Hi tscot6868,
You've asked a fairly broad question, and, in turn, I'm going to
provide you with some fairly broad information. But I think you'll
find it will be enough to get you started...
First, in my search I tended to give more weight to
government/educational/business information than sites that appeared
to be offering some type of "get-rich-quick" through mail order
scheme. You can certainly find manu those types of sites through a
Google search strategy such as "Start your mail order catalog
business"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&c2coff=1&q=Start+your+mail+order+catalog+business&btnG=Google+Search
I'm going to start with some background on starting a small business,
and on home-based businesses, and move from there.
Out of the sites I looked at, I was particularly impressed with the
Federal Consumer Information Center's "The Facts of Starting a Small
Business" which includes sections on creating a business plan,
understanding your market, pricing your product(s), understanding cash
flow, and getting help and information on getting started from the
Small Business Administration.
http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/smbuss/start-smbusiness/smbus.html
I also liked a series of fact sheets on starting a home-based home
business from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension (I may be
slightly prejudiced here as a Univerity of Maine alumnus :-)) These
sheets cover such topics as...
Starting a Home Business, bulletin #3007
Capital Sources for Your Business, bulletin #3008
How to Organize Your Business, bulletin #3009
Record Keeping for Profit, bulletin #3010
How to Insure Your Business, bulletin #3011
Estimating Retail Market Potential, bulletin #3012
So You're in Sales, bulletin #3013
Taxes and Permits, bulletin # 3014
All online beginning at...
http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/HBBseries/4190.htm
Not knowing whether you intend to base your mail order catalog
business from your home, I would still take many of the writer's
caveats to mind, including, "Operating a home-based business usually
requires a greater commitment of time, energy and money than most
jobs." which, from experience, I can tell you applies to any
self-owned business, whether home-based or not.
Moving to the mail order catalog business specifically, I suggest you
begin with "The Mail Order Business Bookshelf" page which lists over
60 books on mail order and direct marketing. All the titles are linked
to Amazon, making it simple to find more on a specific book and to
order. "The Mail Order Business Bookshelf" page is at...
http://www.cyberhaven.com/booksforbusiness/mailorder.html
I did a specific search on Amazon using the phrase "start mail order
catalog business"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/002-3013160-5552015
and came away with at least one title not listed in the "The Mail
Order Business Bookshelf" page, "Creating a Profitable Catalog:
Everything You Need to Know to Create a Catalog That Sells" rated 5
stars by several reviewers. The book can be found at Amazon at...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0658000640/qid=1028652266/sr=2-1/002-3013160-5552015
Note that my search at Amazon also brought up "The Catalog Handbook:
How to Produce a Successful Mail Order Catalog", also highly rated by
one reviewer and noted by the "Mail Order Business Bookshelf"
Related titles at Amazon you might want to look at include,
101 Tips for More Profitable Catalogs by Maxwell Sroge
How to Create Successful Catalogs by Maxwell Sroge, Anne Knudsen
(Editor)
How to Start a Home-Based Mail-Order Business (How to Start a
Home-Based Business) by Georganne Fiumara
The Catalog Management Handbook by Catalog Age Editors (Editor),
Editors of Catalog Age magazine
Catalog Copy That Sizzles: All the Hints, Tips, and Tricks of the
Trade You'll Ever Need to Write Copy That Sells by Herschell Gordon
Lewis
More information on any of these titles can be found by using the
title or author name through an Amazon search.
Finally, you may want to look at the "Catalog Age" Web page at...
http://www.industryclick.com/magazine.asp?magazineid=153&SiteID=2
...review some of the articles and see if it'd be worth your while to
subscribe to the magazine. While my cursory review seemed to indicate
that Catalog Age was more targeted to large mail order catalogs, a
recent issue did include articles such as "Free Web Directories — Is
There a Catch?" which in fact addresses Google's Catalog Search
Directory...
http://www.industryclick.com/magazinearticle.asp?magazineid=153&releaseid=10396&magazinearticleid=153676&siteid=2
...which you might find of interest. While I did not fill out the
online form, Catalg Age does note on the site that.. "Free
subscriptions are available to qualified USA subscribers."
Hope this information helps, and good luck in starting your mail order
catalog business!
rico |
