Fundraising Discount Cards

Experiment: Build a Fundraising Discount Card Company

Proposal:

By building a company geared toward fundraising for school and church organizations by selling discount cards comprised of discounts given by local businesses, one can make a sizeable profit.

The original plan:

Get 10-14 businesses in the area on board offering discounts for their goods or services, then get together with a school or church group- have them purchase 500-1000 cards. This way, they incur the fixed cost and take on all the risk- we get paid either way.

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Step One:

A friend, David, and I decide to start Bottomline Fundraising.







The company will be run as a partnership. After putting together forms for the participating vendors to fill out, we started walking into stores, leaving messages, etc. A copy of one of the forms (this is definitely a business of paperwork; atleast 30 different types of contracts/forms made out by the end).




After about two weeks we had all the vendors we needed.

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Step Two:
We started courting different groups into the idea of purchasing our cards. We didnt want to have the cards printed yet, because we wanted to have it customized for the group who signed with us. It wasn't difficult finding a group. We met with the instructors at the AFJROTC from my old high school and they were quickly sold. We got on to the next steps in the negotiations.

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Step Three:
I had been looking through several different card printing companies to see who it would be that we would use when it came time for a finished product. A company called All Time Print was the winner in both price and customer service.
http://www.alltimeprint.com/

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Step Four:
The plans changed a bit. Originally we had planned on selling all of the cards for a flat fee, and walking away with a 300 or 400 dollar gross profit margin. The AFJROTC that we chose though didn't have sufficient funds to purchase the cards from us at the prices we were hoping.

So we came to a new arrangement.

We decided that Bottomline would take on all the risk. ROTC would front no money, but Bottomline would absorb the entirety of the cost. The reward that our risk yielded was 80% of each card sold (while 20% went to the corps). So for a $10 card, we took home $8.00

They agreed- we placed the order- the cards looked like this:



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Step 5:

The ROTC agreed to start selling as well and David and I hired my brothers to sell as well at a $3.00 per card commission (I know, ridiculously high- but they're family).

Step 6:

Its a few weeks later and it's accounting time.

We are still very much selling (the beauty of htis business is you really have about a full year to sell the cards)








Step 7:

See how much more profit we can rake in.


Now that our expenses have been covered (represented by the fixed costs above) everything that we can bring in is pure profit.


We aren't really strapped down to sell either considering we've hired salesman and have the corps ready to get selling again in August when school starts back up.



So Total Run Down:

Marginal Revenue: $10.00 per card sold
Total Revenue: $630.00


Total Expenses: $398 fixed
$$156 variable to date

Total Profit: $76.00 so far

Selling Class Notes

Experiment: Selling Class Notes

Proposal:
One can make a sizeable profit by taking and selling quality classnotes in a college setting and then mass marketing them to all of the students in their class.

Business Tested during Summer 2008 Semester

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Step One(June 3, 2008):
First day of Class; Develop a sellable product.

The picture is pretty lousy, but you can see a better sample Here.

I went to class with a notebook and pen (primitive I know) and took my notes by hand. Then when I came home I transferred them into a word document. I found this was helpful to me because it forced me to go through my notes again, but it also seemed to yield much more professional looking and coherent notes than if I were to type them in class.

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Step Two(July 3, 2008)
Market my Product!

My school uses a system called Web CT Vista. Most of the students hate it, but I find it makes it relatively easy to communicate with my classmates.

I mailed out a quick email to everyone in my class saying,

"Hey there Everybody!
I wanted to send out an offer to everyone in the class. I am a very proficient note taker and I transfer my notes into MS Word each day after class. Here is a sample of my notes: http://www.theisticthinking.com/samplenotes.htmlI am offering copies of my notes up for sale at the rate of $15.00 for the entire semester. By purchasing htem now, you will receive them by the day after each class via email or I can bring you a hard copy of each class' notes by the next class meeting.If you would prefer to wait until the final exam, I will be selling the complete package together for $20.00A few important details: I will be absent on June 24 and 26, so my notes will be taken out of the book for those days and not the notes from class. They should be just as good though.I will accept Cash, check or paypal as methods of payment. Just message me back here on Web CT or at Michael@theisticthinking.com if you're interested!Again, My samples are here http://www.theisticthinking.com/samplenotes.html
I hope this finds you all well! Grace and Peace!
--Michael Caldwell "

Disclaimer: It may be a good idea to speak to your professor before sending out a message like this; or, like me, you may prefer to ask forgiveness than to ask permission ;)

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Step Three(June 3, 2008)

I've already had three replies to my original email. Each of them are planning to meet me at class on Thursday and pay me for the notes at which point I will email them to them and continue to email the notes after class each day.

Step Four(June 5, 2008)

Between the Third and today I have had another email and will be meeting all four people before class to get their money.

They money has been received. Now I will be able to keep marketing and the best part is; these notes dont expire after the course- I can continue to sell them to students in this Econ 2100 class until I'm graduated (or even after really, I just dont see that happening.)

So Total Run Down:

Marginal Revenue: $15.00 per set sold
Total Revenue: $60.00
Total Expenses: $0.00 and 0 time; I was already registered for the class!

Total Profit: $60.00

Keep in mind that this was only for one class. I tried the experiment on a small scale, but come the fall I will be doing this in all five classes and marketing much more heavily. I don't see why I shouldn't be able to yield atleast 5-10 customers per class times five classes. :D

Selling Water Bottles

Experiment: Selling Water Bottles

Proposal:
By purchasing water bottles at a surplus retailer like Walmart and then selling them individually at a busy intersection, one can make a decent profit.

This idea was found at http://www.nevblog.com/ . Neville's blog is well worth reading if you ever get the chance.

Business Tested June 12, 2008 in Woodstock, GA

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Step One:
Purchase the water bottles. A friend Danny and I went to Walmart and purchased two 24 packages of waterbottles. The packs were $3.89 a piece plus a bag of ice at $1.99, leaving my total just over $10 with tax.
I had a cooler already, so that expense wasn't necessary.

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Step Two:
Make T-Shirts. We both took blank white Tee's and wrote on them in large letters "WATER $1"
Use of Color is wise, as it is more attractive than a simple black sharpee.

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Step Three:
Take the cooled water to the intersection. We went to the interstate off-ramp from 575 North and began to sell our bottles. It seemed like the easiest plan in the world; $9.00 for two packs and we should get $48.00 in return.

Well a very small ratio of the prospective customers became actual customers. I would say only one out of every 50-75 cars purchased a bottle.

After an hour and a half of walking up and down the traffic, we called it quits.

The next day my brother and I tried again, and found a new problem: The Police.

They asked if we had a permit to be selling the waters, we replied no, and we left.
We sold a total 9 bottles.


So Total Run Down:

Marginal Revenue: $1.00
Total Revenue: $9.00
Total Expenses: $10.35

Total Profit: -$1.35

Now keep in mind, this experiment was done in Atlanta, Georgia- In June. It is plenty hot enough for a driver to not only want, but need a bottle of water. It may have just been the location, demographics, etc. of our experiment- but in Woodstock, GA; the experiment was a failure.

Debut of my Experimentation Website!

www.theisticthinking.comWelcome!

My name is Michael Caldwell and I have been told that I am quite the entreprenuer. As a Business Student at Kennesaw State University, I seem to constantly have 4 or 5 different business projects on my plate; so! Here is my newest idea.

The idea is testing all of your ideas. So as I stumble across Ideas of my own, I will be posting them and then as I test them I will post a photo/text journal about the experiment and its success.

Please feel free to comment with any input, suggestions, critiques, etc.
Here Goes!

--Mike

P.S.>
Dont forget to check out a few of my other projects:
http://www.schooloftheology.org
http://www.needtostudy.com
http://www.theisticthinking.com