If you are looking for a home based business idea that you can start with very little investment and very little time, this might be a great idea to try.
The idea is to provide a directory of services that you mail to people who are moving in your area.
You won't get rich doing this, but it could turn into a nice monthly residual profit stream. Read on to find out exactly how to implement this money making idea.
First use the classified section of your local paper or the online version and find "Moving Sales".
These ads will have a phone number in the ad. And some will have the address too, but if they don’t copy the number and paste into Google.
This will give you the name, address, city, etc. Copy these back to a database of your choice.
Do all the moving ads in the paper. You will find them under merchandise for sale, yard sales, etc.
The best way is to insert the word "moving" into the search box of your local online paper's classified section.
Now that you have the names of the people that are moving, sort them by telephone exchange. The telephone exchange number is the three numbers after the area code: Example: (845) XXX- 1234 Where the X's represent the exchange numbers.
You know your area and if all the numbers are within say 20 miles then you can use them all. Otherwise, just pick the numbers that are.
Now search in your phone directory, newspaper ads and online directories for the following services
* Cleaning * Pressure Washing * Gutter Cleaning * Heating and Air Conditioning Servicing * Off Site Storage Facility (or PODs) * Painting * Moving Service * Tree Removal * Lawn Service/Landscaping * Handyman * Driveway Pavement Repair * Deck Cleaning * Window Repair * Hauling * Roofing Repair * Property Management Service * Exterminator * Carpet Cleaning/Replacement * Real Estate Agent * Mortgage Broker * Appraisal Service * Home Inspection Service
Most of these will be one-person businesses advertising cleaning services. Copy these and bring them back to a new database.
Almost all people that move need to clean their home or rental before leaving, and a lot of them would prefer to hire someone else to do it.
And if they are selling a home, they may have to do some repairs per the terms of the sale, or may need some of the other services listed above.
Now with this unique business idea you would create a Moving-Out Directory. This would simply be a directory of businesses for people who are moving that may need these types of services.
Contact each of the businesses you have found in your search and sell them on the idea of being included in your directory.
If you can get one business from each of these categories to pay you a set fee per month to be listed exclusively in your directory, you could set up an easy source of recurring income every month.
And this is one of those creative small business ideas with very low start up costs and requirements.
Your only costs would be to print and mail out your directory, and your time would be spent continually searching for new movers to mail your directory to.
You could also give free copies of your directory to area realtors and property management companies for even more exposure, and this would increase the value of advertising in your directory to the businesses that you invite.
These businesses should jump at the chance to be in your directory because:
1) You offer them exclusivity (only one business per category allowed).
2) They could do this themselves, BUT it would cost them time and money that they could put to better use.
3) They are probably spending much more for other advertising, and would not be getting anywhere near the targeted exposure you could offer them.
If you decide to pursue this business idea, a little research should get you going pretty quickly. And you can probably come up with even more creative ways to get your directory in the hands of people who are moving out of homes and rentals.
Be sure to encourage the businesses advertising in your directory to provide some type of discount, coupon or incentive for the potential mover to choose their service.
The more directories you are sending or giving out per month, the bigger the value of your directory to the potential businesses that will advertise in it.
So make sure you are doing all you can to get your directory into the hands of people moving.
This will ensure your advertisers succeed, and then with this business idea you will succeed too.
