The Homeworking Book

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to THE HOMEWORKING BOOK - a definitive guide to success in

home-based employment.

It is a sad but true fact that the vast majority of those who investigate

homeworking opportunities actually lose money before drifting back into

conventional forms of working or resigning themselves to unemployment.

Very few are successful in finding what they start out looking for.

However, more and more people are now working successfully from home.

Increasing rent and rates combined with the current economic

downturn make city centre offices or even out -of -town factories a far

from attractive proposition when compared to employing people like you

to work in their own premises. Also, of course, overheads from liability

insurance to subsidised cups of coffee are to be saved.

From the point of view of the homeworker, things seem even better.

'commuting' is now just a case of going upstairs to the spare bedroom.

And to many people the independence makes it all worhtwhile - very few

companies actually specify when you should work: just how many hours

per week. Some will even pay you 'per piece' or per item you produce.

Homeworking, of course, is not for everybody though. If you enjoy being

with people and leading a very busy social life you may find yourself 

being cut off from the outside world. It is important that the homeworker

maintains outside interests so as to avoid becoming a virtual recluse in

his or her own home.

If you were happy with your present job, I would advise you to stay in it.

However, to be reading this you are obviously either unhappy with your

employment, without employment, or for some reason tied to your home

(perhaps because of children or an elderly relative).

1. WHAT SORT OF HOMEWORKING ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

This is the first question you must ask yourself, and it is very important.

As I say in all the advertising literature I write, anyone can be a

homeworker - you need no skills, qualifications or training.

However, that's not to say if you have one of these, you are not at an

advantage. And everyone has some sort of skill - you included.

Executives in the advertising business have something called a 'Unique

Selling Proposition' - or U.S.P. for short. This is the main selling point

of the product or service being offered - 'unique' because it is

exclusive - something that the competitors are unable to offer.

You as a homeworker need to start up finding YOUR U.S.P Something which

will make an employer choose YOU and not someone else.

Every person is different - we have all had some sort of training or

experience which not everybody else has had.  Maybe you picked this up

from reading a book, or perhaps it was passed on to you by a friend or a

member f your family.  Or quite possibly, it is the training you received

from the course you went on when you left school or the knowledge passed

onto you by a previous employer.

Anyone can address envelopes - so basically you have very little chance

of finding work in this field.  However, if a company wants an experienced

wood craftsman, a competent embroiderer or even a computer operator,

they have to look a bit further.  It is important that you identify your

U.S.P. and use it to offer employers what your competitors can't.

At this point, I must point out the value of simple computer literacy. 

Very few homeworkers have any experience of using computers, but those

that do are already very successful.  If you haven't used a computer

before, you should think very seriously about going on a course for a

few days - chances are your local council runs one which is either free

or very heavily subsidised.

I'm no expert on computers - but I'm writing this one.  It's very simple

just to get to know the basics.  And it's no good using that time honoured

excuse "I'm too old to learn" - I know of pensioners who have been very

successful in learning to use computers.

Once you've learned to use a computer, you can 'telecommute'.  In other

words you can work entirely from home, but link up with your employer's

computer over your ordinary telephone line.  In the middle of the night,

when telephone calls are at their cheapest on specialised 'midnight lines',

your employer will ring up and silently put your next day's work into your

terminal.  It's that simple.

Computing is a very useful skill if you intend to work from home.  But if

it's a skill you don't have, and having seriously thought about it you

have decided against leaning, don't lose heart....the rest of this book

is dedicated to you.

Before you read on, make a list of YOUR U.S.P.s Don't put it off until

later, do it now.

2.  HOW TO AVOID RIP-OFFS AND CONS

Before we proceed to look at the subject of finding employers, I feel it

is important that you learn how NOT to find employers!

As I said at the beginning, most people who enter the homework field lose

money.  That's because of the hundreds of cons, rip-offs and scams which

plague our business.

The first myth to dispel is that of 'envelope addressing'.  How many people

ring up to ask if I can tell them where to get envelope addressing work.....

The answer is nowhere. Envelope addressing work DOES NOT EXIST!! Computers

can do this simple task in a fraction of the time and at a far lesser cost.

How many items of junk mail do you get which are hand addresses (not

including those rom one-man 'opportunity publishers'- and you can be sure

they don't pay anyone to address envelopes!)?

Back in the fifties, sixties and early seventies, a few companies did

offer envelope addressing work (very poorly paid, by the way). I suppose

this is where the public obtained its stereotypical image of the

housewife sitting at home with a huge pile of manila envelopes and a biro.

However, since the war, we have had something much more common on the

homeworking scene - the envelope addressing rip-offs.  Schemes vary

from proprietor to proprietor.  Most are one-person or husband and wife

businesses, but they might have any number of addresses. We know of one

man who used at least fifteen names and addresses at once, no doubt

catching some of the more gullible people more than once.

Basically, the conman attracts his victim with a circular in the morning

post proclaiming "WE PAY YOU $1 PER ENVELOPE - GUARANTEED!" or some

other totally incredible claim. (25p per envelope also seems to be a

common figure). A few don't actually quote figures, but offer you a

"worthwhile spare time income addressing envelopes from home".

Of course, everyone thinks that this is the opportunity they have been

waiting for. Due to the strictly limited number of places available,

they rush off to the post-box immediately with their $15 or $20 'deposits'

At the worst they get nothing in return, or at the best they are asked to

promote the same scheme to get more people to part with $15 or $20 deposits. 

Of course, as the 'local agent' it's your door they come knocking at when

they get ripped off. Another common variation is to ask participants for

a further payment of $20 or so in order to start - in return for this $20

they receive a 'report with reproduction rights'. Avoid these

schemes - the only one getting rich is the organiser (and they have

been facing some pretty hefty fines in recent months).

Another scheme to steer well clear of is chain letters. Not to be confused

with multi-level marketing, which is studied in another chapter, chain

letters have no 'head office' address or commencement date as the law

says they should have.

The most common is the Edward L.Green chain letter. Edward is a

fictionary character invented by a mail order dealer in North America,

but nonetheless he claims to have devised a simple yet legal scheme to

make millions.

All you do is send $5 to each of four names on a list. If you're lucky

you might get a piece of paper back in return for your fiver. Then you

remove the name and address at position number one, replace it with that

at number two, move three to two etc., and put your name and address at

number four.

The money you spend on printing and mailing the Edward L. Green letters

will probably be entirely wasted. About 99% of people you mail to will

have seen the scheme before (we have received ten in a week before now!)

and will probably bin it. They might even report you to the trading

standards, in which case you could face prosecution!

A less common chain letter, but slightly more workable, is known as either

'Money Network' or 'Money Unlimited'. It promises you £100,000 for a

£10 investment (believe that and you'll believe anything!) and carries

a false testimony from an American lawyer called Philip R Brown. Philip's

English isn't all it might be, and his reasons for not giving his address

(couldn't cope with all the enquiries he would get) would have him

struck off the register.

As a general guide, if you get something that offers you fantastic

earnings - $1 per envelope or $100,000 in return for a tenner, or

whatever - file it in the bin. Genuine homework employers don't need

to advertise by sending out junk mail because they only have one or

two vacancies to fill.

3.  EMPLOYED OR SELF-EMPLOYED

Whilst to all intents and purposes you might be doing a job for an

employer, albeit in your own home, the chances are the employer will

want you to class yourself as 'self employed'.

The advantages for the company are that they don't need to operate a

'pay as you earn' scheme, they do not need such comprehensive insurance,

and they do not have to pay pension contributions etc.

All you need to do to become self employed is to notify your local

Inland Revenue office and the Department of Social Security. This will

mean that if you exceed your personal allowance you will have to pay

your own income tax (which can come as a nasty shock at the end of the

year if you've spent all your earnings!).

Of course, you will also have to keep your own accounts. Right at the

beginning you should open a new bank account and use it t pay for all your

supplies and to cash cheques sent to you by your employer. A big advantage

of being self employed is that you can claim as 'tax deductible' anything

you spend which is remotely connected to your work.

This means that you do not have to pay tax on money coming in as long as

it is spent on legitimate expenses. For example, if your employer pays you

$6,000 per year, but you spend $2,000 a year on supplies to help you with

your work, you'll only actually be liable for tax on $4,000. Take your

personal allowance off that and you tax bill will be very small.

A free booklet 'Starting a Business' is available from the Inland Revenue

(this includes the form which you should return to them to let them know

of your new business), and your local library will have books on

book-keeping and accounts. Tax matters for the average homeworker

should be relatively simple as you will only be dealing with a few

businesses/people. However, if it gets too complicated for you do not

hesitate to employ an accountant or a qualified book-keeper (the latter

being cheaper and probably quite satisfactory).

The other 'tax' you will have to pay is National Insurance. This will be

a lot more than what you might have paid in a previous job because there

is no employer's contribution. You pay the lot. Unless your activities are

earning you very little indeed, you will have to pay ordinary Class II

contributions of around $5 per week. Leaflets are available from the DSS.

Should your income rise above quite a high level, you will also be liable

for Class IV national insurance contributions, which are earnings related.

The DSS or IR can fill you in on the details.

However, there is still another problem to be overcome by you and your

employer - and that is, proving that you really are self employed.

Whether you can class yourself as self employed (and remember that it is

in your interests to do so - it will make you much more employable)

depends on several things.

Firstly, you should decide how much you charge, rather than the company

deciding how much to pay you. Simply negotiate a wage with your employer,

and rather than them calculating how much to pay you each week or month,

you work it out and provide them with a bill.

It is also a good idea to use your own equipment rather than that provided

by a firm. A self employed person usually provides his own tools - and

also supplies such as paper and postage stamps.

Finally, of course, you will be working in your own home. This should

help to prove that you will be self employed.

4.  WORKING FOR MORE THAN ONE EMPLOYER

No-one quite knows where to draw the line between homeworking and a home

based business. If you are working for more than one employer, then

really you are running a business. However, some businesses involve a

lot more risk than others - and you would actually be starting a very

low risk business.

Let us take, as an example, Mrs Smith. Mrs Smith used to work as a

secretary for a large local business. However, she has had to give

up her job to look after her young children. She intends to go back

to work later, and does not want to lose touch with the world of work

while she is away. She decides to look for a homework opportunity in

which she can make use of her typing skills.

However, very few companies have need of a full time, or even part time,

secretary to work from home on a permanent basis. After all, a secretary

working from home is a bit of a disadvantage. For a start they still

need to answer their 'phone.

However, Mrs Smith does have a very effective way to find typing work

to do at home - a few ads in the local paper could get her 'business'

up and running very quickly. These will be very inexpensive and say

something along the lines of "Typing service. Fast and accurate. Very

reasonable rates. Anything undertaken from a letter to a book. Details

ring Mrs Smith 863668." Mrs Smith cannot expect an overwhelming response,

but she might gain two or three small jobs. Perhaps from a home based

business which cannot afford its own secretary, or from a local small

business which just cannot cope with all their work. The important thing

is that, as long as Mrs Smith's service is all it claims to be, they

will almost certainly come back with more business. After just a few

ads Mrs Smith will gain enough regular clients to stop advertising and

still have plenty of work. So, in effect, she will be a homeworker.

Of course not everyone can offer a typing service, but I a sure that if

you think about your U.S.P. you will be able to work out an equivalent

way to obtain homework. For example, you might even put in an ad that

reads "Reliable, trustworthy person requires assembly work to do at home.

Anything considered". You are sure to get a few replies.

Working for more than one employer will make your book-keeping a bit

more complicated, but it's well worth it. For a start, you will be

obviously self employed so you will not need to prove that you are.

And, of course, you can earn a lot more money in this way. Also, you

are less likely to become bored because you will have plenty of variety

in your work.

5. FINDING HOMEWORK

Once you have found one or two suitable opportunities you will be well

on your way to success. So finding the right vacancy is really the most

important thing you will ever do in your homeworking career.

          There are two ways to go about this.......

1) CANVASSING

Having found your U.S.P. and decided exactly what sort of work you want

to do, you can write, telephone or call on businesses in your area who

could be interested in your services. For example, if you have decided

to offer a leaflet distributing service, you could send a copy of the

letter reproduced on the next page. This was written just recently by

the Homework Association's Advice Service for a man in Plymouth who

wanted to work from home distributing leaflets.

You are free to reproduce this letter if you wish - perhaps leaflet

distributing was not something you had thought of before. I am sure

that with a little imagination though, it could be adapted to suit any

job. It's worth remembering that this letter was written and typed free

for the member concerned - just one of the many things that the Homework

Association Service could do for you if you decided to join (see

membership form at the back of this book).

This leaflet distributing letter was sent to a number of different

firms in the Plymouth area who were offering goods or services 'of

interest to every householder' (things like Double Glazing, Roofing,

Building, Outdoor Coating, Bus service operators etc.). It was then

followed up with a quick telephone call to the person concerned with

promoting that company. Nothing could be simpler. On the telephone

our member simply introduced himself, referred them to the letter he

had sent to them, and asked if they were interested.

The telephone call could also have been made BEFORE sending out the

letter, as it is well proven that if people know a letter is due and

look out for it, they are likely to pay more attention to it.

If, however, you were offering something like a knitting service,

then probably the most effective way of selling your produce would

be to call on a few small shops in your area which specialise in

selling knitted jumpers etc. Don't worry about the 'selling angle'

and don't try to make out you're more than you are - i.e don't pretend

you represent a large factory! Just say that you are a homeworker

offering high quality hand-knitted garments, show them a sample of

your work, ask if they would take it for a month or two on a sale

or return basis - and about 90% will say YES!

YOUR NAME LEAFLET DISTRIBUTOR    

                                    73 Your Street

                                    Anyplace

                                    Anytown

                                    TO2 2HX

Tel:(0201 893163)

Can you spare a couple of minutes of your time for me to tell you how

to increase your profits?

With the vast increases in direct mailing costs (post goes up another

2p soon), more and more firms are turning to door-to-door distribution

of leaflets. Leaflet distributing could particularly help your firm

because the product you are selling appeals to nearly everybody!

Remember that effective leaflets need only be A6 size, and they are

therefore very cheap to produce. Your printer will be able to quote

you, or I can arrange printing. You might even like to copy your own

leaflets on an ordinary photocopier.

I know that door-to-door leaflet distribution really can be very

effective, and the wonderful thing is - it's so cheap. You can hardly

afford NOT to risk just a few pounds on a trial drop! Printing could

cost you as little as $5 to $7 per 1,000, and then I can distribute

them for as little as $10 per 1,000, which is much cheaper than larger

companies.

We are small enough to take a personal interest in all our customers'

particular needs (for example, we can target specific areas or type of

housing - up-market areas or council estates).

At the same time, we are a well organised company. As soon as we receive

your leaflets they will be distributed without delay - we guarantee it.

A list of the streets where distribution took place will be provided

free of charge.

So, as you will see if you think about it for just a few minutes, YOUR

COMPANY NEEDS THE SERVICES OF A GOOD LEAFLET DISTRIBUTOR!

Don't delay any longer - you could be losing out. Call me right now on

0201 893163 to discuss your requirements further. We can handle any

quantity from 1,000 upwards - and remember, since the costs are so low

you risk very little. Give it a go!

Yours sincerely,

YOUR NAME

2)   WAITING FOR THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITY

Depending on the work you want to do, you might have a long wait!

However, if you are reasonably flexible and prepared to give anything

a try, you would be surprised how easy it actually is to find homework

jobs.

Don't look in mail order magazines - your chances are far better locally.

Costs of postage are now so high that not many companies can afford to

work by post. Exceptions are companies which work on a very small profit,

like companies selling stamps to collectors. For this particular type of

work, it might pay you to look at a specialist stamp magazine - if no-one

is actually advertising for homeworkers, refer to part one o this chapter

and send out a few letters.

Local papers very often carry outwork vacancies, and you can be reasonably

sure, although not 100% that the paper will have checked out the advertiser

and made sure it is not a con. However, if the opportunity is with a

local company, it is much more likely to be genuine.

Generally, the companies which employ homeworkers are small, newish

businesses. There are literally hundreds of success stories about

people who set up in their spare bedrooms five or ten years ago, took

on homeworkers and have now made themselves a fortune. Remember that

if a company has a factory, it probably won't need homeworkers - if it's

run from a spare bedroom but runs a business involving manufacturing,

it definitely does need homeworkers. Again, trace a few companies and

refer to section one of this chapter.

I regularly read the 'Situations Vacant' column in the local free

newspapers to keep myself up-to-date on the homeworking scene. Probably

the vacancies most commonly advertised involve sewing - such as finishing

off garments made on a machine. Opportunities for craft work, market

research or calling on people to collect orders rom catalogues already

placed are also quite common.

I suggest you also keep an eye on the 'Sits Vac' - and if you see

anything that could interest you, call in on them or give them a ring.

6.  HOMEWORK AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE

Although a local vacancy is always the best, for one reason or another

you may choose to try and obtain work from a national company which

operates by post. If this is the case, then your U.S.P. will be less

important.

The main disadvantage of these opportunities, apart from the postage

costs, are that a larger investment is usually required. Very few

companies, genuine ones included, will let you start without a deposit

of between £5 and £30. This usually covers a training book or course

to show you how to do the work, and use of an advice service if you

have any questions.

Some people take in the printed word better than others. However,

most people will learn by experience, and this going to cost the

company quite a bit of money in telling you how and where to improve

your work, and perhaps returning it to you for re-doing.

What the deposit generally does not include is materials. This applies

particularly to craft work, the most common opportunity of this type.

A further investment will be required, either locally or by mail order,

to get the materials you need to start.

1)CRAFTWORK

By far the most popular type of homework carried out by post, although,

of course, the work does tend to be very fragile, so packing for the

post is extremely important.

Usually you will start off with a mould, which makes life very simple

for you. Basically all you have to do is pour in the appropriate

substance (such as soft clay, cement, coldcasting liquid, or even lead)

and then leave it to set for a while before removing it.

The mould is usually made from rubber or plaster of Paris. Rubber is,

of course, much easier to post. Plaster of Paris moulds are, however,

easier to make on your own at home. Although of course you cannot copy

other people's crafts, you might be able to find some interestingly

shaped item which could be used to make a mould for something. One

idea is to use food moulds - for example moulds designed for chocolate

or jelly, but you may be able to adapt them for some other substance

to create an unusual ornament or container.

Although craftwork opportunities may be operated by post, there is

also a good local market in most areas, at places such as craft fairs

and charity shops. Sitting behind a table taking the money for your

own goods could make quite an enjoyable day out - and it always pays

to take something to work on while you are there so that people can

watch you at work, making them much more likely to buy! But if this

doesn't sound like you, try approaching a few craft and charity shops,

or even galleries, who may well be keen to sell your work on a commission

basis.

It is worth pointing out that your local library will have numerous

books on craftwork that you can borrow, and free instructions are

often available from the suppliers of materials and mould manufacturers.

2) TELEPHONE ANSWERING

Another popular type of homework that can be carried out anywhere in

the country. All you need is a home telephone or two. Your employers

will be either large companies with nationwide advertising campaigns

or small businesspeople who cannot be in all the time to answer the

'phone.

About 60% of telephones in Britain are currently connected to British

Telecom's digital exchanges, which allow access to a wide range of

additional services - in particular, call diversion.

When the small businessman goes out or the company closes its office

for the evening, it can simply dial a few figures and then all incoming

calls will be re-directed to your number. You simply take the messages

(usually just a name and 'phone number or address) and then later on

your employer will 'phone in to collect them.

Of course, if you are only working for one company, you can charge them

extra and answer the calls in their company name. But unless you are

receiving a very high volume of calls, they could not possibly pay you

anything like a full wage.

For this reason it is best if you can work for ten or twenty different

employers, who will each pay you anything between £10 and $50 per month,

depending on the amount of work you are doing for them. This way you

could earn quite a reasonable income.

One major disadvantage of telephone answering is that you really are

housebound unless, for example, you arrange for an answering machine

to be switched on outside office hours. For this reason it could be

good for a couple of people sharing a job - perhaps you and your spouse

or next door neighbour. They can be in when you are out!

Another opportunity that could easily be worked alongside telephone

answering, although it is commission based, is finance broking. Although

the government is planning new clampdowns on offers of easy credit,

loans will always be in demand and there will always be companies keen

to offer them.

All you do is place a few ads in the local paper offering loans. You

do not need a consumer credit licence to do this provided you are acting

as an agent for a company which is licensed. These ads need not cost you

a lot of money.

Then you simple take calls from those interested, ask them a few

questions over the 'phone the answer to which you fill in on a

pre-printed form, and then you post off the form to the company

concerned. If the loan is arranged you will receive quite a substantial

commission - maybe a few hundred pounds. However, you should realise

that the majority of loan applications are turned down.

3) COMMISSION MAILING

Further information on this subject can be found in the chapter on

mail order. Commission mailing is the nearest you will get to addressing

envelopes at home - it's somewhere between that and starting your own

mail order business.

Basically, a company will send you either free, or for a small charge,

a batch of 'commission circulars'. These are simply printed

advertisements offering goods by mail order - but there is no address

to order from. You write, print or rubber stamp your own name and

address in the space provided.

You then buy stamps, envelopes and names and addresses if they have

not been supplied to you by the company, and send off the circulars.

Any orders come back to you - you then deduct your commission - normally

50% of the sale price - and forward the order, together with the

remaining money, to the company who sent you the circulars. You need

do no more - it is the company's job to send whatever the customer

ordered direct.

Of course, quite large investments in postage are required, and just

because commission circulars are free, it doesn't mean that they are

good. Ones that you have to pay for generally get a much better response.

Before embarking on a commission mailing scheme it is absolutely vital

that you seek professional advice from someone experienced in the mail

order trade, and you should also find out where the names and addresses

come from - if they are people who purchased a tent by mail order ten

years ago, you can be sure that they are very unlikely to be interested

in your offer (most commission circulars offer business, homework,

or money-making opportunities).

Incidentally, although we say it ourselves, we have two of the best

commission mailing opportunities around. One is The Homework Association

(see back of this book) where you earn $3 commission for every new

member who joins through you, and another is selling this actual book

to other people interested in earning extra money from home. The company

who sold you this copy will be able to provide you with further

information on receipt of a stamped addressed envelope.

7.   MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING

Multi-level marketing or MLM for short, is catching on so fast in

Britain that we thought it sensible to dedicate a special chapter

to it. The aim of this chapter is to explain to you, clearly and

simply, the basics of MLM, the potential, and the problems.

MLM is in fact, closely related to the pyramid selling which received

such bad publicity in the seventies and was eventually made illegal.

The difference is in the sums of money involved. In pyramid selling

schemes, participants were forced to invest thousands of pounds in

buying useless items which they would be very unlikely to sell again. 

People did make money - a lot of money - from pyramid selling, but

only at the expense of the others who joined below them. Pyramid

selling simply did not work.

The laws regarding what a MLM programme can and cannot do are very

strict, and have just been tightened up still further. No longer are

your sponsors (your sponsor is the person who introduced you to the

scheme) allowed to sell you more of the product than you can reasonably

expect to sell in a certain period.

In fact, with most schemes, you obtain the order from your customer,

and then you buy the goods from the company in order to supply your

customer. And it is illegal for the company to ask you for more than

£50 when you join the scheme (some companies ask for £10 or less - or

even offer free membership)

Most companies will insist that to remain classified as an 'active

distributor', you must purchase a certain value of goods each month.

You can either use these goods yourself or sell them on if you wish.

However, if you are selling goods you are, of course, just acting as

a distributor for the company. There i nothing multi-level about it.

This is where the multi-level aspect comes in. Depending on the marketing

plan of the company you join, you may find it perfectly possible to

earn money in multi-level marketing without selling a thing.

MLM is based on 'levels'-hence its name. When you recruit other

people to join the scheme - when you sponsor them, that is - they

are in your first level. And they are in your sponsor's second level.

LOOK AT THIS EXAMPLE

                        -------------MR A------------

                        |                           |

  -------MRS B-------          -------MR C--------

  |                 |          |                  |

MR D              MS E       MRS F              MR G

This diagram sows a very simple network. Imagine you are either Mrs B

or Mr C

Mr A is your sponsor, because he recruited you into the programme. You

are in his FIRST LEVEL.

You have recruited the two people below you in the family tree. You are

their sponsor. They are in YOUR first level. But they are one level

further down from you in Mr A's group, so they are in Mr A's SECOND LEVEL

A group like this is called a downline. B,C,D,E,F and G are all in Mr A's

downline.

The commission structure varies from company to company of course, but

let's assume that a commission of $1 per member is paid on level 1, and

a commission of $3 per member on level 2.

In this case Mr A will earn $2 for level 1 and $12 for level 2.

Not much you may say. But of course, with some companies Mr A might

have had 10 people in his first level, and he might have been paid $1

per member down to is fifth level. Now work out his earnings, assuming

that everyone who joins recruits ten members.......

     Level 1    $1 x 10      =  $10

     Level 2    $1 x 100     =  $100

     Level 3    $1 x 1,000   =  $1,000

     Level 4    $1 x 10,000  =  $10,000

     Level 5    $1 x 100,000 =  $100,000

           TOTAL EARNINGS - $111,110

Of course, it very rarely works like this. If I were using this example

to promote a particular company, it would be regarded as very misleading

and highly illegal. I am simply giving you this illustration so that

you can see that MLM does have a great deal of potential.

Up until recently, organisations such as the Department of Trade and

Industry, and local Trading Standards Departments, were very much biased

against MLM. This resulted in a lot of bad publicity.

However, much better MLM schemes are now in existence, and MLM as a

marketing method has gained a lot of credibility in this country over

the past few years. There has also been a great deal of favourable

publicity in the press as people really are achieving incomes of up

to $35,000 per month from MLM.

Our verdict is this. There is nothing wrong with MLM as a business

concept. Certainly it works for some people, and it could work for you.

However, there are two points to remember.

First of all, to be outstandingly successful in MLM, you do have to be

outstandingly successful as selling. You don't have to be a

professional - you just have to be one of those people who have a

natural ability to sell things to other people.

The other thing to remember is that companies vary very widely indeed.

You should decide on one or two companies and then stick with it for

a while. Whatever you do, don't pull out after a few months because

you haven't made any money. MLM is not a get-rich scheme, and you may

have to wait at least a year before you are earning very much at all.

Hard work and dedication are required.

Before getting involved in any MLM scheme, we recommend that you

take as much advice as you can from people who know about MLM. But

if you're keen to give it a try, don't allow yourself to be put off

by someone who doesn't know anything about it, but thinks they do!

8.  YOUR OWN MAIL ORDER BUSINESS

A large percentage of those who start off looking for homework,

actually become involved in the mail order circle, so any homework

seeker should know something about the field of home based mail order.

Mail order appeals to many homeworkers, as it is a business which

can be run entirely from home, and it is a business which needs very

little starting capital.

Sometimes homework can be difficult to find - but anyone can start a

mail order business.... or so we think!

Homeworkers invariably become involved in the selling of business

opportunity information (guides and manuals like this one, postal

MLM schemes, books with reproduction rights, etc.). Without doubt,

there is a great demand for such information and an absolutely fantastic

profit potential - but there is also a great deal of competition.

It has been estimated that there are around 6,000 home based mail

order dealers - or opportunity seekers - in the UK. There are

therefore 5,999 businesses competing with yours! And very often they

will be selling the same goods as you are!

Of course, there are hundreds of guides about home-based mail order,

and this is not intended to be one of them. If you are seriously

interested in mail order you should invest in a few of the better

ones, or you might like to take advantage of a special FREE BONUS

OFFER which we are making available to all readers of this book!

(Further details later). The purpose of this chapter is simply to

whet your appetite.

There are three secrets to mail order success. If you follow these,

you are unlikely to go wrong, although of course you will learn a lot

more by experience than you can ever learn from reading a book.

1)  PRESENTATION

Presentation is of the utmost importance in mail order. The only thing

that your potential customers have got to judge you by is your literature.

This will either impress them or put them off immediately.

The first rule of business is to look bigger than you are. A nicely

printed letterhead, preferably in colour on high quality paper, will

give your business a good image. It is important to impress your

suppliers are well as your customers, even though you're not trying

to sell them anything. Who knows, they might buy from you in the future!

One thing which will not impress is a letter scrawled on a sheet of

paper from a lined notepad, with a rubber stamped address or one of

those little sticky labels at the top. That's fine for a personal

letter, but not for business correspondence.

Something else which will impress will be a telephone number. If you

don't have one, then try to get one included on your letterhead.

Perhaps pay a neighbour a little to take messages for you, or make

use of the services offered by  local telephone answering bureau.

I say local, because if you live in Yorkshire and have a 'phone number

in London, people will instantly recognise it a an answering bureau.

This rule about presentation applies equally to your sales literature.

You can have an A4 sheet fully typeset for $10 - $15, or typed out for

$2 - $3. If you do a direct mailshot, include a TYPED covering letter

and a TYPESET sales circular - if possible, a reply envelope too!

2)  SELL GOOD QUALITY GOODS

Repeat business is very important in mail order. If you have a satisfied

customer, there is a very good chance that they will buy something else

from you in the future. If you just sell them a load of rubbish, they

will tell everybody else and you will lose customers. Certainly there

will be no repeat business, and you might even get a visit from the

Trading Standards.

3.  USE DISPLAY ADVERTISING

Classified (lineage ads where you pay per word) are alright if the

publication is on sale at newsagents nationwide, but they are generally

useless in the smaller circulation mail order magazines. You will be

much better off to invest in a full page ad (around £20). As long as

your sales literature is reasonable, you are much less likely to lose

money this way. And it's a lot less work.

AN EXTRA RULE --- KEEP THESE RULES!!!

Whatever you do, don't think that you can improve presentation or

quality once your business is established. If you break these rules

now, people will remember.

_______________________________________________

Launchpad Mail Order are making a special offer to all readers of this

book. You can have a FREE copy of 'Your Own Successful Home Publishing

Business'.

Simply write your name and address on a piece of paper and send it, with

four first class stamps to cover postage and packing to:

           Launchpad Home Publishing Book Offer

                       Freepost

                       TRURO

                       Cornwall

                       TR3 7BR

_______________________________________________

Of course, this section would not be complete without a bit of

information on finding a product you can sell.

Probably the easiest way - the route taken by most newcomers to the

mail order scene - is to buy a manual or guide which comes with full

reproduction rights. Basically, this means that you pay a premium

price when you buy the guide (usually in the $20 to $50 region) in

return for the rights to reproduce copies whenever you wish. There

are no longer any copyright restrictions preventing you from printing

copies of that particular book. The complete reproduction rights package

also comes with a sales circular which you can print with your own name.

When an order arrives you simply take your master copy down to a high

street print shop, or use the photocopier at work, to have a copy made

up. You then send this copy to your customer.

By the way, most self-publishing packages allow you also to sell on the

rights - so you can sell at premium prices also to other people interested

in self-publishing. This can be a very lucrative sideline - but you must

remember that the more people who have reproduction rights to the package,

the more competition there is against your business.

Another way you can obtain a product cheaply is by becoming a commission

agent. This is fully explained earlier in this book.

However, by far the best way to get a product to sell is to produce it

yourself. This isn't quite as stupid as it sounds.

Absolutely anyone is perfectly capable of writing a short guide on a

subject they know well, and as I said when discussing U.S.P.s in Chapter

One, everyone has some kind of individual experience to draw on.

For example, if you have previously acted as an agent for one of the

big mail order catalogue houses, you could easily write ten pages about

your experiences and how you obtained your customers. You could have

copies made for about 25p each, even in a small quantity, and many people

would be more than willing to pay you $3 - $5 for their copies. And this

way, you would be the only person offering it. There would be no

competition whatsoever. Pay a few pounds to have a decent circular

typeset and published in a few mail order magazines and you could be

well on your way to becoming a mail order success.

No doubt you can think of your own examples of a guide you could write.

For even bigger profits, why not consider offering it with reproduction

rights. For a ten page guide you could charge other small publishers

around $15 per time, and you should be able to sell ten a week, which

is not bad income considering how little work is involved.

Why not start right now! The publishers of this guide (see page 3) would

be very pleased to consider buying the reproduction rights to anything

you offer, which could get you of to a good start within the week.

9.   THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS

Every successful person becomes successful by having a positive and

optimistic attitude to life. Nowhere is this more important than in

the field of earning money at home.

If you have chosen to work for an employer, to impress that employer

and to be successful you have to be enthusiastic about the work you

are doing.

British Industry is plagued by employees who feel no sense of loyalty

to their employers. They spend about half their working hours taking

tea breaks, and outside their working hours they moan about work. Some

even go so far as stealing from their employers.

As a homeworker, you are essentially self employed, which means you

have to be hard working. At home you must discipline yourself to work

regular hours and you must make every effort to keep your work to a

high standard. Don't just do the least possible work to get your money.

It is important to impress the person who is paying you - and if they

see that you are keen and hard working, then they are almost certain

to give you more work or increase your pay. They will, as the advertising

leaflet in this book says, beg you to carry on working for them!

Ideally, I would say don't take any job unless you're sure you are

going to enjoy it. Don't just take it 'because it's a job'. However,

I do realise that this may not always be possible - sometimes people

may need the money urgently, in which case they have to be happy with

any homework vacancy they can find. If that is the case, try to make

it just a temporary job until you can find something more suitable.

The more independence you have decided to take, the more important it

is to have a positive attitude. When someone starts off a business

thinking it is doomed to failure, then it almost certainly is doomed to

failure.

If you are one of those people who always moans about the bad things in

life (the weather, the poll tax, the mortgage, the way society is going...)

then it is important that you make a concentrated effort to look on the

good side of things.

Everybody has a goal of some sort in life - perhaps a car, a big house,

more holidays in the sun, something to do in retirement, etc. This is a

goal which you must set out to achieve, and it is important that when

thinking about your goals you should be specific - not just a car, but

the particular make and model.

It may take you some time, but you should sincerely believe that you

will one day achieve your goals. Your new career in homeworking is just

the beginning.

A winner will always be thinking positive things - planning for the

future and taking pleasure from previous successes. A loser, on the

other hand, never thinks of success - he will be able to remember his

failures, but views any success as a stroke of luck.

10.  A FINAL WORD

Well done. You've started out on your new career - your road to

homeworking success. Soon you should be doing interesting, regular

work from the comfort of your own home. I hope that this book has

helped you by explaining the basics of homeworking to you.

Now you will never be ripped off by an envelope addressing scheme or

a chain letter. You will understand the basic principles of multi-level

marketing and be able to apply this knowledge to evaluate any company

literature you might receive. And, most importantly, you know exactly

how to go about finding the homework opportunity most suited to you.

However, no book could ever tell you every single thing you wanted to

know, so we are extending our free advice service to all readers of this

book.

If you have any questions, simple write, enclosing three first class

stamps to:

ADVICE DESK

THE HOMEWORK ASSOCIATION

HOME BUSINESS CENTRE

PERRANARWORTHAL

TRURO

TR3 7NR

It just remains for me to wish you success in all your enterprises!!