The opportunity to start your very own home based business is on the rise around the world. Many people are realizing the huge benefits of leaving their regular jobs and starting their own business from home. Ordinary people are making extraordinary money working from home on the Internet.If you would like to join this rapidly growing industry, you should consider a few things before getting started. First, consider how much money you are willing to invest into your business. In other words, you must have a business plan and a budget. Next, decide what tools and resources you will need. You maybe surprised to learn that you already have many of the necessary tools and resources in your home. Finally, decide what area or niche you want to target. For example, make a list of all the things you enjoy doing and build your business around the one topic you love the most.These are just a few of the things you should consider before taking the leap into the home business industry. Now, let us discuss each of these areas in a little more detail. When starting a home business, you must ensure that you have a solid business plan with the necessary budget to get your business off the ground.It is important that you have the funds available to run your new home based business without tapping into your personal savings. The key is to have at least three months of savings reserved for your personal needs. Having the necessary cash on hand will give your business time to start generating income for you.Understanding the basic tools and resources needed for your business is also very important. Necessities such as domain names, web hosting and advertising among many others are vital to the success of your business. A large number of businesses fail within the first year due to a lack of planning, funding and budgeting.Using tools and resources you already have on hand is a great way to save money as well. Most people already have a computer with Internet connection and a phone line available for use. These tools will allow you to start researching, planning and building your business straight away.After getting your budget and resources together, the next area you should focus on is finding a niche that you enjoy. Enjoying your work will allow you to put in the type of effort and commitment it takes to be successful. The goal is to choose a home business niche or idea that you truly enjoy. This will keep you motivated, happy and willing to work when you sit down at your computer. Working from home can be boring, lonely and tiring at times, so it is important to enjoy what you do for the long haul.Once you are satisfied with your business plan, you will be able to make your best home based business choice. Taking the time to plan will help you get your business off to a great start while giving you every opportunity to succeed.
Auction Listings Are Vital to the Success of Fundraising Auctions
Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:
An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.
If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.
Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.
Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.
After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:
Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.
Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.
A Case Study
Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.
Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.
Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.
I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.
There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.
According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?
As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.
When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.
While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.
So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:
The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.
Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.
If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.
When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.
And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.
Best Home Based Businesses – How to Pick a Winner
The best home based businesses are now and again categorized by some folks as the kinds with the most lucrative pay out structure. Many others might explain to you that the best home businesses are the types which have the most excellent products. While still other people will point to a company’s proven numerous years of experience in addition to nonstop expansion as the standard of the best home businesses.It is pretty important to be aware that all these factors do add to the success of a home based business. Careless business practices, dishonest pay structures and poor products or services is a definite road to disappointment for virtually every home business or organization. It is additionally crucial to understand when you are hunting for the “best” in terms of home businesses, you may want to look a little deeper than radiant testimonials and corporate pie charts.Whilst looking for the “best” home business which might be a match for you, you will also want to ask yourself this particular question…”Just how should I build my business”? What happens right here is that a lot of people while hunting for the best home business, end up making the identical miscalculation as numerous other folks have done in the past. Investing the majority of their efforts researching the “what” of a business instead of the “how” of a business.Allow me to clarify. The “what” of a home business that is actually shown and marketed to probable opportunity seekers is the “remarkable products and services” and the “awesome compensation plan” and of course the “amazing track record” of the company and the management team. What, in this picture, is going to earn income for you? Please don’t say, “these products will sell themselves”. Despite the fact that truly awesome products and services will probably account for a number of sales, you are not going to have the ability to develop a substantial business upon this.At this time we need to have a look at one of the most under appreciated facets of selecting the “best” home business…the “how”. Just how do you propose to sell your awesome products and services so you can capitalize on that unbelievable pay structure and build up the company’s already remarkable track record? It is at this point where you need to realize that you will require a marketing and advertising system in place to promote your product and opportunity.An effective method for online marketing and advertising will produce revenue…end of story. The components of a fundamental online marketing system may incorporate, at the very least, a capture page, sales page, and an effective email series of messages. Applications such as these will locate and inform those that are currently looking for your offer.There are also effectual traditional strategies that a first-class internet marketing system will certainly make use of. The elements of an offline marketing and advertising system might include newspaper ads, post card mailings, letter mailings and 800 numbers. Again these types of techniques will come across, instruct and draw the folks who are interested in your offer which in turn will result in a number of sales.Another key area that needs to be considered is training and support. When considering the “how” of home business, there most definitely needs to be the presence of quality training, instruction and support. Most of the “training” that happens in the home business industry nowadays is you having to make a list and go tell everybody you know how “breathtaking” this product and opportunity are, or you are given a website that you are expected to “drive traffic” to.If you are accurately taught the “how” to marketing and building your home business then you can choose just about any “what” (home business) that you want. Sure, you must consider the company, products and track record of any opportunity that you consider. But in terms of which one is “best” would have to be the home business in which there is an proven marketing system that will help you be successful.Obviously some of the best home based businesses are the ones that have an effective marketing system already in place to help new people coming on board. Although automation in these systems is significant there is still the aspect of the human touch of a good marketing system. People don’t partner with companies, products or systems…they partner with people, especially people who care about the success of others.