In the September 2000 edition of Entrepreneur Magazine, there was a section on “Start-Ups”, and I was so excited about the full page add on Vendstar® idea.
The advertisement said “Change is Good. Make BIG Money in Your Spare Time!” “We work about 20 hours a month and we collect on average about $1,500” “By the end of this year, I’m planning to have enough machines to supplement my budget so that I don’t have to work overtime.”
“In essence what I’m doing is buying a bag of candy for $5 and I’m selling it for $25. It’s a matter of getting machines and getting them placed.
Once they are placed the money just starts coming in. www.multivend.com it had a photo of a young, clean cut guy standing with his arm propped on a Vendstar 3000 and I was sold….all the way up until I was ready to purchase my first one. I even typed up a letter, sold my brother on the idea. We had our first signed contract. The contract said this,
Brainstorming- I found a piece of college rule notebook paper with a bunch of places to target. Here’s what it said, “List of Possible places where I might put a Vending Machine”
Local Businesses:
At the time, I was really excited about this project. I presented it to my dad. He was wise in guiding me int he fact that I was preparing to go to college in about 2 years. I was thinking of this revenue source in a very short-term mindset. My dad was able to see that I am going to be in trouble with this business if I decide to go to Clemson. I’m going to have a dozen of these vending machines in several businesses around town and I’m going to be 2 hours away at school. Who is going to drive around and restock the candy and collect the money?
I had never thought of that. He was right. I decided to let this business idea go and put it on the back shelf instead of pursuing this one.
