Why not run a lucrative paper business? Paper businesses do not require large investments of capital for expensive equipment, inventory, and buildings. Many paper businesses can be run from your own home. A paper business is a business that can be operated mainly using pieces of paper, such as contracts, invoices, shipping documents, et cetera. Here are seven excellent paper businesses that you can operate.

1. Consulting

Consultants charge large fees for their knowledge, expertise, skills, connections, experience, and other assets. This business can be operated from home with little more than standard office equipment and supplies. Consulting is a paper business because your product is an intangible service. Your results are often summarized in a written, paper report and you use written contracts to protect your interests.

2. Finding

A professional finder finds something needed by a business or individual for a finder’s fee. The finder doesn’t invest in product inventory because he`s not selling it. He simply collects a fee for arranging to introduce a buyer to a seller. The finder conducts his business using contracts and other written documentation.

3. drop shipping

Another business (or method of business) where you don’t invest in product inventory or retail space is drop shipping. When your customer buys from you, perhaps through the mail, by phone, or on the Internet, you simply contact your supplier, who then ships the order to your customer. Your paper business involves taking the order, billing and collecting from your customer as well as ordering, giving shipping instructions, and paying your supplier.

4. Affiliate Programs

With affiliate and associate programs, you collect commissions from the sale of other peoples’ products. Again, you have no investment in product inventory or expensive facilities.

5. Webmastering

Another knowledge-based paper business is webmastering. Whether you design websites, perform Internet marketing, or render other needed services, your business is again mainly intangible services backed up by paper records and contracts.

6. International Trade

Many times import and export transactions can be conducted on a commission basis. It is also possible to buy, sell and ship merchandise without ever having even seen it. Letters of credit, bills of lading, and other agreements are needed in this paper business.

7. Licensing

Instead of trying to finance the manufacturing and marketing of your invention, why not license it to a company with the expertise and capability required? You will then receive royalties in return for your idea. As well, you could become a licensing agent, arranging licensing deals on behalf of other companies and individuals, taking a percentage of sales as compensation.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

The problem with some business ideas is their cost. To manufacture and market a product you have invented could cost you millions of dollars. The investment in machinery, buildings, inventory and other expenditures could bankrupt you before your first sale ever occurred.

For this reason, many prefer to run a paper business. Paper businesses do not require large investments of capital for expensive equipment, inventory, and buildings. Many paper businesses can be run from your own home.

A paper business is a business that can be operated mainly using pieces of paper, such as contracts, invoices, shipping documents, et cetera.

Here are some excellent paper businesses that you can operate.

1. Consulting

Consultants charge large fees for their knowledge, expertise, skills, connections, experience, and other assets. This business can be operated from home with little more than standard office equipment and supplies.

Consulting is a paper business because your product is an intangible service. Your results are often summarized in a written, paper report and you use written contracts to protect your interests.

2. Finding

A professional finder finds something needed by a business or individual for a finder’s fee. The finder doesn’t invest in product inventory because he’s not selling it. He simply collects a fee for arranging to introduce a buyer to a seller. The finder conducts his business using contracts and other written documentation.

3. drop shipping

Another business (or method of business) where you don’t invest in product inventory or retail space is drop shipping. When your customer buys from you, perhaps through the mail, by phone, or on the Internet, you simply contact your supplier, who then ships it to your customer. Your paper business involves taking the order, billing and collecting from your customer as well as ordering, giving shipping instructions, and paying your supplier.

4. Affiliate Programs

With affiliate and associate programs, you collect commissions from the sale of other peoples’ products. Again, you have no investment in product inventory or expensive facilities.

5. Webmastering

Another knowledge-based paper business is webmastering. Whether you design websites, perform internet marketing, or render other needed services, your business is again mainly intangible services backed up by paper records and contracts.

6. International Trade

Many times import and export transactions can be conducted on a commission basis. It is also possible to buy, sell and ship merchandise without ever having even seen it. Letters of credit, bills of lading, and other agreements are needed in this paper business.

7. Licensing

Instead of trying to finance the manufacturing and marketing of your invention, why not license it to a company with the expertise and capability required? You will then receive royalties in return for your idea.

As well, you could become a licensing agent, arranging licensing deals on behalf of other companies and individuals, taking a percentage of sales as compensation.

There are many other paper businesses that you could consider, including mortgage brokering, commission sales, equipment leasing, real estate, and franchising. This is by no means an exhaustive list. With some thoughtful consideration, you, too, could make your fortune from a paper business.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Although there are advantages to selling other people’s products and services, there are also drawbacks. For example, the lack of exclusive rights to your own proprietary product can mean that you are just one of thousands selling the same thing. Excessive competition can cause you to drop your prices and to lose sales, thus affecting your profits and cashflow that are so essential to your business survival.

For this reason, you may decide to develop your own proprietary products and services, either exclusively, or to complement your line of other people’s products.

After creating your own proprietary product, you could spend millions in manufacturing and marketing costs. You could go bankrupt before you even had your first sale.

Here, then, are just a few, low-cost ways to profit from selling your own proprietary products and services.

1. Licensing

Instead of trying to finance the manufacturing and marketing of your invention, why not license it to a company with the expertise and capability required? You will then receive royalties in return for your idea.

2. Exporting

Exporting your product to other countries can dramatically increase your sales. Hiring an Export Management Agent can keep your fixed costs down.

3. Offer Commissions and Finders’ Fees

Recruit independent sales representatives and agents. Offer commissions and finders’ fees in order to sell your products and services.

4. Online Auctions

You can also sell your own proprietary products through Internet auction sites such as eBay or Yahoo! Auctions.

5. Start Your Own Associate or Affiliate Program

Multiple web sites and distributors selling your product can result in increased sales and profits. Unlike conventional advertising, affiliate programs pay only for performance. Commissions are not paid out unless sales are made.

6. Participate in Joint Ventures

Joint venture arrangements can be profitable. As an example, you could offer a commission on the successful sale of your product featured in someone else’s e-zine or newsletter.

The above list of low-cost ways to make a profit from your own proprietary products and services is by no means exhaustive. However, it certainly illustrates that, with some effort, your own products could make you rich.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Do you need to start or grow your business but have little money? Before you look to banks and similar sources of financing, why not bootstrap your way to business success?

A bootstrap is a small loop of leather or other material that is found on the top rear or sides of a boot. The purpose of the bootstrap is to help you pull your boot on.

In business, bootstrapping has come to mean helping oneself without seeking outside help. It means using your own resources to finance, promote, and develop your business.

Here, then, are some ways of financing your own business by using your own initiative and depending less on outside bank financing.

1. Operate a Home-Based Business

Operating your busines from home could save you a fortune. First of all, you eliminate the costs of expensive commercial rent, commuting, et cetera.

As well, your business use of home expenses would be deductible for income tax purposes. Since your home is your base of operations, your travel and automotive expenses from your home to clients would be deductible.

2. Accept Credit Cards

Rather than financing receivables and assuming the risk for bad debts, why not accept credit card payments?

3. drop ship Products

Rather than financing and stocking inventory yourself, consider drop shipping.

With drop shipping, when you make a sale you contact the manufacturer or authorized distributor who ships the product to the customer with your invoice and shipping label. Advantages include no warehousing, shipping, or inventory costs.

4. Use Your Customer’s Money

Selling memberships, subscriptions, gift certificates, and coupon books are just a few ways of getting your clients to pay upfront. Obtaining advance deposits and retainers from your customers can help finance your business operations and reduce or eliminate the need for bank financing.

5. Licensing

Instead of trying to finance the manufacturing and marketing of your invention, which could cost millions of dollars before you have your first sale, why not license it to a company with the necessary expertise and capital? You will then receive royalties in return for your idea.

6. Other Bootstrap Financing Methods

Aggressively control costs, barter, get extended terms from suppliers, establish strict credit and collection policies and procedures, rent (or lease) instead of buying equipment, buy used equipment instead of new, sell off excess inventory and equipment, obtain free publicity instead of paying for advertising, and do whatever else is necessary to generate cashflow and profits.

In these ways and many others not listed here, you may be able to start and grow your business successfully with very limited capital. Thus, you will avoid having to obtain expensive debt or equity financing.

Many who were unable to obtain financing from any other source have successfully bootstrapped their way to business success.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Here are seven excellent ways to earn income from international trade.

1. Importing

Retail store owners can find additional products to sell from foreign manufacturers, distributors, and other suppliers. You may even decide to go exclusively into the import business and become a wholesale distributor.

2. Exporting

Manufacturers can find new customers for their products in foreign countries. You could also become an Export Management Agent. Arrange for other domestic companies to sell their products to foreign corporations and earn a commission.

3. Licensing

Consider becoming a licensing agent. Earn royalties by arranging for foreign corporations to manufacture and sell the products of domestic companies.

4. Finder’s Fees

You can earn fees from domestic companies for finding foreign buyers (or for finding suitable imports from foreign suppliers). You can also earn fees from foreign companies for finding domestic corporations that will buy their products (or for finding suitable suppliers and products from domestic corporations).

5. drop shipping

Visualize receiving an order from a customer based in a foreign country and not having to be bothered with shipping and handling the product. No customs declarations or brokers are required by you. This is because your drop ship supplier is handling those details.

6. Mail Order

Add a mail order service to your existing business operation. Manufacturers, retail stores, and other businesses can increase their sales by using this additional method of selling that is very conducive to international trade.

7. Internet Marketing

You can also extend your reach to worldwide customers by means of the Internet. Methods of obtaining foreign business include affiliate marketing, online auctions, online stores, and websites.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.

Zero Cash Riches Success Techniques Kit shows you how to get started in your own business or real estate ventures with no cash. Kit includes a 57-minute cassette tape on Small Business Financing. Contents:

• Reading and Study Guide;
• Zero-Cash Money Techniques;
• Licensing Agent Business;
• Six Guidelines for Licensing;
• Foreign Investment Checklist;
• Government Laws and Regulations;
• Financial Factors;
• Interbusiness Financing;
• Venture Capital – A Guidebook for New Enterprises;
• Handbook of Borrowing Money for Business;
• How to Buy and Sell a Business;
• Small Business Financing, a 57-minute cassette recording by Ty Hicks
• 7 Speed-Read books; Over 850 pages; $97.00

2CheckOut.com Inc. (Ohio, USA) is an authorized retailer for goods and services provided by Yenom Marketing Inc.

by J. Stephen Pope

If you operate a small business, you may feel that your income potential is quite limited. However, you can increase and diversify your income through international trade.

1. Importing

Retail store owners can find additional products to sell from foreign manufacturers, distributors, and other suppliers.

Advantages of importing include increased product selection, lower costs, and increased income.

You may even decide to go exclusively into the import business and become a wholesale distributor.

2. Exporting

Manufacturers can find new customers for their products in foreign countries.

Perhaps consumers in your country have lost interest in your product. It may have become obsolete because of technological advances. A foreign market, however, may be desirous of that very product.

Maybe there is an economic slump in your country. Another country may be experiencing a boom. Sales from customers in that country may help stabilize your income.

Exporting can also help smooth the peaks and valleys of your income. For instance, if you sold winter sporting goods, you could sell to both northern and southern hemispheres to help offset the seasonal nature of your business.

Of course, you might also consider selling sporting goods for all the seasons and still export to other countries to increase and diversify your income.

You could also become an Export Management Agent. Arrange for other domestic companies to sell their products to foreign corporations and earn a ten percent commission.

You would think that selling to foreign customers would be quite risky. However, use of letters of credit can protect all parties. An Export Management Agent might actually arrange for ninety percent of the sale to be paid directly to the domestic supplier and ten percent to be paid directly to himself.

3. Licensing

Consider becoming a licensing agent. Earn royalties by arranging for foreign corporations to manufacture and sell the products of domestic companies.

4. Finder’s Fees

Imagine the possibilities for earning finder’s fees in international trade!

You can earn fees from domestic companies for finding foreign buyers (or for finding suitable imports from foreign suppliers). You can also earn fees from foreign companies for finding domestic corporations that will buy their products (or for finding suitable suppliers and products from domestic corporations).

5. drop shipping

Visualize receiving an order from a customer based in a foreign country and not having to be bothered with shipping and handling the product. No customs declarations or brokers are required by you. This is because your drop ship supplier is handling those details.

You might collect $100.00 plus shipping of $15.00 from your foreign customer. You then simply send your customer’s order to your drop ship supplier with your payment of $65.00 (consisting of $50.00 wholesale cost plus $15.00 shipping). Your drop shipper will now fulfill the order. Congratulations! You just made fifty dollars.

6. Mail Order

Add a mail order service to your existing business operation. Manufacturers, retail stores, and other businesses can increase their sales by using this additional method of selling that is very conducive to international trade.

7. Internet Marketing

You can also extend your reach to worldwide customers by means of the Internet. Methods of obtaining foreign business include affiliate marketing, online auctions, online stores, and websites.

Yes, to increase and diversify your income, consider international trade.

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over thirty years.