1. Set up a mail order business which sells motorcycle memorabilia. Put together a catalogue which
includes: videos, films, posters, photographs, books, instruction booklets, old magazines and newspapers,
etc. Advertise your catalogue in motorcycle magazines.
2. Start an enterprise which reproduces classic poems on postcards and posters. Also do framed prints of
classic poems. Sell these from a stall in an antiques or crafts market or get them stocked at souvenir or gift
shops.
3. Produce a cataloguing system for record collectors. This system might consist of a card index box with
pre-printed index cards. Each card has a printed section for the name of the artist, record and record label.
Sell this cataloguing system through record shops or by mail-order.
4. Publish a monthly audio cassette fro one trade, such as newsagents, grocers, hair salons, booksellers,
etc. Each cassette should give: Trade news, management tips, suggestions for improving sales, etc.
Organise a direct mail campaign to recruit subscribers.
5. Start a newspaper and magazine roadside stand. Ask established newspaper vendors how they got
started.
6. Bring out a correspondence course about how to write short stories for profit. Sell from newspaper and
magazine ads and charge anything up to the average weekly wage (paid in instalments) depending on the
contents of the course.
7. Produce a correspondence course about how to write good poetry. If most poets received a small
amount of tuition about how to compose poems, their work would improve dramatically. Sell the course by
advertising in literary and women's magazines.
8. Begin a business which deals in old and new American and British comics. This business might: 1) Sell
comics by post from a catalogue. 2) Operate a comics of the month club for specialised collectors and 3)
Run a comics stall at fairs and markets.
9. Write to overseas publishers of English language newsletters and offer to act as the distributor for their
newsletter in this country. In your letter to the publishers outline the benefits they will gain if they let you
distribute their newsletter.
10. Start a service which cleans wire baskets and supermarket trolleys. Baskets and trolleys often spend
most of the day on a dusty floor or outside, open to the elements.
11. Use wooden jigsaw pieces to make earrings and necklaces. Add a hand painted design to the side of the
jigsaw piece not covered by a part of the picture. Call your goods jigsaw puzzle jewellery. Sell from a stall
at fairs, car boot sales or get it stocked at trendy shops.
12. Take metal rods and tubes of different diameters and cut into slices. Arrange the slices to make pictures
and patterns. Mount these pictures and sell as craftwork. Or produce kits for making pictures with slices of
rods and tubes. Use mail order to sell these kits to craftworkers.
13. Write and sell articles or books about starting a business and making money. Sell the manuscripts to
publishers of business opportunity books, newsletters, magazines and newspapers. For a start, Jon Murray
Information Services, 114 Duke Street, Edinburgh, EH6 8HR will welcome any manuscripts for approval
and possible purchase.
14. Set up a business which produces a quality audio cassette library of nursery rhymes. Alternatively,
produce a series of cassettes which feature X-rated nursery rhymes for adults. Sell these by either getting
them stocked in bookshops or by starting a monthly club.
15. Compile and publish a monthly bulletin which informs subscribers of poetry competitions they are
eligible to enter at home and abroad. Target your recruitment campaign for subscribers at practising poets.
16. Bring out a series of plans for woodworkers, soft toy makers, leather workers and other craftworkers.
Either sell printed copies of these plans at wholesale prices or sell the reproduction rights. Then any
craftworker or hobbyist can start a mail order business selling the plans.
17. Publish a "Which?" newsletter about newsletters. As the number of newsletters and subscribers is ever
increasing, there is a gap in the market for a newsletter which comments on and judges the value of the
others.
18. Begin an enterprise which makes model paper products for dolls and dolls' houses. These might
include: Newspapers, money, stationery, napkins, paper hats, Christmas cards, etc. Sell these products by
mail order to doll makers and collectors.
19. Write a non-fiction book which may, for example, be about a hobby. Enlist a book printer to produce
copies of the book. Sell these to the market that would be interested in the contents. You might, for
example, place ads in hobby magazines.
20. Give personal tuition in your own home on how to write good English. Advertise your service by
placing cards in windows of local newsagents. Point out the advantages of taking the course, such as
getting a better job and helping the children with their homework.
21. Start a singles contact magazine or newsletter, each issue might include both small ads from people
looking for partners and editorials of interest to single people. Use press and magazine advertising to build
up a list of subscribers.
22. Set up a holiday companion introduction service. Your service matches and introduces single people
who do not have anyone to go on holiday with. Place classified ads in numerous publications to attract
clients. Or produce a publication which lists people who are looking for holiday companions.
23. Write and publish a newsletter for those who want to start a successful business. The newsletter might,
for example, discuss effective ways of: Selling, managing, generating ideas, locating suppliers and finding
customers. Use your local library service to research these topics.
24. Begin a crafts enterprise which turns out wirecraft ornaments. These ornaments are free-standing, 3-D
objects which consist entirely of wire: the wire makes the outlines. The ornaments might be in the shape of:
aeroplanes, helicopters, people, animals, boats or bicycles.
25. Start a mail order business which promotes the craft of making ornaments and models from shaping
wire. Design and make up a complete kit for beginners. Include this kit in your catalogue, as well as tools,
design ideas and raw materials for wire craftworkers.
26. Make football rosettes and get them stocked at newsagents and sports shops. Each one might be placed
in a cellophane packet or polythene bag.
27. Produce a series of storytelling videos. An actor or actress reads classic novels directly to the camera.
Hire out these videos by post. You can use whole or part of classic stories for which the copyright has
expired. This is the case for any work where the writer has been dead for 50 or more years.
28. Start a venture which organises river or coastal boat trips for: Business parties, wedding receptions,
anniversaries, birthday parties, etc. Your service would do things like: organise transport to the boat,
booking catering services, hiring entertainers and hosts or hostesses.
30. If you can play a musical instrument, earn money by providing background music at: Restaurants, pubs,
wine bars, tea-rooms, hotel breakfasts, amusement arcades, or ice skating rinks. Also play during the
interval at theatres and/or cinemas.
31. Sell copies of theatrical plays by post. Put together a wide range of new and second-hand publications
and produce a catalogue. Advertise your catalogue in both the theatre press and theatre programmes.
32. Buy and sell second-hand compact disks. Buy collections of disks by post and use local ads to find
sellers in your area. The disks you acquire can be sold: by post, from a market stall, or get them stocked at
local shops.
33. Have a stall which sells fashionable clothes. Your stall might be a full-time business, working at street
markets or it may be part-time and appear at craft and antique fairs.
34. Set up a sheet music of the month club. Each month send members a selection of sheets to include the
latest popular songs. Club members will include: Musicians, who play at clubs and pubs, record companies
and keen amateur musicians.
35. Sell Beatles or Elvis memorabilia by mail order. Conduct your own research to discover what
memorabilia you can produce yourself, for example, reprint photographs and duplicate press cuttings. Also
buy goods from collectors and trade sources at home and abroad.
