How I Became a Perfume Scammer
And how I’m developing the business
She pushed a perfume box into my hands and quickly gave me a second one. The packages were blue and red with a pleasant design. Nothing fancy or luxurious, but good quality.
“I’m so happy to see you, Sir. Your country is fantastic. You’re from here. Right? Thank you for everything that you do to help us.”
I was in the middle of the long-distance bus station holding two perfume boxes, listening to a young woman telling me sweet things about myself and my country.
A proud smile came to my face.
My first thought, “It’s so nice of her,” was replaced by, “WAIT!” when she asked if I could help her and her six brothers.
It was a scam, of course. How didn’t I see it immediately?
The rational part of my brain switched on. “Maybe there’s something to learn here.” I listened to her script and asked a few questions. Quickly, I saw how she could make it better.
I gave her back the boxes because it was likely that one of her seven brothers was waiting not too far in case I chose to believe her when she said they were a gift — and went home to write down the script.
After a few tweaks and improvements, I tested it on my grandmother (she’s a pink belt in social media marketing). Her feedback was, as usual, brutal but full of wisdom.
A month later, I was grossing $70 daily — $20 after expenses.
Profitability improvement
Quickly, I realized that buying real perfumes didn’t make any sense. I wasn’t in the business of repeat customers, and the people didn’t give me money for the product but for psychological reasons. They felt sorry about my sad situation or wanted me to leave — usually both. I didn’t care as long as they paid.
They never opened the boxes because they were new and plastic-wrapped.
My first idea was to replace the perfume with water, but my grandma told me it was stupid. “Stones are cheaper and weigh the same.”
A month later, thanks to these changes and further script improvements, I was grossing $150 daily — $110 after expenses.
Business Scaling
I couldn’t clone myself, but what if I hired people? After a quick training, I could send them into the wild and get a commission from their successful “sales.”
“You’re an idiot,” my grandma replied. “Do you really think you can trust them to give you a commission? They have to pay you upfront for materials, training, and script. You can also add exclusive coaching sessions with me for a very reasonable price.”
A month later, we were grossing $2,000 weekly from training and coaching sessions with a fair split of $200 for me and the rest for Grandma.
Future of business: Web 2.0 and online experiments
So far, I focused on the traditional street-side business (the so-called “shoes-and-sidewalk”).
But we live in a modern world, and I want to gain experience in the digital sphere.
The problem is that there’s no possibility to “push” something into people’s hands online. But after some research, I realized there’s an equivalent.
The FREE Webinar
Join this (FREE) webinar if:
- You are the kind of person that would give me money after I gave them a perfume box they never asked for.
- You are the kind of person that would give me money.
- You want to give me money.
I’ll teach you:
- nothing,
- something,
- and more.
Why learn from me?
See the article above.
This (FREE) Webinar won’t be recorded
It’s the kind of now-or-later offer you don’t want to miss. The webinar in this exact format will never repeat itself because the clouds in the Internet sky are ever-changing.
How to join the FREE webinar
Give me money here or become a FREE subscriber there on Substack and I will keep you in the loop of the details and send you some FREE freebies that you can’t find anywhere else because they’re a Smillew Exclusive.
Special Bonus for readers who leave a reply
For any reply you leave on this article, you’ll get, as soon as it will be finished, a free copy of my upcoming book,
“The Smell of Freedom: From Perfume Scamming to Online Guru, How Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrencies Changed My Love Life for the Romantic Comedy It Was Always Meant To Be”
There’s something in the air. Can you smell it? It’s the smell of (Better)Moolah!