I help people get started and succeed with a mall cart or kiosk business. I got started doing this in quite a round-about fashion. Almost by accident.
I was visiting my folks in Montana for Christmas. My dad gave a little hand held heat pack that he bought in the tiny mall in Kalispell, MT.
They didn’t even have carts or kiosks in that mall. The vendor was selling his product off a table set up in the middle of the mall.
After Christmas my dad told me where he bought it. I remembered seeing the vendor when I was shopping. I figured there was a business opportunity associated with it. It didn’t appear to be a franchise.
So I called the phone number on the product to get more information.
They sent out a business start-up kit that explained how you could sell as much as $100K in heat packs from a little cart at the mall, in just two months at Christmas time.
I had always wanted to have my own business. The supplier said I could get started for about $15K. And make a profit of $10K – $30K after only two months during the holidays.
That sounded like a good deal to me at the time.
I opened the following Christmas season in a suburban mall in Minneapolis. That Christmas, I worked every hour the mall was open for two months. I also brought on and trained a sales staff of thirty people.
When the dust cleared at the end of the holiday season, I had sold over $100K in product in just two months.
And earned a profit of $30K in during that time.
Working all those hours at the mall allowed me to learn the business from the ground up. And made it easier to take my business to the next level.
The next season I operated my own cart, and four partner locations. The next season, seven locations.
My supplier was so impressed with our success that they asked me to help train all their distributors.
Together we created what we called out ‘Boot Camp Training Session. Literally hundreds of their cart distributors flew into Minneapolis to get trained.
In those “Boot Camp Training” sessions, I found a lot people were very similar to me when I first started in business.
They wanted to own a business, but didn’t really have any idea what to do or how to go about it.
As famous marketer Jay Abraham puts it in his book, ‘Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got’, most people are “… silently begging to be led.”
For many people in that situation, the mall cart or kiosk business is a perfect way to get started.
The capital required at start-up is low compared with many businesses. And they get a quick return on their money.
It allows someone started to get started in business, without requiring a long term commitment.
I thought I could help people get started.
I first offered an email newsletter with success tips for cart and kiosk operators at my website, http://www.kioskexpert.com.
That was the springboard that led to a number of other offerings within the last year and a half:
A tele-seminar series with programs for how to profit from the mall cart and kiosk industry;
An interview series where I feature proven products suppliers talking about their mall cart concepts;
An automated system designed to help mall leasing reps follow up with the inquiry calls they receive at the malls.
Now, I get regular offers for joint venture projects.
What has been most fulfilling are the daily emails that I get from cart operators thanking me for my help.
It’s been said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.
For me in business, that first step was starting my first mall cart. That’s led to all sorts of bigger and more expansive opportunities.
Have YOU been thinking about starting your own business?
My suggestion: Take the first step.
Register for Brady Flower’s cart and kiosk success tips at http://www.kioskexpert.com.
