Prostitution. The world's oldest profession. You may not think that you could learn anything about business from prostitutes and pimps, but they are in fact some of the shrewdest businesspeople out there. Everything they do is all about the maximization of their profits and rarely do they take their eyes off of the main prize; the almighty dollar. We just might learn a few lessons from them. Such as:

1. Money up front. You run a website and a company wants to pay for a month's worth of advertising? Make sure they pay up front. If they approached you, they can pay up front. You don't know them. If they say "but we aren't sure how valuable the advertising will be, so we'll pay at the end of the month", tell them to get lost. Hookers get money up front, so should you. Once you have provided the service, getting money out of your client can be damn near impossible.

2. Go where the traffic is. Looking for a new niche to get into? One that has huge profit potential? Go where the traffic is. If there is no competition, 99% of the time it's because there is no money to be made. Lots of competition equals lots of traffic which equals lots of money. You won't see a hooker strolling down a seldom used country road looking to get picked up. So don't start a website about obtaining a home equity loan in the Arctic Circle cause no one will see you.

3. Young and fresh = $$$. Thinking of starting an online business? Find out what is hot and enter that market. No one wants to invest in a ten year old idea; they want to invest in what is hot and new at that moment. Who is going to make more money on a given night - a 19 year old or a 39 year old walking the streets? If you want to make money online, find out what is hot and target that niche. Don't target the Sega Genesis; target the Xbox 360.

4. Underpromise and overdeliver and you will receive return business. There is nothing worse than someone who talks a big game about the value that they are going to deliver you, and then they disappoint you. You will likely never do business with that person again. Go above and beyond what was expected and you will receive a tremendous amount of return business, thus saving you advertising dollars in the future.

5. The harder you work, the more money you will make. It's pretty simple; you take two similar looking women, one walking the streets for eight hours, and one walking the streets for 3 hours. Who is going to make more money? You want to start an online business and be successful? Realize that you are going to be working against people who are putting in 10-12 hours days to make it. Are you prepared to put in the time? With business, you get exactly out of the business what you put into it.

6. Avoid distractions; make that money. In the prostitution game, drugs and alcoholism are rampant problems that can detract from the primary goal of being in that profession; making money. By doing drugs and drinking booze, you are degrading your most important product; yourself. If you are running a business, you need to focus on the main goal and avoid distractions, especially when you start to do well. It is easy to fall into the trap of becoming distracted with unimportant things when you start to do well. Focus or you will suffer the consequences and your business will slip.

7. Word of mouth is extremely important. Extremely popular call girls will never need to spend a cent on advertising online or in the local papers; they are likely turning away potential clients because they are too busy. Word of mouth is your most powerful marketing tool in business, which is why you need to overdeliver and underpromise. If you do these two things on a regular basis, you will have a steady flow of customers that were referred to you through happy customers.

8. Screen potential clients, and don't be afraid to drop a client if they are too much to handle. Are you providing a service over the Internet? Make sure that any potential client is aware of the exact service that you provide, and be aware of what their needs are. You will avoid potential conflict down the road. A prostitute / john relationship is one of knowing exactly what the cost and services provided will be before that service is provided. Is a client being difficult? Don't be afraid to drop them; the money is not worth the aggravation. If you are providing a great service, then there will be plenty more customers out there.

9. Diversification is key. Pimps have a stable of girls working for them; some girls will get paid more than others on a given night, but if a pimp has a diverse stable of girls, he will get paid regardless. In regards to business, make sure you are diversified; if you are running a blog, make sure that you are running several different blogs, that have several different advertisers. Are you providing a service? Make sure that you have several different clients that are paying your bills. You don't want to be reliant on one customer to pay all of your bills.

10. Invest in your business. Prostitutes need to invest in nice clothes, makeup, manicures, etc. in order to keep themselves looking good and attract clients. Their appearance is the greatest factor in determining the amount of business that they will receive. If you are running a business, you need to sink some dollars back into the business. Sink dollars into marketing, site upgrades, etc., but make sure that you allocate a certain percentage of your profits each month to building up your business.

We can learn a lot from the oldest profession in the world. Keep your eyes on the prize, and realize that hard work and believing in your business will take you however far you want to go.

Filed under: General Knowledge

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