THE BARRISTER'S DREAM

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
  They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

But the Barrister, weary of proving in vain
  That the Beaver's lace-making was wrong,
Fell asleep, and in dreams saw the creature quite plain
  That his fancy had dwelt on so long.

He dreamed that he stood in a shadowy Court,
  Where the Snark, with a glass in its eye,
Dressed in gown, bands, and wig, was defending a pig
  On the charge of deserting its sty.

The Witnesses proved, without error or flaw,
  That the sty was deserted when found:
And the Judge kept explaining the state of the law
  In a soft under-current of sound.

The indictment had never been clearly expressed,
  And it seemed that the Snark had begun,
And had spoken three hours, before any one guessed
  What the pig was supposed to have done.

Shadow March

All around the house is the jet-black night;
  It stares through the window-pane;
It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light,
  And it moves with the moving flame.

Now my little heart goes a beating like a drum,
  With the breath of the Bogies in my hair;
And all around the candle and the crooked shadows come,
  And go marching along up the stair.

The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp,
  The shadow of the child that goes to bed--
All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp,
  With the black night overhead.

Rain

 The rain is falling all around,
  It falls on field and tree,
It rains on the umbrellas here,
  And on the ships at sea.

HOW TO TELL GOOD MAILING LISTS FROM THE BAD ONES.

I can honestly say, if your product or service is good, you should 
receive orders from any mailing list. But, percentage wise, some will 
pull less than 1%. The best mailing lists pull in 20% or more! In other 
words, better than 200 orders per 1,000 mailing. The most important 
deciding factor that indicates a good list from a bad one is this:  

THE SOURCE OF THE NAMES.
If you but a mailing list from a dealer who has compiled the names from 
his or her own customer list, the list will pull in the more orders than 
one that is compiled from a phone book or some other general source. And 
remember, the best mailing list you can have is your own.  

I am convinced that if a person is ACTIVE in mail order (especially if they have bought 
something within the past 90 days), he or she will respond to a good offer.  
I run a full-time mail order business but in all reality I am still an 
OPPORTUNITY SEEKER!  

I can use a good mail order plan, clip art and I still buy lots of advertising and 
mailing lists. So, if you will get your offers to ACTIVE people, then there is NO
 reason why you shouldn't get orders.

The Two Fellows and the Bear

Two Fellows were travelling together through a wood, when a
Bear rushed out upon them. One of the travellers happened to be
in front, and he seized hold of the branch of a tree, and hid
himself among the leaves. The other, seeing no help for it, threw
himself flat down upon the ground, with his face in the dust. The
Bear, coming up to him, put his muzzle close to his ear, and
sniffed and sniffed. But at last with a growl he shook his head
and slouched off, for bears will not touch dead meat. Then the
fellow in the tree came down to his comrade, and, laughing, said
"What was it that Master Bruin whispered to you?"

"He told me," said the other,

"Never trust a friend who deserts you at a pinch."

The Fox and the Crow

A Fox once saw a Crow fly off with a piece of cheese in its
beak and settle on a branch of a tree. "That's for me, as I am a
Fox," said Master Reynard, and he walked up to the foot of the
tree. "Good-day, Mistress Crow," he cried. "How well you are
looking to-day: how glossy your feathers; how bright your eye. I
feel sure your voice must surpass that of other birds, just as
your figure does; let me hear but one song from you that I may
greet you as the Queen of Birds." The Crow lifted up her head and
began to caw her best, but the moment she opened her mouth the
piece of cheese fell to the ground, only to be snapped up by
Master Fox. "That will do," said he. "That was all I wanted. In
exchange for your cheese I will give you a piece of advice for the
future
 ."Do not trust flatterers

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 eff
ective 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.

Making Money With Voice Mail

Although this money-making is continuously being marketed as "a way to make 
money with your answering machine", new technology has actually rendered 
this idea obsolete.

With the proliferation of voice mail, fax-back service, and very inexpensive 
computerized voice processing systems, the answering machine, with its 
limited one-call-at-a-time capacity, is no longer ideal for making money.

With the advent of these new technologies, the concept has also expanded to 
a variety of processes which you can use to make money.

PEOPLE MUST CALL

With answering machines, the only way you can make money is when people call 
you. Since an answering machine is hooked up to a specific phone number, 
and since it does not advertise on its own, you will have to establish ways 
to attract people to call your phone number so that people can listen to the 
message recorded on your answering machine.

THE MESSAGE IS THE KEY

The message recorded on your answering machine is the key to your ability to 
make money. The message can instruct people to send money for information 
about any subject matter, or instruct callers to leave their name and 
address so you can send them a sales brochure. The information you have 
recorded on your machine should be encouraging and convincing enough to 
motivate the caller to do what you have instructed.

catering services

This means the capability of handling everything for the customer, from having the invitations printed and sent out to cleaning up after the last guest has left. Businesses and people in the upper income brackets, like to pick up the phone - tell someone that they want a party on a certain date - and then forget about it, knowing everything will be taken care of without further worry or time involvement from them. Once you've developed your expertise and clientele to this level, you'll have a business in the $200,000 to $250,000 per year range.

 Definitely arrange for a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You will probably get 40% of your inquiries from this source alone. Generally speaking, radio and/or television advertising will be too expensive when compared with the immediate results. However, it is recommended that you consider these media prior to special holidays.

 Working with restaurants, supper clubs, bridal shops and the entertainment business in general, can bring in hundreds of referrals for you. Rubbing shoulders with, and circulating as a part of your area's civic and service clubs, should also result in more business for you.

 Keep your eyes and ears on the alert. Wherever you go, and with whomever you associate, always be ready to promote and sell your services, if not on the spot, at least make a note to follow up when conditions are more in your favor. Promoting and selling
your services will require at least half your time, and that's why two people operating catering services are so successful from the start.

 The actual selling is quite simple so long as you emphasize the service and time-saving aspects.

 The more time-consuming work you can handle for the client, the easier it's going to be for you to close the sale.

 Handing out business cards is one of the least expensive ways to advertise, promote and sell your services. One enterprising caterer makes arrangements with the sponsors of all his parties, to see that each of the guests gets one of his business cards.

 Another gives each of his clients a stack of his business cards, and tells them he will pay them $25 for each prospect they refer to him. He tells them to write their name on the back of the cards, and to hand them out to their friends. And then, whenever a person tells him that John or Jane suggested he call, and he presents the card with John or Jane's name on the back, this very successful caterer sends John or Jane a $25 check.

 Another very successful caterer pays commissions to a group of housewives and college students who solicit - via their home phones - interviews for him with brides-to-be. They get their leads from announcements, and pictures of brides-to-be in the local papers.

 Many caterers pay sales people a commission for letting them know when they hear about a party or special event being planned by one of their business customers.

 The possibilities go on and on, and are seemingly unlimited. Time is becoming more valuable to a lot more people every day, which means there are more and more opportunities for great wealth and personal independence as a professional caterer. In reality, the success for just about any person entering this field, will be limited only by his or her own imagination and energy.

 There is definite opportunity for great wealth within the catering field.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

On the same line, but on the right hand side of the page, and in all capital letters, write the words, FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Underline this, and immediately below, but not in all capital letters, type - your name - your phone number - and your
address...

 Skip a couple of spaces, then in all capital letters - centered between the margins - type a story headline, and underline it... Skip a couple of spaces, and from the left hand
margin, all in capital letters, type the words, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: From there on, it's the news or publicity story itself.

 You can write the headline before the, story, and then a story to fit the headline - or the story before the headline, and then a headline to fit the story - either way, it's basically the same as writing a space ad or a sales letter... You attract attention and interest with the headline and fill in the details with your story.

 Here's an example of the headlines we use on publicity blurbs for MONEY MAKING MAGIC:

HELP IN MAKING ENDS MEET
NEW PUBLICATION FOR EXTRA INCOME SEEKERS

 Notice how we continue to sell or involve the editor - His readers are always looking for better ways to make ends meet, and he's specifically interested as to what our promise involves... He wants his readers to "think well" of him for enlightening them with this source of help, so he reads into the story to find out who, what and how... An actual copy of one of our publicity releases is contained as an appendix to this report...

 Suffice it to say that your headline, and the story you present to the editor, must sell him on the benefits of your product or service to his readers. Unless it specifically does this, he'll not use it. You must sell the first person receiving your materials. Keep this fact uppermost in your mind as you write it. The person you send your press or publicity release to, must quickly see and understand how your product or service will benefit his readers - thereby making him a hero to them - and he must be assured it will do what you promise in your headline.

 Come right to the point and say your product is lower in price, more convenient to use or in what way your product or service is useful to the people in general. It's also a good idea to include a complimentary sample of your product or an opportunity for him to sample your services.

 Remember, the editors receiving your information are fully aware of your purposes - Free Advertising! They are not in the least interested in you or your credentials - If you've sold them on the benefits of your business to the readers, and they want background details, they'll call you. That's why you list your telephone number and address...

 These people are busy people. They have not got the time nor the interest in reading about your trials and tribulations or plans for the future. They want only "a flag" that alerts them to something new and of probable real interest to their readers.

 Sell the editor first. Convince him that you've found the better mousetrap. Show him that your product or service - that your business - fills a need and/or will interest a large segment of his readers, his viewers or listeners.

 When an editor uses your publicity release, always follow-up with a short thank you note. Never, but never send a publicity release to an editor and then call or write demanding to know why he didn't use it, use it as you wrote it, or only gave you a quick
mention. Do this once, and that particular media will "round-file" any further material received from you, unopened! If your first effort is not used, then you should review the story itself, perhaps write it from a different angle; make sure you're sending it to the proper person - and try again!

 As stated earlier, these people are busy, with hundreds of publicity releases passing across their desks every day - They only have so much space or time -therefore, your material has to stand out and in some way, fit in with the information they - the editors- want to pass along to their readers, viewers or listeners. Regardless of your business, product, or service, you must build your press release - write it - around that particular angle or feature that makes it beneficial or interesting to the readers, viewers or listeners of the media you want to run your press release. Without this special ingredient, you're lost before you begin.

 The timing of your press release is always important Try to associate your press release with current events in the news. A story on job layoffs and increased unemployment carried in the newspapers, on TV and radio would prompt us to get a publicity release out to all the media on the help and opportunity offered by MONEY MAKING MAGIC! Say there's a deluge of chain letters and pyramid schemes making the rounds - the media picks up on it and attempts to warn the people to beware... Within 5 days, we would get a publicity release out, explaining the availability of our report on chain letters and pyramid schemes - a report that explains everything from A to Z - who are the winners and who are the real losers.

 There's another kind of timing also to keep in mind... Publication Deadlines... For best results, always try to time it so your material reaches the editor in time for the Sunday paper. This is because that's when the papers have their greatest circulation; the most space is available, and the people, the most time to read the paper.
 For articles you'd like to appear in the Sunday paper, you'll generally have to get your releases in at least nine days prior to the date of publication. If you're in doubt, call and ask about the deadline date.

Choose the media most likely to carry your press release. Select those that carry similar write-ups on a regular basis.

 Always use a cover letter of some kind. It pays to call ahead to find out the name of the person you should be sending your press release to.

 Use the proper press release form, complete with a headline that will interest the man deciding whether or not to use your item.

 Be sure your press release is letter perfect - no typo's nor misspelled words - and don't photo-copy - always have each letter or press release individually typed or printed.

 When your item is used, send a thank you note or call the editor on the phone and thank him for using your press release.

 Never, but never call or write an editor demanding to know why he didn't use your press release, why he had it rewritten or cut it short - just try, and try again! e r s€

VIDEOTAPE RENTAL STORE

OPERATE YOUR OWN
VIDEOTAPE RENTAL STORE

 One of the newest, and most profitable retail business opportunities available today is the Videotape Store. Profits from rental of videotapes movies have doubled each year over the past several years, and industry experts claim this is only the beginning.

 Not long ago videotape recorders (now widely referred to as video-cassette recorders) were being bought at a rate of one million units per year. Five years later, the sales rate had climbed to 12 million recorders per year, and sales are still increasing. Analysts say that within a few years there will be as many recorders in use as television sets. It follows that all these videocassette recorders are in need of tapes, just as an automobile requires gasoline.

 Generally speaking, the average Videotape Store can be set up with an investment or line of credit in the neighborhood of $50,000. Utilizing good management techniques, and taking advantage of natural promotional opportunities, such a store will gross $250,000 per year. Some stores are realizing a net profit of 35 to 45 percent with these income figures.

 The secret to achieving and maintaining these kinds of profits is in establishing and properly running a video club that offers really outstanding benefits to club members. These benefits should include special discounts on tape rentals and purchases; a regular catalog or newsletter that tells your members about the new tapes available; special workshops; get-togethers, and even outings.

 Think about the potentials: videocassette recorders are now within the price range of just about everyone in the country; new technology, better performance and greater development of the market will reduce the cost even further. More and more people are switching from costly evenings out to the comforts of home and videotape entertainment; market surveys profile the typical VCR owner as between 25 and 50 years of age with an income of $20,000 or more.

 That typical customer will provide about 70% of your income, with the remaining 30% coming from blue-collar workers, college students, and singles of both sexes. It's important that you be "in tune" with what the VCR owners in your area want, and fulfill those wants.

 In selecting a location, look for a storefront in an area surrounded by stores the typical VCR owner is likely to shop in. Six hundred to nine hundred square feet should meet your needs at first, but plan ahead for future expansion. The ideal location would be on a corner, affording visibility of your shop from several directions. The street fronting your store should ideally be four lanes with no median dividers, but with a posted speed limit of 35 M.P.H. or less. And by all means, make sure there's plenty of parking space available.

 The layout of your store should be planned with maximum efficiency in mind. Basically, a glass-topped sales and display counter across the front, separating the customers from the sales area, while at the same time conveying a feeling of openness, works best. Glass counters with shelves may be purchased at tremendous savings by contacting the rental fixture suppliers and used equipment dealers in your area. Check the yellow pages of your telephone and business directories for names and addresses of suppliers.

 You should strive to make the customer space in front of the counter comfortable and relaxing. There should be an overall atmosphere of friendliness. Place a couple of chairs or stools in front of the counter so that your customers can sit and browse through your catalogs. You might want a coffee table, free coffee, and catalogs on everything from VCR's to equipment accessories to special order movies.

 One of the important secrets to success will be the way your store is perceived by the customers. You and your salespeople can dress casually and project an overall relaxed manner of doing business; taking care of each customer individually, using their first names (if appropriate), and relating to what's happening in their lives. With this approach you will get to know them, and will establish long-term customer loyalty faster than by any drum-beating promotions.

 The best idea for the display seems to be on wooden shelves lining the walls of the sales area behind the customer counter. These shelves can be built by a local handy man and either painted or stained. It's important, however, that they be strong, be cause the weight of the videotapes can amount to 50 to 100 pounds per shelf, depending on the length of the shelf.  

 Arrange the videotapes on the shelves, in book fashion. Stand them upright with the title art on the boxes clearly visible to the customers. It's important that you not allow your customers to browse through your inventory, as they do with books on the shelves at the public library. In other words, your inventory of tapes is money to you and should be seen, but not touched, by your customers until they either want to rent or buy.

 An arrangement that works well with many stores is to remove the tapes from the jackets, and display the empty jackets in the viewing area for customers. Many of the jackets carry descriptive sales literature, which entices the prospect to either buy or rent. The tapes themselves, which do not carry any out side printed message, should be kept behind your counters, in an area accessible only to your people.

 You can locate your manager's desk and files in front of the inventory shelves. Space partitioned off in the back of the store will be quite adequate for storage, packaging and/or whatever minor repairs might be necessary.

 Our suggestion would be to allocate 60% of your store for the display-sales office area; 20% for the reception or customer area; and 20% for storage/work area. Check out a store. You should be able to assess the entire arrangement in a few visits, and pattern yours after it, or consider improvisations or changes you would make.