What Would You Really Do If You Got 500 Orders A Day?

7/16/2013

You've seen all the money-making articles claiming that you can make $10,000 a month or more. You've read success stories about people who make $1 or $2 million a year. But did you ever stop and think about the work involved in processing the orders? Sure, the money sounds great, but you'll work A LOT of overtime in making it.

Let's examine this a little more closely:

Suppose you wrote a booklet that sells for $10. You advertise it nationally (through a ad placement service bureau) and it hits! One day you go to your mailbox to pick up your mail and there is a note inside that says See Clerk. You go to the front desk and tubs filled with mail are stacked on top of each other and have to be wheeled to your car. They completely fill up the trunk, back seat and floorboard of your car. You can't believe it.

After getting the mail home, it takes you 8-10 hours to open it, separate the junk from the orders and stack up the $10 checks in a pile. Your family may help because they share in your excitement. Besides, everyone keeps saying: You're rich! You hit it big! Your book is a success. Oh, what a glorious day this is!!

You grab yourself a bite to eat since you have spent the last 8-10 hours opening mail. Now it's time to fill those orders. You discover that you have 500 orders to process for your book, plus $5,000 to deposit in the bank the next morning. Doesn't sound too hard on the surface does it? Let's look again.

• Even if you're a fast typist, it will take 2-3 hours to type out 500 mailing labels and check them for accuracy. (Retail: $40)

• You'll need 500 catalog envelopes, assuming your book is the 5"x8" size. (Retail: $25)

• You'll also need 500 copies of your book. If you don't have that many in stock (most people don't) you'll have to find a local printer and ask them to do a rush job. (Retail: $1,000+)

• You'll also need 500, 55 cent postage stamps to mail the orders. (Retail: $275)

But guess what? The next day when you go to the post office you have another 500 orders waiting for you. Since you only got about 30 minutes of sleep the day before, you now find that you have to go through the whole process again. (Somehow, this second bunch of 500 orders is not quite as exciting as the first bunch.)

While you and the kids are opening up the mail from the 2nd day, your printer calls and says the 500 books are ready to pick up. You instruct him to do another rush job of 500 and to deliver the first 500 so you can fill the 1st day's orders.

You get neighbors, friends and family to stuff the 500 envelopes while you are still opening the mail from the 2nd day. But after 48 hours of not getting any sleep, you lay down for a 6-hour nap.

When you awake, you don't have time to eat or relax. You immediately have to start processing the 500 orders for the 2nd day. But first, you load up the filled orders from the 1st day and make a trip to the post office. But guess what? Today you have 3,000 pieces of mail waiting for you, which takes you 25-30 hours just to open and results in 1,200 more orders. What are you going to do?

This is only one example to demonstrate the work involved in making the millions of dollars those ads claim that you can make. Even if you just sell a product and rely on another company to fill the orders for you, can you imagine the paperwork involved to process 500 orders one day, 500 the next and 1,200 the next? The paperwork, accounting and just opening the mail alone would take 14-18 hours a day and more. You never have time to sleep, eat or even sit down and say "Whew!"

Also, I need to point out that if you are a one-person operation, meaning you have no one to help you, your income can only reach a certain level because you can only do so much. After that level is reached, you must hire more people or another company to process your mail and orders.

It only goes to show that making money is hard work!! It's not quick and easy like those infomercials and ads claim they are. Be wise!!!

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