Here's a business you can start for virtually nothing, and parlay into a million dollar enterprise in five years or less. Many established resume writing services in the large metropolitan areas are reporting annual incomes of $250,000 or more. Even the smaller operations, in towns as small as 15,000 are experiencing sales of $50,000 or more.
No special knowledge, education or experience are required for total success in this business. An awareness of the general format of the "modern resume," and the ability to keep material are about the only prerequisites to successfully operate a resume writing service.
Probably the most exciting and motivational aspects of this business idea are the low investment and risk factors involved, and the growing demand for resume service. Up until the past couple of years, few in any Americans really had to look for jobs. People in general have either forgotten how to look for a new job, or never knew how in the first place.
Since the start of the World War II, back in 1941, the American worker has been spoiled by an affluent society and an ideal market for the job seeker. Usually, all he had to do whenever he lost a job or wanted to change jobs was to report in to local branch of his local employment service office, check in at his union office, look at the want ads in the Sunday paper, or call a few friends and ask about job openings.
But no more! Times have changed! There are fewer jobs and an increasing number of people applying for those jobs that are available. Just recently, the post office department in a large west coast city advertised that applications would be accepted on two days only, 600 up coming openings. Would you believe that twenty thousand applicants showed up to fill out applications? Can you image the post office personnel people reviewing all those applications, and then interviewing all those people, according to the fair employment practices act?
On another day, word got out that there was going to be an opening for a fork lift driver at a local warehouse. Fifteen hundred men and women showed up even before the job was advertised!
Times are tough, and we're moving deeper into the age of specialization. Employers are demanding to know more about the applicant--his work record, natural talents and personality traits. They want the cold facts on the application form. Personnel managers are placing a higher premium on their time, and delegating to others the job of "weeding out" the unqualified applicants from those whose backgrounds and goals come closest to fitting the needs of the company.
To get in to see the person doing the hiring nowadays, the job applicant has to "sell the short-stopper," and that calls for a professionally written resume. More and more firms are demanding resumes. Industry estimates are that by the year 2000, most of the jobs worth having will require a written resume before even an initial interview is granted.
And that's where you can fit into the picture your Professional Resume Writing Service. Probably 80 percent of the people searching for jobs don't have a resume. Of the 20 percent who do have resumes, many are ineffective; they simply do adequately present the applicant's total qualifications.
Everyone--with or without a resume--is looking for this key: A professionally written resume, a sales presentation of their qualifications and experience that will get the job for them--the job they want. The job hunters are wound up in their own specialties and problems. They don't know how, and they don't have the time---AND they're willing to pay you to put it all together for them. Just as you're willing to pay a doctor, dentist or investment broker, those who need a resume are willing to pay you for this service. The market exists in every city and town in this country, and the demand for this service is growing daily. Your opportunity for success beyond your fondest dreams has been greater! The brass ring is here! Grab it, and hold on!
You'll need a modern, professional quality typewriter. You can begin, and perhaps get by for a month or so, with a top quality portable, but do yourself and your business a favor: Arrange to rent, lease or buy monthly payments if necessary, the best machine for the quality of work that will command top dollars for you.
Setting up and operating from your home will be the most economical way to begin. In addition to your typewriter, you should have a typewriter stand, typist chair, adjustable long-arm lamp, and a file cabinet. However, just as you can make do with a portable typewriter for a month or so, you can get by for starters with a kitchen table at your dining room table.
To prepare yourself properly, invest in a good book on how to write "job winning" resumes. Select a book which discusses both the cover letter and format of the body of the resume.
The most important part of any resume package is the cover letter the applicant sends as part of the resume. This letter states the specific job the applicant is applying for, explains why he believes he is qualified, and pointedly asks for an interview. In most cases, you'll be able to provide an "all purpose form letter" which your client can adapt to any position that interest him. More later about actual writing of the resume and the cover letter.
The format and style of the body of the resume are the items you want to learn from this book. Resumes of today generally follow this outline:
Name
Address
City, State, zip
Phone number
Type of job or position wanted
Goals and/or desires in life.
Job history, starting with current or last job held
Special courses, education or training completed
Military History
Formal Education
Activities while attending school: athletics, offices, awards
Hobbies and special interest
Notation that names business and personal references will be furnished on request. 14 Availability
Health
Once you've organized with space and equipment, you're ready for business. All that's necessary from this point on will be advertising, client interviewing, and producing the final product.
Your advertising needs, in comparison with many other businesses, need not cost you an exorbitant amount of money. It should, however, be consistent and eye-catching.
You should contact your area's widely read newspaper and arrange to run a one-column by one inch ad every day for the next six months to twelve months. By purchasing your ad space on a daily insertion basis, and over at least six month period, your rate will be much lower than the rate charged for shorter contracts.
Your newspaper ad might read something like this:
A complete, Professional Service
MIDWEST RESUME SERVICE
Resumes--Letters--Portfolios
...that results in jobs!
Phone 123-4567
Aside from an ad in the newspaper, and perhaps a similar one in your area shoppers' papers, the only other advertising efforts you should worry about are those that don't cost money---free bulletin board announcements, radio and television talk show interviews, and low cost flyers, circulars or brochures that describe your services.
One method of gaining business exposure which is most often overlooked is the radio and television talk show interview. Call the broadcast stations in your area and get the names of the producers of these talk shows. Then write them a letter explaining your services, and how you believe an appearance on their program could be educational and beneficial to their audiences. Include a brochure with your letter, give them a call on the phone, and ask them to consider an interview with you.
Another area to explore for free publicity is a guest speaker for your civic clubs. For these, simply write out a speech emphasizing the need for a resume and the proper way to write one that will result in a job for the job seeker. Explain the growing trend of employers to use the resume as a screening device, and the fact that a well written resume can get a better job for someone when there are seemingly no openings. Don't be afraid to explain what goes into a professionally written resume. Many of the people listening to you---if you sell them they don't have the time or know-how, and because you'll have the reputation of an "expert" after having spoken before their club. Basically, people are lazy in this respect, and would rather pay someone else to do something than to take the time to learn how and do it themselves. Once you spread the word that you're in the business of preparing resumes for people looking for work or wanting better jobs, you'll have no trouble at all keeping busy!
Your brochure can be as simple as a Z-folded 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper. It should describe your services, emphasize your professionalism, fast service and reasonable cost. It would be best to have your story typeset and laid out in three columns down the width of the paper.
Most quick print shops can handle all this for you, at a nominal cost. Once you've had your brochures printed, leave off a supply with your area high school and college counselors, vocational and trade school placement directors, and with as many private employment agencies as will take them.
When a prospective clients call you, simply explain your services and prices, and set up an appointment for them to meet with you. For this it's best to prepare a script, which might read like this:
YOU, answering the phone : Good morning! Midwest Resume Service. May I help you?
CLIENT: Yes, I'm calling about your ad in the paper.
YOU: Oh yes, and thank you for calling. Let me explain our services. We're professional resume writers--we interview job seekers such as yourself--learn the important features of their backgrounds as those features apply in helping us to write a resume that will land them the job they're looking for. Then we assemble all this information into a winning presentation, type it out, give you the original plus 50 copies and a cover letter (which you can modify as necessary on your home typewriter and have copied each time you submit a resume). Your cost is only $50, and usually we can have everything ready for you within three or four days. Now, does that sound like what you had in mind?
CLIENT: Yes! That's just what I had in mind. When can we get together and start the ball rolling?
YOU: How about this afternoon at 3:15 or would tomorrow morning at say 9:45 be better for you? We're located at 600 North Main Street. Are you familiar with the area?
CLIENT: Yes, I know the area, no problem. This afternoon at 3:15 will be fine.
YOU: Good! Now, let me have your name and phone number please.
CLIENT: Gives his name and phone number.
YOU: All right, Bob, we'll look forward to seeing you this afternoon at 3:15.
You now have a client, and an appointment to interview him for background information in order to put together a resume that can result in a job for him. Be sure you're prepared with a "researcher's questionnaire," to guide you in the questions to ask.
Type your resume format on a separate sheet paper, numbering each question you want an answer to, or subject you want to cover. This of course serves as a "master" which you duplicate and use as the researcher's questionnaire guide.
For each interview, take one of these "interview guides" and an ordinary yellow legal tablet, and start asking questions. Identify each page of notes with a number or subject matter from the resume format, and use a separate page of the tablet for each subject and each job the client may have had.
The interview should be relaxed, with the client doing most of the talking. However, you should control the interview and take notes as the client gives you the information you need. Be confident, but friendly. Maintain your confidence and ask leading questions that elicit complete, revealing responses. Take your time, and "listen" to what the client ISN'T telling you as well as what he IS telling you. With a bit of practice, you'll be able to find out all there is to know about your client in twenty minutes or less.
Look ahead to the day when you have employees working for you. Develop your interviewing techniques to a state of maximum efficiency for your business, and then record three or four interviews for use in training your employees. You should also reproduce several examples of completed resumes and put them into an instruction book for study by new employees.
After the interview, you need to interpret your notes and type the information into a resume. This would be easy because you've gathered the details in sequence with your resume format. Familiarity with format writing style makes the task of putting everything into finished form quite simple.
At the very least, a quick course in resume writing will be necessary. Check out a book on the subject from your local library. The important thing to remember is to drop the "I's" and write in a kind of note taking reportorial style:
"Hired as entry level shipping clerk. Recognized need for organization on the loading dock to eliminate congestion. Suggested designated spaces for incoming and outgoing shipments. This program was adopted and immediately eliminated congestion of trucks and decreased overtime requirements, with an estimated savings of $700 per week for the company. Promoted to Line Expeditor after six months.."
Don't put a time limit on the amount of time you devote to each client, but once you're organized and established, the interview through the finished resume shouldn't take more than an hour or two.
After you have the resume typed, call the client in to check it over and approve it. In almost every case, he'll be very favorably impressed and ready to go with anything you suggest. The secret is in the quality of your work--a modern typewriter with good type, clean paper and error free copy.
So, you explain to your client that his resume will make more favorable impression on the prospective employer when it is printed on better quality paper. Suggest to him that you have it printed for him on colored "offset" paper instead of ordinary bond. Ivory, tan or blue shades are desirable. For the really expensive-looking resume, suggest that it be printed on 11x17 paper, and then folded in half to make a kind of "book" about the client.
The charges for your service should be about $50 for the interview, original resume, 50 copies on white bond paper, and an universal cover letter. For colored offset paper, or 11x17 sized sheets, check current rent prices at your print shop. You should pass those costs onto your client, plus a nominal service charge of $5 or so. Also explain to your client that you can up date or add to his resume whenever the need arises, and for this service you charge $10, plus the cost of printing as many copies as he requires.
Now for the cover letter---probably the most important part of any resume submitted for job consideration. The first thing to ask your client regarding the cover letter is if he intends to submit his resumes in answer to advertised positions, or if he intends to "shot-gun" them out to possible employers. According to his stated plan, you simply use one of the two general forms for cover letters.
And that's it---the basics you need for starting your own highly profitable resume service. A couple of things always to bear in mind: Your success will be directly related to the quality of the finished product you put out. Learn to do it right, and then strive for perfection with every job you complete for a client.
Remember too that image you project is the credibility rating you'll carry with your customers. Shabby surroundings, a disorganized office and an less than personal appearance will doom you to failure. Be impressive! keep your eyes open, and move into an office among professional people as soon as you can.
Finally, put some real planning into starting your business; get it well established and running smoothly; then hire other people to do some of the work. The object of a business of your own is not steady employment for you, but financial security and independence--to achieve and enjoy the fruits of your labor. Plan your business, nurture its growth and then hire people to do the work while you guide, supervise and make bank deposits.
COVER LETTER
IN RESPONSE TO AN ADVERTISED OPENING
Your recent ad, expressing a need for an experienced stock clerk, has come to my attention. I'd like very mush to get together with you at your earliest convenience to discuss my qualifications for this position.
With hopes for such a meeting in mind, I'm enclosing a copy of my resume for your information and consideration.
I assure you that I am experienced, learn very quickly, and am adaptable to new methods of operation. I have heard favorable comments about your company as the place for one with ambitions for growth and self-improvement.
I'm available to come in and meet with you at your convenience and can begin work immediately.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. A call from you will be most welcome and appreciated.
Sincerely Yours,
Your signature
Your Typed Name
(123) 456-7890
COVER LETTER FOR THE SHOT-GUN APPROACH WHERE NO KNOWN OPENING EXISTS
AS a salesman, I have ambitions to improve my status in life.
Your company's reputation as a leader in the publishing of educational materials impresses me, and i would like to explore the possibilities of becoming a part of your sales force.
I'm currently a top-producing salesman, but feel stymied with my present employment. I think I could do much better with a company receptive to innovative ideas and energetic people such as myself.
Could we get together and discuss the possibilities of my joining your organization in some capacity that would utilize my abilities to a greater extent, and at the same time benefit your company?
I will be free from 10 o'clock on, next Tuesday, the 27th. Please give me a call at (123) 456-7890.
Thank You! I am looking forward to meeting you.
Your signature
Your Typed name
PS: enclosed is a resume that will give you an in depth look at my accomplishments, and an idea on my potential. I appreciate your time and consideration.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
HOW TO START YOUR OWN HIGHLY PROFITABLE CATERING SERVICE
People with money seem to be on a binge to prove their status and flaunt their wealth by staging large, catered parties. As a matter of fact, in some circle of affluency, a party or social get-together isn't considered an event of any significance unless it's a catered affair.
With the same kind of reasoning, businesses of all sizes are using catered lunches, cocktail parties and dinner meetings to build their images and increase company sales. It's a matter of keeping up with the competition in promoting a company and/or product.
On a smaller, but just as busy marketing scale, more and more working mothers are paying to have catered birthday and graduation parties, as well as wedding receptions handled by caterers. The reasons are simple to understand--if she's working outside the home, today's mother just doesn't have the time or the energy to do all the planning and staging of a memorable party.
Besides those reasons for turning everything over to a caterer, working mothers feel a little guilty about the time away from their children they lose because of their jobs. Thus, they're ready and willing to make it all to them by paying for a lavish party the child will remember for years to come.
Caterers handle everything from birthday parties for children, to breakfast in bed and intimate candlelight dinners for two, to company dinner parties for 50 and wedding receptions involving a thousand or more guests. This kind of entreprenuerial business is definitely growing and becoming more popular with people of all income levels.
An imaginative caterer in a large metropolitan area can easily gross $150,000 per year, while a small part-time caterer in a small town can count on at least $10,000 to $15,000 per year. One small, but very ambitious caterer is reported to have grossed $250,000 after only 2-years in the business!
You don't need special education or training to become a successful caterer. You do need a affinity for people and a kind of intuition as to what people enjoy in different environmental settings.
A quick survey of successful caterers across the nation shows that began with zero capital by working out of their homes. The basic starting up investment would appear to be around $500, with some big spenders capitalizing their idea with as much as $15,000 in order to get off to a fast start.
This seems to be an ideal business for an ambitious couple to start and operate with very little capital investment required. One person can spend his time hustling up business while the other would do the planning, organizing and actual catering.
As with any business, your success will be directly related to the soundness of planning and the working of that plan. Understand exactly what your client wants, and give him what he wants in the way of service that reflects upon the client in a complimentary manner.
Basically, you can start with an advertisement in your local newspapers. This advertisement need not be much more than a simple announcement: Creative Catering-Specializing in personal service- We can handle any party or special event from start to finish-no idea to small or too large- Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! We can handle everything for you.. Call us, and let us make your parties worth remembering...
Naturally, the first thing you want from anyone calling to ask about your services, is that anyone calling to ask about your services, is that person's name, address and phone number. Then you want to know what kind of party or event they have in mind. As soon as you have this information, relax a little bit and inquire to find out about the person or the company--the people--sponsoring the party and their ultimate goals or reasons for the party.
If it's to celebrate birthday, graduation, anniversary or a wedding reception--finding out about the interests, background and ambitious of the guest of honor will be of value to you in your planning. Taking a few minutes to learn everything you can about whoever the party is for, and the people giving the party, will also make it much easire to close the sale than any sales pitch or special persuasive tactics.
People like to talk about themselves, and they especially like to tell everyone why they're honoring someone, even when they pretend to keep it a secret who initiated the idea. So, it's important that you be a good listener, that you have the ability to get people to talk about themselves, and that you take notes on the things they tell you.
This same principle applies to business people, regardless of who's talking to you or the purpose of the catered affair. The more polished and adept you can become in getting your prospects to talk about themselves, the more information relative to their background you can elicit, and the more you listen; the better your parties will be, and the greater success you'll attain in the catering business.
You take the information you glean from this first interview and plan/organize the event on paper. This means you're going to have to have contacts or at least working relationships with innumerable service businesses.
If your client wants to stage a birthday party for a 12-year old---he or she greets the guests as they arrive, makes sure everybody knows who he is---then what about party favors---a soft drink and a conversation leader until all the guests arrive--the opening of presents--icecream and cake--and games to play, a thank you gift for coming, and a reason to end the party at a pre-determined time...
Do you greet the guests, does the mother or father, or the little boy or girl? Where do you come up with the party favors at less than regular retail prices? Where are you going to get the soft drinks-your cost and the glasses or paper cups to serve them in? What about ice? What kind of games to play? Who'll be the conservation leader? Will there be a clown or someone special to keep everything moving according to plan? Where do you get the ice cream and cake? What games to play? How to get everyone involved? And finally, a feasible and polite reason for ending the party and sending everyone home...
All this takes planning, organization, and if you're going to make a profit, a definite awareness of cost control. Get it all down on paper as a proposal to the people who want to pay you to carry it off. Figure out your costs, the time involved in putting it all together, and then get back to your prospect.
Always leave room for changes in your proposal. In fact, expect them--invite input and suggestions from the client--and always have an alternate idea in your mind for each of those on your written proposals. Discuss your proposal with the client just as you would a script for a television show, make the suggested changes and ask for a 50-percent advance deposit. From there, it's just a matter of following your plan.
Regardless of size or type of party--whether your client is a working mother or a giant corporation--the format is always the same: initial inquiry, interview, your proposal, 2nd interview for any changes, agreement, deposit, staging the party itself, and your final payment. As mentioned earlier, success in this business comes from your planning--having a lot of contacts--and working your plan.
An important word of caution: Try not to get "boxed in" to setting or even revealing a tentative price until you've had a chance to listen to what the prospect wants, to study your own capabilities, and to make a formal written proposal. If a customer wants to know how much you charge--and if you feel it necessary in order to eventually close the sale--you can tell him 50 to 100 dollars per hour, plus expenses, and of course, depending on the type of event the customer wants.
As for how much the average party costs, again tell him that it varies anywhere from 50 to 5,000 dollars.
Always keep in mind that you are a professional, and that if the ordinary person had your knowledge, contacts and ambition to do it himself, he wouldn't be calling you on the phone. He needs your help for any number of reasons. You specialize in this kind of work or service just as a doctor specializes in medicine and a lawyer in legal matters. Therefore, you should, and do expect to be paid accordingly.
Something else--this business thrives on word-of-mouth advertising--referrals--and thus, is direct "freeway' to the kind of customers where money is of no concern. However, on order to gain access to this market, your business emphasis has to be on service.
This means the capability of handling everything for the customer, from having the invitations printed and sent out to cleaning up after the last guest has left. Businesses and people in the upper income brackets, like to pick up the phone--tell someone they want a party on a certain date--and then forget about it, knowing everything will be taken care of without further worry or time involvement from them. Once you've developed your expertise and clientele to this level, you'll have a business in the $200,000 to $250,00 per year range.
Definitely arrange for a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You'll probably get 40% of your inquires from this source alone. Generally speaking, radio and/or television advertising will be too expensive when compared with the immediate results. However, it is recommended that you consider these media prior to special holidays.
Working with restaurants, supper clubs, bridal shops and entertainment business in general. can bring in hundreds of referrals for you. Rubbing shoulders with, and circulating as a part of your area's civic and service clubs, should also result in more business for you.
Keep your eyes and ears on the alert. Where ever you go, and with whomever you associate, always be ready to promote and sell your services, if not on the spot, at least make a note to follow up when conditions are more in your favor. Promoting and selling your services will require at least half your time, and that's why two people operating catering services are so successful from the start.
The actual selling is quite simple so long as you emphasize the service and time-saving aspects. The more time-consuming work you can handle for the client, the easier it's going to be for you to close the sale.
Handing out business cards is one of the least expensive ways to advertise, promote and sell your services. One enterprising caterer makes arrangements with the sponsors of all his parties, to see that each of the guests gets one of his business cards.
Another gives each of his clients a stack of his business cards, and tells them he'll pay them $25 for each prospect they refer to him. He tells them to write their name on the backs of the cards, and to hand them out to their friends. And then, whenever a person tells him that John or Jane suggested he call, and he presents the card with John or Jane's name on the back, this very successful caterer sends John or Jane a $25 check.
Another very successful caterer pays commissions to a group of housewives and college students who solicit--via their home phones--interviews for him with brides-to-be. They get their leads from announcements, and pictures of brides-to-be in the local papers.
Many caterers pay sales people a commission for letting them know when they hear about a party or special event being planned by one of their business customers.
The possibilities go on and on, and are seemingly un limited. Time is becoming more valuable to a lot more people every day, which means there are more and more opportunities for great wealth and personal independence as a professional caterer. In reality the success for just about any person entering this field, will be limited only by his or her own imagination and energy.
There is definite opportunity for great wealth within the catering field. Anyone with a sense of service to others can succeed. Very little "readycash" is needed to begin. Therefore, the only thing standing between you and the realization of your dreams, is the action it takes on your part to get started...
With the same kind of reasoning, businesses of all sizes are using catered lunches, cocktail parties and dinner meetings to build their images and increase company sales. It's a matter of keeping up with the competition in promoting a company and/or product.
On a smaller, but just as busy marketing scale, more and more working mothers are paying to have catered birthday and graduation parties, as well as wedding receptions handled by caterers. The reasons are simple to understand--if she's working outside the home, today's mother just doesn't have the time or the energy to do all the planning and staging of a memorable party.
Besides those reasons for turning everything over to a caterer, working mothers feel a little guilty about the time away from their children they lose because of their jobs. Thus, they're ready and willing to make it all to them by paying for a lavish party the child will remember for years to come.
Caterers handle everything from birthday parties for children, to breakfast in bed and intimate candlelight dinners for two, to company dinner parties for 50 and wedding receptions involving a thousand or more guests. This kind of entreprenuerial business is definitely growing and becoming more popular with people of all income levels.
An imaginative caterer in a large metropolitan area can easily gross $150,000 per year, while a small part-time caterer in a small town can count on at least $10,000 to $15,000 per year. One small, but very ambitious caterer is reported to have grossed $250,000 after only 2-years in the business!
You don't need special education or training to become a successful caterer. You do need a affinity for people and a kind of intuition as to what people enjoy in different environmental settings.
A quick survey of successful caterers across the nation shows that began with zero capital by working out of their homes. The basic starting up investment would appear to be around $500, with some big spenders capitalizing their idea with as much as $15,000 in order to get off to a fast start.
This seems to be an ideal business for an ambitious couple to start and operate with very little capital investment required. One person can spend his time hustling up business while the other would do the planning, organizing and actual catering.
As with any business, your success will be directly related to the soundness of planning and the working of that plan. Understand exactly what your client wants, and give him what he wants in the way of service that reflects upon the client in a complimentary manner.
Basically, you can start with an advertisement in your local newspapers. This advertisement need not be much more than a simple announcement: Creative Catering-Specializing in personal service- We can handle any party or special event from start to finish-no idea to small or too large- Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! We can handle everything for you.. Call us, and let us make your parties worth remembering...
Naturally, the first thing you want from anyone calling to ask about your services, is that anyone calling to ask about your services, is that person's name, address and phone number. Then you want to know what kind of party or event they have in mind. As soon as you have this information, relax a little bit and inquire to find out about the person or the company--the people--sponsoring the party and their ultimate goals or reasons for the party.
If it's to celebrate birthday, graduation, anniversary or a wedding reception--finding out about the interests, background and ambitious of the guest of honor will be of value to you in your planning. Taking a few minutes to learn everything you can about whoever the party is for, and the people giving the party, will also make it much easire to close the sale than any sales pitch or special persuasive tactics.
People like to talk about themselves, and they especially like to tell everyone why they're honoring someone, even when they pretend to keep it a secret who initiated the idea. So, it's important that you be a good listener, that you have the ability to get people to talk about themselves, and that you take notes on the things they tell you.
This same principle applies to business people, regardless of who's talking to you or the purpose of the catered affair. The more polished and adept you can become in getting your prospects to talk about themselves, the more information relative to their background you can elicit, and the more you listen; the better your parties will be, and the greater success you'll attain in the catering business.
You take the information you glean from this first interview and plan/organize the event on paper. This means you're going to have to have contacts or at least working relationships with innumerable service businesses.
If your client wants to stage a birthday party for a 12-year old---he or she greets the guests as they arrive, makes sure everybody knows who he is---then what about party favors---a soft drink and a conversation leader until all the guests arrive--the opening of presents--icecream and cake--and games to play, a thank you gift for coming, and a reason to end the party at a pre-determined time...
Do you greet the guests, does the mother or father, or the little boy or girl? Where do you come up with the party favors at less than regular retail prices? Where are you going to get the soft drinks-your cost and the glasses or paper cups to serve them in? What about ice? What kind of games to play? Who'll be the conservation leader? Will there be a clown or someone special to keep everything moving according to plan? Where do you get the ice cream and cake? What games to play? How to get everyone involved? And finally, a feasible and polite reason for ending the party and sending everyone home...
All this takes planning, organization, and if you're going to make a profit, a definite awareness of cost control. Get it all down on paper as a proposal to the people who want to pay you to carry it off. Figure out your costs, the time involved in putting it all together, and then get back to your prospect.
Always leave room for changes in your proposal. In fact, expect them--invite input and suggestions from the client--and always have an alternate idea in your mind for each of those on your written proposals. Discuss your proposal with the client just as you would a script for a television show, make the suggested changes and ask for a 50-percent advance deposit. From there, it's just a matter of following your plan.
Regardless of size or type of party--whether your client is a working mother or a giant corporation--the format is always the same: initial inquiry, interview, your proposal, 2nd interview for any changes, agreement, deposit, staging the party itself, and your final payment. As mentioned earlier, success in this business comes from your planning--having a lot of contacts--and working your plan.
An important word of caution: Try not to get "boxed in" to setting or even revealing a tentative price until you've had a chance to listen to what the prospect wants, to study your own capabilities, and to make a formal written proposal. If a customer wants to know how much you charge--and if you feel it necessary in order to eventually close the sale--you can tell him 50 to 100 dollars per hour, plus expenses, and of course, depending on the type of event the customer wants.
As for how much the average party costs, again tell him that it varies anywhere from 50 to 5,000 dollars.
Always keep in mind that you are a professional, and that if the ordinary person had your knowledge, contacts and ambition to do it himself, he wouldn't be calling you on the phone. He needs your help for any number of reasons. You specialize in this kind of work or service just as a doctor specializes in medicine and a lawyer in legal matters. Therefore, you should, and do expect to be paid accordingly.
Something else--this business thrives on word-of-mouth advertising--referrals--and thus, is direct "freeway' to the kind of customers where money is of no concern. However, on order to gain access to this market, your business emphasis has to be on service.
This means the capability of handling everything for the customer, from having the invitations printed and sent out to cleaning up after the last guest has left. Businesses and people in the upper income brackets, like to pick up the phone--tell someone they want a party on a certain date--and then forget about it, knowing everything will be taken care of without further worry or time involvement from them. Once you've developed your expertise and clientele to this level, you'll have a business in the $200,000 to $250,00 per year range.
Definitely arrange for a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You'll probably get 40% of your inquires from this source alone. Generally speaking, radio and/or television advertising will be too expensive when compared with the immediate results. However, it is recommended that you consider these media prior to special holidays.
Working with restaurants, supper clubs, bridal shops and entertainment business in general. can bring in hundreds of referrals for you. Rubbing shoulders with, and circulating as a part of your area's civic and service clubs, should also result in more business for you.
Keep your eyes and ears on the alert. Where ever you go, and with whomever you associate, always be ready to promote and sell your services, if not on the spot, at least make a note to follow up when conditions are more in your favor. Promoting and selling your services will require at least half your time, and that's why two people operating catering services are so successful from the start.
The actual selling is quite simple so long as you emphasize the service and time-saving aspects. The more time-consuming work you can handle for the client, the easier it's going to be for you to close the sale.
Handing out business cards is one of the least expensive ways to advertise, promote and sell your services. One enterprising caterer makes arrangements with the sponsors of all his parties, to see that each of the guests gets one of his business cards.
Another gives each of his clients a stack of his business cards, and tells them he'll pay them $25 for each prospect they refer to him. He tells them to write their name on the backs of the cards, and to hand them out to their friends. And then, whenever a person tells him that John or Jane suggested he call, and he presents the card with John or Jane's name on the back, this very successful caterer sends John or Jane a $25 check.
Another very successful caterer pays commissions to a group of housewives and college students who solicit--via their home phones--interviews for him with brides-to-be. They get their leads from announcements, and pictures of brides-to-be in the local papers.
Many caterers pay sales people a commission for letting them know when they hear about a party or special event being planned by one of their business customers.
The possibilities go on and on, and are seemingly un limited. Time is becoming more valuable to a lot more people every day, which means there are more and more opportunities for great wealth and personal independence as a professional caterer. In reality the success for just about any person entering this field, will be limited only by his or her own imagination and energy.
There is definite opportunity for great wealth within the catering field. Anyone with a sense of service to others can succeed. Very little "readycash" is needed to begin. Therefore, the only thing standing between you and the realization of your dreams, is the action it takes on your part to get started...
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
HOW TO START YOUR OWN AUTO TUNE-UP SHOP
This business idea is one of those recession-proof opportunities that can put you on "easy street." When the economy heats up and inflation increases the cost of living, people become "do-it-yourself" conscious, looking for ways to save money. Whenever the economy falters, people again are searching for methods of saving money and making what they already own last longer.
The marketing principles outlined within this report emphasize the money-making potential of an independent auto tune-up shop in any part of the country. One of the secrets of success in this business is the specialization. No longer do auto owners expect their neighborhood service station to keep their cars tuned-up and running smoothly.
There are several reasons for the demise of the local "do-it-all" auto mechanic: First, there are very few auto mechanics running service stations anymore. A good journey man auto mechanic can earn much more, without the responsibility, by hiring out to big-time auto dealerships. Most service stations today are simply gas and tire selling outlets operated by the major oil companies who advise you to take your mechanical problems elsewhere for repair. When you do find one with a mechanic on duty, the prices are such that only the very rich can afford them.
There's also the problem of unethical operators. Although many state legislatures have enacted licensing and consumer protection safety measures, the rip-offs continue. The crux of the problem is that most auto owners do not realize they've been taken until after the fact, and then it's too late. After being taken once or twice, many consumers turn to "do-it-yourself" auto repair until they run into the technology and advanced electronics
of the ignition system on today's cars. That's when they'll be needing your help.
It really doesn't take any special education or training to set up an independent auto tune-up shop. Any automotive repair experience you may have will help, but a simple knowledge of basic tune-up procedures is all that's really necessary. In fact, the important prerequisites will be a strong business sense and an old fashioned "down-home" ability to get along with people.
Remember this fact: In starting and operating this business, it's not mandatory that you be a qualified auto mechanic; but your success will depend upon your ability to "serve others," and upon having a genuine desire and ability to do a good job.
This means remembering faces and names; addressing customers by first names as you get to know them; and listening to them; interacting with their problems achievements. The best way to explain the kind of "people empathy" you need for success in any kind of service business is to think of all your customers as close friends.
You can start this business in your garage - and even on a part-time basis. Run an ad in your local paper:
QUICK IN & OUT AUTO TUNE-UPS... Low cost, guaranteed... We pick up and deliver... Call Jim at 123-4567
Place a similar ad or notice on all the bulletin boards in your area. To drum up business and get the ball rolling, you could even elicit customers via telephone. Simply start calling people out of the phone book. Tell them that your shop is offering a change-of-season special on auto tune-ups - in and out in less than an hour for $5, plus parts, which usually run less than $10, and then ask them if they'd like for you to pick up and
deliver their car this afternoon or evening.
Another way of managing, building, and promoting your business is via the service stations and auto parts stores in your area. Have posters or signs painted, advertising your "quick in-and-out" tune up service. Take them around to all the service stations that don't handle auto repairs, and to the auto parts stores, and ask them to put your signs in their windows.
The next thing would be to hand out your business cards wherever you go and to everybody you meet. Give a handful to your friends, and ask them to write their name on the back of the cards and hand them out for you. You could promise them a dollar or two for every customer who brings in a card with their name on it. You'll be quite pleasantly surprised at how fast your business will grow when you take advantage of these promotional methods.
Still another idea is to have advertising circulars made up. Pay some junior high school students to hand them out at busy shopping centers on weekends, especially after the first cold snap or hot spell of the year. If you live in a large metropolitan area, leave off stacks at your downtown parking lots and get the lot attendants to hand them out as the people pay their parking fees.
You should be able to trade tune-up work for free radio advertising, especially after or during any change in the weather. This kind of advertising should work very well for you, so plan on it and use it at those times when people are most likely to be thinking about a tune up.
You can set this business up very simply and operate it according to the sophisticated time-saving methods of the highly capitalized franchised operations.
This means an electronic check of the ignition system and scientific diagnosis of the engine. Check with the auto parts and tools distributors in your area. They should be able to steer you the national manufacturers or suppliers of the equipment you need.
Here's how to buy the equipment: Decide upon a supplier explain your business plan to him. Tell him you want to finance the cost of the equipment through your local bank with him as your co-signer. Get the bank to draw up the papers, make a layout of your shop and equipment with the help of your supplier, and that's all there is to it.
After you've electronically checked the ignition, the next step in your quick tune-up procedure is to replace all parts that aren't operating properly. This usually means points, condenser and plugs. In some cases, this may include a new rotor, distributor cap, fuel filter, air cleaner and maybe spark plug wires. Be hesitant to suggest extras beyond the basics until your business is established. Spray some chemical cleaning fluid into and on the carburetor, start the engine, set the timing, make any necessary adjustments - and the job is complete. You charge the customer about $10 for parts, (or according to your cost) plus $5 for labor, and you should be on your way to a good income.
As you become established, and as your customers gain confidence in your work, you'll be able to suggest and sell them such things as new batteries, battery cables, starters, voltage regulators, alternators and sometimes even generators - when these parts are not working properly and need replacement. It's important that you don't sell, or even allow your customers to buy parts from you that are not really needed for continued troublefree
operation of their vehicles. Another thing: when you do replace a major piece of equipment on a customer's auto, always schedule the replacement work for a time when you're not handling regular in-and out tune-up customers. In other words, you might schedule the replacement of a generator for Monday, after advising the customer of the need on Friday. Suggest that he leave the car with you all day, and pick it up on his way home from work. Or he could stop by on his way to work, and you take him to work, replacing the generator during the day, and pick him up after work.
The charge for replacing major engine components such as suggested should be $10 plus the cost of the replacement part. It's also very important that whenever you contract to do this kind of work, you have the work done and the car ready for your customer at the time you promise him it'll be ready. No one likes to wait around for the completion of work that was promised to be done at a specific time. By completing the work on time, and having your customer's car properly serviced as promised, you'll build more long-term loyalty than any fancy advertising, "come-on" gimmicks or rock-bottom prices ever offered.
So the thing to do as you organize your business is to establish accounts - sources of wholesale priced parts - with the major auto parts distributors in your area. You'll want to maintain a general supply of new parts on hand, and not have to worry about paying for them for at least 30 days. In other words , you'll need a cash-flow system that works to your ad vantage .
Your profit will come from developing a standard routine that allows you to move at least four cars through your shop every hour. Some automotive purists may argue that you're only providing a "pep-up" instead of a tune-up, but let them beat their gums. Give each car the same procedure: an electronic check, new points and condenser, then an engine diagnosis, and collect your fee.
Talk with your customers. Get to know them and allow them to get to know you. Then when your engine diagnosis indicates a valve job or a new carburetor you can recommend it to them and they'll trust your judgment.
You, as the operator of a quick tune-up shop, should not volunteer any major mechanical work. Suggest someone whose work you trust. Your customer will appreciate your suggestion and concern. And he'll remain loyal to you for not taking his money and attempting to give him a repair job in an area where you don't specialize.
After all, you're a tune-up specialist - the guy who knows all there is to know about a car's ignition system - the guy who keeps cars running smoothly. By specializing in a particular area of auto repair, and recommending other specialists as needed, you'll be able to quickly dispel the skepticism many car owners have for independent auto repair shops in general.
An assembly line in-and-out operation will reduce the necessary investment for tools, enable you to hire lower-cost workers, and greatly increase your profit potential by eliminating wasted motion. Keep it simple, routine and according to a definite procedure on every car.
Once you have your business established and a regular following of people who bring their cars to you for regular tune-ups - usually every six months - you can begin thinking about expansion. It's best to hire college students, or "car-crazy" high school students, to work alongside you. Give your customers a chance to recognize and know your help. When you find one who seems to be especially mechanically inclined, take him aside and offer him the title of assistant manager of your shop.
Teach this young man how you want the business to operate; explain where the profit comes from; and assign more of the actual responsibilities to him. Leave him on his own to run the shop for longer periods of time. Be patient; compliment him on his work; and if you want him to stay with you, give him a raise now and then, and eventually, a percentage of the profits.
Offering him a percentage arrangement will result in even greater profits for you, plus a very strong local image for your business. Because you're "giving him" a part of the business, he'll promote your business to his friends, and through him and his friends, a long line of new customers and a chain of loyalty that could become more valuable to your business than any amount of advertising you could buy.
When you're ready to expand your operation from your garage to a regular commercial location, look for a vacant service station. One of the larger facilities built by a major oil company, located on a strategic corner, will be your best bet.
So long as you operate out of your garage and on a small scale, you probably won't have to worry too much about licenses. That is, providing you get along well with your neighbors, don't clutter up the street with 5 or 10 cars at a time, and don't erect any kind of sign indicating you're doing business in a residentially zoned neighborhood.
However, once you move into a commercial location, you'll need to register the name of your business with the appropriate local government authority. In most states, this is the office of the county clerk.
If your state has a sales tax, you'll have to check with the state tax commissioner's office to learn the rules on how the collection system operates.
All these licensing offices are in reality offices for tax collecting. Basically, they know nothing about your business, and usually could care less. Their main reason for existence is simply the collection of money for the administration of government in your area. If they should ask you questions relative to the worth of your business, or how much money you will be taking in, always estimate a much lower figure than either the
true worth or those you anticipate. Most license fees are based upon the investment of the entrepreneur and his anticipated income from the new business, and you certainly don't want to start off paying excess taxes.
A good eye-catching sign is vital to the success of any business in a commercial location. The most important requirement for you is visibility. Your sign should be big enough and tall enough for people to see it from several different directions at a distance of at least a half block away. Check with your city ordinances for the sign limitations in the location you select.
Secondly, your sign should immediately state the service you're offering. Hence, a sign that clearly and simply announces "Auto Tune-ups" fits this requirement. However, in order to attract customers into your shop, your sign should "promise" a benefit. It should describe an added benefit to the reader. So, your sign should read: "Rapid Auto Tune-Up!"
Basically, that's all you'll need for a sign, but to "fill it out" you might come up with a special logo or business motto. You can probably get an art student at your local college to design something for little more than the privilege of including it in his or her portfolio. For a business slogan or motto, something along the lines of "Better performance from your car, at a price you can afford," is the kind of thing you want to come up with, and that will do you the most good.
Remember, fast, efficient service and low prices, coupled with a personality that makes the customer feel you're his friend, are the keys to your success. Organize yourself; start slowly and build your customer loyalty; instill these principles in your employees, and you'll be on your way. Study this report again, then act on the recommendations given here.
The marketing principles outlined within this report emphasize the money-making potential of an independent auto tune-up shop in any part of the country. One of the secrets of success in this business is the specialization. No longer do auto owners expect their neighborhood service station to keep their cars tuned-up and running smoothly.
There are several reasons for the demise of the local "do-it-all" auto mechanic: First, there are very few auto mechanics running service stations anymore. A good journey man auto mechanic can earn much more, without the responsibility, by hiring out to big-time auto dealerships. Most service stations today are simply gas and tire selling outlets operated by the major oil companies who advise you to take your mechanical problems elsewhere for repair. When you do find one with a mechanic on duty, the prices are such that only the very rich can afford them.
There's also the problem of unethical operators. Although many state legislatures have enacted licensing and consumer protection safety measures, the rip-offs continue. The crux of the problem is that most auto owners do not realize they've been taken until after the fact, and then it's too late. After being taken once or twice, many consumers turn to "do-it-yourself" auto repair until they run into the technology and advanced electronics
of the ignition system on today's cars. That's when they'll be needing your help.
It really doesn't take any special education or training to set up an independent auto tune-up shop. Any automotive repair experience you may have will help, but a simple knowledge of basic tune-up procedures is all that's really necessary. In fact, the important prerequisites will be a strong business sense and an old fashioned "down-home" ability to get along with people.
Remember this fact: In starting and operating this business, it's not mandatory that you be a qualified auto mechanic; but your success will depend upon your ability to "serve others," and upon having a genuine desire and ability to do a good job.
This means remembering faces and names; addressing customers by first names as you get to know them; and listening to them; interacting with their problems achievements. The best way to explain the kind of "people empathy" you need for success in any kind of service business is to think of all your customers as close friends.
You can start this business in your garage - and even on a part-time basis. Run an ad in your local paper:
QUICK IN & OUT AUTO TUNE-UPS... Low cost, guaranteed... We pick up and deliver... Call Jim at 123-4567
Place a similar ad or notice on all the bulletin boards in your area. To drum up business and get the ball rolling, you could even elicit customers via telephone. Simply start calling people out of the phone book. Tell them that your shop is offering a change-of-season special on auto tune-ups - in and out in less than an hour for $5, plus parts, which usually run less than $10, and then ask them if they'd like for you to pick up and
deliver their car this afternoon or evening.
Another way of managing, building, and promoting your business is via the service stations and auto parts stores in your area. Have posters or signs painted, advertising your "quick in-and-out" tune up service. Take them around to all the service stations that don't handle auto repairs, and to the auto parts stores, and ask them to put your signs in their windows.
The next thing would be to hand out your business cards wherever you go and to everybody you meet. Give a handful to your friends, and ask them to write their name on the back of the cards and hand them out for you. You could promise them a dollar or two for every customer who brings in a card with their name on it. You'll be quite pleasantly surprised at how fast your business will grow when you take advantage of these promotional methods.
Still another idea is to have advertising circulars made up. Pay some junior high school students to hand them out at busy shopping centers on weekends, especially after the first cold snap or hot spell of the year. If you live in a large metropolitan area, leave off stacks at your downtown parking lots and get the lot attendants to hand them out as the people pay their parking fees.
You should be able to trade tune-up work for free radio advertising, especially after or during any change in the weather. This kind of advertising should work very well for you, so plan on it and use it at those times when people are most likely to be thinking about a tune up.
You can set this business up very simply and operate it according to the sophisticated time-saving methods of the highly capitalized franchised operations.
This means an electronic check of the ignition system and scientific diagnosis of the engine. Check with the auto parts and tools distributors in your area. They should be able to steer you the national manufacturers or suppliers of the equipment you need.
Here's how to buy the equipment: Decide upon a supplier explain your business plan to him. Tell him you want to finance the cost of the equipment through your local bank with him as your co-signer. Get the bank to draw up the papers, make a layout of your shop and equipment with the help of your supplier, and that's all there is to it.
After you've electronically checked the ignition, the next step in your quick tune-up procedure is to replace all parts that aren't operating properly. This usually means points, condenser and plugs. In some cases, this may include a new rotor, distributor cap, fuel filter, air cleaner and maybe spark plug wires. Be hesitant to suggest extras beyond the basics until your business is established. Spray some chemical cleaning fluid into and on the carburetor, start the engine, set the timing, make any necessary adjustments - and the job is complete. You charge the customer about $10 for parts, (or according to your cost) plus $5 for labor, and you should be on your way to a good income.
As you become established, and as your customers gain confidence in your work, you'll be able to suggest and sell them such things as new batteries, battery cables, starters, voltage regulators, alternators and sometimes even generators - when these parts are not working properly and need replacement. It's important that you don't sell, or even allow your customers to buy parts from you that are not really needed for continued troublefree
operation of their vehicles. Another thing: when you do replace a major piece of equipment on a customer's auto, always schedule the replacement work for a time when you're not handling regular in-and out tune-up customers. In other words, you might schedule the replacement of a generator for Monday, after advising the customer of the need on Friday. Suggest that he leave the car with you all day, and pick it up on his way home from work. Or he could stop by on his way to work, and you take him to work, replacing the generator during the day, and pick him up after work.
The charge for replacing major engine components such as suggested should be $10 plus the cost of the replacement part. It's also very important that whenever you contract to do this kind of work, you have the work done and the car ready for your customer at the time you promise him it'll be ready. No one likes to wait around for the completion of work that was promised to be done at a specific time. By completing the work on time, and having your customer's car properly serviced as promised, you'll build more long-term loyalty than any fancy advertising, "come-on" gimmicks or rock-bottom prices ever offered.
So the thing to do as you organize your business is to establish accounts - sources of wholesale priced parts - with the major auto parts distributors in your area. You'll want to maintain a general supply of new parts on hand, and not have to worry about paying for them for at least 30 days. In other words , you'll need a cash-flow system that works to your ad vantage .
Your profit will come from developing a standard routine that allows you to move at least four cars through your shop every hour. Some automotive purists may argue that you're only providing a "pep-up" instead of a tune-up, but let them beat their gums. Give each car the same procedure: an electronic check, new points and condenser, then an engine diagnosis, and collect your fee.
Talk with your customers. Get to know them and allow them to get to know you. Then when your engine diagnosis indicates a valve job or a new carburetor you can recommend it to them and they'll trust your judgment.
You, as the operator of a quick tune-up shop, should not volunteer any major mechanical work. Suggest someone whose work you trust. Your customer will appreciate your suggestion and concern. And he'll remain loyal to you for not taking his money and attempting to give him a repair job in an area where you don't specialize.
After all, you're a tune-up specialist - the guy who knows all there is to know about a car's ignition system - the guy who keeps cars running smoothly. By specializing in a particular area of auto repair, and recommending other specialists as needed, you'll be able to quickly dispel the skepticism many car owners have for independent auto repair shops in general.
An assembly line in-and-out operation will reduce the necessary investment for tools, enable you to hire lower-cost workers, and greatly increase your profit potential by eliminating wasted motion. Keep it simple, routine and according to a definite procedure on every car.
Once you have your business established and a regular following of people who bring their cars to you for regular tune-ups - usually every six months - you can begin thinking about expansion. It's best to hire college students, or "car-crazy" high school students, to work alongside you. Give your customers a chance to recognize and know your help. When you find one who seems to be especially mechanically inclined, take him aside and offer him the title of assistant manager of your shop.
Teach this young man how you want the business to operate; explain where the profit comes from; and assign more of the actual responsibilities to him. Leave him on his own to run the shop for longer periods of time. Be patient; compliment him on his work; and if you want him to stay with you, give him a raise now and then, and eventually, a percentage of the profits.
Offering him a percentage arrangement will result in even greater profits for you, plus a very strong local image for your business. Because you're "giving him" a part of the business, he'll promote your business to his friends, and through him and his friends, a long line of new customers and a chain of loyalty that could become more valuable to your business than any amount of advertising you could buy.
When you're ready to expand your operation from your garage to a regular commercial location, look for a vacant service station. One of the larger facilities built by a major oil company, located on a strategic corner, will be your best bet.
So long as you operate out of your garage and on a small scale, you probably won't have to worry too much about licenses. That is, providing you get along well with your neighbors, don't clutter up the street with 5 or 10 cars at a time, and don't erect any kind of sign indicating you're doing business in a residentially zoned neighborhood.
However, once you move into a commercial location, you'll need to register the name of your business with the appropriate local government authority. In most states, this is the office of the county clerk.
If your state has a sales tax, you'll have to check with the state tax commissioner's office to learn the rules on how the collection system operates.
All these licensing offices are in reality offices for tax collecting. Basically, they know nothing about your business, and usually could care less. Their main reason for existence is simply the collection of money for the administration of government in your area. If they should ask you questions relative to the worth of your business, or how much money you will be taking in, always estimate a much lower figure than either the
true worth or those you anticipate. Most license fees are based upon the investment of the entrepreneur and his anticipated income from the new business, and you certainly don't want to start off paying excess taxes.
A good eye-catching sign is vital to the success of any business in a commercial location. The most important requirement for you is visibility. Your sign should be big enough and tall enough for people to see it from several different directions at a distance of at least a half block away. Check with your city ordinances for the sign limitations in the location you select.
Secondly, your sign should immediately state the service you're offering. Hence, a sign that clearly and simply announces "Auto Tune-ups" fits this requirement. However, in order to attract customers into your shop, your sign should "promise" a benefit. It should describe an added benefit to the reader. So, your sign should read: "Rapid Auto Tune-Up!"
Basically, that's all you'll need for a sign, but to "fill it out" you might come up with a special logo or business motto. You can probably get an art student at your local college to design something for little more than the privilege of including it in his or her portfolio. For a business slogan or motto, something along the lines of "Better performance from your car, at a price you can afford," is the kind of thing you want to come up with, and that will do you the most good.
Remember, fast, efficient service and low prices, coupled with a personality that makes the customer feel you're his friend, are the keys to your success. Organize yourself; start slowly and build your customer loyalty; instill these principles in your employees, and you'll be on your way. Study this report again, then act on the recommendations given here.
Monday, February 18, 2008
HOW TO START A ROOMMATE FINDING SERVICE
The average income for the owners of this kind of business in California is $65,000 a year. Best of all, here's a business that you can start with an absolute minimum investment. Practically anyone who lives in a city anywhere in the country can expect to do just about as well, and with a bit of imagination, mixed with some business "moxie," you should be able to do even better!
Income and market potentials for a service such as this are truly fantastic! rent increases that have far outpaced wage increases have brought about a tremendous need for a method to alleviate the cost of housing. Also, many apartment complexes are being converted into expensive condominiums. These two factors have created a problem of gantic proportions for millions of people who are concerned about keeping a roof over their heads.
You can make big money solving that problem with your own Roommate Finding Service. We're going to tell you how.
Many of the nation's leading economists are predicting this kind of living arrangement to be the "money-saving answer" for the apartment dwellers for the rest of this century. Others are predicting the roommate finding service to become as popular as the employment agency by 1990.
This is an ideal absentee owner business. Most of those operating on the West Coast have a woman doing the managing--sometimes as just the manager, and sometimes as the owner-manager. This apparently has something to do with the nature of the business, and how most people seem to naturally trust a woman to fid the right roommate for them.
As to the fee structure, I suggest something similar to the successful employment agencies. Charge everyone a $25 registration fee to start the ball rolling toward finding them a suitable roommate. You take a Polaroid snapshot of each registrant, have them fill out an appropriate application card which will indicate the kind of roommate they'd be happy with, and start searching through your files for people with similar likes and dislikes.
To get started, you'll want a bank reference; a legal reference, a telephone, a business name, letterhead paper, envelopes, and business cards; and office supplies such as 3x5 index cards; typewriter; file cabinet; and printed questionaire-application form. You'll also need a responsibility disclaimer, which can be combined with the applicant's agreement-to-pay contract. Once you've found a roommate for your prospective client, you should have it spelled out in your agreement that each of the "matched roommates" will pay you 15% to 20% of the first month's rent. You should charge a bit extra for particular requirements, and perhaps somewhat less for older persons, or foe persons with handicaps.
The approval or disapproval is left up to the parties involved. You simply look through your registration card file, pull five or six apparently suitable roommates, call each of them on the phone and arrange separate meetings for them with your client. Your client reports back to you, and tells you his or her decision, and you call the person chosen and finalize the deal.
Good advertising will play a most important part getting this business off the ground. Make a good circular or "flyer" detailing your roommate finding services, and listing your phone number. Get these flyers on as many bulletin boards in your area as possible. Get them in grocery stores, barber shops, community colleges, beauty salons, bowling alleys; the list of places to " billboard" your flyers is endless. Another idea is to set up "take one" boxes in as many retail places of business as you can. Don't overlook the value of placing your flyers on windshields---particularly around apartment complexes, and in the parking lots of colleges in your area. You might even pay the downtown parking lots attendants to slip one under the windshield wiper of each car he parks on Monday. If you do a good job with the make-up of your flyer, and use your imagination in getting them into the hands of your prospective clients, you'll have no trouble moving your business into the black quickly.
Even so, you'll need to run regular ads in your area newspapers. The best headings to run your ads under is the Personals Column. Your ad might read:
NEED A ROOMMATE? We'll find the ideal roommate for you! Everything handled on a strictly confidential basis. For details, call Jan, Mary, or Carol, 123-4567.
Within only a couple of months, you should be well enough established, and with a income large enough to afford an office location. When you establish your office, do some publicizing of your business with press releases to all the media in your area, and plan some fanfare that will bring attention to your services. Tacking up on your office walls the enthusiastic testimonials of people you've have matched with roommates is a very good idea. Later on, you might want to input all your client information on computer, and take video pictures of each client for showing to prospective roommates. In the final analysis, once you have your business underway, your future success will be limited only by your imagination.
Income and market potentials for a service such as this are truly fantastic! rent increases that have far outpaced wage increases have brought about a tremendous need for a method to alleviate the cost of housing. Also, many apartment complexes are being converted into expensive condominiums. These two factors have created a problem of gantic proportions for millions of people who are concerned about keeping a roof over their heads.
You can make big money solving that problem with your own Roommate Finding Service. We're going to tell you how.
Many of the nation's leading economists are predicting this kind of living arrangement to be the "money-saving answer" for the apartment dwellers for the rest of this century. Others are predicting the roommate finding service to become as popular as the employment agency by 1990.
This is an ideal absentee owner business. Most of those operating on the West Coast have a woman doing the managing--sometimes as just the manager, and sometimes as the owner-manager. This apparently has something to do with the nature of the business, and how most people seem to naturally trust a woman to fid the right roommate for them.
As to the fee structure, I suggest something similar to the successful employment agencies. Charge everyone a $25 registration fee to start the ball rolling toward finding them a suitable roommate. You take a Polaroid snapshot of each registrant, have them fill out an appropriate application card which will indicate the kind of roommate they'd be happy with, and start searching through your files for people with similar likes and dislikes.
To get started, you'll want a bank reference; a legal reference, a telephone, a business name, letterhead paper, envelopes, and business cards; and office supplies such as 3x5 index cards; typewriter; file cabinet; and printed questionaire-application form. You'll also need a responsibility disclaimer, which can be combined with the applicant's agreement-to-pay contract. Once you've found a roommate for your prospective client, you should have it spelled out in your agreement that each of the "matched roommates" will pay you 15% to 20% of the first month's rent. You should charge a bit extra for particular requirements, and perhaps somewhat less for older persons, or foe persons with handicaps.
The approval or disapproval is left up to the parties involved. You simply look through your registration card file, pull five or six apparently suitable roommates, call each of them on the phone and arrange separate meetings for them with your client. Your client reports back to you, and tells you his or her decision, and you call the person chosen and finalize the deal.
Good advertising will play a most important part getting this business off the ground. Make a good circular or "flyer" detailing your roommate finding services, and listing your phone number. Get these flyers on as many bulletin boards in your area as possible. Get them in grocery stores, barber shops, community colleges, beauty salons, bowling alleys; the list of places to " billboard" your flyers is endless. Another idea is to set up "take one" boxes in as many retail places of business as you can. Don't overlook the value of placing your flyers on windshields---particularly around apartment complexes, and in the parking lots of colleges in your area. You might even pay the downtown parking lots attendants to slip one under the windshield wiper of each car he parks on Monday. If you do a good job with the make-up of your flyer, and use your imagination in getting them into the hands of your prospective clients, you'll have no trouble moving your business into the black quickly.
Even so, you'll need to run regular ads in your area newspapers. The best headings to run your ads under is the Personals Column. Your ad might read:
NEED A ROOMMATE? We'll find the ideal roommate for you! Everything handled on a strictly confidential basis. For details, call Jan, Mary, or Carol, 123-4567.
Within only a couple of months, you should be well enough established, and with a income large enough to afford an office location. When you establish your office, do some publicizing of your business with press releases to all the media in your area, and plan some fanfare that will bring attention to your services. Tacking up on your office walls the enthusiastic testimonials of people you've have matched with roommates is a very good idea. Later on, you might want to input all your client information on computer, and take video pictures of each client for showing to prospective roommates. In the final analysis, once you have your business underway, your future success will be limited only by your imagination.
Friday, February 15, 2008
HOW TO START YOUR OWN HOUSE AND APARTMENT CLEANING SERVICE
House and apartment cleaning services are gaining in popularity. These are business services that are growing in demand as a result of more and more women seeking jobs outside the home. Their need to supplement the family income creates the opportunity for you to set up a lucrative business.
Ten years ago, businesses of this kind were serving only the affluent - homes of the wealthy people where women didn't want to be bothered with the drudgery of house hold cleaning, and had the money to pay someone to do it for them. But times have changed, and today the market includes many middle income families in every residential area across the entire country. The potential market among apartment dwellers is great also. All in all this is a business that has grown fast, and has as much real wealth building potential as any we can think of.
This is a cleaning service generally associated with women; however, men are finding that they can organize, start, and operate very profitable home and apartment cleaning businesses just as well as women. It's an ideal business for any truly ambi
tious person wanting a business of his or her own, especially for those who must begin with limited funds. Actually, you can start this business right in your own neighborhood, using your own equipment, and begin making a profit from the first day.
Many enterprising homemakers are already doing this kind of work on a small scale as an extra income producing endeavor. There's a growing need for this service. Organizing your efforts into a business producing $50,000 to $100,00 a year is quite pos
sible, and you can get started for $100 or so, always using your profits to expand and in crease your business.
Absolutely no experience is required. Everyone knows how to dust the furniture, vacuum carpets, make the beds and carry out the trash. But you must ask yourself if making a house clean and bright is important and uplifting work. If you look on it as degrading or as drudgery, don't involve yourself in this business.
Starting from scratch, you'll need a telephone and an appointment book. You also need an advertising flyer, such as the following:
HOME OR APARTMENT CLEANING
We do the work - You relax and take it easy. You get the best job in town, at rates you can afford. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! For more details,
Call Sue: 123-4567 - ABC Cleaning Services!
You can either type this notice out or write it in long-hand with a pen. Either way, it's going to be your first advertising endeavor, and bring in that first customer for you.
It would be a good idea to visit your stationery store to pick up a pad of "fade out" graph paper, a couple of sets of transfer (rub on) letters, a gluestick, and if they have one, a Klip Art book.
Take these materials home and clear off your kitchen table. Take a sheet of graph paper, and temporarily tape the corners down on the table. Then take a pencil and a ruler, and mark a rectangle five inches wide by six inches long along the lines of the graph paper. This will be the overall size of your flyer when it's finished.
Look for a Klip Art piece depicting a harried housewife engrossed with either cleaning tools or in the act of running a vacuum cleaner, or some other household chore. Cut this piece out, and with your gluestick paste it in the upper left-hand corner of your rectangle. Then take your transfer letters and make the headline: HOME OR CLEANING. Next, type out the body of the message on ordinary white typing paper. Be sure to use a relatively new ribbon, preferably a black carbon ribbon, and upper case letters. Cut this strip out, and paste it onto the graph paper, centered just below your headline. Then use some transfer letters that are about twice as large as your typewriter type, and paste up the action part of your message: For details, call Sue: 123 4567. Cut out a couple of border flourishes from your Klip Art book, paste them under your action line, and you're ready to take it to the printer.
In essence, you have a professional advertising "billboard." You can check around in your area, especially with the advertising classes at your local colleges, but generally they'll do no better than you can do on your own, using the instructions we've just given you, and they'll charge you $50 to $100.
Once you have this advertising flyer completed, take it to a nearby quick print shop and have about 200 copies printed. You should be able to get two copies on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, and running 100 sheets of paper through the press is going to cost well under $10. For just a few cents more, have the printer cut them in half with his machine cutter, so you will have 200 copies of the advertising flyer.
Now take these flyers, along with a box of thumbtacks, and put them up on all the free bulletin boards you can find - grocery stores, laundromats, beauty salons, office building lounges, cafeterias, post offices, and wherever else such announcements are allowed.
When a prospective customer calls, have your appointment book and a pencil handy. Be friendly and enthusiastic. Explain what you do - everything from changing the beds to vacuuming, dusting and polishing the furniture and cleaning the bathroom to the dishes and the laundry. Or, everything except the dishes and the laundry - whatever you have decided on as your policy. When they ask how much you charge, simply tell them six to ten dollars an hour, but for a firm cost quote, you'll need to see the home and make a detailed estimate for them. Then without much of a pause, ask if 4:30 this afternoon would be convenient for them, or if 5:30 would be better. You must pointedly ask if you can come to make your cost proposal at a certain time, or the decision may be put off, and you may come up with a "no sale."
Just as soon as you have an agreement on the time to make you cost proposal and marked it in your appointment book, ask for name, address and telephone number.
Jot this information down on a 3 by 5 card, along with the date and the notation: Prospective Customer. Then you file this card in a permanent card file. Save these cards, because there are literally hundreds of ways to turn this prospect file into real cash, once you've accumulated a sizeable number of names, addresses and phone numbers.
When you go to see your prospect in person, always be on time. A couple of minutes early won't hurt you, but a few minutes late will definitely be detrimental to your closing the sale. Always be well groomed. Dress as a successful business owner. Be confident and sure of yourself; be knowledgeable about what you can do as well as understanding of the prospect's needs and wants. Do not smoke, even if invited by the prospect, and never accept a drink - even coffee - until after you have a signed contract in your briefcase.
Actually, once you've made the sale, the best thing is to shake hands with your new customer, thank him, and leave. A little small talk after the sale is appropriate, but becoming too friendly is not. You create an impression, and preserve it, by maintaining a business-like relation ship.
When you go to make your cost estimate, take along a ruled tablet such as those used by elementary school students, carbon paper, a calculator and your appointment book. Some people find it easier to work with a clipboard and ordinary blank paper with carbon. Later on, you may want to have general checklists printed up for each room in the house, with blank lines or space for special instructions.
Whatever you use, it's important to appear methodical, thorough and professional, while leading the prospect through the specifics he or she wants you to take care of: "Now, you want the carpet vacuumed and all the furniture dusted and those two end tables, the coffee table and the piano polished as well, I assume?"
Simply identify the specific room at the top of the sheet of paper, then lead your prospect through the cleaning steps of each room, covering everything in it. Your implications of putting everything in "ready for company" shape will cause the customer to forget about the cost, and hire you to do a complete job. Always have a carbon paper under each piece of paper you're writing on, and always look around each room one more time before leaving it; then ask the prospect if he or she can think of any special instructions you should note for that room.
Finally, when you've gone through each room in the house with the prospect, come back to the kitchen and sit down at the table. Take out your calculator and add up the time you estimate each job in each room will take to complete. Total the time for each room. Be liberal, thinking that if you can do the carpet job in 15 minutes, it will usually take the ordinary person 30 minutes. Convert the total minutes for each room into hours and tenths of hours per room. Add the totals for each room to arrive at your total hours to clean the entire house.
Talk with your customer briefly, wondering how she can ever find the time to get everything done at home, especially when holding down a full-time job. A little bit of small talk, a quick mental evaluation of the customer's ability to pay, plus your knowledge that you can get everything done in four hours, instead of the six hours it would take most people, and you summarize by saying:
"Well, Mrs. Johnson, you've certainly got enough routine cleaning work to keep you busy all day every day of the week! I certainly don't know how you do it, but any way, we'll take this whole problem off your shoulders, save you time, and actually give you time to relax. We can do it on a regular basis, every other week for $120 per month, or the one single time for $75.
"I can well imagine how tired you are when you get home from work. If you're at all like me there are times when, faced with all this housework, you want to run away someplace and hide. Now, we'll take care of everything for you - keep the house spic and span, ready for company, allow you to forget about housecleaning chores, and for a lot less than it's costing you now in time, work, and worry. And we guarantee that our work will more than satisfy you. So, would you like to try our cleaning service one time for $75 or do you want to save $15 a call and let us take over all these chores for you on a regular basis?"
Here you begin finding a place in your appointment book, and tell her: "Actually, I have an opening at 8:30 on Tuesday morning. We could come in every other Tuesday at 8:30, clean the whole house and have it done before you get home from work."
The customer agrees that 8:30 on Tuesdays will be fine. Then you ask her if she prefers to be billed with the completion of each house cleaning session or on a regular monthly basis. Point out to her that by engaging you on a monthly basis , she picks up a free house cleaning every three months.
Now that you have your first customer, you want to fill in every day of the week, each week of every month with regular jobs. Once you have one week of each month filled with regular jobs, it will be time for you to expand.
Expansion means growth, involving people working for you, more jobs to sell, and greater profits. Don't let it frighten you, for you have gained experience by starting gradually. After all - your aim in starting a business of your own was to make money, wasn't it? And expanding means more helpers so you don't have to work your self to death!
You can operate this business quite successfully from the comfort of your home, permanently, if you choose to. All you'll ever need is a telephone, a desk, and a file cabinet.
So, just as soon as you possibly can, recruit and hire other people to do the work for you. The first people you hire should be people to handle the cleaning work. The best plan is to hire people to work in teams of two or three - two for jobs not including dishwashing and laundry - three for those that do.
You can start these people at minimum wage or a bit above, and train them to complete every job assignment in two hours or less. Just as soon as you've hired and trained a couple of people as a cleaning team, you should outfit them in a kind of uniform with your company name on the back of their blouses or shirts. A good idea also would be to have magnetic signs made for your company and services. Place these signs on the sides of the cars your people use for transportation to each job, and later on, the sides
of your company van or pick-up trucks.
Each team should have an appointed team leader responsible for the quality and over all completeness of each job assigned to that team. The team might operate thus: One person cleans the bathroom, makes the beds, and carries out the laundry , while the other person dusts and polishes the furniture and does the vacuuming. On jobs where you do the laundry and the dishes, the third person can pick up the laundry and get that started, and then do the dishes and clean the kitchen. By operating in this manner, your work will be more efficient and the complete job will take a lot less time. However, it is important that each person you hire understand that the success of the business depends on the "crew" doing as many complete jobs as they can handle each day - not on how much they get paid per hour working for you.
Your team leaders will check with you each afternoon for the next day's work assignments and gather the team together, complete with cleaning equipment and material, on the next day. Your team leader should be supplied with a stack of "hand-out" advertising flyers to pass around the neighborhood or within the apartment building before leaving each job site. A good supply of business cards wouldn't be a bad idea for them either, in order to advertise your services to others they come in contact with. The
only other form of advertising you should go with would be a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory.
Design on paper a system of clean-up operation that can generally be applied to any situation, then drill your teams on speeding up their activities to make the system work even better. Just as firemen practice and practice, you should drill your people as a team in their cleaning activities.
Probably the biggest time-waster in this business will be in the travel from job to job. For this reason, it's important to spread advertising circulars to the neighboring homes when you're doing a job, or to the apartments on the same floor when you're in an apartment building. As the organizer, and person assigning teams to jobs, it will behoove you to locate, line up, and assign jobs as close together as possible. Keep up efforts to cut the time it takes for your crews to travel from one job to the next. Work at lining up jobs all in one block, or in one apartment building.
Your equipment needs will really be minimal: Cleaning and polishing rags, mops, a couple of plastic buckets, and furniture polishes. Most people will have the necessary cleaning materials, including vacuum cleaner, soaps and cleansers. But it wouldn't hurt to have these items available just in case you get a job in a home or an apartment without these tools. As your business grows, you'll be able to purchase all your needs at huge discounts, and these are the sources of supply to cultivate as you grow.
One of the most important aspects of this business is asking for, and allowing your customers to refer other prospects to you. All of this happens, of course, as a result of your giving fast, dependable service. You might even set up a promotional notice on the back of your business card (to be left as each job is completed) offering five dollars off their next cleaning bill when they refer you to a new prospect.
This is definitely a high profit business, requiring only an investment of time and organization on your part to get started. With a low investment, little or no over head requirement, and no experience needed, this is an ideal business opportunity with a growth curve that accelerates at an unprecedented rate. Think about it. If it appeals to you, set up your own plan of operations and go for it! The profit potential for an owner of this type of business is outstanding!
Ten years ago, businesses of this kind were serving only the affluent - homes of the wealthy people where women didn't want to be bothered with the drudgery of house hold cleaning, and had the money to pay someone to do it for them. But times have changed, and today the market includes many middle income families in every residential area across the entire country. The potential market among apartment dwellers is great also. All in all this is a business that has grown fast, and has as much real wealth building potential as any we can think of.
This is a cleaning service generally associated with women; however, men are finding that they can organize, start, and operate very profitable home and apartment cleaning businesses just as well as women. It's an ideal business for any truly ambi
tious person wanting a business of his or her own, especially for those who must begin with limited funds. Actually, you can start this business right in your own neighborhood, using your own equipment, and begin making a profit from the first day.
Many enterprising homemakers are already doing this kind of work on a small scale as an extra income producing endeavor. There's a growing need for this service. Organizing your efforts into a business producing $50,000 to $100,00 a year is quite pos
sible, and you can get started for $100 or so, always using your profits to expand and in crease your business.
Absolutely no experience is required. Everyone knows how to dust the furniture, vacuum carpets, make the beds and carry out the trash. But you must ask yourself if making a house clean and bright is important and uplifting work. If you look on it as degrading or as drudgery, don't involve yourself in this business.
Starting from scratch, you'll need a telephone and an appointment book. You also need an advertising flyer, such as the following:
HOME OR APARTMENT CLEANING
We do the work - You relax and take it easy. You get the best job in town, at rates you can afford. Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! For more details,
Call Sue: 123-4567 - ABC Cleaning Services!
You can either type this notice out or write it in long-hand with a pen. Either way, it's going to be your first advertising endeavor, and bring in that first customer for you.
It would be a good idea to visit your stationery store to pick up a pad of "fade out" graph paper, a couple of sets of transfer (rub on) letters, a gluestick, and if they have one, a Klip Art book.
Take these materials home and clear off your kitchen table. Take a sheet of graph paper, and temporarily tape the corners down on the table. Then take a pencil and a ruler, and mark a rectangle five inches wide by six inches long along the lines of the graph paper. This will be the overall size of your flyer when it's finished.
Look for a Klip Art piece depicting a harried housewife engrossed with either cleaning tools or in the act of running a vacuum cleaner, or some other household chore. Cut this piece out, and with your gluestick paste it in the upper left-hand corner of your rectangle. Then take your transfer letters and make the headline: HOME OR CLEANING. Next, type out the body of the message on ordinary white typing paper. Be sure to use a relatively new ribbon, preferably a black carbon ribbon, and upper case letters. Cut this strip out, and paste it onto the graph paper, centered just below your headline. Then use some transfer letters that are about twice as large as your typewriter type, and paste up the action part of your message: For details, call Sue: 123 4567. Cut out a couple of border flourishes from your Klip Art book, paste them under your action line, and you're ready to take it to the printer.
In essence, you have a professional advertising "billboard." You can check around in your area, especially with the advertising classes at your local colleges, but generally they'll do no better than you can do on your own, using the instructions we've just given you, and they'll charge you $50 to $100.
Once you have this advertising flyer completed, take it to a nearby quick print shop and have about 200 copies printed. You should be able to get two copies on a standard 8 1/2 x 11 sheet, and running 100 sheets of paper through the press is going to cost well under $10. For just a few cents more, have the printer cut them in half with his machine cutter, so you will have 200 copies of the advertising flyer.
Now take these flyers, along with a box of thumbtacks, and put them up on all the free bulletin boards you can find - grocery stores, laundromats, beauty salons, office building lounges, cafeterias, post offices, and wherever else such announcements are allowed.
When a prospective customer calls, have your appointment book and a pencil handy. Be friendly and enthusiastic. Explain what you do - everything from changing the beds to vacuuming, dusting and polishing the furniture and cleaning the bathroom to the dishes and the laundry. Or, everything except the dishes and the laundry - whatever you have decided on as your policy. When they ask how much you charge, simply tell them six to ten dollars an hour, but for a firm cost quote, you'll need to see the home and make a detailed estimate for them. Then without much of a pause, ask if 4:30 this afternoon would be convenient for them, or if 5:30 would be better. You must pointedly ask if you can come to make your cost proposal at a certain time, or the decision may be put off, and you may come up with a "no sale."
Just as soon as you have an agreement on the time to make you cost proposal and marked it in your appointment book, ask for name, address and telephone number.
Jot this information down on a 3 by 5 card, along with the date and the notation: Prospective Customer. Then you file this card in a permanent card file. Save these cards, because there are literally hundreds of ways to turn this prospect file into real cash, once you've accumulated a sizeable number of names, addresses and phone numbers.
When you go to see your prospect in person, always be on time. A couple of minutes early won't hurt you, but a few minutes late will definitely be detrimental to your closing the sale. Always be well groomed. Dress as a successful business owner. Be confident and sure of yourself; be knowledgeable about what you can do as well as understanding of the prospect's needs and wants. Do not smoke, even if invited by the prospect, and never accept a drink - even coffee - until after you have a signed contract in your briefcase.
Actually, once you've made the sale, the best thing is to shake hands with your new customer, thank him, and leave. A little small talk after the sale is appropriate, but becoming too friendly is not. You create an impression, and preserve it, by maintaining a business-like relation ship.
When you go to make your cost estimate, take along a ruled tablet such as those used by elementary school students, carbon paper, a calculator and your appointment book. Some people find it easier to work with a clipboard and ordinary blank paper with carbon. Later on, you may want to have general checklists printed up for each room in the house, with blank lines or space for special instructions.
Whatever you use, it's important to appear methodical, thorough and professional, while leading the prospect through the specifics he or she wants you to take care of: "Now, you want the carpet vacuumed and all the furniture dusted and those two end tables, the coffee table and the piano polished as well, I assume?"
Simply identify the specific room at the top of the sheet of paper, then lead your prospect through the cleaning steps of each room, covering everything in it. Your implications of putting everything in "ready for company" shape will cause the customer to forget about the cost, and hire you to do a complete job. Always have a carbon paper under each piece of paper you're writing on, and always look around each room one more time before leaving it; then ask the prospect if he or she can think of any special instructions you should note for that room.
Finally, when you've gone through each room in the house with the prospect, come back to the kitchen and sit down at the table. Take out your calculator and add up the time you estimate each job in each room will take to complete. Total the time for each room. Be liberal, thinking that if you can do the carpet job in 15 minutes, it will usually take the ordinary person 30 minutes. Convert the total minutes for each room into hours and tenths of hours per room. Add the totals for each room to arrive at your total hours to clean the entire house.
Talk with your customer briefly, wondering how she can ever find the time to get everything done at home, especially when holding down a full-time job. A little bit of small talk, a quick mental evaluation of the customer's ability to pay, plus your knowledge that you can get everything done in four hours, instead of the six hours it would take most people, and you summarize by saying:
"Well, Mrs. Johnson, you've certainly got enough routine cleaning work to keep you busy all day every day of the week! I certainly don't know how you do it, but any way, we'll take this whole problem off your shoulders, save you time, and actually give you time to relax. We can do it on a regular basis, every other week for $120 per month, or the one single time for $75.
"I can well imagine how tired you are when you get home from work. If you're at all like me there are times when, faced with all this housework, you want to run away someplace and hide. Now, we'll take care of everything for you - keep the house spic and span, ready for company, allow you to forget about housecleaning chores, and for a lot less than it's costing you now in time, work, and worry. And we guarantee that our work will more than satisfy you. So, would you like to try our cleaning service one time for $75 or do you want to save $15 a call and let us take over all these chores for you on a regular basis?"
Here you begin finding a place in your appointment book, and tell her: "Actually, I have an opening at 8:30 on Tuesday morning. We could come in every other Tuesday at 8:30, clean the whole house and have it done before you get home from work."
The customer agrees that 8:30 on Tuesdays will be fine. Then you ask her if she prefers to be billed with the completion of each house cleaning session or on a regular monthly basis. Point out to her that by engaging you on a monthly basis , she picks up a free house cleaning every three months.
Now that you have your first customer, you want to fill in every day of the week, each week of every month with regular jobs. Once you have one week of each month filled with regular jobs, it will be time for you to expand.
Expansion means growth, involving people working for you, more jobs to sell, and greater profits. Don't let it frighten you, for you have gained experience by starting gradually. After all - your aim in starting a business of your own was to make money, wasn't it? And expanding means more helpers so you don't have to work your self to death!
You can operate this business quite successfully from the comfort of your home, permanently, if you choose to. All you'll ever need is a telephone, a desk, and a file cabinet.
So, just as soon as you possibly can, recruit and hire other people to do the work for you. The first people you hire should be people to handle the cleaning work. The best plan is to hire people to work in teams of two or three - two for jobs not including dishwashing and laundry - three for those that do.
You can start these people at minimum wage or a bit above, and train them to complete every job assignment in two hours or less. Just as soon as you've hired and trained a couple of people as a cleaning team, you should outfit them in a kind of uniform with your company name on the back of their blouses or shirts. A good idea also would be to have magnetic signs made for your company and services. Place these signs on the sides of the cars your people use for transportation to each job, and later on, the sides
of your company van or pick-up trucks.
Each team should have an appointed team leader responsible for the quality and over all completeness of each job assigned to that team. The team might operate thus: One person cleans the bathroom, makes the beds, and carries out the laundry , while the other person dusts and polishes the furniture and does the vacuuming. On jobs where you do the laundry and the dishes, the third person can pick up the laundry and get that started, and then do the dishes and clean the kitchen. By operating in this manner, your work will be more efficient and the complete job will take a lot less time. However, it is important that each person you hire understand that the success of the business depends on the "crew" doing as many complete jobs as they can handle each day - not on how much they get paid per hour working for you.
Your team leaders will check with you each afternoon for the next day's work assignments and gather the team together, complete with cleaning equipment and material, on the next day. Your team leader should be supplied with a stack of "hand-out" advertising flyers to pass around the neighborhood or within the apartment building before leaving each job site. A good supply of business cards wouldn't be a bad idea for them either, in order to advertise your services to others they come in contact with. The
only other form of advertising you should go with would be a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory.
Design on paper a system of clean-up operation that can generally be applied to any situation, then drill your teams on speeding up their activities to make the system work even better. Just as firemen practice and practice, you should drill your people as a team in their cleaning activities.
Probably the biggest time-waster in this business will be in the travel from job to job. For this reason, it's important to spread advertising circulars to the neighboring homes when you're doing a job, or to the apartments on the same floor when you're in an apartment building. As the organizer, and person assigning teams to jobs, it will behoove you to locate, line up, and assign jobs as close together as possible. Keep up efforts to cut the time it takes for your crews to travel from one job to the next. Work at lining up jobs all in one block, or in one apartment building.
Your equipment needs will really be minimal: Cleaning and polishing rags, mops, a couple of plastic buckets, and furniture polishes. Most people will have the necessary cleaning materials, including vacuum cleaner, soaps and cleansers. But it wouldn't hurt to have these items available just in case you get a job in a home or an apartment without these tools. As your business grows, you'll be able to purchase all your needs at huge discounts, and these are the sources of supply to cultivate as you grow.
One of the most important aspects of this business is asking for, and allowing your customers to refer other prospects to you. All of this happens, of course, as a result of your giving fast, dependable service. You might even set up a promotional notice on the back of your business card (to be left as each job is completed) offering five dollars off their next cleaning bill when they refer you to a new prospect.
This is definitely a high profit business, requiring only an investment of time and organization on your part to get started. With a low investment, little or no over head requirement, and no experience needed, this is an ideal business opportunity with a growth curve that accelerates at an unprecedented rate. Think about it. If it appeals to you, set up your own plan of operations and go for it! The profit potential for an owner of this type of business is outstanding!
Monday, February 11, 2008
HOW TO START YOUR OWN HIGHLY PROFITABLE CATERING SERVICE
People with money seem to be on a binge to prove their status and flaunt their wealth by staging large, catered parties. As a matter of fact, in some circle of affluency, a party or social get-together isn't considered an event of any significance unless it's a catered affair.
With the same kind of reasoning, businesses of all sizes are using catered lunches, cocktail parties and dinner meetings to build their images and increase company sales. It's a matter of keeping up with the competition in promoting a company and/or product.
On a smaller, but just as busy marketing scale, more and more working mothers are paying to have catered birthday and graduation parties, as well as wedding receptions handled by caterers. The reasons are simple to understand--if she's working outside the home, today's mother just doesn't have the time or the energy to do all the planning and staging of a memorable party.
Besides those reasons for turning everything over to a caterer, working mothers feel a little guilty about the time away from their children they lose because of their jobs. Thus, they're ready and willing to make it all to them by paying for a lavish party the child will remember for years to come.
Caterers handle everything from birthday parties for children, to breakfast in bed and intimate candlelight dinners for two, to company dinner parties for 50 and wedding receptions involving a thousand or more guests. This kind of entreprenuerial business is definitely growing and becoming more popular with people of all income levels.
An imaginative caterer in a large metropolitan area can easily gross $150,000 per year, while a small part-time caterer in a small town can count on at least $10,000 to $15,000 per year. One small, but very ambitious caterer is reported to have grossed $250,000 after only 2-years in the business!
You don't need special education or training to become a successful caterer. You do need a affinity for people and a kind of intuition as to what people enjoy in different environmental settings.
A quick survey of successful caterers across the nation shows that began with zero capital by working out of their homes. The basic starting up investment would appear to be around $500, with some big spenders capitalizing their idea with as much as $15,000 in order to get off to a fast start.
This seems to be an ideal business for an ambitious couple to start and operate with very little capital investment required. One person can spend his time hustling up business while the other would do the planning, organizing and actual catering.
As with any business, your success will be directly related to the soundness of planning and the working of that plan. Understand exactly what your client wants, and give him what he wants in the way of service that reflects upon the client in a complimentary manner.
Basically, you can start with an advertisement in your local newspapers. This advertisement need not be much more than a simple announcement: Creative Catering-Specializing in personal service- We can handle any party or special event from start to finish-no idea to small or too large- Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! We can handle everything for you.. Call us, and let us make your parties worth remembering...
Naturally, the first thing you want from anyone calling to ask about your services, is that anyone calling to ask about your services, is that person's name, address and phone number. Then you want to know what kind of party or event they have in mind. As soon as you have this information, relax a little bit and inquire to find out about the person or the company--the people--sponsoring the party and their ultimate goals or reasons for the party.
If it's to celebrate birthday, graduation, anniversary or a wedding reception--finding out about the interests, background and ambitious of the guest of honor will be of value to you in your planning. Taking a few minutes to learn everything you can about whoever the party is for, and the people giving the party, will also make it much easire to close the sale than any sales pitch or special persuasive tactics.
People like to talk about themselves, and they especially like to tell everyone why they're honoring someone, even when they pretend to keep it a secret who initiated the idea. So, it's important that you be a good listener, that you have the ability to get people to talk about themselves, and that you take notes on the things they tell you.
This same principle applies to business people, regardless of who's talking to you or the purpose of the catered affair. The more polished and adept you can become in getting your prospects to talk about themselves, the more information relative to their background you can elicit, and the more you listen; the better your parties will be, and the greater success you'll attain in the catering business.
You take the information you glean from this first interview and plan/organize the event on paper. This means you're going to have to have contacts or at least working relationships with innumerable service businesses.
If your client wants to stage a birthday party for a 12-year old---he or she greets the guests as they arrive, makes sure everybody knows who he is---then what about party favors---a soft drink and a conversation leader until all the guests arrive--the opening of presents--icecream and cake--and games to play, a thank you gift for coming, and a reason to end the party at a pre-determined time...
Do you greet the guests, does the mother or father, or the little boy or girl? Where do you come up with the party favors at less than regular retail prices? Where are you going to get the soft drinks-your cost and the glasses or paper cups to serve them in? What about ice? What kind of games to play? Who'll be the conservation leader? Will there be a clown or someone special to keep everything moving according to plan? Where do you get the ice cream and cake? What games to play? How to get everyone involved? And finally, a feasible and polite reason for ending the party and sending everyone home...
All this takes planning, organization, and if you're going to make a profit, a definite awareness of cost control. Get it all down on paper as a proposal to the people who want to pay you to carry it off. Figure out your costs, the time involved in putting it all together, and then get back to your prospect.
Always leave room for changes in your proposal. In fact, expect them--invite input and suggestions from the client--and always have an alternate idea in your mind for each of those on your written proposals. Discuss your proposal with the client just as you would a script for a television show, make the suggested changes and ask for a 50-percent advance deposit. From there, it's just a matter of following your plan.
Regardless of size or type of party--whether your client is a working mother or a giant corporation--the format is always the same: initial inquiry, interview, your proposal, 2nd interview for any changes, agreement, deposit, staging the party itself, and your final payment. As mentioned earlier, success in this business comes from your planning--having a lot of contacts--and working your plan.
An important word of caution: Try not to get "boxed in" to setting or even revealing a tentative price until you've had a chance to listen to what the prospect wants, to study your own capabilities, and to make a formal written proposal. If a customer wants to know how much you charge--and if you feel it necessary in order to eventually close the sale--you can tell him 50 to 100 dollars per hour, plus expenses, and of course, depending on the type of event the customer wants.
As for how much the average party costs, again tell him that it varies anywhere from 50 to 5,000 dollars.
Always keep in mind that you are a professional, and that if the ordinary person had your knowledge, contacts and ambition to do it himself, he wouldn't be calling you on the phone. He needs your help for any number of reasons. You specialize in this kind of work or service just as a doctor specializes in medicine and a lawyer in legal matters. Therefore, you should, and do expect to be paid accordingly.
Something else--this business thrives on word-of-mouth advertising--referrals--and thus, is direct "freeway' to the kind of customers where money is of no concern. However, on order to gain access to this market, your business emphasis has to be on service.
This means the capability of handling everything for the customer, from having the invitations printed and sent out to cleaning up after the last guest has left. Businesses and people in the upper income brackets, like to pick up the phone--tell someone they want a party on a certain date--and then forget about it, knowing everything will be taken care of without further worry or time involvement from them. Once you've developed your expertise and clientele to this level, you'll have a business in the $200,000 to $250,00 per year range.
Definitely arrange for a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You'll probably get 40% of your inquires from this source alone. Generally speaking, radio and/or television advertising will be too expensive when compared with the immediate results. However, it is recommended that you consider these media prior to special holidays.
Working with restaurants, supper clubs, bridal shops and entertainment business in general. can bring in hundreds of referrals for you. Rubbing shoulders with, and circulating as a part of your area's civic and service clubs, should also result in more business for you.
Keep your eyes and ears on the alert. Where ever you go, and with whomever you associate, always be ready to promote and sell your services, if not on the spot, at least make a note to follow up when conditions are more in your favor. Promoting and selling your services will require at least half your time, and that's why two people operating catering services are so successful from the start.
The actual selling is quite simple so long as you emphasize the service and time-saving aspects. The more time-consuming work you can handle for the client, the easier it's going to be for you to close the sale.
Handing out business cards is one of the least expensive ways to advertise, promote and sell your services. One enterprising caterer makes arrangements with the sponsors of all his parties, to see that each of the guests gets one of his business cards.
Another gives each of his clients a stack of his business cards, and tells them he'll pay them $25 for each prospect they refer to him. He tells them to write their name on the backs of the cards, and to hand them out to their friends. And then, whenever a person tells him that John or Jane suggested he call, and he presents the card with John or Jane's name on the back, this very successful caterer sends John or Jane a $25 check.
Another very successful caterer pays commissions to a group of housewives and college students who solicit--via their home phones--interviews for him with brides-to-be. They get their leads from announcements, and pictures of brides-to-be in the local papers.
Many caterers pay sales people a commission for letting them know when they hear about a party or special event being planned by one of their business customers.
The possibilities go on and on, and are seemingly un limited. Time is becoming more valuable to a lot more people every day, which means there are more and more opportunities for great wealth and personal independence as a professional caterer. In reality the success for just about any person entering this field, will be limited only by his or her own imagination and energy.
There is definite opportunity for great wealth within the catering field. Anyone with a sense of service to others can succeed. Very little "readycash" is needed to begin. Therefore, the only thing standing between you and the realization of your dreams, is the action it takes on your part to get started...
With the same kind of reasoning, businesses of all sizes are using catered lunches, cocktail parties and dinner meetings to build their images and increase company sales. It's a matter of keeping up with the competition in promoting a company and/or product.
On a smaller, but just as busy marketing scale, more and more working mothers are paying to have catered birthday and graduation parties, as well as wedding receptions handled by caterers. The reasons are simple to understand--if she's working outside the home, today's mother just doesn't have the time or the energy to do all the planning and staging of a memorable party.
Besides those reasons for turning everything over to a caterer, working mothers feel a little guilty about the time away from their children they lose because of their jobs. Thus, they're ready and willing to make it all to them by paying for a lavish party the child will remember for years to come.
Caterers handle everything from birthday parties for children, to breakfast in bed and intimate candlelight dinners for two, to company dinner parties for 50 and wedding receptions involving a thousand or more guests. This kind of entreprenuerial business is definitely growing and becoming more popular with people of all income levels.
An imaginative caterer in a large metropolitan area can easily gross $150,000 per year, while a small part-time caterer in a small town can count on at least $10,000 to $15,000 per year. One small, but very ambitious caterer is reported to have grossed $250,000 after only 2-years in the business!
You don't need special education or training to become a successful caterer. You do need a affinity for people and a kind of intuition as to what people enjoy in different environmental settings.
A quick survey of successful caterers across the nation shows that began with zero capital by working out of their homes. The basic starting up investment would appear to be around $500, with some big spenders capitalizing their idea with as much as $15,000 in order to get off to a fast start.
This seems to be an ideal business for an ambitious couple to start and operate with very little capital investment required. One person can spend his time hustling up business while the other would do the planning, organizing and actual catering.
As with any business, your success will be directly related to the soundness of planning and the working of that plan. Understand exactly what your client wants, and give him what he wants in the way of service that reflects upon the client in a complimentary manner.
Basically, you can start with an advertisement in your local newspapers. This advertisement need not be much more than a simple announcement: Creative Catering-Specializing in personal service- We can handle any party or special event from start to finish-no idea to small or too large- Your satisfaction is always guaranteed! We can handle everything for you.. Call us, and let us make your parties worth remembering...
Naturally, the first thing you want from anyone calling to ask about your services, is that anyone calling to ask about your services, is that person's name, address and phone number. Then you want to know what kind of party or event they have in mind. As soon as you have this information, relax a little bit and inquire to find out about the person or the company--the people--sponsoring the party and their ultimate goals or reasons for the party.
If it's to celebrate birthday, graduation, anniversary or a wedding reception--finding out about the interests, background and ambitious of the guest of honor will be of value to you in your planning. Taking a few minutes to learn everything you can about whoever the party is for, and the people giving the party, will also make it much easire to close the sale than any sales pitch or special persuasive tactics.
People like to talk about themselves, and they especially like to tell everyone why they're honoring someone, even when they pretend to keep it a secret who initiated the idea. So, it's important that you be a good listener, that you have the ability to get people to talk about themselves, and that you take notes on the things they tell you.
This same principle applies to business people, regardless of who's talking to you or the purpose of the catered affair. The more polished and adept you can become in getting your prospects to talk about themselves, the more information relative to their background you can elicit, and the more you listen; the better your parties will be, and the greater success you'll attain in the catering business.
You take the information you glean from this first interview and plan/organize the event on paper. This means you're going to have to have contacts or at least working relationships with innumerable service businesses.
If your client wants to stage a birthday party for a 12-year old---he or she greets the guests as they arrive, makes sure everybody knows who he is---then what about party favors---a soft drink and a conversation leader until all the guests arrive--the opening of presents--icecream and cake--and games to play, a thank you gift for coming, and a reason to end the party at a pre-determined time...
Do you greet the guests, does the mother or father, or the little boy or girl? Where do you come up with the party favors at less than regular retail prices? Where are you going to get the soft drinks-your cost and the glasses or paper cups to serve them in? What about ice? What kind of games to play? Who'll be the conservation leader? Will there be a clown or someone special to keep everything moving according to plan? Where do you get the ice cream and cake? What games to play? How to get everyone involved? And finally, a feasible and polite reason for ending the party and sending everyone home...
All this takes planning, organization, and if you're going to make a profit, a definite awareness of cost control. Get it all down on paper as a proposal to the people who want to pay you to carry it off. Figure out your costs, the time involved in putting it all together, and then get back to your prospect.
Always leave room for changes in your proposal. In fact, expect them--invite input and suggestions from the client--and always have an alternate idea in your mind for each of those on your written proposals. Discuss your proposal with the client just as you would a script for a television show, make the suggested changes and ask for a 50-percent advance deposit. From there, it's just a matter of following your plan.
Regardless of size or type of party--whether your client is a working mother or a giant corporation--the format is always the same: initial inquiry, interview, your proposal, 2nd interview for any changes, agreement, deposit, staging the party itself, and your final payment. As mentioned earlier, success in this business comes from your planning--having a lot of contacts--and working your plan.
An important word of caution: Try not to get "boxed in" to setting or even revealing a tentative price until you've had a chance to listen to what the prospect wants, to study your own capabilities, and to make a formal written proposal. If a customer wants to know how much you charge--and if you feel it necessary in order to eventually close the sale--you can tell him 50 to 100 dollars per hour, plus expenses, and of course, depending on the type of event the customer wants.
As for how much the average party costs, again tell him that it varies anywhere from 50 to 5,000 dollars.
Always keep in mind that you are a professional, and that if the ordinary person had your knowledge, contacts and ambition to do it himself, he wouldn't be calling you on the phone. He needs your help for any number of reasons. You specialize in this kind of work or service just as a doctor specializes in medicine and a lawyer in legal matters. Therefore, you should, and do expect to be paid accordingly.
Something else--this business thrives on word-of-mouth advertising--referrals--and thus, is direct "freeway' to the kind of customers where money is of no concern. However, on order to gain access to this market, your business emphasis has to be on service.
This means the capability of handling everything for the customer, from having the invitations printed and sent out to cleaning up after the last guest has left. Businesses and people in the upper income brackets, like to pick up the phone--tell someone they want a party on a certain date--and then forget about it, knowing everything will be taken care of without further worry or time involvement from them. Once you've developed your expertise and clientele to this level, you'll have a business in the $200,000 to $250,00 per year range.
Definitely arrange for a display ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. You'll probably get 40% of your inquires from this source alone. Generally speaking, radio and/or television advertising will be too expensive when compared with the immediate results. However, it is recommended that you consider these media prior to special holidays.
Working with restaurants, supper clubs, bridal shops and entertainment business in general. can bring in hundreds of referrals for you. Rubbing shoulders with, and circulating as a part of your area's civic and service clubs, should also result in more business for you.
Keep your eyes and ears on the alert. Where ever you go, and with whomever you associate, always be ready to promote and sell your services, if not on the spot, at least make a note to follow up when conditions are more in your favor. Promoting and selling your services will require at least half your time, and that's why two people operating catering services are so successful from the start.
The actual selling is quite simple so long as you emphasize the service and time-saving aspects. The more time-consuming work you can handle for the client, the easier it's going to be for you to close the sale.
Handing out business cards is one of the least expensive ways to advertise, promote and sell your services. One enterprising caterer makes arrangements with the sponsors of all his parties, to see that each of the guests gets one of his business cards.
Another gives each of his clients a stack of his business cards, and tells them he'll pay them $25 for each prospect they refer to him. He tells them to write their name on the backs of the cards, and to hand them out to their friends. And then, whenever a person tells him that John or Jane suggested he call, and he presents the card with John or Jane's name on the back, this very successful caterer sends John or Jane a $25 check.
Another very successful caterer pays commissions to a group of housewives and college students who solicit--via their home phones--interviews for him with brides-to-be. They get their leads from announcements, and pictures of brides-to-be in the local papers.
Many caterers pay sales people a commission for letting them know when they hear about a party or special event being planned by one of their business customers.
The possibilities go on and on, and are seemingly un limited. Time is becoming more valuable to a lot more people every day, which means there are more and more opportunities for great wealth and personal independence as a professional caterer. In reality the success for just about any person entering this field, will be limited only by his or her own imagination and energy.
There is definite opportunity for great wealth within the catering field. Anyone with a sense of service to others can succeed. Very little "readycash" is needed to begin. Therefore, the only thing standing between you and the realization of your dreams, is the action it takes on your part to get started...
Saturday, February 9, 2008
HOW TO START YOUR OWN DAY CARE CENTER
There's a definite need for day care centers as more and more mothers of pre-school age children are forced to find jobs outside the home. This is due in part to the current economy, and unfortunately, to the high divorce rate, which means mothers who might ordinarily stay at home and care for their own children must seek income to help make ends meet.
Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of the century, and the popularity of this type of business to continue growing from there. They base their forecasts on the fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences they enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desire of young mothers to work outside the home.
Profitable day care centers are much more than glorified baby-sitting services. Social researchers have found that the most important years in a child's development are those from one to six. Thus, the exposure to the world in which he lives, the in struction he receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely affect his ability to learn and properly ad just as he progresses on through his years of formal education.
For mothers of today - usually better educated than their mothers - are more aware of these factors and wanting the best for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care centers. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school age children - even those who aren't forced to work outside the home.
Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be a trend for many large companies to finance and operate day care centers for their employees in or close by their factories or office buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave their children closer to home than where they work. Thus, privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhood areas should not be worried too much about competition from the few company operated day care centers.
The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center is to understand what makes them profitable.
There are a lot of day care centers operating with full enrollments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even. This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the state government, causing exorbitant overhead costs of operation. Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 children in order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracket of $100,000.
Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies. Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum area per child, both inside and outside the building, plus at least one hot meal per day. A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20 children, and even a licensed nurse on the premises may be required. Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and then design your business plan to meet these regulations.
Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, by learning and expanding from your profits, and of course, through the long-term benefits of establishing a quality image. In fact, we recommend that you do start small - with a baby sitting service - and build upon your progressive successes. Unless, of course, you have half a million dollars to invest.
Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home and backyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you might try locating in your church or one of your area's civic club facilities. Also, you should check out the possibilities of renting or buying a vacant house. A large ranch-style home with a large backyard would probably suit your needs at this stage. But be sure you have zoning approval from your city council before signing a rent lease and finalizing your plans.
You might find, if you have your business plan in order, that a church or labor union will sponsor your business, or even offer financial backing. Arranging some sort of partnership or sponsorship agreement with an established local organization will solve a lot of problems for you, not only in the area of space but in assistance with start up costs and city-father approval.
Incidentally, a day care center is perhaps the ideal business for absentee ownership or a group of professional investors. Keep this fact in mind as you organize your plan and seek financing. See our business report, How To Raise Money For Starting Your Own Business.
Generally, a "shoestring entrepreneur" in this business will do very well to locate in a vacant convenience store, or even a vacant grocery store in a larger shopping center. The zoning will be in your favor, plus you'll have adequate parking space, and less expense in partitioning or remodeling the building to suit your needs.
Ideally, your day care center should be located on a main thoroughfare, with the building set back from the street. You should be on the right hand side of the street as the traffic heads towards the major business or industrial areas of your community. In larger metropolitan areas, this would be on the city-side of the "bedroom" communities. In smaller communities, you can locate just about anywhere except in the downtown area.
If at all possible, you should plan your facility similar to a hospital or motel entrance. This would be a driveway from the street to your door, usually under a covered drive-thru, with the driveway continuing back out to the street. Your long-term parking space would then be located in the center of the "U" or between the driveway and the street. You want to strive for the convenience for the parent in being able to drive right up to your door. She can drop off the child with only a few steps into your facility and easy access back onto the main thoroughfare.
Depending on your city sign ordinances and your finances, go all out with your sign. Advertise the name of your day care center, the hours you're open, whether you accept drop-ins, overnighters, or weekenders, and of course, your phone number .
The sign makers and advertising people may strongly advise you against so much wording on your sign, but in this instance, don't listen to them. Your sign should state all essential information, and serve to convince passers-by that you can handle their childcare problems whenever the need arises.
If you initially locate in, or through the sponsorship of a church or labor union, these people can assist you tremendously by including a mention of your services in their membership bulletins, and by passing out circulars or flyers.
You'll need to decide on your regular day care hours. Generally, these are from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. You'll also need to decide whether you want to offer breakfast for the children. If so, you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morning meals. We'll discuss kitchen facilities and kitchen help later, but the first decision must be if you will include breakfast. You'll already be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because you will be serving a noon meal. If you do decide to offer breakfast for those parents not wanting to feed their children at home, you'll be able to add $8 to $12 per week to their billing. By buying your food supplies in bulk, you'll probably be able to realize some savings in overall food costs.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states, but even where they're not required, they are pretty much standard fare in most day care centers. Fresh fruit, cookies, and juice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centers.
As mentioned earlier, you'll definitely be providing a hot meal for the children at noon. This entails a cook, dishes, planned menus, food supplies in bulk, and perhaps even small size table and chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen help and facilities for washing the dishes.
These are just some of the important overhead costs you must plan for, and of course you will work to keep them as low as possible. As you should know by now, the greater your overhead, the more children you're going to have to take in, and the more children you take in, the greater your space requirements.
All profitable day care centers operate according to planned routines. The day is broken down into one-hour segments, with pre-planned curriculam, much the same as classes at a public school.
A typical day begins with a play period from whenever the children arrive until about 9 o'clock. For this, you'll need indoor sand boxes, toys and perhaps a family-sized television set. From 9 to 10, the children are separated into groups - generally by ages - and you hold a reading or story-telling session. The mid-morning snack time is scheduled sometime between 10 to 11. For the younger children, this might include a mid-morning nap. After snack time, a learning session is usually held. Typically, this is the time when guests are invited in to speak or entertain the children.
Work with your Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, and city administration for guests. Children will especially enjoy visits by policemen, firemen and others who talk to them about citizenship, show films, and teach them about the things they do in the community.
You can also get upperclassmen at your local colleges to visit and demonstrate such things as drawing, working with clay, building with wood, making things out of paper, and hundreds of other talents or skills they might be learning. The important thing is to bring "outsiders" in to talk to the kids about what goes on in their world.
Noon to 1 o'clock is generally lunch time, and from 1 until 2 is another learning session. During this afternoon learning session, you might offer the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. These teaching chores can be handled by college students studying to be teachers, retired teachers, or unemployed persons with teaching certificates. It's not so much a session to teach proficiency as a time to stimulate interest in formal education. The basic goal of most day care centers is to instill within each child a desire to learn more about the world in which he lives. Thus, each child should be full of plans for "when I get to be six years old and start school, I'm going to..."
About once a week, your afternoon learning session should be a tour or a trip to some place that might be interesting as well as educational for the children. Again, you're making the idea of learning not only interesting, but an exciting ad venture as well.
These trips can be anything from a walk in your immediate neighborhood to loading all the kids into cars or onto buses and taking them to the zoo. Check it out first, but on the whole, you'll find most businesses in your area will welcome opportunities to show the children around their offices or factories. The same thing quite naturally applies to your city offices, fire department, police department, and radio or television stations.
On days when you don't have a trip scheduled, your "learning session" might be a film or program related to nature, particularly animals. The advent of the Video Cassette Recorder has opened endless possibilities in this area. Nap time and snack time will fill a period for younger ones, and books and quiet games will occupy older children who do not take a nap. When the nap period is over, they're allowed to play until their parents
come by to pick them up.
Whenever possible, you should encourage the children to be outside during play periods. If you have lots of playground equipment, you won't necessarily always have to have organized games, but you will have to have a playground supervisor - someone to watch the children and see that they don't get hurt as they play. You can hire part-time help for this chore, perhaps from the local colleges, for minimum wage. If your city ordinances do not cover the specific age requirements of a playground supervisor, you might be able to hire students from your neighborhood high school. Select all the people you hire relative to their affinity with children and their dependability. Be aware of today's climate of extreme concern in protecting children in day care situations.
Your playground will require a fenced-in area. Drive around and look at the playground equipment in the playyards of your public schools and at day care centers in your area. You should have the basic sandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in
this area you can be creative and original, provided your equipment meets safety standards.
Some states require that you have a registered nurse on the premises, but generally, the main things needed are medical information from the parents and a written procedure to follow in case of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injured or be comes ill, you should take him to the nearest medical center, while another staff person gets in touch with the parents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot be present at the medical center, all information should be passed on to him/her immediately it is available.
It's a good idea to have all your helpers indoctrinated with basic Red Cross first aid knowledge, and have a well-equipped first aid kit on the premises. As for any requirements relative to a full-time nurse, you should be able to hire registered nurses who are either not working or looking for extra income. You might be able to "hire the license" of a registered nurse. You pay a small fee to hang her license in your office, and she agrees to be available to serve your needs when you call.
Most day care centers are currently charging from $35 to $65 per child for a five day week, plus $5 to $10 more for the inclusion of breakfast, with another $l per meal when they serve an evening meal to the child. If you do not receive pay in advance, you can very quickly get "in the red." We strong suggest setting up your financial structure and clients' payment schedules with this in mind.
By having your customers pay in advance, you'll eliminate a lot of bookkeeping chores and time, the problems of collections, and you'll have operating funds with which to run the business. A point to stress when asking for payment by the month, in advance, is that because monthly payments are based on only four weeks of day care, they'll be getting a week of free service every three months.
Every profitable day care center requires a sharp manager or director. This person might be yourself, or someone you hire for the job. Regardless, this person will be the key to your success. The director should have an empathy with people, be an excellent judge of people, be sales oriented, and have an outgoing personality. As much as anything else, this person must have the ability to listen to, and really hear what other people are saying
without the influence of preconceived opinions, or making snap decisions. This person has to have the success of your business in mind at all times, which means building and maintaining an impeccable reputation.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervision of your other help and the budgeting, scheduling and overall day-to-day operation of the business. It is imperative to the success of your business that you have the very best person you can get in this position, regardless of the cost. A good director for a day care center will command a salary equal to teachers in your public schools, plus fringe benefit allowances
such as free enrollment for their children and perhaps medical and dental insurance if you choose to provide group coverage.
When a prospective client calls to ask you about your services, you should explain how you operate, and emphasize your invitation for them to bring their child in so that the two of them can be taken for a tour of your facilities.
Once in the center, your manager or director takes the parent and child on a tour, all the while explaining to parent the advantages of the center's structured learning and play program as compared with everyday run-of-the-mill baby-sitting services. It's important to have the child along, because as he sees the other children at play, he will be drawn to them, and this will greatly influence the parent in deciding that your center is the
right place for his child.
After the tour, steer the parent back into your administrative offices and propose enrollment of the child. Begin by asking where the parent works, what hours and if he or she ever has to work overtime. You then ascertain the hours they'll want to drop off and pick up their child.
Strict procedures are absolutely essential regarding the pick- up of any child. Frightening as it may be to contemplate, we have all read accounts of strangers (or non-custodial parent) kidnapping a child. Printed forms must be provided, and authorization signatures must be compared when anyone other than the legal guardian takes a child from your care. You will learn these requirements from your licensing office. Our advice to you is to follow them meticulously.
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing your rates, your services, an outline of the curriculum, and a statement of your benefit goals for the children.
Check with a legally qualified person about the need for a contract. The parent will probably simply fill out a questionnaire-file card giving address, place of employment,
medical information about the child, and place he or she may be reached in case of emergency.
Most day care centers accept all children between two and six years of age. And there are many nowadays who take infants from six weeks. Of course, your personnel in this situation will be thoroughly oriented in infant care, and you must ascertain if these babies are well when brought in to you. Otherwise, you put yourself in the position of "hospital" care instead of day care.
Generally, children aren't allowed to bring toys from home. You may want to allow the children to bring their own blanket from home for nap time, but if you allowed toys from home you would be opening "Pandora's box" of possible problems relating to sharing and ownership. In light of this, you will want a full complement of appropriate toys and play items in your center.
If you decide to include short-term baby-sitting services, a good idea would be to include within the layout of your facilities a small one-bedroom apartment for a live-in or couple. An older retired couple would be ideal, with the husband serving also as maintenance and handy man.
Around-the-clock baby-sitting services, in addition to your regular day care center, can add tremendous and immediate cash-flow profits to your business, but correspondingly increase your payroll for qualified personnel. Such services would enable the parents to drop their children off in the evening, and leave them around the clock or over the weekend. There will generally be no need for any planned program because these children will be sleeping during most of the time they're in your care.
As you establish the image and reputation of your day care center, the parents in your area will be much more inclined to leave their children with you for baby-sitting duties. And because you are considered tops in the area of responsibility , you'll be able to charge the very top rate of the baby-sitting fee structure. Keep current with fees charged by other quality businesses similar to yours.
The demand for unplanned or emergency baby-sitting services is very large. Not too many day care centers are aware of this potential for extra profits yet, but the ones that are find that their incomes can increase by 30 percent or more! We certainly recommend consideration of this idea for anyone involved in a day care service.
Another area that could mean enhanced profits for you is bus or van pick-up service for the children. Of course, this would increase your operating costs (and consequently your fees) but the convenience of pick-up is gaining in popularity. You'll need a custodian for indoor and outdoor cleanup, and if you have access to a bus or van, he could be assigned additional duties as the driver. Some day care centers offering pick-up service for their children contract with local transportation services to provide this service. Be certain of the driving experience of your driver if you contract for this transportation service.
Most day care centers open with very little fanfare or advertising. Generally, even without advertising most are reporting 90 percent capacity enrollment within six months.
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign, you should be able to be at 90 percent capacity within your first six weeks. In an area where a severe short age of day care facilities exists, and with the right advertising and promotion, even sooner.
Your first step should be the door-to-door, hand-out distribution of a quality informative brochure. To save on costs, you can hire students attending advertising classes in your area colleges or even a free lance advertising copywriter to help you with the design and writing of this brochure. However, the bottom line should be that you have a good commercial printer do the printing on the best paper you can afford. All of this has to do with the image you're wanting to create, and the quality of the service the "buyers" feel they're getting for the prices you are charging. Don't skimp on your brochure - you're aiming at people looking for the best place for their children.
You should place at least a two-column by four-inch grand opening display ad in your local newspapers. At the same time, you should place similar ads in the local magazines and other publications catering to the working mother. Send along a group picture of your staff, and a story about your services with your advertising order. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV stations and invite them out to your grand opening.
Be sure to place a "service information" ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. This should be the largest size you can afford. And remember that you need to make contact for a yellow page ad well in advance of the release date of the directory.
After your grand opening, and until you attain full capacity, continue to hand out your brochures at the entrances to the office buildings which house companies employing working mothers. Continue to run ads in your local newspaper, although these ads needn't be quite as large or run as regularly as the grand opening ads. Run an ad in the classified section describing your baby-sitting services.
At your grand opening, offer free refreshments for everyone. Coffee and punch for the adults, with juice for the children, and cookies for everyone. You should have members of your staff circulating among the parents to answer any questions and hand out brochures about the center.
You can begin small, and expand in stages with your profits. However, you must draw up a long-range plan detailing exactly what you intend to do, and each milestone you'll have to pass before proceeding to your next goal. In this way, you c an succeed and attain not only the ultimate business, but also the kind of profits planned at the start.
The basic, and bottom line secret to success with your own day care center will be your ability to hold your costs in line while achieving maximum capacity enrollment. You've got the plan, and my best wishes for success!
Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of the century, and the popularity of this type of business to continue growing from there. They base their forecasts on the fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences they enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desire of young mothers to work outside the home.
Profitable day care centers are much more than glorified baby-sitting services. Social researchers have found that the most important years in a child's development are those from one to six. Thus, the exposure to the world in which he lives, the in struction he receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely affect his ability to learn and properly ad just as he progresses on through his years of formal education.
For mothers of today - usually better educated than their mothers - are more aware of these factors and wanting the best for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care centers. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school age children - even those who aren't forced to work outside the home.
Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be a trend for many large companies to finance and operate day care centers for their employees in or close by their factories or office buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave their children closer to home than where they work. Thus, privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhood areas should not be worried too much about competition from the few company operated day care centers.
The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center is to understand what makes them profitable.
There are a lot of day care centers operating with full enrollments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even. This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the state government, causing exorbitant overhead costs of operation. Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 children in order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracket of $100,000.
Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies. Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum area per child, both inside and outside the building, plus at least one hot meal per day. A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20 children, and even a licensed nurse on the premises may be required. Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and then design your business plan to meet these regulations.
Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, by learning and expanding from your profits, and of course, through the long-term benefits of establishing a quality image. In fact, we recommend that you do start small - with a baby sitting service - and build upon your progressive successes. Unless, of course, you have half a million dollars to invest.
Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home and backyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you might try locating in your church or one of your area's civic club facilities. Also, you should check out the possibilities of renting or buying a vacant house. A large ranch-style home with a large backyard would probably suit your needs at this stage. But be sure you have zoning approval from your city council before signing a rent lease and finalizing your plans.
You might find, if you have your business plan in order, that a church or labor union will sponsor your business, or even offer financial backing. Arranging some sort of partnership or sponsorship agreement with an established local organization will solve a lot of problems for you, not only in the area of space but in assistance with start up costs and city-father approval.
Incidentally, a day care center is perhaps the ideal business for absentee ownership or a group of professional investors. Keep this fact in mind as you organize your plan and seek financing. See our business report, How To Raise Money For Starting Your Own Business.
Generally, a "shoestring entrepreneur" in this business will do very well to locate in a vacant convenience store, or even a vacant grocery store in a larger shopping center. The zoning will be in your favor, plus you'll have adequate parking space, and less expense in partitioning or remodeling the building to suit your needs.
Ideally, your day care center should be located on a main thoroughfare, with the building set back from the street. You should be on the right hand side of the street as the traffic heads towards the major business or industrial areas of your community. In larger metropolitan areas, this would be on the city-side of the "bedroom" communities. In smaller communities, you can locate just about anywhere except in the downtown area.
If at all possible, you should plan your facility similar to a hospital or motel entrance. This would be a driveway from the street to your door, usually under a covered drive-thru, with the driveway continuing back out to the street. Your long-term parking space would then be located in the center of the "U" or between the driveway and the street. You want to strive for the convenience for the parent in being able to drive right up to your door. She can drop off the child with only a few steps into your facility and easy access back onto the main thoroughfare.
Depending on your city sign ordinances and your finances, go all out with your sign. Advertise the name of your day care center, the hours you're open, whether you accept drop-ins, overnighters, or weekenders, and of course, your phone number .
The sign makers and advertising people may strongly advise you against so much wording on your sign, but in this instance, don't listen to them. Your sign should state all essential information, and serve to convince passers-by that you can handle their childcare problems whenever the need arises.
If you initially locate in, or through the sponsorship of a church or labor union, these people can assist you tremendously by including a mention of your services in their membership bulletins, and by passing out circulars or flyers.
You'll need to decide on your regular day care hours. Generally, these are from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. You'll also need to decide whether you want to offer breakfast for the children. If so, you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morning meals. We'll discuss kitchen facilities and kitchen help later, but the first decision must be if you will include breakfast. You'll already be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because you will be serving a noon meal. If you do decide to offer breakfast for those parents not wanting to feed their children at home, you'll be able to add $8 to $12 per week to their billing. By buying your food supplies in bulk, you'll probably be able to realize some savings in overall food costs.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states, but even where they're not required, they are pretty much standard fare in most day care centers. Fresh fruit, cookies, and juice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centers.
As mentioned earlier, you'll definitely be providing a hot meal for the children at noon. This entails a cook, dishes, planned menus, food supplies in bulk, and perhaps even small size table and chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen help and facilities for washing the dishes.
These are just some of the important overhead costs you must plan for, and of course you will work to keep them as low as possible. As you should know by now, the greater your overhead, the more children you're going to have to take in, and the more children you take in, the greater your space requirements.
All profitable day care centers operate according to planned routines. The day is broken down into one-hour segments, with pre-planned curriculam, much the same as classes at a public school.
A typical day begins with a play period from whenever the children arrive until about 9 o'clock. For this, you'll need indoor sand boxes, toys and perhaps a family-sized television set. From 9 to 10, the children are separated into groups - generally by ages - and you hold a reading or story-telling session. The mid-morning snack time is scheduled sometime between 10 to 11. For the younger children, this might include a mid-morning nap. After snack time, a learning session is usually held. Typically, this is the time when guests are invited in to speak or entertain the children.
Work with your Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, and city administration for guests. Children will especially enjoy visits by policemen, firemen and others who talk to them about citizenship, show films, and teach them about the things they do in the community.
You can also get upperclassmen at your local colleges to visit and demonstrate such things as drawing, working with clay, building with wood, making things out of paper, and hundreds of other talents or skills they might be learning. The important thing is to bring "outsiders" in to talk to the kids about what goes on in their world.
Noon to 1 o'clock is generally lunch time, and from 1 until 2 is another learning session. During this afternoon learning session, you might offer the rudiments of reading, writing and arithmetic. These teaching chores can be handled by college students studying to be teachers, retired teachers, or unemployed persons with teaching certificates. It's not so much a session to teach proficiency as a time to stimulate interest in formal education. The basic goal of most day care centers is to instill within each child a desire to learn more about the world in which he lives. Thus, each child should be full of plans for "when I get to be six years old and start school, I'm going to..."
About once a week, your afternoon learning session should be a tour or a trip to some place that might be interesting as well as educational for the children. Again, you're making the idea of learning not only interesting, but an exciting ad venture as well.
These trips can be anything from a walk in your immediate neighborhood to loading all the kids into cars or onto buses and taking them to the zoo. Check it out first, but on the whole, you'll find most businesses in your area will welcome opportunities to show the children around their offices or factories. The same thing quite naturally applies to your city offices, fire department, police department, and radio or television stations.
On days when you don't have a trip scheduled, your "learning session" might be a film or program related to nature, particularly animals. The advent of the Video Cassette Recorder has opened endless possibilities in this area. Nap time and snack time will fill a period for younger ones, and books and quiet games will occupy older children who do not take a nap. When the nap period is over, they're allowed to play until their parents
come by to pick them up.
Whenever possible, you should encourage the children to be outside during play periods. If you have lots of playground equipment, you won't necessarily always have to have organized games, but you will have to have a playground supervisor - someone to watch the children and see that they don't get hurt as they play. You can hire part-time help for this chore, perhaps from the local colleges, for minimum wage. If your city ordinances do not cover the specific age requirements of a playground supervisor, you might be able to hire students from your neighborhood high school. Select all the people you hire relative to their affinity with children and their dependability. Be aware of today's climate of extreme concern in protecting children in day care situations.
Your playground will require a fenced-in area. Drive around and look at the playground equipment in the playyards of your public schools and at day care centers in your area. You should have the basic sandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in
this area you can be creative and original, provided your equipment meets safety standards.
Some states require that you have a registered nurse on the premises, but generally, the main things needed are medical information from the parents and a written procedure to follow in case of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injured or be comes ill, you should take him to the nearest medical center, while another staff person gets in touch with the parents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot be present at the medical center, all information should be passed on to him/her immediately it is available.
It's a good idea to have all your helpers indoctrinated with basic Red Cross first aid knowledge, and have a well-equipped first aid kit on the premises. As for any requirements relative to a full-time nurse, you should be able to hire registered nurses who are either not working or looking for extra income. You might be able to "hire the license" of a registered nurse. You pay a small fee to hang her license in your office, and she agrees to be available to serve your needs when you call.
Most day care centers are currently charging from $35 to $65 per child for a five day week, plus $5 to $10 more for the inclusion of breakfast, with another $l per meal when they serve an evening meal to the child. If you do not receive pay in advance, you can very quickly get "in the red." We strong suggest setting up your financial structure and clients' payment schedules with this in mind.
By having your customers pay in advance, you'll eliminate a lot of bookkeeping chores and time, the problems of collections, and you'll have operating funds with which to run the business. A point to stress when asking for payment by the month, in advance, is that because monthly payments are based on only four weeks of day care, they'll be getting a week of free service every three months.
Every profitable day care center requires a sharp manager or director. This person might be yourself, or someone you hire for the job. Regardless, this person will be the key to your success. The director should have an empathy with people, be an excellent judge of people, be sales oriented, and have an outgoing personality. As much as anything else, this person must have the ability to listen to, and really hear what other people are saying
without the influence of preconceived opinions, or making snap decisions. This person has to have the success of your business in mind at all times, which means building and maintaining an impeccable reputation.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervision of your other help and the budgeting, scheduling and overall day-to-day operation of the business. It is imperative to the success of your business that you have the very best person you can get in this position, regardless of the cost. A good director for a day care center will command a salary equal to teachers in your public schools, plus fringe benefit allowances
such as free enrollment for their children and perhaps medical and dental insurance if you choose to provide group coverage.
When a prospective client calls to ask you about your services, you should explain how you operate, and emphasize your invitation for them to bring their child in so that the two of them can be taken for a tour of your facilities.
Once in the center, your manager or director takes the parent and child on a tour, all the while explaining to parent the advantages of the center's structured learning and play program as compared with everyday run-of-the-mill baby-sitting services. It's important to have the child along, because as he sees the other children at play, he will be drawn to them, and this will greatly influence the parent in deciding that your center is the
right place for his child.
After the tour, steer the parent back into your administrative offices and propose enrollment of the child. Begin by asking where the parent works, what hours and if he or she ever has to work overtime. You then ascertain the hours they'll want to drop off and pick up their child.
Strict procedures are absolutely essential regarding the pick- up of any child. Frightening as it may be to contemplate, we have all read accounts of strangers (or non-custodial parent) kidnapping a child. Printed forms must be provided, and authorization signatures must be compared when anyone other than the legal guardian takes a child from your care. You will learn these requirements from your licensing office. Our advice to you is to follow them meticulously.
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing your rates, your services, an outline of the curriculum, and a statement of your benefit goals for the children.
Check with a legally qualified person about the need for a contract. The parent will probably simply fill out a questionnaire-file card giving address, place of employment,
medical information about the child, and place he or she may be reached in case of emergency.
Most day care centers accept all children between two and six years of age. And there are many nowadays who take infants from six weeks. Of course, your personnel in this situation will be thoroughly oriented in infant care, and you must ascertain if these babies are well when brought in to you. Otherwise, you put yourself in the position of "hospital" care instead of day care.
Generally, children aren't allowed to bring toys from home. You may want to allow the children to bring their own blanket from home for nap time, but if you allowed toys from home you would be opening "Pandora's box" of possible problems relating to sharing and ownership. In light of this, you will want a full complement of appropriate toys and play items in your center.
If you decide to include short-term baby-sitting services, a good idea would be to include within the layout of your facilities a small one-bedroom apartment for a live-in or couple. An older retired couple would be ideal, with the husband serving also as maintenance and handy man.
Around-the-clock baby-sitting services, in addition to your regular day care center, can add tremendous and immediate cash-flow profits to your business, but correspondingly increase your payroll for qualified personnel. Such services would enable the parents to drop their children off in the evening, and leave them around the clock or over the weekend. There will generally be no need for any planned program because these children will be sleeping during most of the time they're in your care.
As you establish the image and reputation of your day care center, the parents in your area will be much more inclined to leave their children with you for baby-sitting duties. And because you are considered tops in the area of responsibility , you'll be able to charge the very top rate of the baby-sitting fee structure. Keep current with fees charged by other quality businesses similar to yours.
The demand for unplanned or emergency baby-sitting services is very large. Not too many day care centers are aware of this potential for extra profits yet, but the ones that are find that their incomes can increase by 30 percent or more! We certainly recommend consideration of this idea for anyone involved in a day care service.
Another area that could mean enhanced profits for you is bus or van pick-up service for the children. Of course, this would increase your operating costs (and consequently your fees) but the convenience of pick-up is gaining in popularity. You'll need a custodian for indoor and outdoor cleanup, and if you have access to a bus or van, he could be assigned additional duties as the driver. Some day care centers offering pick-up service for their children contract with local transportation services to provide this service. Be certain of the driving experience of your driver if you contract for this transportation service.
Most day care centers open with very little fanfare or advertising. Generally, even without advertising most are reporting 90 percent capacity enrollment within six months.
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign, you should be able to be at 90 percent capacity within your first six weeks. In an area where a severe short age of day care facilities exists, and with the right advertising and promotion, even sooner.
Your first step should be the door-to-door, hand-out distribution of a quality informative brochure. To save on costs, you can hire students attending advertising classes in your area colleges or even a free lance advertising copywriter to help you with the design and writing of this brochure. However, the bottom line should be that you have a good commercial printer do the printing on the best paper you can afford. All of this has to do with the image you're wanting to create, and the quality of the service the "buyers" feel they're getting for the prices you are charging. Don't skimp on your brochure - you're aiming at people looking for the best place for their children.
You should place at least a two-column by four-inch grand opening display ad in your local newspapers. At the same time, you should place similar ads in the local magazines and other publications catering to the working mother. Send along a group picture of your staff, and a story about your services with your advertising order. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV stations and invite them out to your grand opening.
Be sure to place a "service information" ad in the yellow pages of your telephone directory. This should be the largest size you can afford. And remember that you need to make contact for a yellow page ad well in advance of the release date of the directory.
After your grand opening, and until you attain full capacity, continue to hand out your brochures at the entrances to the office buildings which house companies employing working mothers. Continue to run ads in your local newspaper, although these ads needn't be quite as large or run as regularly as the grand opening ads. Run an ad in the classified section describing your baby-sitting services.
At your grand opening, offer free refreshments for everyone. Coffee and punch for the adults, with juice for the children, and cookies for everyone. You should have members of your staff circulating among the parents to answer any questions and hand out brochures about the center.
You can begin small, and expand in stages with your profits. However, you must draw up a long-range plan detailing exactly what you intend to do, and each milestone you'll have to pass before proceeding to your next goal. In this way, you c an succeed and attain not only the ultimate business, but also the kind of profits planned at the start.
The basic, and bottom line secret to success with your own day care center will be your ability to hold your costs in line while achieving maximum capacity enrollment. You've got the plan, and my best wishes for success!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
