With all the current interest in establishing a business online
and working from home, aren't we forgetting the more traditional
opportunities that exist in our hometowns?
How about if you could obtain something from one of your customers
free of charge and then sell it back to them in return - would
that grab your interest?
I sense that many people believe an online business is the
easy way to generate massive income and there are plenty of
people determined to convince the unwary that such opportunities
exist.
Selling information products and how to guides is usually
the tool behind all such schemes with claims of single products
or guides being worth up to £100 each when in reality
you see the self-same products selling on ebay for just a
few pounds. The marketplace is saturated with such products
and their worth in monetary terms is very little.
However, information is in demand and saleable, if you have
the right information to offer and sufficient customers who
desire it.
There is no need to look to the world wide web for your customers
as they are right there in the town where you live now and
the information you obtain to sell comes from those who will
buy from you in return.
Nothing will generate as much interest among your prospective
customers as 'Nostalgia'. Invite anyone to talk about the
'good old days' and they will chat forever and ever. If you
can obtain a ready supply of personal memories of your hometown
along with facts about its local history and combine them
into a monthly magazine, which is then sold around town, you
are on to a certain winner.
I began almost six years ago compiling a local community web
site, but with the knowledge that many people from our older
generations did not have internet access, I began to produce
a small monthly newsletter to distribute around the town.
My first newsletter was published in 2003 and almost three
years later I am now the proud owner of two commercially printed
local community magazines with a circulation of 3,000 monthly
copies. The satisfaction from being able to publish a persons
memories and to see the joy it gives them and those who read
about them is greater than you will ever receive from an online
business selling the self same products as countless other
people.
Information is valuable and saleable - you just need to have
the right information to offer.
Michael Norfolk publishes two local community magazines
and maintains two local community websites. You can read about
how he began publishing magazines on his website at http://www.magazine-publishing.co.uk
