To Start a Home Based Business does not mean that a person cannot have the official work environment and the fancy paper work, and that it is not a legal business. A home business is an easy way to start making money. The best thing about the home business is that the investment it demands is typically small and easy to handle, also it can be easily managed through simple ways. Anything involving the exchange of goods and money is business, start a home business if you think you can provide something people will buy.There are a few things that can help the business flounder from the start. First things first, the person starting the home business must have a clear idea of what the people want to buy and what he/she can offer, only then can a business prosper. Analyzing the market before jumping right in the middle of it can prove very useful and can save lots of time and money.Advertising is very important in business. Internet is the best platform to advertise, it is free, easy, and everyone uses it. One of the basic needs is to create a website or an online account where people can look at the products available from the creator. Promoting a website is not an easy job, one starts from telling their friends and family and goes as far as paying successful bloggers to promote their websites and other SEO methods. Once out in the open market,quality control and an active mind is necessary to keep the business afloat. Using one’s hobbies to help in the business might be a good idea.Online home business is not always about physical (hardware) goods.There are a lot of people providing tips and advices to people in their respective fields of life. Suppose if someone can play a musical instrument really well, they can teach stuff online and charge their visitors with membership fee etc. if someone is good at giving people psychological advice then they can start a home business about that,the things that matter are being professional, skilled, authentic and legitimate. People do not pay for copied stuff and even the slightest mistakes may turn down a whole business. In this type of work, the person may also need an assistant or an advisor who can share the work load or provide answers to what the publisher him/herself cannot answer. This can be a very healthy practice.If the person wishes to start a home business selling physical goods then hiring the services of a drop shipper becomes almost necessary. A drop shipper may store your products in their inventory and provide them to customers at the designated time. A customer logs on to the website and places their order. The attendant at the website would then have to inform the drop shipper of the customer’s details(address, contact etc.) and the drop shipper would transport the product, very simple. A home business may be one of the easiest ways to start making money also establishes a firm understanding and work experience of the market.
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.
Organising Home Education Association (HEA) Events
There is much to consider when organising an event for a community of home educating families – too much to document in just one article! That said, this article will present a basic time line for organising an event that is registered and insured with Home Education Australia (HEA).
It Starts with a Need
Most home education events start with a need. That need is usually felt by the home educator organising the event or another family known to them. From there, the organiser needs to determine two major resource needs for the event – the venue and any specialists that are needed to run the event. Booking a venue also places them in a situation where a time, or potential times will need to be tentatively booked.
The Nitty-gritty Stuff
The next phase is publicity. But wait! What about the nitty gritty stuff? Yes, before sending emails to every relevant home education mailing list someone will need to sit down and work out the nitty gritty details. This may include floating the concept on the list to get a feel for demand if there are minimum numbers for a booking. It will then involve establishing the date and time of the event, confirming a venue, securing specialists and registering the event with Home Education Australia.
Registering your Event with Home Education Australia
Home Education Australia (HEA) have a web page with all the specific details of registering an event so that you are insured. In a nutshell, there are three main considerations worth highlighting from the information provided by the association.
Firstly, you will want to register the event as soon as practicable so that insurance can be arranged. This allows sufficient time for a committee member to notify the insurer with enough time for them to get back to you if they require further information or cannot cover aspects of the event. It is also a requirement that you specifically include information that it is a ‘HEA event’ on all publicity materials.
You will also need to factor in an additional charge of 20% added to the cost for non-members of HEA, who do not elect to become members before attending the event, when determining pricing. This is a way to encourage families to join the HEA and create a fair funding arrangement for not just the work that is undertaken member or members organising the event but also those by the HEA committee and other members who arrange broader publicity and also liaise with policy makers within government agencies in respect to the specific needs of home education families amongst other administrative tasks.
The third thing to note is that HEA is a not-for-profit association and there is to be no profit derived for any home educator personally as a direct result of organising a HEA event. Within reason organisers can be provided with reasonable allowances for travel, phone calls, personal attendance of the event and like costs. Any proceeds from the event, including any HEA registration fees should be returned to the Home Education Association either directly through direct deposit or by applying the proceeds to funding a future HEA event.
Of course, there is a lot more information for you to consider for your event registration. So, please, check out the full details on the HEA web site.
Publicise, publicise, publicise!
Once you have registered your event and you are up to speed on all HEA requirements it is time to get your event known to the home education community. This can be done in a variety of manners including home education mailing lists and newsletters, local newspapers and shop poster displays for those amenable to the home education community. Be sure to also ask others to share it with the home educators they know as often there are overlaps in home education circles and word of mouth can be vital to getting your event information out there! Anther thing to remember is to send out reminders as the event draws closer too.
Getting Organised
In the couple of weeks before the event you will need to brief any other organisers as well as any specialists on what the agenda is for the event, you will also need to put a call out for volunteers if your require them and brief them also. You will then need to undertake any pre-event administrative tasks. This will take some thought as to how you expect the event to proceed and you may wish to take sometime to time line all activities that need to be taken from the start of set up until everything is packed away and ensure that enough time has been allowed for the event.
The Event Itself
If you have done a lot of the hard work beforehand this should be the easy part! It will simply mean co-ordinating the setup for the event, enjoying the event with a little troubleshooting where necessary, packing up at the conclusion and maybe having some wind-down time with other organisers and volunteers at the conclusion. Then you can take a few days to rest but it’s not over yet!
Post-event Tasks
After you have run your HEA event you will need to return copies of the HEA registration forms, event attendance forms and any other documentation to the HEA for their records. Any funds collected will also need to be banked or recorded for the HEA as a contribution towards a future event. Consideration should also be given to posting out thank you letters or cards to those contributing to the event as well as following up on any attendees who wished to get connected to other members or home education groups.
What next?
Once all the follow-up tasks are done and dusted then it is time to make a choice – put your feet up and relax (well, not really because home educators are always on the go) or organise another event. The choice is up to you!