This is why I always look for a new home based business opportunity:If I were to ask you to write down, on a piece of paper, a number that would rank as the most important, what would it be? Perhaps your age, a birthday, or the date of a special event might come to mind. For me, the number 9 would be the leader of the pack and it might be at the top of the list for many others as well. As you probably know, nine represents the number of those without work in the U.S. today. More specifically, it amounts to 9.1% unemployed in the current marketplace. That is a staggering number of people looking for a job, and each month about 400,000 more apply for unemployment benefits. Home foreclosures are near an all-time high, and the mood in the country is depressed and confrontational, to say the least.While all this apathy creates a sense of hopelessness and disappointment, it will also provide opportunities for those willing to engage the entrepreneurial spirit with a new home based business opportunity. Many that have been laid off are now realizing this is their chance to fulfill a long awaited dream of owning a business or generating an income in an unconventional way. Working from home has always been a preferred method. The idea that you do not have to commute, punch a time clock, or deal with a surly boss is pretty darn appealing. But, the one thing that your home business will demand is discipline…if you do not set a schedule and stick with it, your business will suffer immeasurably.You can get online and type in “home business” and you will literally come up with thousands of websites that have your eyes rolling up like a cheap shade. It would take you months, if not years, to wade through all the offers. So, I think one of the best ways to narrow the list down is to look for what is relevant in today’s marketplace. Even in a depressed market, people still carry on business activity. Those that can understand and meet the demand will be the ones that find the most success. What has killed more retail businesses than anything else is the overhead new storefronts are saddled with. A home based business eliminates much of the overhead providing you with a better bottom line.A new home based business opportunity with strong training and education will provide you with everything you need to start making money in a short period of time. You can have the best idea in the world, but without the proven tools to implement your plan…it will more often than not fail. Find someone who will help you take the guesswork out of the equation and replaced it with home based profits. It’s now your turn in the driver’s seat.
Real Secrets to Profitable Legitimate Home Based Businesses
Your niche: identify your niche if you are selling with affiliate marketing program. You can look for a niche by using different search term tools. Build a website that is user friendly, easy to navigate, shop and checkout. Customers enter your website to get the information they desire and the products they want to purchase. So give them a good navigation experience. These are some of the critical ingredients to start legitimate home based businesses online. Internet based business millionaires know the secrets to success and they are so valuable that by implementing them success will be your slave.General secrets: the general secrets to earn profitable income through your legitimate home based businesses on internet are strategy, planning, execution and employing new techniques. For a profitable home business recognize the strategy that should be the foundation of your marketing plan. You cannot just jump into internet marketing techniques and need to build a strategy. Do not be a generalist focus on selling your products and services to specific target markets. Do research to grab untapped markets because you will not have many competitors. Automate your services and allow you to sell non stop whole week, day and night. Build a team to support your legitimate home based businesses ventures.Driving traffic: targeted visitors are ready to buy and some of the common methods for successful legitimate home based businesses and internet marketing are email marketing or list marketing, article marketing, forum marketing, ezine marketing, pay per click marketing, co-op marketing, blog marketing, search engine marketing. Whenever a visitor visits your website, offer them a form to fill in their email details. The secret to email marketing is sending them a follow up. You can find tools to automate your response and read your emails to understand the science of human psychology. Article marketing is a good way to create instant traffic. This is a simple strategy to earn from your home based business. Forum marketing is another method for new home business owner. Ezine Marketing is one of the quickest methods to earn income from home business. Many also uses search engines for pay per click advertisement and this can also generate traffic to your website. Co-op Marketing applies to those who are running an affiliate or network marketing business. Search Engine Marketing for home based business owners is one of the most powerful internet-marketing tools to generate web traffic to your website and increase sales.Have self-confidence and make decisions quickly to have proven success. Do not be afraid to make a mistake this is one of the most vital secrets to know for a legitimate home based businesses owner.
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.