Running a home-based business that fuels your passion is one way to increase your chances of success. Given the high failure rate of home-based businesses, doing what you love and doing it well will set you on the right path to success including profitability, self-satisfaction and the sense of doing good in your community.One great home-business idea is party catering for kids. If you love dealing with kids, making them happy and also have a great knack for organizing then this could be one area to look into.Of course you will have to do your own investigations regarding zoning laws as they affect home-based businesses, licenses and that type of statutory requirement. With that out of the way, your next step is to decide how best to organize this type of business.Key questions to consider would be:* What level of catering would you be doing – are you going to limit yourself to meals, entertainment and other party goodies? Or are you going to go the whole way with venue, food, accessories, party favors, et cetera?* Do you have proper contacts with suppliers and if not how are you going to go about making these contacts and what arrangements would be best for your business?* What age group would you be catering to, and given certain age groups what special arrangements will be needed. For example, would you be prepared to cater to a party for a bunch of 3-year olds that may not all be potty trained? And if yes, what would you need to have in place to ensure that the situation does not become chaotic?* How would you market your services? Would it be possible to link up with one of the big box children stores and offer them exclusive discount coupons to give to their customers? Taking this approach could significantly reduce your marketing costs but you would have to really convince each of the stores willing to listen to you that you are serious about this business and show how it is also a plus for them, especially if you are into particular party themes.Catering to parties for kids is certainly a great home-based business idea worth looking into given the seemingly attractiveness of the market. Of course a market research would be in order before making any final decisions. But this idea for a home business of itself seems very attractive and suited for one who loves interacting with small children and providing an abundance of fun for them.
Internet Marketing Tips For Home Based Business
Internet Marketing is the best new way to get your home based business going strong. You will find that many of the methods are inexpensive, while others are actually free. A few tips will help you get started.1. Learn to write quality articles for directories. You are a smart person. Otherwise, you would not be able to run a home based business. As long as you can read and use the keyboard of your computer, you should be able to write your own articles. The best way to begin is to go to the article directory you intend to use and take a look at their editorial guidelines. That will help you to understand what is expected of you.The articles themselves should be informative and should not include a blatant sales pitch in the body of the article. You can tell your audience something about your home based business in the form of a how-to article, for example. The specific information about your business and products will be in the author box for those who are interested.2. Make a blog. You can go to WordPress or some other blog site and create your own blog instantly. You just fill out the online form; it is simple. There are a few things to remember about this form of Internet Marketing. For one, you can set up the URL for your blog to be your business name. Think about what you want the name of your blog to be. When you fill out the username on WordPress, that username will become the name of your blog. Once you have your blog, you can write up-to-date entries detailing new developments in your industry. You can also educate about your products and their uses.3. Learn about Internet press releases. A press release is an Internet Marketing advertisement in the guise of a newsworthy tidbit of information. If you can find a way to make your home based business or product newsworthy, your press release will be picked up by more services and spread across the Internet. You can also use this form of Marketing to post the press releases on your website.There are a few different ways to do a press release. You can hire a press release writer to do the work for you. For a small fee, they will even submit it to the press services. You could write it and submit it yourself. There are some tools out there to help with this sort of Marketing. EzineArticles.com has a new press release feature on their website.You may even use other types of online marketing tools to promote your home based business. YouTube videos are popular. Another tip is to get links from compatible businesses to put on your website and request that business put your link on their website. There are numerous ways to do Internet Marketing, so do not limit yourself to only one.
How Important Is the Fundraising Auctioneer to the Success of Your Event?
I want you to think about the term “Fundraising Auction”.
A “Fundraising Auction” is an event where items of value are gathered, and then sold in a competitive bidding situation, either in a Silent Auction format, or in a Live Auction format by a Live Auctioneer. And since typically the best items are saved for the Live Auction, arguably it is the Live Auction that should generate a significant portion of the proceeds in any Fundraising Auction.
So why do so many non-profit groups consider the Fundraising Auctioneer to be the least valuable component in a Fundraising Auction?
The Hosting Facility gets paid.
The Printer gets paid.
The Caterer gets paid.
The Liquor Store gets paid.
The DJ gets paid.
The Florist gets paid.
But the Auctioneer … the individual who is expected to raise the lion’s share of the event’s proceeds… is expected to work for Free. And is usually under-appreciated for the professional services he/she provides.
I’m not trying to underscore the value of the invitations & programs, food, booze, music, and decorations. All are important in their own way. But each of these are “Expenses”. It is the Auctioneer who is going to bring “Revenue”… and thus, the “Profits”… into any event. Which is the ultimate objective of any Fundraising Auction.
Here is a real-life example of how under-appreciated the Auctioneer can be. In two comparable events we worked last year, during the dinner portion of the event one non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) at a table with the DJ, the Interns, the Volunteer Staff, and other event “Help”. The 2nd non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) directly next to the CEO of their organization, where we chatted about how important the pending revenue would be to their organization. Which group do you think valued the services of the Fundraising Auctioneer more?
Don’t ever under-estimate the value that a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can bring to your event. The Auctioneer adds value as a pre-event consultant. And the Auctioneer can change an event from a moderate to a huge success.
A Case Study Once I was scheduled to call an Auction for a major local non-profit group. They represented a very good cause and they had a strong and dedicated following. Their event was sold out, quality Live & Silent Auction items had been solicited, and the Special Pledge Appeal had been choreographed and was ready to go. The facility was first class, the appropriate caterer was booked, and the food was ready to cook.
But quite unexpectedly, some unseasonably inclement weather forced the event’s cancellation. Despite all of the committee’s hard work, cancelling the event was the proper decision considering the circumstances.
So the Event Committee scrambled to re-schedule the event for the following weekend.
They confirmed with the Hosting Facility.
They confirmed with the Caterer.
They confirmed with the Liquor Store.
They confirmed with the DJ.
They confirmed with the Florist.
Since they already had the Mailing List of those scheduled to attend, no new invitations had to be printed as all were contacted by email or telephone. So with everything in place, the group went ahead and re-scheduled the event for the following weekend.
But guess who they failed to confirm? You got it… the Professional Auctioneer. They thought so little of the Auctioneer’s contribution that they “assumed” that the Auctioneer would be available and at their beck and call.
But the Auctioneer already had another Fundraising Auction booked for that date with another non-profit group. It was only hour away from the re-scheduled event, and things could have been easily worked out. All Group #1 had to do was start their event one hour earlier, or one hour later, than the Group #2, and the Auctioneer could have helped both groups on the same day.
But because Group #1 failed to anticipate a possible Auctioneer conflict, because they failed to confirm with the Auctioneer before re-scheduling their event, their preferred Auctioneer had to bow out and they had to scramble to locate substitute “Volunteer” Auctioneer only days before their event.
And it cost them.
Learning Points
The Live Auction is usually where the profits are made at any Fundraising Auction.
A Professional Fundraising Auctioneer can be vital to the success of any Fundraising Auction.
The better Fundraising Auctioneers usually get booked quickly.
You need to recognize the important contributions that a good Auctioneer can make to your event.
Michael Ivankovich is a Bucks County Fundraising Auctioneer based in Doylestown PA, and serves the Great Philadelphia PA area. He has been a professionally licensed and bonded Auctioneer in Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years, has been named Pennsylvania’s Auctioneer of the Year, and has considerable experience in conducting Fundraising Auctions. Michael loves helping groups raise needed funds for good causes and one of his specialties is the “Special Pledge Appeal” or “Fund-A-Cause Appeal” which usually enables clients to double their revenue in a single evening.