Getting the word out with each payment

You know how you get all those ads in your bills each month? Smelly perfume promotions in department store bills, coupons in your cable tv bill, ads for kitchen cookware sets in your gasoline company bill. On bill-paying day these little promotional pieces can sometimes fill up the whole wastebasket.

Well, I've found a fun way to "return the favor."

With my bill payments, I am now including my own little "ads." These are small flyers describing my network marketing opportunity. Since I am a "valued customer" and my payment envelope contains a check, I know it will get opened and looked at. It will probably be opened by a hard-working person who is not exactly thrilled with their job and might be looking for something more than opening envelopes and keying in checks all day long. In other words, a good prospect for network marketing.

The most promising of my bill paying inserts are the ones I'm sending to local businesses with which I have accounts. The voice mail service, the marina where I keep my boat, the mini-warehouse where I store my material excesses, my printer, and local delivery service. I know these are all small businesses run by people who are probably very interested in increasing their revenues without the burden of additional overhead. People who can recognize a good opportunity when they see one. People who, if nothing else, value my business enough to at least listen to what I have to offer.

We'll see how it goes, whether I get any response to these ads with checks attached. Even if nothing comes of it, it's kind of a fun twist on an otherwise dreary task of bill paying.