|
$20,000.00 In 30 Days... I'm about to give you the easiest way you'll ever make money offline. I've been in marketing for almost 30 years. What I'm about to share with you is real. I've done it and so can you. A couple years ago I was partying with some friends. As usual, the conversation turned to marketing. We made a bet. A bet to see who could come up with an idea, implement it, and make the most money in 30 days. I won hands down by making about $20,000.00 in 30 days. You can do it too. Here's how... I published a booklet. FIRST: I've published this before in the copywriting section but want to share it here again because it's useful. Here's what you need to do: 1. Come up with an idea. Could be about bingo, the lottery, household tips, cleaning tips, aging, exercise, etc. 2. You don't need to be an expert on the subject...the internet is a useful tool. 3. Download a book publishing software. I suggest Adobe In Design, it's a free 30 day trial and works just like a full version. Takes a couple days to learn but it's well worth it. 4. Write your booklet...keep it under 40 pages. 5. Once you have your booklet written, print it out and assemble it. TIP: I sent my booklet to Office Max via email and had them print out 10 copies. I had to assemble the copies myself. After I used the copies to get them into outlets, I had them printed online. 6. Go to local outlets and ask if you can display your booklet. You can buy display stands at your local office outlet for about .98 cents apiece. Offer them $1 for each booklet they sell. It's a win win. I sold my booklet for $4.95. Sold about 5000 of them in 30 days. I know I probably made this post quick so ask any questions. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Fascinating post, OP. What exactly do you mean by local outlets? Like pubs, grocery stores and convenience stores? Other places? Gun shops? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... That's awesome, thanks for sharing. Did you cater your booklets toward the audience you imagined at each outlet (i.e. healthy living for grocery store)? And what about order fulfillment - did you just guess at the number you'd need after the initial 10 and distribute them, or did you have the store owners take reservations? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Also, what do you actually net on the deal. Looks like you sold $25,000 worth (5000 x 4.95), and then had to give the place that sold it a buck a piece, for the $20,000. But how much did you have to spend in printing and shipping costs to get the booklets, plus the display stands? Any other costs that I'm not thinking of, other than your time spent finding all of these outlets to put them in? How did you get the local places to allow you to put them there? Just the offer of commission? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Really good idea but as UMC said above, my question is also same. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
Also, can you please link to your post in copywriting section? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... The subject of your book would be interesting to know. I can see this idea working if it was an a subject that appealed to your audience. There are two women ( Kim McCosker, Rachael Bermingham) in Australia who have written a whole series of cook book using only 4 ingredients. They wrote the first one just for fun but then it became super popular and they had to keep going. I think the subject would be the most important thing here. I agree you can learn anything on the net so you could find a lot of material for your book. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Very interesting idea. Would like to see the answers to all the questions above. Thanks for sharing. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... How does the payment work? Do they sell the books and give you your cut after taking out their portion? Do you have a pic of one of these books? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Couple answers. 1. I didn't pay anything out of pocket for printing costs, etc., because I sold advertising in the booklet to cover costs. Advertising was easy to sell because of the subject I picked. Printing costs are not that expensive anymore. There are loads of places now that will print, assemble, etc., everything for you. The price of each booklet can be set by you. You don't have to sell them for $4.95. You could ask $7.95, etc. 2. It is repeatable. A friend did repeat the process and is still doing it. It's not as difficult as some might think to get it into outlets. You're not selling the business owner anything upfront. They only pay you after the books are sold. Use your imagination...the possibilities are limitless. You will have to take some time to learn how to use the publishing software. If you don't sell advertising, you will have to use some upfront money. However, if you're just starting out you don't need to print thousands of books upfront...you can start out small then keep reinvesting your earnings. If the booklet things seems too daunting for you...I've also seen the single laminated sheets being sold for $4.95. They cover subjects like first aid, recipes for mixed drinks, etc. Seen some being sold in a truck stop once when I was traveling. Didn't try the idea but it seemed like a good one. This idea may not be for everyone. There are tons of books sold for Kindles, etc. Of course it's easier and quicker to sell this way. I know lots think everything revolves around the net, but you'd be surprised how many will buy a physical product as a spur of the moment idea, especially if the title grabs their attention. I'm just offering another idea you can try if you're more inclined to offline marketing. You could even offer your book online and offline. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I can't even imagine what officemax or staples would charge to make these booklets, even if you're assembling them yourself and just having them print. It would be well over $5 each. Just 20 pages would probably cost $25 or more. Printing online is still going to be in the $3 range at least, so selling advertising space would be the only way you could ever get this into the price point you're suggesting and that's not profit, just sales. If someone was to start this from scratch, it would take days at best but weeks most likely to learn how to format a book. Then the time it would take to write it and find images, proofread, etc. Then they'd have to sell advertising space, which to be honest I would find extremely difficult to do in this case. Then they'd have to print them which would cost a fortune at low quantity and quite a bit at high quantity as well. Printing and shipping alone would take 7-10 days at least. Then you'd have to find all these places to let you put the book for sale on consignment, which is not going to be easy. And then you cross your fingers that people will buy. 5,000 copies in a month is completely unrealistic. that's almost 170 per day. This is something that just looks good in theory. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
First, I went to gotprint.com and ran a quote to have 5000 books printed. 40 page, gloss cover in color, added shipping costs...and the total was still under $1 a book. There are cheaper printing places out there. Second, there have been people who've created fortunes off this method. Simply do a quick google search. Third...it's not necessary to sell them in outlets, there are other options. Fourth...Weeks to learn the software? Gees, it's not that complicated. Think it took me about 2 days to get it down. Fifth...I could sit down and write a complete booklet in 2 days max. Sixth...I said this wasn't for everyone. It may not be your thing, but to say it only works in theory is ridiculous. It's been done by others and still continues to be done. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... In 30 days you cannot learn publishing software, write a 40 page book, sell advertising space to cover the cost of printing 5000 of them, find retailers to sell them for you, sell all of them, and make 20k. I sorry buddy I dont buy it. I like the laminated sheet idea though. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I hate to say it but it seems so obvious when someone is telling a re hash story in the first person. This story doesnt ring of real experience to me for 10 different reasons. Either that or my sensor is just off. This is why you dont see me having more usernames and talking about adsense in other subforums, selling WSO's on the subject... because real experience has conviction behind it, and you cant really fabricate that. Dont hate me for saying it, but man....Dont make stuff up after 688 posts, you are pretty invested here...Stay solid. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... John and Bob I have to agree with you guys :) I can read thru these guys posts and see that they are the real deal and not read about it in some book and regurgitate it I can always smell Poop from afar.. but the funny thing is you will always get the inexperienced people liking his post or say wow what a shrewd businessman lol eddie |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Eddie, I can read between the lines and so can you: Quote:
It doesnt even seem like he read a whole book on the subject, more like a sales page or article. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I have no doubt this could work. not sure why you needed the convoluted bs story to present it. Lets see Ive got 30 days to win a "contest". Let me write a book, learn how to use publishing software, go around selling advertising, visit umpteen locations looking for distribution, wait another 7 days to get product, distribute the books, sell at least 250 copies per day 20 remaining days in "contest", then go back around and collect my money, all for $4 per book. Maybe if these guys were your partner that could happen https://dl.dropbox.com/u/6602511/fantasy.jpg You are flinging poo in the wrong subforum buddy. Why not just say..Here is an idea... By the way what did your buddies do trying to win said "contest"? |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... op's disclaimer: " I've been in marketing 30 years" I like the plan though, it gave me an idea. But without 30 years marketing experience one might not put the words together as well as an experienced marketeer can for their booklet nor their display pitch. How much was the printing and binding? it seems you left out the most important parts of the plan, the expenses. Well, except for the 98 cent display stand... |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
Just because you have a booklet and a display stand doesnt mean they are going to give you two square feet of their valuable display space so easily. Even if you are a new employment free publication, and all you want is "sidewalk" space...it doesnt mean a store is going to let you put your box out on their sidewalk. You have to really sell the idea. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
I don't have experience in that, but I would agree with what you said about major retailers having may hoops to jump through in order to display merchandise from an independent seller. and selling 5000 copies of anything in 30 days via smaller local outlets seems less likely to happen |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
Also I use to run a cold calling room that sold advertising space for local free employment rags... So I know a little about how the company had to really sell stores into letting them use the sidewalk to put their boxes out... Also, having run that same friends retail store, as an interim manager, to help him out, (The guy in Walmarts also had his own retail stores), I know how counter space works...man 5k books in thirty days isnt happenin unless you are in 50-100 stores. You cant even GET in 50-100 stores in 30 days. When I was running that store, if someone came in with a display box and a commission product, which happened from time to time, the first thing I would consider is whether it was going to distract from selling products that we had INVESTED in...and needed to move... There are a bunch of different variables to consider when letting someone sell in your store space, it isnt like a shoe in just because you are offering it up front on commission. Quote:
Let me re look at it: Lets say (best case scenario) 1: You write the book in two days, 2: Sell a bunch of ad space in it within another 3 days 3: Learn the formatting program, and format your book placing the ads in it that you just sold... Let's say in one day, to get ready for printing 4: Quickly get down to the printers with it, telling them you have to have the project started TODAY, and it cant be put off. 5: Pick up your book the next day, go back home and put them altogether, go buy some display cases... Now we are at about 7 days? Okay, 6: Run around town now and sell the idea to even "20" (Niche/Specialty) retail stores within a week... 14 days left to sell 5,000 copies. :) That should be no problem. You are freakin superman! Heck you are even doing all this "part time" as just a side joke with some friends! |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Hi there, max5ty provides a lot of insight on this forum. He also tells many stories that are considered by most to be "tall tales". It's his modus operandi. He likes to agitate and re-agitate. However, if you take his plan and actually put it into action - i.e. DO something, you might just make $2,000 in 30 days. You might make more, you might make less, but at least you'll be active and doing something to better your pocket. All the best, Sasha. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Hmmmm. I know from psychology classes that telling the truth a certain amount of time mixed in with lies makes things sound true but this isn't. I"m a professional marketer and I could ask you one question which I will do now. Can you document the process? I don't want to say none of it isn't true but most of it feels fabricated. I've made $30,000 - $50,000 dollars in a few months so I know how much work it could take. I'm not trying to knock your idea but it's needs a better foundation of thought. What you proposed is very basic and what types of books would really fly off the shelves like that if they are not targeted to their market? and what position in the store or outlet? I'm all about specifics and I'd like to believe you. So please just answer one question. Can you document the process, it'll be best if you did it because if me and my team finds time we'll make that work but I can almost guarantee you that the book will cost more then 5 bucks and that production will cost more than that also. So it's of course a balancing act. I will even help you on your journey if you'd like to. If you did have success then Kudos to you my friend. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... 5,000 copies at $1 each to print them. That's a $5,000 investment before you sell anything. I imagine that would be a serious problem for most people considering a plan like this (as it should be). |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... WOW...thought I'd check in to see how things were going... My first thought was: "What the heck is everyone talking about on my thread?" I'm not even going to address each comment. Frankly, some were hilarious, others were disturbing, some where downright sad. Never thought free advice would cause such a storm. I'm not selling anything...never have sold anything on this forum, and never intend to. I did exactly what I said I did. Actually, before all was done I sold around 8000 booklets. I was interviewed on the news...had a story in the paper about my project. There was a local grocery chain that gladly offered them for sale. No, I won't tell you the subject because there are others doing this and I'm not going to flood the market. The post wasn't intended to give you a subject, it was intended to stir up some ideas. 2 people actually contacted me about my idea. I spent some time with them giving them detailed instructions on the subject, etc. I'm quite sure they'll do very well when they try it. There are those who seem to be hung up on getting these into outlets. I read one post where someone droned on about getting products into Walmart. LOL...I never said anything about selling through Walmart. I also said there were other options to sell your booklets. You could do ads that pointed them to a website, etc. Did you know one way a business can get new customers is by offering a free report? Prospective customers call or visit a website and have a free report sent to them. There are also those who seem to be hung up on selling advertising for their booklets. You don't have to sell advertising. I wouldn't think twice about paying to have 10,000 booklets printed, drop another few thousand on advertising and sell them at $24.95 a pop. I've spent WAY over $20,000.00 to place a single ad for a product. They haven't all worked out...I've had failures, and I've had successes. Fortunately in the end, through trial and error, my successes outweigh my failures. You're really only limited by your imagination. I've been in business for almost 30 years. I've had people tell me they thought I was full of it. But you know what? After our conversation (which I was very polite). They went and got in their crappy car and drove home to their crappy apartment. I'm quite sure even today they're sitting around waiting on a pile of money to fall out of the sky. I'm not knocking anyone that drives a crappy car or lives in a crappy apartment, I've been there. Thankfully, when I was there, I was always looking for new ideas. I never stopped trying. I never gave up. I never limited my beliefs. I was willing to look into any possibility. I would hope there are those who can use just a little bit of imagination and make something out of my tip. I have a friend that made $40,000,000.00 in less than 2 years. I could do a post and tell you exactly how he did it, but then there'd be those whining about how they don't have $300,000.00 to have an infomercial made. Or they don't have 10s' of thousands of dollars to do a direct mail campaign. Or they'd whine about spending so much money on a product that wasn't a "sure" thing. Real success means taking chances. You can start small and work your way up. If all you can afford is 50 booklets, do 50 booklets. Sell those and continue to work your way up. There are things in life that take effort. There are very few cases of overnight success. If you think you're going to go to sleep tonight and wake up in the morning with a couple Bentleys in the garage of your million dollar home, you're dreaming. Trust me when I tell you, you'll have a lot of failures before you get to that point. You may have some days you don't eat. There may be times when they shut your electric off...you may have to live in your car for a while. How bad do you want it? Hopefully my post will stir up something in your imagination. I've read about ideas...thought about them and ended up with loads of additional ideas. Some took a different path, but they started with one idea. Someone read an idea on here about over sized postcards and was asking me what I thought. I didn't think the idea was bad. The idea started my mind spinning about better ways to do it. I tweaked the idea, gave them a great idea using some of the latest technology and they're making some serious bank. After reading some of the comments, I'm quite sure if I were to offer the suggestion there would be those complaining about the learning curve to implement the new idea. Keep your mind open...always be learning. Finally... IF everything I tell you is a total pile of crap...what are you out? How much have you spent? How much have I asked you to spend? The tip I gave you is, and has been used with great success. Someone once wrote a post saying they had came up with a new plan for success. I responded by saying a plan was only the first step. Most plans aren't a straight road from point a to point b. There's hills, valleys, swamps, alligators, zombies, machine gun fire, heat seeking missles coming your way (to name a few). Most, once the first rain drop lands on their nose, run back home and plop down in their recliner and start trying to formulate a much easier plan...negative people should be the least of your worries. This tip was to be used as a framework. Work with it...modify it to your needs. Guess I've always been the type that looks at an idea and thinks...well, if I tweak this and change that, and maybe use this hook...then advertise it this way it'll work. I hope I never get to the point of using a negative approach as my' first thought. If you're not into writing...this tip may not be for you. There are those who love to write, I'm one of them. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
Then a link to substantiate your claim(s) should be easy to provide. All the best, Sasha |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
If you like the idea, use it...if you don't, try something else. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I like the idea… I recently created a video ebook on weight loss using Adobe Acrobat 9 Professional and thanks to this post it gave me the idea to start designing a new cover for a DVD case and upload it to Kunaki.com and order 100 as a test… I don’t expect to make much on selling them… in fact I’ll let the retailer keep 75% of the sale and my 25% will cover my costs… I see it as free advertising for me and hopefully it will build up to a nice passive residual income from people purchasing one of the products the book promotes. Anyway… nothing ventured… nothing gained… I think the idea is worth putting to a test. Here's the ebook cover... I'm not finished with the DVD case design to show it. |
In defense of a tiny booklet. Have no idea what max50 did or didn't do...but I know a thing or two about booklets. Here is a link to an old promotion... Quick and easy money. OK, except for the 10,000 dollar cookie, these are a few of my booklets...all of which were created from a single sheet of paper. Almost all are advertising vehicles given away for free. As for counter displays, I still have scores of momma and poppa stores displaying my lottery lucky hotsheets, because they get them for free and sell them for 2 bux each, most average 100 per month. I don't even attempt to get anything into chains or franchises because of the meeting factor...screw meetings, had enough of those to last a lifetime. Some of these stores have had the ohiolottomodel hotsheet on display for over a decade...so, I don't know how max did his...but I used to do it the hard way...the Jimmy Krug way, the Paulette Ensign way...both have made tons of moolah with booklets. As for these booklets, I use one piece of paper, weight and stock vary...I use a template, sure, you can have it if you want it... I scan pics in, do very little copy and because I know how to market, I don't find max's figures all that out of bounds. I also create HOTSHEETS and have written a report on it. YOU can write, print and start selling within 8 hours. Don't need a print shop, my very good HP does all the work... and it is on demand. YOU could easily do a THE BEST of _____ Special OFFERS in under a week. ONE piece of paper. Booklet. Used for advertising several businesses or a coupon book for one, like a dry cleaner. Some of you just want to over complicate everything you do....why? Booklets are alive and well, thank you very much. gjabiz PS This promotion in the link is dead...but the HOTSHEETS report can be found at sowpub.com although I no longer own it, nor do I support it. |
Re: In defense of a tiny booklet. Quote:
We arent saying the system doesnt work...its clearly a classic system that has been used for ages and proven... It's just the way it was presented that everyone is scoffing. Thanks for the added info. :) -John Ps. The way you do it "for lead generation as opposed to mere book sales", is even better, and it's the way my online friend Ken Michaels would do it. He is highly knowledgeable and experienced in this. The very nuances in his dialogue, which can only come from intimate working knowledge, and the fact that everything he says lines up with an age old, proven principle... reveals that experience without any proof whatsoever being required. He has the intimate knowledge, can expound freely upon the nuances, uses the language "jargon" associated with a seasoned person of that field, and he has the "disposition" of a person that any seasoned vet can recognize as experience. They invisible things that indicate to other pros that he IS one... things that only other pros can recognize. They reveal his truth. Just like the nuances of rehash based dialogue also reveal the truth of a writers lack of personal experience on the subject, to anyone who is seasoned. I can talk like an SEO authority to average sheeple, but I cant talk like one to an SEO pro. I'd better shut up before I start attracting trolls. -John |
OK. I get it. Its him, not the idea. Quote:
Haven't fortunes been made, especially here at WF, by selling rehashed material to the "herd"...the sheeple??? Old saw, sell to the classes live with the masses, sell to the masses, live with the classes. WF is THE place to find a herd, eh? Point---online and Internet overall...it doesn't matter if there is experience to back up talk, nuanced or not...cause there is a herd mentality at play, right? AND all one has to do is to know that, and know how to sell to it. gjabiz |
Re: OK. I get it. Its him, not the idea. Quote:
I guess fortunes are made by selling rehash , the uncool part is when the rehasher talks about the experience in the first person instead of just admitting he learned it from a blog somewhere. He leaves himself open to being criticized by people who see the nuances of inexperience, not because of the info he shares, but because of the disingenuous way he shares it. Ps. Now I really gotta go, before you hypnotize me. :) Thanks for toning down the power gaze with some shades for WFr's! |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Interesting! Love this discussion! Always insightful to see what ideas are out there... |
Re: OK. I get it. Its him, not the idea. And this is the reason I seldom stray into sub forum fiefdoms. It is as you say. You're calling max50 a liar. I choose to give him, and you, the benefit of the doubt. gjabiz |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Publishing is a hard game. To launch something and it take if from 0 to 5000 sales isn't easy within 30 days. I've worked in newspapers and magazines for the last 18 years and loads of publications are closing and others are losing sales at a huge rate. So to get a booklet to be a huge success that fast the content must be incredible. I don't believe casual browsers would just pick us something like that in those numbers without a huge area being covered. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Quote:
|
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I'm thankful for the post and will be thinking of ways to tweak this for my own use. The bashing of the OP seems to be unnecessary since the Is is not a sales thread. Offering new or old ideas for others to use is a kind and selfless thing so I do not see why anyone should be attacking or judging. That's just my opinion. Anyway, I don't really post often as you can see. I prefer to read. If you, max5ty, have any more ideas, feel free to share them with me any time. PM me with your email for a chat. I am always looking for ways to make money and am not afraid of work. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Impressive, nice share you have here for us. Really a helpful one. Such really a nice ideas you all have shared here. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... One VERY interesting thing in this thread are all the reasons why the ideas Max5ty presented won't work. My inclination is to say that telemarketing and cold calling won't work either. Of course the people who actually take action and implement come to different conclusions. There are a number of people over in the copywriting forum that I tend to pay attention to ... max5ty and gjabiz are two of them. Marvin |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... I've heard about this method. See no reason to bash the OP as he is not trying to sell anything and the post is more constructive than some WSOs. Ideas are to be run with and tweaked as needed for the individual. Dan |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Thanks for sharing. I can see the limitless possibilities. If nothing else, it's got the wheels turning. All the best to everyone who contributed. May we all benefit and grow from the comments and exchanges posted. TRG |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Thanks for sharing. I have seen small books like you are referring to in stores before. |
Re: $20,000.00 In 30 Days... Nowadays you can do this on the internet in less amount of time :) A good product launch can net you around 5-10k and backend sales / webinars for 10k or more. Otherwise, great read and thank you for the insights :) |
| All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:52 PM. |