THE VANISHING

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
  They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
  They charmed it with smiles and soap.

They shuddered to think that the chase might fail,
  And the Beaver, excited at last,
Went bounding along on the tip of its tail,
  For the daylight was nearly past.

"There is Thingumbob shouting!" the Bellman said,
  "He is shouting like mad, only hark!
He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head,
  He has certainly found a Snark!"

They gazed in delight, while the Butcher exclaimed
  "He was always a desperate wag!"
They beheld him--their Baker--their hero unnamed--
  On the top of a neighboring crag.

Erect and sublime, for one moment of time.
  In the next, that wild figure they saw
(As if stung by a spasm) plunge into a chasm,
  While they waited and listened in awe.

"It's a Snark!" was the sound that first came to their ears,
  And seemed almost too good to be true.
Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers:
  Then the ominous words "It's a Boo-"

Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air
  A weary and wandering sigh
Then sounded like "-jum!" but the others declare
  It was only a breeze that went by.

The Unseen Playmate

When children are playing alone on the green,
In comes the playmate that never was seen.
When children are happy and lonely and good,
The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood.

Nobody heard him, and nobody saw,
His is a picture you never could draw,
But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home,
When children are happy and playing alone.

  dig;
'T is he when you play with your soldiers of tin
That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win.

'T is he, when at night you go off to your bed,
Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head;
For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf,
'T is he will take care of your playthings himself!

Foreign Lands

Up into the cherry tree
Who should climb but little me?
I held the trunk with both my hands
And looked abroad in foreign lands.

I saw the next door garden lie,
Adorned with flowers, before my eye,
And many pleasant places more
That I had never seen before.

I saw the dimpling river pass
And be the sky's blue looking-glass;
The dusty roads go up and down
With people tramping in to town.

If I could find a higher tree
Farther and farther I should see,
To where the grown-up river slips
Into the sea among the ships,

To where the road on either hand
Lead onward into fairy land,
Where all the children dine at five,
And all the playthings come alive.

THE COMPLETE MAIL ORDER BUSINESS

Now you've read about the 10 best mail order businesses. Have you noticed 
how some of them fit together? Well, in all actuality, ALL 10 fit together.  
You can have a profitable, part-time or full-time mail order business by 
running as many of these mini-businesses together as you can.
   
Take another look through the reports and see how producing and selling 
information, print brokering, circular mailing, producing ad sheets, co-
publishing other ad sheets, big mails, mailing list rental, typesetting, 
rubber stamps and clip art all fit together with each other. 

 You can advertise your services in flyers that get mailed with other circulars and 
ad sheets in your big mails, which are ordered by customers whose names and 
addresses get added to your rental mailing list, which is ordered by other 
dealers who find out about your other services.  

Customers who aren't in the mail order business can still gain useful information 
from your products, use your print brokering services to get the best prices on their other 
printing needs, and can purchase return address rubber stamps from you. 

The Nurse and the Wolf

"Be quiet now," said an old Nurse to a child sitting on her
lap. "If you make that noise again I will throw you to the Wolf."

Now it chanced that a Wolf was passing close under the window
as this was said. So he crouched down by the side of the house
and waited. "I am in good luck to-day," thought he. "It is sure
to cry soon, and a daintier morsel I haven't had for many a long
day." So he waited, and he waited, and he waited, till at last
the child began to cry, and the Wolf came forward before the
window, and looked up to the Nurse, wagging his tail. But all the
Nurse did was to shut down the window and call for help, and the
dogs of the house came rushing out. "Ah," said the Wolf as he
galloped away,

"Enemies promises were made to be broken."

The Swallow and the Other Birds

It happened that a Countryman was sowing some hemp seeds in a
field where a Swallow and some other birds were hopping about
picking up their food. "Beware of that man," quoth the Swallow.
"Why, what is he doing?" said the others. "That is hemp seed he
is sowing; be careful to pick up every one of the seeds, or else
you will repent it." The birds paid no heed to the Swallow's
words, and by and by the hemp grew up and was made into cord, and
of the cords nets were made, and many a bird that had despised the
Swallow's advice was caught in nets made out of that very hemp.
"What did I tell you?" said the Swallow.

Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.

AN EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE TIP

So often we forget that our customers are our boss. I think I discovered 
one significant reason why most of us fall into this "rut." The day we 
began our business we were as happy as could be. The customer was king! 
We didn't have many orders so we bent over backwards to make sure that all 
our customers were happy. Some of us might have even went overboard and 
"went into the hole" just because we were so overjoyed that we had received 
a customer order! 

But, later on, we became much more busy. We were putting in long hours, 
neglecting family and social life and realizing that being in business does 
have it's gloomy side. While we tried our best to give each customer personal 
attention, some customers couldn't be pleased if we hung ourself with a new 
rope! Therefore, new policies had to be established. Prices had to increase 
for you to invest into business growth. And somewhere in-between all this we 
lost the zeal for customer satisfaction. Instead of the customer being "king" 
he/she was now a "pawn."

What originally began as a eager desire to please your customers has now 
turned into a daily struggle. But who could blame you? You can remember 
spending $100 and 30 hours of time trying to help a beginner get started in 
mail order. However, after that beginner learned all your trade secrets they 
left owing you money and never giving you the time of day again. This made 
you cautious. Then how about the customer that pretended they were going to 
send you a $500 order, wasted an hour or so of your time (and long-distance 
phone charges) just to get them quotes before they sent in their money. 
Then _ after all the toil and added expenses, you never heard from the 
customer again. How irritating! At least, you thought, they could have sent 
you a "Thank You Note" for all the trouble they put you though.


But 20 minutes later, you get another phone call from a customer wanting to 
put you through the same thing. Only this time _ the guy is serious. Do you 
give this guy the same treatment you gave to the first customer? As a human 
being _ you normally can't because you are ruled by emotion. It takes someone 
with a lot of self-confidence in their own character to treat each customer 
like a big business!
   
Just treat every customer you talk to the same way you would treat someone 
from a big business _ who was getting ready to send you a $10,000 order! 
Unfortunately, some business owners allow owning a business to go to their 
heads. After they start becoming successful, the owner will think he/she is 
"king" and makes all the rules. He/she feels that their reputation speaks 
for itself and customer's are eager just to do business with them.

This normally happens because income increases and you don't "need" 
certain customers who you feel have been a thorn in your side. But although 
it is perfectly fine to do this _ if you dispel a customer solely based on 
the "amount" and "quantity" of orders he or she sends you _ that's a big 
mistake. Those small guys and gals might just grow up and become BIGGER 
businesses than you someday! Wouldn't you rather have them on your side? 
Wouldn't you rather be in a position to work with them _ perhaps on a 
multi-million-dollar contract together? One never knows what the future 
holds so try to BE NICE _ even if you have to grin and bear it!

That's why it's even more important to stop and think again. Are you 
guilty of having a business ownership ego? If you allow it to go too far 
you could lose your business entirely. Egos are a very tricky thing to deal 
with. A hurt ego's downside is normally jealousy, deceit and even criminal 
activity. Rage does nothing but tear you up emotionally inside and always 
erupts in bad behavior and lost relationships. Never, ever, go into a rage 
over the phone. If other people are screaming at you _ you will either calm 
them down by remaining calm yourself or show them up for being emotionally 
unstable. Rage is truly the result of an unstable personality trait. It's 
really NOT normal. So get with the program and be calm (and nice.)

ADVERTISING MAPS:

Maps serve a purpose. People use them for directions. They trust them and 
depend on them to get them where they want to go. It tells them where the 
local attractions are, and other places if interest, particularly among 
tourists - the people who use maps the most.
Considering the credibility and the power of maps as a printed medium, it 
takes an entrepreneur 2 seconds to realize that there's money in maps...as 
an advertising vehicle.
You can design your city map to be as large as 28" x 40" which can be printed 
by commercial print houses with large format presses. Or you can use the 
11"x 17" format and bring it to your neighborhood quick printer.

THE MAP
What you're going to make a map of is as critical as deciding about how 
you're going to do it. These are the two questions that will make the 
foundation of your business.
Big cities are very seldom a great market for City Maps. However, if you 
break them apart and make maps for selected business districts, even down 
to selected neighborhoods, the taking is plenty.  
Focus on dense retail districts. Target those with neighboring restaurant 
rows, historical spots or other tourist attractions.
Purchase reprint rights of already existing maps as this would prove 
significantly easier and more cost efficient than producing one yourself.
"Cartoon" maps may be visually entertaining, but they are seldom useful. 
You will probably attract more advertisers if you can equate your 
advertising rates with potential use.
Advertisers position advertising blocks on the outer edge of the map area. 
Depending of the size of your map and the paper you plan to print it on, you 
can have as many or as few "blocks" to offer for advertising. Encourage your 
advertisers to buy more than 1 block of advertising. This will not only make
your map look more exclusive, but it will also make your selling task much 
easier.
 more cost efficient than producing one yourself.

BUSINESS BOOKS

Once you have your store location selected, paint the entire interior in a dark, warm color, such as mahogany. Install a lighter shade of indoor/outdoor carpeting through out. The lighting should be indirect, and somewhat subdue to give your store a warm feeling.

 Locate your checkout counter parallel to one of the side walls. You don't want it blocking or guarding the easy entry or exit from your store. You want your customers to feel comfortable just visiting your store. In other words, do everything you can to encourage the browser, because it's been proven time and again that the browsers are the book buyers. Allow the people to come and go generally as they please; to pick up and thumb through the books that interest them: to read them, and "fall in love" with them. These will be your real book buyers.

 Your book shelves should run along each side wall, and across the back of the store. Don't build them more than six feet high. Partition these shelves into sections about four feet wide, and at the top of each section, place a sign indicating the general subject matter of the books to be found in that section.

 Paper the walls of your store, from the top of your book shelves to the ceiling with posters - colorful and descriptive travel posters, broadway show billboards, concert posters and full color dust jackets from books that are perennially popular.

 The next thing is to build or buy half shelves, tables and revolving racks for other or more books. The half shelves - about 4 feet wide by 4 feet high and similar to book cases in your home - should be located at right angles to your wall shelves, and in the rear of your store. The tables should be about 3 feet wide by 4 feet long, and about 30 inches high. These also should be located at right angles to your wall shelves, but closer to the
front of your store. A revolving wire rack, to hold currently popular or specially featured books, and located at the front of your store, will be a special extra merchandising effort that will really pay off in the sales of your books.

 In locating your half shelves and tables down the middle of your store, stagger them - one 3 feet from the wall shelves, the next one 6 feet out, then 4 feet and so on. This will allow more people to be "seen" in your store; cut down on the appearance of a formal or military layout, and project a more casual atmosphere for browsing - and this is precisely what you want. This kind of arrangement will cost you some space, but it'll be worth it with increased traffic.

 Another merchandising idea that works very well is a couple of revolving wire racks on wheels... These you push outside and position near the entrance to your store. You can feature popular paperbacks, and a few oversize hard cover books with bright,
flashy colors in these racks.

 Your store hours should match those of your neighbors... In fact, you could "jump off to a quick start," by opening a half hour earlier than your neighbors. Use this opening half hour to take care of paperwork, and get yourself organized for the day. When the early shoppers see you're open early, they'll begin coming into your store to "browse and kill time" while they wait for the other stores to open.

 If you cannot be there to "open the store," then hire part time help. The best arrangement is housewives or college students in 4 hour shifts at the minimum wage.

 First off, write out a list of duties you want each clerk to perform while he's on shift. In addition to taking care of sales transactions, you might want him to do some stocking, dusting, cleaning, sorting and pricing... Regardless, you'll have fewer problems and enjoy bigger profits if you formally write these "shift duties" out, and post them as job requirements, and explain them when you interview for hired help.

 Look for, and try to hire only book lovers who are personable, outgoing, and have some sort of business aptitude. You then train these people in all phases of your operation, with the thought in mind that they will run the store in your absence, and eventually be your store manager. The best way to find such people is by talking with your customers, observing which might be willing to work for you, and which of them might best fulfill your needs.

 You'll need an outside sign for your store - preferably one that hangs at right angles to the flow of traffic in front of your store.

 Many successful used book stores utilize hand-carved wooden signs, while others display painted sign with calligraphic lettering. By all means, spend the extra hundred dollars or so to have spotlights installed on your storefront, focusing on your store sign. Backlit plastic signs just don't create the comfortable image necessary for the success of a good used book store.

 Newspaper and/or broadcast advertising will be much more expensive than it's worth. Your best bet is to create a comfortable feeling and open invitation for browsers, price your stock fairly, concentrate on personal service, then let word-of-mouth advertising and time do the rest.

 Even so, you should run an ad in the yellow pages, Perhaps an ad in the college paper, and from time to time, special sales ads in your local shopping newspapers. Inexpensive flyers inviting people in to exchange books, or to just browse, can be printed at your local quick print shop and handed out or placed under the windshield wipers on the windshields of cars in the larger shopping center parking lots. Advertising, and special sales during holiday periods such as Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day are generally quite effective in bringing new customers into your store.

 Most used book store entrepreneurs use their own book collections as a start-up inventory base. In addition, talk to as many neighbors, friends and relatives as possible for the donation of books. Then start making the rounds of all the garage sales and flea markets. You should have at least 10,000 books in stock when you open for business - and that's a lot of books. Search for books to sell - those you can buy for $.25 or less - in all the thrift shops, Goodwill stores and Salvation Army outlets. Church bazaars and estate sales can also sometimes provide you with almost "complete" libraries.

 You might place a small ad in your newspaper announcing hat you're looking for good used books to buy. Generally, you evaluate a book according to the price you think you can get for it in your store. Then you subtract two thirds of that total, and offer that as your "buying" price. Always separate the books you feel certain you can sell from those you aren't sure about.

 It's going to take awhile for you to become proficient as a book buyer, but with practice and some experience, you'll quickly develop the "intuition" you need to realize a profit on every book you buy. Always flip through the pages of each individual book, and be sure of its condition before you quote a price. In many instances you'll also find that out of a box of 25 books, you're only interested in buying 10... The seller will generally be wanting to get rid of his books, now... And for a couple of dollars more than your "bid price" on the 10 books you want, he'll let you have all 25 of them... This is like a wind fall to you because you can always use the "unwanted" books as leader items or extras to generate traffic during two-for-one sales; all books on a certain table for just a nickel each; or your choice of free books for everyone coming in to browse on certain days...

 You should carry hardcover as well as paperback books. Pay no more than 25% of the new price for a mint condition used hardcover book, and buy only those you are certain can be sold in your store. Pay no more than 10% of the new price for a mint condition used paperback, and steer clear of the hard-core sexually oriented books.

 Visit the libraries and book stores in your area. Observe what the people are interested in reading, and what they're checking out or buying. Stock your store with these kinds of books.

 Below is a listing of the kinds or types of books you should consider stocking in your used book store:

 BUSINESS BOOKS: These should include books on leadership, career advancement, time management and people management.

 HOW-TO BOOKS: These should include all the self-help and self-improvement manuals you can find - mail order, auto repair, carpentry, metalwork, home building, gardening, and business start-up.

 COOK BOOKS: You'll probably be surprised at how many people buy books relating to the culinary arts. A well stocked cookbook section will mean definite profits for you. Forget about books on dieting, home economics, and etiquette - these just don't do well in used book stores.

 SPECIAL INTEREST BOOKS: Watch and listen to the people of your area. Be on the lookout for people into World War history, aviation, sports perfection, movies and just plain old book collectors...

 PAPERBACKS: Women's romance, science fiction, mysteries and historical novels are all good movers - currently enjoying an upsurge in popularity and sales. These will be the "best-movers" in your inventory, so develop good sources of supply, and price
them for fast sales.

 Building and maintaining your inventory, while continuing to rapidly turn that inventory over, can be handled in a number of different ways. It's not a good idea for you to exchange two or three of your customer's books for one of yours. There's always a
variance in price, plus you may not want the type of books your customer is offering to trade.

 The most feasible plan seems to be to give the customer a "credit chit" for each book you buy from him. Simply have a supply of business cards promoting your store, printed at your quick print shop. On the back of the card, have them print something along these lines:

"The bearer of this card is entitled to _________ cents credit on 50% of the listed purchase price of any book at Ye Olden Book Store. /s/ Your Signature."

 Then when someone brings in a couple of books to sell, you pay him in credit chits, marking in the amount and signing your name on the card. An easier way might be to have your signature printed on the cards when you order them - you or a clerk would
simply fill in the credit amount, and emboss the card with a notary-type embosser.

 Usually, you allow 20 to 25 cents for mint condition paperbacks, and about one quarter of your selling price for hardbacks. Always make sure the customer under-stands that regardless of how many "credit chits" he has, the credit chits can only pay for half the purchase price. This of course, is to protect your cash-flow problems, and your income of "hard money."

 Many used book stores add to their income potential by adding tape cassette lending libraries. These are real money makers with a kind of service that lends out "books on tape," and special learning programs where portions of the rental fee applies to the purchase of the original tape cassette.

 A great many used book stores add to their income by running mail order book selling operations in addition to the retail business. This is a natural, either for a retail operator wanting to expand his market or a mail order operator wanting to increase his income.

BUSINESS CONSULTING SERVICE

A consultant works with the management of a business to improve the profitability of the business. Working with the top management, you can rest assured the consultant is a very highly paid individual. Some consultants charge $100 per hour. Others charge $1,500 per day for their services, and still others work on an annual retainer fee of $12,000 to over $30,000 per year from any number of large corporations.

 Until a few years ago, the title "consultant" was more or less limited to retired diplomats and top corporate officers. In other words, until recently, the consultant's position was more honorary than actual. But that has all changed dramatically in the past
few years.

 The number of consultants for almost any problem in life has increased by tenfold or more during the past ten years! And the field of consultants is continuing to grow. In fact, independent consulting is one of the fastest growing businesses in the country today!

 A consultant is an expert at recognizing problems and shaping solutions to those problems. The need for business problem solvers - among large and small businesses worldwide - has never been greater. The ever changing moods of the buyer plus the myriad of crisis situations businessmen face almost daily, have created this "seller's market" for the alert consultant.

 Reaching for a consultant when problems arise is as natural as looking for the sun to come up every morning. When you're not feeling well, you call for the services of a doctor. If your car isn't running right, you take it to a mechanic. And so it is with a businessman when he encounters a problem - whether it be in the field of accounting, legal, sales or customer relations.

 Another side of this need for consultants is in the case of the over-enthusiastic entrepreneur who rushes headlong into a business in which he has little or no experience. Many such dreamers invest their life savings in questionable projects without even considering the idea of bringing in a competent business consultant to analyze and evaluate their plans.

 Even experienced people are prone to overrate their own ideas. The image of the end result, and dedicated enthusiasm toward the attainment of one's goal are the prime prerequisites for success; however, unmerited enthusiasm and dedication can also be very
dangerous as well. Unless it is based upon solid research, it may cause people to chase headlong after nonexistent rainbows. And that's where you can fit in as a business consultant.

 It is not necessary for you to have owned or operated a successful business to become a successful business consultant. Nor is it imperative that you have been in management or have held a titled position. You will, however, need the ability to sell yourself, and an up-to-date understanding of the area in which you intend to assist others.

 The first step is to make an honest evaluation of your own training and experience. You might be an ambitious tax consultant who was never recognized for your abilities. You might be especially good in such general areas as systems design, marketing, advertising, distribution, sales, or even efficiency, time management, scheduling, expediting or productivity. There are hundreds of consultants across the country specializing in Direct Mail and Mail Order operations. Most of these people enjoyed some measure of success in those fields, and then discovered the easier way - advising others on how to operate successfully. There are consultants for people who want success with a garage sale, party plan merchandising, or even multi-level operations. The important thing is to choose an area in which you've had some experience; an area that you have spent some time learning about and of course, an area of work that you enjoy.

 Almost everyone is afraid of the responsibility involved. They claim they don't have the experience or the knowledge. Such was the case of a young lady we know who was seeking work as a personnel clerk. She had worked five years as assist ant to the
personnel manager of a large manufacturing plant, yet when we advised her to become a consultant to people looking for work or to start her own resume writing service, she pleaded lack of knowledge, experience and ability.

 Just about everyone has had special training in a certain line of work, and they've gone on to absorb special studies or education along the same lines, and most people have worked all their lives along or very close to a specific line of endeavor. So, why shouldn't a woman who has worked 20 years as a waitress represent herself as a consultant to the training program for waitresses within a restaurant organization? A shipping and receiving clerk would be a natural for setting up efficient operations and for solving problems for businesses just beginning or expanding their production output.

 The point is, most people don't realize how much expertise they really have, or the probable marketability of their training, knowledge and experience. The important thing is to look over your educational strengths, combine that with any special training or on-the-job experience, and then offer your expertise to help others with their problems along the lines you know best.

 You don't need a big, fancy executive type office in order to get started, especially if you start your consulting business on a part-time basis. A spare bedroom, a section of the basement, or even a corner of the dining room, will do very nicely. If you handle your own bookkeeping/filing, you will need a ledger of some kind, and a file cabinet or two. You will need a good typewriter if you plan to do your own correspondence. An alternative is to do all letters, etc. in longhand and hire someone to put them in final form for you. Check the local high school or college. They may be happy to post your ad for a young lady looking for part-time work.

 Instead of going to the expense of paying for a business phone, use your residence phone and train all members of the family to answer it in a business-like manner during normal working hours. Save copies of all the sales letters you send out, and of course, all job proposals you submit. Set up your file system with your final plan in mind, and you'll save a lot of time as well as frustration. Get the kind of file folders that hang from the sides of the file cabinet's drawers, allowing you to position the file folder title anywhere across the top of the folder. Then as you add clients to your file, you can keep them in alphabetical order without having a jumbled-looking file drawer in which you have to search for each title. It's also a good idea to keep your active accounts in one drawer, your "hoped for" accounts in another, and master copies of all your letters, proposals, business contact information and records in still another drawer. You'll also need business cards. You nearest quick print shop can usually order these and help you in selecting wording and design.

 Whether to rent, lease or buy a copy machine is up to you. But virtually no business can get by without file copies. Carbon paper means a loss of efficiency, and running over to the corner shop to get copies is going to cost you time and money, so be sure to fit some sort of copier into your business start-up costs. If impossible at the very first, use the old carbon paper - you must have a copy for your file.

 Just how good a typist are you, well you can write sales letters, and how busy you want to be, should be the deciding factors about the typewriter. If you type at all - and there will always be at least a few letters that you should type personally - we suggest again that you go for the long haul probabilities and rent, lease or buy the best and most modern typewriter you can afford. Later on, when you do move into that "dream" office, hat will be one less piece of equipment you will have to be concerned about.

 Once you've decided what area of business consulting you want to be in, and have your office or working space set up, the next thing is to let people know you're available for work. Definitely use some common sense and applied knowledge before spending any
money on advertising. Generally speaking, you will pick up some customers, regardless of the problem area you specialize in, by advertising in your area's most popular newspaper. However, we wouldn't recommend much more than a small ad in the Sunday editions, unless you're a direct mail, multi-level or garage sale consultant.

 Check with your Chamber of Commerce for a list of trade and specialized business publishers in your area. Either pick up a sample copy of the business journal at the local newsstand or write to the publisher and ask for a sample. Look through those catering to the type of business you want to serve. Check the editorial styles and types of advertising they carry, then select the one that corresponds with your needs. Basically, unless a publication reaches the people you are trying to sell to, don't advertise in it regardless of style, quality, or advertising rates.

 Radio or television would probably be a complete waste of ad vertising dollars, unless you're offering help with direct mail, multi-level marketing or garage sales. The best time for any broad cast advertising in order to reach you best prospects seems to be in the evening hours after the late-night news, when these people are either still laboring over their special projects or relaxing before going to bed. If you do use broadcast advertising, the commercial is very important. Really concentrate on this, and use a lot of common sense in writing the message. Even if you engage the services of an experienced broadcast
copywriter, make sure the message speaks to your potential customers, and convinces them that you can help solve their problems or improve the profit picture of their business.

 Finally, where to advertise. Go with a quarter-page ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. The space salesman will help you with the ad, but remember, you want it to catch the eye of your particular client, and offer a promise of an end to his problems. Always talk to your kind of people, emphasizing the benefits of your services. It's not good practice to quote or even discuss prices in either your advertising or on the phone when people respond. Always get name, address and telephone number, then explain your services in general. Set up an appointment to look over their operation, analyze their needs, and make a written proposal to solve their problems.

 There may be a number of factors involved in establishing your fees, but starting out with beginning and small businesses, and until you line up 50 regular clients, your best bet would be $50 per hour. Count on two to three hours per clients per day, and devoting 10 days per months to work on their needs, you're talking about $1,000 to $1,500 per month from each client. Multiply that times 50 clients, and you'll be grossing $5,000 to $7,500 per month. As a one-man operation, you'll be plenty busy.

 Insiders in this business say a person can leave his regular job on Friday, start a consulting business on Monday, and within six months, have an income of more than $100,000 per year. Suffice it to say that a beginning business consultant should earn from $30,000 to $60,000 before taxes and office expenses, in his first year in the business.

 There's still another very important method of finding new clients, and that is via Direct Mail solicitation. This is done either by postcard or sales letter mailings. For a mailing list of local businesses, check the yellow pages of your telephone directory, under the heading "Mailing Lists." Tell the advertiser the kind of mailing list you need - if they don't have it, ask them for the names of suppliers who might be able to supply your needs. Alternately, you could compile your own mailing list of prospects most likely to be interested in your services. Mark the names you want in the area business directory, and pay someone to input these names onto a computer for you. The computer should be able to supply you with peal-and-stick address labels at a nominal cost. Putting your list on computer from the start will save you thousands of dollars in money and count less hours of work.

 Your postcard solicitation should basically be an elaboration of your printed advertising. In other words, an ad or a Direct Mail Consultant might be transferred to a postcard along these lines:

ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE GETTING RESULTS
WITH YOUR DIRECT MAIL BUSINESS???

 I can help you! Show you how to double, maybe even triple the response from your mailings! Expand your market! Increase your profitability!

 Whatever your needs, I can HELP! Whatever your problems, I can SOLVE THEM! Call now, and let me explain.

 After the message on the postcard, add your telephone number and your name, followed by your identification as Direct Mail Consultant.

 A direct mail solicitation sales letter simply uses more words than the postcard, reads smoother, and forces the reader to respond as you direct him. Your sales letter can be any length needed to tell your story and achieve the objective. To be successful, though, it must embody and follow the "AIDA" form: A = Attention; I = Interest;
D = Desire; A = Action on the part of the reader.

 Another point to remember when writing sales letters: Always appeal to the needs and wants of the person who's going to be reading the letter. He will start reading to see if your services can benefit him. He is greatly interested in more profits, reduced production costs and higher efficiency. He is looking for answers to his most pressing problems. Keep these elements in mind when you write a sales solicitation letter, whether for yourself or for a client.

 People receiving sales letters are somewhat more responsive to a letter that is typed, as opposed to one that is typeset. But the typed letter must be "letter perfect," and not of a different or unusual style of type. As a consultant, your letterhead should be simple while still conveying to the reader a sense of class. Your paper should be the best quality you can afford - not flamboyant, but sending a subtle message of success. Direct mail surveys show that slightly better numbers of responses are received when a light beige or off-yellow paper is used.

 Basically, your letter should do what the postcard does for you - move the recipient to call you and allow you to set up an appointment to discuss his needs as your client. Whether you're writing an advertisement or a sales letter, it's important that you have the objective clearly in mind - what you want the reader to do. With this in mind, you needn't use the "hard sell" approach quite as forcefully as someone asking for money on the first contact.

 All that's left is meeting with the prospect, listening to his problems, and hearing what he wants, then write out a proposal to solve his problems and satisfy his wants. This means selling yourself to the prospect - assuring him you know what you're talking about, and that you can make him more successful.

 There you have it - a plan that can lead you to success as a Business Consultant. Remember, though, no amount of research, reading, listening or investment can make you successful until you do something with them. Action on your part is the absolute ingredient that must be added, and that's up to you. Your future is in your own hands and devoting 10 day.