Want to Start a Business for under $5,000?
By Brian Miner
How about "order taking". $5000 would be a great amount to start advertising. You place ads in newspapers, classifieds
and take phone orders from home at your kitchen table or home office. It would be like an answering service, but you make
a commission for every order you get or appointment you set. A good example would be taking calls for a
contractor or vendor. Lots of business's use order taking companies or private contractors.
You place the ad, take the call and set appointments with a pre-arranged contractor and get a percentage
if they get the job. You may only get a few calls a week so place lots of ads in newspapers, periodicals, phone directories
and maybe hand out fliers. Some newspaper ads are cheap and if you're afraid of losing your $5000, start out small
with a few hundred dollars until your confident that you will get your money back and still make a profit.
Whether you want to take orders for a small business or become a private contractor to a corporate 500,
find the right order management software. They are made for small business, corporate and for individual industries.
Visit other order takers websites and see what they are doing. You can start out modestly
as a semi order taker and answering service with a pencil and pad. A good order taker can make $28,000 a year.
An order taker with professional sales ability can make $55,000 and more. A lot of people
start businesses that they know absolutely nothing about, but the idea is if you don't know anything about
the business hire someone that can fill in your weak spots. Not everyone is good at order taking or dealing directly
with the consumer. The industry says a salesperson and order taker are two different trades. It takes its own talent.
The options are to work a live chatbot where basically you text back and forth to take an order.
You can also do e-mail marketing instead. Where you rely on a good sales letter or a website with an online
order form to take orders instead. Good Luck