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Pennies From Heaven
Written by: James ChanArticle Overview: You never know who'll buy your first product.
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Free Download - The "C-H-I-N-A" formula for selling services or products to China By James Chan |
Pennies From Heaven
When I set up my business in 1983, I had expectations that proved to be completely upside down. I believed it would be a long time before I would be able to build up a regular demand for my services. Thus, to tide me over, I developed a sure-fire product that would generate substantial income from Day One.
This was a list of Chinese libraries that buy foreign books and journals. I knew from experience that such a list would be very useful to publishing companies, and that my list was better than any other.
As I was completing the list, I wrote a promotion letter and mailed it to hundreds of publishers. I had rented a post office box to receive the anticipated deluge of prepaid orders. I was perturbed that only the smallest post office box was available; overflow might well be a problem.
A few weeks went by. I managed to acquire three clients for my services, almost immediately, and I became quite busy. Still, I found time to go to the post office twice daily to pick up the checks for the list. The problem was that there weren~{!/~}t any. All I ever found was junk mail.
Then one day, I received an envelope from something called the Center for UFO Studies, an organization to which I hadn~{!/~}t written. I almost threw it away unopened, but then I notice that it contained a check. It was for $50, a rental fee for only a tiny portion of the mailing list. I deposited the check in the bank. It cleared!
It wasn~{!/~}t much money, but it was the first income the list ever generated. And it had come, literally, from out of the blue, from people who were searching for something that might not, in fact, exist. While it was nice to make some money, I was nevertheless troubled by it. Was my business based on a delusion, a need that nobody else could see? Were believers in extraterrestrial visitors the only people who would believe in me?
Eventually, I did find companies that paid for my list. I have continued to update and greatly expand it, and several of the largest publishers in the world lease it regularly. But the number of checks I receive has still never strained the capacity of my mailbox.
As it has turned out, the most important thing about the list is that it has made people aware of me. It transpired that my skills are more valuable to many companies than my list, and a few list buyers have become important clients for my services. Some have also taken me in new directions. One, the American Management Association, hired me to create a course for executives on doing business in China, which has led in turn to further opportunities to brief executives and launch training programs for multinational companies. Although the list has never made me rich~{!*~}or even contributed a significant percentage of my annual income~{!*~}it has opened doors to opportunities I couldn~{!/~}t have dreamed of.
I thought when I created the list that I had invented a better mousetrap, and that the world would beat a path to my door. What I had really done was to plant a tree, which, after years of cultivation, has borne abundant fruit.
The list is a good product, but it couldn~{!/~}t have worked for me as it has if I had not persevered and kept upgrading and promoting it, and myself, along the way. Money doesn~{!/~}t fall from the sky. And on those rare occasions when it does, it~{!/~}s not enough to live on.
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Article Tags: checks, chinese libraries, deluge, delusion, extraterrestrial visitors, fire product, foreign books, journals, junk mail, long time, much money, out of the blue, overflow, post office box, publishers, publishing companies, substantial income, tiny portion, ufo studies
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About the Author: James Chan RSS for James's articles - Visit James's website  Click here to visit James's website   Business As A Contact Sport Differentiating Between Price and Value Your First Client Is Yourself Balancing Work and Life Searching for Wholeness and Balance As An Entrepreneur |
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