Trash can make you earn!! (Part of our Rs. 100 idea series)

The greatest art in this world is to convince your customer to make him buy your product. We "Laben" decided to start business from scrap items. The final idea formulated was to first ask for used pens and then sell the same by putting refiles in them. Pen is an item used by everyone around the globe. Most of the people throw it after use. According to a study, 30 - 40 lakh pen are thrown away everyday. So, we thought that we would "reuse" the same scrap pens and sell them bringing us profit.Our business is also working for the cause "Environment Conservation" hence we decided to REUSE. Our price quotations were

Market Price-----------Our Price

Rs35------------------- Rs30

Rs20------------------- Rs15

Rs15------------------- Rs13

Rs10------------------- Rs7

In our pamphlet, we also quoted that we would replace the pen in one day if the pen sold by Laben gives any problem.

On 4th of December, we made our first business deal.We had gone to 14 houses where we sold roughly 17 pens. The profit on first day of sale was around RS100. This is the first time in my life when i have worked hard and earned money.I'll remember this date throughout my life. The next day, I started advertising my product.I made a Facebook page; I also had sent bulk messages to my friends. Many people reverted back by giving oders of 6 to 7 pens. The best response was from the school students.In school I sold around 27 pens.

My personal views about this business idea are that this is a very stable business as it can be performed at a large scale as the market is very big, this covers up the disadvantage that the margins are less.Our total profit was Rs400.

The experience of working with LABEN was great. I think now I know how tough is the work of a salesman who goes door to door convincing people to buy his product.

I believe that this venture marks the start of my professional life.

(Pallav Bhagat is a Class XI student at DPS Rohini who is a part of Discover Life's Entrepreneurship Development Program. Now further in the program Pallav and his team are working on an interesting idea. To know more about it you can check: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Laben-Paintball-War/183613558317156?v=wall)