MARK ALEXANDER

There are some home businesses, like diamond cutting, that require many years of exacting experience. Yet there are other home businesses, like vending-machine operation that requfre no previous experience—just some conunon sense.
You’d be foolish to go into a business requiring extensive experience, unless you had, or could acquire, the needed experience. If you have no idea of how much experience a home business requires, talk to one or more people in the business. You’ll find that most businessmen are ready to talk about their business, its problems, and the experience required to succeed in it.
Don’t rely on the opinions of one businessman—talk to several, if you can. This will give you a cross section of opinion. You’ll find there is a consensus as to the experience required. Where the businessmen you consult tell you that you need five years or more of experience, proceed carefully. 1 don’t want you to fail because you Jack experience—this is a silly error which you can avoid if you carefully analyze the businesses you are considering.

No home business, in my opinion, should require you to invest more than $200 to get it started. Why do I recommend such a low starting capital when, I’m sure, you’ve heard of people spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to get a business started? I recommend this low starting capital because I believe you have a better chance to hit it big if you put more of yourself and less of your money into your new home business.
Now the Yellow Page approach you learned above is excellent for discovering the type of home business you might enter. But most of the businesses listed in the Yellow Pages are not home-operated. Instead, they are run in a store, a factory, a warehouse, etc. But that doesn’t prevent you from getting the basic idea for your home business from the Yellow Pages. As a general rule, avoid home businesses requiring
(a) Expensive machinery
(b) Special work areas such as air-conditioned rooms
(c) Large storage spaces
(d) High-cost signs, lighting, heating, etc.
Don’t fall in love with an intricate production process just because the machinery intrigues you. If you must fall in love with a production process, go for one that is simple, fast, and low-cost. Above all, keep this general rule in mind:
The less money you invest in a home business the more energy you will put into the business. And the less money you invest, the greater your chances of success.
So invest yourself and your energies in your business. You’ll be delighted with the enormous payoff you receive.

You’d do well to think twice before opening a florist shop in a small town which already has three such shops. Keep in mind at all times this fundamental fact about a home business:
For any given product or service there is a basic potential market. When this market is served by several competitors they split the potential business amongst themselves. If another competitor enters the market he only causes a further split of the potential business. And, most important of all, entrance of a new competitor does not increase the potential market.
So don’t assume, as many beginning home wealth builders do, that a large number of people in a business indicates that there’s a very large demand for their services or products. AU but a few of the businessmen may be going broke. Actually,
The greatest need for a business exists when no one is in the business but people require the product or service the business would furnish.
Thus, Joe T. opened a locksmith shop in his garage after he found that there wasn’t one such shop in a city having a population of 65,000 people. Joe’s only competition was two hardware stores in town. While these stores would duplicate a key for their customers, they couldn’t render fast service because they were more interested In pushing hardware. Why? Because hardware was more profitable.
Soon after Joe opened his locksmith shop the two hardware stores closed down their key departments and sent their customers to Joe. He gives better, faster, and more efficient service. The hardware stores keep the goodwill of their customers because they recommend a competent locksmith. Joe profits and the stores rid themselves of an unprofitable service which was a constant nuisance.

Some home businesses have twice the profit potential of others. Why work in a low profit potential business when you can just as easily work in a high potential profit business? As a general rule a high potential profit business
(a) Requires unusual or special worker skills
(b) Provides a product or service that is not readily available from many sources
(c) Adapts its product or service to the special needs of its customers or clients
(d) Is not driven to lower its prices by extreme competition from others
(e) Serves the needs of wealthy people or profitable companies
(f) Renders its service quickly and efficiently
Claude M. analyzed a list of 32 home businesses which he compiled from the Yellow Pages using the technique described above. His study showed him that a home business in which he used his personal skills would probably be most profitable for him. The home business which seemed to promise him the highest potential profit from his personal skills was a jiu jitsu school. However, Claude knew little about jiu jitsu.
But after applying the methods which you will learn in the next chapter, Claude chose the jiu jitsu school as the best way to build his fortune in his own home. He studied several books on jiu jitsu and then took a short course in it. Once he finished the course, Claude opened his school in his basement. The school was an immediate, highly profitable success because it (a) filled a need in his local area, (b) provided a service not readily available in his town, (c) altered its lessons to the special needs of his customers, regardless of age, financial means, or reasons for taking the course— self-defense, physical development, etc.—and (d) gave lessons quickly and efficiently in a short period of time.

“Business is business,” is a favorite saying of people who are trying to explain why they made an unpopular decision, took a course of action which inconveniences other people, or did any of a number of other things which displease someone. The implication in this statement is that you may have to do things in your business which you would not do in your personal life. These actions are completely honest, but they may lead to disappointing someone, such as when you can’t hire a person, or must lay off people when business Is slow.
To analyze potential home businesses you must be completely objective. While you may buy a car because you like the shape of its fenders, you wouldn’t buy trucks for a home business for this reason. Why? Because trucks with pretty fenders may be a poor business Investment. When buying trucks for a business you by to obtain the make of truck which gives you the most mileage for each dollar you invest in the truck.
The same principle applies when you analyze home businesses that interest you. Thus, while you may be interested in opening a ne-food restaurant in your home, youd be silly to do so if your only reason for opening such a business is because you personally lice good food. After all, you can’t earn money on the food you eat—the only way you can earn money on the food served in your restaurant is to have customers who are willing to pay you for the food.
To analyze potential home businesses which appeal to you, four items must be carefully considered. These are:
(1) Profit potential of the business
(2) Need for the business
(3) Capital required for the business
(4) Experience required for the business
Let’s take a quick look at each of these items.

Must you study every item on every page of the Yellow Pages? No; certainly not! All you need do is study the alphabetical listing of contents of the Yellow Pages beginning about page 7,9, or 11 of the Yellow Pages of the city you select. Truly, the contents of the Yellow Pages for a large city contains a GOLD MINE of information for you. Believe me when I say this—I know what rm talking about I’ve had more than twenty years of experience in earning big money in the privacy of my own home.
To mine the home wealth that lies hidden in the Yellow Pages of your phone book, take these ten steps today.
(1) Tear out the contents pages of the book. This will give you anywhere from twenty to forty conveniently handled pages.
(2) Study each page, beginning with the letter “A.”
(3) Read all the main (boldface or dark-ink) entries, and all the subentries (lightface ink).
(4) Keep a pad and pencil handy.
(5) Write down each entry that appeals to you as a potential home business, exactly as It appears in the contents of the Yellow Pages. Don’t make any changes—yet. You’ll see why in a few minutes.
(6) Devote at least four hours to preparing your list of attractive potential home businesses.
(7) If you have the time and the desire, I strongly suggest that you study the Yellow Pages for New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Why? Because the listings are not the same. Home businesses active in one city are not necessarily functioning in another city. By studying the lists for these three major cities you expose yourself to the widest variety of successful home businesses.
(8) When you finish either one, two, or three sets of large-city Yellow Pages, turn to the Yellow Pages for your local area and list, from A to Z, the home businesses which appeal to you.
(9) Compare the big-city list with your local list. On a third sheet list the big-city home businesses which do not appear on your local list. This third list provides you with a home business gold mine—that is successful home businesses which are not functioning in your town or city. You have money-laden information which could hardly be obtained in any other way.
(10) Narrow your choice of businesses which appeal to you to those ten you like the most. Get ready to analyze these ten businesses.

To earn a big income at home you have to get a clear, wide-range view of the opportunities open to you. And I say, here and now, that if you have a telephone in your home, you have that view available to you. Even if you don’t have a telephone, If you can get to a public library, you have the same advantages as a person who has a telephone.
What is this great secret? It is the single source of more than 10,000 home business ideas. This source is the Yellow Pages of any large city phone book. Which large cities am I talking about? Here are three: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles.
Recently I checked the Yellow Pages of the Chicago phone book. In it I found more than 11,000 potential home businesses listed! Just imagine that. To avoid sensational firms, I took less than one-tenth of the listed businesses as potential home businesses. Yet I sincerely believe that at least half the businesses listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages are potential home businesses for the average person. And if you take the larger listings of the New York and Los Angeles Yellow Pages, you certainly have more than 1,000 potential home businesses available to you. Now what can these lists do for you? They
can:
(1) Suggest specific businesses needed in your town or city
(2) Indicate which businesses are not operating in your town or city
(3) Show you thousands of home businesses in which many people are earning good profits
(4) Act as idea simulators for home businesses which are needed in your area, based on activities which are not listed
(5) Expand your home business horizons so you understand more about what is going on in the world of home businesses
(6) Serve as a lead on the services and products which are available to you in your present or future home business

In this chapter I want to show you where you can quickly, easily, and cheaply find lists of more than 1,000 home businesses. As you look over the lists I recommend to you, I hope that you’ll find one or more businesses that appeal to you more strongly than others. Once you find the right business for yourself you can take the actions suggested in the next chapter. Let’s start with the source of the list of products you might sell.
I am about to let you in on one of the most important home business secrets existing today. This is the first time I’ve ever revealed it to anyone. Knowing this secret could be worth at least one million dollars to you. Why? Because this secret shows you exactly how to target your home business interests so you find a product that interests you and that you’ll enjoy selling. I call this the Secret of the Century.

PRODUCT BUSINESS
In a product home business you either make or buy products— toys, autos, boats, furnishings, etc.-.-which you sell to others for a profit. To sell these products you may run a store, an auction gallery, a mail-order business, or any of several other kinds ofoutlets. The important concepts of a product business which you’ll find worth keeping in mind are:
(1) You must obtain or make the products you offer for sale
(2) You need some type of outlet in your home so you can sell the products
(3) You wifi probably have to advertise your products to sell them
King Camp Gillette invented in his home the safety razor with the removable blade. Starting with less than $10, which he spent for
materials to build the first safety razor, he went on to become a [multimillionaire. Though he had only one product at the start of his business, he quickly built his business into a world-wide organization. Today the Gillette name is one of the most highly respected In the world and you see it on a wide range of superior products.

MAIL-ORDER BUSINESS
In a mail-order business you use space advertising in magazines or newspapers to promote products which you make or buy. You nay also use direct mail, i.e. ads sent through the mail to promote your products. Some mail-order operators neither make nor buy the
s they sell. Instead, they arrange with a product inanufacto drop ship various products to the customers ordering them. this mode of operation you don’t need a warehouse, shipping

- s, or any other high-cost buildings. Truly, mail order is an home business for anyone who wants to get rich quickly in his i home.

SERVICE AND SKILLS
In a service business which you run in your own home you generally perform some kind of personal service for your customers. Thus, you might repair appliances, teach special courses, advise unhappy people, or perform any of hundreds of other important aervices. You can say that in a service business you
(1) Often work for people instead of companies
(2) Use your personal skills

(3) May have little capital invested in equipment

(4) Become very close to your customers

Sam B. began an income-tax service business in his basement. For a few dollars each he made out and filed Federal and state income- tax forms for people in his neighborhood. Because he kept up to date on the latest changes in the tax laws, Sam was able to save money for many of his clients. His reputation as a tax saver spread and soon Sam had more clients than he could handle. To cope with the extra work Sam trained some neighborhood people in a little school he set up. To be sure he got people who really wanted to work at home in their spare time, Sam charged a nominal tuition fee for his course. Soon Sam expanded his business to one nearby city, then two. Today he operates tax services in some 80 cities and his home income exceeds $350,000 per year. Even his school, in which he trains his future employees, shows a profit!

I’ve advised thousands of home wealth builders; I’ve built several highly successful home businesses; and I’ve rescued a number of floundering home wealth builders. These experiences have taught me many valuable lessons. I want to pass these lessons on to you because they will help you know which business is the right business for you. Putting you on the exact path to a home income of at least $100,000 to $500,000 per year is my goal with every word of this book.
Basically there are four kinds of home businesses. These are:
(1) Manufacture or sale of products
(2) Mail order
(3) Services to individual
(4) Sale of personal skills
No matter how far you search for a home business you will find that it is one of these types, or a combination of two or more. What you must decide, with my help, is which type of business is best for you. I’m ready to spend as many hours as necessary talking or writing to you if I can help you find the right home business for yourself.
Knowing the types of home businesses you might start or buy gives you a definite advantage over other people. Why? Because you can narrow your search to the kind of business you know will be interesting to yourself. If a business interests you, you’re certain to be a success in it. To get you ready for a home income of at least $100,000 to $500,000 per year, let’s take a quick look at each of the four types of home businesses you might enter to earn your fortune.