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For a long time I have had a very strong entrepreneurial spirit and an ambition to monetize opportunities as much as I possibly could. One of these opportunities showed itself in the form of selling drinks during the lunch periods at my high school. Since it took me a while to gather the necessary resources to start my venture, I was only able to sell during my senior year of high school. I know if I had been able to start earlier, the profits I could have earned would be far greater than I can imagine, but despite my short time in business, I managed to net over one thousand dollars in sales, keeping several hundred in profits. And now I would like to share my story with you.

Buy low, sell high

The basic concept of profit is to buy low and sell high. It seems simple, and in the right situations, there is nothing more than that. If you can find something at a reasonably low price, and get someone else to pay more for it, you’ve made profit. It may seem difficult to do such, but if you just look around, opportunities are everywhere. Find something that you want to change, and change it. Think about things that you pay more for than you are comfortable with, and chances are someone feels the same way. In some simple situations, there are only a few steps needed to profit from these problems that are far too common.

1. Recognize a problem

That is exactly how I made my profits. Every school I have been to has had more than a few vending machines somewhere on the grounds, and they are always well shopped. Vending machines can sell lots of things, from iPods to sticks of gum, but those we are most interested in are of the beverage nature. Despite the high consumer volume at these machines, ask anyone how they feel about the cost of the drinks, and most will say they are overpriced. A whole dollar is just too much to pay for a canned drink. Hence, the problem.

2. Solve the problem

Sometimes the hardest part of the equation is recognizing the problem. From there, all that is necessary is an efficient and accurate remedy. Even at the highest cost, a 12-pack of almost any canned soda costs no more than four or five dollars. Distribute that cost over the twelve drinks, and, worst case scenario, the cost of each drink is about 42 cents. That’s less than half of a dollar! Set your price anywhere between 42 cents and a dollar, and each drink still costs less than a vending machine, but still brings in profits.

When I sold drinks, I looked for coupons, sales, and discounts, averaging about $3 for a 12-pack of sodas. At that price, each can cost me 25 cents, and I would sell them for 50 cents each. At this price, I was selling at only half the cost of the vending machines, while still making twice what I paid for the drinks.

3. Expand the business

At first, I only bought a few packs of soda and talked to friends and people I knew to get going. I didn’t want to spend too much, in case my plan did not work out the way I had imagined, but once sales began to pick up, I bought a greater variety of drinks and more of each type of drink. A few weeks after starting my sales, I had more types of drinks than the vending machines, and even started selling a few snack foods as well.

4. Give great customer service

By the time I graduated, I had created a fairly large and loyal customer base. I built up a reputation for providing a quality product at a good price, and word spread pretty quickly about my business. I made a point to appease every customer of mine, listening to complaints and suggestions and trying to the greatest extent of my person to accommodate all of their requests. Even some people I had never met before I started selling would recognize me as the soda man and, without hesitation, come up and ask for a soda.

Attention to the details

While this may seem like easy money, there is a bit of work involved. For example, people don’t like to drink warm drinks, so the problem arises of how to keep drinks cold. This cooling of the drinks incurs other expenses, but if done efficiently will not drastically affect your bottom line. Other things that need to be considered are keeping track of expenses and revenue, stocking drinks and accurately estimating future sales in order to have enough product to meet demand, but not too much that it will sit for weeks before being purchased, and deciding how to transport the products to the customers while keeping a quality standard for everyone who will use them.

The final step

As I mentioned in my earlier post, the hardest, and most important part of any venture is starting. Once a project has begun, things start to fall into place and it is much easier to see the big picture, rather than all of the things that must be completed before you can start making money. Be patient. It takes time and work to make money, but in the end, it is well worth it.

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