Instant Moneymaking Part-Time Businesses Part 2

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Operate A Xerox Copy Center
Be A Local News Correspondent
Campground Store-On-Wheels
Create A New Tour-Bus Service
Run A Pet Hotel Service
Sell Second-Hand Kids Clothing
Breed Tropical Fish
Make Plastic Engraved Signs
Sell Christmas Trees
Open A Rubber Stamp Business
Camper's Equipment Rental Service
Operate A Key-Safety Service
Be A Used Car Buying Consultant
Sell "Loss Leaders" For Profit
Baby Items Rental Service
Operate A "Give A Party" Service
Operate A Miniature Slot Car Racing Track
All-Service Service
Genealogy For People Who Want Roots

19. Operate A Xerox Copy Center

The secret of this is not just selling one or two copies of each original (although on a 300-page original manuscript, that can add up too), but using one of the latest high-speed high-quality mass-production Xeroxes so that you can compete with the guys operating those quick printing services, by turning out 100 or 200 resumes, letters, or circulars just as fast, and probably a great deal faster, for the same (or potentially less if you want to be competitive) money as they charge. This way you have two kinds of work, giving you twice as many customers, and twice the profit opportunity, and with the right location, a chance to clean up.

If you want to offer even more services, and have the space in your shop, as well as the potential customers, you can offer Xerox reductions (New York Times-size page down to 8-1/2"x11"), and Xerox copies in full-color, which are remarkably good. The color machine will also make color copies directly from 35 mm. color slides in one quick step.

Of course, you can consider using other brands of xerographic copiers, such as IBM, Kodak, Savin, Canon, Minolta or others, but although you may theoretically save money, make sure of their service policies, and that they have field servicemen in your locality, or you may find yourself stuck with a copier on the fritz for a week, which could ruin your business.

20. Be A Local News Correspondent

For big city papers some distance from your town. When an event occurs in your area you write the story for those papers (they have correspondents in many big places but not in most small towns or isolated areas) and they pay you for it. This is known as being a "stringer". If you're good with a camera, take photos to accompany the story.

21. Campground Store-On-Wheels

Use either a panel truck or a camper body on a pick-up truck chassis. Go to public park areas and campgrounds selling charcoal, paper plates, water-melon, ice cream, eggs, milk, bread, insect repellent, sunglasses, newspapers, etc.

22. Create A New Tour-Bus Service

Even in affluent America, not everyone has a car, and even those who do often prefer to leave long trips to a professional bus driver. And although there are bus tours offered to some familiar places, there are still so many interesting, even exciting, places people would like to go to, if they were offered the chance. Here's where you come in. You must be creative about it, and study all the six-State areas around your hometown, to discover some original and different places to travel to on day trips which will "turn on" your prospective customers, and get them to sign up.

The rest is easy. You get competitive quotes (from commercial bus companies) for a quality bus to do the round-trip, with a suitable stopover at the destination point (enough to do the sights, shop and maybe eat as well). Then you figure you tour price per person so you can make a profit even if the bus is only half full or so. Then you have a safety margin - and if you sell every seat you will do very well indeed.

Then all you have to do is sell. You put little ads in your local papers, paste up flyers wherever you can (supermarkets are good), contact local travel agents (of course you give them a percentage on what they sell for you), local hotel clerks, etc., and you also contact women's clubs, religious groups, fraternal societies, factory social organizations, and so on (they may take a whole bus, or even two, and you give them a special price, naturally). 

Want To Know How Your Pet Feels Staying In A Pet Hotel. Rollover Image To See.

23. Run A Pet Hotel Service

For dogs or cats or both. People will pay high fees to ensure high-quality care for the animal they love. Separate kennels for each animal are essential. Good food and adequate care and attention must be assured also. You can hire responsible teenagers to help you. Advertise with posters in pet shops, veterinarians' offices; and if they're cheaply available, get the mailing lists of local ASPCA groups and other animal welfare groups, as well as membership lists of dog and cat clubs.

24. Sell Second-Hand Kids Clothing

Children usually outgrow their clothes rather than wearing them out. So many families have such clothing left around. You collect it, paying nothing or as little as possible. Then you resell it; you can do the selling by ads, handbills or through your church or community groups.

25. Breed Tropical Fish

This requires only a moderate amount of space and a small investment in equipment. Properly done, it needs only a small amount of your time yet can make you a good profit. You can obtain your beginning stock from the large wholesale dealers. You can sell direct to consumers (the hobbyists) or to stores in your area.

26. Make Plastic Engraved Signs

All you need is a simple-to-operate machine that engraves lettering in various types onto sheets of plastic of many colors, finishes and sizes. Perfect for signs for merchants, banks, doctors, dentists, schools and colleges, private front doors, and many other uses.

27. Sell Christmas Trees

Seasonal, but if you have the time in the few weeks before Christmas, can be a good money maker. Find a vacant storefront or lot, or space inside a larger building, where people pass by. But be sure to order a supply of trees enough in advance. And if you own country land that is not being used, consider growing the trees yourself. Your first crop can be ready in four years, with steady crops from then on.

28. Open A Rubber Stamp Business

Manufacture them in your basement. The materials needed are cheap. And the finished stamps can be sold to many people, storeowners, offices, individuals. You can market them by mail and through local merchants.

29. Camper's Equipment Rental Service

With urban living, the back-to-nature movement is growing and camping is becoming very popular. Rent out tents, sleeping bags, portable propane stoves, chairs, etc. Demand identification from customers and reliable security (keeping one of their credit cards is good).

30. Operate A Key-Safety Service

Each customer is sold a special tag to put on his or her key ring. It says "Drop in any mailbox" and has the address of a post office box that you rent (Don't use your home address for the same reason your customers shouldn't have their home address on their keys - dishonest people finding the keys will come prowling around). You assign each customer's tag a code number from a list that you keep. When someone's keys arrive at your post office box, you return them to him, for another fee. 

Try Selling This Car ... Looks Great!. Rollover Image To See.

31. Be A Used Car Buying Consultant

With a knowledge of cars, plus the proper test equipment (for checking the engine, transmission, brakes, font-end alignment, and chassis), you go with your customer to check out the used car he is thinking of buying. Advertise your service next to the ads offering used cars for sale. After a while you will get to know people in this field and you can pick up more money by acting as a middleman in sales between private individuals.

32. Sell "Loss Leaders" For Profit

This may sound contradictory but it isn't. Supermarkets aren't the only ones who use loss leaders. A good mail-order idea is offering a cute item (worth much more) for $1 in women's magazines, giving prompt delivery and including with it stuffers (ads with order blanks) for half a dozen more expensive items. The repeat business on the other items makes the $1 offer profitable.

33. Baby Items Rental Service

You rent everything needed for a baby's care - stroller, playpen, high chair, etc. When the customer's baby outgrows them you rent to the next couple. Of course, you must advertise, and also send direct mail pieces to all couples with new births (get their names from hospitals and newspapers and list brokers).

34. Operate A "Give A Party" Service

You rent out everything needed for a party: tables, chairs, punch bowls, tablecloths, cutlery, and napkins. You can also supply waitresses and bartenders, finding them through agencies that supply temporary help such as Manpower. But if you can find good workers yourself, you can save the agency fee and make more money.

35. Operate A Miniature Slot Car Racing Track

In your basement (or wherever you can fit it) build a large and elaborate miniature slot car racing track (with a least 6 or 8 slots). Local kids, and often adults, pay you by the hour to race, using either your cars or theirs. To boost interest you can hold monthly contests with trophies.

36. All-Service Service

You line up the specialists in fixing almost anything, and take care of getting them customers by delivering handbills to homes and placing ads in supermarkets and local papers. They pay you 5% of every job refer to them, which can soon add up.

37. Genealogy For People Who Want Roots

You seek out the records in public or university libraries, county courthouses and elsewhere, as necessary, for a sliding fee, depending on the size of family, difficulties in getting information, geographic dispersion, and other factors.

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