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Ideas/Section-1
You've seen all the money-making articles
claiming that you can make $10,000 a month or more. You've read
success stories about people who make $1 or $2 million a year. But
did you ever stop and think about the work involved in processing
the orders? Sure, the money sounds great, but you'll work A LOT
of overtime in making it.
Let's examine this a little more closely:
Suppose you wrote a booklet that sells for $10. You advertise it
nationally (through a ad placement service bureau) and it hits!
One day you go to your mailbox to pick up your mail and there is
a note inside that says See Clerk. You go to the front desk and
tubs filled with mail are stacked on top of each other and have
to be wheeled to your car. They completely fill up the trunk, back
seat and floorboard of your car. You can't believe it.
After getting the mail home, it takes you
8-10 hours to open it, separate the junk from the orders and stack
up the $10 checks in a pile. Your family may help because they share
in your excitement. Besides, everyone keeps saying: You're rich!
You hit it big! Your book is a success. Oh, what a glorious day
this is!!
You grab yourself a bite to eat since you have spent the last 8-10
hours opening mail. Now it's time to fill those orders. You discover
that you have 500 orders to process for your book, plus $5,000 to
deposit in the bank the next morning. Doesn't sound too hard on
the surface does it? Let's look again.
>Even if you're a fast typist, it will
take 2-3 hours to type out 500 mailing labels and check them for
accuracy. (Retail: $40)
>You'll need 500 catalog envelopes,
assuming your book is the 5"x8" size. (Retail: $25)
>You'll also need 500 copies of your book. If you don't have
that many in stock (most people don't) you'll have to find a local
printer and ask them to do a rush job. (Retail: $1,000+)
>You'll also need 500, 55¢ postage
stamps to mail the orders. (Retail: $275)
But guess what? The next day when you go to the post office you
have another 500 orders waiting for you. Since you only got about
30 minutes of sleep the day before, you now find that you have to
go through the whole process again. (Somehow, this second bunch
of 500 orders is not quite as exciting as the first bunch.)
While you and the kids are opening up the mail from the 2nd day,
your printer calls and says the 500 books are ready to pick up.
You instruct him to do another rush job of 500 and to deliver the
first 500 so you can fill the 1st day's orders.
You get neighbors, friends and family to
stuff the 500 envelopes while you are still opening the mail from
the 2nd day. But after 48 hours of not getting any sleep, you lay
down for a 6-hour nap.
When you awake, you don't have time to
eat or relax. You immediately have to start processing the 500 orders
for the 2nd day. But first, you load up the filled orders from the
1st day and make a trip to the post office. But guess what? Today
you have 3,000 pieces of mail waiting for you, which takes you 25-30
hours just to open and results in 1,200 more orders. What are you
going to do?
This is only one example to demonstrate the work involved in making
the millions of dollars those ads claim that you can make. Even
if you just sell a product and rely on another company to fill the
orders for you, can you imagine the paperwork involved to process
500 orders one day, 500 the next and 1,200 the next? The paperwork,
accounting and just opening the mail alone would take 14-18 hours
a day and more. You never have time to sleep, eat or even sit down
and say "Whew!"
Also, I need to point out that if you are
a one-person operation, meaning you have no one to help you, your
income can only reach a certain level because you can only do so
much. After that level is reached, you must hire more people or
another company to process your mail and orders.
It only goes to show that making money
is hard work!! It's not quick and easy like those infomercials and
ads claim they are. Be wise!!!
