Hottest Business Opportunities Part 1

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Business Opportunities In Producing 'How To' CD's
Temporary Help Agency Business Opportunities
Business Opportunity Seminars
All Cruise Travel Club Business Opportunities
Business Opportunities In Advertising Maps
Readers' Comments

1) Business Opportunities In Producing 'How-To' CD's

Minimum Start-Up: $2,500
Average Start-Up: $5,000
One Person Business: Yes

The CD is entitled: "This CD Can Make You Filthy Rich", and it's about producing how-to CDs - a concept whose time has come. At $15 each, plus $3 shipping and handling, the producer of CD will gross $18,000 selling 1,000 CDs.

The production cost is quite small. The audio program was written by the producer who brought the script to a "Narration House" where a professional announcer does the voice recording using a professional studio.

Rollover Image To See Recording In Action

Narration Houses

You can order radio commercials as well as other "voice" recorded programs to be produced by so-called "narration houses".

This business is usually run by a professional announcer who owns or has access to a professional recording studio. Just send your script to a narration house and have them record it for you. The amount you are charged depends on the length of your material and the type of tape on which you want your "master copy" recorded. A recording of 30-minute material may cost you $450.

The Interview Format

Another popular format for a How-To CD is what we call the "Interview" format. This is where the author or producer of the CD is interviewed on a subject in which he or she is an expert. Since this format is prepared on a "question and answer" basis, it is relatively easy to structure, allowing for a more logical presentation of the ideas the author wants to cover.

With this format, the author can prepare 30 to 50 questions, which together with the answers, can be edited down to a 30 to 40 minute program.

Depending on where the interview is produced, this format may cost less than a straight presentation where the bulk of the work uses the voice of a professional narrator.

Your Market

In a "How-To" project, it is always recommended that you select your topics based on your expertise or access to information. From a marketing standpoint, it is equally beneficial for you to be familiar with the market to whom you expect to market your How-To CD.

If your topic is very selective, use direct mail to market your CDs. If it is an extremely popular topic that can be promoted on TV, use 60-second TV spots or print ads.

2) Temporary Help Agency Business Opportunities

Minimum Start-Up: $10,000
Average Start-Up: $100,000
One Person Business: Yes

The high cost of maintaining a full-time employee contributes to the growth of the temp-help business. Advancement in computer hardware and software enables companies to staff mean and lean, preferring to hire temps during peak seasons rather than lay off workers during slower times. On any given day, over 1 million people work on temporary assignments. By 1995, trade statistics estimate that 1.25 million jobs will go by way of "temps", creating an aggregate annual payroll of about $10 billion.

These figures suggest that the temporary help business is here to stay. It is one to watch through the turn of the century. Unlike the temp boom of the late 70s, today's temp-help has gone beyond clerical help, with 37% of placements involving professionals.

Job Matchmaker

A temporary-help service acts as a matchmaker between businesses seeking temporary help and individuals who want a job. The temporary agency pays the employee on a weekly basis a set rate, and in turn bills the business/client a predetermined rate, usually 10% to 15% more than was paid the employee.

Start-Up Hurdle

If there is a single hurdle that makes starting a temporary-help agency "difficult", it has to do with your ability to cover the payroll up front. As a temp agency, the demand for cash flow presents a two-sided problem. While you are expected to pay your workers on a weekly basis, you are also expected to extend your clients 30 to 60 days credit. So while you're waiting to get paid, you need to have enough cash to cover your payroll. For example, if you place 10 workers at 40 hours each for the week, at a rate of $8 an hour, it would require $3,200 cash for the week. That's $12,800 in 4 weeks!

To avoid this problem, it is advisable to hire your workers as independent contractors. You can act as their agent, and collect your commission when they are paid.

3) Producing Business Opportunity Expo-Seminars

Minimum Start-Up: $1,500
Average Start-Up: 10,000
One Person Business: Yes

In this information Society, we have an insatiable appetite for knowledge. Add to this our desire to network with people who share our interests, professionals in our own trade.

For these reasons, seminars and expositions have continued to grow. At a time when the explosive growth of electronic systems offer abundant ways information can be delivered, we continue to prefer the old fashioned, person-to-person contact with our peers.

As seminars become more and more specialized, the number of seminars continue to grow. According to industry statistics, there are over 1,000,000 seminar sessions each year. There seems to be a wide spectrum of topics on which to develop a seminar.

The Business Opportunities market is at a strategic crossroads where new economic opportunities intersect with our growing disenchantment with conventional employment.

Thus, our continuing search for a "better way to earn a living" makes Business Opportunities Expos and Seminars one of the most profitable products.

Remember, where our economic interest lies, we are all opportunity seekers.

And that's a huge market.

Table-Top Expo

The most cost effective way to produce a "Start A Business" seminar is to have sponsors cover the cost of promoting the expo/seminar. In exchange, you can arrange for sponsors to have a mini expo. Compared to conventional expos that use booths for exhibits, a "table-top expo" can take place in a foyer or hotel lobby.

A number of tables can be arranged where different, non-competing sponsors can consult with attendees regarding business opportunities being offered.

The $10 Expo/Seminar

If all your marketing and production costs are paid for by participating sponsors, your revenues will depend exclusively on admission. In a city of 1 million or more people, it is reasonable to project an attendance of 2,500 to 3,500, each paying $10 for 3-hour seminars and an on-going consultation-style tabletop expo.

4) All-Cruise Travel Club Business Opportunities

Minimum Start-Up: $500
Average Start-UP: 10,000
One Person Business: Yes

Most Travel Clubs are organized on the premise of building a sizable membership capable of negotiating discounts with various travel providers. The Travel Club makes money earning a commission every time a member purchases airline tickets, books a hotel room, or goes on a cruise. Today, things have changed quite a bit.

Rollover Image To See What You Can Do During Your Cruise Trip

Selling Memberships

With a swelling membership basis it is difficult for travel clubs to ignore the profits of charging for membership, no matter how insignificant the amount. With 10,000 members, a travel club charging only $20 a year will earn $200,000 in membership dues. This revenue is over any commission the Club earns when a member travels.

Split Discounts

A Travel Club normally acts as a travel agent for the exclusive use of its members. As an "agency", it gets standard agent commissions from airlines, hotels and cruise lines. This can range anywhere between 10% and 18% of the purchase price. What travel clubs usually do is offer its members a rebate equivalent to 50% of its commission (meaning 5% to 9% of their purchase price). If the member spends $1,000, he/she gets back anywhere between $50 and $90. This is enough reason for people to join a travel club, especially if the membership dues are just $20 a year.

All-Cruise

As today's market shifts from the "all-in-one" and "do-it-all" service companies to that of "specialized" services, so do travel clubs. Based on industry statistics, the best area to specialize in is the Cruise business, the fastest-growing segment in Travel.

Your Business

Sell memberships to your All-Cruise Travel Club and offer rebates on all cruises and peripheral services the member books through the club. Find products or services that you can give as bonus for signing up for a year's membership.

You may even want to seek distributors who will purchase membership cards in advance, at 15% of the retail price. This means that if the membership retails for $20, a distributor buys it from you for $3. If you sell 10,000 memberships this way, you've just earned $30,000. Then, add to this revenue from commissions when members take a cruise.

C.L.I.A.

The Cruise Lines International Association is a trade body representing the interests of the Cruise Lines segment of the travel industry. Membership to the Association is only $245 per year. The Association also has a certification program that can bring your business immediate credibility by being able to sell direct all-cruise packages.

5) Business Opportunities In Advertising Maps: The Road to Big Profits

Maps serve a purpose. People use them for directions. They trust them and depend on them to get them where they want to go. It tells them where the local attractions are, and other places if interest, particularly among tourists - the people who use maps the most.

Considering the credibility and the power of maps as a printed medium, it takes an entrepreneur 2 seconds to realize that there's money in maps...as an advertising vehicle.

You can design your city map to be as large as 28" x 40" which can be printed by commercial print houses with large format presses. Or you can use the 11"x 17" format and bring it to your neighborhood quick printer.

The Map

What you're going to make a map of is as critical as deciding about how you're going to do it. These are the two questions that will make the foundation of your business.

Big cities are very seldom a great market for City Maps. However, if you break them apart and make maps for selected business districts, even down to selected neighborhoods, the taking is plenty. Focus on dense retail districts. Target those with neighboring restaurant rows, historical spots or other tourist attractions. Purchase reprint rights of already existing maps as this would prove significantly easier and more cost efficient than producing one yourself. "Cartoon" maps may be visually entertaining, but they are seldom useful. You will probably attract more advertisers if you can equate your advertising rates with potential use.

Advertisers position advertising blocks on the outer edge of the map area. Depending of the size of your map and the paper you plan to print it on, you can have as many or as few "blocks" to offer for advertising. Encourage your advertisers to buy more than 1 block of advertising. This will not only make your map look more exclusive, but it will also make your selling task much easier.

Readers' Comments