Clothes. Food. Games, toys, or collectables. Information like study guides. Services like tutoring or dog walking. [1] X Research source
A low price means more potential customers. A larger customer base means higher profits at a lower margin. If you do pick a higher price point or more premium goods or services, make sure that the margin or markup is high enough to make it worth the fact that you’ll be relying on a much smaller pool of potential customers. [2] X Research source
Going with a high volume, low margin product. This might include candy, food, or similar items. These are items that you won’t make too much money on, but that people will buy repeatedly from you, possibly several times a week. Picking a low volume, high margin product. This could include tennis shoes, collectables, or clothes. These are items you’ll only sell a few of, but you’ll make decent money selling them. Selling a number of things that are “hot. ” There might be a new toy, game, or electronic that everyone wants for Christmas but is sold out in your area. If you have the ability and resources, you can travel to a neighboring city and purchase these products there. Then, at home, you can resell them to people at school. Offering a service, like tutoring or something similar, that will gain you reliable and repeat customers. [3] X Research source
Don’t limit yourself to just selling products out of your backpack. Consider selling information, like notes, test-tips, or similar services. Consider creating a webpage that offers a novel service if you’re in a school that is large enough. [4] X Research source
If you’re offering a good or service on a college campus, you should contact the appropriate authority on campus to see if you can exchange goods or services on campus. Consider advertising at school, but exchanging money for goods or services elsewhere. This might enable you to get around any rules or regulations your college or school might have. Make sure you don’t need a business license to operate. In many places, you can do a certain amount of business (under a certain dollar figure) without actually having to apply for a business license. However, if your business is successful and you want to expand, you might need to apply for a license.
If you’re selling a product, make sure you have enough on hand to meet daily or weekly demand without investing too much money in stock that you might not sell if your business fails. You should be very cautious at first before you know the market and specific demand for your product. Don’t over invest – you might wind up eating those 500 candy bars instead of selling them. If you’re offering a service, like tutoring or mowing lawns, you need to figure out the maximum amount of time you can devote to your business. You definitely have other obligations, so don’t over-extend yourself. If you think you’ll be booked up right away, consider hiring someone else to share the work with. [5] X Research source
Price your product or service competitively with others who offer the same product or service. If you think your product or service is better, price it somewhat higher, but make sure you can communicate to customers why your product or service is better than that of the competition. Keep cost and profit in mind. [6] X Research source
Compiling a list of potential vendors for the product you want to buy, then calling them to see who sells cheaper. Traveling outside your city to buy your products at wholesale pricing. Ordering your products from an internet wholesaler. [7] X Research source
Practice offering your service to someone. If you’ll be tutoring, tutor a friend a couple of times so you’ve worked out the kinks in your tutoring approach. If you’ll be offering dog walking or lawn care services to your peers parents, practice those services before you even have your first customer. Make sure you’ve sat down and thought about all the questions potential customers might have about your service. You don’t want to be left not being able to answer a question from a potential customer. If you have one, check out your website and test it for kinks. If you’re doing something web-based, make sure you’ve tested your website several times before opening it to the public. Invite all of your friends and family on to the website as testers. Chances are, they’ll find something you might not have thought about. [9] X Research source
Print off flyers and pass them out to your friends and peers at school. Make sure that this is okay with the school authorities before you do this. Put up posters or flyers on designated advertising boards at your school or on your campus. Often times, schools and colleges will designate certain areas for the posting of advertisements. Post your flyers there. Advertise your business through word of mouth. Tell everyone about the service your offering or the product you’re selling. After all, it might be your friends and the people you see every day who wind up making up your customer base. Rely on these people, and ask them to tell others they know. Promote your business on social media. Use social media outlets like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to advertise your business. This will probably help you get the word out the quickest, especially if you have friends promoting your business for you. [10] X Research source
Go to the bank and get plenty of cents, quarters, dimes and nickels. You don’t want to be given a $5 bill, and not have the change. To avoid the problem of change, try to price your product in a way that will make it easier for people to pay. Avoid selling a candy bar for 95 cents when you can charge a dollar. Don’t sell something for $4. 35 when you can sell it for $4 or $4. 50.
Never carry more money than you need on any given day. If you’ve had a lucrative morning, lunch period, or afternoon, deposit excess money somewhere safe if you can. At the very least, separate larger bills from smaller bills and put them somewhere different than where you keep your change. Don’t keep your change in your wallet or purse. Make sure you have something specific, like a money pouch that you use to hold the money you’ll need for your business. Don’t flash your money around or tell your friends or anyone else how much you make every day. The less people know, the better. If someone tries to rob you, don’t fight them. It’s better to lose a day’s worth of money than to have a trip to the hospital or infirmary. [11] X Research source
Do the math on faulty products. How often do you expect to sell something that unbeknownst to you is broken or spoiled? In the course of normal business, you will definitely come across customers who will come to you wanting a refund for something that is “not right. ” If it makes economic sense, offer your customers a replacement and a refund. This will make them extremely happy, and chances are they’ll come back to you again. Always apologize and never blame the customer. Arguing or being rude to your customer will just lose you business. Accept feedback and ask for feedback. No matter whether your customer is offering negative or positive feedback, you should accept it and try to internalize it. Also, if you have regular customers, ask them for feedback about how you can better serve them.
