30 local resources you can’t live without

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Everyone is pushing “how to make money online” these days and people tend to forget exactly how much advertising and resources there are OFFLINE. Below is a list of 30 local resources that we believe every bootstrapper should know about and utilize on a daily basis. I’ve also written out a little bit about what you can use these resources for. This article was published before on the site, but only had the list and nothing else so I decided to bring it to the front with a little more information for you. I hope you enjoy it!

1. Garage Sales - A lot of times, you’ll find great office furniture or old computer parts for dirt cheap. Also, you might find shelving units or office bins that you can use for storage of folders, books, ect.
2. Flea Market - Everyone at a flea market is trying to make money, so the prices are generally really low. If not, haggle with the salesperson to try and get a better deal. I’ve picked up cameras, keyboards, a mouse (for the computer, not a real one. haha) and other various office supplies for way lower amounts then the local office supply stores.
3. Going out of business Sales - OH MAN! You can get high end office supplies, computer and virtually anything else business related at these things. You’ll regret not going to these if theres one in your area.
4. Pawn Shops - Sometimes you’ll catch some great equipment that’s like brand new but someone needed the cash at the time and let it go cheap. I’ve seen everything from video games to snow mobiles at pawn shops.
5. Chamber of Commerce - Connecting and networking with other local businesses is a great thing and you can find great contacts right here.
6. Library - free internet and free book rentals. Why wouldn’t you like this place? Rent a book and study for school or learn something new about your business. You can even rent a scary book or romantic novel to get your mind off work for a while. Whatever you do here, it’s all free, so help yourself!
7. City Hall - Similar to Chamber of Commerce. Read above at #5.
8. Craig’s List local resources - Find someone in your area to work for a great price, or find jobs yourself. Great for the service industry. You can also find great deals on all sorts of things people are selling and you run less risk shopping here since it’s local and you can meet the person, unlike ebay.
9. Yellow Pages - Anything you need right at your fingertips. I’ve generated a few design jobs just from picking out a random target market and calling every number in the book for that particular industry.
10. Coffee Shops with Wi-Fi connection - Internet get shut off at home or are you needing to meet with a client to show off your design you created for them? Coffee shops offer free internet for your computer, so why not use it?
11. Estate Sales - Finding anything from home furniture to rare jewelry and paintings comes easy when you deal with estate sales. Everything is priced to sell, so you get great deals.
12. Small/Medium businesses - Networking with other small businesses (as stated in #5) is great for your business. Work out a service/product trade and feed each other cross-sells. You won’t regret the 1-2 minutes it takes to call a company and talk with them.
13. College Campuses - This is the perfect spot to find someone who is eager to learn more in their trade and will work for next to nothing. We all know that when you’re bootstrapping your business, you don’t have a million dollars for a kick-butt sales team or a programmer for your website, so hiring at a college campus is ideal for saving cash while getting someone who WANTS the job.
14. High School/Middle Schools - The same as above applies here, but also for market research. If you’re designing a clothing company, who better then a teenager to tell you if it’s cool or not. Are you building the next myspace? This would be the place to go and promote, pass out flyers, ect.
15. Churches - Sponsor a bake sale or some other event and give some of the proceds to the church or a charity the church likes. Most churches will let you promote anything or network with other people there and are generally friendly.
16. Homeless Shelters - A homeless shelter? Yes, a homeless shelter. Think about how many people are in this shelter with sales experience or some type of labor work like construction and have no means of generating money. Don’t you think you’d get an eager worker? I think so too.
17. Unemployment Offices - The same goes as above. Hang out in the parking lot and talk to people as they walk up, or leave your business cards and flyers inside the unemployment office. Talk to a worker there and find out if they can give your information directly to those who are interested in your industry. It never hurts to ask.
18. Music Stores - Place your business cards inbetween cd’s, leave flyers on the counter, or see if the owner of the store would let you ’sponsor’ their store for a day by running an ad for your business over their PA system ever 10-20 minutes.
19. Clothing Stores - The same as #18 but here, you can target an upscale clothing store and promote your products or business because the people in these stores tend to spend a lot more money than a teenager at a music store.
20. The Mall - I’ve seen musicians walk up to random people in the mall and ask if they’d take a minute to listen to their music and end up making cd sales. I’ve also went into the mall to talk to the local business owners in the mall and find out if they have a website, and if not, if they’d like one. Trade your service for gift cards or for cash. I’ve made more money getting gift cards from the owners then cash though because with the gift card option, I bumped my price up a bit. It works.
21. Business Conferences - Networking. plain and simple. Network with other business owners and try to find those who could benefit from your product/service and network hardest with them. You’ll be amazed at home many sales you can get here.
22. High-End Hotels - Rich people spend money. Point blank. Get business cards or flyers and put them in the swimming pool area, inside the hot tub, on the counter at the front desk; anything to get your name out in front of these people.
23. Newspapers - Ads are fairly cheap and could wind up getting you noticed by the right editorial writer for the paper and you could wind up as their next featured article. Local news loves local businesses, especially if your local area is suffering with a lack of jobs.
24. Local Radio - The same with the above. Get your ads on the radio in your targeted market and you’ll generate a bit of buzz, especially if you mention you’re a LOCAL OWNED company. I’m telling you, people eat this up and your boostraps will thank you for it.
25. Television News - Does your local news have a segment where they feature local businesses? Yes? Great; now get featured. No? Tell them they should, and why they should. Again, LOCAL OWNED businesses is the hot thing with the economy going to hell in a handbasket and noone being able to find good jobs. People love the local business owners.
26. Thrift Stores - I know a guy who has his whole office setup elegantly, and got it all from a thrift store over time. Sand down that old desk or bookcase, scrub the desk lap, or find a nice radio to listen to music on and you can turn your office into a great place to be, for barely anything at all.
27. Laundry Mat - Does your target market involve single moms? Try promoting your business at the laundry mat with flyers or business cards. You could even offer to pay for someones laundry to be cleaned once a week, and then just hand them your card and leave. This will definitely get the person talking and that’s great for business.
28. Restaurants - Pick a random table that has people from your target market at it and tell the waiter/waitress that you’d like to pay for their bill and ask that all they do is give them your business card. Even offer to give the cashier a tip (the persons bill is $40.00, so hand them a $50.00 bill and tell them to keep the change). Viral marketing or word-of-mouth, whatever you want to call it, is GREAT for business.
29. Dollar Store - Pens, pencils, receipt books, folders, ect. All of these things can be picked up from the dollar store. You can even feed your need for sweets and other foods at the dollar store. I pick up Mountain Dew, Little Debbie snack cakes, Doritos and other food from the dollar store all the time. As you know from a previous article, I love my sweets.
30. Sporting Events - All these people in one area and you DON’T see the good in it? Get out there, mingle with people, offer someone a free beer, place your business cards in the bathrooms; whatever you can think of, get it done. There are tons of people here to promote and connect with.

Have a story about how you’ve used one of these resources for the good of your business? Leave a comment and let everyone know about it.

Can you think of more local resources?