July 13, 2007 at 9:16 pm · Filed under Small Business
If you are considering approaching schools to put in your vending machines, you need to be prepared for some issues. There are plenty of opinions out there about if they even belong in a school or not. If you talk to parents, teachers, and students you will find a mixture of different takes on the issue. For anyone with a vending machine business, you can’t help but think of the possibilities for large revenues here though.
More than of students from 7th through 12th grade acknowledge buying items from school vending machines on a regular basis. Their parents aren’t aware that they do this with the money they give them for activities and school lunches.
Many parents are angry over vending machines being allowed in schools. They believe it doesn’t encourage children to make healthy choices when it comes to the foods they consume. This can lead to a child becoming overweight, not getting the right vitamins and nutrients they need, and it could cause them to be diagnosed with diabetes later in life.
Many schools are attempting to meet parents and vending machine owner’s half way. The machines aren’t accessible during the lunch period so that if a student wants to eat they have to get something nutritious from the school. Still, many schools quickly find those students that live close by or that have a car go eat what they want from a local store or a drive up window.
Of course if you look at this from the prospective of a vending machine business owner, schools are a prime location. There are plenty of hungry children running around and many of them enjoy sugary drinks and snacks. As parents and schools work together to provide kids with the best nutrition though, this prospective location could end up being a thing of the past for many vendors.
One alternative is to change some of the selections offered in the vending machines. This way they could remain in the schools but offer some healthier options that will be good for the students. Instead of soda drinks offered could include water, sports drinks, and juice. Instead of sugary snacks students could choose from peanuts, granola bars, yogurt, fresh fruit, and crackers.
You just might find offering healthy foods and drinks in your school vending machines increases your sales. Many staff members may start making purchases from them as well. Most adults try to refrain from sugary drinks and snacks on a regular basis so they may really like that you offer them some healthy alternatives.
Be prepared to answer plenty of questions when you approach a school to install a vending machine. You may find the location is open due to the controversial issues. However, if you come in with fresh ideas and offering only nutritious items they may allow you to do so.
Robert Farnham - veteran vending business operator and author. He now writes articles and gives advise to new operators to help them avoid vending locating company nightmares, and the best way to find great vending locations.
July 4, 2007 at 9:24 pm · Filed under Branding
The financial potential of such a venture is quite high, especially if you manage to build yourself a nice and complex portfolio. Working online as a freelance graphic designer can be very rewarding, from more points of view. First of all, you can create your own schedule and show flexibility in your work hours. Secondly, freelance logo design projects are easy to manage online, and the logo delivery and payment can also be handled over the Internet. The demand for freelance logo design is high because more and more web masters are turning their websites into a branded company, so they need to create unique and memorable logos as part of the branding strategy.
Tips for a successful freelance logo design business:
- Create a portfolio of your previously created logos to show your clients what your style and quality level is.
- Improve your reputation as a freelance graphic designer by participating in the numerous online contests.
- Even if your client will only use the logo as a JPG or GIF file you should still create it in vector form (using Corel Draw or Adobe Illustrator), as the client might need it later for t-shirt printing of Flash animations.
- Treat each client as he or she is your only client - this is a vital freelance logo design business characteristic. Take an extra minute to write a nice message, to create an additional mockup or to deliver the files promptly - if you do so the client will be happy and will return with future projects.
How about creating your own design website?
With thousands of new websites coming to life each and every day, it’s only natural that online graphic design services are a popular business. If you are one of the people skilled in graphic design and ready to earn some money online, then freelancing is the way to go. All you need is an online graphic design website where you can showcase your work and display your online graphic design service characteristics (pricing, delivery time, payment methods accepted). Creating a website and getting leads from it will take a little of your time, but once your business is rolling, your online profits will certainly make it worth it. Develop a nice looking and functional website and make sure to optimize it so that different relevant keywords, such as online graphic design services, or logo design rank high in the search engines. You can also turn your online graphic design web site into a genuine online business and create a brand image you can also use on business cards, letterheads or t-shirts.
Steps for creating a good online graphic design web site:
- Your website could turn, in time, into one of the most profitable online business opportunities, but you have to take some time and prepare it properly. Here area few steps that should help you give an attractive and efficient shape to your online graphic design services:
- Create a good looking website. The online graphic design web site’s functionality is vital, but so is the way it is displayed from a visual point of view. Selling online graphic design web services on a dull and poorly built web site is the equivalent of a marketing suicide.
- Don’t overcrowd it - you don’t have to display 400 logos and 200 banners in your portfolio to convince your clients how good your services are. Simply select 10-20 of each graphical element and give them a short explanatory text and maybe a testimonial.
- Optimize your site for Google, MSN and Yahoo by talking about it in forums and making link exchanges with related websites. Your online graphic design service business name should appear as often as possible in various places - you never know where you will find a client.
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