Get Tangled Up With A Non-Profit

Families aren't the only entities suffering in this down economy. Non-profits are in dire need of funds. So team up with a non-profit, church, or organization to promote your product or service. Most non-profits have some sort of membership. So pitch your product or service to their membership with the idea that the non-profit gets a cut like 20% of the sale.

One example is a company called Just Kidding Clothing http://justkiddingclothing.com/index.cfm. This company was started by a few 23 year olds in Minnesota. They sell clothing. They give part of the proceeds to charity. They also are doing a six month tour of the country visiting 155 high schools and approximately 55,000 high school students speaking about starting small businesses. They are giving back.

Another company called Profit For You Tours takes people on coach bus trips around the country. For each person who takes the trip $100 goes to a featured charity. www.profitforyoutours.com

There is a company called Suzy's Cream Cheesecakes. This company started in a little storefront in a west side Milwaukee neighborhood in 1983. The company has since outgrown its' storefront and moved into an industrial park. A portion of its' sales is from fund raising. I know one school that made thousands on the cheesecake sale. http://www.suzys.com/

So what can you do? Do you make really great chocolate chip cookies? Do you create something saleable with your woodworking? Do you make the best pizza ever? Instead of just trying to throw your product on the open market, tangle yourself with a non-profit and sell your product as a fund raiser. You make a little, they make a little, everyone wins. Always look for the win-win situation.

The Caledonia Historical Society had a woodworker make up pens from actual wood from the train depot they are restoring. The pens sold for $150 and they only made 150. They sold out and made an impressive amount of money to help restore their depot.

You have a talent that someone will pay for. Think think think.

You Know Something Someone Wants To Know

We all have knowledge that we have gained along the way. It might be something as simple as making really good strawberry jelly. Or maybe you know how to completely restore an old car. We all know something that other people don't know. This knowledge probably relates to your passion.

So write a pamphlet or brochure or an entire book about it. You say you don't know how to write? Then talk it. You know just say it out loud like you were talking to someone. Record what you are saying and then just copy that down. Run it through spell check. Make it a PDF file so people can't copy it. Put Copyright and the year at the bottom of each page. Then sell it.

If you aren't ready to go through the expense of a website which, by the way, only costs $5 per month with Go Daddy, then put some ads on Craigslist (my favorite free advertising site).

In your book, put links to websites related to your subject. Become an affiliate with them and you will get a commission if your reader becomes their customer. Just look for the affiliate link on their website and walk through the steps. It's easy.

Don't wait until your product is perfect. Just do it. NOW.

It's Not JUST About You

The more you give the more you get. It really is true. Your compensation is in direct response to what you give back to the world. Find a way to make what you want to do pay off for you AND someone else or a charity.

Here is a great example. There is a bus tour business called Profit For You Tours that raises money for charities by taking people on trips. For each person who goes on a trip, the organization of their choice gets $100. Everybody wins. Great business model. Check out their website at www.profitforyoutours.com

There is a network marketing company called Market America that has a plan for non-profits. People who shop online can get their charity in the middle of their shopping and then the charity gets a rebate. If you want more info on this program email me at lpribek@hotmail.com and I will connect you with this company.

Although I am not a great believer in the saying "you have to spend money to make money," giving something away for free will bring you business. You will see this a lot with the information industry online. You get to watch a two hour seminar full of free information with the idea that you will want more information and buy their product or sign up for coaching.

Think of how to get a non-profit in the middle of what you are selling and then pitch your product to the membership of the non-profit.

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Only a few miles from where I live I saw a sign for tomatoes for sale. Okay, another money making opportunity. Now this wasn't in the country on a farm. This property was a normal 1950s ranch style house with a yard big enough for about 300 tomato plants. That sounds like a lot but I have 40 tomato plants in my garden and they don't take up much room at all.

Tomotoes can be tricky to grow but a little online research and you could be on your way. You could also grow other veggies and sell them. Or now that fall is on the way, think about Indian corn, pumpkins, gourds and other fall fun vegetation for next year.

Keeping a garden can save an amazing amount of money on groceries for your own family. In our town you can plant a row for the food pantry. But it seems to me if they would teach the people who need the food at the food pantry to grow a garden the need wouldn't be that big. I have already purchased seeds at Walgreens 5 packets for $1. So you don't need a big investment to start your little farm, but you do need elbow grease and persistence.

One Dream, One Man, One Mountain

Korczak Ziolkowski. One sculptor with a pile of hand tools and $174 to his name, saw an Indian on a horse in a mountain and decided to dedicate his life to carving the image of Crazy Horse. Korczak and his family never took government money, only private funds, to continue to create the dream of carving the largest sculpture in the world.

I don't think Korczak had the words "I can't" in his vocabulary. The funds have come from visitors and donations. But early on Korczak and his family started a dairy with about 50 cows on the same land to help fund the project. Ah, good old fashioned American ingenuity. Find a way and if that doesn't work find another, and another.

Visiting Crazy Horse was maybe the most inspirational experiences of my life. The lesson is whatever your dream, no matter how nuts people think you are, you can get it even with only $174 to your name and a pile of small hand tools.