Believe it or not, bulletin boards actually work as a traffic builders
for any small business. They serve to enhance the community relations image of
a business, and the space required to locate a bulletin board can be written
off as a tax deduction when listed as advertising or public relations expense.
People use these "business
provided" bulletin boards to advertise things they want to sell,
home-based businesses, and whatever they might want to trade for or buy. Then,
they come back, sometimes morning, noon and evening every day, to check them,
or to see who else has an announcement posted. Each time they come into the
business owner's store or shop, they may not feel obligation to buy something,
but of course the business owner has another opportunity to sell them
something.
Just about anybody can organize a route of
bulletin boards; charge the advertisers a small monthly fee; keep them
up-to-date and neat, (which will make the business owner happy) and make some
really easy money in the whole process.
The first step is to contact as many
businesses in your area as possible. Grocery stores, drugstores, barber shops,
beauty salons, service stations, quick print shops, rental shops, mobile home
parks, shopping centers, apartment complexes that have foyers or recreation
rooms---and the list goes on endlessly.
Sell them the idea of allowing you to
install and maintain a bulletin board service for them. Emphasize the community
service, the tax write-off,and the fact that you'll keep it neat. When you get
ten or more signed to allow you to install a bulletin board, you're ready to
start making your bulletin boards.
The best plan ( and of course the most
economical) is to make your own. Cut a piece of corkboard 3 feet by 4 feet,
mount a 3/4 by 1 1/2 inch frame around the edge, and cover this frame with a 3
foot by 4 foot piece pf plastic. Mount the plastic with hinges at the top and
hasp at the bottom. On the back of the corkboard, install a couple of hooks for
hanging it, and you're ready to go.
Make up a sign---you can even type it out
and use it as another bulletin board announcement---something like this:
CITY WIDE BULLETIN BOARD SERVICES!
Your announcement or advertisement
displayed here for only $5 per month! For more information, call 123-4567.
Put your sign or announcement on each of
your bulletin boards, lock them up, and install them in all your locations. Ten
such signs with only 50 announcements per bulletin board should bring you an
easy $500 per month.
When you put an announcement from the same
person up on more than one board, charge them $5 per announcement on each
bulletin board. And one other thing: The date the "run of display"
ends should be marked on each announcement you put on each of your bulletin
boards.
In all likelihood, you'll have people
waiting for space on your bulletin boards. Keeping records should be very
simple and easy. Start with a loose leaf notebook, blank paper and a couple of packages
of 3 by 5 cards. In your notebook, write down the date, the amount of money
received and the number of announcements on display, and the contract
expiration date. On the 3 by 5 cards, write name, address, phone number and
expiration date of each contract, and the location (s) of the bulletin boards
(s) that particular announcement is on. Arrange the cards in chronological order
according to expiration date, and file them in a storage box.
Once you get rolling, you shouldn't have
to service your bulletin boards more than once a week, and as more people see
the, more businesses will want you to put one in their business location, and
more people will want to display announcement. Simple, easy and a real
money-maker for you.
This kind of business is what the
newspapers like to write about, and the TV stations like to carry as news of
what the people in their areas are doing as entrepreneurs. So take the feature editors
out to lunch, make friends with them, and push for al the free publicity you
can get.
That's the plan. It's simple, easy and
depending upon the population density of your area it could very well be the
very thing you've been looking for to supply you an extra income. It demands
little investment, not much of your time and no special training or education.
But, as with any business venture, it takes ACTION on your part. You must get
out there and set it up, and work at making it a success for YOU! It's really
up to you, and we wish you success in it.
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