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The Business Opportunity and How It Works

I'm not going to lie to you, there is some actual work involved. This is a very real business opportunity, not a come on.  And I'm not selling you anything, so I'm not claiming that you can sit at home, stuff envelopes, mail postcards, simply put up a free web page, or invest in some multi-level scheme, and make lots of money. I'm only offering real information to people who really want to add to their current income.

Will you get rich? I doubt it. A lot. But you may be surprised at how much you can make with a little imagination, a ready smile, and some genuine customer-service skills. The potential is there, if you put the right mix together. This is the very kind of business that some have used to build publishing/communication empires. It is possible. But to build an empire, or even a decent income takes, as I said, imagination and real work. It takes drive, determination, the will to prove (to yourself) just how far you can go. And then to surpass that point.

Use Your People Skills

To make an income with an ad sheet, as described on this website, you will need to talk to people. The easiest and most effective way to do this is to go visit with the businesses, government agencies, schools, camps, churches, artists, artisans, and other potential advertisers you may find in your area. Ads can be sold, and are sold every day, by telephone, direct mail, websites, email and other means. But the Big Punch is always made in person, face-to face, on the spot.

The "on the spot" selling of ads is best for another important reason: You can collect payment right then and there. When I operated a small newspaper, with no previous experience, I found that selling ads and collecting up front was the best way to make my time, and my advertiser's time count. We talked, made decisions, and finalized the transaction, all in a few minutes. No billing, no dunning, no collection efforts, no wasted time, materials or efforts.

The word "selling" makes a lot of otherwise intelligent and highly functional people cringe. There is no reason why this should be the case. With your own adsheet, you are not making promises that someone else must fulfill. You're not selling a product that you hope will be up to snuff. You make the product do exactly what you promise. While you cannot promise a lot of profitable business in return for money spent on ads, you can promise to get the message out to a certain number of people in a specific area, by a certain time.

The Upfront Investment from New Advertisers

If you're crazy, you will give away free ads, so potential advertisers can "try it out" and see if it works. This is nuts. You are gambling (investing in the belief) that the ads will work, so why shouldn't your advertisers? You will pay out a lot more money, for printing and distribution, than any of your advertisers. Besides the money, you are investing your time, your effort and hard work, to promote, design, produce and publish your adsheet. That's an investment of your life in a new business venture. All of it upfront, without guarantee of a single dime in profit. And that's much more than the little you will ask each advertiser to pay up front.

My point is simple: In advertising, everyone gambles a little, invests a little, and hopes for a decent return. Nothing much good ever happens in any business or community without a similar willingness, a similar investment in the future. So don't go around timidly giving everything away. No one will ever pay for something they can get for free or for something the seller places no value upon. (That last statement isn't entirely true, but the business principle stands.) You are providing a very important service. Always get paid for your efforts.

How Regular Advertising Builds Potential and Profit

Here's an important point to remember: Advertising of any kind is has a cumulative effect. While some folks will respond to the very first ad they see for something they want or need, many of them will only respond after a while. Why? Because they are just like you and me. They have many things to do, many distractions, and not so much time. So they may forget, or simply be delayed, or they may need to make up their minds.

Much of what happens in advertising is not done consciously at all. Often, we don't directly "think" about what we see in ads. But the eyes scan and the mind records. We make many tiny, not-really-conscious decisions as we look across a newspaper, magazine page, a flyer or adsheet. "Nope, I don't need that, don't want that, don't care about that..." and so on. Even things we see that get our attention, things we really want, we may avoid even looking at because it is out of reach, the wrong time of the year or month, the wrong product name, the wrong supplier, and so on. But all of the bits and pieces of data are still there. And later on, they may come to the surface (or try to) when something changes in our lives. Suddenly, we are interested. Now we have a need. Now we have the money. Now, we may be ready, for whatever reason, to try a new supplier.

Why do people buy Kodak cameras, Ford (or Chevy) trucks, Nabisco cookies, Kellogg's Corn Flakes? For example, Kellogg's is a company over in Michigan. Most Americans never get by the location. Yet everyone, whether they eat Kellogg's cereal products or not, know who they are. So when most of see the brand on the shelf, we recognize it as a familiar and respected company. All because of advertising and marketing.

Part of the marketing mix is to get the product out where folks can see it. (Other parts of the marketing mix include attractive packaging, fresh or functional products, right pricing, customer satisfaction.) And a big part of the mix is to talk to people in their own homes about why this or that Kellogg's product is exactly what they need and want for good health, for good taste, and for convenience. Advertising makes the product easier to move.

How the Adsheet Works

Your adsheet fits right into this kind of marketing mix for the local people who advertise with you. They will need to supply whatever products or services they promise. They need to provide decent customer service, a place of business or point of contact for the "sale" they are hoping to make. They must make valid claims, set proper pricing, and so on. Assuming they will do some or all of these things well, the ads they place with you should help bring people in. An ad campaign can seldom overcome public dislike if the business, product or service has already earned a lousy reputation in the marketplace.

Unless your advertiser is a brand new business, your ads will often serve more to remind people than to fully inform them of the location, the services or products offered. Or your ads may announce special sales, new products or improvements to an existing service. Your adsheet is simply communicating, and to the potential customer, the ad in your adsheet is the advertiser himself, communicating his own message.  And you should make certain that your advertiser is able to communicate his message, even when it requires your own words, graphics and enhancements.

Selling Ads

Selling anything should be fun. I mean that. Yet I've hated selling most of the things I ever sold. Not because there was anything wrong with the products or services. They were usually okay. Sometimes they were great. I've sold cars (including used cars, so watch out!), fitness club memberships, greeting cards, gasoline, shoes, shipping and packaging products, computers and related products, printing and other graphics services, fire alarms, specialty gift items, life and health insurance, various kinds of business equipment, and other things I can't even remember. Some of these things were easy to sell and others not so easy.

But there is a "right" salesperson for every product or service. And when you own your own business, build your own product, provide your own service, you are the very best salesperson for what you offer. This is especially true when you are the publisher. As the publisher of an advertising publication, you are the big boss. You are the owner. You are the one who makes all final decisions, and head honcho who decides if you will make the deal with the potential advertiser. (Of course, you're also the janitor, the window washer, the cook and laundry service for your operation, as well. But that's beside the point.)

Of all the selling I ever did, I never enjoyed any of it half as much as I enjoyed selling ads in my own publication. It's fun. It's revitalizing. It's informative. You get to meet new people, talk to other folks trying to do what you are doing -- make a living in their own business. You get to take pictures, do interviews, help develop new ideas, and make some things happen. Above all these, you get to help small and local businesses get the word out and stay in business. You get to help artists and artisans show off their stuff. You bring attention to community projects, school activities, and so on. You get involved, right in the middle of things, and that is the secret of a good life.

Directing and Focusing Attention

Selling always begins with some attention given to yourself. You should make your appearance be whatever it needs to be in order to reach the people you want in your publication. Be as "fancy" or as casual as you think you can comfortably be, within your budget.  Find a way to be both "yourself" and the person your area accepts as a professional business person. The idea is not to draw attention to yourself but to your advertising service.

Expensive clothing is not as effective, in most places and circumstances, as cleanliness, basic neatness and friendliness. Always bathe before you go out to sell ads. I know that sounds extreme (I hope) but some people just forget the basics of civilized life, then wonder why they fail to achieve their goals in business. On the other hand, don't use so much cheap (or even expensive) cologne, perfume or whatever, that it takes an hour for other people to get their sinuses working again after you leave. And whatever you do, don't cover yourself in perfumes to cover up the fact you didn't bathe. It creates a truly horrible experience for everyone else, and you want folks to want you to return. Enough said on that.

Once you've covered the basics of cleanliness, clothing and grooming, forget about yourself. Your potential advertisers have a need and that need is where you come in. Give all your attention to their business, their products and services, their story. Find the meeting place between your adsheet and their need for business or promotion. Community services, schools, the local fire department, city hall or forestry service are not looking for sales, but they still have an important message to get out. Give full attention to how your adsheet can help. If you sell small ads to promote local businesses and public services, your ads need to count. They will count if you produce and position them well. You will do your job well if you are fully informed, fully aware of what needs to be said.

Adsheet Themes Revisited

The subject of adsheet themes is briefly covered in another place (See Specialized Opportunities) but I wanted to mention it again here, as a selling mechanism. By giving your adsheet a specific theme or subject, you may be able to help both your advertisers and yourself.  Think about your area, and what you can offer to get more people to pick up your adsheet on a regular basis, say every week or two. What kind of information are the people of your region, town or neighborhood looking for?

The theme/subject can be anything that has a special draw to local residents and tourists or other visitors to your area. It may be keyed to a specific industry, a popular local sport, a unique geologic or climatic attraction, an historical fame or whatever brings people out and about. Motorcycle gatherings, auto racing, other big competitions, fishing, hunting, beaches, skiing, deserts, lakes, hiking and camping, horses, cattle roundups, golf, football, baseball, aerospace, Area 51, just about anything you can imagine has been used as a local or regional draw for all sorts of advertising and promotion. These kinds of things work very well for adsheets, too.

For example, if lake or stream fishing brings folks to your area, you can devote an entire adsheet to local fishing locations, guides, boats, lures, lodges, and all the related paraphernalia. Even if other, larger publications are devoted to the subject (and there will likely be some), your smaller, faster, more economical adsheet can meet the needs of smaller businesses, if distributed well. Such an adsheet can be distributed all over, in cafes, motels, stores, etc., and sit right next to other specialized adsheets you publish. Such specialization greatly improves the potential results for fishing-related advertisers, since people grabbing the adsheet are looking for products and services offered in the ads. In addition, you can then offer other adsheets for other specialized population groups in the area, such as leisure boating, water skiing, and family lodging and dining.

The Adsheet opportunity is very real. Families across America have been adding to their income with such publications for decades. In large, crowded cities, in remote areas, on the coast, in the mountains, all over. The concept is sound. Essentially, you can make it into whatever you really want it to be. The basic idea is very simple: To get out, visit with your neighbors, sell a few ads, provide a straightforward service, make a little money, have some fun in the process. You never know... great things can happen once you get in motion.

Proceed to Page Two:  Basics of Ad Sheet Publishing