Storage Unit Auctions Yield Buried Treasure

Here is a little-known technique for finding merchandise to resell on eBay or in your local area.

As you probably know Storage Units are rented to people who need extra temporary space to store their household items. You have probably rented one yourself or know someone who did.

What most people don't know is if the renter doesn't pay the monthly rental the storage company owner will auction the contents of the unit to the highest bidder. This allows anyone to buy used (and sometimes new) merchandise for pennies on the dollar.

Sometimes these units are auctioned "winner take all" where the entire contents are auctioned to the highest bidder. I have seen units go for as low as $25.00 for a small unit up to $300.00 for a unit with lots of meechandise and closed boxes.

Other times the auctioneer will pull items out of the unit one at a time and auction them individually.

One thing that is common to all auctions is the "grab bag" aspect. If there are closed boxes in the unit the auctioneer will not allow anyone to open the boxes. They are auctioned site unseen. If the auction is for an entire unit the bidders are not allowed to go into the unit to inspect the merchandise. You must assess the contents from the outside to determine if and how high you want to bid.

Here are some tips for assessing the contents:

Bring a high powered flashlight with you. The units are usually dark and since you can only view the contents from the outside a flashlight will help you spot clues that others may miss.

Look for "Name Brand" merchandise. This generally means that the owner of the contents is brand aware and appreciates higher quality merchandise. This is a big clue that other unseen items (such as items in closed boxes) are of higher value.

Look for well organised stacked boxes that are sealed. This indicates that the boxes haven't been tampered with by the Storage Unit Company prior to the sale.

Dust on the contents. Usually means that the contents have been stored for many years. There could be items in the boxes that are now collectible.

Addresses on boxes. If you can see an address that is from an upper class neighborhood it increases the odds that there are valuables in the unit.

Moving Company Boxes. A person who goes to the expense of hiring a moving company likely has some high quality items in the unit.

So where do you find these auctions? They are sometimes listed in the Auction Section of the newspaper. If a Storage Company goes to the expense of advertising the auction in the paper it usually means they have a lot of units to auction off. But it also means there will be a lot of bidders and more competition.

The best thing to do is call Storage Companies in your area and ask when they will be holding their next auction. Many times a storage company will have a small unadvertised auction with only a half dozen or so units up for bid. These can be real bargains because fewer bidders show up and you have less competition for the units.

Storage Unit Auctions can be a great way to pick up resellable mechandise cheap but you must be careful you don't get burnt. The best way to learn the ins and outs is by attending a few auctions as an observer only. Don't bid, just watch. You'll quickly learn what others are willing to bid for a unit of a particular size and with particular types or merchandise. You can then determine after the bidding is over if a unit was over bid or if it was a bargain. Knowing this will help you determine how much to bid when you are ready to participate.

Here is a GREAT Technique that You Can Use to Find Products to Sell on eBay.

I have a real treat for you today.

Listen...

One of the most profitable (and little-known) methods for selling on eBay is to find small wholesale companies that aren't already overused on eBay. And you can find these companies right in your local area.

My good friend and eBay Super Guru Karol Gajda has put together a short online video that shows you how to quickly find these Wholesalers in your local area.

Karol has graciously allowed me to share this video with you. You can view it here:

How To Find Wholesalers In Your Area

A Business You Can Start in 10 Minutes for $0

Here is another idea from Biz Idea Journal subscriber Skip Rosell.  Skip is a real doer who is working on several business to business advertising sales projects. 
 
Here in Skip's words is exactly how to do this...
 
Use the classified section of your local paper online and find “Moving Sales” These ads will have a phone number in the ad. Copy the number and paste into Google. This will give you the name, address, city Etc. Copy these back to a database of your choice. Do all the moving ads in the paper. You will find them under merchandise for sale, yard sales, etc. The best way is to insert the word “moving” into the search box of your local online paper’s classified section.

Now that you have the names of the people moving sort them by telephone exchange. The telephone exchange number is the three numbers after the area code: Example: (845) XXX- 1234 Where the X’s represent the exchange numbers. You know your area and if all the numbers are within say 20 miles then you can use them all. Otherwise just pick the numbers that are.

Now in the same newspaper search for “Cleaning”. This will bring up all the ads that have cleaning in them. Most of these will be one-person businesses advertising cleaning services.
Copy these and bring back to a new database. Almost all people that move clean the place up and a lot of them would prefer to hire someone else to do it.

Now you are ready to make some money. How much money you make is up to you. It will be decided by how much “work” you do. This is not hard work but you must start and work at it. You can do the same thing for all the painters, man with a truck, carpet cleaning, and many, many other businesses.

The best way to tell you how you make money with this business is to describe how it came about:

I sold a cleaner an ad in my mini directory (editor's note: the mini directory is one of Skip's Advertising businesses) and then he asked if I knew of any other low cost ways of getting business. Since I was in the classified section of my local newspaper I told him he could send a post card to all the people that are moving. I explained how to do this and he asked how much I would charge to do it for him. I told him fifty cent each to address and mail a lead generating post card. I then asked how many he would like mailed each week. Since he thought that these movers were about the best prospects he could get for his cleaning business, he said all I could get. I had to slow him down. I told him I can get about 15 per week in his zip code and I could work out from there and get as many as he wanted. The more he took the more travel he would have to reach each sale he made. We decided on 50 per week for a month’s trial. Total $100.00 for a month.

I then printed up 15 sheets of 32lb stock with four post cards on each. Using an excel database I mail merged the addresses with a filter on the database for his zip code. Then did the same for the zip codes next to his until I reached 50. Total time to print and address the cards was 15 minutes. It took me a little time to get the names into the database and doing only one business would not be very profitable. So I called a painter. Tried to sell him my mini directory, failed, but told him about the post cards. Sold him on 50 post cards a week also.

Now why am I telling you about this business? I have too much on my plate right now to start & test another unknown business. But it looks promising and I would like someone to try it out to see if it can be profitable. The price has to be tested, the wording on the post cards need testing, etc.

(end of Skip's post)

Skip has given you the basic concept so now I want to expand a little bit and show you how to make this more profitable.

First off, instead of sending a postcard for each business what will work better is to come up with a Moving Out Directory. This would be simply a directory of businesses that people who are moving may need the services of. Contact each of these businesses as Skip explained above and sell them on the idea of being included in your directory. Here is a list of possible businesses that offer services to people who are moving:

Pressure Washing
Gutter Cleaning
Heating and Air Conditioning Servicing
Off Site Storage Facility (or PODs)
Painting
Moving Service
Tree Removal
Lawn Service/Landscaping
Handyman
Driveway Pavement Repair
Deck Cleaning
Window Repair
Hauling
Roofing Repair
Property Management Service
Exterminator
Carpet Cleaning/Replacement
Real Estate Agent
Mortgage Broker
Appraisal Service
Home Inspection Service

If you can get one business from each of these categories to pay you 50 cents per directory and you mail 100 directories a month that would earn you an easy $1000.00 a month. These businesses should jump at the chance to be in your directory because:

1) You offer them exclusivity (only one business per category allowed)
2) They could do this themselves BUT it would cost them more then 50 cents per address.
3) All the businesses above advertise in my local newspaper. They are spending much more then $100.00 a month and they are not getting anywhere near the targeted exposure you could offer them.

That is the idea in a nutshell. GO FOR IT!

James

Subscriber Success Story

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July Holiday.

Today I was going to write about Google Adwords and the techniques I use to find and promote products. After two hours of writing I realized that there was no way I would be able to get everything into a short Blog post. So, I have decided to create a free course about Google Adwords so I will not be limited by the format of this Blog. I'll let you know when it is ready and give you a link to download.

So, instead I would like to tell you about an Emergency Cash Generator that one of my subscribers put to use and grossed $450.00 in less then a week.

This business involves painting reflective address numbers onto the curbs outside of houses.

Yes, that's right...

Curb Painting!!!

Now, hold on a second. I know this isn't the most glamerous business. But, if you want to earn some cash quickly with almost very little start up costs this is a great way to do it.

There are almost never any rules for house numbers in residential areas. Some have large numbers on the door, others small numbers or name on the mailbox, on the side of the house (usually under the ivy or behind the rosebush) and still others have no marking whatsoever.

Now, if you have ever tried to find an address in a strange neighborhood, you have undoubtedly experienced the frustration of looking for a house number where there are none displayed. Most people understand this frustration which is why it is not difficult to make money solving this problem.

One of the really great things about this business is that you don't have to do any personal selling. No knocking on doors. No telemarketing. No expensive ads.

The way you market this service is with the help of hundreds of "lean mean marketing missiles!"

These "marketing missiles" will cost you about 2 cents each.

They have but one purpose -- to sell your curb painting service. That's all they do. That's all they know. They are little missiles flying through the neighboorhood targeting each home and getting you business. And since they are so cheap, you'll want to deploy as many as you can in each neighborhood.

What are these missiles? Flyers! Flyers that you distribute to each house in your targeted neighborhoods.

I have a sample flyer that you can print and use. This flyer was designed to be educational and highly motivational. It tells people why it is important to have a highly visible address painted on the curb in front of their home. It informs them that the addresses will be painted starting the next day and gives the price and directions on how to get their curb painted:

Sample Flyer

That one page flyer is pure marketing dynomite! It does all the selling for you and allows you to spend most of your time painting the curbs and making money.

When you are ready to get started simply print out the flyer and take it to your local quick printer. Use goldenrod colored paper. Make 300-500 copies. These should only cost you 2-4 cents each.

Check Mail Boxes Ect. if you have one in your area. They sometimes run a 1 penny per copy special.

Self service copies at Home Depot is also cheap but I have found the quality is sometimes bad. Run a few samples through the machine before you commit to 300 copies that are fuzzy or smudged.

Note: If you work with the font and spacing of the flyer you can probably get two flyers per page and cut your flyer costs in half!

After you have made your copies you are ready to begin distributing them. Target middle class neighborhoods that are mostly single family homes. Don't bother with condos, apartments or rentals -- these complexes usually have maintenence people that take care of curb painting.

Before you start distributing, one other thing you need is a roll of double sided tape -- the kind that is sticky on both sides. As you are distributing flyers attach the tape to the top of the flyer and stick it to the doorknob of the front door. The owner can then use the same piece of tape to attach the flyer to the window or door. You don't want to lose a sell because the owner couldn't find a piece of tape.

Do NOT place the flyer in or attach to the homeowners mailbox. You CAN attach the flyer to the mail box post however it is more effective hanging from the doorknob where the owner can't miss it. Also, Do not attach the flyer to any painted surface as it may pull some paint off.

The best way I have found to distibute the flyers is to park your car at the beginning of the street and distribute up one side of the street until you hit an intersection or run out of houses. You can save a lot of time if you cut across the lawn of houses that are grouped together. Then distribute on the other side of the street.

Once you finish one street drive to the next one, park and distribute up and down. You'll find this much faster then driving from house to house. You should be able to distibute 90 - 120 flyers an hour using this method. Keep distributing until you run out of flyers.

The next day drive back to your distribution point and look for the flyers in the window or front door of the houses you visited the previous day. Stop and record each address. Continue until you have recorded the addresses from all applicable houses.

Now it's time to buy your supplies. You will need the following

1 gallon of green paint (made for concrete or asphalt surfaces)
1 4" Paint Brush
Masking Tape
White Spray Paint (you will need appx 1 can for every 10 addresses)
Glass Traffic Beads
Salt Shaker (Fill the salt shaker with glass beads)
Wire Brush
Small Broom
Cardboard
White Chalk
Address Number Stencils
Invoice book
Self Addressed Envelopes

The Glass Beads may be hard to find in your area. Start with the paint stores and ask around. The glass beads are used to sprinkle on the painted numbers to make them reflective. You may be able to find them at a craft shop. If all else fails you can order them online at http://www.timestriping.com/cat-page_5.htm. A 50 lb bag costs $18.00.

Begin by painting the green backgrounds. If there is already a number painted on the curb, go ahead and paint over it with green paint. If not, locate the background in front of the front door. Use the wire brush to scrub the area to loosen any dirt. Then use the broom to sweep the area to be painted.

Take some cardboard and cut it into an area about 6 x 12 inches. You will use this as a template. Place the template on the area to be painted and use your chalk to make an outline of the template. Line up your masking tape aound the chalk lines to form a 6 x 12 inch rectangle. Use the brush to paint the area inside the masking tape with the green paint. Remove and discard the masking tape. Reuse your cardboard template.

Continue to each house and paint the backgrounds. Once you have finished painting the last background, go back to the first house and begin painting the numbers. Do this by placing the appropriate stincils in the center of your already painted background. Be sure to verify the address by reading it off the flyer. If there is any doubt compare this to the address on the house.

Using your white paint spray each number. After each number sprinkle the glass beads on the wet paint. You need to apply the glass beads quickly to insure proper adhesion.

After you are finished with each address go to the door and ask the homeowner for payment. If they are not at home leave an invoice (this can be a simple note on a legal pad) and a self addresses envelope.

That's it. A nice simple money maker you can use anytime you need it.

Stupid Google Adword Tricks

February 2004 was my first full month of seriously using Google Adwords to make money and I made just under $500.00 promoting my own and affiliate products. I'll reveal some specific techniques I use in the next post but right now, I want to tell you about my very first experience with Google Adwords and the mistakes I made.

If you are not familiar with Google Adwords you can find out more by visiting https://adwords.google.com/ Or, for a detailed video that shows you how to sign up for a Google Adword account and steps you through the process of setting up a Campaign see www.emergencycashgenerators.com

My first Adwords experience was last October. It was on the Saturday of the Lunar Eclipse. I was on the internet looking for web cams that were scheduled to show the eclipse because it was overcast in my area and I really wanted to see it (I am an Astronomy nerd)

Anyway, after a couple of hours searching I found 10 or 12 web cams that were scheduled to show the eclipse. That is when I got the "bright" idea (honest -- it really sounded like pure genius at the time) that I could throw up a website and use ClickBank to sell access to the links that lead to the web cams. I figured there were other people that would also not be able to see the eclipse because of bad weather. Plus, I had been itching to test out Google Adwords and this seemed like a good opportunity.

So off I go, putting up a sales page to try to promote this stupid thing along with the welcome page to deliver the product. The whole thing took me about an hour to throw together. I charged $5.00 for access to the web cam links.

Next I stumbled around in Google Adwords until I figured out how to create the campaign and select keywords. When I did I was disappointed to see that Adwords estimated <1 for every keyword even though I had little competition. I had several hundred keywords and I think in total it estimated that I would get 4 clicks a day. I almost dropped the project then but I went ahead and finished it and set my daily budget. I didn't really notice what I had set the daily budget to -- what difference did it make with only 4 clicks a day, right?

There was about an hour before the eclipse would start so I went out jogging and came back to find that...

My Entire Daily Budget of $50.00 had Been Gobbled Up!

I have no idea why I set the daily budget so high. I guess I figured I could watch it and reduce it if I needed to -- hell, I am a product development genius not a freaking accountant!

I achieved a 9% click through rate with that campaign. 0 sales. $50.00 thrown down a big rat hole.

What went wrong? Obviously Goggle's click estimates did not take into account that many more people would be searching for 'Lunar Eclipse' on the actual day of the Lunar Eclipse then any other time. Genius Product Developer missed that little minor detail too. :)

I didn't touch Google Adwords again until mid January. And now I take Goggle's Estimates with a grain of salt.

Next time I'll reveal some of my profitable Google Adword techniques.