Selling Class Notes – Idea of The Week

Proposal:

One can make a sizeable profit by taking and selling quality class notes in a college setting and then mass marketing them to all of the students in their class.

Idea Tested during Summer 2008 Semester

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Step One(June 3, 2008):

First day of Class; Develop a sellable product.

I went to class with a notebook and pen (primitive I know) and took my notes by hand. Then when I came home I transferred them into a word document. I found this was helpful to me because it forced me to go through my notes again, but it also seemed to yield much more professional looking and coherent notes than if I were to type them in class.

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Step Two(July 3, 2008)

Market my Product!

My school uses a system called Web CT Vista. Most of the students hate it, but I find it makes it relatively easy to communicate with my classmates.

I mailed out a quick email to everyone in my class saying,

“Hey there Everybody!

I wanted to send out an offer to everyone in the class. I am a very proficient note taker and I transfer my notes into MS Word each day after class. Here is a sample of my notes: http://www.theisticthinking.com/samplenotes.htmlI am offering copies of my notes up for sale at the rate of $15.00 for the entire semester. By purchasing them now, you will receive them by the day after each class via email or I can bring you a hard copy of each class’ notes by the next class meeting.If you would prefer to wait until the final exam, I will be selling the complete package together for $20.00

A few important details: I will be absent on June 24 and 26, so my notes will be taken out of the book for those days and not the notes from class. They should be just as good though.I will accept Cash, check or paypal as methods of payment. Just message me back here on Web CT or at Michael@theisticthinking.com if you’re interested!Again, My samples are here http://www.theisticthinking.com/samplenotes.html

I hope this finds you all well! Grace and Peace!

–Michael Caldwell “

Disclaimer: It may be a good idea to speak to your professor before sending out a message like this; or, like me, you may prefer to ask forgiveness than to ask permission

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Step Three(June 3, 2008)

I’ve already had three replies to my original email. Each of them are planning to meet me at class on Thursday and pay me for the notes at which point I will email them to them and continue to email the notes after class each day.

Step Four(June 5, 2008)

Between the Third and today I have had another email and will be meeting all four people before class to get their money.

The money has been received. Now I will be able to keep marketing and the best part is; these notes don’t expire after the course- I can continue to sell them to students in this Econ 2100 class until I’m graduated (or even after really, I just dont see that happening.)

Total Run Down:

Marginal Revenue: $15.00 per set sold
Total Revenue: $60.00
Total Expenses: $0.00 and 0 time; I was already registered for the class!

Total Profit: $60.00

Keep in mind that this was only for one class. I tried the experiment on a small scale, but come the fall I will be doing this in all five classes and marketing much more heavily. I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to yield atleast 5-10 customers per class times five classes.