Here is another way to make great money, it has nothing to do with photography, but I know it works because I tried it. It leads me to a conclusion about comfort zones…..
Get an electric drill with a 3/8″ titanium bit, a black marker, and a box of door viewers (you know those little windows you look through your door with when someone comes knocking)- if you look around online you can usually find them for about $1 when you buy 50 or more. Also, get a box of business cards with your contact information and “Door Viewer’s installed in 10 minutes or less”.
Drive around until you find a relatively new neighborhood and inspect the doors. You will find that many new homes do not have door viewers as construction companies often leave them off. Not only is this a huge safety hazard, its a great opportunity to make some money.
Walk through the neighborhood and knock on each door without a door viewer, Ive found it is best to do this on Saturday afternoons and around 6-8 on weekday evenings.
The beauty of this is, every time you knock on a door, the customer cannot see you and you have just proven to them that they need your product. When they open the door say: “Im installing door viewers, I can have yours done in 5 minutes for $25”. You will be surprised how many will say yes. If they say no, quickly say thank you and leave as fast as possible. Never try to talk them into it. This is a pure numbers game, the more doors you knock, the more sales you will get. If no one answers, leave a card in their door.
When the agree, give them the marker and ask them to mark on the door where they want it. This will prevent any misunderstandings and if they dont like where you put it, you can always say (oh I am so sorry, I just drilled where you marked). (It helps to have a quarter handy to install these things).
I had heard about this and did the numbers. If you get 3-4 doors an hour, thats $75-$100 an hour. If you do this for 4-5 hours, you could easily make $400. So, I decided to give it a try when I was visiting my family in Maui when I was home from college. I went out on two days and knocked doors for about 2 and a half hours each. I made almost $600. I know there are people who do this professionally.
I guess the reason why I am bringing this up, in addition to yesterday’s post, is that it isn’t so much a great or even simple idea that prevents us from making good money. It has more to do with the idea of sticking our necks out a little bit and taking a chance. True, a good business plan, marketing and product help greatly, but the idea of security and or comfort zones have the ability to hold us back.
I told a friend he could make $500 a day doing the door viewer thing and he agreed with me and then, found every reason not to. His biggest was that knocking on doors is uncomfortable, and he didn’t have time (mainly because of his minimum wage job, which was making him just under $50 for a full day). “At least I know for sure I will get the $50.” he said. I dont think it occurred to him that was just 2 doors in an 8 hour span. The chances he would make more doing the doors everyday are much better.
Heck, combine this with the Dentist photographer, you could easily pull in $1000 a day for just a few hours of work.
I guess what it comes down to is, everyone wants to be successful and in general make more money than they are now…however, not everyone is willing to get uncomfortable, so this is what prevents us from acting. I know I battle with it myself…..
Comments?
What a great idea!
It’s not a great idea, it’s genius!
Alright, this and the last post are just great. I don’t think I’ve seen any other photographer post on how to make money. You’re right if we can do this or a variation there of, are comfort level will be sky high. Thanks Mike.
My cousins actually did this for a long time and made quite a bit of money…