Bundles of Money From Buttons

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Once the new dies were in place, it didn't take me long to begin earning up to $30 an hour with my new business. And how—you may ask—did I round up cus tomers so quickly? Well, I simply took my equipment to school carnivals, swap meets, fairs, conventions, club meetings, and political rallies. I called area boards of education and the local chamber of commerce, and checked each day's newspaper for listings of local events at which I might get permission to sell my wares. Such happenings can be easy pickings for folks who know how to slant their buttons to each individual get-together.

And, although I usually draw my own figures and cartoons, you could simply cut out photographs, comic strip characters, or whatever illustrations you need. Remember my friend who introduced me to the button business? He can't draw a straight line with a ruler . . . yet he set up a very successful enterprise by using his Polaroid camera to create personal badges. For $2.50, he'll snap a requested photo, trim it, and mount it on a button.

THE PROOF IS IN THE PROFITS

My total initial outlay for equipment and materials came to $101.10. This amount covered the press, a pair of scissors, some felt-tip pens, fine-tip pens, colored pencils, typing paper . . . and a small suitcase to cart the kit around in! (If you decide you'd rather begin with a little hand-held button-maker, you can lower that cost by $70.) I already owned a portable drawing board and camp stool . . . and I hand-printed my signs.

I priced my cartoon creations, which I called "BUTTOONS", at $1.50 each. The profit from the first 250 badges I made was $258 (naturally, I still had occasional failures). Of that money, I spent $63.95 (plus shipping) to purchase parts for 500 more badges, and was able to pocket the rest. Once those buttons were made and sold, I bought 1,000 more badge components . . . and again "kept the change".

Later on, I located another source that offers badge parts similar to those sold by Badge-A-Minit . . . but at lower prices. The company is called Mr. Button Products, and you'll find the addresses of both firms at the end of this article.

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