedures, go
get a book at the library and learn the bare minimum basics, please!

107.
HOW SMALL BUSINESSES AFFECT OUR ECONOMY

Very few of us are aware of the contribution small businesses make to the
American economy. According to the Small Business Administration, in 1988,
the United States had approximately 19 million businesses. Of those, 15.7
million were operated as sole proprietorships _ the businesses that
traditionally train the work force by employing young people in their first
jobs and women returning to the work force in local or part-time jobs.

Of the remaining 3.3 million corporations and partnerships, a full 99.8%
employ fewer than 500 people and are classified as small businesses for
Small Business Administration programs. And of the 10.5 million jobs created
in the private sector between 1980 and 1986, 6.6 million (or 63.5%) were
created by small business!

Since people who own and operate their own business take "pride" in their
work, it is common for their quality and efficiency to bemuch higher. In
many cases small businesses are known for providing their customers
personalized and customized, high-quality products and services.

Just compare a "temp help" in a big company with an independent home-business
owner. If a temporary is hired for 40 hours per week, he or she may not give
the customer-company 40 hours in production. Part of those 40 hours is spent
on orientation, gathering office supplies, getting the computer turned on and
paper loaded, etc.) This breaks down the actual time spent working and
producing for the company to about 25 hours, with 15 hours lost per week
through no fault of your (or their) own.

However, the home worker different. The home worker will charge for time
actually spent on the job. If you produce 10 pages of text at a price of
$4 per page, you would charge $40 for the completed job. The company does
not pay you per hour, but for the amount of work you complete. This saves
the company money _ and we mean BIG money. Now all you have to do is convince
the larger companies of this concept and your business at home will flourish!

There is only one drawback to being in a small business. People do not take
you seriously at first. Companies will try and take advantage of you when
you are not established. Why? Because they know you need the business and
they want to continue receiving "something for nothing."

Human nature continues to strike me with awe. If I could purchase a
higher-quality product from a small business for $15, why would I go to
the mall and purchase a lower-quality version for $60? There are many small
businesses that design crafts that could never be purchased in a store.
These crafts show human pride and quality that could never be mass produced.
But why do people continue paying for lower quality at a higher price? Is it
the money-back guarantee? I don't think so because the toys you purchase at
premium rates around Christmas time normally break and are destroyed by
December 26. Do you return them? Most people don't, so what good is a
money-back guarantee?

And wouldn't a hand-crafted product withstand more abuse than it's
store-bought counterpart? So what if you have to make your purchase at
someone's place of residence? Don't they offer a money-back guarantee also
and wouldn't they be easier to locate if you did want a refund? Wouldn't all
this be much more personable than a mall with 1,000's of screaming people
fighting you to the next Blue Light special?

With this same type of human nature involved, larger businesses will try and
take advantage of smaller companies. Why? To tell you the truth, I really
don't know. If I had to pay $80 per hour to have my computer serviced by IBM,
but I knew a small business owner could do the same job for $25 per hour,
I'd be more than happy to pay the small business their $25.

106
WINNING THE CREDIT-CARD GAME

Some banks are eliminating the standard 25 or 30-day grace period within
which you may pay your bill within being charged interest. This is the normal
grace period before interest kicks in. But this is slowly changing. For
example, some banks are offering extremely low fixed rates, but without a
grace period. These cards will charge you interest from the date it processes
your charge slip.

If you usally pay your bills in full within the normal grace period, it is
best you avoid no-grace-period cards. The 25 or 30-day garce period is more
financially significant for you than a lower interest rate. However, if you
carry a balance each month, you're better off with a lower interest rate. In
this case, a lower interest rate can save you more money than a grace period
would.

Most banks and thrifts charge interest from the day they process your charge
slip when you use your card to get cash. In addition to this, some cards are
now assessing cash advanced service charges based on a percentage of the
amount received. It used to be that service charges were based on a fixed
fee, regardless of the amount of transaction.

If you avoid interest charges by paying off your bill each month, seek out
a card that offer very low interest rates plus a grace period on purchases.
Some institutions periodically offer cards with no fee for the first year as
a promotion.

Don't be lulled into getting "premium" credit cards such as "goldcards" and
Premier VISA. The only significant premium with these cards is the extra
amount you pay in higher annual service fees. Besides the fancy finish of
the card, the only other benefits you get with premium cards are travel
insurance and the extra protection if your card is lost or stolen. Since by
law, you are only liable for up to $50 if your regular credit cards are lost
or stolen, the zero liability you are getting from premium cards is hardly
worth the extra money.

111.
WHY DO COMPANIES ASK FOR YOUR UPS ADDRESS?

When we began providing printing services for our customers (in order to
provide full publishing services), little did we realize that so many people
would get so upset and negligent in providing us with a simple UPS address
to ship their order to them. Therefore, I hope this report helps.

UPS is short for United Parcel Service. They are a separate company from
the United Postal Service and for some reason or another _ cannot reach an
agreement to deliver mail to a post office box address. This makes it hard
for all of us in mail order, but there is a way around that: Provide a UPS
shipping address when you place a large order.

What is your UPS shipping address? Your STREET address or anything other
than a post office box. Everybody has a UPS shipping address. My mother
lives in a town of 300 people and all her mail goes to a post office box.
It's required for every citizen in Dante, Virginia to have a post office
box and to use it as their address. However, her UPS shipping address is:
Third House on Rte 1420. Yes! Bizarre as it seems _ everyone has a
UPS shipping address. If you don't know yours, simply call your local
United Parcel Service and find out what it is.

Why don't mail order dealers just ship your printing or product orders by
Parcel Post or 3rd class through the post office? Several reasons _ and
good ones:
1. Most mail order dealers have a UPS account. This means the
UPS truck comes right to their door every day and picks up packages.
They don't have to haul heavy packages in the car, drive to the
post office and stand in line to pay a clerk. Besides _ the cost is
only $5 per week for anybody to open up a UPS account and if you are
shipping packages several times per week _ the $5 cost is certainly
justified!

2. The customer saves a lot of money when a dealer ships their package
by UPS. Shipping 1,000 envelopes (13.7 lbs) would cost around $6.00
at the post office but only $2.60 by UPS.

3. The customer will get their order quicker. If a dealer mailed the same
package to you through the post office it could take from 2-3 WEEKS for
you to receive. UPS only takes 2-3 DAYS in most cases!

4. The customer's order is automatically insured for up to $100 by UPS.
If the dealer mailed the same package through the post office, he or
she would have to pay an additional charge for insurance.

You should now be able to see "why" providing your printer or mail order
company with a UPS shipping address is as important to you as it is to them!

However, some people don't want anything shipped directly to their home
because they might not be there or a family member might get the package
instead. UPS has a bad reputation for leaving packages inside a screen
door if no one is home _ opening up the opportunity for theft.

Therefore, you have 4 choices: (1) You can have the package delivered to
your employer's address (or wherever you might be during the day); (2) to
a friend or neighbor's address (who is home most of the time); (3) leave a
note on your door to NOT leave any UPS packages and pick them up yourself;
or, (4) pay an additional postage charge for the dealer to ship your order
to your post office box address.

The best rule of thumb for determining additional cost in sending to your
post office box address would be about 40% ADDED on to the total amount of
your order. Why 40%? Isn't that too much for shipping charges? You must
remember: not only does the dealer (or printer) have to pay the additional
postage charges but they have to haul it to the post office themselves
during office hours, take time away from their daily business, stand in
line holding a heavy package and drive back home. For our printer, this
is a 18 mile round trip. (Not everybody visits the post office everyday,
even though they are in mail order.)

Just recently we received a rude comment from a customer who refused to
provide us with his UPS address and demanded we ship to his post office
box. He said: "I'm not in the UPS business and I'm not in the phone
business _ I'm in the mail order business!" (He didn't want to place a
call to our office to talk to us about this so we didn't have a chance to
educate him on how this situation is out of our control.)

However, the United Parcel Service IS part of the mail order business,
and calling people IS part of the mail order business too.
So the next time you place an order that you know will be sent back to
you in a box (like printing), take the time to make sure you provide the
company with your UPS shipping address OR send extra money!

110.
OVERCOMING START-UP BLUES

Most small business owners who have managed to survive the proverbial
first 2 years in business probably started out thinking mail order was an
easy business to get into.
Chances are the experience would have been a fun-filled nightmare they may
not want to experience again. Sure, it was full of fantasy and hope. But
it also means a lot of hard work and long hours.

When trying to figure out where you want to take your business financially,
it is common for entrepreneurs to extrapolate numbers based on their
advertising budget.
This style is perrineal among mail order people who equate advertising as
the foundation of their operations.

This approach sounds very logical and statistical, but it doesn't happen
like that in the "real world" of mail order! Well... maybe once in a blue
moon, but most of the time _ it just don't happen. It's not always because
your offer is bad or the price is too high. And it's not always because
your mailing list was bad. Often times, the reason lies in the fact that
you and your company are unknown.

But one of the most important reasons this statistical data only works well
on paper is that most beginners are not skilled in the area of TARGET
MARKETING. Yes _ that word is vital to the money your business will make.

Target marketing is the process of focusing on a select and specific group
of people you are advertising to. And it has everything to do with the
product you are selling.

For example, if you are marketing infant products, it would be very unwise
to stage a direct mail campaign on a random list.

How many times have you got a mailing that went in the trash just because
it was selling a product or service you have no interest in? See what I mean.
If the company mailing these catalogs and advertisements would have
pre-qualified you or I and target-marketed their items correctly _ we would
have never received them. It is wasted money for the company!

But how can you pre-quality or target market your audience before placing
an ad? If you are a beginner, it will take some time before you are
experienced enough to do so. However, you can always get a sample copy
of the publication first and see what items other people are advertising.
Then, test your ads in the smaller mail order publication that offer
low-cost advertising until you refine your ad and hit the right market.
As soon as you begin generating responses to your ads, keep in contact
with these customers and grow from there. They will bring you more customers
like themselves because "birds of a feather flock together."

Therefore _ take my advice and SLOW DOWN a little. I know this is easier
said than done _ but if you don't slow down, you could easily get ripped-off
and lose a lot of money. Just like attending college _ you won't get a
Master's Degree the same day you begin classes. It takes 3-4 years!

Take your time to get to know some of the pros and read what they have to
say. Survey and study the market. Read and educate yourself by investing
time into study. Start out in mail order like you would start working for
any company _ at the bottom. Learn the tricks of the trade. Make friends
and associates with "good" dealers and stick with them. Honor your word and
work dealerships to the advantage of yourself as well as others.

Mail order is only a process by which products are advertised and delivered
to consumers. It works for any product and works for anybody. You don't have
to be rich, educated or a certain age, color or heritage. You don't have to
wear certain kinds of clothes or have your hair styled in the latest craze.
The only limitations are your own abilities and confidence in yourself.
I know because I started out really poor and brought my business up to
a thriving, self-supporting home business!

109.
WHAT MAKES AN ENTREPRENEUR TICK?

It is only natural that when you start a business, you are doing something
different than most people. They not only will look at you because you stick
out like a sore thumb _ but human nature will cause people to naturally
ridicule what you are doing. They will tell you all types of things like:
"You're not business material." "You can't make a living working for
yourself." "You'll fail because nobody can ever make any money that way."

Entrepreneurship is not just about having a lot of ideas or business sense.
It is also about having a lot of guts.
You have to build self-confidence in yourself. You have to only be concerned
with pleasing yourself and your Creator (God) _ not mankind. Then, when (and
if) you should fail with this particular venture, you'll just dust yourself
off and start again. It doesn't matter if people "think" you're nuts!
They aren't paying your rent and running your life. Don't be concerned with
what people "think" you should be. Just please yourself and do what you feel
is right. People are too busy competing with society and "keeping up with the
Jones's" that they do things they are not comfortable with just to appease
them and look "normal" (whatever that is.)

And if you have to _ start out small in building your self-confidence. I
used to be so self-conscious that I would never eat at a restaurant alone
because I thought people would believe I was lonely and had no friends.
Unbelievable, but true. But, everyday I worked on walking into a restaurant,
taking a magazine to read and eating alone. I would glance around, and to my
amazement, no one ever looked at me. No one cared that I was eating alone.
Then _ it dawned on me; "Who cares what these people think? I'll never see
them again." Besides, there were a lot of other people eating alone also and
I could absorb myself in the magazine I had took to read. Now, I can eat in
restaurants and not give any thought to the people around me.

But back to business _ when most people do fail in business they try to
"save face" by telling everyone they are "just in a slump" and everything
will be back to normal soon. Besides, they don't want people to say: "I told
you so" and destroy any pride they are still hanging onto. Unfortunately,
this only delays the problem and creates even more false hope for the people
in your life as well as yourself.

The best thing to do for anybody in this catastrophe is to swallow their
pride and admit they screwed up. Just face it head on! Admit that you were
so proud of your accomplishments that your mind became diluted with "visions
of sugar plums and fantasyland."

If your small business is beyond repair, go out and find a job and begin
working on your next small business in the near future. Keep your family fed
and your financial obligations met but look forward to the day when you WILL
succeed with your new business venture.

And why should you try again? Simply because you won't make the same mistakes
you made this time. If you built something successful before (but failed),
you are certain to build the next business stronger and wiser. Even if you
fail the second time, it won't be because of mistakes you made the first
time. You'll learn more and more _ and eventually be successful. It's
inevitable!

108.
MARKETING IS THE "KEY" TO MAIL ORDER SUCCESS

Do you really know what marketing is? It's the art of finding ways to sell
a product or service. But developing new ways of selling a product are not
easy. You have to study what other people are doing and get ideas from them.
Listen to people who have actually done something to show for their own
efforts. They certainly know because they have been there! Why seek marketing
advice from a book that reads above your head and was only written by someone
who "studied" the field? Go and talk to the people who have ACTUALLY lived
it! There is a difference!

Get your mind in a direction to sell your product. Of course it helps if you
created your own product or whole-heartedly believe in the product you are
selling. Now, all you have to do is find the type of people that would be
interested in buying your product. Find out what makes people buy a product
like yours. Study how others are selling the similar product you are selling.
Then _ armed with all this valuable information, work out a direct plan that
you'll enjoy doing. Design methods around your likes, dislikes and
personality traits. It works!

You have to work on your business EVERYDAY in order to become successful.
Even if you work outside the home 8 hours a day, you have to devote some
time each evening to your home business enterprise.

Most businesses who have been around awhile have seen many 100's or even
1,000's of new businesses open up and close. That's one reason why people
are "skeptical" of a new business until they see for themselves that they're
serious. YOU have to prove that you are serious in order to get people to
order from you and become good customers. You also have to treat customers
like you would your own family _ with respect and concern. This does not
mean you are to be shallow and allow yourself to be taken advantage of.
Customer service is nothing more than placing yourself in the other person's
shoes and seeing the world and the situation from their viewpoint. Often -
if you will just take a few minutes to listen to people, you will learn a
lot and turn a complaint into a workable situation.

In marketing, it is extremely important to start watching people and their
buying habits. The next time you are standing at the check out counter
buying groceries _ watch people around you. Don't stare at them but open up
your eyes and ears. Be in touch with your surroundings. Listen to ladies as
they discuss the reason "why" they would rather buy one type of cookie over
another brand name. Try and pick apart the actual reason "why" people react
the way they do.

And here are some tips to help you appear professional and serious to
potential customers in your mail order business:

On your word processor or computer, type a STANDARD letter about
your company. It should say something like: "We would like to
introduce our company to you. We are business professionals who are
interested in providing our customers with the very best service
available. We'll do our utmost to guarantee your satisfaction and
repeat business. Enclosed are some offers for your consideration.
They have been especially selected for you and your interests. If
you don't see what you're looking for _ please take the time to
write and let us know what we can do for you. We'd love to hear from
you today."

Now, the next time you get a BIG MAIL or other materials that you might
normally throw in the trash, you could mail your offers to these people. It
only costs a 29c stamp and who knows, they might send you $1 million dollars
worth of business over the next few years!

Keep a list of all the mail order publishers you come across. Then, if you
ever move or introduce a new product to the market, you could send them a
short Press Release. This works! Publishers are always looking for news to
pass along to their readers.

Give something away FREE for every order placed (depending on the amount
of the order.) You might even want to give the customer a choice of the free
items he/she can obtain free for every order over $10, $25, $50 and $100.
And instead of 50% off, offer DOUBLE the order. (For instance, instead of
50% off an order of 250 printed circulars - say that you'll DOUBLE the order
to 500 FREE.)

105.
COMPUTER SOFTWARE REVIEWS

Learn to Type-
If you are trying to learn how to type, you'll love the software program -
Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. It's available for $34.95 from Global Software
(1-800-8-GLOBAL). This program is well worth the money because it actually
making typing fun. I tried this out on my friend Laurie, who had never sat
down at a computer in her life. She was labeled as the "typical" hunt-and-
peck typist. However, she even loved this program.

Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing is menu driven and the more you use it the more
it adapts to your particular strengths and weaknesses. (Aren't computers
smarter than ever now?) It also entertains you while you learn by providing
2D and 3D graphics, lifelike keyboard and "guide hands" to show you the
perfect technique for added convenience. We especially liked the Racing Game,
where the faster you type the faster your race car travels.

Help For Dot-Matrix Printer Owners
Emulaser, exclusively available from TigerSoftware (1-800-888-4437) for
$69.95 is worth every penny! It's the best thing I've seen - especially if
you own a dot matrix printer. Emulaser enables you to print Postscript
smooth, typeset-quality type, Postscript graphics, halftones - even
spectacular color images. Emulaser gives you the power to also scale type
for optimum quality from 1 to 1000 points! A friend used this on his 9-pin
printer and it almost matched the same print-out from my Hewlett Packard
LaserJet. When used on my LaserJet _ the output was close to LinoTronic
(the best available). You'll love Emulaser _ especially if you are on a
tight budget and cannot afford to upgrade your printer at the present.
Emulaser also comes with 24 professionally designed borders and over 70
premium fonts including a host of symbols and graphic images! (The only
problem you may encounter is if you have one of the older IBM-compatible
computers, such as an XT or 8086. Emulser may not properly print within
the designated margins due to the restrictions of this older machine. It's
probably safe to assume you need a minimum 286-based system with 1 megabyte
of RAM for Emulaser to run properly. 520K and 640K RAM systems just won't
cut it. Sorry.)

Thumbs Down on This One
CardsNOW is a software program for designing business cards. It's available
from Global Software (1-800-8-GLOBAL) for $39.95. First of all, business
cards are normally printed with a raised print. Anything less makes you look
unprofessional and amateurish. In addition, people will normally use a color
ink for their logo or company name. Both of these options are NOT available
with this program, which degrades the quality look of your business cards
considerably. So why spend $39.95 for a program and $10.95 for 25 sheets of
perforated business card paper, when you can send a camera-ready master to
any mail order printer and have 1,000 professional business cards printed
in RAISED lettering as well as 2-color for around $30? How long does 1,000
business cards last you? That's about a 6-month supply for us, which would
not warrant the extra money to spend on this software program.

A Low-Cost Graphics Library
Lotus SmartPics, exclusively available from TPC Connection (800) 800-5555
for $75. No _ you don't need Lotus software to take advantage of this
magnificent package of graphics. This is an excellent way for any desktop
publisher to add to their collection! Over 2,000 high-quality and
professional graphics to enhance all your documents, flyers, memos, reports,
bulletins, presentations and other business communications. And they're
flexible too. Choose a vector format to size, rotate and edit images or
choose bitmap for editing in paint programs. And as an ADDED BONUS, when
you order Lotus SmartPics you get FREE Bitstream L'il Bits Winter Holiday
Font Pack. These fonts are also a designer's dream. You get unique ones like
SnowCap, the ornate Cloister Black, the elegant Shelly, Allegro, or the
ghostly FreeForm 721. Now all you have to add are turkeys, snowflakes,
bells, sleds and candy canes to name a few. Grab this package today!

104.
BUSINESS IDEA FOR BEGINNERS

Did you know that you can market mail order materials in your own area, to
your own friends and co-workers without losing any money? It's easy! All you
have to do is find a product, mark up the price to take care of your
commission and sell it.

One of the easiest items to sell in your local area is printing. Call any
print shop (Minuteman, Quik Print, Pip, etc.) and ask them the price for
printing 1,000 copies of the same original (one-side). Prices will differ
across the nation, but I have found the medium range to be between $60 and
$90. However, most mail order printer's prices range between $20 and $30 for
the same job! That's about a 50% difference _ even going by the lowest local
rates.

Okay - now we have an idea. Let's do our preparation and I'll lead you
step-by-step into the marketing of this idea. Let's stick with our example
of printing. Before you begin to advertise printing services in your local
area, you need to locate an honest and good mail order printer. If you don't,
you will be stuck with unsatisfied customers if the order isn't right.

In order to locate a good printer, you will need to read mail order
publications. Compare prices and services. Look at the quality of their
advertisement. Is it professional looking? Does the printing look sloppy?
Find a printer with the lowest prices but the most services. It is more
important to have someone who is reliable, ships on time and never lets you
down versus saving $1 per order. Three printers we recommend are Kem's
Graphics, 549 Friendship Rd, Seneca SC 29678; JRS Printing, PO Box 2508,
Calcutta OH 43920 and Tom Leash, 64 W Main St, Dallastown PA 17313. However,
there are many other good ones in mail order. To get a current Big Mail of
up-to-date information, write to George Norr, PO Box 70268, Salt Lake City
UT 84170 or G&B Records, PO Box 10150, Terra Bella CA 93270 and request a
copy of their current publications to get you started.

Once you've narrowed your company selections down to a few choice ones, you
probably will want to send each of them a small order. Keep records of the
date you sent each order and how long it took to get back. I would mail all
my orders on the same day. This way, you would automatically know "which"
printer was the fastest in shipping orders. (This fact is very important
when dealing with local customers who want their order yesterday or last week.)

Now, compare the quality of the printers you have selected. Choose the best!
Remember, when you deal with local customers you will have to provide the
same type of commercial quality they are used to receiving locally. Even
though they will be paying less, no customer should expect "less." Your
business will grow if you offer the same quality for less money.

After you have selected the printer you want to use, write them a letter.
Explain that you are going to market their services locally and would like
to obtain their "best" price. Often times, they will discount their prices
even more just to get repeat business. This brings you in more commissions.

Now, all that's left is to make yourself a price sheet listing YOUR prices
(marked up from the prices your printer charges you and how much the same
item sells for locally). Pass these price sheets out at work. Place on car
windshields. Tack on bulletin boards. Advertise in the paper. Drop off at
small business establishments. Contact people in the paper who are planning
a wedding or pass out flyers in your neighborhood. When you get an order,
you keep your portion of the customer's money and send the order to your
printer, who normally dropships to you or your customer.

This is only one idea for selling mail order printing in your local area.
There are 1,000's of other mail order products that are superior as well
as a lot of talented folks who provide exceptional products that cannot be
purchased at all locally! Just choose one that interests you and find a way
to sell it in your neighborhood.

Another way of selling locally is by contacting Coal Publishing, 27 South
4th Ave, Highland Park NJ 08904. Start a newspaper in your area and have
local businesses place advertisements. When you have secured advertisers,
send the ads and payment to Coal's "Small Business Keeps America Growing"
newspaper services. Copies are professionally printed and shipped back to
you. Have kids and teenagers help you distribute them and you're in business.
This idea can net you as much as $1,000+ per week once you build up the
advertisers for it.

Selling locally is the quickest and easiest way to start a business of
your own without any money. It's better than working for McDonalds. Just
look around - opportunities do exist everywhere!

103.
DOING BUSINESS IN JULY OR AUGUST

Whoever started the nasty rumor that mail order business is very slow
during the months of July and August is dead wrong. In case you are new
to the world of mail order you are likely to believe this rumor.

The sad part is that a lot of people in the business really believe it!
Why do they believe it? Because they have been told by someone else and the
rumor was considered "gospel" _ so that someone told someone else and so on,
and on, and on.

What people don't realize is that there is foundation to this rumor. The
only reason the mail order business MAY slow down in the summer months is
because of the nature of the product being sold. Try selling winter clothes
in July!

Some people will go so far as to stop advertising during the summer months
because they are convinced they won't get any sales. Because of the drop in
revenue for publishers, due to this line of thinking - everybody suffers
and they keep the rumor alive and true. Only people believing this lie is
making it happen. Nothing more!

Think about it this way: Don't people still read magazines and newsletters
during the summer? I've never seen Globe or The Enquirer stop publishing
during those months. Don't people still open their mail during the summer?
I don't think the whole world stops paying their electric bill from July to
September - and it comes through the mail.

And it would seem to me that the majority of the population would have MORE
TIME to read and study offers through the mail during their vacation than
during their working hours. Don't people watch more TV, spend time at home
catching up on neglected chores and sleeping during their vacation? So if
these people have more time to relax during their vacation, wouldn't they
have more time to dedicate to reviewing your ads and circulars that come
through the mail? Lillian Vernon even keeps busy during the summer months!
Isn't she a part of mail order like us too? If the big companies are still
doing business during the summer months _ what makes the smaller dealers
any different? Like I said before _ "who" started this rumor. It couldn't
have been originated by the big companies could it?

It will probably be hard for a lot of you to choke down this concept
immediately. You have been programmed for years that the mail order business
is slow in the summer months. You have convinced your mind that this rumor
is true. It will take awhile to re-program your mind to the truth and I
sincerely hope this report helps you.

There are so many people "hung up" on the statistical data of exactly how
to run a mail order business. Here are some other rumors:
1. Handwrite your envelopes instead of using a peel-n-stick address
label. (Come on folks - this is the 1990's - the age of the computer.
Nobody has time to sit down and hand address 1,000 envelopes anymore.
This rumor might have worked back in 1920 when the average mail order
dealer only mailed 10 or 15 envelopes per week _ but we are mailing
100 times that amount now.)
2. Only mail on Tuesday to arrive by Friday. (With all the inconsistencies
in our postal system and UPS, you can never be guaranteed the day your
letter will arrive. Everyday is a business day! It doesn't matter what
particular day you mail. This is nonsense.)
3. Dress your envelopes up to attract attention, such as placing sparkles
and hand-drawing diagrams on the outside. (This is nonsense! In fact,
this only cheapens your envelope. YOU have a business and your
correspondence should appear like you are an established business.
We're not playing pen-pal games here and we're not teenagers anymore.)
4. Mail in a window envelope so the person receiving it will think it's
a bill or check. This way they will open it faster. (Bull! Any
established business opens all their mail. In fact, I never pay any
attention to the outside of the envelope. I open them all! What matters
the most is the content of the material inside and how it's presented.)

Now - please do the mail order industry a great big favor and pass the word
around. Let's keep busy making our businesses work like businesses. Don't
hold yourself back because of all these nasty rumors.

102.
THE SWEEPSTAKES FRAUD

You go to your mailbox today and find an official document from an Awards
Committee claiming that you've JUST WON $5,000! All you have to do is run
in the house and call them to claim your prize! What joy! You can't believe
it! You were wondering how you would pay the rent this month and now all
your troubles are over. You call all your friends and relatives to tell them
you've just won a sweepstakes. Everyone is happy for you and willing to help
you spend your money correctly (to their benefit, of course.)

Now comes the rain on your parade. You call the 900-number to claim your
prize. Who cares if the fine print says the call costs 98c per minute. You've
just won $5,000. What's 98c to you?

After being kept on hold for quite awhile you find out you've won $5,000
worth of COUPONS! What? You thought it was money you won? Whoops - sorry, you
just paid 98c per minute (or about $9.80) for a bunch of worthless coupons
you could have probably cut out of your Sunday paper. It's a rip-off pure and
simple!

The TV show 60 Minutes had a special segment about these companies. The
rip-off sweepstakes company gets MILLIONS of dollars per day with their
900 phone lines just from people like you. They put you on hold so they can
make MORE money from you. It has been reported that some operators will sit
by the phone, timing you on their watch to see how long you'll hang on. The
longer you hold on and run up your phone bill - the more "stupid" they claim
you are.

Yes folks! These types of companies are run by heartless, cruel and horrible
individuals that sit back and laugh at the very people lining their pockets
with money! The government cannot shut them down because they are giving you
$5,000. Its your problem that you thought it was "money" instead of"coupons."
(This is an example of those "Legitimate Scams" I have been warning you about
in other Victoria's Reports.) Always remember that if you REALLY win money in
a sweepstakes it is unlawful to charge you even 1c to claim it! In addition,
if you win any contest whatsoever, a real prize committee will visit you
personally or call you themselves at their own expense.

Honest sweepstakes are set up to entice people to try the products the
company is selling who is running the sweepstakes. Publishers Clearing
House is probably one of the best well-known sweepstakes around. We all get
them in our mailbox every January and February. They are popular because
people order magazines just to enter the sweepstakes. The sweepstakes
itself is very honest. However, a lady who used to work for them told me
that if a sweepstakes form is returned WITHOUT an order, it is normally
discarded. Only a small majority are entered into the sweepstakes - or just
enough to keep the federal agents off their back. Of course, if you order
though - you have nothing to worry about. You have a whole one chance in
17 million to win a prize!

Personally, if you enjoy entering sweepstakes, I would suggest that you
contact Nick Taylor, 4215 Winnetka N #219, Minneapolis MN 55428. Nick
publishes a newsletter called "The Best Sweepstakes Newsletter". It is
filled with complete instructions for entering sweepstakes which give you
a greater chance of winning. The newsletter even holds it's own contests
and drawings _ so you should be able to win something sooner or later!
Subscriptions are $17.50 per year, but Nick will send you a sample copy
to whet your appetite for $2.50. (Be sure to mention that you read about
him in Victoria's Report No. 138.)

Remember folks, that nobody is going to give you something free when they
call you on the phone or send you a letter telling you that you have won a
prize. But there are people that fall for these scams over and over again
without thinking. The problem lies in the fact that these companies fill
people with a bunch of hype and play on them emotionally. Everybody wants
to have enough money to pay their bills, take a fabulous vacation, relax in
their yacht, pay the children's way through college, work the hours they
want to work, tell the boss to "take that job and shove it" and buy a new
car and home for their family. Can you think of anyone that would turn down
a proposition like this?

Human beings love the idea of getting something for nothing. For some reason
it makes them feel like they are special and respected for all the hard work
they have done all their life. People who have continually strived for
something in life, only to have the door shut in their face are potential
customers for scams and rip-off artists. These cruel people are only after
the money you have worked so hard to make - so protect yourself now!

101.
MACINTOSH -VS- PC's--WHICH SYSTEM IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

I get more calls from people asking me if they should purchase a
Macintosh or a PC-compatible computer. If you ask a person who has only
used a Macintosh, they'll argue you to the end of time that this IS the
ONLY system worth your time and trouble.

On the other side of the coin, if you talk to someone who has only
used a PC-compatible, they'll put Macintosh systems down to the ground and
argue until the end of time that this IS the ONLY system worth your time and
trouble.

Well, guess what? I'm from BOTH environments and I like both of them!
And to be totally fair in my evaluations, I operated the same software
(PageMaker) on both systems. So, what do I suggest since I can be bias?

A Macintosh system is "graphic" based while a PC-compatible is "text"
based. This DOESN'T mean that you can't do the same with both. It only means
that a Macintosh's entire operation is centered around graphics and desktop
publishing _ but both systems can perform the same functions and do well at
it. In my opinion, a Macintosh is the "Cadillac" for desktop publishing.
However, I own a PC-compatible. Why? Because of cost, compatibility and
availability of parts and software. It all boils down to how much money you
have to spend. The PC-compatibles now have Windows-based operating systems
which work similar to a Macintosh. In the old days, Macintosh held the title
for desktop publishing, but now a PC-compatible can do the same thing.

For instance, I bought a 486-DX2, 66Mhz with a 340mg hard drive for
around $2,500 complete (including software). The comparable Macintosh
would have cost me around $3,700 _ a $1,200 difference! The Hewlett Packard
LaserJet III printer I bought for $1,200 can be turned into an Apple
Laserwriter IINTX (Macintosh counterpart) for $350 by purchasing a Pacific
DataPage cartridge. A true Apple Laserwriter IINTX for the Macintosh runs
around $2,300 _ a $800 difference. (Please note that overall prices are comming
down and apple have finally realized its higher prices after losing a big share of
of the market.)

I like to also compare my PC-compatible with a Ford truck. If the
starter on my Ford goes out, I can go down the street and get one from a
junk yard and save lots of money. However, if I had a Mercedes Benz
(Macintosh), I could only buy a true Mercedes Benz part and have to pay
a real Mercedes Benz expert to put it on for me. Therefore, a Mercedes
Benz is really only a status symbol. To me _ it's more important to save
money than impress people. People don't put food on my table or pay my rent!
My programmer told me that a Macintosh system will normally run faster than
PC-compatibles if you compare the same type of systems. However, the
negligible difference in speed in not worth the extra money. I've tried
both systems, run them side-by-side and really couldn't see a difference
that would be worth paying $1,200 more for.

Before you make a decision, sit down and demonstrate both systems
at your computer dealer. Then look at your pocketbook and make the decision
YOU want. Here are a few mail order companies that will be able to assist
you with PC-compatibles:

Zeos International, 800-272-8993
ABS Computer Technologies, 800-876-8088
Computer Discount Warehouse, 800-348-4CDW
Expotech, 800-284-EXPO
Zenon, 800-899-6119
Dell Systems, 800-627-1440
Maximus, 800-394-6299
Digital PC, 800-215-8765
Midwest Micro, 800-972-8822

100.
THE CHEAPEST WAY TO DISTRIBUTE 81/2 X 11" CIRCULARS

Co-op Mailing (short for co-operative) means that two or more businesses
share in the cost and distribution of a direct mail campaign. It's kind of
like having you and another non-competing business split the cost of
printing, aseembling and mailing an advertising flyer to a shared (same)
marketbase.

Co-op dealing is very beneficial (and usually safe) for everyone involved.
One example of co-op dealing in mail order is to send your 8 1/2x11" camera-
ready circular to a co-op printer and they'll print your ad on one side,
their ad on the back side and ship them back to you for a low cost of around
$10 per 1,000. You get your printing almost free and the other dealer gets
his or her flyers mailed on the back of yours free.

But what do you do with them when they are mailed back to you? If you're new
to mail order it's doubtful you have a mailing list to distribute them to.
Plus, postage costs alone would run you about $290.00 first-class. At this
rate it would have been cheaper to send the camera-ready to a tabloid or
adsheet publisher rather than by a co-op. But don't despair.

Simply have the printer ship your copies to a co-op circular mailer instead
of sending them to you. A couple good circular mailers we recommend are BMG
Services, PO Box 429, Johnson KS 67855 (your cost is only 1c for 8 1/2x11
pre-printed circular) or Thorn Gifts, 1807 Stillwater #5, St Paul MN 55119
(your cost is only 5c for each 8 1/2x11 pre-printed circular.) Why the

difference in price? BMG mails by bulk rate and Thorn mails by first-class.
Either method is effective and sure beats paying 29c each.

In addition, you benefit from the mailing list of the circular mailer. If
this particular mailer sells a mailing list, having them do a 1,000 or 5,000
"test" mailing for you would be a way to test their names. You should get a
few responses from a mailing of this size but it all depends on "what" you
are offering and the "price" you are offering it for. It's very difficult to
sell any item for more than $50 on a 8 1/2x11" circular. For items costing
more than $50, you need to use the two-step approach. In other words, use
the 8 1/2x11" circular to generate inquiries and follow-up with the complete
sales materials that constitute the higher price the customer may decide to
pay.

Another idea is that you could contact a dealer with products and services
not conflicting with your own and ask them to co-op mail for you. In this
deal, you would pay for the 2-sided printing (with the mailer's ad on back
of yours) and he/she would mail them for you free of charge. It works!

Another way to co-op deal in mail order is by co-op advertising. High
Mountain Advertiser and Popular Advertiser are both long running co-op
publications. You place your ad the first time through a dealer and all
future ads are 50% less. Then you have the option of mailing pre-printed
copies with your name in the publisher's block as an authorized dealer.
When other people order advertising, they will send their orders to you.
You keep 50% of the money and send the rest (along with the order) back to
the publisher. This way, you can have your 8 1/2x11 circulars printed and
mailed in a publication at a 50% savings.

Coal Publishing, 27 South 4th Avenue, Highland Park NJ 08904 also offers
co-op advertising in their "Small Business Keeps America Growing" tabloid.
For the low cost of $35 per tabloid-size page, you can have your 8 1/2x11"
circular along with four 2-inch ads printed and mailed to a whopping 5,000
circulation. All you are responsible for is the mailing of 200 of them.
Any beginner can handle mailing 50 per week to a mailing list or to their
own customers. Besides, no one can offer you a 5,000 honest circulation for
this price. This is a real money-saver!

If you market the direct mail method, it's a good idea to send a good
circular you plan to keep around for awhile to a mail order printer and
have 1,000 printed on 1 side. Then, you can use the back of 100 or so for
testing purposes of other circulars. Run down to the copy shop and run the
circulars through the copier by printing on the back side. Only run 100 or
less and send them to the best names you can find. If they pull orders, you
may have a winner and can have 1,000 printed. Nothing is more annoying than
being stuck with 1,000 circulars with something you want to mail on one side
and something outdated on the back.

NOTICE: Rates and prices shown here were current at the time of writing.
Call for quotes.

99.
THE FREE CREDIT CARD TRAP

They arrive in your mail - a conspicuous looking mail piece from some
"official looking" bank claiming that you have been Pre-Approved for a
Mastercard or VISA credit card.

Of course, you don't have to have any credit. You can even have bad credit
or have just filed bankruptcy or even be rated as a "slow payer." It doesn't
matter because these companies want to give you a second chance!
These companies want to make it easy for you to obtain a credit card because
they only want your money!

How the thing works is that you must send $35 to receive an application that
provides you with a name and address listing of banks willing to give you a
VISA and/or Mastercard without any credit approval. That's a stiff price to
pay for a sheet of paper, don't you think? The instructions that come with
the application will let you know how the scheme works. You must open up a
bank account with the bank once that bank approves you. Big deal! They make
it appear that you have won some contest or something and people will feel
"good inside" that someone has approved them.

But that's not all. The minimum amount you must deposit is $200 but you can
deposit as much as you want. In return, you get a Mastercard or VISA credit
card with a credit limit up to the amount you deposit. Wow! What a great
honor! This is no break! Think about it. If a stranger gave you $200 to hold
for him until Friday wouldn't you feel safe in granting them a $200 loan?
I mean _ it's their own money you've got. If they default, you've got the
full amount to pay off the loan. It takes a twisted mind to take $200 from
you, grant you $200 credit with your own money plus charge you astronomical
interest rates just to take the money from your hand and give it back to you.
That's insane!

Of course _ to combat this insanity, the great and wonderful banks claim to
help fix your credit report. They say that if you maintain payments in a
correct fashion, this information will be reported to the credit bureau.
Yea, right! When Shell calls the credit bureau to check your credit for a
gas credit card, your report shows 47 defaulted loans and a bankruptcy.
However, there is one company that you make payments to on-time. Big deal.
Don't you think the rest of your bad credit will still be the deciding factor
in Shell's final decision. You bet you bottom dollar!

Look at this: the bank makes money from the interest of your deposit.
The bank also makes money by charging you 18% to 22% interest for the right
to use their Mastercard or VISA. Plus the bank is guaranteed their money
because if you don't pay on time, they take the money out of the bank account
you opened with them along with any interest you have accumulated.

Why would anyone with $200 to deposit want a credit card with a $200 limit?
If you have $200 and want to buy an item for $200 _ go out and purchase it.
That way, you'll own it lock, stock and barrel. No interest, no payments, no
hassle! Plus, you won't owe your soul to the company store _ sort-of-speak.

Credit is a wonderful thing if you use it intelligently. I know people who
charge $100 at the beginning of the month and use that $100 to make $300.
It's free money for 30 days. Then, when the bill comes, they immediately pay
the entire balance and come out smelling like a rose with $200 to the good.
Credit is also needed in certain circumstances for establishing clout. You
can't call in a telephone order unless you can charge the purchase to your
credit card. This delays you getting items you want now.

In fact _ some companies will try and make you feel "low class" if you don't
own a credit card. I am proud to say that I DON'T OWN one. When I'm in a
store and they say "Would you like to put this on your charge?" I promptly
say, "No, I pay for everything I buy!" They immediately shut up. And if they
would snap back with a rude answer, I'd leave the stuff sitting on the
counter, walk out of the store and get what I needed somewhere else. You
don't have to take abuse just because you don't choose to line the pockets
of the rich credit card companies! It's insane!

If you've ever had a credit card and charged $200, you know you end up paying
back $400 or more (unless you pay the balance within 30 days.) Stop allowing
these so called banks to rip you off.

89.
MAIL ORDER TIPS

There is a lot of excellent material being written and sold for beginners
to the mail order field. It seems everyone is ready, willing and able to
offer their "words of wisdom" to the new business owner _ and this is GREAT!
This action on the part of almost every stable mail order dealer only goes
to further prove my point in this report.

Mail order is loaded with the best people in the world! Walk into any
corporate-owned establishment and be introduced to "greed" first-hand.
Please don't get me wrong _ there are some very well run organizations,
but any time you hire employees, the dedication to your product or service
begins to deteriorate.
In the early 1800's most of the businesses were owned by one person or one
family. They took pride in their product and took the time to provide their
customers with high quality. The other day one of my customers called to
thank me for a publishing job I had completed for them. They said they
couldn't find my company's type of quality at any price locally. They
explained that the majority of people don't take "pride" in their wares.

But what is mail order filled with? Small, one-person-owned businesses.
We have built them from the ground up and we are PROUD to be able to service
our customers. And when we have a customer complaint, we normally do every-
thing and anything under our power (even if we lose money) just to make that
customer satisfied! This is PRIDE! And I'd like to believe that most of us
all have it!

Multi-level companies also sell excellent quality products. The shampoo and
conditioner I use, the cream I put on my face every night, the mail order
printing company I utilize as well as the many other products and services
I order through the mail are products I could NEVER purchase locally.
So don't forget to let the beginners know who we really are! Beginners are
like children (sort-of-speak.) They come into this industry with the
willingness to learn from experienced professionals. They do not know when
they are told to hand address their envelopes in red ink that this is
ridiculous!

If you take a 2-year-old child and tell them that people in Russia all have
green skin _ they will believe you without question. They will never doubt
your word until someone else comes along and convinces them otherwise.
Beginners to mail order are the same way. We have a duty to train them
correctly and give them honest and sound advice.

The problem is that some people are greedy and don't want to train them
properly. They are afraid if they teach them what they know that the beginner
will be better than them; make more money than them; outshine them and be
more successful.

Unfortunately this is greed talking. Any beginner you help to become
successful will take you right along with them. They'll never forget you
taking time and educating them on exactly how to make money. The more money
they make _ the more money you will make. But even besides this _ they will
benefit the mail order industry as a whole. You won't live forever. The mail
order industry will continue thriving long after you are dead and buried.
Shouldn't it be our concern to teach people to carry on what we started?

Sure, there are some beginners that are only looking for a fast buck and a
way to make some easy cash. These people don't need your time and dedication,
but they don't need you lying to them either and robbing them. Instead,
steer away from these types and concentrate your energies on people who
really want to succeed. The beginners who have pride in their business
is the same beginner that will grow up and remain dear to you.

Treat beginners of today like they are big companies of tomorrow. When I
first started in mail order, I didn't know that SASE meant a self-addressed
stamped envelope. I saw an advertisement from TOD House, PO Box 4769, Chicago
IL 60680 that I answered and I didn't enclose a SASE as requested since I
didn't know what it was.

TOD House wrote back a dirty note that said: "Your business tactics are
typical of women and we have more bad customers that we know what to do with.
We don't need another bum like you."

These words hurt me deeply. But guess what? Now 7 years later, I can tell
other people about this incident and educate them. Where did all this get
TOD House? No where! And to think all this started over a simple first-class
stamp? Come on folks! Don't you think it's time to start helping instead of
hurting? Don't you think it's time to contribute to our industry?

88.
HOW TO INCREASE YOUR CASH FLOW

For most companies, accelerating receipts to make cash available quickly may
be far more important financially than earning the maximum interest on a
disbursement float.

Their daily objective is to get all checks and payments processed and
cleared as immediately as possible in the company's bank account.
All checks should be taken care of promptly. The challenge is to make
employees realize the difference between big or important checks requiring
special attention and those that are routine receipts.

Rather than keeping a check received after 3pm until the following morning,
it may be strategic for your cash flow to have an employee attend to those
checks and have them deposited that same afternoon.

Likewise, if you can assign the mroning shift to bring checks as early as
the bank opens may save you a day in the float.

Become aware of your bank's check clearing policies and procedures.
Work around those schedules. For distant customers bypass the postal system
by asking the customer to make a direct deposit.

98.
HOW PAWNSHOPS WORK

A pawnbroker makes loans on personal property left as collateral.
The property can be redeemed when the loan plus interest is repaid.

The interest rates for pawnshops, which may be regulated by state or local
laws, may range from 5% to 6% a month. Loans can usually be renewed, but
only if the interest for the original period has been paid.

Pawnbrokers will accept a variety of personal property as collateral.
Usually, items that are small or of modest value (jewelry, clocks, computers,
camcorders, silverware, etc.) Brokers won't lend more money than they think
they can get if the pledged item is not redeemed and has to be sold.

When a pledged item is not redeemed, brokers are required to notify pawners
that the loan period has expired and to give them a final opportunity to
redeem their personal property before the broker has the right to sell the
item. In some jurisdictions, brokers may keep all the money received from
the sale of the unredeemed pledge. In other cases, the broker may only keep
the original loan and any interest due, but must turn any excess over to the
pawner.

In many states, pawnbrokers are required by law to file with the local police
a daily list of items that have been pledged. They must report and give a
description of the object along with serial number and other points of
identification.

This gives the police an opportunity to check these pledge items against any
list of reported stolen items. In somebody buys a stolen item from a
pawnbroker, it must be returned, and the broker must refund the purchase
price to the customer.

DEBT LIMIT. Installment debt should not exceed 10% of take-home pay. A debt
ratio of 20% indicates trouble ahead. However, when computing for your debt
ratio, you must not include mortgage payments in the amount of debt.

97.
HOW TO BEAT DEPRESSION!

Here's the story of a small, almost successful mail order entrepreneur, and
how he overcomes the blues that comes with his way of conducting business:

What an adrenalin rush! Last week when I visited the post office my post
office box was overflowing with orders. One day, I had to get a plastic
container just to carry the mail home. At the end of the week, I had made
about $1,200 in orders!

Unfortunately, I spent money to stock up on inventory. I anticipated
receiving the same type of business the next week to make up for any
overspending I had done this week.That did not happen.

The next week brought in a total of $150 in orders _ and the week after that
brought in only $10! After that, depression set in. I kept saying
"What will I do now? I spent the $1,200 and only have $80 to my name. Rent
will be due in a couple weeks and I'm flat broke _ simply because I let money
go to my head because I was temporarily "rich."

This is one example of how a business works sometimes and it's important to
not take everything for granted. As employees of other companies, we were use
to the fact of receiving a paycheck every week. Whether we worked hard or
not, our paycheck was always the same and always on time. All we had to do
was put in our 8-hours, 5-days a week.

Also, we were not used to spending any money to fill orders. If we needed to
mail something, we sent it to the mail room or ran it through the postage
meter. As employees, we didn't pay for the postage out of our own pockets.
Our employer took care of it. That also goes for supplies. If we ran out of
paper for our typewriter, we went to the supply cabinet and got a pack out.
We never worried about spending our own money to pay for office supplies.

But when you own and operate your own business money is hard to come by
especially the first few years. You generate your own income! So instead of
thinking about riches and glory _ think about improving upon what you already
have. If you have a $1,200 week pat yourself on the back _ but don't be
stupid like I did and spend it thinking you'll have the same amount next week. This may not happen for another 6 months!

Instead, find out "why" you generated this much money one week and hardly
anything the next week. Did you stop marketing because you didn't think you
had to anymore? Did you spend time filling all those $1,200 worth of orders
and generating back-end sales? (A back-end sale is placing some form of
advertising in with the orders you fill that will generate additional sales.
These items should be for products and services that either compliment or are
the same as the product the customer purchased.)

Were all the orders that made up the $1,200 week for the same product or
different ones? Where did you advertise in order to generate this response?
Was it a specific publication or a combination of several of them? Were the
orders for something that people run out of frequently (i.e., printing,
typesetting and advertising?) If so _ you can have a special offer for these
same customers in a few weeks with a money-saving coupon for them to use.
This will generate repeat business and the likelihood of another $1,200 week
in the near future.

However, if you do spend the money like I did and depression sets in,
just sit down for a moment and reflect on what you do have: a roof over your
head, food to eat, a legitimate business that will grow and possibly steady
out in the future, peace of mind and the ability to work on your own without
employers and people breathing down your neck!

In addition _ if you spend the money and cannot buy the supplies to fill the
orders, DON'T just avoid your customers and hope they'll understand. Instead,
send them a postcard that simply explains that you had such a large response
that you sold out of the item. Tell them approximately "when" their order
will be filled and "when" to expect it. If you can't possibly fill the order
within 30 days, give your customer the option of getting their money back or
better yet _ issue them a Credit Voucher to use on future purchases.

If you have no income at all and cannot possibly refund people's money offer
them something in return that you can provide. You need to find some way to
compensate your customers. Remember that they trusted you enough to see your
ad, write out a check and spend their hard-earned money on you. They may not
have a lot of money either. Avoiding them will turn you into a "rip-off"
artist with no future in the industry!

96.
A NATIONAL "HELP" LINE

A lot of people are constantly thinking about starting their own business.
A large majority of these people will choose mail order because of its
intrinsic advantages.

Newcomers to the mail order industry normally ask the same types of questions.
Who can help us? Someone, somewhere has to help a newcomer in mail order to
become successful. It's inevitable!
A lot of people think only large businesses can succeed in mail order. This
is just one of the many misconceptions newcomers have toward the mail order
industry.

Another misconception is that mail order is a rip-off world _ which we know
is entirely untrue! Some of the best products and services are obtained
through the mail! Just look at Walter Drake and Lillian Vernon as examples!
Ed McMahon and Dick Clark even jumped on the mail order bandwagon with their
Publisher's Clearing House sweepstakes!

The general public entering mail order for the first time cannot understand
how the concept works. They are used to going into a store, looking at an
item and purchasing it. Mail order (as we all know) is quite different. In
fact _ it's so simple to start a mail order business that most people can't
believe they can do it. But with the proper education, these people can
become thriving, money-making companies _ ones that will remember YOU as
introducing them to the market.

The Idea _If someone started a National Help Line for questions and answers
for newcomers it would not only be a big help _ but a fantastic money-maker
for its owner. In fact, you might use the service to direct business to other
mail order dealers by having them submit monthly dues in order to have
business referred to them.

Suppose a newcomer wanted to get involved in publishing their own booklets.
Several competent mail order publishers would buy the right to have this type
of business referred to them. The newcomer calls the "HelpLine". If handled
honestly and legitimately _ this could turn into a pot-of-gold for you and
help our entire mail order and small business industry as a whole!

The only thing left to do now is advertise the HelpLine phone number service
you have. Initially, you will have to invest into advertising; and with
something of this magnitude you should advertise in some national
publications as well as adsheets and tabloids. National publications like
Small Business Opportunities, Income Opportunities, and Entrepreneur will
give you a much greater circulation. Also _ don't overlook the opportunity
to advertise in your local Penny Savers and community-type newspapers.

Another benefit to the person who would be establishing the 1-900 hotline
would be that he or she could promote their own products and services, as
well as obtain names and address of hot prospects; in which they could sell
in the form of mailing lists.

One example of this idea in action is being done by Thomas McCrary, owner
of USAPrinting & Advertising. You call his USA National Opportunity Hotline
at (708) 429-4301 and respond to advertisers you see in his monthly tabloid.
These ads all have a 3-digit number to call so you can leave your message.

95.
HOW COMMISSION CIRCULARS
CAN MAKE MONEY FOR YOU

Most everyone familar with mail order would be introduced to or involved in
the promotion of commission circulars. You've seen them before. You place an
order for them and place your name in the "Order From" box. When orders come
to you, you keep 50% of the money for your efforts and forward the order plus
the remaining 50% of the money onto the "Prime Source," who will, in turn,
dropship the order to the customer.

These work great if everyone does what they should. However, some people have

found it necessary to even "cheat" with these. They will see a commission
circular they want to promote. But instead of sending their order to the
prime source to obtain a legitimate camera-ready copy _ they simply place
their name and address in the "Order From" box and begin advertising it.

What happens if you order from an individual or company who has done this?
You probably won't get your order and the guy or gal will pocket your hard-
earned money! What a waste!

Because the "cheater" normally will not know who the prime source is and who
to forward any orders to (since they didn't respond in the proper manner),
your order is tossed in the trash. This is bad business for you as well as
the prime source who often times, does not even know this is happening.
Fortunately, we personally receive a copy of almost everything that is being
promoted and can usually identify this fraudulent behavior with our own
commission circulars. However, we are fortunate to be able to keep "on top"
of this activity. But there are prime source dealers who are being ripped-off
everyday! Let's put a stop to it! How?

One way to combat this problem is to look the circular over for any major
changes in the "type." If the circular appears to be tampered with (and
there is no special membership number assigned) you should question it
before sending in your money. You might even consider requesting the name
of the prime source without the address to prove the validity of the circular
if you want to spend the time.

Another way of combating commission circular fraud is by writing a letter to
the advertiser requesting "more information" about the product before you
place an order. Some people don't want to spend the time doing this because
they might be "out of the mood" to place an order by the time they receive
an answer. If you feel this way about a product _ why even order it in the
first place? You should never be placing an order just to spend money.
Instead _ it should always be for something you want and need. Besides,
you only have to write a letter to people with products you REALLY want to
purchase. After you have been in the business for awhile, and made a few
contacts _ you will normally know "what" and "who" to do business with.

It never ceases to amaze me what some people will do to cheat others out of
$2 or $3. Can't someone use more of their brains and think up their own offer
without stealing others? It's sad!

A professional con-artist would NEVER think of doing such a thing. A profes-
sional (and unfortunately smart) con-artist would play it safe on the small
orders and wait to build their business up. Then _ when they were generating
$1,000's of dollars _ they would go in for the big kill. Anybody that risks
their business on $2 or $3 is a penny-ante dealer with nothing going for
them but continual struggle and unnecessary problems they could have avoided.

Now please don't misunderstand me. I am in NO WAY trying to exalt a
professional con-artist and tell you to be like him or her. These people
create their own downfall in the end also. All con-games are short-lived
and play havoc on your professional, personal and spiritual life. You may be
laughing all the way to the bank now _ but one day when you need someone to
bring you a drink of water because you are ill, no one will be there for you.
Your money will be gone _ along with your "so-called" friends!

Commission circulars in mail order are a viable part of keeping the
industry functioning. They provide a good money-making avenue for new
businesses because they are promoting established products and services
that sell well already. A prime source should support their dealers who
participate in their commission circular programs. One way to support them
is NOT to be their competition. Instead of running your ads _ run their ads
instead. Regardless of "who" gets the order, the prime source still gets a
portion of the profits _ right? And if you help your people sell your
products and make a little money, you'll get more people signed up to sell
for you!

94.
MAIL ORDER TIPS FOR BEGINNERS

Thanks to our great customers, our business is continuing to grow at a
steady, uphill rate. With this increase in business, we seem to notice the
beginning of customer complaints about our turnaround time for processing
orders.

At first, I became "paranoid" and thought I was doing something wrong.
I forced myself to work 20 hour days, eliminated my social and family life
completely and ignored anything else that didn't pertain to business.
Unfortunately, this approach did not solve the problem. I ended up running
my body down and became so ill I was confined to bed for almost 4 days.
So, what did I gain?

Then, I received another complaint about our turnaround time a few weeks
later. But this time, instead of getting "paranoid," I sat back and analyzed
the situation. The 3 complaint letters had one thing in common _ they were
all from beginners in mail order. My long-time, repeat customers had not
complained in the least _ just 3 beginners in mail order.

So, I telephoned one of the people who complained and learned they had
expected their order within 4-5 days after they mailed their original
order in. Since it had been 2 weeks since they ordered, they labeled our
turnaround time as "very poor." It suddenly dawned on me that they were
expressing the same behavior all beginners experience _ lack of patience!
But, they aren't entirely at fault.

Why? Because most beginners in mail order are used to shopping locally.
They walk into K-Mart, pick out what they visually want to buy, pay for it
and take it home (no waiting.) In addition, when these beginners get involved
in mail order, they are excited about their business. They are ready to go!
They wait and watch their mailbox everyday for the order they in. Their
patience wears thin.

Another reason beginners to mail order are so impatient is because the
advertisement they answered to send in their order motivated them. They were
excited and wanted to learn more. Since they don't have many customer orders
to process and take up their time _ the beginner will rush to their mailbox
everyday, hoping to find their order. Time is slow for them and a week seems
like 2 years. So naturally they become angry because they are tired of
waiting. What happens to a child who is promised a day at the circus if
they clean up their room? Don't they hurry and scurry around just to get the
reward?

Eventually, these people will understand why turnaround times can take
several weeks for average mail order dealers. If any mail order business
has been around for several years or decades, they are probably processing
huge tons of mail on a daily basis. And since most of us are too poor to
hire outside help, we do most of the work ourselves.

In addition, we operate on low budgets and therefore do not have all the
updated equipment that would make our jobs easier. And on top of all this,
most of us are very conscientious about our quality and would rather take
the time to do each job right rather than "rushing" just to get caught up.
That's right! Most of us don't have large offices with 200 employees.
We're one-person operations and have to sleep and eat once in a blue moon!

Most beginners cannot conceive the idea of hauling a mail sack or tray full
of mail home on a daily basis. Then, it takes 2 or 3 hours just to open it
all and another hour or two to separate and begin processing the orders.
Couple these duties with phone calls, price quotes, marketing, picking up
supplies, designing advertising materials, etc. the average mail order
dealer works his/her "behind" off!

Heaven help the guy or gal that has a family. Or a single mother working a
part-time or full-time job and running a business out of her home. These
people are doing the best they can!

So, if you are a beginner _ give us a little slack if your order is delayed
(within reason, of course.) The inner-circle dealers who have been in
business awhile are there because they have proven themselves to be honest
and reliable. They want to provide you with the best quality, so give them
a few extra days!

And if you're finding it difficult to wait and you have a lot of time on
your hands, send for a few Big Mails and read some of the tabloids and
adsheets to occupy your mind. If you don't have any _ send a few stamps
to Jerry Goodwin, PO Box 429, Johnson KS 67855 or C.J. Nelson, 1825 Domanik
Dr, Racine WI 53404 or Admark, 3240 Lone Oak Rd #155, Paducah KY 42003 or
Suttco Marketing, Box 9684, Hwy 41-W, Trenton NC 28585 and request some.
Spend time doing research and that order will be in your hands in no time.

93.
WHY AREN'T YOU USING A COMPUTER?

There's plenty of excuses you can come up with. From "...my business is too
small at the moment" to "computers take too much time to learn."

You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Computers are for young minds.
I can't change now. I'm not sophisticated enough. It worked right for
me all these years and there is no reason to change now. Why fix something
that isn't broke? I could never work a computer. I can't even type a letter
let alone, work one of "those things."

The list of excuses goes on and on.
Does it sound like you've come up with a good enough excuse yet? Perhaps you
can turn this report into an exercise and try and dream up more.
However, the fact remains that all those excuses are only "myths." YOU CAN
afford a computer and YOU CAN increase your productivity while increasing
your income _ ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

All you have to do is get a computer!

As a business owner you took many risks in starting your business. You didn't
let opinioned people stop you. You didn't come up with excuses not to start
your own business _ you just did it. What happened to that part of you?

A computer is nothing more than an appliance. It doesn't know more than you
do _ you control "it" and tell "it" what you want "it" to do. The only
problem is you have to understand how to make "it" work to YOUR advantage.
It's really not difficult. In fact _ it's fun!

Always remember that a computer is a stupid thing. It only knows what "yes"
and "no" are. It only knows "on" and "off." As complex human beings we not
only know "yes" and "no" but also "maybe." We know about "on" and "off" but
we also know about "lukewarm." Since we think on multi-dimensional planes
and a computer only knows two _ in reality WE are really SMARTER than our
computer.

So stop being scared to join the electronic age. Call up a computer store in
your area and start trying to locate a 1-week night class for beginners. Or
better yet, locate a neighbor or family member who has computer knowledge
and get them to show you a few things one evening after work on their home
computer. Play a few games on it. Feel comfortable in knowing that you can
actually touch the keys and it won't blow up.

As a computer instructor in the late 1980's, most of my time was spent in
training beginners. Computers were not quite as popular as they are today
and everyone was "more" emotional about touching them. In order to help my
students relax and learn how to work with their mouse I installed a
Solitaire game on each computer. I then allowed the students to "play"
the entire first and second day of classes.

Since most everyone already understands the concept of playing the game of
Solitaire with regular cards, they immediately were introduced to something
they already felt comfortable with. So instead of concentrating on how hard
it was to work a mouse on a real-live computer system _ they actually forgot
they had a mouse in their hands. Their concentration was deviated toward
the Solitaire game itself.

Once this wall of fear was broken _ students learned at astronomical rates!
Believe me, if I can take a 62-year-old lady directly from typing with a
manual typewriter to producing high-quality brochures and flyers in
WordPerfect 5.1 _ you can do it too!
One of the keys to learning is by having people-to-people instruction for
a couple hours if you have never sat down at a computer before. Some people
will require more people-to-people instruction before they feel comfortable,
while others may be able to do it all by themselves. (Gene Brown is a mail
order friend of mine that did just that. He is a self-educated computer
operator and is now wondering "how" he did without his computer before.
Gene will be the first to tell you that he cannot believe the time and
automation benefits having a computer has made to his business.)

92.
MAIL ORDER TIPS FROM MLM'ERS

Multi-level marketing is a fantastic business. If you are the type of person
who enjoys a lot of people contact and have a great product you believe in
multi-level marketing can work out great for you. There are people making
$1,000's of dollars per month in commissions alone _ but they worked hard
for it. I prefer mail order though because it's slow-paced and more
"people-oriented."

Multi-level marketing is "people-oriented" too, because a product is being
sold to people. However, multi-level marketing is also a "money-making"
industry that places great emphasis on building downlines and selling lots
of product to meet the monthly criteria established by the main multi-level
company.

Although the articles in multi-level publications are not related to mail
order, they teach you about positive thinking that is needed in any type
of business. You can pick up some good business tips whether you are in mail
order, MLM or selling homemade pies at a garage sale. Business is business.
Marketing is marketing. Selling is selling!

When people are asked: "What would you do if you won $100?" they would say
that they'd take their spouse or friend to dinner and a movie. When asked,
"What would you do if you won $10,000?" most say they would buy a car, pay
off old bills or take a trip. But when these people were asked, "What would
you do if you won $1 million ?" they all said they would INVEST it.

The article went on to say, that if these people would only INVEST when it
came to big money _ how could they ever hope to achieve it? I mean, how can
you ever accumulate $1 if you don't start saving the change? How can you save
$120 per year if you don't start putting in $10 bills now?

Some of the best multi-level type publications on the market today are
"Opportunity Connection," "FreEnterprise," and "Big Al's Recruiting
Newsletter." In every issue you will find information that will help motivate
you to sell your product and fantastic marketing tips that the professionals
use. Multi-level marketing is truly a professional business. This is the
place you will find new and exciting products that are not available locally.
In fact _ multi-level marketing firms produce some of the best products in
the world.

Please don't confuse multi-level marketing with birthday clubs, chain-type
schemes and those circulars that ask you to place your name and address in
Position 1 and move all the other ones down before making copies. These
pieces of "trash" will never make you a dime and if I could _ I would outlaw
their existence. They steal lots of money from many innocent people on a
daily basis.

On the other hand _ multi-level marketing is when you have a REAL product to
sell. You build downlines (people who sell the same product under you) and
you make commissions every time these people sell. But watch out for those
matrix definitions too. Many people don't really understand them fully and
just look at the bottom line of how much money they'll make. Also, many
newcomers think that if they get a friend to sell products for them that
they will earn commissions off every sale the friend makes. Sometimes this
is true and other times it isn't. More often than not _ you have to build a
downline of 10 or 15 people before you start earning commissions, so make
sure you know exactly how a particular multi-level marketing company works
before you sink a lot of money and time into it and think the entire industry
is a big waste.

Look over your business goals. Decide what you really like to do. Basing your
decision on how much money you make won't cut it. You wouldn't decide to have
children just because of the tax deduction you would receive would you? Well
you should never start a business for the sole purpose of making money.
Instead _ find something you enjoy doing that will make you money. When you
love what you are doing, the money will flow naturally and you'll see a
business emerge within a few years that you never dreamed could be possible.
Have fun!

******************************************************

HERE'S AN EXAMPLE OF MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING USING 50%
COMMISSIONS ON A VALUABLE GUIDE!

INCOME OPPORTUNITIES UNLIMITED

Offered by: ELITE PUBLISHING, P.O. BOX 46445, RALEIGH, NC 27620
(919) 380-1002 -- 9am to 6pm EST Mon. to Fri. 9am to 1pm Sat.
(24-hr FAX Line 919-467-6704)
______________________________________________________

ONE OF AMERICA'S BEST
SPARE-TIME HOME BUSINESS

Greetings:

Please allow me a few minutes to explain why I am writing
to you. We are a unique association dedicated to providing each
member an opportunity for FINANCIAL INDEPENDENCE. All of our
members share two common ideals: (1) To help each other, and
(2) To gain WEALTH and INDEPENDENCE. WE SHOW OUR MEMBERS
HOW TO MAIL LESS AND MAKE MORE PROFITS. THESE NEW METHODS
WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO CUT COST AND INCREASE YOUR RESPONSE
RATE.

At one time or another, all of us have been bombarded with
get-rich-quick schemes that either didn't work or were CLOSED,
but this is NOT one of those. Quite frankly, we are sick and tired
of phony get-rich-quick schemes and ill-conceived chain-letters
promising to make us overnight millionaires! As you and I know,
these scams never seem to materialize, because (1) people CHEAT
(2) They violate POSTAL REGULATIONS! This program CONTROLS
for cheating by assigning each participant a control number and by
monitoring all transactions among members, thus ensuring the
integrity of the program.

Even more important, you will be joining a program that
satisfies postal regulations. They are: #1-PRIZE,#2CONSIDERATION,
AND #3-CHANCE.

First of all, there are no prizes. As you know PRIZES are won
and COMMISSIONS are earned. We all earn 50% commissions by
distributing a valuable book by a mail order Entrepreneur who
discusses the mail order field in general, and what you in particular
can do to bolster your profits in this highly competitive YET
infinitely lucrative field.

Second, there is NO REQUIRED PAYMENT because there is NO
charge to become a distributor. In fact, all the services are FREE--
there is NO FEE for monitoring or postage & handling or to prepare
your personalized copy of this program.

Third, No element of CHANCE is ever present because your
upline distributors get commissions only if they help you.

By now you should be starting to see WHY our program is so
successful! Well here are 7 more reasons:

1. There are only 3 people on the list at any one time, which
means that your name will reach the top position in a short time
(about 4-5 weeks) and then it will be YOUR turn to collect! More
than 3 levels are not practical. There are never enough people to
support it, and that's why large pyramids crash and are illegal.

2. The money is sent DIRECTLY to you. You don't wait for the
company to mail the check. You can never be cheated of your
commissions because your share comes directly to you.

3. We are an association based on the principle of "people
helping people". Your upline and downline will be helping you
sponsor! This is an INCENTIVE DRIVEN PLAN.

4. This program is a legitimate opportunity to start your own
business or simply to supplement your present income, from the
privacy of your own home.

5. This program does not promise to make you a millionaire
in 30 days, but does offer you a legitimate opportunity to be
WEALTHY by providing you a very substantial monthly income.

6. The trick in network marketing is getting your offer to
interested people, we can help you do this.

7. We utilize the FAX machine for on-the-spot enrollment. Those
who like to join over the phone--We provide TOLL-FREE number
and accept VISA/MASTERCARD. This means you can join us in just
a few minutes.

NOW FOR SOME FACTS AND FIGURES:

*As you probably know, a 2% to 3% return is good in MLM
(Multi-Level-Marketing).

*The average return for this program is 10% (Our response
actually varies between 2% to 15%).

*Your profit margin is based on the number mailed times your
response rate, so based on just 100 mailed and a 10% response
rate you can expect a return of around $10,000 when your name
reaches the first position in about 4-5 weeks. Of course, if you
send 200 you could receive a respectable $80,000. (These figures
are based on a constant response rate and a constant mailing rate,
however, response and mailing rates may vary.)

*Lets be pessimistic for a moment and assume that because
of a faulty mailing list, you received only a 5% response rate, this
would still bring you in $1,250.00 which is more than 20 times
the cost of mailing out 100 letters (200 letters at 5%=$10,000). So
you see, YOU REALLY CAN'T LOSE!! It even has a money-back
GUARANTEE!!

HERE'S WHAT OUR ASSOCIATES HAVE TO SAY IN THEIR OWN
WORDS!

The programs I joined in the past did not work, because they
were based on faith only. I joined this program because it goes
beyond faith. It is based on honest, intelligent response of
individuals. It is controlled, guaranteed and verified by a
respectable company. M.B., Elkhart, IN.

When I received this letter I said, Oh not another chain letter.
When I took the time to read it, I was convinced that it is different.
It did not start out with sad stories -- I had my car possessed, lost
my home and all that others have said. Being an Accountant for
more years than I care to remember, the figures and facts in this
program convinced me even more to join. R.H., Palm
Coast, FL.

I am very proud to be an independent dealer for your
organization! Believe me, I have reviewed at least dozen other
MLM programs during the last 3 weeks alone. None came close
to your program. D.B.E., Chesapeake, VA.

I felt the honesty, sincerity and low starting capital, so I
decided to join and I am sharing your success. May God bless us!
R.Z., Old Westbury, NY.

HOW TO JOIN THE PROGRAM!

If you feel our association may benefit you, then follow the
simple INSTRUCTIONS below and REMEMBER to start watching
your mailbox, in about 4-5 weeks!

You will need 2 business-size envelopes (4 by 9) and 2 stamps.

FIRST: Address the first envelope to the person or firm that is
in position #1 on your list. Place $10.00 cash or money order, and
if you send through us do not seal the envelope, as we must VERIFY
that the appropriate amount is enclosed. Include in this envelope a
note saying: "Here's the 50% commission from the sale of a book."
This note is very important. You're buying a book for which you're
paying the distributor a 50% commission of $10. Before mailing to
the person in position #1, Elite will include this page with names &
addresses of you and other downline to keep our associates informed
and helping each other to succeed. OR you can mail DIRECTLY to the
person in position #1 but you must use a money order and send us the
RECEIPT.

SECOND: Place the above envelope into the second envelope.
Include this page of the program and $10 charge for a valuable book
"Entrepreneurs Guide to Direct Mail Order" (after paying a 50%
commission to the distributor in position #1). There is NO
FEE for MONITORING, NO FEE to prepare your personalized copy of
this program, NO FEE for distributorship, and NO FEE for postage &
handling--all these services are FREE. Also, if you are ordering names
and/or printing services from us, please check the appropriate place and
enclose the corresponding amount according to the price lists below. Stamp,
seal, and address this envelope to: ELITE PUBLISHING, P.O. Box 46445,
Raleigh, NC 27620.

PRICE LIST FOR NAMES OF OPPORTUNITY SEEKERS:

___ 200 names =$15.00 ___ 300 names =$20.00

___ 400 names =$25.00 ___ 500 names =$30.00

___ 1,000 names=$50.00 ___ 2,000 names=$80.00

Our names are strictly an added convenience for our
inexperienced associates. Our participants are getting excellent
results using these names. Of course, you can order names from
any list broker you choose. The reason our lists yield
such a high response rate is that our names are proven opportunity
seekers and ACTIVE MLM participants. We are so sure of our names
that we can offer this unconditional guarantee: We will REFUND you
$0.50 for each undeliverable name, returned to us within 30 days of
purchase!! NOTE: Add $1.00 extra for each 100 names on peel & stick
labels.

PRICE LIST FOR PRINTING SERVICES
(You will need copies of both pages):

____________Copies on White paper X 6¢ per copy = $

____________Copies on Colored paper X 7¢ per copy = $

POSTAGE & HANDLING (same for any no. of copies) = $5.00

TOTAL ENCLOSED =_____

Our printing is strictly an added convenience to provide
quality printing at a nominal rate. This is to serve our associates
who don't have quality printing facilities.

Since personal checks take about 2 weeks to clear your bank,
you can expedite the process by sending cash or money order payable
to: ELITE PUBLISHING.(Orders with cash or money order are processed
on the same day we receive them.)

Credit Card ORDERS only call Toll Free 1-800-468-5216 OR provide:

Credit card No._________________________________________

Expiration-Date___________Signature_______________________

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. DISTRIBUTOR: You save $10 by joining now because no distributor
in pos. #1 to be paid

2. ASSOC. DISTRIBUTOR:

3. ASSTT. DISTRIBUTOR:

*_____________________________________________________
*Print your name and address on the above line.
------------------------------------------------------------

MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE: IF YOU ARE NOT MAKING ANY MONEY AFTER
MAILING OUT 200 OR MORE OF YOUR PERSONALIZED FLIERS, YOUR
MONEY WILL BE CHEERFULLY REFUND. THE BOOK IS YOURS TO KEEP.

*****************************************************

91.
WOMEN AND CREDIT

Many women complain about not having any credit. Those complaining are those
who REALIZE that they do not have credit, single women or divorced women,
specifically. However, there are many married women who have no credit
because financial matters are handled by their husbands, and they are not
even aware that they are without any type of credit rating. This is a large
problem in America today.

Divorce seems to be the predicament that taunts women in search of their own
good credit ratings. Either the wife did not have any of her own credit
during the marriage, or the credit she shared with her husband took a bad
turn during the divorce.

The key to your credit success, regardless of your marital success, is that
you build your own "sole and separate" credit. There are many benefits to
be gained. First, in the event that the marraige does not work out, each
spouse may part with their own credit. If the wife was always on time with
her payments and the husband was poor with his payment schedule, they should
be able to part ways with her credit intact.

Another good reason to have separate credit is in the event a financial
tragedy comes your way, leaving you with no alternative but to file
banckruptcy. It might be possible that one partner could file while the
other remains clear.

If your husband currently has all the credit, have him place you on his
accounts as a "sharer" of the account. You want to be sure you share the
account but not the contractual liability. This way you will NOT be
responsible for his errors. If it does show as a negative on your rating,
you will be able to dispute it as you did only share the account. If the
account is in good standing, work on getting it on your credit rating as
you may take the responsi-bility for the good rating. For men in similar
situations, try the same method.

If neither the wife or the husband have any credit, then both would sign
the account as "joint" in privileges and contractual liability. Continue
this process until you both have enough credit to get credit singularly.
Then, as your new sole and separate accounts begin to get established,
start closing the joint accounts you once shared. The purpose of this is
to establish your credit as "sole and separate".

Consider also the use of a joint checking account. A clean checking
history is very helpful in building credit, however, be wary if your spouse
is particularly neglectful when maintaining a checking account-the end result
could cause more harm than good.

90.
CUSTOMER SERVICE TIPS
FOR MAIL ORDER BUSINESS

Can we be too good to our customers? No way! Our customers are the backbone
of our business! They're right no matter what!

But I'm sorry to disagree with you. As small, honest and legitimate
businesses _ we have a tendency to place our product quality above money.
While this is the "right" way of building a strong, solid business; there
are customers that will try to take advantage of you. You have to learn how
to notice this possibility coming and "bow out gracefully" without losing the
customer.

Remember that most newcomers to the world of mail order think that they are
ordering from BIG companies just because we have a company name! They cannot
conceive how poor and struggling a lot of us really are. They think we can
absorb costs and because they are poor themselves, will often try and take
advantage of people like us. (If they only knew the many times I have
personally had to hold an order up for mailing because I couldn't afford
the 52c to mail it back, or the guy who bounced a $2 check and caused a
close friend of mine to go "in the hole" $15 in bad check charges.)

But because we are honest people who place our product ABOVE money we
sometimes let people walk all over us. In fact _ a mail order buddie of mine
(who distributes shareware computer disks) is normally so happy when she gets
an order that she gives the customer almost 10 times more than what they pay
for. She is so excited about keeping a customer that she goes overboard to
make them happy.

Unfortunately, a lot of people will take advantage of this situation.
They think, "Hey, if I can get this much for hardly nothing, I'll see how
much more they'll give me. Look at all the "freebies" I could get and all
the money I could save." They'll lose respect for you.
However, this line of thinking is only short term. Sure, as a customer,
you might get some more free stuff with the next order, but pretty soon
the business owner will realize what's going on. Then you'll lose that
business contact forever! I can still recall the people who ripped me off
before and I would NEVER do business with them again!
This is a sad situation!

As a dealer, you can learn to give your customers what they pay for.
Go that extra mile on special requests, but never over-extend yourself
if it means lost profits to your business. This line of thinking will cause
you to set yourself up to be taken advantage of and then you'll become
resentful toward your customers; which is bad.

Another friend of mine was so stunned by landing an on-going, monthly
publication that she promised the customer "the moon" without even having
to do so. When she lived up to all her promises she ended up paying $215
out of her own pocket to publish each issue. Of course, she had to cancel
her contract forever _ which is "bad business."

In mail order we all have the ability to make ourselves look "richer" than
we really are. We can work co-op deals with other people to barter and trade
for things we don't have and could never pay for. Then, when orders are
filled professionally, the customer suddenly thinks the mail order dealer
has a lot of money to spread around and can afford to lose a few dollars on
them.

If a customer does not send the correct amount for you to fill his or her
order _ simply write them a nice letter explaining that they did not enclose
the proper amount. Send them an invoice showing the amount they still owe
and bill them before filling the order.

If someone calls you up on the phone and talks a "good" sales pitch (with
the intention of getting you to fill their order before they pay you)
kindly explain that your company policy is to receive payment first since
they are a new customer. No other explanation is necessary.

However, don't go overboard and get crazy. If a new customer forgets to
enclose a 29c stamp, go ahead and send them information. It's silly to spend
another 29c stamp yourself to tell them to send a 29c stamp. And not filling
the order is also crazy. If the customer cared enough to write in the first
place, you at least owe them a response. Besides, it might bring a big order. 
Don't get hung-up over a stamp!

Some dealers refuse to take personal checks because they are afraid they will
bounce. Again _ this is not good customer service since it's a lot of trouble
to buy a money order when most people have checking accounts. This line of
thinking will cost you lots of lost orders. However, you can hold the check
for clearance before you fill the order if the amount is over $25. Use common
sense and you'll make it!

167.
HOW TO EVALUATE
HIGH-TECHNOLOGY STOCKS

High technology is the last frontier in American business.
Many of the new businesses revolve around some type of technology,
whether it is direclty computer-related, communications-related or
somehow tied in with the "Electronic Superhighway", whose arrival
we all eagerly anticipate. Although tech stocks have declined sharply
in during bear markets, they have proven to have outperform other stocks,
re-bounding more sharply in subsequent recoveries.

There are three major advantages that point to small companies:
1.) They are generally free from government regulation because
their earnings are often in a new field.

2.) The company stands to gain a lot of ground if the come up
with a unique idea. The growing market will be theirs to
dominate.

3.) The impact their earnings will have on their financial status
will be considerable... therefore a success can increase their
profitability greatly.

There are several rules to follow if you choose to be an investor in this
high risk market. Firstly, do not be fooled by the size of the company.
It is important to investigate the high-technology expertise of the firm
and secure that it is a meaningful part of the firm's business.
Secondly, it is vital that the company is serving a current social need
in the marketplace.

For example, cable was first intro-duced in the 1960's and interested
investors long before it could draw subscibers.

Look for companies that are operating in the black. Companies that offer
teriffic scientific break-throughs but operate at a deficit are just too
risky. It is also important that you ignore market indexes. Companies with
technological superiority are not tied to a stock mar-ket environment over
time.

Lastly, keep current on all technological innovations. Buy trade magazines
and read scientific papers and investment guides that deal with technology
and technology-related fields.

166.
CHOOSING A BANK THAT'S RIGHT FOR YOU

It is important to select the right bank. Do NOT choose any bank-be fussy!
There are two main objectives to seek when searching for a new bank. 1.)
Find a bank that is agressively seeking new business. 2.) Choose one with
which you can develop a personal relationship.

To select a bank that is agressive, simply watch for extended ad-vertising
campaigns. They are very costly, and must bring in new business in order
to be continued.

Look also for smaller banks, ones with just a few offices. They tend to be
more agressive, more lenient on qualifications, much friendlier and more
personalized in the service they offer. They are forced by nature of their
competition to be more flexible.

With the small, independent bank, you will get friendly service, and often
will be called by name. The tellers remember you and do not need to request
your identification every time you want to cash a check. Small banks do not
have a large loan committee that spends lots of time shuffling papers.
They may however, stall your loan ap-plication for a day or so in order not
to appear too anxious! Its a minor issue...and not one to be overly
concerned about.

Big banks seem to have forgotten that the customer is number one. You will
be far more pleased with your small bank and your personalized service when
it comes to getting loans and other services for your own business.

49.
HOW "INFO-LOADING" CAN INCREASE YOUR AD'S
PULLING POWER

There are many schools of thought on how to write a successful
direct-response ad, letter or brochure. Some say you need to be subtle,
some say be harsh, some say be round-about, some say be direct. There is
one technique, though, that is coming to the forefront as one of the most
successful to employ.

Info-Loading is the style of overloading an advertsement with information
about your product or service. The theory is, you give the customer more
information than they'd ever want on your product/service, and they'll feel
more confident about you and what you offer. Also, the customer that
actually reads through it all is the one who's interested enough to buy
what you offer. The good news is, it works!

Here's how to do it. Say you're planning a quarter-page display ad in a
magazine. Instead of leaving a lot of white space, so it looks open, and
instead of putting pictures in to catch the eye, fill the whole space with
text! Load it with as much information as you can fit in, without making
it unreadable. To prevent it from looking like a grey blur when the reader's
eyes scan through the page, put a bold, black box around the ad, a bold
headline, and emphasize important words and phrases with bold print.

You can do the same thing with a mailing. Put together a four-page sales
letter loaded with copy, then add a brochure/flyer that re-emphasizes the
important points in even greater detail.

A few cautions with this technique. First, make sure you actually have
something to say! We are so conditioned to being economical with our
words in advertising that it'll be hard to info-load without feeling
repetitious. Instead of rambling on about features, tell customers every
single benefit they'll get from your product/service. BENEFIT is the
important word.

Give Info-Loading a try. Depending on your audience and what you're
trying to sell, you may find that info-loading can load more sales into
your bank account!

YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS
********************

This report covers two topics where consumer rights is extremely critical,
and where mis-information often causes consumers a lot of money and
a lot of frustration. The two products are:

1. Consumer Credit
2. Insurance

CONSUMER CREDIT
***************

Consumer credit reporting agencies (CRAs) collect credit information on
you from banks, department stores, credit card companies, and other types
of financial institutions that may extend you credit.

CRAs make money selling the information they have in their databank,
including information about your credit profile. Because of this, it is
only prudent that you exercise your legal rights as a consumer, know what
is in your credit file, make sure they are accurate and challenge it and
have it corrected when necessary.

CRAs are required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act to tell you the contents
of your file. There are several ways to contact a CRA:

IF DECLINED FOR A LOAN, call the lender who is required by the FCRA to give
you the name, address and phone number of the CRA it used in evaluating your
loan application.

IF YOU'RE JUST CURIOUS, you can find out the contents of your file by
calling the CRA nearest you. They are usually listed in the hponebook under
Credit Reporting Agencies.

If your report contains inaccurate information, you may challenge the
inclusion of it in your file. One option: If a lender has made an error,
point it out to the lender and request that corrected information be sent
to the CRA.

(more...)

INSURANCE
*********

LEARN SECRETS THE INSURANCE COMPANIES
DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW...

Mr. Larry Blakemore, an insurance industry specialist, has produced a
series of consumer reports that focus on the insurance industry and
some of the industry secrets that insurance companies DO NOT want
consumers to know.

There are 6 reports in the series, each report reveals secrets on how to
save money and how to buy insurance intelligently. I also reveal claim
procedures and claim techniques used by most of the major insurance companies
in the country.

Each report is $12.50, with shipping and handling already included.
To request for more information, send a postcard to:
THE CONSUMER INFORMATION BUREAU
5521 GREENVILLE AVE. #104251
DALLAS , TEXAS 75206

69.
THE PROBLEM WITH
MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING

What's so wrong with MLM? There are a lot of people who won't get involved
with MLM plans because they lack the deep down enthusiasm that's needed for
the long term in a MLM environment.

A lot of people who want to try a product being sold by MLM sometimes get
turned off because of the "networking/business" aspect of MLM. Why can't I
just be a consumer without becoming a "network" participant, without being
assigned to a marketing level.

MLM businesses can be better off if only they advertise their product and
have less emphasis on recruiting their downline.

In fact, I never see advertising for products _ just the invitation to
join someone's downline. It's because most MLM organizations are set up
with "money" being the deriving force in their business.

They make more money by recruiting people into the program and the purchase
of marketing materials and sales aides. While this is not true with all MLM
companies _ it is true for most of them.

Did you ever get one of those announcements in the mail for free tickets
to a seminar that claims to set you up in business? Have you ever attended
one? Well let me tell you _ the speaker is trained to push and motivate
their audience. Most people are hit with such a sales pitch that they
almost run each other over buying the starter kit for $349.95 at the end
of the meeting. Then, when they get home they want to shoot themselves for
buying something that still doesn't put them in business. It's sad for the
average guy or gal who really just wants to make some honest money in a
business of their own.

Wouldn't it seem logical _ if someone put together a catalog of products
that other people could purchase WITHOUT joining into a MLM program? In
fact, they could generate some sales for their products instead. What
holds them back from doing so? It is the fact that the organization wants
people to sell the $349.95 package today because the $5.95 order for the
product itself doesn't make them any money?

Please understand that I'm not talking about every company out on the
market. Watkins, NuSkin, Nutrition for Life and Golden Pride/Rawleigh
each have catalogs of products you can buy without joining their program.
The only problem is that you don't see very many ads for them. Instead you
find ads that state "Make money with me and increase your income." or
"Earn a new car within the next 24-hours!"

Back in the 1940's if you picked up a mail order magazine you saw REAL
products you could order from REAL people. If you wanted a saw blade for
your saw, you sent in a check and ordered one. You didn't join downlines
to sell the saw blades to others in your area. Now _ if you want a blade
for your saw you'd have to either wade through so much hype and bull that
you may never find one. Instead, you just rely on Montgomery Ward or Sears.

See people _ money is being lost in the regular world of mail order simply
because their are no REAL ads being run for REAL products. Pick up a mail
order tabloid and you'll see immediately what I'm talking about. Why is
everyone selling everyone else's stuff? What happened to our individual
creativity? Most of the answer lies in the fact that so much hype is being
pushed on the general public it is ridiculous. People come on TV and tell
you that you can make millions of dollars by running tiny little classified
ads. They show you scenes of people relaxing on their yachts and making
huge bank deposits. Society makes the mail order business world look like
something easy, carefree and non-tiring!

But perhaps, if I purchased a REAL product and loved it so much I might
be enthused enough to join the MLM concept later on down the road Wouldn't
the ultimate goal of building a downline be accomplished also while at the
same time selling the product?

68.
IF SOMEBODY OWES YOU MONEY...

If you are owed money and have not received any payment over a reasonable
period of time, there are several steps you can take to collect, even
before going to the expense of hiring a collection agency or lawyer.

While making these moves, you can collect evidence in case it becomes
necessary to take the matter to court.

CALL THE DEBTOR
This method, handled properly, can have surprisingly successful results.
For best results, have another person of the line to witness the
conversation. In case the debtor denies the call, you have a witness
who can testify otherwise.

WRITE THE DEBTOR
Write a letter that confirms and reviews all the pertinent points of the
telephone conversation. The goal is to make your letter clear enough to
make it stick in court.

IF THE DEBTOR IS A BUSINESS
File a complaint with the BBB or the trade organization in which the
debtor is a member. Make sure you stick to the facts in order to avoid
being sued for libel.

67.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?

Do you still believe in magic? Do you think you can pay $24.95 for a mail
order program and make $5,000 within 30 days? Do you think you can open a
business today and quit your job in 2 weeks? Do you think you can advertise
a 1" ad to 1,000 and expect 800 orders?

It's sad that our push-button, do-everything-for-you-society has taken
away our ability to climb to the top of the hill. Those of us who do have
the stamina have to try twice as hard to "prove" we are not those other
types of people.

Let's all stop pretending we're in business and start learning how to make
it grow into a thriving, honest and reputable company. It is sometimes
hard to be completely honest in everything we do. We could tell a "little
white lie" and get that $120 bucks we so desperately need right now. Oh,
what we have to give up to be honest.

I never lived in the 1800's but I have studied their life-styles quiet
extensively. Back then _ people were not afraid of hard work. In fact,
it never entered their minds to be lazy. If someone in the community was
lazy, they were considered abnormal and were given a bad name. Even as
late as the 1940's, a man that didn't work to support his family was
considered to be piece of "trash."

But in the 1990's it seems that the man who doesn't work, lives on welfare
and sponges off his wife who works two jobs to make ends meet is considered
"cool." The State agencies spent millions of dollars trying to motive him
to go out and find a job and work like he is supposed to.

Employers sometimes contribute to the madness also. Since hard working
people are considered "strange" and "indifferent" in today's society, an
employer will take a hard worker and pile all the work on them that other
people should be sharing in doing. It sometimes feels like hard working
people are fighting a losing battle.

But getting something for nothing is NEVER rewarding. Sure _ you can cheat
the welfare system and get free benefits for awhile, but pretty soon they
will track you down. Sure _ you can sit on the couch and watch television
while your spouse goes out and works 2 jobs, but you'll never have any true
financial rewards in life. Sure _ you can work 8 hours and spend 6 hours on
coffee breaks just to get a paycheck every Friday, but you'll be the first
to go when a lay-off is administered. Sure _ you can forge credit cards,
set up scams, write bad checks and steal innocent people's money, but you
won't get anywhere. You only are taking care of your needs at the present
time _ never building security, pride and respect for yourself.

But hard work pays off. The rewards are not immediate like they would be
if you robbed a bank tonight, but you WILL make lots more money and benefit
yourself in the long-haul. Money is NOT everything. Money cannot buy
respect and love. A poor person running a business, who is honest has
peace of mind. A person who works hard and long hours to give their
customers high-quality receives repeat orders.

And when word gets around that you're honest and trustworthy - people start
noticing you and telling others about you. Respect is much more important
than money because of the repeat rewards it brings you. For instance - when
you think of Howard Hughes you don't think of him with respect. Even though
he had billions of dollars, does anybody really care now? But think about
Martin Luther King or Thomas Edison. Think about some heros you know. Does
it matter to you how much money they had? Don't you remember them for the
hard work and great things they accomplished? Isn't contributing to
society and the betterment of mankind much more valuable than the money
you have in your bank account?

Take pride in yourself. Hold your head up and do an honest day's work.
Yes - being honest has great rewards.

87.
SOLVING YOUR PROBLEMS CAN BE CHALLENGING & FUN

You're reading the words of a person who has been through more catastrophes
in her lifetime than most people experience in 5! This is not to say that
there are other people who have lived through bad times also, but everyone
should learn the benefits of problems!

Problems help you to find and follow alternate methods, which may lead you
to bigger and better things. If the typewriter ribbon breaks in the middle
of a report that's due in 30 minutes, the boss may understand the situation
is not your fault and grant you extra time to complete it. This extra time
may be what you need to take off the pressure and help you relax to do a
better job.

Problems are also the first step in a new invention. Dr. Scholl's foot
medications would not be around if people had not had problems with corns,
calluses and other ailments. We wouldn't have automobiles today if people
had not had problems getting from place to place quickly. Every single
invention was created because people had problems with something, so
problems can really be motivational!

Problems also help you to meet new friends. If you are recently divorced,
you may join a group and meet some wonderful friends that will bring you
into a better life than the life you were living previously. If you have
a problem getting back and forth to work, you may decide to join a carpool
and save money while meeting others.

Problems also are always a learning experience. You don't actually realize
that fire burns until you get burned with it! Unless a problem occurs, you
do not learn why something happens the way it does. You cannot change your
viewpoints and opinions unless you experience problems first hand.

Problems also cause you to become active in helping others. The organization
M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers) would have never been born if the
founder didn't lose her daughter in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.
That one death has literally changed all the drunk driving laws throughout
the United States and saved MILLIONS of lives!

Without problems, we couldn't solve a lot of future turmoils and save people
a lot of money in business. Any company that introduces a new product will
hire people to try it out before it is introduced to the market. These people
report the problems they find and the company refines it until it's right.
Without problems developing early in these tests, the company could never
improve and fine tune their product to perfection.

Problems and mistakes are also a blessing in disguise. For instance,
Post-It(R) Notes would never have been made possible unless the guy at
the factory didn't mess up mixing the glue recipe. Sure, this is an isolated
incident, but it shows just how important mistakes and problems can be.

However, most people have some perceived notion that making a mistake or
having a problem is "bad." Instead of looking for ways to SOLVE the problem,
they try and live with it, cover it up and conform their life to accept it.
This is silly! There is no problem that can't be solved. There is a solution
to every single problem you can think of. The solution may not always be what
you want it to be _ but it's a solution just the same.

And covering it up is like putting a piece of foil over a piece of spoiled
meat and expecting it not to draw maggots. You have to dispose of the entire
thing before you are finally rid of the problem. Attack the core of the
problem! Dig until you uncover it! Face facts! Admit you have problems!
Stop trying to make people think you are problem-free. It's unnatural! Where
the recognition comes in from people you are trying to impress is when you
SOLVE problems by facing them and inventing a solution.

So, next time you have a problem, look at it logically and with enthusiasm.
That may sound a little strange but most problems can be dealt with this way.
Love the fact that you have problems because they will give you something to
work on and solve. They also will give you a way to invent new ways of doing
something _ new ways that will save you time and make you happier with your
life. And when you solve problems, you not only gain experience in solving
other problems as they occur, but you build respect for yourself. Then you
can have the admiration of all those people you originally started out trying
to impress and gain recognition from _ if you still care about having it.

You also will find that when you look at problems with a POSITIVE mind, you
will accomplish more, relieve stress and combat fear _ which is the worst
enemy and destroyer of all!

86.
HOW TO WIN OVER
YOUR FEARS

If you really want to do something
you will always find a way.
But if you don't want to do it,
you will find execuses.

The easiest way to combat fear is by not using excuses. Instead, you need
to look for positive approaches to accomplish your goal. If you want to
start a business, attend a meeting at the Better Business Bureau. Read some
national magazines like "Income Opportunities" or "Spare Time."
Start reading the business section of your newspaper. Gather some ideas
and do a little reading before actually jumping into a business. Surely
you can find some spare time to read.

Also, begin associating yourself with people who are in their own business
already. If you're afraid to go out and make new friends, attend local
business-related seminars in your community. Start watching television
shows that are related to business. You'll eventually find people to
associate with who know others and you'll be the part of a new crowd -
the motivating ones!

FEAR is always your enemy. Look at it this way: If you never try,
FEAR wins by 100%. However, if you do try, FEAR only has a chance of
winning by 50%. If you needed a place to live and only had $10 to your
name would you allow FEAR to win and make you homeless? No, most of us
would find a job or borrow the money to have a roof over our heads! FEAR
is the root of failure, depression and lifelong problems. Are you going
to let FEAR ruin your life?

FEAR also will cause you to lose out on many other things in life.
If you FEAR the boss at work is going to fire you _ it will naturally
be on your mind day in and day out. It will eventually wear you down and
you will begin making mistakes on the job. You will also get depressed
and build up resentments that may have never been there in the first place.
Facing FEAR head on is the best way to combat it. If you think the boss
is going to fire you _ go up and ask him. It takes guts, but isn't it better
than putting yourself through many months of agonizing torture? Are you
full of so much FEAR to even ask him because you think it will trigger
him to say "yes" when he might not have been considering it at all? Believe
me _ asking a boss "if" they are thinking about firing you will put you
in no different position than you are now. In fact _ it will have the
opposite effect. The boss will more than likely respect you for your
candidness and ability to face FEAR head-on.

Is FEAR holding you back from a lot of things? Are you afraid to confront
people and tell them how you really feel? Do you smile in their face and
talk about them behind their back? What's so hard about being truthful

but using tact? Doesn't it get rid of FEAR and solve many problems?

Complaining is also an act that emotionally drains you and goes
hand-in-hand with FEAR. In fact, FEAR is normally the root of any complaint.
People don't want to admit their FEAR so they will complain to release some
tension. This is a crazy merry-go-round! Instead of complaining, try to find
ways to solve the problem.

85.
MAKING MONEY WITH HOME-MADE BOOKLETS

Self-publishing home-made booklets and/or manuals is probably the easiest
way to break into your own Information Marketing business. Even if you do
not have training as a writer, you still can research and compile
information on interesting subjects.
You can self-publish just by typing your book or manual and having a
competent typesetter place it in camera-ready format for you.
Once the book or manual is ready for printing, ask your typesetter to
print out 10 or 15 copies on their laser printer. You'll probably have
to pay extra for the copies, but it's cheaper in the long run. If you want
50 or 100 copies, take the master the typesetter sends you and have them
printed at the local copy shop.

Once several copies are printed and bound, you can begin marketing them.
Advertise the book or manual in the mail order publications or other
publications geared toward the target market you are attempting to sell to.
(In other words, don't sell a book about collecting dolls in Sports
Illustrated.) Send sample copies to publishers who offer reviews and
write-ups to take advantage of free advertising. You could even send a
free sample to the publisher of a well-known tabloid and ask for a plug
if they enjoyed the book.

Most mom-and-pop operations will allow you to place your book in their
store for 40% to 50% of the cover price. This way, copies that don't sell
won't cost you anything. All you have to do is check up on them once or
twice per week and make sure they are easy to find on the rack to attract
the eye of the potential customer. And if your booklet is filled with
recipes or local folklore _ local businesses will be thrilled to promote
and carry your book on their shelves. Local people love to read books about
their community and keep them as collectors items.

By marketing your own product _ orders will come directly to you or be
controlled by you. If you sell through the mail, you simply mail a copy
of your book or manual with a cover letter thanking the customer for their
order. Believe it or not _ It's that simple! And best of all _ you keep
all the profits which is better than sharing the money with another
publisher who dropships for you.

Yes, there will be some costs involved in advertising, printing and
mailing to promote your self-published book or manual; but do you know
the costs involved in sending drafts out to publishers for acceptance?
Believe me, it runs into the $1,000's! And big companies who will publish
your book for you start out with costs of $10,000.00 or more without the
guarantee that you will even make one sell!
One of the easiest types of books to publish and sell through the mail are 5x8"
booklets. To get a sample of one of mail order's most popular 5x8" publications,
send $2 to Graphico Publishing, PO Box 488, Bluff City TN 37618 and request
a sample copy of The GrapeVine Journal. Examine how it is put together and
how it is printed.

If you really want to save money and put your own booklets together,
simply have them printed and shipped to you. Then, you will collate the
pages in the proper sequence, staple them in the middle (called saddle
stitching), fold in half and you're done. The only office tool you need
to invest in is a long-armed stapler. One can be purchased at your local
office supply store or through Quill or Viking (two main mail order office
supply companies.) The current price is around $40. A printer, Kem's Graphics,
549 Friendship Rd, Seneca SC 29678 specializes in low-cost printing of
booklets but if you want to do-it-all-yourself, any good mail order printer
will print them and ship back to you. All you pay for is the 2-sided printing
price.

Plan your next book, manual or other publication and enjoy the benefits
of keeping all the proceeds. It's really a fantastic way to make some extra
money while still keeping your job and your steady income.

84.
WHAT MAKES A MAIL ORDER CATALOG SUCCESSFUL?

Does the job sound prestigious to you? If so _ you have never been a
Publisher; especially a mail order Publisher. Overhead expenses for printing
and mailing are financially draining and every month you are held to
stringent deadlines. You also must know what you're doing to generate enough
paid advertising to meet expenses for every single issue. Sometimes, you
have to take a big loss and end up spending your own money just to get the
issue out. Yes _ there is a bad side to being a Publisher!

But if you are just starting out and you want to become a Publisher, you
should start small and get your "feet wet." One easy and excellent way to
start your publishing career is to start your own short and simple 3x6" or
5x8" unclassified ad column.

Choose a publication that you wish to run your small unclassified ad column
in. Try and start with a minimum 20,000 circulation. Select some well-known
publishers who advertise in adsheets and tabloids and print their ads
instead. Make sure they get a copy of your unclassified ad column with a
note explaining that you ran their ad free of charge so they could give your
publication a try. Most of these advertisers will send you a paid order back
because they will appreciate your generosity.

However, they will also tell others about you and generate free word-of-mouth
advertising. Word soon gets out about people who try to help others and your
business booms! Publishing any type of publication that is dominated by your
own ads certainly shows that you are a new publication without any
advertisers. This is bad publicity _ especially since this is your first
issue and you're trying buying something is satisfied and makes a repeat
purchase. In fact, newcomers are eager to learn and will buy anything to get
started learning. By taking advantage of them only means that you will make
one sale in that person's lifetime. But if the product is good and worthwhile
they will order from you again and again. Many newcomers today will be big
businesses tomorrow. And I'm sure if a newcomer found a honest company that
really helped them break into the mail order field they would continue to do
business with them when they really did make millions of dollars. See what I
mean? The back-end sales for a lifetime would be worth the investment.

I'm not saying that you can take a piece of "junk mail" claiming to make the
person $1 million in 30 days or less and turn it into a valuable and
worthwhile product. Since this is a downright lie, there is no way to market
this honestly. However _ you can study the piece of "junk mail" to determine
what words and phrases were used and how the ad is written so you can
understand how to present a REAL product that people will be eager to buy.

Then, pass the word and tell every new person you come into contact with
about these pie-in-the-sky-schemes. You might even want to try writing to
some of the people listed on the chain letters. Explain how all this "junk
mail" only appeals to their emotional needs and how the company who
originally wrote these materials are USING them to only get their money.
If everyone passed along this information _ it wouldn't take very many years
before we could put a stop to all this nonsense.

83.
HOW TO USE CUSTOMER RESPONSE CARD

We all do it. If we get good service or order a product we like _ we order
from the company again. However, if there is something we don't like or are
dissatisfied with the service in any way, shape or form, we never bring it
to the attention of the company. We simply don't use their services again
and think that solves the problem.

Let me share with you something that happened here locally to me. A new
pizza shop moved into the neighborhood and I decided to try them out. When
I placed my order I informed them that they had been highly recommended and
this was my first order. When I picked up the pizza and brought it home it
was HORRIBLE! I couldn't believe I actually paid $14 for the thing. It wasn't
even worth $2 in my opinion.

Naturally, I had made up my mind never to order from this particular pizza
shop again _ but a few days later the owner called me to ask my opinion on
what I thought of the pizza. (He had got my phone number off the check I paid
my order with.)

Feeling a little embarrassed and reluctant to tell him how horrible it was,
I said, "It was okay but not something I would order again." The owner became
very interested and asked me to give him more specifics. I explained that the
sauce was too tangy and there was not enough cheese or pepperoni on the pizza
_ even though I ordered double of both items. He asked me to give his pizza
one more try, but this time it would be free of charge. I accepted.

And guess what? The quality was greatly improved and I am now a steady
customer. You can use the same situation for your mail order business.
Only you can't afford to call everyone that orders from you. That is where
the "Customer Response Card" is vital to your growing business. You hardly
ever see them in mail order because people don't think they really work.
That's because they have never put them to use. That's where you can be
different and innovative _ and profitable _ all at the same time.

"Customer Response Cards" can easily be typeset by any competent
typesetter. They should ask such questions of the customer, as:
How do you rate our service? Was the quality of our product or
service excellent, good, fair or poor? What would you suggest for
us to do in order to improve our services? Would you order from us
again? Any additional comments?

Lines should be left for the customers' name, address and telephone number.
In addition, the "Customer Response Card" should be pre-addressed with your
address and preferably pre-stamped for their convenience.

If you decide to use "Customer Response Cards" they will serve a very
important function in your daily business. First of all, when customers
receive them they will know you are concerned about them and their order.
They will feel important that you have asked for their opinion and will feel
free to make helpful suggestions, complain or brag about your company.

However, you must keep in mind that a complaint is NOT a reflection on you
personally. A complaint should be an indication that there is some unfinished
business to take care of. Almost 90% of the time, if you listen and try to
understand a customer complaint _ the customer is more than satisfied.

Then, if you offer to make up for the difference or offer them free services
or a money-saving coupon on their next order, they will be much more than
satisfied. Not only have you kept a customer but built a trust with them at
the same time.

Solve complaints from "Customer Response Cards" as quickly as possible.
Customers may make a complaint on a postcard more readily than calling you
or writing you a letter. This helps draw your attention to problems before
they get out of hand _ problems you might not even know existed!

And never forget to thank your customers for providing you with their
opinion. You could send them back a discount coupon to use on items you sell
on their next order or simply send them a "Thank You" card. Remember that a
customer's opinion is worth its weight in gold. There are professional m
arketing firms that are paid $1,000's of dollars per year by companies to
find out what people really think of their products. A "Customer Response
Card" is a very low-cost way of determining trends and interests that your
customer market has. If you keep on top of things, you will never have to
hire these high-paid professionals. You'll know more than they do!

82.
SELECTING YOUR FIRST COMPUTER

There are still a lot of mail order dealers and regular everyday people
performing their daily office and accounting duties by hand. This is unfor-
tunate because a computer system will cut your workload up to 80% _ thereby
leaving you more time to market and develop new products. Plus _ it's fun.

There has not been one single person that I have trained or knew, that after
learning what a computer could do for them, thought it was a bad idea. In
fact, everyone couldn't understand "how" they did without one and will never
go back to the old method again.

Of course, most people are either "afraid" or don't feel they have the time
to learn a computer system. They like the old way of doing things because it
works for them. But _ if you want your business to boom _ you must invest in
some type of computer system.

For the beginner to the world of computers, you really don't need a system
with a lot of "frills" to complicate your learning process. There are lots
of older XT's and word processors on the market in the $250-$400 range.
That's about the same amount you would pay for a typewriter and it's much
more efficient.

A basic system will handle mundane tasks without error, keep your mailing
lists updated, labels printed and basic accounting functions. The best place
to begin looking for a computer system for YOUR particular needs is a
national, monthly publication entitled "Computer Shopper." Their address is
PO Box 51020, Boulder CO 80321 and a 1-year subscription is currently $21.97.
This gigantic book/magazine It's packed with over 700 pages per issue of the
lowest prices and highest quality computer services around. In addition,
if you study the contents you will gain a terrific computer education. Don't
be afraid to call manufacturers and ask specific questions on a system they
are selling. Explain your needs (and possible future needs if you know them)
and ask the sales person for advice.

Don't take everything the salesperson says as "gospel" and call around. Don't
be worried about not understanding computer language. If you study the ads in
your "Computer Shopper" things will begin to make sense. (To a lot of people,
this magazine is the bible of the computer business.)

Check with other manufacturers to find out what they have to say. Compare
prices. The only thing you need to keep in mind is determining exactly what
you are planning to use your computer system for. Not everyone needs desktop
publishing, engineering functions and costly word processing software. You
may be able to obtain your software programs through Shareware and Freeware
(low-cost or free programs). Take your time and ease into your new
computerized office very slowly. You'll love the change!

In the meantime, here are a few low-cost computer systems you may want to
check out. Just keep in mind that things change over time and these prices
may not be current at the time you are reading them. However, they will give
you some type of starting point until you get your hands on a "Computer
Shopper":

286/12 Computer System with 40 megabyte hard drive, 1 megabyte of RAM (random
access memory), 3 1/2" floppy drive, 5 1/4" floppy drive, 14" black and white
monitor. $499 from H&J Electronics, 800-275-2447

386SX/40 Computer System with 125 megabyte hard drive, 2 megabyte RAM,
3 1/2" floppy drive, 5 1/4" floppy drive, 14" color monitor. $799 from
Midwest Micro, 800-572-8844

486SX/25 Computer System with 120 megabyte hard drive, 4 megabyte RAM,
3 1/2" floppy drive, 14" color monitor. $1,295 or $50 per month from NCR
(an AT&T Company), 800-398-6346

Used Computers and Equipment. Just call General Electric Rental/Lease,
800-875-3396

81.
HOW TO FIND QUALITY PRINT AND MAIL DEALERS

There has been a lot of talk going around mail order that most Print and Mail
dealers are rip-offs. In fact, some people claim that all Print and Mail
dealers are this way. Many mail order entrepreneurs have been able to build
my business through them in the past. Think about it _ if all Print and Mail
dealers were crooks, why do all of us receive tons of mail every day?

The problem lies in the fact that there are people involved in Print and Mail
that are rip-offs. It's an easy thing to do. Advertise that you will Print
and Mail 5x8 circulars for $8 per 1,000. When orders come in, pocket the
money and throw the customer's ad in the trash. The customer won't know the
difference. Most won't keep tabs on who they sent a Print and Mail order to
and no one can trace if you, in fact, actually printed and mailed their ad.

When a rip-off P&M dealer get caught, news travels fast within the mail
order industry! In addition, they will be inundated with phone calls or
letters asking "why" a checking copy was not received. Someone will even-
tually publish your name as a rip-off artist and they'll be publicized as a
"bad" dealer. When this happens _ they might as well kiss their mail order
business career good-bye.

And don't think they can just open another post office box under another name
and commit the same scam. The Simmons Company is California was notorious for
several years of selling his "Turn-A-Copy", nicknamed "Turn-A-Junk." Just
prior to the holidays, he would begin advertising his scam for $14.95 to get
money for Christmas. Not only was this guy made a laughing stock but the
postal authorities were alerted and he soon had trouble opening up a post
office box anywhere in his county. Mr. Simmons would have had to actually
move or drive several hundred miles just to open up a post office box to
commit his scam again _ which is hard to do for an old man.

Most people don't realize that they can't fool the post office for long
periods of time. Once they are blackballed and their post office box closed
computers make it handy to alert other area post office's so it will be hard
to obtain a post office box. Some people will have relatives and friends open
one up for them _ but again _ the post office box will be closed and all the
mail seized when the scam is uncovered again.

Therefore, YOU the customer must use sound judgment before using a Print and
Mail dealer. Check out their reputation. If in doubt, send in a small order;
code it and monitor the responses to it. When you find a honest Print and
Mail dealer (and there are quite a few), stick with that person. Give them
your repeat business. Support them and their business will grow. Eventually,
the honest dealers will outshine the dishonest ones. In other words _ don't
be a fool. Don't spend your money for a "pig in a poke." It doesn't make good
business sense.

So, you might say, "What's wrong with spending $2 for a possible 10,000
circulation? Even if the ad only makes it in 25 or 50 copies, it's nothing
to lose $2." However, by thinking this way, you are keeping rip-off artists
in business. The fact is _ your ad will be thrown in the trash and you've
given the rip-off another $2 to buy a pack of cigarettes and laugh at you
for making it all possible.

When you look through the mail order tabloids, be cautious of anyone claiming
to do a print and mail for less than $25 per 1,000 (exception of tabloids
printed on web presses.) The normal price for 5,000 sheets of 20-pound bond
paper (a case) is around $25 or $6.25 per 1,000. The ink and time needed to
run your job costs another $4 _ we're up to $10. Now the dealer only has $15
left to pay for postage and make a profit for his/her business. That's
cutting it close. So there is no way anyone can print and mail 1,000
circulars for $6 or even $10 unless they are a multi-millionaire with nothing
to do but spend money and take losses.

If you send an advertisement to your local newspaper, there is never any
doubt that they will keep your money and not print the paper that particular
day. It's sad that the mail order industry cannot say the same thing _ but
perhaps one day it will. It's up to every one of us to use sound judgement
in spending our own money.

70.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY PUBLISHING YOUR VERY
OWN NEWSLETTER

People who sell information are still very unfamiliar with the profitable
marketing advantage newsletters can actually be to their business. In fact,
most of these people will avoid them completely simply because they don't
understand them; even though newsletters carry an air of prestige about
them.

Most of us are already familiar with what a newsletter is. Almost every
church, organization, club or group publishes their own newsletter for
their particular members. Then, there are corporate newsletters that are
distributed by the larger companies. In this case, newsletters are
normally given to employees to keep them in touch with management
activities and new policies and procedures.

There are also some national newsletters. These are normally targeted to
a specific group of people like business managers and corporate executives.
There is a BIG difference between newspapers and newsletters.

Newspapers normally contain the "whole" story, while newsletters only
present the "cream of the crop," or the "best of the best" in a condensed
format. In addition, newsletters are short, while newspapers are long. If
you receive a 4-page company newsletter, you can read every single word in
less than 20 minutes. But do you know anyone that reads every single word
of a newspaper? Don't most people just flip through the pages and only
read what is interesting to them?

Newsletters are intended for a specific target market. Look at some of
the examples we have cited previously. Club newsletters are published for
its members, just like church newsletters are published for their
congregation. You never find a Baptist Church taking out a 12-month
subscription for a Catholic newsletter. And you never see the Boy Scouts
subscribing to the Alcoholics Anonymous monthly newsletter. Newsletters
are intended for a specific target market.

When mail order and small business was a smaller industry, the total
amount of circulation (how many copies were printed and distributed) was
sufficient for generating orders and marketing. However, in the 1990's
mail order and small business has literally boomed! Large companies have
been forced into bankruptcy and laying off workers. These highly skilled
workers decided to open their own mail order and small businesses instead
of risking another unemployment crisis! People soon found it more
profitable and secure to work for themselves.

So, because the mail order and small business industry has grown so vast -
it is now necessary to narrow your market and advertise your products to a
specific target-market. Back in the old days mail order basically consisted
of marketing small gadgets, jewelry and recipe books. But now, mail order
is one of the leading industries in the world! You can purchase anything
from groceries to clothing to electronics to long-distance telephone
services through the mail - including anything in-between.

Now, because of these wide variety of different items being purchased no
business can survive unless they advertise to the target-market of their
specialized products. In other words _ you wouldn't be able to sell exotic
chocolates and desserts to diabetics or software to people who don't own a
computer. Regardless, if you are giving away your product free of charge -
these groups would not be interested in it. So your advertising would be a
waste of time.

Here's where newsletters come in. Since it is much more important in the
1990's to "target" your audience (rather than just simply market to a wide
circulation); you can effectively accomplish this goal by publishing a
newsletter.

Newsletters are different from other advertising vehicles because you
normally only mail them to a subscription list. Subscribers will pay you
a certain amount, per year, to receive your newsletter. This means, you
are paid UP FRONT but you must budget this money throughout the year, or
the length of the subscription. But don't let this scare you! Since some
publishers are used to dealing with a minimum circulation of 1,000 or
5,000 per issue _ most will feel like it's not worthwhile to publish a
newsletter to only 25, 50 or 100 people.

But, you must keep a very important fact in mind. While the amount of your
circulation will be decreased _ you will be mailing to people who will
READ and STUDY EVERY SINGLE ISSUE! That fact makes newsletter publishing
one of the big differences in your marketing efforts.

71.
BOOKKEEPING FOR DUMMYS

Please don't think I am calling you a "moron" to hurt your feelings in any
way. I was a moron when I first started setting up my files. I hated
accounting in school and am the type that would much rather add 2+2 on a
calculator than in my head _ but you have to do it. You have to force
yourself to do it NOW _ right at the beginning! Many of a business has
collapsed simply because they lacked organization in their basic accounting
business practices. Don't be one of them!

As a small mail order business you don't have to really do much in the
beginning. Here is how to set up your files from ground zero:

1. Take out a hanging file folder and a label of any kind. (Hanging
folders and labels for them can be purchased at K-Mart, Wal-Mart and any
office supply store.)
2. Type or hand print "Receipts" on the label and place it on the hanging
folder.
3. Now, place 5 MANILA file folders inside the hanging file folder (which
you labeled "Receipts") and label each of the manila file folders with the
following headings: a. Advertising b. Postage c. Office Supplies
d. Utilities and Rent for the Office
e. Miscellaneous

You now have one large hanging file folder with 5 separate manila file
folders inside it. Carefully place your hanging file folder in your metal
file cabinet or cardboard banker's box. (A banker's box can be purchased
at any office supply store also and normally cost around $4.)

Now, wasn't that easy? Some of you reading this will think that I am
attempting to insult your intelligence. This is NOT my intention. This
report is broken down in a simple, step-by-step way so everybody can
understand it _ regardless of their previous knowledge and experience.
Remember, some people have never worked in an office their entire life.
What seems simple and accepted to some of us, may be something another
person would never have known.

Okay, let's go back to where we were. You now have one master file
completed and we're ready to make another just like it. This time we'll
name the hanging file folder "Income" and label 3 manila folders inside
it with the following headings: (A) Completed and Shipped Orders
(B) Inquiries and Correspondence. (C) Open Orders Still Pending.

See how easy? From now on, you simply make another folder as the need
arrives and you're files will always be easy to maintain. (Once you get
this concept down pat _ you can easily think about getting a computer.
A computer organizes its information in the SAME manner. Believe me -
this same system works! You'll be amazed at how many mistakes it will
help you prevent.)

Yes - bookkeeping is a very simple process. All you have to do is keep
the system going. For instance, every order that I process, I completely
finish before moving on to the next order. Example:

1. Mail is received and opened. As each piece is opened it is placed into
individual piles. Orders with pre-payment are placed in one pile,
information and daily correspondence in another, and so forth.

2. Each order that has been pre-paid for is processed first - with each
one being processed individually to completion. (That means it is in an
envelope, a label typed out and the completed order is ready to be mailed
at the post office.)

3. During the process, the "date," "amount of check or payment" and
"product ordered" is recorded on the outside of the envelope - making sure
the customer's full name, address and telephone number (if available) is on
the envelope too.

4. Just before closing up the office for the evening, the envelopes are
then keyed into the database on our computer (you can substitute a computer
for the hanging files in the beginning.) We record all the information that
was written on the envelopes during the processing of the order. (Don't
think you will remember "what" the order was. That thinking will open you
up to make human errors.)

As your business grows, your understanding and abilities will grow also. At
that time you can grow into a more sophisticated means of keeping the books.

80.
MARKETING YOUR OWN PRODUCTS AND IDEAS

One of the main problems within the "inner circle" of the mail order business
is that everyone is selling everyone else's products. Pages crammed full with
commission dealerships is turning a good thing out of hand.

It's been said over and over again, but newcomers to the industry should
realize that they need to develop their own products and services. Commission
dealerships are fine to compliment your business if the product is relative
to your main product, but everyone should strive for developing their OWN
product too. No one will ever get rich dealing in just commission dealer-
ships. And people who think this way will give up over a period of time
because they go broke. Let's stop this madness and spread the word about
becoming a Prime Source.

How do you develop your own specialized product or service? It may take a
few months to get your "feet wet" in mail order to determine your particular
"nitch." However, you should already know the talents you possess inside
yourself and what your own capabilities are. There has to be more to your
business than making money!

What are your hobbies and interests? What would you like to do more than
anything else and would you do it if you were not getting paid? For instance,
I personally enjoy publishing newsletters. I get a serge of electricity when
I am working on them and wish my body would last 24-hours a day so I could
work on them all the time. This is loving what you do.

On the other hand, this may sound really crazy to you. Perhaps you would
rather write, edit, paste-up or seal envelopes. I remember Dorothy Christian
(Shells 345) once explaining to me the "high" she used to get when doing a
mass mailing. She loved peeling off labels, sticking them on envelopes and
folding the materials to insert. She said that every envelope she stuffed,
she felt it would generate a big customer order. This is enthusiasm!

Therefore, Dorothy could have developed a specialized or confidential
mailing service. Unlike a big mail where she would be mailing circulars in
envelopes, but a targeted-mailing for different programs and products.
(Example: A circular selling books and reports would be marketed only to
book buyers from lists Dorothy would purchase and use for these types of
mailings. She also would be careful not to put any conflicting information
in this special mailing she was preparing for specific customers.)

You can take anything you sell and creatively turn it into your own prime
source product. A good friend of mine, Helen VanAllen loved to prepare big
mails so she created the "Design-Your-Own-Big-Mail-Package." Customers were
presented with a list of the circulars Helen had on hand and they checked off
the ones that interested them. This is one example of how an old concept can
be turned into something new with a twist that makes it YOUR OWN product.

There are several ideas that other mail order folks used to create their own
product. You can use the same concept locally also. If you sell vitamins, for
instance, you could sell them in individual packets and label them for each
day of the week. Use the vitamins from the company you are working with but
the individual packets and labels would be your own product. You can also
charge more for this personal touch.

You are unique! You are an individual who has special talents and interests.
Your business should be a reflection of YOU and your own contribution to mail
order. Mail order is a wonderful business, filled with some of the best
people in the world. But it's up to every one of us to keep it that way.

79.
HOW TO WRITE A PRESS RELEASE

The word "Press Release" seems to scare most people to death. On top of that
not many people take the time to even think of writing their own Press
Release. We hope this brief article will help clear up some of the mystery's
surrounding this simple form of marketing.

The first thing you have to remember is that a Press Release is a "news"
item. It needs to "inform" people, NOT sell them something. For example,
you are reading this report because you want to learn something that will
BENEFIT YOU. You aren't reading it just so you can buy something else. If
money is the deriving force in your business _ you won't go too far. Your
main goals should be in pleasing customers, providing them with a high-
quality product and more than their money's worth. The trick is to do all
this while still making money. People don't care what mountains you had to
climb, what seas you had to cross or what tribe of people you had to learn
the ways of just to find a secret formula. Instead _ they want to know WHAT
the secret formula is.

The sales circulars you print and mail sell your product. A Press Release
informs others about your product. Instead of your main objective being to
sell the product and have the customer send in an order immediately, a Press
Release informs the customer exactly how your product will benefit their
lives. This must be conveyed in the form of a "newsworthy" Press Release.
If you have a sales circular to sell a product, you can easily turn it into
a Press Release without much difficulty. It's just a new marketing angle of
presenting your product to the public.

The following is an example of a typical Press Release for our publishing
services: So many people are entering the mail order market these days, but
so many of them are getting ripped-off by a bunch of hype. People are
promised untold riches in a short period of time. The hype ads play with
their emotions by making them believe it's so easy to make money through the
mail. It's sad.

However, a new book has just been released to help solve these problems for
the average person. For the first time in history _ a REAL directory has been
compiled listing the ACTUAL name and addresses of 179 honest and trustworthy
mail order folks. People can write DIRECTLY to these people and receive FREE
information to get them started in their own business now!

It's unbelievable. Without trying to sell you anything else, you can get this
book for only $4.95 _ a price anyone can afford. Meet the real mail order
dealers who care about their products and wants to help you get started doing
what they are doing.

Only available from Graphico Publishing, PO Box 488, Bluff City TN 37618.
As you can see, this is a short but sweet Press Release _ however, you should
be able to see the "newsworthiness" in it. It's main focus is on the fact
that most people get ripped-off when they start their first mail order
business. The solution to this problem is a new directory that is available
for the first time in history. The sell is slowly led into because the reader
will naturally want to get their hands on this one. It doesn't ask for money
it only tells the reader how to get a copy if they want one.

Here's a great test for a real press release. Since your final sales pitch is
included in the last paragraph _ read the Press Release aloud. Would it still
be worth reading WITHOUT your sales pitch? If so, it's probably a Press
Release.

Press Releases come in many forms due to the product you are writing about.
However, the basic rule of thumb still applies. If you've never wrote one
before _ it may be a little difficult. Don't despair. Grab the latest daily
newspaper and read some of their informational articles. Notice how each
article is written and pattern yours after the same format. After you do a
few of them _ you'll be able to "get the picture."

When your Press Release is written to your satisfaction, the proper way to
submit it to a publisher is: Be sure and type it on a typewriter or computer.
Standard format is double-spaced and not longer than two 8 1/2x11 pages.
Be sure and put your name, address and page number at the top of each page.

Write the note: "For Immediate Release." at the top. If you are only sending
the press release to one publication _ tell them it's a "first run."
78.
COMMISSION CIRCULARS: HOW TO MAKE $5,000 FOR EVERY PAGE YOU COPY

Everyone that starts out learning the mail order business is normally
introduced to Commission Circulars very early in the game. You have probably
seen ads claiming "how you can make money - sometimes as much as $5,000 - for
every page you copy".

Just by making copies of pages, I can make money? Sure - but that's not all
what it takes.

Commission Circulars are ads that are already typeset and photocopy-ready.
All you have to do is stamp or type YOUR name and address in the "order from"
box. Then, all you need to do is make copies or print and mail these
circulars.

It's a very simple process and serves an excellent purpose for many people.
Commission Circulars allow a person to make money without handling the
product. Orders normally will come directly from the customer to YOU. You
keep 50% or more of the money and send the rest, with the customer's order
to the dealer. The dealer will process the customer's order and ship it
directly to them. Your only function is to take your money out of envelopes
and re-mail the rest of the order and money to the dealer who is the prime
source of the product. Some people base their business on Commission
Circulars alone. Some people really love separating copies, stamping their
name with a rubber stamp, collating and stuffing envelopes and mailing them
at the post office. Some businesses get their families involved because
children can help in most phases of this business process. It's really a fun
hobby for some people.

However, what happens if you are not right for Commission Circulars? What if
you are just getting started in the mail order business and don't mail more
than 10 letters per week? What if you don't know anybody to send the
circulars to? Some people will tell you to buy a mailing list _ but can you
really afford to spend $290.00 for first-class postage to mail to 1,000
people at this time? Besides, 1,000 people probably wouldn't bring in more
than 2 or 3 orders. If you are only getting $2 or $3 commission from the
circular _ you'd go broke quick!

You need to ask yourself several questions before ordering Commission
Circulars. First and foremost, you need to determine how much you are mailing
per month. If your postage costs are less than $200 every 30 days, it
probably won't pay you to order Commission Circulars. However, if the
Commission Circular can become a part of your mailing without causing you an
extra postage expense, you might consider them.

Commission circulars bring in good profits only when they are mailed to a lot
of people _ 1,000 won't cut it. Big mail dealers who process tons of mail per
week and mail to thousands every month benefit the most from Commission
Circulars. They have the volume it takes to participate in this type of
business and will generate enough orders to make them pay for themselves.

There are a number of ways though for the new beginner to take part in
Commission Circular mailings and receive a response that is sufficient.
One way is to take part in Co-Op Printing deals. Read and study the mail
order publications and you will find several good co-op printing deals.
This is where you send a circular to a printer. He or she will print a
certain number of copies. Your ad will be printed on 1-side and the printer's
ad will be printed on the other. They will send all the copies back to you
and you are responsible for mailing them. This immediately cuts your printing
costs in half! A lot of people use this method if they do monthly bulk
mailings or mail a lot. (Just be sure the ad the printer puts on the back of
your ad is something that doesn't compete with items you are selling).

If you don't do a lot of mailings and/or you don't want the hassle of
stuffing and mailing a lot of envelopes, you can advertise your circular
in a mail order publication. At a standard rate of $25 per 1,000 _ you can
get your circular printed and mailed without any additional work on your
part.

This is the least expensive way to take part in Commission Circulars because
you save on postage, envelopes, mailing list of names, folding, stapling and
the time spent carting everything to the post office. Purchase a few Big
Mails and keep up to date on publications and prices.

The third way of getting your Commission Circulars out is by printing them
yourself and having someone else mail them for you. Most bulk mailers (people
who process large volumes of mail) will normally include your 8 1/2x11
circulars in with their own mail for 2c to 4c each. You benefit from the
mailers own mailing list plus you are saved the time of mailing and
processing them.

If you have a office copier or other printing equipment that will make copies
from a camera-ready master, you're in business. Just print as many copies as
you want, box them up and send to the mailer you select.

Commission Circulars are really a great way to help others promote their
products and bring in an income also for you. I myself participate in 3
different commission programs, however I co-publish publications. The only
difference between them and Commission Circulars is the fact that they are
publications. You make money on any advertising ordered through you as well
as subscriptions. Advertising, printing and mailing are the 3 MOST sought
after products in mail order. So naturally, I take part in the promotion of
advertising.

Before participating in any Commission Circular or Co-Publishing effort,
you should always take the time to inspect the product you are promoting.
If it's low in cost, order it before promoting it. This way you will be able
to answer questions if potential customers call or write you about it.

If the product is more than you can afford or you don't want to buy it _ ask
the dealer to send you a brochure or other information. You need to be aware
of any product or service you are promoting because it is a direct reflection
on YOUR company. Your company name is on the circular and people will think
you are the Prime Source.

Think about it this way. Suppose a shoe salesperson came to the door without
any shoes to show you. They had no brochures, no information about their
product and no knowledge of what shoes were available. Would you make a
purchase simply from a price list? Probably not! And your customer probably
won't either. If they do happen to take the time to request more information
get it for them. Don't toss their letter in the trash and not answer it
because you don't know the answer. You could be throwing away a $100 order.
Wouldn't it be worth the 29c investment?

Direct Mail Mailing Tips
If you do decide to mail your own circulars yourself because you want to be
sure they are mailed _ here are some tips to cut costs:

1. Be sure ALL the circulars are printed on BOTH sides of the paper.
This way _ you can get 8 circulars (4 sheets of paper printed on both
sides) in a standard business-size envelope for 32c.

2. Never, never, never put only one sheet of paper in an envelope and mail
it. The person receiving it will be confused and you will automatically
be recognized as a newcomer who loves to waste money!

3. If you choose to include a cover letter with your direct mail, put a
coupon or bonus offer at the bottom of the letter to encourage the
customer to look through your offers and consider them.

4. Fold your circulars in a "Z-fold" when placing them in the envelope
itself. This way, as soon as the envelope is opened the customer does
not have to unfold it. Your best offer or "eye-catcher" is looking
directly at them.

5. When printing circulars on the back of other circulars, turn one of them
upside down. This way, the order coupon for the flyers are not
back-to-back and customers can place two orders from one circular.

6. Place similar or complementing offers in each envelope. Don't put a
hodge-podge of all kinds of different items as this will tend to confuse
the customer. A good combination is: (a) Mailing List, (b) Stamp Program,
(c) Printing or Typesetting, (d) Money-Making Program.

Continually try different ideas to market your products properly. Work on it.
Make a game out of it. Eventually you will hit upon the right combination
that will literally stuff your mailbox with orders!

77.
BEGINNERS TAKE NOTICE!

Would you send Sears $20 and expect them to know you were ordering without
you specifying it in your order form? Would you send your electric company
a check for $15 and expect them to know what account you were making a
payment on? Of course you wouldn't _ so how are mail order businesses
suppose to know what you're ordering or requesting?

And a note like "Send me info" is NOT sufficient enough. Remember the rule
of "who," "what," "when," and "where" we learned in grade school English?
"Send me info" still doesn't tell a business what you are ordering. Most
mail order businesses carry a large number of different products. If they
send you information on everything they sell, not only would it cost a lot
more in postage and require a 9x12 envelope _ but you'll get a lot of
different information on products you may not be interested in. In fact,
the business may not include the information you originally requested
because they had no idea what you were ordering and couldn't afford to send
you everything they have.

Then, to top it off _ some of these people that wrote to the mail order
business requesting information will get upset and file a complaint against
them because they never sent the proper information. This is a big problem
we see getting bigger and bigger and I hope this report will do a small part
in clearing it up.

Okay _ let's be realistic. If you are guilty of inflicting pain on dealers
by not letting us know what you are ordering or requesting information on
don't worry. We don't hate you and want you to hang your head down and slink
away in shame. On the contrary _ we want your business and we want to keep
you happy as a steady customer. The next time you order something, read your
note or letter ONE time before putting it in the envelope and sealing it
shut. Ask yourself if you have provided the business with enough information
to process your order. That's all there is to it!

A correct form of writing a business letter should go something like this:
"Dear (Name): We noticed your ad in (name of publication) and would like more
information on (product or service). Your attention to this matter would be
greatly appreciated." If you don't want to take the time to write this much,
you could just cut out the ad you saw and tape onto your letterhead or a note
paper. Enclose the proper stamps, money or SASE for a reply and you're ready
to fold in an envelope and mail.

And by all means _ place your RETURN ADDRESS on the outside of the envelope.
Believe it or not, I personally receive 100's of orders per year without a
return address with a few dollars stuck inside an envelope. I have no clue
"what" is being ordered and even less of a clue as to "where" to send it.

As mail order dealers, we sometimes believe that we are totally alone in this
business. Since most of us work by ourselves, isolated from most of the
working 9-to-5 world _ the dreaded "lonelinosis" sets in. But remember _
just because we don't see our mail order dealers and distributors face to
face, they are there. This statement may sound a little too elementary, but
sometimes we overlook the obvious. Mail order is full of fine, upstanding
and caring mail order dealers. Every one of us are breathing, thinking human
beings. We fall in love, have personal problems, have bad days, have slow
months, have busy weeks and have lives to lead. A majority of us have
children and all of us have family and friends that occupy our time.

We should all support each other and make as many friends as we can.
Although the world seems like it is self-oriented half the time, the only
person that can begin a change is the one in the mirror. Think of others and
try and be more understanding. I think I speak for all dealers in saying that
we all WANT to fill your orders and process them as quickly as possible.
All we ask if that you let us know WHAT you are ordering or WHERE you saw
our ad so we can send you the correct information you need the first time
around.

76.
MANAGING YOUR TIME BETWEEN WORK & HOME

When you first begin your business, everything is fine and dandy. It's like
bringing home the new baby from the hospital. Everyone visits to see the new
baby. Everyone thinks the baby is cute and wants to hold it. Everyone "oohs"
and "awes." After a few months though, the newness wears off. Now it's time
to get down to raising this new baby and preparing him or her to be success-
ful for their role in life.

A new business suffers about the same type of beginning. You talk the
decision over with your family and involve them in hearing your initial
business plans. Everyone gets excited and tells you to "go for it." Everyone
agrees to help out and the whole house is buzzing about with visions of big
bank deposits dancing in their heads. After a few months though, the newness
wears off. Since you probably haven't made any money, family members may grow
tired and discouraged. They begin degrading your motives for opening the
business in the first place. They may even embarrass you and make you feel
like a total failure without even realizing it.

Eventually, if you stay with the business and exclude the family, they will
begin feeling rejected. A spouse may be upset because you don't go to bed the
same time you used to. He or she may pressure you into spending more time
with them and the children. You love your family and don't want to hurt them
but you don't want to hurt your business either. You are torn between two
decisions, and sometimes this decision is extremely difficult to make.

What are you supposed to do? It's only common sense, if your spouse gets ill
and you have to take care of him or her, that this situation would demand
more attention than your business. But, most situations are not this severe.
Often times, family pressures only come from the fact that the family member
feels left out and rejected. Naturally, when you are building your business,
your time is occupied in this field _ much more than when you didn't have a
business. Your spouse may be used to falling asleep with you while watching
television. You can still do this! Just take a break and watch television
with your spouse until he or she falls asleep. In turn, he or she should have
the understanding that you will probably be working on your business for a
few hours while they are sleeping. Give a little!

If the children are used to you spending more time with them, try and involve
them in some aspect of your business. Take them to the post office with you
to pick up your mail. Talk with them about school or other things that
interest them while you're both in the car. Ask them to drop the mail in the
mailbox while you are cleaning out your post office box. Even a small amount
of responsibility in your business builds up a respect for your work and they
will give you more space when you need to take time away from them.

If your children are young _ take a nap when they are asleep and work longer
hours after they go to bed at night. If you work a full-time job, take some
lunches by yourself and study your business-related materials. You'd be
amazed how much research and new ideas you can come up with in 1 hour at
lunch undisturbed over a peanut-butter sandwich. Save money too! Carry a
mini-cassette recorder or pad of paper with you every place you go. Write
down ideas that come into your mind and review these ideas while eating
supper or watching television. I'm sure you can find time to build your
business _ it just takes a little thought. It may not always be the amount
of time you want and need _ but you can squeeze some time in somewhere. Just
find out "what" method works the best for you!

There are a lot of excellent books on the market about managing your time
successfully. Find one and read it. Your family, friends and other human
relationships are very, very important to your mental attitude. Don't
alienate them completely. Just find ways you can enjoy the best of both
worlds and everyone will be happy _ including you and your business.

75.
DID YOU GET RIPPED OFF AGAIN?

Research and development are a part of my daily mail order business life.
It is extremely beneficial to you and your business to be well informed of
what is going on around you. If you are a mail order business and you don't
have at least 7 or more mail order tabloids in your mail box each week _ you
need to get on more Big Mail lists. You could even have a 1-inch ad typeset
that simply said: "Big Mails Wanted. All Offers Considered. Mail to: (your
name and address)" Advertise this ad in mail order publications and be
flooded with mail from other dealers. Read, study, read, study and study
some more. Build your mail order education free.

As you begin reading and studying these publications, you will read about
people that rip-off others. Rip-off schemes will be exposed through many of
our fine, mail order writers. You will be shown just how these rip-offs make
their money and how you can be on the lookout for others who come along
offering the same rip-off service.

You also will learn valuable lessons and hear advice from other people who
have been ripped-off. You will learn that something that sounds too good to
be true, usually is. Now don't get me wrong. One time a well-known, honest
mail order dealer ran an ad where he offered people FREE advertising to 1,000
if they simply returned the ad they were reading. If I didn't know this
dealer personally, I would normally shy away from the ad. I would probably
think this was "too good to be true" and there was likely a catch to it.
Since I didn't want to waste my time, I might pass up this ad. However, the
ad was TRUE to it's word and worth the effort to respond. However, this is
only one isolated incident.

A good rule of thumb for protecting yourself, your business and your money
is to write a personal letter of inquiry before ordering the product or
service. If you get a chain letter that claims to bring you $50,000 in 30
days, write to some of the people on the chain letter. Ask them if they've
made their $50,000 yet! See how many people respond!

How about that full-page ad in Small Business Opportunities that promises
you the secret to making $100 with 2 sheets of paper? It has to be legiti-
mate, right? I mean, it's in a national publication and it shows their
picture and the actual bank deposits! Can it be true? NO! The person in the
picture may not be that person at all. How will you ever know? Are you going
to drive to their house to check them out? How do you know these are really
true bank deposits? Anyone can alter forms to make figures appear to be more
than they are. The only reason this person advertised in this national pub-
lication was because they had the money to place the ad. Somewhere in Small
Business Opportunities it will state they are not responsible for any claims
made by the advertisers. Just because the ad appears in this publication
does not mean the publisher endorses this business!

Spend the time to analyze the mail order products and services you are
considering purchasing. Want to locate a good mail order printer? Send them
a small order OR write them a letter. Enclose a self-addressed-stamped-
envelope (SASE) for their reply and simply ask them to send you one (1) page
they have printed so you can determine their quality. If they don't respond
when you have taken the time to enclose an SASE, they won't provide good
customer service.

I've read horror stories of people who tell about their rip-off experiences.
Some people even admit to having been ripped-off several times. One lady
claimed to be ripped-off by the same company 5 different times! Sorry, but
that was HER fault! While there are many legitimate reasons why someone gets
ripped-off, the majority of them can be avoided by using common business
sense.

During the last several months, a lot of dealers have complained about the
new kind of rip-off artist. This person runs an advertisement in a
publication offering a certain item. They ask the customer to send $1 or
stamps for more information. When the customer responds, what they receive
has absolutely nothing to do with the product depicted in the original ad.
If you get angry and write a letter back to them of your complaint, normally
the advertiser will not respond. This costs you time and postage! It's a
lose-lose situation for both parties. Rather than the advertiser taking the
time to build a business relationship with an interested customer, he or she
turns them away. If the advertiser had taken the time to respond to the mail
they would reap a lot more financially! It's insane, but some people actually
operate this way.

The best way of combating these types of rip-off artists is to expose them
through mail order. Write a letter to a publisher and tell them to warn
others of this company. Keep a list of people who rip you off (in one form
or another) with a detailed record of the date and reason for your complaint.
After you have accumulated a few of them, type them up neatly on a sheet of
paper and sell copies for $1 or include free in your mailings as a "free
gift." It's always best to try and re-coup some of your money while still
warning others of these rip-off artists.

It's up to you to combat these shady businesses. If everyone does their part,
mail order will become better and better. Although mail order is still
dominated by honest, sound and reliable dealers; there are still people
getting ripped-off financially on a daily basis. Please join us in stomping
out these bad eggs so we all can enjoy much better profits and increased
sales.

74.
SELECTING THE RIGHT BUSINESS NAME

Ask 500 people already in business how they decided upon their business
name and you will get 500 different answers. Everyone has a story behind
how they chose their own business name. Even if the business is named after
their own birth name, there's a reason why this was done.

When you open a business, in a sense, you are causing a new birth to begin.
This new birth was created from an idea alone by you or your associates. It
will have its own bank account, it's own federal identification number,
it's own credit accounts, it's own income and it's own bills. On paper, it
is another individual! Just as if you were choosing a name for your own
unborn child, you need to spend considerable time in deciding upon your
business name.

There are several reasons why a good business name is vitally important to
your business. The first obvious reason is because it is the initial
identification to your customers. No one would want to do business with
someone if they didn't have a company name yet. This makes you look like
an amateur who is very unreliable. Even if you call your company "Kevin's
Lawn Service," a company name has been established and you are indeed a
company. People will therefore feel more comfortable dealing with you.

Secondly, a business name normally is an indication as to the product or
service you offer. "Mary's Typing Service," "Karate Club for Men,"
"Jim-Dandy Jack-of-all-Trades," "Laurie and Steve's Laundry," "Misty's
Gift Boutique," and "Star 1 Publishers" are all examples of simple
business names that immediately tell the customer what product you offer.

However, most people will choose the simple approach when naming their
business. They use their name, their spouse's name, their children's names
or a combination of these names when naming a business. The national
hamburger-restaurant chain "Wendy's" was named after the owner's daughter.
However, research has proven that these "cutesy" names are not the best
names to use for a business. Many experts claim that it makes the business
look too "mom-and-pop-sie." However, this depends on the business. If you
are selling something that demands this mood or theme to appeal to your
market, it's best to use this approach.

Personally, I am inclined to name my businesses with catchy names that
stick in people's heads after we have initially made contact. Names like,
"Sensible Solutions," "Direct Defenders," "Moonlighters Ink," "Printer's
Friend," "Strictly Class," "Collections and Treasures," and "Starlight on
Twilight" are all good examples of catchy names. These types of names
relate to your product or service but serve as a type of slogan for your
business. This is a big help when marketing.

A friend I know owns a business called "Mint and Pepper." He grows and
sells his own line of raw seasonings to people in the local area. At a
get-together for small businesses, he passed out his business card. The
card had a peppermint candy glued on the back and the slogan read: "Your
business is worth a mint to us." This marketing concept not only got my
friend noticed and remembered, but brought in several large orders for
the business.

When you name a child, you may not decide upon a definite name until
after they are born. You do this because a name is sometimes associated
with a type of personality. When you name a business you may need to wait
until you have a product or service to sell and then decide upon a
business name before going into the business itself because your business
name should give some clue as to what product or service you are selling.
A business named "Joe's Collections" normally wouldn't sell car parts and a
business named "Charlie Horse" would not sell knitting supplies.

To generate ideas - begin looking at business signs everywhere you go.
Notice which ones catch your eye and stick in your mind. Try and figure
out "why" they stuck in your mind. Naturally, the business "Dominos Pizza"
sticks in your mind because it is nationally known. These don't count!
Look around and notice the smaller businesses. Take your time. Within a
few days you should be able to come up with a few potential business names.

Then, when you finally find a few names you really like - try reciting
them to other people and get their opinion. It won't be long until your
business will have the proper name that will carry it through it's life!

MAIL ORDER HINT:
Try to avoid very long names so they will fit into small display ads.
Amalgamated International Enterprises can be easily presented as AIE -
which is easier and shorter to spell.

73.
THE ADVANTAGES OF LOCATING A GOOD MAIL ORDER "BUDDIE"

Many beginners in mail order today think they are totally alone in the
operation of their business. Nothing could be further from the truth! Mail
order is full of fine, upstanding, caring and honest people.

Mail order products are normally higher quality than locally purchased items
because they have to be. If I can purchase my car wax at Cornerstore Auto
Parts, why would I purchase it through mail order? Because the car wax I
buy through mail order is not available at my local store.

Many people don't want to contact other people in their same field because
they are afraid of competition. You are confusing mail order with local
business. Sure, if you own a shoe repair store and another guy who owns a
shoe repair store opens up a shop across the street from you _ there will
be competition. But suppose you live in New York City and your shoe repair
store is located on the east side of town. Would the shoe repair store
located on the west side of town be competition for you? I don't think so.
In a city of over 11 million people, I would think there would be enough
work for the both of you.

In the mail order business, the world is your marketplace. If you are a
printer, you can work with another printer and help each other out. There
is enough business for the both of you without hurting each other. In fact,
you can refer business back and forth and work together to support the
printing industry as a whole. It's a win/win situation for both sides!

Write personal letters to people in mail order. Read and study the adsheets
and mail order publications. When you find an ad that strikes your
attention, write a personal letter for more information. Inform the
dealer of your services. Explain that you are a NEW mail order beginner
or just entering the mail order market and you would appreciate any advice
or direction. If you see a product that you really like, write to the
dealer and ask how you might go about selling this product for him or her.

Can't afford to advertise your C/R this week because you didn't receive
any orders? Write to publishers that you see running their ads. Ask if you
can send them a C/R ad in exchange for mailing some copies for them free
of charge. Some people may turn you down - but many others will take you
up on your offer. While you don't want to do this all the time and "ride
a good horse to death" - this bartering has helped me out of a few
situations when money was scarce.

Write to publishers that publish a "Letters To The Editor" column. Mail
order publishers always enjoy feedback and opinions about their
publication. More often than not, other people won't write a letter and
the publisher will find yours a breath of fresh air! Compliment them on
their publication (if this is true) and always offer your help and
services at any time. To make a good friend - be one yourself!

If you need help constructing a good business letter, visit your local
office bookstore and purchase a how-to book on business writing. Even some
secretarial reference manuals will provide you with samples of business
letters that you can copy word-for-word or edit and conform to your product
or service. Always be willing and eager to offer people your services. Of
course, you cannot give something away free when it will cost you money.
Instead, you need to barter with something that won't cause a financial
burden on you to supply. For instance: if you are already mailing to
people every month, it won't cost you anything to mail someone's
publication for them free of charge. If you provide writing, editing or
typesetting services; you will only be out the time it took you to complete
the job - no money will be lost.

And once you locate a good dealer that you are interested in forming a
friendship with don't be stupid and take advantage of them. Most people
will help you out in a pinch and not think anything about it, but if you
keep taking and taking - you'll lose that friend forever. Your memory will
be a bad taste in their mouth and all the time you spend building that
friendship will be lost.

If you are unable to pay someone for something they have done for you to
help you out - send them a "Thank You" card. A gift costing you only $1
will be worth $1 million to the recipient just to know you care.

72.
TURN ANY HOBBY INTO A PART-TIME BUSINESS

If you are planning on beginning a business, your best bet is to start out
part-time while you are still earning a full-time income at your present
job. If you are like most people who are existing from payday to payday -
you don't have a lot of money to invest in a full-time business. No need
to worry! Just use your favorite hobby as your business base and grow from
there! There's no telling where you'll be at 2 or 3 years down the road.
Perhaps you can even tell your present boss to "take that job and shove
it." Wouldn't that be great?

Using your present hobby or favorite pastime as your business base has
many benefits. Why? Because ANY business you decide to become involved in
should be doing something you LOVE _ something you believe in _ something
that you would work at NO MATTER what income it would generate. This will
give you the stamina to see your business through the beginning hard times
and times when there is more work to do than you can handle. We all know
the feeling of doing a job that we hate to do. There is no way we can give
it 110% of our abilities because we procrastinate getting through it and
just want to get it over with. That's why it is vitally important to
dearly love the product or service you have chosen to build your business
around.

Do you like cooking? Start a recipe newsletter for others who like the
same thing and sell your recipes by publishing a simple booklet. Do you
enjoy making crafts? Sell them through mail order (be sure and mark up the
price for shipping and handling). Do you enjoy working on cars? Print and
distribute flyers in your neighborhood listing your prices. Offer a coupon
discount for the customer to use on their first auto repair job. Do you
enjoy writing? Write a small booklet or how-to manual and sell it through
mail order or to multi-level enthusiasts. Do you enjoy computer programming?
Write a program and sell through shareware groups or even to mail order
computer owners.

Yes - just about anything you love doing can be magically transformed
into a business opportunity for you. Some items may only sell well in your
neighborhood, while some products and services do well in mail order. If
you decide to sell through mail order, all you need to do is write a simple
ad and have it typeset. Start out with a smaller 1-inch, 2-inch or 3-inch
ad. Ask the customer to send a "first-class stamp" or "$1.00" for more
information. When they write you, include a 8 1/2x11 sheet detailing your
prices. Make sure you have a small order form to make it easy to order your
product or service. And of course _ include a cover letter stating that you
appreciate their inquiry and look forward to doing business with them in
the near future. You'd be surprised how many sales have been lost because
a business didn't take the time to write a cover letter and personalize the
mailing.

Also, start educating yourself by reading and researching other home-based
businesses. Before I opened up my business I read national publications
like "Small Business Opportunities," "Entrepreneur," "Home Office
Computing," and "Spare Time Magazine." Although there were some full page
ads in there filled with hype (claiming to make me $1 million dollars with
a sheet of paper) _ the articles are excellent. Don't spend more than $3
for information in the beginning of your business because if a company is
legitimate you should be able to call them and discuss the opportunity over
the phone with them. Businesses that claim to put you in business
overnight should never demand a large amount of money from you. On the
contrary _ legitimate businesses have nothing to hide and will not charge
you more than a few dollars in postage to learn the "whole" story behind
their claims. Instead _ use these publications, as well as books from the
library on starting a business to further your knowledge of the world.

Another good move on your part is to invest a few hours by attending a
meeting that is sponsored by SCORE from the Small Business Administration
in your area. It's free _ and the valuable information you obtain from
actual people who have been in business before is something that will be
extremely valuable in the months ahead. Just call the SBA to find out more
information.

Yes - it's that easy! Of course, this is only the beginning. As with any
hobby, it will take time (probably many months) to realize a profit but
think of it this way: Most people that have a hobby know they have to spend
money to take part in their hobby. It only makes sense to invest money in
advertising your hobby to others so you can eventually make some of that
money back in sales for your own business!

HOW TO PUBLISH FREEBIE AD MAGAZINES FOR FUN & PROFIT.

People are always interested in saving money. If you can develop a product
or service that will help them save, you are almost guaranteed success.
This report will tell you about a special type of magazine you can produce
and give away, free, that will generate substantial profits for you.

The magazine is an ADVERTISING TABLOID. The magazine is made up almost
completely of advertisements from local businesses, with a coupon section
filled with money-saving offers from these businesses. These are fairly
easy to put together. The only real work you'll have to do is a bit of leg
work to get your advertisers for the first issue. The subsequent issues
will get easier and easier, because your original advertisers will return to
you, due to their success, and new advertisers will feel confident about
advertising with you.

What if there are free ad magazines in your area already? Get a few copies
of each one. Take your time to look through them all. Make a list of the
things that you like and dislike in each one. You should then be able to
look down your list of dislikes and find ways to improve upon the current
magazines. Also, consider the type of advertisers in each one, and the
group of people the publisher is marketing to. Your magazine could
specialize in an area that they are ignoring. You could do one that's all
restaurants, or caters to upper-income families, exclusively.

Here's the best way to start an advertising tabloid. First, think up a
name. Here are some words to your brainstorming: SAVE, FREE, DISCOUNT,
VALUE, MONEY, PAPER, PEOPLE'S, CONSUMER'S, COUPON, GUIDE, GUIDEBOOK. Think
of words that will convey the money-saving feel of the magazine. When you
come up with one (for example, "People's Free MoneySaver," then you are
ready to start identifying potential advertisers.

Make a list of the potential advertisers for your magazine. Put down their
name, address, phone, and type of business they are. For example, if your
magazine will market to upper income people, then make a list of the
recreation businesses that these families might like (marinas, bed &
breakfasts, etc.), higher quality restaurants, and higher-priced retail
stores. Even upper income families like to save money (they didn't get to
be upper income by spending it all!). Then prepare a letter to be sent to
these advertisers. This will be your first contact with them. Detail your
planned publication, how they will benefit from it (it will draw new
customers in and will give experienced customers an extra incentive to
return), advertising rates and how you plan to distribute it (we'll cover
both later in this report). Your computer will be indispensable for this.
Set up a database with the business' contact information, then type your
letter as a form letter in your word processor. You can then merge these
and print them, then print labels for the envelopes, saving hours of time.

A good idea is to enclose a business reply postcard with your letter. Check
with your postmaster for details about getting set up for business reply
mail. You pay postage on the postcards, but only on the ones that get sent
back to you.

An 11" x 17" paper will carry 4 regular size pages, so if you think you can
sell 24 pages of ads, that would be 6 sheets, printed front and back.
Therefore, if you will be getting a 15,000 circulation (a good number to
work with for advertisers), you would need a quote on 6 11" x 17" pages,
15,000 copies each, collated and saddle stitched (stapled like a magazine).
Divide the price quote you receive by the number of pages of advertising
(24, in this example) and you will have your PER PAGE cost. You can then
divide this cost into smaller increments (half page, quarter page, 1/8 page,
etc.).

As the ad size gets smaller, it should also be proportionately more
expensive, as an incentive to the advertiser to purchase a larger ad.
Observe the rates of other giveaway advertising magazines in your area when
figuring how much profit to add in above your cost. Price yours
competitively and you'll do well. If your market is a more targeted one
than the competition gets, you can charge a bit more. You should offer a
multiple issue discount, like "advertise in three issues, get the fourth
free." This will increase your advance sales.

When you talk to potential advertisers, find out if they have camera-ready
ads that can be used. These are ready for the printer, and can save you the
time and effort of typesetting. Most businesses will have ads pre-made,
which you can insert into the master copy that will go to the printer. If
they need an ad made for them, your printer should be able to help you with
the typesetting.

There are a few ways you can distribute the finished magazines. First, you
could deliver them door-to-door. Don't put them in the mailboxes, as there
are postal regulations against that. Leave them in the customer's door
instead. Hire some teenagers to help out. Or, you could have the newspaper
insert them into the newspapers going to the area you want to hit. Most
papers can do this. Contact them for their cost.

Bulk mailing is infinitely easier and more efficient, but requires a bit of
paperwork and registration fees. If you are delivering in one zip code area,
you can use either five digit presort mailing, or carrier route presort
mailing. You should check with your postmaster regarding rules and fees.

Another option is to divide the copies among the advertisers and ask them to
give them to their customers. Other non-advertising businesses will often
agree to do this, since it will be a freebie to offer their customers. If
you do this, a good idea is to put a list in your publication of all the
places people can get a copy. This will make it easier for your readers to
get future copies, and it will entice other businesses to act as distribution points.
This can be a very successful distribution method.

In a city of 350,000 people, there can be many free advertisers. The best
one has 48 pages, a 15,000 circulation and, at the start, was published
every two weeks. It only took them three issues to get to the point of
publishing weekly. Every issue, by my calculations, takes in around $6,000
of ad revenue. After you take the costs out, you have a profit of around
$4,000 per week! And this is being run by just three guys... You can
succeed in this, too! Just plan your steps ahead of time, and you'll do well!

52.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR OWN REFERRAL SERVICE BUSINESS

There are many different referral services you can run, either as a
stand-alone service or together with other types.

Here are some businesses you can specialize in: plumbers, hair salons,
auto maintenance, child care, real estate agents, travel agents, lawyers,
dentists, musicians and DJ's, printers, restaurants, even house sitters.
Basically, any high-competition business will appreciate a referral service.

How can you make money? If you provide the service free to consumers, you
can either charge a monthly or annual fee to business listed with your
service, or you can collect a commission on each successful referral. Or,
depending on the type of service you run, you can charge the consumer. For
instance, if you are running a roommate referral service, both parties (the
searcher and the potential roommate) can be charged a fee.

This business will be a lot easier to run if you have a computer, but it's
not totally necessary. If you do have a computer, you can use a database
program to store information on the businesses or people you have listed.
If you aren't using a computer, you can keep the information in a 3 x 5
card file. Otherwise, all you'll need to start are business cards,
stationery, and a business phone. Identify the types of businesses you'll
keep information on, then develop a survey geared toward the type of the
business they're in. Ask what types of work they specialize in, what their
average charge is, how long they've been in business, if they have
customers who can give a testimonial for them (call these people and get
their permission before you use their testimonial - also, try to make sure
they're not just the businessperson's brother-in-law, that they're actual
customers who can give a real opinion), and other pertinent information.
Get these surveys out to each of the businesses in the categories you've
selected, and keep their responses in your file.

Put together a flyer advertising your referral services. Then, distribute
the flyers by: contacting your local "welcome wagon" service, offering
them flyers to insert into their packages; posting them on grocery store
and church bulletin boards; leaving them on car windshields in mall
parking lots; posting them in laundry rooms at apartment buildings; and
leaving them anywhere large groups of people will see them.

When a customer calls for a referral, give them the information you've
collected from the businesses. They will appreciate not having to make
three dozen calls in order to make an informed decision. The customer
testimonials will help people make a good decision.

Keep in touch with the people you've given referrals to, so you can get
their opinion on how the business did. If you get complaints from
customers, drop the business from your files. If you get good
recommendations, move them to the front of the list.

You will be offering a much-needed public service with this business.
Stress to potential businesses that you can refer new customers to them,
and they should be willing to pay commissions, or a subscription fee. Give
it a try, and you can make a decent amount of money in the referral business!

51.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH YOUR OWN ERRAND SERVICE BUSINESS

People are busier than ever and the world around them hasn't changed.
Grocerys still need to be bought, deliveries still need to be made, gifts
still need to be bought, etc. You can take advantage of the needs of these
hyper-busy people by running an ERRAND SERVICE.

In essence, what you do is run errands for people and get paid for it.
Think it sounds like a kid's business? Well, you won't make kid money!
If you are in a good sized metropolitan area with steady clients, you can
make $15, even $20, an hour!

You won't need much to start off with. You'll, of course, need a reliable
car or, better yet, a van. The only real expenses at the start are:
business cards and business stationery; a pager; and postage. Make a
list of large businesses in your area, ones with large numbers of well-paid
executives, such as banks, headquarters of large manufacturers, etc. You
should then compose a letter detailing your services. List as many
timesaving services as you can think of: grocery pickup, dry-cleaning
delivery and pickup, post office errands, gift-shopping services, food
pickup and delivery, etc.

Note: Don't transport people or children unless you have the proper
licenses. Also, if you delivery messages, there may be state utility
regulations you'll need to check into. Emphasize to these people how
they will BENEFIT from your service: more time, less worries, less stress.

Be competitive with your pricing. Call other delivery services in the
area and find out what they charge, whether hourly or by the job. Make
your prices competitive and your services personal, and you'll get the edge.

Four other good ideas for publicizing your services: advertise in charity
event publications that are read by executives; get permission to post
your business card at dry cleaners, grocery stores, bakeries, upscale food
stores and delis, etc.; produce press releases about your services
showcasing a unique aspect of your business, i.e. you specialize in
delivering wedding cakes, for example, and get them to all the newspapers
and local magazines in the area; and notify senior citizen organizations
about the services you offer.

Hints: Know your way around your area extremely well so you can plan the
quickest route to efficiently accomplish all your errands. Be assertive,
both with potential clients and with places you are visiting for a client.
Be friendly, and you'll get more return business. Also, be confidential in
respect for your clients.

If you're willing to hustle, you can make it in the errand business. Once
you get that first steady client, if you're good, you can count on word-of-
mouth business. Then you'll really be rolling!

165.
YOUR OWN HOME SHOPPING SHOW

TV marketing is the new dominant form of distributing products from the
source directly to the end user. It's the new electronic mall that brings
the retail stores right to your living room.

LONG-FORMATS
Half-hour shows that hack products from screwdrivers and shampoos to exercise
equipment and how-to programs is not at all a new concept. Afterall, during
its infancy, advertising was what television was all about.
These long-form ads, now commonly called Infomercials, has fast become the
new growth area in mail order marketing.

CATALOG FORMAT
Unlike infomercials that sell only a single product throughout the 30-minute
show, the new twist in TV retailing is the catalogue format. Here, the
producer of the infomercial offers products from different sources.

Independent producers are now putting together halfhour shows that showcase
"theme" products as in a catalog. There are shows that feature jewelry,
audio CDs, electronic items, clothing, etc.

The idea is to present uncommon products that appeal to your target market.
These products may be from different manufacturers or importers who will give
you the exclusive rights to market their products on television.

CHARGING A BASE FEE
You can charge these manufacturers a base fee for featuring their products on
your Home Shopping Show. Considering that their exposure on TV will give
their products visibility that can help their regular retail and other
marketing efforts, a base fee for their participation is essential and
reasonable.

This fee can offset the cost of your production. For example, if you have
15 products that will pay you $750 each, you'll make $11,250. This basic fee
can more than pay for a simple broadcast-quality production finished on
3/4-inch U-Matic video system.

PERCENTAGE OF SALE
In addition to the basic fee, you can structure your pricing wherein you
can collect anywhere from 10% to as much as 25% of the gross sales for each
and every product you feature in your show. Ideally, whatever percentage
you charge as your margin should pay for your airtime cost plus give you a
decent profit.

The order taking can be done by an independent service which you must hire.
Orders received are forwarded to the respective manufacturers who drop-ship
the merchandise to the buyer.

164
STRIP-O-GRAM
Singing Telegram With A Twist

A stripping telegram is nothing more than a more mature, slightly
provocative version of the singing telegram. Other than sing, the talents
who deliver a stripping telegram dance and strip in front of their audience.

Some strips end while the "talent" still wears underwear. Other strips go
either tipless or totally nude - an issue more sensitive with female rather
than with male talents.

All told, a stripping telegram features a male or female modelwho dances
and strips while delivering the telegram message to the intended recipient.

THE AGENT
The entrepreneur offering this service is usually known as an agent. The
business is generally referred to as an agency or delivery service.

It is common for the agent/entrepreneur to operate the business him or
herself, usually answering phone calls for bookings and from talents looking
for work. Agencies do not have full-time staff. If any, it would be limited
to a receptionist who takes care of the booking and scheduling of the
talents.

THE PAY SCALE
Talents work on commission basis only. They usually deal with two or more
agencies in the area, a practice that usually guarantee that they keep busy.
The rate a talent is paid depend largely on the extent of stripping their showcase entail.
Here is a sample rate chart showing what customers pay and how much the
talent makes. (A) is what the client will pay for the showcase, and (B)
is what you would pay the talent.
The difference would bwe your profit.

FORMAT A B
Undies $60 $30
Topless $90 $50
Nude $125 $75

In more affluent markets, the rates may be up to 50% more than
this average. Plus, on top of their share, talents also get tips,
usually 20% to 30% of the standard rates.

THE BUSINESS

An agency's overhead expenses are usually confined to office rental,
telephone lines, and some form of advertising, the most common of which is
the Yellow Pages. With an average of 6 to 7 bookings a day, an agency can
earn $200 tp $300 a day.

Licensing may be expensive if not difficult. Consult your city zoning for
futher details pertaining to this type of business.

E-MARKETING SERIES
********************

ANSWERS TO SOME COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT INTERNET
AND AN ACTUAL EXAMPLE OF E-MARKETING

(YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN OPPORTUNITY. WE HAVE
PROVIDED YOU 500 PAGES OF BASIC INFORMATION)

******************************************************
Here're answers to some commonly asked questions and real life
success examples to show you the enormous potential of making
money on the Internet. You will learn a lot more about the Internet
later.

FIRST, WHAT IS THE INTERNET?

The Internet is without a doubt the backbone of the so called
Information Superhighway. In simple terms, it is the world's largest
computer network, at least 18,000 now, with more being added all
the time. There may be as many as 30 million computer users whose
number is growing by thousands each day, all connected together and
communicating with each other.

WHY IS IT A BUSINESS BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY?

No matter how you look at it, the Internet provides the best
bargain of all advertising media in terms of cost of reaching a
market; something you won't be able to do anywhere else.

How does advertising on Internet compare with magazines, radio
and direct mail! A half-page ad in an obscure magazine that's not
even sold onnewsstands can set you back by $10,000. Radio costs
less but few products can be sold effectively there. And direct mail
- though reaching a very targeted market - costs over $400 for a
mere 1,000.

Electronic marketing changes all this. Your message is posted
on a newsgroup or sent via e-mail and received by its intended
audience all within minutes. The customer can reply using his/her
computer with the same speed. All this costs you next to nothing.
For a direct marketer, this is like a dream come true.

IF ELECTRONIC-MARKETING IS SO INEXPENSIVE AND SO GREAT,
WHERE'S THE CATCH?

People often wonder, if electronic marketing is so inexpensive
and it's so easy to get started, why doesn't every computer owner
make money with this amazing breakthrough. The answer is very
simple. The biggest stumbling block for you to be successful on the
Information Superhighway would be the lack of a suitable product.
Unless you have the right product to sell, the Internet isn't going to
do anything for you. But with the right product and the right
message, you'll go a long way.

WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS WOULD BE SUCCESSFUL ON THE
INTERNET?

When one talks about the Information Superhighway, one thinks of
the Internet, bulletin boards, e-mail and the Usenet. This is an
information-driven medium. You can sell many kinds of products and
services on the Internet, but the most obvious and potentially most
successful products would have to be information-based. We've
analyzed scores of successful businesses on the Internet: Books,
software and computer products comprise 90% of the commercial
activity. Marketers have found the subject of FINANCIAL WEALTH
and PHYSICAL HEALTH to be the most sought after topics.

WHY TWO-STEP APPROACH IS SO IMPORTANT FOR INTERNET
MARKETING?

As a general rule, blatant advertising on the Internet is verboten.
Reaction to such advertising ranges from impolite comments to
"flaming" to outright "cancelbot" where your message is
extinguished by Internet purists. But this does not mean that you
cannot use the Internet to make money. You only use a two-step
approach.

Your initial message, whether on a Usenet newsgroup, a BBS or in
an e-mail, is primarily in the form of useful, valuable information
bulletin, such as a press release or general discussion of the
subject. At the end of the message, the reader is invited to send for further
information via e-mail, fax, phone or U.S. mail. You then follow up with
the actual sales letter, order form or a catalog. This gives the prospect an
opportunity to buy the product. In the Information package, we've laid out
this approach in exact steps allowing you to post actual "messages" on each of
specific topics that we offer (or you can easily modify the message to
suit your own specific offer).

DO I NEED A LARGE INVESTMENT TO GET STARTED IN THIS
BUSINESS?

We said at the outset that Information Superhighway provide a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start a business on a shoestring.
Two Internet pioneers, by spending only $20 brought in $100,000
worth of business overnight. PC Flowers are making $1,000,000 (one million)
a year. Perry & Monica Lopez made over $100,000 selling hot sauce in 6 months.
A newsletter publisher is making $15 million a year sending 77,000 newsletters a
week. An author, with not enough money to publish or market her book, sold more
than 3,000 copies of her eleven dollar book in cyberspace within a matter of months,
for a gross earning of more than $30,000! These are not just isolated stories. Internet
provides you a level playground where you as a starting businessman compete with
mega-corporations.

HOW TO GET STARTED ON THE INTERNET?

There are only three things you can do to learn the "secrets" of
starting with this fantastic opportunity:

(1) You could learn by yourself. We've given you the basics of how
this incredible money-making plan works. Try a lot of different
techniques - fall on your face a few times --And if you stick with it
long enough you can eventually figure everything out and be on your
way to making HUGE amounts of money! But by that time, you'll be
missing out on a lot of money you could have made.

(2) You can spend $495 or so for Home Study Course or Seminars.
Read a lot and try their plans. It certainly will be easier than
starting by yourself, but there's no guarantee for success.

(3)You can get everything laid out for you. Your expense is less than
you spend on one meal, and your success is guaranteed! That is
exactly what you get if you decide to take advantage of the&127;&127;
information we have put together in "LEARN AND EARN"--see for
yourself. The details to join are enclosed, and from the 30 million
users we're looking for only a selective group of individuals who
are committed to succeed.

You'll get everything you need to get started. You'll be able to
market your own product or an array of proven successful books
that have been sold an average of 40,000 books per year through
direct mail. You'll be able to use special product information
bulletins and press releases we've prepared without getting "flamed"
on the Internet. We'll send you a listing of business and professional
bulletin boards where these messages can be posted. You'll get a
complete package that shows you step-by-step how to get started in
this exciting business.

Remember, like many technological breakthroughs, this window
of opportunity on the Information Superhighway may remain open
for only a short time. With new innovations and new players, this
market may change entirely in only a few months.

If you want to be a part of this technological revolution, join us
today.

The enclosed program contains a listing of books that we've
published over the past 12 years. Everyone of them has been and
is being sold through direct mail. As our member you'll have access
to each one of them and all the information you need to succeed.

This Real Life Business Success Story explains the extent of scope
using this technology:

Laurence A. Canter and Martha S. Siegel were two struggling
lawyers in Scottsdale, Arizona practicing an obscure, the least
glamorous branch of the law dealing with immigration. Despite the
popular notion, most lawyers are not rich; they struggle for money
just like the rest of us.But these lawyers hit the mother lode on
the Internet.

One morning at about 12:30 a.m.(because computer traffic is light
at that time) they sat down in front of their computer to send their
advertising message to some 6,000 bulletin boards on the Usenet.
Within 90 minutes they had sent their message to millions of people
in every corner of the world! To make a long story short, their little
money-making venture on the Internet brought the attorneys over
25,000 customer inquiries for one night's work and $100,000 worth of
business.
Total cost: $20.

Their feat and success with the Internet is all the more
remarkable when you consider that what they were selling
(immigrating to the U.S.A.) would be needed by no one already in
this country. Can you believe what you can do with the kinds of
books and information we're selling, products that have a proven
track record and are needed by virtually everyone?

Money-making and Health topics are at the top of list, according
to book-selling experts. You can see why!

Look on the money-front: Social Security could be bust. Pension
plans can't deliver. Workers are forced out of their jobs by
downsizing and mergers. These are enough reasons for millions of
Americans to create their own security.

On the health-front: Health care system with an annual expense
of over 800 billion dollars (that is 800,000 million) has almost
collapsed. People are concerned more than ever before about weight
problems, heart problems, and all kinds of cancer.

It's no wonder that smart consumers like to get their hands on
our money-making and health guides.

Finally, you cannot find a more qualified market for our titles -
"How to Make Money With Home Computer" and "Getting Rich On the
Information Superhighway" - than the Internet community.
Remember, every one who responds to your message has a computer.

So, if you want to get in on the ground floor of this once-in-a-
lifetime opportunity selling information that you'll be proud of, join
the enclosed program today. Consider this as your ramp to get on
the Information Superhighway. Obviously, we have the right to
refuse acceptance and refund your money--in order to control
information exploitation. But we're actively looking for a limited
number of committed members who're serious about making money.
Please don't delay!

(c) 1998 DPC Press, PO. Box 5643, Cary, NC 27512-5643 (In Business
at this address since Jan 9, 1986) Ph 919-467-5206

*****************************************************
YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN PROGRAM USING OUR INFORMATION!
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF A PROGRAM.
"THE PROGRAM-*LEARN AND EARN*"

HOW TO CASH IN ON THE COMPUTER AGE!
AND INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY IN THE PRIVACY
OF YOUR OWN HOME!

Offered by: DPC Press, P.O. Box 5643, Cary, NC 27512-5643
(919) 467-5206 -- 9am to 6pm EST Mon. to Fri. 9 am to 1pm Sat.
(24-hr Fax Line 919-467-6704)
DPC Press is in business at this address since January 9, 1986

WHAT IS LEARN AND EARN?

1. You receive valuable guides, which will help you improve your
life-style, no matter what you do for a living! All we ask is to
spare a few minutes to read this information and act now!

2. Even more exciting, you can EARN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS each
and every MONTH, LEGALLY when you join this lucrative MLM program
absolutely FREE with no additional charges.

3. We will show you new use of Home-Computers and how to make
a FORTUNE on the "INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY" and at absolutely
NO EXTRA COST to you. You will receive actual "messages" on each
of specific topics.

NOTE: You can buy information guides without joining our program
to market your own products. You'll get everything you need to get
started.

WHAT KIND OF INFORMATION YOU RECEIVE! HERE'RE JUST
A FEW EXAMPLES!!

1. HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH HOME COMPUTER
YOU WILL RECEIVE INFORMATION ON:

*Profitable computer-based businesses that can turn your
computer into a money-making machine.
*Marketing Methods that are effective and efficient to find
clients.
*Common questions that need answers to use Computer
Technology.
*Electronic Marketing that can make you a FORTUNE on a shoe
string--costing you next to nothing.

2. GETTING RICH ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
YOU WILL CASH ON THIS NEW TECHNOLOGY & LEARN:

*How to Get started with On-line Services, Internet, Usenet,
E-Mail, Computer Bulletin Boards (BBSs).
*Why Electronic Marketing can make a FORTUNE on a
SHOESTRING.
*What kind of business will be successful on the Internet.
*What does it take to be successful in two-step approach.

HOW DO YOU EARN $10,000 OR MORE A MONTH,
LEGALLY AND FREE?

When you buy any one or more of these valuable guides, you are
automatically enrolled into this lucrative MLM program FREE of
charge and you will receive ready-made messages to post and other
instructions to use the internet and other means of marketing. Your
INCOME potential is UNLIMITED because over 30% house-holds own
a computer and the number will double in the next 5 years. There're
100 million home-computers and over 30 million users are
connected to the Information Superhighway at this time. That
simply means MILLIONS of potential customers and billions of
dollars to go around.

Now for some FACTS and FIGURES:

For example, you buy any one guide for $15. You distribute
this circular using on-line services, e-mail, over 60,000 bulletin
boards or simple direct mail. We provide complete "messages" to
be posted for each of specific topics. Let us assume you distribute
500 copies of this circular alone or with your other offers and get
a minimum response rate of only 2% ( our average varied between
2% to 15%) that is 10 responses for 500 flyers distributed. Or you
just get 10 of your friends and relatives to join. An example of 10
responses extending 3 levels (10X10X10 = 1,000 X $10-commission
per guide= $10,000) will bring you a respectable $10,000 when your
name reaches the 3rd level in 4 weeks (The time may vary according
to the response time by your downline). Of course, yourcommissions
will be MUCH HIGHER if you distribute 1,000 circulars OR get to
join only a tiny percentage of the millions of computer users. Sure,
it's easier to make a $10,000 or more per month "on paper" than in
real life. However, we offer you the opportunity for unlimited
earnings. And at NO EXTRA COST to you. There is NO FEE for
monitoring or postage & handling or to prepare your personalized
copy of this flyer. You don't even leave your home to market
anything.

Even BETTER, if you buy more than one book, you can eliminate
the time to move through 3 levels and earn substantially higher
commissions. Eachbook moves you through an extra level. For
example, if you buy 3 books, you already get to 3rd level and will be
paid with each response starting immediately. More than 3 books
will automatically qualify you to deduct $10 COMMISSION and you
PAY ONLY $5 per guide.

COMMISSIONS ARE PAID ON THE 1ST AND 15TH OF EACH MONTH.
AT THE TIME YOU RECEIVE YOUR COMMISSIONS, YOU WILL
ALSO RECEIVE NAMES AND ADDRESSES OF YOUR DOWNLINE.

REMEMBER that you are getting all this FREE just for buying
valuable guides, which are selling out fast, and they are available
through this special offer only. So YOU REALLY CAN'T LOSE!
Please don't let this remarkable opportunity get away from you.
Get a head start to profits, by getting started now!! It used to be
that the wealthiest people in America were in oil or in real estate
business. Not anymore. It's the founder of the software
company, Bill Gates, who is the richest man. There is a right
time for everything and this is the time for Computer Age and
Information Superhighway, who already have 30 million users!!!
Each day you delay puts thousands of people ahead of you!!!

*****HERE'S HOW YOU JOIN!*****

If you feel, you can use these guides and an extra $10,000 or
more a month from the privacy of your own home, then simply
order one or more guides. (The information you receive is a real
bargain for the money youare spending.) Please check the
appropriate guide and enclose the corresponding fee according to
the price list below. Along with the guides you order you will
receive a camera ready copy of this circular with your I.D. No.
printed on the order form below. Make copies of this flyer and
distribute alone or with your other offers or distribute through
electronic media. (We can provide text file of this flyer through
e-mail.) And REMEMBER to watch your mail box for big income from
this LEGAL MLM opportunity.

You receive 67% commission on each guide your downline sells.
That's right! You get TWICE as much as we do!!

THE LIST OF GUIDES TO CHOOSE FROM!

Not available in bookstores! Guaranteed complete information!!

MONEY-MAKING GUIDES:
*1. HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH HOME COMPUTER =$15.00
*2. GETTING RICH ON THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
=$15.00
*3. ENTREPRENEURS GUIDE TO DIRECT MAIL ORDER =$15.00
*4. HOW TO MAKE A FORTUNE AT U.S. GOVERNMENT AUCTIONS
AND SURPLUS SALES =$15.00
*5. PC TUTOR (Learning DOS Commands and windows 95 and
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A LOW-COST MARKETING SYSTEM USING YOUR MODEM

E-Marketing (or Electronic Marketing) has come to light with our
growing acceptance to technology. The affordable prices and
the accessibility of fax machines, voice mail systems, CDs
and desktop computers make this technological advancements
key to new ways entrepreneurs can communicate to and market
products to their customers.

In this report, we look at the modem, a small inexpensive
gadget that when installed into a desktop computer, will
enable you to set-up an electronic bulletin board, send faxes
with your computer, enable you to get on the Internet, send
and receive e-mail, and more...

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 to computer
users who have access to any type of on-line service, using what is called
the MODEM.

WHAT IS A MODEM?
The word MODEM stands for MOdulator DEModulator, and it's just a fancy name
for that small gadget that allows your computer to "hook-up" with the other
computers, using the telephone.

Modems can either be a card that is easily installed inside your computer, or
it can be an external unit. Basically, the only difference among modems that
you need to worry about is the speed. Modem speed is indicated by what is
called the BAUD Rate, which indicates the amount of "data" your modem can
receive or send per second. The most common baud rates for modems are 300,
1200, 2400, 4800, 9600, and 14,400. This report you are reading is approxi-
mately 25,000 bits. If you are using a 1200 baud modem, it will take you more
than 20 seconds to send or receive this file via the telephone line. With a
14,400 baud, it will take you less than 2 seconds.

With a modem and a "communications" program 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 by entrepreneurs.

(more...)

ELECTRONIC MARKETING
MARKETING WITH MODEMS....
*************************

With a modem, you will also have the ability send and receive what are called
eMail or electronic mail - that is mail sent and received electronically,
using the computer.

With a modem, you can also "access" large ON-LINE services such as Prodigy,
Compu-Serve, Genie, America On-Line, and others. These are basically huge
bulletin board services with enormous libraries of information materials
which are made available to you when you subscribe to their service.

With a modem, you can also access the Internet to do research, send
information (business) materials to other computers, play games, or even
go shopping.

Used effectively, modems can be a formidable marketing tool which can be
employed to send product and business information to large numbers of
prospects quickly (no real lead-time, other than message transfer) and
inexpensively.

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 little as $50. You can even get one that
can also function as a fax for around $100 or less. Considering the benefits
you'll get from having one, a modem is wide investment in this age of
computer telecommunications. If you already have a modem, but never put it
to use, now is the time to get started!

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 On-Line (800) 827-6364
CompuServe (800) 554-4079
Prodigy (800) 776-3449
Delphi (800) 695-4005
MS Net Work (800) 386-5550
GNN (800) 819-6112

AUTOMATED E-MAIL AUTO-RESPONDER
You can rent an automated e-mail responder to send sales messages, ads,
and all types of business information to anyone with an e-mail address.
For more information, send at email to:

TO: infobox @ gate.net
SUBJECT: box 100001

Or write to INTERNET ADS
1859 N. Pine Insalnd Road
Plantation, FL 33322

163
Moving People For Profit

The term "Reloctation Consultant" is an all-encompassing business that
involves everything that has to do with transferring people.
The task of a relocation consultant may include any or all of the
following activities and services that generally come with moving to a
new location: + Select a moving company.
+ Selling the old house .
+ Finding and buying a new home or renting a new apartment.
+ Suggesting schools, churches, etc.
+ Spouse job placement counseling

Of course you choose which services you want to include in your repertoire.
However, on a joint-effort with other professionals in your area, you can
really offer an extensive menu of services.

Relocation consultants do not own moving companies. They hire moving
companies for and on behalf of the client. As a relocation consultant,
you also deal with real estate agents, travel agencies, and career
consultants. You control the middle ground where all these services merge
to fulfill the needs of your client.

SHELTER IS #1
The most important issue in any relocation is where your client will
reside in their new city or state. Some clients buy a home in the new
city before they move. Others prefer to rent, giving themselves enough
time to become familiar with the area before buying a house.
Most relocation consultants receive their commission from the real estate
agent. However, if your client wants to rent, as opposed to immediately
buying a home, the company relocating your client will more than likely
pick up the tab, usually equal to one month's rent.

Some rental properties, however, will pay a relocation consultant a
commission equal to one month's rent.

CORPORATE FIELD
You can do a real volume business by targeting large corporate accounts.
Companies in high-technology related products and services are the growth
markets in relocation.

Contracts for technical top-guns range 3 to 5 years, so you can expect
excellent turn over in the high-tech industry. Concentrating on a specific
industry gives you credibility and lots of referrals.
162
Cleaning Up Profits

The continuing growth of families with two paychecks is a good indication
that maid services are booming. Two paychecks also mean that time is limited
for busy families.
In fact, more than their cleaning skills or the type of cleaning equipment
they use, the success of maid service is premised on two factors: time and
convenience. With both husband and wife working, neigher of the couple
has the time nor the energy to do housework.

Plus, the principle of delegated labor simply suggests that"...if the work
that needs to be done can be farmed out to someone who will do it for less
than what you can earn given the same amount of time needed to do the job,
it is better to pay someone else to ddo the job for you. If for anything
else, doing housework fits that descreption.

A CLEAN SYSTEM
Knowing how to clean a house is no guarantee of success in the housecleaning
business. The key to a successful cleaning business is good organization and
systematic process that lends to an efficient cleaning routine.
Most maid service operators recommend the team system, with two to three
maids in a team who visit the same accounts, homes or businesses, every week
or every day.

Teams divide their chores, rotating tasks among team members, from one
account to the next, in order to reduce monotony.

GETTING STARTED
In finding clientele, target your advertising efforts, in terms of both the
demographic and geographic distribution of your desired audience.

Although maid service is no longer for the rich, it is not for low-income
markets either. You must be aware of where your prospective accounts are
located, on which zip codes to focus your efforts. When setting up your rate
structure, consider your hourly fee per employee and estimate how longt a
cleaning will take.

Provide a base rate while allowing for optional services at extra charge.
When meeting with clients for the first time, try to upsell add-on services.

161
TRADE ASSOCIATIONS
A New Form Of Networking

Seventy percent of Americans belong to one association. Twenty five percent
belong to four or more associations. Our professional existence is held
together by the network of people with whom we share common interests, even
common goals. As technology gives us new ways to link up, communicate and
share ideas, our need to identify with a collective presence reflects our
need to become more significant. Today, this need is being fulfilled by
privately organized, managed and funded trade associations.

FOR-PROFIT
If there ise anything that drives any venture to succeed, the principal
motivation is profit - the commercial purpose for which any trade activity
exists. Because we still maintain a mindset that associations should not
be a money-making venture, it is difficult to imagine a trade association
as a for-profit representative body of a particular trade.

However, as the efficiency, agility and productiveness of for-profit trade
associations become evident, members become more confident that operating
a for-profit trade assaociation is the only way to guarantee that the
association will remain productive and beneficial to its members.

OBJECTIVES
Unless your primary reason for creating a trade association is to lobby
issues in Washington, your association's principal objective should more
or less focus on information sharing.

If you are creating a trade association as a forum for its memgbers to
share ideas about their trade, it is essential that you provide your
members this vehicle by which they can communicate, maybe even interact.

BEYOND MEMBERSHIP
Since most associations get started with low membership dues, usually
in the $20 to $30 bracket. Many associations are lucky to break even on
membership dues alone. To guarantee its healthy existence, its financial
foundations should expand beyond being exclusively dependent on membership
dues.

Although most trade associations start off with a newsletter, it is in an
edeal position to organize conventions (that provide members a forum to
network, meet suppliers, and hear experts) which can be a prime money-maker
for the association.

160
AEROBICS CLASSES
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 have 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 problems 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 to identify 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:

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.

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 functionareas where classes can be held.

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, piople will attend an exercise class in front of
their VCRs. In fact, a video tape can be an excxellent add-on product
to corporate contracts, satellite classes, or studio classes.

159
COOP SWEEPSTAKES
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
$10million 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 campaigtn 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 oaf 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.
158.
Polish Up For Higher Profits

"I have a 31-step process. I shampoo seats, do the dashboard with Q-tips,
clean the trunk, dress the engine, etc. It takes 3 hous for what I do, and
I charge $120. That's detailed." This would be a typical response of
someone who does Auto Detailing when asked what they can do for your car and
how much they would charge you for it.

The age of upscale carwash is here. As we keep our cars longer (average
length is 7.5 years) we take better care of them. This is why the carwash
business is booming with $8 billion in revenue, and so is auto detailing.

EXECUTIVE PARKING

Many auto detail services nest their business in executive parking lots.
They get a permit from the city and from the business whose lot they use.

This is convenient for employees who otherwise may not have time to bring
their cars to a shop that would take 3 hours to get detailing done.

In a mobile operation such as this, you will need a van or pickup truck and
access to running water and preferably AC power. In some cities, there are
companies that convert and customize pickup trucks into mobile detail shops
with its own reservoir and portable power generator.

140 MILLION CARS

Although many auto detailers will swear that a bulk of their business comes
from car dealers, in reality the car dealer market is small and extremely
competitive. Most car dealers need cars detailed before a used car is
offered in an auction or is displayed in the lot.

However, the biggest market of all is still on the road, individual car
owners, representing all of 140 million passenger cars plus another 30
million pickup trucks on the road. This market, with an average age of
7.5 years, is ripe for a detail job at least twice a year.

BUDGET DETAIL

The best way to build up a base in this business is to introduce a mid-
priced service that offers extras that carwashes do not offer.
Detail jobs in the range of $30 to $49 will open up a new market that can
provide a stream of customers. You can provide a written list of what you
do and how you build up your rates from the basic price of $30 to the
premium rate $49. With 5 customers a day, at 1 hour each, you can average
$200 a day.

157.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS A PARTY PLANNER

Let's Plan A Party! "MAGIC" is the buzz word that usually describes what
this business offers. No - the Party Planning business we're talking about
has very little to do with Goof-Doop The Clown or serving cake and ice cream
to 6-year old kids.

CORPORATE SCENE

For a Party Planner, this is where the money is. And if you have the knack
for organizing fun things for grown ups, you're in for a big - $100 Million -
surprise. And it's a business worth celebrating.

BROKER MENTALITY

This is a business you can virtually start with little or no capital. All
you need is a great idea and a client who wants to have fun. The best way
to implement this business is to act as the broker for all services entailed
in any given event.

You do not prepare the food, you hire a caterer. You do not sing or dance,
you hire entertainers. In fact, in some real big parties, you can negotiate
with talent agencies to have celebrities attend your party.

For example, you can have named stars "drop by" your party for around $10,000
or better. If your budget cannot afford the real celebs at $10,000 a piece,
then you can hire look-alikes for $200 a night. Do not introduce them in the
party, just let them roam around and mingle with the guests.

THEME PARTIES

You can also plan an event around a theme, depending on the reason for the
party and the number of people attending.

You can build festivals around parties. If the party is an extension of a
convention, work around ideas that are conducive to people in that trade or
industry.

START-UP

To get started, line up businesses that are involved in parties: florists,
videographers, caterers, hotel managers, equipment rental companies, and
others.

Set your rates based on the price lists of these related businesses. These
tie-in companiwes will dictate the way you structure your prices.

Once ready, compile a mailing list of potential corporate accounts in your
area. If you live in a city with a convention center, it would be ideal to
do some networking and get referral business.

156.
HOW TO MAKE MONEY WITH GOURMET GIFT BASKETS

Here's a pleasant home-based business that will challenge your creative as
well as your managerial skills. It's a fun business for those who have the
flare for creating appetizing gift packages.

A FUN PRODUCT
Gourmet gift baskets have become popular in recent years. They are a
collection of desirable items, and in such a variety that they appeal to all.
By determining the markets you want to target and the type of baskets you
want to produce, you can set your income goals for as little or as much as
you like.

CORPORATE ACCOUNTS
From the very large and the very small, businesses have needs for gift
giving on a pretty constant basis.

By targeting corporate accounts, you protect yourself from potential sales
fluctuations common to what are generally considered seasonal items.
Businesses love gift baskets because they are "safe" compared to other gifts
like chocolate (many people now carefully watch their fat intake) or wine &
spirits (many people don't drink). Of course, other possible clients for your
gift baskets include associations, retail outlets, fund raisers, and
individual customers who purchase for themselves or as a gift.

CREATIVE DESIGNS

Gourmet gift baskets are fundamentally a few nice items placed in a unique
arrangement and presented to look extravagant. Use your imagination and keep
an eye for unusual and appealing products. To keep unit price low, inventory
most commonly used items by purchasing direct from the manufacturer or main
distributor. Look for large pretty items; they will give your product "size".

THEME MARKETING

Focus on a theme and build around it. From a corporate perspective, create
presentations that communicate the corporate logo or marketing slogan.

Do not limit yourself by just using baskets as your main vehicle. For
example, a basket with an Italian theme can use (as its basket) a large pasta
bowl to hold a small vinegar, olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes and kitchen
utensils.

Raffia or "grass" can be used to cushion the items, sealed together with
shrink wrap. Finish your basket with a bow or creative ribbon, and you've
got a product that can be retailed for around $39. Your cost: as low as $12.

HOW TO GET 100,000 PEOPLE TO SEND YOU $10 EACH
**********************************************

NO! It's not what you think. Although the title of this material may
appear quite gimmicky, it is really about one of the best information
products in the market.

YOU CAN MAKE MONEY GIVING AWAY FREE SOFTWARE DISKS...
We have a selction of specialty computer software designed for businesses
and entrepreneurs to use as giveaways, premiums or value-added incentives.
You can purchase these software from us for $29 per title. This price
includes the software Master Disk itself as well as the License that gives
you the rights to make copies of the disk for your own distribution.

GIFT CERTIFICATES FOR FREE SOFTWARE DISK!!!
Give away copies of the software disks - FOR FREE - but charge $10 for
shipping and handling. To do this, simply print "Free Software" gift
certificates which you can distribute through schools, fund raisers,
libraries, retail outlets, etc.

You can even get corporate sponsor(s) to pay for the printing and the
distribution of your gift certificates - in exchange for having their name
printed on the certificate as the company that's giving away the free
computer software disk.

LICENSEE PACKAGE
For your $29 investment, you will receive a Master Disk of the software you
selected along with your reproduction license that allows you to make up to
25,000 copies of the Master Disk.

Of course, you can sell the disk (copies) any way you want to, at any price
you feel comfortable with. You can give them away for free, but charge $10
for shipping & handling - OR you can sell them at retail prices of $25 to
$49 each. It's entirely up to you.

SEE ACCOMPANYING PAGE FOR ORDERING INFORMATION
OR CONTACT THE SOFTWARE DISTRIBUTOR WHOSE NAME & ADDRESS
APPEAR ON THE MAIN SCREEN ON THIS SOFTWARE

****************************** ORDER FORM **************************

YES! I want to start my own "Free Software" business.
I am ordering the software disk titles I've marked below
with the understanding that the purchase price includes
my rights to make copies of the disk and market them
any way I want to. I can give them away - for free - but
charge $10 for shipping & handling, or I can sell copies
of the software at retail prices of $25 to $49 each.

Send $29 for each software title to the address shown on the main screen
on this program disk. Please mark with an (X) the software title(s) you
wish to order. Thank you.

( ) INTERNET ADS
How to place your ads on the Internet.

( ) FREE THINGS
Businesses offering an assortment of stuff.

( ) LEGAL BUSINESS FORMS
Prints out legal forms you can use for your business.

( ) MODERN MAIL ORDER
How-to instruction for mail order professionals.

( ) QWIK-MONEY
A sampler disk featuring all the software listed above

SEND SOFTWARE DISK & LICENSE TO:

NAME: _________________________________________________

ADDRESS: ______________________________________________

CITY: _________________________________________________

STATE: ______ ZIP: ______________

SOURCE: INFODISK 500
"HOW TO GET 100,000
TO SEND YOU $10.."
BOOK REVIEW
ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE SUPER-CAREER OF THE 90s

THE ENTREPRENEURIAL BOOM

In a Multiple Choice society, the key word is "opportunity".

Our homogenized preferences have given way to unprecedented
diversity, where the things around us are drawn to adopt to our
individual tastes.

As a result, we have created more options - on the things we buy,
the food we eat, our lifestyles and our relationships.

When it comes to career choices, the magic word remains the same.
Today, more than any time before, Americans are enjoying a wealth
of career options, a "career boom" that offers a variety of excellent
opportunities to pursue.

The dynamic growth taking place in the service, information and
technology industries, are opening new doors. New opportunities.
New careers.

Among these new careers, there is one less heard: Entrepreneurship -
the art and science of starting and managing a profit-motivated
business venture.

Although it is such a dynamic force in our economy, oddly enough,
little emphasis is given to entrepreneurship as a career.
The absence of enough works dedicated to promoting a career in
business-ownership seems as an apparent hesitation to identify
entrepreneurship as a career.

One obvious reason is because it is not a "job". Careers are
generally associated with jobs or employment. Since entrepreneurship
does not involve working for someone else, it is taken lightly as a
career.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS THE PRODIGAL SON OF INDUSTRIALISM.

Careers have their roots in time. during the 1950s, jobs like
computer programmers, system analysts, and data entry clerks hardly
existed. Today, they are a few among hundreds of different jobs that
have mushroomed as a result of technological boom.

Like these careers, the entrepreneurial boom in America emerged as
the logical rendezvous of history and economics.
more...

The birth of entrepreneurship in America began with our economic
transformation from an agrarian-based to an industrial-based society.
The dawn of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of the champions
of industrialism; they are the barons and magnates who founded our
great oil, automobile, steel, and chemical empires. They are the
legends who spearheaded a nation's uprising from the farmlands to the
big cities, forever changing the economic breath of America.

This massive industrialization marked the first golden age of
American entrepreneurship, when a handful of corporations employed
the bulk of our blue and white collar workers. It was the era when
big business was king, when people and things existed mainly to serve
and satisfy its needs. This was the time when careers simply meant
working for that big business that fed and clothed us all.

Over the last quarter century, however, industrial America began to
break apart. Massive layoffs in the steel, auto, and other basic
smokestack industries have forced the rise in the number of people
who have chosen the path of self-employment as a means of livelihood.

From craftsmen to consultants, self-employed men and women from the
basic core of proprietors and professional who are taking refuge in
entrepreneurship.

The very structure of an industrial based economy gave birth to many
new entrepreneurial ventures. And, in the process, they delivered
entrepreneurship into the limelight.

ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS HAVE ALSO RECOGNIZED THE IMPORTANCE OF
ENTREPRENEURSHIP; THEY ARE NOW OFFERING COURSES ON THE SUBJECT...

Entrepreneurship as a career is not without an ally. The academic
community has began to recognize the importance of entrepreneurial
ventures to our economic well-being. Prestigious universities and
business schools across the U.S. are now offering courses in
entrepreneurship. The field is gaining respectability as a subject
worthy of academic research.

This academic recognition helped legitimize entrepreneurship. It
took away the stigma brought upon it by numerous start-a-business
gimmicks that proved damaging to many solid entrepreneurial endeavors.
Hype materials that promise overnight millions became unfairly
associated with entrepreneurship, giving it an image of nothing more
than a "gamble", a risk-taking venture. Even its dictionary
definition implies some form of "daring" activity.

The truth is that entrepreneurship avoids risk. Entrepreneurship is
the application of acquired and inherent skills in order to reduce,
if not eliminate, the risk in a business undertaking. The ability to
control risks, from the legal, financial, and administrative points of
view, is the fundamental strength of an entrepreneur.

The increasing acceptance of entrepreneurship as a career is the
windfall of academic sanction. As it continues to gain respect within
the academic circles,, entrepreneurship is receiving rave response
from both the students and the business community. They have given it
the same level of acceptance usually accorded conventional branches of
business such as accounting, finance, and other recognized traditional
business disciplines.

In the wave of the late 70's belonged to MBAs, the late 80's and the
1990's belong to Entrepreneurs.

Today, thousands of students are signing up for "Entrepreneurship"
courses at hundreds of universities, colleges, private academies and
boot camps that offer intensive programs for both would-be and current
business owners. It has gained tremendous following, and has helped
change our general perception of today's folk heroes.

The well-publicized success of entrepreneurs such as Mrs. Fields,
Steve Jobs and countless other start-ups has inspired would-be
business owners to sign up for these courses.

THE FRANCHISING PHENOMENON AND OTHER FACTORS THAT FUEL
ENTREPRENEURSHIP AS A CAREER OPTION...

The climate in today's business world has shifted. Employees are
divorcing themselves from their time-nurtured ideological relation-
ship with large corporations, seeking self-reliance and financial
independence through self-employment, entrepreneurship, and entre-
preneurial activities.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, nearly 11 million
Americans work for themselves.

In the 1950's, new business were being created at a modest rate of
just over 50,000 per years. Today, some one million new business
are being established each year.

Many business observers contend the primary advantages that make
entrepreneurship an effective career options are purely economic in
nature. Although this obvious relationship between financial gain
and entrepreneurial ventures cannot be contested, it should also be
emphasized that economic opportunities alone cannot take credit for
today's entrepreneurial boom.

The overwhelming increase in new business startups is not the result
of our sudden realization that money is important.

The growth of small entrepreneurial ventures can be attributed to the
cumulative effects of five specific factors. These factors not only
ignited the entrepreneurial boom we are experiencing; they are also
providing the fuel that enables it to sustain its continuing growth.

Foremost of all these factors is Franchising: the growth pill of
entrepreneurship that has made ownership of a small business more
available to a lot more people.

Through franchising, individuals with negligible or not entrepre-
neurial experience can successfully start and manage a business
through the franchise system. It extends newcomers to business an
increased sense of competence. With proper training and a continuing
support program, franchising can provide an otherwise independent
startup with an immediately accepted product sold under an already
recognized name.

BECAUSE OF FRANCHISING, MORE PEOPLE CAN LAUNCH ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES WITH LESS RISK INVOLVED.

The inherent advantages and popularity of franchising make business

ownership accessible to more people. The wide range of businesses
to which franchising can be applied fields the entrepreneurial boom
we are experiencing today. The record number of people starting new
businesses contribute to the overall success of franchising, which
in return contributes to the success of entrepreneurship in America.

Over the last few years, franchising has scored some very impressive
numbers. While the failure rate for independent small businesses
remain at forboding levels, franchised businesses have a failure rate
of less than five percent.

Although the start-up costs for a new franchise is relatively higher
compared to an independent business, the enhanced guarantee of
success has multiplied the number of companies offering franchises.

The number of franchises outlets has doubled in the last ten years.
Some 2000 major franchisees with half a million outlets now have a
combined annual gross sales in excess of $500 billion.

This convincing performance impels newcomers to business to recognize
the advantages of joining a franchise organization. It provides them
the opportunity to start a business with immediate recognition and
instant access to information, skill, and support critical to any new
business venture. Today, every shopping mall and every major street
across the country are dotted with a variety of franchised outlets,
increasing at unprecedented rates. New industries are joining the
bandwagon and have began to offer franchising.

The service industry, spearheaded by the automotive, food, and
business-to-business companies, is a prime area that is helping the
horizontal expansion of franchising.

From a franchiser's perspective, franchising is no longer a single-
stream process of licensing an operator to open a franchised
business.

The conventional "business format" franchising, which is commonplace
in the automotive and food-service industries, has given way to newer
concepts that has just made franchising, and the accessibility of
owning a small business, faster and more affordable.

New, franchising strategies such as "master franchising" and
"conversion projects" allow would-be franchisers, with a proven
product and operation systems, new avenues for growth. Many
franchise companies have also expanded in the international
marketplace.

At the start of 1987, nearly half of all the members of the
International Franchise Association (IFA) have started to sell
franchising opportunities internationally. Franchises from the
United States are being exported to Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan,
and Philippines.

For the franchisee, the expanded applications of franchising
opportunities make the industry stronger as it earns acceptance
and recognition in the marketplace. Many consumers prefer to
patronize a franchises establishment because it offers an already
proven product or service they are familiar with.

The benefits franchising offers make starting and managing small
business more affordable and less risky. Conventional lenders,
known for their conservative distance to small businesses, are
opening their wallets to entrepreneurs seeking to start a franchised
business. Franchising has given individuals with entrepreneurial
career objectives the opportunity for immediate personal and
financial growth.

THE LOWERING OF THE CAPITAL GAINS TAX MADE ENTREPRENEURIAL
VENTURES MORE ATTRACTIVE...

One of the main factors that affect individual proprietorship is the
amount of tax one has to pay on profits earned by the business.

In the early seventies, capital-gains tax was nearly doubled to
49 percent. This meant that on their long-term gains- profits made
on the sale of stocks and other properties - businesses had to pay
the government half of every dollar they earned.

The devastating effects of this move put new business ventures on
hold. Within the next five years, the number of new ventures
continued to decline. In 1968, for example, high-tech businesses
were mushrooming across the country. But in 1976, this rate had
dropped to zero.

By 1978, the government began its move to correct the serious
repercussions this enormously high tax rate had caused. From
49 percent, capital gains tax was reduced to 28 percent.
Then, in 1981, under the Reagan administration, capital-gains tax
was finally rolled back to 20 percent.

An all out campaign to attract new businesses was launched. Many
progressive cities, particularly in the west and southwest, began
offering entrepreneurs a package of incentives that induced a variety
of tax breaks. This reduction in capital-gains tax, along with other
incentives made available to entrepreneurs, were enough to redirect
the trajectory of new business startups. And a new era of entre-
preneurial opportunities was born.

The transformation of the American capital market stimulated the
growth of new startups.

Another factor that affected the growth of entrepreneurship involves
the abundance of money available for new startups in the form of
venture capital. With more money to finance new businesses,
entrepreneurial ventures flourished. In the mid seventies, the
venture capital pool was around $3 billion.

Today, some $20 billion has been allocated for venture capital
projects. Although the reduction of capital-gains tax has much to
do with this, the increasing supply of venture capital money was
also prompted by the disappointing performance of the stock market.

Major industry stocks were delivering an average return of only
10 percent. On the other hand, sophisticated new ventures were
offering two to three times more than what an average stock would
offer for the same amount of investment.

People with money are shifting other investments from the stock
market to start funding seasoned entrepreneurs who have solid
management experience and workable new ideas.

The high tech bonanza opened new entrepreneurial opportunities for
small, skills-based startups.

Technological developments in both industrial and consumer-oriented
products and services also helped ignite a whole new breed of
startups. In the Santa Clara region, a sleeper suburb on the
outskirts of San Francisco better known as the center of the Silicon
Valley, more than a hundred companies spouted in 1979 alone.

This Northern California territory boasts the richest concentration
of high-technology companies in the world, producing nearly a third
of the U.S. shipment of semiconductors and nearly 15 percent of our
electronic computing equipment.

A young breed of pioneering companies such as Apple, Atari, and Intel
have opened shop next door to such established giants as IBM,
Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed. And an army of small, two and
three-person, technology-oriented boutiques continue to form their
way within this entrepreneurial boom.

Although this geographic concentration of new ventures is directly
linked with the computer revolution, it mirrors how this techno-
logical bonanza is affective the rest of the country.

In fact, the growth of high technology came as a redeemer for the
increasing unemployment rate in the country. In the early seventies,
high tech contributed more than 6 million new jobs, about the same
number of jobs smokestack businesses lost over the same period.

There is no doubt that high tech, whether in the form of person
computers, robotics, telecommunications, or biogenetics, influenced
the growth of the entrepreneurial boom.

High tech has become a favorite headline for the business press.
New products and new ideas ignite a sense of excitement that can be
felt from Silicon Valley to Wall Street.

It creates the vision for many entrepreneurial innovations that
inspire young, highly-trained technicians to work for small ventures
that offer greater opportunities that usually encounter difficulty
surviving in large organizations.

THE ARRIVAL OF BABY BOOMERS IN AN ALREADY TIGHT JOB MARKET
REQUIRED THE REROUTING OF THEIR SKILLS INTO OTHER OPPORTUNITIES.

While America recovered from the wounds inflicted by World War II,
our focus and dependence on big government and big business pushed
any spirit of entrepreneurship on the sides.

Both institution and industry were very strong and highly capable of
providing us with our needs. They were at the mainstream of society,
and the conveniences they offered were so real, even anti-corporate
and anti-establishment idealism, that seemed rampant at the time,
had to bow out and blend with the big guys.

Then, by the mid 70s, the baby boomers came of age and made their
advance on the job market. Their staggering numbers was not easily
absorbed by the industry. There was not enough room for all the
well-educated but alarmingly numbers baby-boom workers.

The ratio of college-educated baby boomers vying for each managerial
position can only be accommodated by rerouting this "new-skills"
workforce to other opportunities.

As a result, a weak job market forced this new generation to explore
profitable alternatives, including self employment and entrepre-
neurship.

Furthermore, a brisk economy continued to result in massive
displacements of labor. Students graduating into a tight job market
were getting a cold slap in their faces.

From the inside out, employees are beginning to realize that jobs
are not designed to produce personal satisfaction and fulfillment -
that selling one's time for an agreed amount of money is a highly
exploitative and impersonal attitude that goes against the grain of
productivity and self-worth.

Big business was no longer the consistent, reliable provider it
used to be.

INITIATED ON THE FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL LEVELS, THE U.S. GOVERNMENT
IS TAKING AN INCREASED ROLE IN PROVIDING A FAVORABLE ENTREPRENEURIAL CLIMATE.

The impact of small business on the nation's economy is the
motivation behind the government's increased role in fostering
a climate conducive to entrepreneurial vitality. The variety of
programs available to small businesses nationwide only proves the
fact that these entrepreneurial ventures are an important part of
a healthy economy.

Though the Small Business Administration (SBA), the federal
government underwrites guaranteed loans to provide seed capital to
new businesses ventures. It also awards funding for research and
development through its Federal Small Business Innovation Research
Grants.

The U.S. government provide financing assistance through a variety
of instruments used indifferent programs. These instruments are
mostly similar to those used by conventional private lenders.
They re, however, subject to some public policy objectives such as
job creation or tax revenue enhancements. These instruments are
usually designed to ensure that government funds are used for
productive and targeted purposes.

Project Grants.
Grant programs award monies to startups and early - stage
ventures to finance the research and development of a specific
product or service without liability on the part of the entrepreneur.
Fellowships, scholarships, research grants, technical assistance
grants, and construction grants are examples of project grants
awarded to entrepreneurial ventures.

Project grants are awarded to businesses without a repayment
obligations. States offering these grants typically expect the
recipient business to launch research and developmental activities
that will result in a venture the can create jobs and tax revenues.
Because project grants basically function as "gifts" from the
government, eligibility criteria are usually stringent. They are
only awarded where success is considered imminent.

Direct Loans.
These programs extend financial assistance through the lending of
federal monies for a specific period of time, the general length of
which differs according to the purpose of the loan. Funds used for
these loans are usually created by a budget appropriation, and
follow a repayment schedule for the principal amount with corres-
ponding interest.

To assure a steady loan program, all repayments made by portfolio
companies are used to provide funding for subsequent loans.
Additional budget allocations, where at all available, are added
to these repayments in order to maintain a healthy loan fund.

Guaranteed/Insured Loans.
This type of loan programs are generally extended by a private
lending institution based on a government guarantee. Though this
guarantee, the government arranges to indemnify the lender against
all or part of any default by the business responsible for the
repayment of the loan.

Under this guarantee program, the private lender evaluates the
creditworthiness of the loan applicant and provides the fund.
The state shares the risk with a guarantee to repay a prescribed
percentage of this loan in case of a default. By reducing the
lender's risk, guaranteed/insured loans make capital more available
and affordable to small businesses.

Hybrid Debt-Equity.

These are instruments generally framed as loans that become equity
upon the achievement of a specified condition. They resemble
long-term debt with monthly principal and interest payments.
Hybrid debt-equity are issued generally unsecured. Upon conversion
of the loan into an equity participation, the government has an
opportunity share a greater rate of return if the business does well.

This instrument illustrates how public funds can be used to assist
businesses while keeping budget appropriations to a minimum.
Because interest must be paid, the instrument does not work well for
startup firms where high-risk patient money is required.
The program is best suited for growing businesses which generate
revenue but still have difficulty securing traditional financing.

Royalty Sharing Arrangement.
This package enables the government to extend financial assistance
to new business ventures through infusion of risk capital for
research and development purposes. nearly identical to venture
capital financing, this arrangement is available to entrepreneurs
in exchange for an interest in the R&D product for which capital is
being generated.

A typical royalty sharing arrangement places a direct investment on
a specific product being developed. This program requires the
entrepreneur to repay the investment when the produce achieves
commercialization, and for which the government charges a liberal
percentage based on the proceeds derived from its sale.

As you can see, there are many opt