Hello,
I have been thinking of starting my own business. I am just in the very beginning stages of thought here but I wanted to get some suggestions. I have been unemployed for a couple months now after being laid off my last position as an Executive Administrative Assistant. I was very good at my job but was new and I worked myself right out of a job (was laid off for lack of work). I also LOVE to garden and do yard work. I recently had the opportunity to clean out a cemetery plot for a friend of a friend for some money and enjoyed it very much.
So I was thinking that if it's possible to make money doing something I enjoy that would be great. Here is my question, how do I go about advertising around my town without spending a lot of money? My thought was to make up a flier with all my qualifications on it and put it around town, give it to the churches for the members (thinking the Senior Citizens who can't do yard work, etc.), and things like that but I don't know if that's going to be very successful. Anyone have any suggestions?
Thank You in Advance!
Craigslist Sister! My husband made more than $20K last year alone off of CL. The trick is to put a new ad up DAILY. Pretty soon you will have more business than you can handle!
See what it takes to be a business on Groupon; Living Social; and Entertainment Daily Deals. In case you don't know about them, they are very very popular website/email sites that send out daily "deals." The businesses post their services at a highly discounted rate (usually 50% + off) and people purchase the service from the website. You could then start by offering the "deal", but then thousands of people in you area will have just heard about your business.
You can buy blank business cards at an office supply store and create and print them off yourself.
A few of my local grocery stores have a community bulletin board and people tack up their flyers, announcements and business cards on there all the time.
Our local library also has a community bulletin board.
Offer to do some yards for free...maybe a sr. adult who has alot of friends over, so they can see your work.
gl and way to go on making your dreams come true.
You need a business license/tax license.
A business account.
An Attorney, to help with how to categorize your business. ie: LLC, or Inc., or what not. And per liability etc.
Advertising: there are MANY ways. Research it online. I spent, MANY hours doing that. It takes tons of time.
you could advertise the cemetery plot cleaning and upkeep in church bulletins along with the yardwork. I would think there would be elderly people who would rather trust a woman than a man for this kind of thing. I would also just do a flier drop in neighborhoods that you would target.
Great idea! You could always try Craigslist but that could be a little sketchy...I would recommend a free Google advertisement, posting a message on your Facebook (while FB is not really for businesses your friends there may know of someone who could use your service so an occasional post won't get you in trouble - if your biz really gets going then you make a fan page), print a flyer on your computer with tabs to be torn off and get permission to post at churches,grocery stores, library etc. You can also get free business cards made at Vistaprint.com (they have great templates you can use) and you just pay for shipping. Hope that helps!
Offer discounts to first time customers. Everyone loves to save money. Or offer a discount on future services with referrals.
Contact score.org - free business counseling. Also, some community colleges have small business centers that also counsel for free. Word of mouth networking/advertising is huge - it takes time, but is very effective. Referrals are the key to success. If you can give away service to get a referral to someone who wants/needs your services, that's a great investment of your time. Feel free to contact me if you want to chat :)
