So you are giving serious consideration to starting a business and running it from home. Thousands of people just like you make that big move from the corporate office to the home office. While this is a great move for quite a number of those who do take that decision, the fact is the majority of small businesses fail in their very first year of operation, as much as 80%.While there are numerous reasons for this, one striking reason is an inadequate skills set of the business owner. In a home business environment this is even more crucial as there is usually only the owner running the business. So a critical question you should be asking yourself if you are thinking of starting a home-based business is, are my job skills transferable in a manner that will benefit my business?Obviously you would have to do a match between what you believe your business would need in terms of a skills set to execute your business plan effectively and your own skills set. So one of the first things you really need to address is your own skills inventory. Basically you will want to answer two questions with your personal skills inventory exercise – what are the work-place skills you now have, and at what level of competence each one is.Your next step is to go through your business plan which should give you a good idea of what skills you will need where and when. Determine those tasks that you will need to perform as the business owner, how often and in what time frame. Your objective here is to come up with a skills requirement chart outlining the requisite skills, how critical each is to achieving your goals, who will be carrying out the tasks, how often the particular task will have to be done, and over what time frame.You now have a fair idea of what your business require in terms of skills and what skills you have to bring to the business. It is now time to find the critical skills gaps that you will need to fill somehow. Once you have identified the skills gaps, you need to give some consideration how these will be addressed.Some steps you can take to fill the skills gaps identified are:* Take additional training to upgrade your skills.* For those tasks where you do not have the necessary skills set to perform, consider contracting these out.* Take on a partner to complement your skills set.Ensuring that you have the requisite skills in place to make your home-based business a success is one of the most important things you can do for your business. It will save you a lot of unnecessary headache and frustration as you are now much better equipped to execute your home business plan.
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.
Starting A Home Based Business Is Easier Than You Think
In the current hard economic times, the number of people around the world who are looking for jobs and other sources of income is very large and continues to increase every day as the jobs themselves continue to grow scarce. Even the people who are already employed are on the lookout for opportunities to make an additional income to supplement their regular incomes and help grapple with the ever increasing costs of living. In case you fall into either of the above categories, starting a home based business is probably the best idea that you can implement to achieve your goals and make a good income.The development and expansion of modern communications technology, particularly the increased accessibility of the internet, has led to the growth of a large number of business opportunities for entrepreneurs. Besides the large number of opportunities, there are many additional benefits that an individual is likely to enjoy when starting a home based business. Some of the most significant benefits of doing so include the following:- Convenience: this is perhaps the main advantage of starting a home based business and the main reason why most people resort to this line of work. With a personal computer and a reliable internet connection, you can start, administer, and run your online business from practically any place in the world. Even the financial transactions, which would otherwise involve very many procedures, can be completed entirely online from the comfort of your home.- Flexibility: another advantage of a home based business is the kind of flexibility that it provides to the owner. Unlike a regular job or business where the pace of work is dictated by other people or other factors, the owner of a home based business dictates the pace of the work. This means that you can create and adjust your “work schedule” so that it fits into your “life schedule.”- Freedom: a home based business definitely affords the owner a greater amount of freedom than they could ever hope to achieve in a regular, more conventional job. As the owner of the business, you are free to do as you please with the business without having to make any extensive consultations. Everything from the hours you work to the places from which you work is controlled by you!- Low capital: starting a home based business requires very little financial output. In fact, you can conceivably start your home business with the costs of a computer, an internet connection, and a website!The above are just a few of the benefits associated with home based businesses. The list is hardly conclusive, and there are many more benefits. The time for fretting over limited income is over, and you should start thinking about starting a home based business!