50% of all new business less the cost of advertising is profit and I can prove it! John R Bryan Bio Sample Profit and Loss statements: 1. Service Industry (short form) Gross Sales                                      100% Product cost                   35% Labor Cost                    30% Overhead Cost               25% Actual Cost                    35% Gross Profit                                      65% (less the cost of advertising) ________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Retail Industry (short form) Gross Sales                                      100% Product cost                   50% labor Cost                      20% Overhead Cost               20% Actual Cost                     50% Gross Profit                                     60% (less the cost of advertising) ________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Professional Industry (short form) Gross Sales                                      100% Product cost                   10% Labor Cost                     20% (possible increase if additional professional employees involved - 20%) Overhead Cost               20% Actual Cost                     10% Gross Profit                                     70/50% Ad Sales: The operative words here are all new which means new customers, old customers who have gone somewhere else and your present cusomers to repeat more often. The manipulation of the Profit and loss statement means the removal of all fixed overhead and in many cases labor. The only cost that remains constant is product. In some cases such as a service station the cost of product (gasoline) is high while the cost of service (bay) is much like a restaurant in that technicions can often work on more than one vehicle at the same time. Advertise the bay services. How to motivate "word of mouth advertising! The operative word here is "motivate" or getting people to talk about you ("six degrees of separation), (book marks), (email friends and family), etc. Create new products, services, etc. Provide flyers, articles, press releases. Pay them! Provide an incentive to your friends snd customers to talk to their friends and customers about you, your product or your service! Free services, free product, free gift! Two good Internet illustrations are Search Engines who offer 20% of their ad sale to afilliate advertisers and Amazon who offers 10% of sales profit to affiliate advertisers. There are a number of variations on thses themes. "Problems will not be solved by the same kind of thinking that created them"! call John Bryan today 800.330.7501 8am - 4pm PST