whomp1970 t1_irapheh wrote on October 6, 2022 at 4:14 PM

I'm not telling you not to do it ... but I'm asking anyone else who sees this to tell me if they EVER appreciate door-to-door solicitations.

You're gonna get a lot of doors slammed in your face, you're going to have to knock on 200 doors to get one sale, and you're going to get people calling the cops even if you're fully legit.

Tell me, you, the original poster: Do YOU answer the door when you know it's a salesman that's just going door-to-door?

Equivalent-Club-5191 OP t1_ircyw0q wrote on October 7, 2022 at 2:27 AM

OK you definitely have a good point and I’ve thought about that a lot and I think what we’re gonna do instead whenever we get our proper licenses is start marketing with Facebook ads and get those things that you stick on somebody’s door handle like in a hotel and put our number and email on it.

whomp1970 t1_ird5277 wrote on October 7, 2022 at 3:20 AM

There's a lot more to think about. You're 17 or 18 so maybe you haven't thought about it.

Transportation. You need to get to these homes. You need to transport your materials to these homes. Have you given thought to fuel costs? How about wear and tear on your vehicles?

Payment. How are homeowners going to pay you? If they use cash or check, you need a bank account to deposit that into. But people use credit or debit cards far more often. So you need to look into a credit card processing system.

Taxes. Unless you're making $5 operating a lemonade stand, you will need to list your profits as income, and you will need to pay taxes on it. How are you going to figure out how to do that?

Capital investment. Where are you getting the money to buy the equipment, supplies, and door hangers? My point: You need some starter money, in order to actually make money. You know, Facebook ads aren't free either. So you need some up-front money for that. You need a logo, you need a dedicated phone number and email address for your business. There's set-up costs.

Division of labor, division of profits. There's going to be three of you. Will one person handle all the phone calls and emails? How many people will go out to a house at the same time? How will the profits be split? Who put more money into the startup supplies? This kind of stuff might even need a contract.

Materials. Some woman is going to ask if your cleaning products are toxic to animals. You better have an answer. Are you using rags or paper towels? Rags need to be washed. Paper towels need to be disposed of ... are you going to throw them into customers' trash cans or will you have a way to dispose of them yourself?

Liability. Some windows are on the second floor ... or higher! What happens if you fall off the ladder? What happens if you break a homeowner's window? You can't always say "we promise we'll take care of it", you have to show proof that you have a plan for this. This comes in the form of insurance.

Look, man. Reach for the stars, don't let me stop you. Huge companies were started by a bunch of kids in their garage. It can be done, for sure.

But it's going to be hard. Making money is a lot easier when you have someone (an employer) worrying about all the things I listed above. Yes, minimum wage labor sucks, but you have to start somewhere.