Somebody teach me how to sell things.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I can tell you exactly what I'd be doing in your situation, which may or may not help you. It's too late to do this for Fall term, but it's not too late to do it for Winter term.

1. File your taxes for 2011, even if you didn't make any money. Hell, it's even easier if you didn't make any money. Make sure NOBODY is writing you in as a dependent. If your parents are claiming you, turn them in to the IRS. That's their problem. They aren't putting you through school.

2. Fill out the FAFSA online. CHECK "YES" FOR WORK-STUDY.

3. Apply for SNAP.

4. Find some silly part-time moneymaking job. This can be as simple as going to garage sales and buying tapes or making cheap elastic bracelets to sell online. It needs to be something you can completely ignore during midterms and finals without taking a hit.

5. When your financial aid comes in, get an apartment near campus. Walking distance.

Now, I hate to use the "I'm doing it and so can you" line, because I started out back at school with an established business already in place. But, I can analyze my financial situation, compare it  to your financial situation, and it is readily apparent that with only one child and no mortgage or other appreciable debt, it will be easier for you to live off financial aid + SNAP, with less need of supplemental income, than for me to live off financial aid + SNAP. Your rent should be about a third of my mortgage. You won't need a car if you take all your classes at a campus you live near.

Financial aid plus SNAP should be about $1500/month, minus tuition & books leaves you @ $900, rent & utilities/phone @ $600 leaves you $300 to eat on. More if you can supplement that somehow.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Noted.


Stella, what is a speculator, and what do they do?

Remember all those people that bought homes during the housing bubble, looking to sell them at a fantastic profit when property values would supposedly keep climbing?  Remember what happened to them (hell, remember the landlord?)?

That's what speculators are.

Ohhhhh.

Noted.

Yep. They speculate. 

But $20 for something that might go up is a lot safer than real estate. It's ok side money, I wouldn't advise anybody to try to make a living at it but given the pay rate at most jobs, you need sidelines. Put a bunch of little irons in the fire and see what works for you. 

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

Oh, hell, how could I forget:

Example 4:  A million idiots hording "Beanie Babies" 15 years back, as if they had something other than fad value.  Lose house, live in shitty apartment, look at 10,000 beanie babies that are laughing at you with their beady little eyes.

I'm still seeing those things in peoples' trash at least twice a month. 

It's what they get. They always had an in with Mickey Dee's workers, you'd get your kid a happy meal and there were no toys left. Assholes.

[Freeky]

I can tell you exactly what I'd be doing in your situation, which may or may not help you. It's too late to do this for Fall term, but it's not too late to do it for Winter term.

1. File your taxes for 2011, even if you didn't make any money. Hell, it's even easier if you didn't make any money. Make sure NOBODY is writing you in as a dependent. If your parents are claiming you, turn them in to the IRS. That's their problem. They aren't putting you through school.

2. Fill out the FAFSA online. CHECK "YES" FOR WORK-STUDY.

3. Apply for SNAP.

4. Find some silly part-time moneymaking job. This can be as simple as going to garage sales and buying tapes or making cheap elastic bracelets to sell online. It needs to be something you can completely ignore during midterms and finals without taking a hit.

5. When your financial aid comes in, get an apartment near campus. Walking distance.

Now, I hate to use the "I'm doing it and so can you" line, because I started out back at school with an established business already in place. But, I can analyze my financial situation, compare it  to your financial situation, and it is readily apparent that with only one child and no mortgage or other appreciable debt, it will be easier for you to live off financial aid + SNAP, with less need of supplemental income, than for me to live off financial aid + SNAP. Your rent should be about a third of my mortgage. You won't need a car if you take all your classes at a campus you live near.

Financial aid plus SNAP should be about $1500/month, minus tuition & books leaves you @ $900, rent & utilities/phone @ $600 leaves you $300 to eat on. More if you can supplement that somehow.

I wouldn't necessarily recieve from you "I did it and so can you" the same (read: with as much hostility) as, say, dipshit pickle or my mom. The way you did word it in fact gives me encouragement that it's possible for me to do.

Options I was considering for supplemental income: tutoring. I apparently have a knack for it in certain courses.

Yard sailing for books for resale. I rather liked that idea.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Tutoring is an EXCELLENT idea! The hours are flexible and it pays much better than almost any reselling you can do.

I'll give you a tip on book reselling; used nonfiction sells for way more than used fiction, and self-help/religion books sell for the most.

[Freeky]

Tutoring is an EXCELLENT idea! The hours are flexible and it pays much better than almost any reselling you can do.

I'll give you a tip on book reselling; used nonfiction sells for way more than used fiction, and self-help/religion books sell for the most.

Self help and religion. Got it.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

I can tell you exactly what I'd be doing in your situation, which may or may not help you. It's too late to do this for Fall term, but it's not too late to do it for Winter term.

1. File your taxes for 2011, even if you didn't make any money. Hell, it's even easier if you didn't make any money. Make sure NOBODY is writing you in as a dependent. If your parents are claiming you, turn them in to the IRS. That's their problem. They aren't putting you through school.

2. Fill out the FAFSA online. CHECK "YES" FOR WORK-STUDY.

3. Apply for SNAP.

4. Find some silly part-time moneymaking job. This can be as simple as going to garage sales and buying tapes or making cheap elastic bracelets to sell online. It needs to be something you can completely ignore during midterms and finals without taking a hit.

5. When your financial aid comes in, get an apartment near campus. Walking distance.

Now, I hate to use the "I'm doing it and so can you" line, because I started out back at school with an established business already in place. But, I can analyze my financial situation, compare it  to your financial situation, and it is readily apparent that with only one child and no mortgage or other appreciable debt, it will be easier for you to live off financial aid + SNAP, with less need of supplemental income, than for me to live off financial aid + SNAP. Your rent should be about a third of my mortgage. You won't need a car if you take all your classes at a campus you live near.

Financial aid plus SNAP should be about $1500/month, minus tuition & books leaves you @ $900, rent & utilities/phone @ $600 leaves you $300 to eat on. More if you can supplement that somehow.

I wouldn't necessarily recieve from you "I did it and so can you" the same (read: with as much hostility) as, say, dipshit pickle or my mom. The way you did word it in fact gives me encouragement that it's possible for me to do.

Options I was considering for supplemental income: tutoring. I apparently have a knack for it in certain courses.

Yard sailing for books for resale. I rather liked that idea.

I knew a lady who combed stores that sold old overstock stuff cheap. Quilted placemats, shirts, salt and pepper shakers, just junk for a dollar or two. She'd flip it on ebay for about $5-$10, seemed to do OK.

I imagine her house might look like something out of "hoarders", though. :P

[Richter]

A few ideas - Sales is now a service industry.  It's more about being able to suggest and converse over a product, it's quality, and the value it is going to bring the consumer, than to deliver a "hard sell"  as others mentioned before.  Never push, offer.  Contacts, contacts, contacts, you live and die by who you know, who knows you are selling, and who you know needs product. 

Have a service you can provide post-sale, and use it to build rapport.  All the sales jackasses I know are closers who vanish once the deal is closed.  Be their contact, their advocate, their buddy, and their In-guy with the company.  Even if it's a one-off lifetime product like Cutco, make sure they go to you if a knife breaks.  You get them a replacement from you stock, and REAM the supplier on their behalf.  Even if they obviously took a knife to a rock, advocate for them.   

Ohhh, Cutco.  How could I ever forget about you?

These have all been a great help for in-person sales.  Thanks, everyone.

Does anyone have tips for telemarketing sales?

If it is cold calling, then you're in a bit of a pickle.  You will likely have a script, and required responses or actions.  With any script, don't just recite.  Understand it, vary it, and make it your own.  People can "Hear" a recitation, so you have to be able to make it your own on the fly.  This shit takes practice. 
Again, know the shit you sell inside and out.  Know the shit it interacts with so you can comment on that, and know the shit you compete against, and be able to give an intelligent comparison.

...this doesn't get around the fact that it is basically Russian roulette if the person you call is interested or not though.  Ask yourself if you really COULD hock off a bunch of shitty linoleum on a social security widowed retiree who likely doesn't understand what she's buying.  (I had to deal with this when I was doing loan work.  They HATED it when I'd tell people not to apply, or not push for an application.)

Take no for an answer.  Never stutter, never say "um", and never let them hear you get frantic or mad.  Some people will try to grill you out of your comfort zone jsut to see if they CAN. 

..and when it's over, fuck it, you may never talk to them again.