How to make £500 a week, or more, without a Job. A review/edit by Sparhawk. Introduction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This book is available by Mail Order from a company called Streetwise Marketing at Riverside House, Claire Court, Rawmarsh Road, Rotherham, South Yorks, S60 1RU for £29.50. However, most of the information is include here so there is no real need to buy it. The book is by Andrew Mitchell. The book is part of a growing market of Business Opurtunities. You may have recieved some information as 'junk mail' or replied to an ad in the newspaper, perhaps just out of curiosity. There are many companies offering Business Oppurtunities, from Pools Systems through to buying land and dealing with the information itself. Once you have bought something or even just requested information from a Business Oppurtunity or Direct Marketing company you can be sure to receive a lot more as there is even a big market in the mailing lists themselves! As in another article of mine, a review of Joe Karbo's 'Lazy Mans Guide to Riches', this article contains the bulk of the information in the book. This time the subject is Dealing in discounted goods. The Goods. ~~~~~~~~~~ The book begins by outling the prospects from this book and method. It states prices such as TV's from £25 and Microwaves from £35. It also shows how anyone can enter this business: 1. You need no capital, or very little, and can start with 1 item. 2. No special premises needed to start. 3. Run the business part time or when you want. 4. No qualifications neccesary. 5. Age or Sex not important. 6. No risk and suitable for 1 person or a couple. The manual then goes onto the first main section, the goods you can sell. This book mainly deals with TV's, Videos, Hifi's, Camcorders and all the other electrical and entertainment goods. In other words bulk consumer goods. It has tips on what to buy, how to check they work, what to avoid etc. In fact, most of this is of the 'turn on and check' variety and 'buy only up to date models - eg. Not Betamax'. Pretty self explanotary. It also quotes example prices, some of which are listed below, these are not the cheapest or most expensive but the middle range stuff. The retail value is usually double the price or more, the shop value higher again: 14" Ex-Rental portable TV with Remote - £65 Front Loading top brand ex-rental VCR - £70 Top model Exx-rental Camcorder VHS Stereo - £135-£200 Toaster £3 Kettle £8 Hairdryer £2 Cordless phone £25 Microwave £35 Fridge/freezer £88 Washer/dryer £120 Unbranded basic car radio cassete unit - £6 Ex-Rental 486 PC with CD-ROM - £295 Dining Table and four chairs - £49 Hewlett Packard Laser printer - £50 Top brand mountain bike - £100 The main purpouse of this section is an overview of what is to follow. In a checklist it says to choose a stock line, make a list of stock you wish to deal in and contact suppliers. How to buy and where to buy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This section is one of the most usefull. It shows how to buy from Trade Warehouses and auctions. An appendix lists these adresses (not included in this article due to size, you'll have to buy the book!). Trade Warehouses can also be found in 'The Trader' and 'The Dealer' magasines. To gain entry to a Trade warehouse you must have evidence you are a trader, such as a bank statement or cheque book with a business name, a VAT registration certificate or some business notepaper or business card. Obviously, the latter are the easiest to obtain but a business bank account is also quite easy to get as long as you don't want to borrow money. Trade warehouses, it says, are much more basic than a supermarket but carry cheaper goods. It advises that you get to know the proprietiers for special deals and so they keep goods aside for you. Some warehouses have minimum quantities, such as 5, or amounts, such as £50. You can buy a single sample or demonstration stock though. You usually have to pay cash until you're established and goods cannot be returned. Only a few items will be guaranteed. Also some trade warehouses can work by mail order. The next section deals with Auctions. These carry surplus or end of line stocks, ex-rentals, ex-catalogue returns, bankrupt stocks, reposessed stock, fire/flood/smoke damaged stock, stolen and unclaimed stock and ex-demo stock. There is a lot more uncertainty about goods at an auction but of course they're at a lot cheaper price. The manual advises that you register with local auctions so they tell you of upcoming deals and auctions. Some charge, some don't. It advises you watch a few before you take part. Some auctions require you to register with them and they give you a bidding card. Otherwise raise a finger or nod for a bid. DO NOT overstep your budget! You may have to pay a £50-£100 cash deposit for any purchases. Hidden costs include buyers premiums of around 5%, VAT currently at 17.5% and storage charges if you don't take the items immediately. Only attend reputable sales to avoid dealing in stolen goods. The final method detailed here of obtaining stock is by advertising for it. These go into the Goods Wanted section of your local paper. You'll need a pool of cash to buy the goods using this method. A similar method is House Clearances, tendering for catalogue returns directly. In short you must first contact the dealers for trade lists or auction dates and then attend, and buy! Selling. ~~~~~~~~ The previous section detailed buying, this details selling. There are a number of established ways to do this, firstly through Classified Ads. To write an ad state the following: Headline, item, model, make, colour, special features or guarantee, price and price when new, telephone #. Buy law you must state if you're a trader, but you get free advertising in most places if you're a private dealer. Who knows if your 'TV, brand new, unwanted gift, only £95' is sold over and over again? The selling price must be set by taking into account cost, repairs, ads, delivery and proft. This is the minimum selling price. The maximum should 2/3 (66%) of the shop value of the item. You should have at least 50% profit. The rest of the section just details information about being presentable and selling the item(s) in a nice area. A usefull tip though is a 'weeks free trial' where hopefully the client will become attached to the item and buy. Follow up orders can come by sending discount vouchers to past customers to entice more sales. The next method of selling is through advertising in windows, sending leaflets and using direct mail. For the latter names and adresses can come from libraries or even the Yellow Pages. More ideas on selling are Car Boot sales, garage sales, one day sales (in a town hall or similar), Auctions and through agents. Customer Support. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The previous two sections of the book dealt with Buying and Selling, which is of course the core of a business such as this. This penultimate chapter deals with the important topic of customer support. You can offer refunds or replacements with a short-term 7-day guarantee. Even if a customer returns (rarely) you can re-sell and the customer will probably stay with you, being impressed with your service. You can offer finance, at no risk to yourself, and perhaps at extra cash to yourself, by becoming an agent of a finance company. You give the customers details to the company and they deal with the rest. You can even get commision from some. You can offer a repair service, perhaps at extra cost. The repair company may also pay you commission due to their extra clients. You can offer a warranty at a small charge. If the client returns, you lose nothing, if not you gain the price of the warranty. Only repair if it is cheaper than a replacement. Another aspect of customer support is giving a good image. This is the final section 'Good business practice'. Firstly you must have a good business name. You do not have to register but if you dont you must state 'Proprieter: your name' or similar on any stationery. Printed receipts are neccesary for a good image. You could buy bulk plain receipts or have personal ones printed. A separate telephone should be used but if not make sure you allways answer with your business name and not in a room with the TV or HiFi blaring. You should allways keep records, either on computer or on paperwork, for details of income tax and/or VAT and National insurance. These are important taxes and an accountant can help. Basically you must register Income Tax for any payments you take for yourself. If your income is modest you can be exempt from all these. There is a minimum level before you pay VAT, but can claim most of it back anyway. It may be necesary to insure your stock. House insurance doesn't usually cover stock. You should insure for trade value rather than what you paid. Finally if you deal in TV's you must have a TV license. If you deal from home your home TV License is sufficient. You must also pass on any buyers of TV's to the TV Licensing organisation so they can check on them! And that's "How to make £500 a week without a job." The book is interesting, though not worth buying unless you want the auction and trade warehouse directory. The actual £500 claim is open to interpratation though you get out what you put in. Examples in a summary at the end of the book state you can make a profit of £82 in one night from just one TV and one Video, which is certaintly possible (£40 TV, £50 Video, £3 ad, £5 Travel and sold on as £80 TV and £100 Video). End