The Best Of Recession-Proof Business Opportunities

:: Home » Library » Home Based Business Ideas Part 2

Introduction

There's nothing so powerful as a recession to convince people
that perhaps the very best way to protect themselves against the
ravages of future downturns in the economy is to set up in
business for themselves. This might not offset the chances of a
lower income as customers cut back on their spending when times
are hard, but self-employment remains perhaps the only way to
protect the individual and family against those other scourges of
recession, namely unemployment, redundancy, layoffs, reduced
overtime, and so on.

And yet the fact remains that many business advisors and
entrepreneurs alike consider recessionary times the least
suitable for establishing a business. Others will argue the
opposite, and many will point to a cluster of businesses
renowned for surviving even the worst of recessions. In fact,
some enterprises seem to positively flourish during the most
prolonged of economic downturns. This manual is dedicated to
an analysis of just a few of those businesses.

Profiting from Dreams

Something most people never lose sight of are dreams and
ambitions. In fact the need to hang on to a virtually
impossible dream might assume greater importance during a long
recession. Whether the dream is realistic, for instance the
chance to obtain a new and exciting job, or whether it is
unlikely to ever materialise, as for example might be a major
pools jackpot win, for the astute entrepreneur a great deal of
profit can be made in this area. In this manual we shall of
course consider only ethical business opportunities and leave
to one side the many opportunities to earn vast sums from the
misfortunes of others. Dreams and hopes which might
materialise with a little outside intervention are a different
matter entirely.

In the home publishing field one finds numerous opportunities
to help customers achieve their ambitions. Think for instance
of writing and selling - or else acquiring the rights to sell -
such magnificent titles as 'How to Win the Pools', 'How to Win
Prize Competitions', 'How to Get the Job you Really Want', 'How
to Earn as Much Money as you Like from Home', 'How to Travel
the World Free', 'How to Get a Job Abroad', and so on. Writing
and self-publishing your own manuals and information products
is not the difficult task it might seem to the newcomer to
writing. The quality of information is the factor for which
your work will be purchased; not the way in which you write it.
So, think of a good title, one suited to times of recession, do
your research in the local reference library, type it up, read
it through for errors and omissions, then offer it for sale by
mail order. See the later section 'Home Publishing' for
details of how to begin your own publishing venture, one that
will prove all the more profitable from selling your own
exclusive products.

Employment Services

Also falling somewhat within the 'dreams' category, the
employment agency along with related ventures, can find itself
able to survive the most prolonged economic downturn, as more
and more redundancies and business failures swell the ranks of
the unemployed. Services and types of employment agencies you
can offer vary tremendously, and might range from those
requiring personal contact with clients, to those in which all
communications will be carried out by post.

Some employment agencies, including such as au pair placement
bureaus and temporary secretarial agencies, require an
operator's licence from the Department of Employment, for which
the entrepreneur will receive an annual inspection from the
Department's officers.

Also within this category are a number of other operations for
which contact with and responsibility for clients will be
significantly reduced. Think for instance of writing and
selling an overseas employment bulletin, a homework advisory
service, or else providing a range of job application and
interview books and perhaps video or audio cassettes. Other
related services include CV production (see special section
later), assistance in completing job applications and interview
training sessions.

Selling Bric-a-Brac and Inexpensive Collectors' Items

In times of recession, when money is hard to find, people begin
looking around for bargains wherever they can be found.
Bric-a-brac and second-hand items are consequently available
from a wide variety of sources, ranging from traditional retail
outlets, to car boot sales, indoor fleamarkets, market stalls,
and sometimes mail order.

Amongst the items falling within this category, the following
is but a very small sample:

Bric-a-brac. Some say this is just another name
for jumble. Nevertheless, a good income can be
generated from selling old jewellery, ornaments,
tools, books, magazines, pictures, frames, toys,
tablecloths, early items of clothing, craftwork,
and so on.

Toys and dolls, this time of the older and
cherished variety. Not perhaps the rare and prized
variety you will discover at specialist doll and
toy fairs and better antiques fairs, but certainly
not the toys of yesterday in the most literal
sense. Here we find trains, cars, Dinky specimens,
all in their original boxes, some never even
considered as playtime material.

Prints, paintings and pictures, sometimes tinted
and framed for sale, restored, reframed,
occasionally offered in their original state.

Stamps.

Books.

Jewellery.

Pottery, high quality glassware and china items,
figurines Victorian tea sets and delicate domestic
items too numerous to mention. Many dealers in
this type of stock rotate between the collectors'
fairs and the more up-market antiques fairs, which
all goes to prove the moneymaking potential of
humble collectors' fairs and fleamarkets.

Militaria and all things wartime related.

Early clothing.

Linen.

Etc., etc., etc.

A stall at suitable venues is extremely easy to arrange. All
worthwhile collectors' fairs are advertised extensively in
order to draw the necessary crowds of customers.

Either telephone the organiser to reserve a stall on a
particular occasion, or much more preferably, visit one of
their venues as a customer yourself before booking a stall.
You will then see whether the organiser's advertising is
drawing sufficient customers, or whether as some unfortunately
do, the organisers are pocketing the traders' stall fees in the
hope that sufficient customers will be attracted by road signs
set up to direct interested parties to the event.

Obtaining stock for these fairs is not the problem it is in
acquiring suitable items for more up-market antiques fairs.
Private sales, auctions, car boot sales, jumble sales and
charity shops, are just a few of the very many sources you will
discover for the replenishment of your stock. 'Wants ads' in
local newspapers, shop windows and in specialist magazines can
be extremely rewarding too.

Curriculum Vitae Services

This rather ominous-sounding title may at first be a little
off-putting, and I wouldn't blame anyone tempted to skip this
proposition in favour of more familiar-sounding business
ventures. But think again, for here we have an excellent
opportunity to earn up to 25 each time a conversation takes
place with the potential customer and the details of that
conversation are put to paper. And remember, in recessionary
times, with many individuals being made redundant and entering
the job market perhaps for the first time in years, the need to
create a good first impression on potential employers is
crucial. A good CV service can therefore find itself actually
growing in strength as times become harder.

A curriculum vitae is nothing more than the biographical
details - personal and career-related - of persons wishing to
change jobs, seek advancement, and undergo virtually any change
in their working lives, which necessitates them giving
interviewers, employers, and college heads sufficient details
to make a full and accurate assessment of the candidate.

At one time the humble application form was the order of the
day, requiring one to neatly present personal data in little
boxes on the employer's or whoever's individual forms.

But forms presented several problems, not the least being that
their designers, who like the rest of us are not infallible,
often asked ambiguous questions, or else allowed no space for
the inclusion of information which those labouring over the
form considered of vital importance. In the latter case, the
astute applicant would add a typed or hand written addendum to
the application before submission. On too many occasions
though, even the experienced applicant could be left with that
niggling feeling of, albeit inadvertently, answering a question
'not quite accurately' or inadequately, or wishing that extra
space had been available for more detailed information.

Here the curriculum vitae comes to the rescue, offering the
candidate the facility to include in the application all of
those details which he and the intended recipient feel
necessary for a realistic analysis to be made. It contains all
of the information required on a standard application form as
well as additional points peculiar to the individual applicant.
But how does the inexperienced applicant or those with
insufficient time or inadequate facilities go about the task of
preparing this ostentatiously named document in a neat, orderly
and professional manner? The answer is they don't - they get
someone more experienced to prepare the document on their
behalf!

This service, much needed in today's competitive jobs and
education market, has led to the emergence of many specialist
'CV' enterprises. Fees range from 20 to 25 and more, and all
for what essentially amounts to handing over a few copies of a
short document.

Some offer the document in 'designer' folder, often with the
customer's name and address gold-leafed on the front. 'Very
nice' you might think, and yes it is - and very expensive too.
To my mind such glossing over is also highly unnecessary. The
documents will not be forwarded to the intending employer in
their glamourous cases, and surely, the more costs are kept to
a minimum whilst still providing a reliable and accurate
service, the more competitive will be the price asked of the
customer, and the more customers will thereby be attracted.

The person who decides to enter this lucrative business must of
necessity possess two prime qualifications: an ability to put
his or her customers at ease as personal details are elicited
as fully and accurately as possible, and, access to a good
typewriter or if all possible, a word processor or typesetting
facilities. The end result is professional, and in the
majority of cases where word processors are used, also
completely free of typing and spelling errors.

Should this business present an attractive proposition for you
to consider starting out in, then send off to several existing
CV agencies for details of their services, obviously presenting
yourself as someone likely to require their services. You will
then be able to judge for yourself what documentation and
advertising is employed by the better firms, as well as taking
the undoubted advantage of incorporating the better points of
all agencies into your own.

Home Publishing

Home publishing has been credited with the virtually unique
honour of being able to survive recessions; even flourish when
the downturn gathers momentum and more and more individuals
seek information regarding starting up in business from home,
or else look for other ways to increase their present income.
Home publishing is also one of the most lucrative businesses
ever, one requiring very little in the way of starting capital,
yet one which provides anything from 1000% to 4000% profit on
each and every sale the publisher makes.

Just how much home publishers make each and every week depends
entirely on the time and effort they put into their businesses;
into the analysing of advertising trends and techniques; into
selecting suitable titles to offer their customers; into
establishing a good and regular list of customers who, being
satisfied with past purchases, will continue to buy from them
in the future.

'Publishing', loosely defined, is the preparation and
distribution of printed material, from which we can conclude
that a 'home publisher' is a home-based entrepreneur, needing
no special business premises, and requiring no stock other than
one master copy of each publication he or she intends offering
for sale.

Some home publishers deal exclusively in publications relating
to one particular hobby or interest such as consumer
competitions or stamp collecting. Others deal in a wide range
of subjects, from leisure interest, to self-improvement, and on
to perhaps the most profitable line of all, namely that of
information concerning business and income boosting
opportunities.

Basically, the publisher selects and acquires those titles that
form his or her stock, decides upon the means by which they
will be advertised for sale, and subsequently places
appropriate advertisements to which prospective customers are
invited to reply.

He or she then forwards the publication or publications, where
cash in advance has been requested, or else provides the
potential customer with a detailed sales leaflet from which the
inquirer will decide whether or not to order the publication.
The publisher usually takes the opportunity to include details
of several other publications in which the potential customer
might be interested. If the original enquiry does not result
in a sale, there is every chance that one of these other
publications will appeal to the inquirer.

Customer manuals and folios may be produced as photocopied
versions of the master document, or in professionally printed
form if the publisher desires. By shopping around for the best
rates in photocopying, or else installing a photocopying
machine at home, the cost of manuals can be kept extremely low,
thereby making for far higher profit margins.

The market for information is vast, some would suggest
unlimited, and the means of reaching potential customers are
similarly many and varied - and perhaps best of all
inexpensive. Without costly business premises and similarly
prohibitive overheads, the publisher can afford to concentrate
his or her efforts and financial resources into reaching that
vast clientele awaiting each and every publication brought onto
the market.

To build and maintain a good customer list you must of course
offer only quality information, and for this reason the prudent
publisher will always choose the titles that form his stock
with the utmost care. It's surprisingly easy to acquire a
good, extremely saleable title for anything from 10 to 40 for
reproduction rights; more of course for sole copyright, the
latter affording an enviable situation indeed for the publisher
to find himself in, for he alone will have authority to offer
the copyrighted manuscript for sale.

Your titles may come from one or more of several sources;
direct from the writer or his agent in the case of copyright;
from the writer or agent, or other publishers in the case of
reproduction and resell rights.

Reproduction rights as the name implies, allow you to produce
and sell as many copies of the document as you wish, often at a
price you yourself decide. If these rights come with 'resell
rights' you may also transfer reproduction and resell rights to
other publishers, thereby making very handsome profits indeed,
and usually allowing you to recoup the cost of your own outlay
with your very first order.

With exclusive copyright you might quite rightly so, feel
reluctant to share your market with other publishers, which of
course would happen if you decided to sell reproduction rights,
with or without resell rights. Many publishers jealously guard
their copyrights, especially for titles much in demand. Such
titles could well continue selling to the public for many years
to come. With copyright the profits are entirely yours; pass
on reproduction rights and the chain grows rapidly, until after
just a few transactions your title is shared by many
publishers. If selling by direct mail, remember too that the
very same people contacted by you will almost certainly have
been approached with the same title by several of your
competitors - a huge waste of time, energy and money.

Home publishing is one of many sub-sections falling under the
umbrella of mail order, and as such those rules, tips and
techniques that make for increased profits in mail order apply
equally to home publishing.

Arm yourself with as many books and manuals as you can on the
art of advertising, direct marketing techniques, and standards
of mail order professionalism in general. Remember to keep
abreast of the times, never stop learning, and never ever stand
still! Success in home publishing is virtually yours for the
asking, whatever the prevailing economic climate!

List Broking

This is one big business proposition that requires an absolute
minimum of capital, but nevertheless offers extremely high
rewards to the operator. Another business well suited to
recessionary times, mail order operators - in particular
direct mail specialists - will work hard to increase their
share of the market for mail order goods and services. Here
the list broker's services come to the fore.

'It's not what you know that counts, it's who you know', or so
they say. In the business world this is indeed the case. Some
firms survive very nicely from dealings with only passing
trade, or with customers drawn into their premises as a result
of effective local advertising campaigns. Many firms though,
and primarily those with no obvious business premises for
customers to visit, depend heavily upon postal contacts to
sustain an adequate level of trade.

In this category we find mail order traders and those dealing
in specialised products for particular sections of the public.
There are also firms for which business premises might be
wholly unnecessary, perhaps because they operate in short-term
undertakings, as would be the case for someone seeking to rent
out sales and promotion pitches at once-off exhibitions. What
these businesses need above all are lists - lists of potential
customers who might otherwise remain unaware of their
existence.

Having acquired this list of potential customers, they
themselves contact the firms and individuals concerned, usually
by post, in contrast to normal business procedures where it is
more often the customer who arranges approach the appropriate
sellers or service industries.

For firms requiring such contacts, the task of compiling lists
for themselves would no doubt be so arduous and time-consuming
a task as to leave little or no time for normal business
obligations.

The specialist list broker therefore collects or co-ordinates
all necessary information, and either sells his list outright,
or more likely hires out the addresses for once-off use only.

But it's not just potential business customers who may be
contacted by means of appropriate lists. Addresses can be
similarly compiled for:

* Private individuals requiring set services and products
* Specific businesses, eg undertakers, grocers, hotels,
etc
* Schools
* Persons involved in particular sports or hobbies
* Craftworkers

I have personally seen offers to sell or rent lists of people
who take an active interest in entering consumer competitions,
people who collect antiques and books, stamp collectors, even
people interested in contacting pen pals or being entered onto
dating agency files.

The person involved in the mailing list business can compile
lists from scratch, (a time consuming exercise), or else he or
she can act as the middle man or woman for other people's
lists, renting the list at one price and subsequently hiring it
out at another obviously higher price.

The middle person or broker often buys or rents very many large
lists which are then split for hiring or sale to firms unable
to afford the larger lists, or not requiring vast quantities of
names and addresses.

Ideally, the names and addresses are offered on self-adhesive
labels to facilitate easier usage by the buyer or hirer, and
also to lessen the temptation to use a rented list more than
once, thereby breaking the usual conditions upon which the list
is supplied.

Lists should be kept 'clean', that is free of people no longer
living at the stated address, or perhaps no longer active
members of that group to which they purport to belong. This
cleaning exercise can be done by making frequent mailings
yourself, or else by analysing the results of someone else
using the list and removing from the list all communications
returned as gone away or non-deliverable for whatever other
reason.

Prices vary greatly for these lists and it is not unusual to
sell or rent the same list several times each year at a price
ranging from 25 to 125 or more every time.

Secretarial Services Agency

One of the main features of a recession, is of course the need
to shed staff as costs begin to rise and profits start to fall.
Secretarial staff are not immune to this familiar cost-cutting
exercise, and many businesses subsequently look for part-time
secretarial and office staff to fill the gaps left by
redundancies. Consequently, for those who can turn out neat and
accurate typing within set deadlines, a regular and often very
high income awaits them. This might not be a business with any
place in the 'get rich quick' category, but certainly it will
provide extra cash for family commitments, and for offsetting
the burdens of unpredictable interest and inflation rates.

Running a freelance typing or word processing service can also
be an ideal business opportunity for those who must of
necessity spend most of their time at home. We find this
business extremely popular with mothers, the disabled, even
'failed' or 'discouraged' writers who nevertheless have
equipped themselves with the typing skills their preferred
profession would have benefited from.

A business such as this takes time to build up in terms of
clientele, and your own reputation for good, efficient work, as
well as ability to meet customers' deadlines. You might in the
very early days consider the whole thing anything but
worthwhile; perhaps you are spending more on advertising than
you are recouping in custom. Keep at it though, for all
businesses relying so heavily on advertising need time for
what's on offer to filter through to the ultimate customer,
often from the shop floor of a large corporation to the upper
echelons of its management structure.

Regular advertising leads to a faith in your ability to produce
the goods. You are as yet a faceless quantity, and one that
can vanish as quickly as it appeared if your work is
unsatisfactory. But someone whose service has been advertised
for some time gains a position of trust in the minds of those
whose custom they seek to attract. One hit wonders and those
who can't stand the pace are unlikely to meet often tight
deadlines most businesses work to. Gain customers' trust and
you will find yourself the recipient of regular custom. Repeat
custom and word of mouth advertising from satisfied customers,
could find your business growing to full-time status, even
perhaps find you needing to sub-contract work out to other
efficient sources, or perhaps looking to employ adequate
emergency staff yourself.

Naturally, you wouldn't start a venture such as this without
the physical ability to produce good type. You need not be a
highly qualified typist to offer such a service; you might not
need any qualifications at all; some of the best typists are
self-taught. I have known some keyboard operators who, falling
into the latter category, could batter the highly qualified
ones into submission when their accuracy, presentation, speed
and professional abilities are put to the test. Don't offer
what your can't deliver though. If you are accurate but your
speed requires improvement, don't offer to deliver a huge
report at breakneck speed, when you know full well your speed
will need to be boosted to such a degree that your accuracy
will suffer. Wait until you can produce work at the speed such
work necessitates before you make rash promises. At the very
best you'll be paid, but you'll almost certainly lose the
customer concerned and suffer adverse word of mouth publicity
at his next meeting with counterparts in the business world.

As to the gadgetry you will need, there are many types of
typewriter and word processor on the market, ranging from the
humble manual, to the electric version, and on to that most
wonderful of all inventions - to my mind at least - the word
processor. Which you choose to operate with will depend
largely upon finances available, and will no doubt be
influenced by what equipment you have so far been accustomed
to. Each has its advantages, though for the manual typewriter
I am at somewhat of a loss to find more than its need for a
cheap energy supply from tired typists' fingers. Energy of the
electrical variety leads to a better, more even type and
requires far less effort on the part of the user. 'Sorry' to
advocates of the manual, but today - unless you prove to the
contrary - I think it fair to say that the manual typewriter
has long since outlived its usefulness.

An electric typewriter will not set you back a great deal and
purchasing one is something you should seriously consider if
your work is to be of a consistently high standard. Equipment
necessary to the running of a business can be set against
Income Tax liabilities, so contact your local Inland Revenue
office for advice.

But, if you really want to create a stir in your new business
venture, you can forget the word 'typing' and substitute in its
place the highly respectable concept 'word processing'. Little
more than a computerised typewriter, the word processor renders
typist correction fluid a thing of the past, and dirty carbon
residue need never again soil the typist's hands or the
precious newly-typed documents they come into contact with.

At first, the thought of using a word processor can frighten
the typist rigid, but within weeks he or she will be using it
like an expert. No photocopiers and carbon papers are
necessary, since the machine's memory banks store work for as
long as the operator wishes, thereby allowing him or her to
churn out copies of past work at the mere touch of a button or
two. Work can also be produced virtually error free; any
errors that do remain are due usually to lack of observation,
since errors can be rectified before the document is ever
produced on paper. Typing appears on a computer screen and
errors can be corrected immediately. Additional software
allows your spelling to be checked by the machine, thereby
alleviating one of the great problems of many an otherwise
accurate typist, or now word processor operator.

All of these benefits of the word processor can lead to a
doubling or even trebling of your output. Never again need you
start afresh on a document that fails to come up to standard.
The machine will adjust layouts for you, alter typefaces,
remove errors, change spacing, etc., etc., etc. Remember too,
you are effectively able to offer the customer something of a
back-up filing system, merely because his or her work will
remain on disk, if necessary and convenient to both parties.

Advertising your service as one of 'word processing' instead of
'typing' can also create a more professional image, thereby
leading to greater customer interest.

There are several ways to bring yourself and your business to
the attention of potential customers, but remember that you are
offering something of an artistic service, and your first
communication with prospective customers must be one of total
professionalism. A tatty business card in the local fish and
chip shop window will lead the reader to wonder if your typing
will be prone to a similarly ill-thought out standard.

Take your business cards with you everywhere. Nothing looks
worse than a hastily scribbled telephone number on a tatty
piece of scrap paper when a potential customer's interest is
aroused. That would likely be the last you'll see of him or
her, since subconsciously that person will convince him or
herself that your work is likely to be of a similarly
unprofessional standard.

Business cards are not limited to personal delivery. They can
be left in any suitable place where those requiring your
services are likely to congregate. Your card can be pinned in
most places where custom might be attracted: business clubs,
job centres (for curriculum vitae and job application forms),
in youth clubs and on college notice boards (students need
their theses typing to a professional standard), etc.

You can also have postcards printed to advertise your business
and A5 handbills are invaluable for popping through the
letterboxes of businesses old and new. Deliver them before the
summer holidays begin and you might find yourself inundated
with work that would normally have gone to agency temps when
staff shortages necessitate an additional pair of hands. You
might even address a letter to company managing directors
informing them of your services at holiday times and at other
times when staff shortages are likely to exist. Such an
approach shows initiative - something usually much admired in
today's fast moving business world.

You can if your capabilities and other commitments allow, offer
an emergency service, with collection and subsequent delivery
of documentation. But never put another client's work to one
side for the purpose of attracting higher fees, unless you are
already ahead of any predetermined deadlines for that other
customer. In gaining the gratitude of one, you may well lose
the respect and repeat custom of another!

Local newspapers and freesheets are excellent places in which
to advertise your services. The same people who place their
advertisements in these publications are in all probability the
same people who will need your services at some time in the
future. Temporary secretarial agencies are expensive
propositions; once the middle man is cut out, your business
becomes a much more inviting financial proposition to
businesses large and small, almost all suffering under the
weight of high running costs.

Advertise in the classified section until you are able to
withstand the higher charges of display advertising.

Always be on the lookout for new business groups, and make sure
you are the first typing agency to get that all important foot
in the door. Many specialist business and self-help groups
exist, some under government auspices; others created by men
and women for the promotion of their own business interests.
You will find entire buildings devoted to small workshops and
retail outlets, the businessmen themselves often working under
Enterprise Allowance Schemes. Other buildings are sub-divided
into units, by groups of private individuals for their own use,
or else for sub-letting to other usually smaller concerns.
Craft shops flourish in such environments, as do antique shops,
printing establishments and book shops. Almost all such
entrepreneurs at some time will have need of a typing facility,
and you should therefore advertise your business by
distributing individual handbills, or having a postcard
advertisement placed on any communal notice board you might
find.

Never under-estimate job centres and colleges when it comes to
seeking out custom for your secretarial service. Wherever
students congregate, whether for educational or social needs,
you have a large and ready made market for your skills.
Students, not all of whose lessons include typing, require
their theses to be presented in a manner that will create a
good impression for the assessment body responsible for grading
the work concerned.

In colleges and job centres you will also find one of your
largest and most regular sources of business, namely in the
constant demand for newcomers to the jobs market to have their
curriculum vitae (CV) and application forms neatly prepared, if
they are to stand much chance of entering the highly
competitive world of work.

Obtain permission from college officials to have your
advertisement placed on suitable notice boards. Many schools,
colleges and universities, have student magazines which again
would provide an invaluable advertising opportunity.

As soon as you are aware of a new business coming to your area,
or one that is opening additional premises, have your
advertisement delivered through its door. You might discover
many people who otherwise would seek full-time or part-time
staff to cater for their needs, but who would infinitely prefer
to relinquish the responsibilities of employer status in favour
of a freelance service which will involve payment only in
respect of work done and doesn't include payment made to staff
when no work is available.

Mail Order Gift Service

Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, during the worst
of economic downturns, people continue to seek out expensive
and novel gifts with which to surprise their friends and
relatives. A mail order gift service might exist to fulfil any
of several requirements, not all of them much to do with
finding and providing the ideal gift for the recipient. For
many, the sheer ease of ordering is the deciding factor; for
some it's the opportunity to offer something unique; for others
it's status that proves the deciding factor when we discover a
service so expensive and outlandishly ostentatious (messages
trailing behind light-powered aircraft; thousands of balloons
released into the air; bottles of ever so unashamedly expensive
champagne delivered to the door). For others, the mail order
gift service simply allows guaranteed delivery at a distance
and overrides the possibility of forgetting the occasion.

Amongst those to have discovered the potential of the mail
order gift trade and exploited it to the full, are flower
specialists Interflora, now a nationwide concern that allows
the donor to place his or her order by means of a telephone
call to provide necessary delivery details.

Those coming into the arena a little later include as varied an
assortment of businesses as one is ever likely to imagine: the
teddy delivered to the recipient's door (sometimes he or she -
the teddy - wears clothing emblazoned with appropriate and
highly individual message); baskets of individually selected
items just as much expensive as they are appropriate to the
needs and interests of the recipient; original copies of the
'Times' or other national and provincial newspapers published
on the actual day the recipient was born; hand-embroidered
quilts in which each patch portrays some event or item of
importance to the recipient, and so on. Usually a quick look
through some of the more up-market women's glossies is
sufficient to convince the reader that here is a market
worthwhile penetrating, particularly if he or she can come up
with something just that little bit different to what is
already on offer.

Multi-Level Marketing (MLM)

It's not so much a business suited to a recession, as one able
to generate a sizable income at any time, to which multi-level
marketing owes its entry in this manual. The reasons for its
inclusion will shortly become clear as we analyse the profit
accumulating powers of multi-level marketing.

Multi-level marketing is but an everyday marketing method,
though a highly ingenious one at that, and a method renowned
for creating more multi-million business fortunes than any
other.

Multi-level marketing might best be explained by its
similarities to catalogue selling. 'Great Universal',
'Littlewoods' and many others operate on similar principles to
those upon which MLM is based. Agents are recruited to sell
from the catalogues provided for them, and from which orders
they will earn varying degrees of commission. Those who extend
their efforts a stage further into the recruitment of other
agents, avail themselves of a further source of commission,
often in the form of gifts and discounts. Multi-level
marketing, working in much the same manner, with a product or
service at the heart of the operation, brings usually much
higher commissions for sales and recruitment of other agents to
the scheme. The agent earns not only from sales made, and
commissions from the recruitment of fellow agents; he or she
also earns commission on the sales of all of those other agents
in his or her 'downline' - a pyramid of agents all working hard
towards similar wealth-creating objectives.

Where multi-level marketing's unique wealth-creating potential
comes to the fore is in this very networking concept that finds
the agent earning commissions from his or her own sales as well
as those of often several hundred fellow agents below him.

Those members recruited by the original agent form that latter
person's downline, and as we have already discussed, can bring
in handsome rewards once the snowball effect begins. Consider
for instance the case of a multi-level marketing scheme in
which the individual is allowed to recruit just five other
members, who in turn can recruit up to five members, the
process continuing down to four levels. Should all of those
members who subsequently form your own downline each recruit
five members, then your downline would look as follows:

YOU

First level = 5 member + yourself = 6

Second level (5 x 5) = 25 members + first level = 31

Third level (25 x 5) = 125 members plus 31 in 'upline' = 156

Fourth level (125 x 5) = 625 members plus 156 = 781

Now you can see for yourself the sheer potency of that
multiplication principle lying at the heart of the network.
Consider the case should each agent sell just one product a
week, from all of which sales you receive 1, and you will
surely realise how profitable a proposition a well organised
multi-level marketing programme can be.

Of course, not all multi-level marketing schemes are
successful. Some products are infinitely superior to others
for promotion by MLM; consequently one finds a wealth of health
and beauty products sold by this method, along with magazine
and business plan subscriptions, security products and
services, music and audio products, and so on.

Essentially to be successful for promotion by MLM, the product
should be in constant and high demand; offer something a great
many people require; something that does not prove a whim or
fad product; something which is available inexpensively and
hopefully exclusively from the MLM company concerned; a product
that might require constant replenishment, and also one that
has spin-off products and services which customers might also
be interested in.

A good, reliable and more usually established firm, is that to
which the newcomer to multi-level marketing should turn his or
her early attempts at selling by this method. Companies that
have stood the test of time are worth the individual's
attention in the early days. He or she might subsequently
acquire that talent for recognising the potential of a firm new
to the field of MLM, and in entering the scheme at the very
beginning the multi-level marketing enthusiast will come to
enjoy those riches for which early entry to a scheme is
renowned.

Not a complex subject in which to gain proficiency, much has
been written on the subject of multi-level marketing, many such
books available in public libraries as well as from mail order
publishers whose advertisements appear regularly in 'Exchange
and Mart', as well as the many business opportunities magazines
available today.

Running Antiques and Collectors' Fairs

Mention the word 'antiques' to some people and it immediately
evokes images of costly, rare items passed carefully from
well-clad vendor to a small assembled group of equally affluent
prospective customers. And yes, in some antiques circles this
is in fact what happens. But it isn't always the case, and the
word 'antiques' can take on entirely different meanings for
many different people. Collectors' items; bric-a-brac;
ephemera; old clothes; toys and dolls; militaria; postcards and
stamps - all might fall far outside the accurate definition of
'antique' but all will be found offered for sale at the many
collectors' fairs and fleamarkets operating virtually every day
of the week in all parts of the country.

Taking a stall at one of these events requires little more than
turning up and making your intentions known to the fair's
organiser - often that person taking the entrance fee as you go
in to whatever hall or hotel the event is being held in.

But the fact that some traders make a very good living from
turning up to sell at antiques fairs and fleamarkets, is
overshadowed by one virtual certainty - what they make is
nothing compared to the profits earned by the organiser whose
income is generated not only from money taken at the door, but
is also swelled quite considerably by the stall fees requested
from sometimes several hundred traders on the day. The astute
fairs organiser can in fact make more in a good day than some
of his antiques traders make in a month. We mustn't however
run away with the idea that organising an antiques fair,
fleamarket or whatever is easy money - it isn't - a lot of
careful planning, dealing with difficult customers and traders,
transporting tables, lifting and setting out dealers' pitches,
setting up signs to the event, placing advertisements in the
press, and so on, are essential for a well-organised and
well-patronised event. If the event isn't professionally
organised then few traders will turn up to support the
organiser.

For the public, even when times are hard and money is in short
supply, these regular events nevertheless provide an excellent
day out for the family; for the trader a great deal of passing
trade is generated, and profits from even small purchases will
culminate in a good day's takings.

But if you don't fancy the itinerant life as an antiques stall
holder, how about organising the event yourself? Let's take a
look at what's involved.

The most obvious venues are of course those in densely
populated areas: town halls, sports centres, civic halls, large
auction halls, and sometimes schools in larger towns and
cities. The organiser approaches the local Council for
permission to hire the hall or whatever. Most are quite happy
to oblige, providing all trading laws are complied with and the
organiser will not prove a hindrance to the normal functioning
of the premises. The organiser is normally allowed to enter
the premises the previous evening to set up stalls and tables
which are sometimes provided on site; sometimes not.
Permission from the Council and Police authorities must also be
obtained in order to set up signs and directions on route to
the event. For a fee, motoring specialists - AA and RAC - will
set up directions for you, saving you time and trouble, and
often providing a more professional service than might be
available elsewhere.

Once directed to the venue, the visitor is usually welcomed by
a number of large and often flashy signs indicating that they
have arrived at their intended destination and pointing the way
in. Sheets of white or fluorescent card available from most
stationers are all that is required, to which you simply add
appropriate details, direction indicators, cost of entry, and
so on.

But you won't of course find many people directed to an event
you haven't publicised sufficiently well. Most such happenings
are notified in the local press; the larger ones in the
national press and specialist collectors' magazines, trade
publications and sometimes advertising magazines such as
'Exchange and Mart'. Other ways to bring your event to the
attention of the public include handbills to notify visiting
customers of future events; notices in shop windows, and
leaflets delivered door-to-door in the locality. Notices and
posters in libraries and community centres also prove effective
and best of all, inexpensive.

Lights, or at the very least power points, must usually be
provided by the organiser, who will discover that only
up-market jewellery and fine arts dealers can usually be relied
upon to provide their own sources of illumination.

On the day itself, traders begin to arrive several hours ahead
of opening time, to be followed soon after by non-attending
dealers who are traditionally allowed a sneak preview of items
on offer, a privilege for which they do not usually expect to
be charged an entry fee!

Once opening time arrives a steady queue will have built up,
ready to hand over their entrance fees to whoever you have
assigned the responsibility of organising admission and handing
out handbills advertising future events. Always remember this
excellent source of 'free' publicity to a virtually captive
audience.

Established organisers normally collect fees from traders
sometimes towards late afternoon, the intention being to allow
them to take sufficient to pay you in cash! This, perhaps an
ideal mutual arrangement between established organisers and
stallholders, is not one best suited to new traders. A high
absenteeism rate amongst new traders might well find you having
several empty stalls which for appearances sake must be offered
free to those traders who have taken it upon themselves to
honour their obligations. To protect against an often hefty
slice taken from your projected profits in absenteeism, it
might be best to do what most experienced fairs organisers do
and charge new traders in advance of attendance.

We've considered the publicity that attracts customers to the
venue, but how do we bring our enterprise to the attention of
prospective stallholders? One easy, and just as traumatic
option, is to visit other fairs and hand out bills to dealers
in attendance. The traumatic element is the fact that such
'poaching' will not find you receiving a warm welcome from the
organiser whose custom you are attempting to channel into your
own enterprise. By all means do it this way, but keep it
quiet. Another very effective way of making your intentions
known is to place handbills under the windscreen wipers of all
cars in the vicinity of the fair, thereby ensuring you'll reach
most traders and a fair percentage of customers too.

Mobile Catering

One thing we all need, even in the depths of economic gloom, is
food. Okay, so this might not be the best time to splash out
on fulfilling that ambition of opening a high class restaurant
in an area of high unemployment, but it might be just the time
to set up an inexpensive catering or fast food service.

One excellent means of entering catering without high and
ongoing overheads is in the sector of mobile catering, and not
just the type offered in old caravans and buses parked in
laybys to which drivers and long-distance travellers are
directed for a fast, inexpensive and usually anything but
comfortable meal.

Recent years have witnessed a spate of firms providing
equipment and sometimes complete business packages for those
wishing to take their mobile catering service to all manner of
events, large and small. Ice cream vans, hot dog vans, mobile
fish and chip shops are no longer the order of the day. Today
we find hot and cold snacks of all types, to suit all tastes
and most budgets, available at virtually every outdoor event
you could care to name. Horse shows, dog shows, fairgrounds,
village fetes, gymkhanas, sports events, markets, pop concerts,
steam rallies, car boot fairs, outside antiques fairs venues,
and many other well-visited events, usually provide sufficient
custom to make a full-time income from just a few days work
each week.

The type of food you offer might well be left to the locality
to dictate. Seaside resorts might prove ideal for fish and
chips and seafood dishes for instance, but are unlikely to
offer a lucrative income to purveyors of novelty dishes such as
banana fritters on a stick, pork roasted on a spit, or any of
the other more novel dishes currently available from mobile
caterers.

A number of firms provide standard and sometimes custom-made
trailers and motorised vehicles for intending outside caterers.
Most can be contacted via advertisements placed in catering
magazines, business opportunities magazines, and in specialist
advertising publications such as 'Exchange and Mart', 'The
Trader', 'World's Fair', and so on.

Amongst the many benefits put forward for a mobile catering
service, we find: low start-up costs (most equipment is
available for just a few thousand pounds); high turnover and
high profit ratio; no rent, rates, premises and fixed overheads
usually involved; no cash-flow problems; business when and
where you want it, and usually working hours to suit the
operator.

If you don't fancy the travelling life, then you can opt for a
permanent pitch, perhaps in that layby we referred to earlier,
where doubtless you will find a steady and regular stream of
customers attracted to your more up-market 'premises'.

Legalities include having the trailer inspected and passed by
local Environmental Health Department officials, and obtaining
a street traders' licence from your local authority or that in
which you intend to trade.

Running a Market Stall

Starting out in business on one's own account often comes hand
in hand with a need to convince sceptical bank managers of the
need for that loan requested, and might also find the
entrepreneur asked to submit profit and loss forecasts and
business plans as prerequisites to financial assistance. And
there is usually a need to acquire business premises, employ
staff, and carry out a number of other formalities confronting
the first time entrepreneur.

Market trading though is a different matter altogether. It's
an ideal one-man business, one which might allow the
individual to work when and where he or she pleases, and one
which normally provides a sizable income virtually from the
very beginning, whilst requiring surprisingly little capital to
start out in. In fact, with the exception of those intent on
selling designer jewellery, items of silver, porcelain or other
precious materials, pricey ornaments or whatever, it's likely
that the newcomer to market trading will get by with just a
few hundred pounds available for stock.

Other essentials include transport - can be hired in the
initial stages - and of course display equipment, packaging
materials, scales where appropriate, and a few other basic
items appropriate to the goods or service the trader intends to
offer.

And we must of course point out at the very beginning that
market trading need not necessarily be confined to the regular
outdoor markets dotted around many towns and villages up and
down the country. There are also the indoor markets to be
considered, including those operating as a permanent feature of
the locality, as well as more intermittent events such as
fleamarkets, antiques fairs and collectors' fairs. Add to the
benefits we shall shortly consider, the fact that in
recessionary times, the public takes to bargain hunting and the
additional fact that impulse purchases remain relatively
constant, and we begin to understand what makes market trading
a very profitable and popular venture.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to the market trader is one of
minimum capital injection usually being required to make a
concerted attempt in business. Usually there will be no need
to contact bank managers or loan companies for assistance with
the purchase of stock. Their intervention might however arise
where the trader does not currently have suitable transport,
but even so it's unlikely that the operator will have to
possess, or acquire, more than a few thousand pounds for start
up costs.

Perhaps next in the scale of advantages comes the fact that the
operator can choose his or her own working hours, even plan the
entire week around markets, purchasing expeditions, days off,
and so on. The trader can in fact choose to work only
part-time hours, maybe working just one or two days a week on
the markets, with a day or so each week set aside for
purchasing stock, preparing for the next venue, carrying out
administrative tasks, and seeing to whatever other jobs might
be outstanding.

But for many market traders, the initial attraction is one of a
business requiring no premises, no heavy capital outlay for
fixtures and fittings, and no need to employ staff.

The question of what to sell must of course be carefully
considered. Too many selling one particular item or range of
items, for instance fruit and vegetables, may well mean traders
sharing the profits to a point which might eventually prove
anything but profitable. Choose something too different or
specialised and you might instead find there is no demand for
what you offer.

When deciding what to sell, the trader must never ignore the
power and profitability of impulse buying on the part of
passing customers. Passing trade can represent the main part of
the stall's customers, drawn from the ranks of people out for
the day or on their way to somewhere else, but diverted to the
market and to your stall, they might buy something, perhaps
several items they had no intention of buying earlier when they
left home. Good impulse buys are such as household
knickknacks, toys, small novelty items and giftware
commodities. Offered at a price of around 5, and no more than
10, these items can represent a fairly hefty slice of your
day's takings.

Various trade magazines and advertising publications also
include a wealth of information concerning wholesalers and
sources of stock for market traders as well as the less mobile
retailer. Wholesalers, the lines they stock, and the services
they offer, can of course vary from one area to another. You
might find yourself dealing with a few, perhaps several local,
or long-distance wholesalers. You might need only one.

Don't forget car boot sales, local craftsmen and women,
auctions and such. remember also bankrupt and surplus stocks,
end of line clearance sales, bulk offerings of old products to
make way for new lines, and so on.

If you already have a venue in mind, perhaps a local market you
might have attended as a customer for some time, there might be
very little to do but contact the market manager or
superintendent at the venue concerned, whereupon you can make
enquiries of him or her as to how to commence trading. Most
organisers will need to know that what you propose selling is
ethical and of course lawful. Foodstuffs, toys and clothing
for instance are covered by certain rules and regulations
usually concerning safety standards, with which the trader must
comply. The Trading Standards Department of your local
authority will be able to help in this respect, so make a visit
to one of their officers a priority before you begin trading.
The market superintendent might also wish to satisfy himself
that you do not intend to trade in a line already more than
adequately catered for, in which case you might eat into the
profits of already established traders.

Most markets are open from 9am onwards, usually with traders
depleting in numbers as late afternoon draws closer. 4pm is
the popular 'closing time' for most outdoor markets; indoor
markets in shopping precincts might remain open until the end
of normal retail hours. Setting out one's stall can however
take a few hours, and most traders arrive around 7am to begin
preparations for the day.

Prices vary from one market to the next, and from one region to
another. Organisers might charge a set fee for a pitch they
provide and which remains static from one market day to the
next; they might instead charge footage for an area of ground
upon which you set up the stall you provide and transport to
the venue. Even the success of the market and its popularity
and profitability can have a marked impact upon the fee you
will be asked for the right to trade there.

Very little equipment is usually required, although transport
is of course essential. Whether it is your own or hired is
entirely irrelevant, as long as it is reliable, safe and
properly taxed and insured.

Warm weatherproof clothing also proves essential to the
dedicated market trader who will still be expected to trade in
bad weather just as when the sun is shining. Other necessities
include weatherproofing for stock and stall, spare change, a
cash apron or till, scales where appropriate, refreshments
where not provided nearby, and help if possible at regular
times of the day to provide cover should the trader wish to
take a walk, visit the loo, or else just take a well-earned
break.

You will of course be required to adequately insure your
vehicle and stock against damage and harm to others. Third
party insurance will normally prove sufficient to cover what
accidents might occur. Most insurance companies will be able
to assist, as will the National Market Traders Federation
(NMTF), this being a form of traders' union designed to
represent the interests of members, and able to provide advice
on most aspects of trading. A small charge is asked of members
to the Federation which can be contacted as follows:
National Market Traders Federation, Hampton House, Hawshaw
Lane, Hoyland, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

Amongst the many excellent publications available to guide the
market trader at whatever type of venue, we find 'Exchange and
Mart', in which a highly informative 'Stock' section provides
information relating to a wealth of wholesalers' names and
addresses, suppliers of bankrupt stock and surplus lots,
jewellery and crafts products suppliers, clothing and
accessories specialists, toy suppliers, and so on. This
section also includes details relating to suppliers of bags and
other items of use to traders of all types. 'Exchange and
Mart' is available from newsagents and is published on Thursday
each week.

Another excellent publication which includes a wealth of
information regarding wholesalers and other stock suppliers, is
'Trader', available monthly from newsagents, or on subscription
from:
The Trader, Subscriptions Department, Competition House,
Farndon Road, Market Harborough, Leicester, LE16 9PU

'Wholesalers Gazette' is, in the words of promotional
literature, "dedicated to the needs and interests of buyers
throughout the UK'. Depending upon the amount of stock you
purchase, it might be worthwhile taking out a subscription to
this monthly magazine. Further details are available from:
Wholesalers Gazette, Subscriptions Department, Central House,
27 Park Street, Croydon, CRO 1YD

'Trading Place' is another very popular monthly advertising
magazine, in which articles and news features are also provided
for the retailer, market trader, car boot specialist, etcetera.
'Trading Place' is available monthly from newsagents or on
subscription from:
Trading Place Subscriptions, 89 East Hill, Colchester, Essex,
CO1 2QN

'World's Fair' brings with it access to the weekly trade paper
'Market Trader', through which numerous wholesalers might be
contacted. 'Market Trader' incidentally, also carries news of
what's happening in the world of market trading, including
updates on new and changing legislation, new markets, markets
closing or undergoing changes, and so on. 'World's Fair' is
available from your newsagent.

Selling Ephemera (Paper Collectors' Items)

Britain is a nation of collectors, who when they can't afford
to continue making their normal expensive purchases of stamps
and other sometimes exclusive collectors' items, will look for
some alternative collecting interest until the good times
return. Ephemera - paper collectables - is that collecting
interest which has recently grown in popularity, and which
finds popularity with stamp collectors, militaria enthusiasts,
local historians, family historians, and various other groups
and individuals currently addicted to 'paper'. If you thought
the term 'ephemera' included only matchbox labels and theatre
programmes, think again! Just a fraction of the average
ephemera dealer's stock includes:

* Old postcards

* Magazines

* Old documents with a local history flavour, eg.
shop letterheads, mortgage documents, advertising
literature for shops long gone, invitations to
special events, etc.

* Full-page advertisements from early magazines.
These look wonderful framed and can command very
high prices. When you think that just one magazine,
available for something like 5, can yield up to a
dozen such adverts, well - need I say more?

* Reproduction photographs of early street scenes
and special events. Here the dealer purchases the
original photograph, usually as a collectors'
postcard, and then has it reproduced by a
professional photographer. The initial outlay for
the postcard and negative can cost up to 20, but
subsequent copies are very cheap, and sell like hot
cakes.

* Old advertising brochures, and advertising
inserts many magazines had sandwiched between their
pages. These were usually extremely attractive and
very colourful indeed. They are worth 4 - 10 of
anyone's money and crop up regularly in those old
magazine's lovingly retained by their original
owners.

* Early greetings cards. Victorian examples are
particularly attractive and sought after.

* Books

* Guide and Travel books.

* Early newspapers, particularly those reporting
some historic event such as the National Strike of
1926.

* Stamps.

* Labels and product packaging.

* Prints of the topographical and artist-drawn
varieties.

* Sheet music.

* Public notices and posters.

* Cheques.

* Receipts.

A 'Double Life' at Car Boot Sales

Not a world away from collectors' fairs, fleamarkets and
bric-a-brac fairs, car boot sales offer a good income to
traders prepared to offer reasonable stock at realistic prices.
Here we have an excellent trading place for the sale of
collectors' items, other than those of the paper variety,
unless you manage to acquire an indoor pitch, or else have your
stock safely tucked away, but still on view within your
vehicle. Here we find sellers of jewellery, silver, books,
even stamps and ephemera, collectors' toys, and so on.

Some traders are clearly 'here for the day only', to sell the
proceeds of an attic clearing session. The bug might however
bite, and they will then set off in search of suitable stock
for future excursions. For some, attendance at car boot sales
is an ideal way of generating a little extra money to help with
family finances; for others it's an ideal way to earn from the
growing demand for bargains, second-hand items, and other
inexpensive ways of purchasing essentials and non-essential
items.

Stock must be selected with care. Some items you will be
precluded from selling, notably livestock, often food, and of
course anything which does not come up to standard, and here I
would advise you to steer clear of electrical goods which you
can not honestly vouch for the quality and reliability of.
Your local Trading Standards Department will be able to advise
you on those items excluded by law, whilst the organisers of
the sale itself will identify those items they themselves
disallow.

Stock is unbelievably easy to acquire whether from your own
garage or the attics of friends and relatives; from jumble
sales or other car boot traders, charity shops, and private
sales in the classified pages of local newspapers and
freesheets.

This is an area of business to which most people could easily
become addicted since the hours are relatively short, the
trader is his or her own boss, and there is undoubtedly a lot
of money to be made by the conscientious, prudent, and above
all fair trader.

All you need do to start trading is turn up on the day and make
your presence known to the organiser.

We've talked at length about selling at these well-visited
venues, but have you as yet considered the enormous potential
of actually organising the event yourself?

First and foremost, you require approval from the local
authority in which you intend to operate. Potential problems
of traffic congestion, public nuisance and so on must be ironed
out before you simply advertise the event in whatever field,
car park or building you have in mind. The most successful
events tend to the those larger gatherings held within easy
access of main roads and motorways; sometimes in large fields,
in disused cinemas, auction rooms, sports stadiums and leisure
centres, and such. Advertising your event is very much similar
to that for the organiser of antiques and collectors' fairs,
involving national (sometimes) press advertisements; local
press releases and advertisements; leaflets distributed
door-to-door; and including leaflets and posters in shop
windows, libraries and community centres.

Newsletters

Newsletters, particularly those that offer some information of
particular use during times of recession, are currently
enjoying great success. Various types are on offer, ranging
from employment opportunities in Britain and abroad, homework
opportunities, business and money making opportunities, and so
on. And in a recent glossie women's magazine, a report was
included on a couple who, facing economic disaster as the
recession began, suddenly found themselves unable to afford the
designer labelled clothing and accessories they once took for
granted. Without an income of any description, they began
their own newsletter, one dedicated to seeking out acceptable
alternatives to the costly up-market products, goods and
services with which they were once familiar. Their newsletter
is distributed to a circulation of some 400 similarly recession
battered individuals, a figure which is growing constantly.

Running Pen Pal and Special
Interest Clubs

'Lonely in a Crowd' they say, and perhaps never was a truer
word spoken, if the number of 'lonely gentleman' and 'lonely
lady' ads placed in the personal sections of Britain's
newspapers are anything to go by. And again, in times of
economic hardship, this is another business ideally suited to
survival.

To the rescue of the many lonely and shy individuals in Britain
alone, come a number of agencies, all providing introductory
services: pen pal clubs, contact bureaus, dating agencies -
whatever the name, the objective remains the same - to put
people in touch with others with similar needs, but without the
ability to bring about such contact on their own behalf.

Many other reasons add up to a great need for introduction to
suitable individuals, including the fact that interests and
social pursuits take people away from their cosy home
environment, as do the wider horizons facing today's workforce.

Hobbies and interests also place people in alien surroundings,
if not physically, then at least by virtue of the fact that
often the enthusiast has no contact with others of similar
persuasions with whom to pursue that interest.

The enterprising businessperson now envisages a demand that can
be fulfilled, without too arduous a day's work being put into
the proceedings. Those seeking solace, companionship, love, or
else just someone with whom to share their interests may not
actively be looking for some go-between to administer to their
requirements. But, place before them that advertisement
whereby they will be provided with pen friends, dating
partners, holiday companions and so on, and you have your
demand making direct contact with supply.

The entrepreneur often does little more than collate details of
all requiring to be placed in touch with like individuals,
checks records for suitable matches, then advises the
individuals so matched as to the means of carrying out the
proposed contact or communication. Penfriends may of course
never meet, indeed they may never initially intend to meet
whoever it is they are placed in contact with, although in
reality such meetings do often take place between people who
have communicated by letter for some time. The world is after
all a relatively smaller place, thanks to improvements in
transport and other means of communications.

Dating agencies, by virtue of the service they provide, will
undoubtedly be placing clients in personal contact with one
another. Stricter methods of investigating the personal
details of clients may therefore be considered more vital than
for those seeking merely to write to one another or attend
evening classes together.

A fair degree of confidentiality enters into the proceedings
when one is assessing the requirements of those seeking
partners for potential dates and possible marriage. Tact.
diplomacy, and on occasion a personal meeting with one's
clients, are the order of the day for enterprises seeking to
offer such personal services.

There are also clubs for people with specific interests; for
instance writing, consumer competitions, and mutual hobbies and
leisure interests. Many such clubs have members who meet
physically without the need for a coordinator to circulate
details of their activities. Some though, exist purely by
means of postal communications; others require a middle man
only to facilitate the first meeting, after which his services
are no longer required.

An example of those clubs needing the continuous services of
the organiser, are such as hobby groups which exchange details
of members' wants via the medium of a regular list issued to
all members. An example of that requiring only once-off
services from the organiser, are such as dating agencies and
lonely hearts clubs. In the latter respect however, we may
find some members who, dissatisfied with their date, will
continue their membership sometimes for many years, until they
find that person to provide companionship and possibly
marriage.

Many successful leisure interest clubs provide an excellent and
regular source of income for the organiser. Writing clubs for
instance, may be held either by post or by actual meetings
being held. Members are required to pay their fees to the
organiser, with usually higher fees for the postal variety
which might also involve providing a regular newsletter, as
well as an up-to-date list of members for circulation to all
fellow members.

Many hobbies have special clubs, often with a regular
newsletter being provided to all members. Some operate also as
commercial enterprises, perhaps selling items for members'
needs and providing members with regular newsletters, or at
least providing details of members and their particular
interests.

One dealer in picture postcards also issues a monthly magazine
dedicated to the interests of worldwide collectors. Not
exactly a newsletter, this particular magazine could easily
incorporate details of persons wanting to be placed in contact
with one another for the purposes of exchanging duplicates to
collections. As it is, the magazine carries articles,
subscribers' advertisements, and details of all fairs, events
and auctions to be held within the coming few months. Similar
magazines are produced by dealers in cigarette cards,
autographs, and old bottles.

A coin dealer with whom I am acquainted runs a club which
produces a list of all members for circulation to all others.
In the list, produced in booklet form, all members are allowed
to advertise, and details of everyone's interests both as
collectors and dealers, are listed for the purposes of
contacting one another with suitable offers.

Another group, The Ephemera Society, exists for those of us who
collect, or deal in, paper collectibles both old and new.
Every year the list of members is up-dated and circulated
amongst subscribers. A quarterly newsletter 'The Ephemerist',
contains articles, advertisements and details of events shortly
to take place. Again, it appears there is a business run
alongside that has little to do with correspondence or mutual
interest clubs, but nevertheless I include this society as an
example of what one could aspire to by placing those with
specific interests in contact with one another.

And not forgetting.......

..... a number of other business opportunities ideally suited
to survival during this or any other recession. Think for
instance of pawnbrokers, stress consultants, sleep consultants,
diet and exercise advisors and group leaders, import and export
agents, party plan operators, office services agencies, and
many, many more.

The Recession Could Well be the Very Best Thing that Ever
Happened to YOU!