---Getting more organized at the beginner level: Advertising, bulk loads, and books!

Hello,

I consider myself to be at the top part of the beginner level in scrapping and have been doing it for about 8 months now. Ive been doing the following changes to my business to move ahead.

1. Advertising: Ive been making advertising, getting clients and more product my main priority. I realize its ok to be over loaded with stuff ( I live on an acre lot, so this works out for me). Before I used to break down what I got before I renew my ad and really go out for more clients. This way I have more stuff to make better deals and better contacts. This may seem like a basic idea but, there have been many times where I have had like 10 computers, 8 appliances, and some other stuff that I break down instead of renewing my ad , going to local businesses, making phone calls, etc. I now plan on doing the break down of stuff after I have advertised for several hours and only when I have down time or when it is late at night when I usually dont get phone call. After all getting stuff is the driving force of the business anyway.

2. Bulk: the focusing on advertising and getting more stuff allows me to deal more in bulk. Instead of selling 2-3 working computer to the computer shop I will sell in bulk like 20, which they will prefer. This will save me gas and time. I plan on doing bulk in the following areas with the following minimums: Steel (5-10 tons in a roll-off bin), e-waste (600 lbs. sent to ewasted), and TV's (40 tv to get .13/lb, I live in Ca. where we get paid for tvs). The only hard thing about this is it will take awhile to get paid but, I feel the sacrifice will be worth it.

3. Books/Accounting: Ive been writing down and keeping track of everything I do everyday. I write down every address, name, phone number, and a description of what I did/picked-up for every client in a notebook. I write down the tasks I do at home, my mileage I drive for taxes, how much I make every day/week/month. This helps me for the following reasons: to contact previous customers, tax purposes, seeing progress, I can see how much I am earning, and remembering what I did during the week.


Well that is most of the changes that I have done recently. Just thought that I would write it all down to help me see it in writing and maybe these approaches will apply to other members and may help them.

On a sad note my timing belt went out on my truck, just a little set back and I will be back on track.

thanks for reading the post

Where have you had luck selling TVs in California? I am rather isolated but would love a good lead if it doesnt impact your gig negatively. Thanks!

the timing belt should be easy enough to replace, if it's a serpentine

Originally Posted by mrsamsonite

Hello,

I consider myself to be at the top part of the beginner level in scrapping and have been doing it for about 8 months now. Ive been doing the following changes to my business to move ahead.

1. Advertising: Ive been making advertising, getting clients and more product my main priority. I realize its ok to be over loaded with stuff ( I live on an acre lot, so this works out for me). Before I used to break down what I got before I renew my ad and really go out for more clients. This way I have more stuff to make better deals and better contacts. This may seem like a basic idea but, there have been many times where I have had like 10 computers, 8 appliances, and some other stuff that I break down instead of renewing my ad , going to local businesses, making phone calls, etc. I now plan on doing the break down of stuff after I have advertised for several hours and only when I have down time or when it is late at night when I usually dont get phone call. After all getting stuff is the driving force of the business anyways.

Just wanted to make an update to this post I made a long time ago. I made advertising, marketing, and sale a priority in my junk removal service and it has paid off. I had gotten so much stuff I had to take 2-3 weeks off of picking up items just to go through it. I dont mean it to brag but to help others. Sales is so important and it can get you so many jobs. Not the sleazy car salesman sales rather, being able to present your service in a clear understandable way, naming all the benefits of your service, and making people feel comfortable doing business with you. If people feel comfortable with you they wont mind paying a little more and wont look elsewhere. With good customer service you will get lots of repeat business as well.

Since I have had an increase product I have had to go through stuff more quickly. This has cause me to realize that breaking down stuff isnt as worth it for me anymore. The list of stuff I break down now is very small and I like it that way, it keeps things less cluttered and saves time for me to focus on getting more things to have more volume. I have shifted to a lot more sales at the swapmeet (that means fleamarket to some of you haha), ebay, auction house, and a lot less breaking down.

Well that is about it for the update for now, thanks