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Getting Started as a Full-Time RVer: What Work Is Available and How To Get Started.
by Coleen Sykora
Coleen Sykora is a full-time RVer, founder of the Workers On Wheels website, and the author of How to Get a Life by Living Full-Time in a Recreational Vehicle, a step-by-step game plan listing things you can start doing today to become a full-time RVer.
I firmly believe that most anyone who wants to be a full-time RVer can be and that he/she can find a suitable way to financially support him/herself and his/her family in the process.
There are far too many types of jobs available for working RVers to list them all, but here's a small sampling...bus driver, actor, musician, tour guide, computer programmer, clown, grain harvester, baker, mobile dental clinic dentist, manufacturer's rep, MLM sales, party planner, crafter, brain tanner, mechanic, nurse, construction worker, pizza delivery, tobacco stripper, windshield repairman, bathroom cleaner, steam train engineer, tree planter, bookkeeper, sign maker, dog show judge, teacher, masseuse, apple picker,
carpenter, bus driver, writer, tattoo artist, inventor, sales clerk, solar equipment installer, image consultant, product demonstrator, property caretaker, day labor, mini-storage managers, video maker, landscaper, cook, gas line inspector, Christmas tree lot manager, magician, woodworker, business consultant, security guard, seamstress, events organizer, speaker, heavy equipment operator, fence installer, waitress, fair vendor....
Some practical suggestions for getting a better idea of what work might be suitable for you....
Make a list of the things you are able to do; your skills and abilities; things you have been trained for; tasks that you do in your present job; work that you do around the home and yard; things that you do for fun or in your volunteer work.
Secondly, make a list of things that you enjoy doing or think you would enjoy if you had the time.
Compare the lists to see what overlaps or how things on one list can be combined with something on the other. How might you use some of those combinations to make money? What do you like to do, that you know how to do or could learn to do, that people would pay you to do?
For example, my husband is a fixer. I have some sales background. We enjoy bargain hunting and going to auctions and flea markets. Our first few years out on the road, we bought used merchandise at auctions, much of it hand and power tools that needed to be cleaned and repaired, and we sold them at flea markets.
Something else that will help is to determine what travel and work style you would prefer, or would at least like to start with. Answering the following questions will help you do that.
How often do you want to move -- every few days, once a month, seasonally? Where do you want to stay -- fancy RV resorts, family campgrounds, boondocking spots? What do you want to travel in -- small conversion van, motorhome and cargo trailer, mid-duty truck and fifth-wheel? What is your
travel purpose - visit every state, learn about subcultures, trace Route 66?
Do you want to work for someone else or be self-employed or both? Do you want to work all year long, traveling along the way, or do you want to work long and hard for a time and then have months to play without working at all? Do you want to do one thing or be involved with several different things at once? Do you want to have a career or do a variety of jobs? Do you want a position that challenges your abilities or one that may be less stressful? Do you want a desk job or to work with your hands?
Why do you want to work? How much do you want or need to earn? What other things besides money would be valuable to you -- parking site, store discounts, use of gulf course or other facility, the satisfaction of helping others, social contact, chance to learn a new skill? What are the best things about your current work and what are the worst? Do you want to do something similar or something very different?
It is very common for full-timer's to change their work and travel styles after being out on the road for a spell. And, that flexibility to be able to make those changes is one of the best things about the lifestyle. Because much of the work is temporary or seasonal by nature, or is a business that is self-created, the transition to other travel and work styles can be done smoothly and as part of the RVing adventure.
You might consider some job in the tourist industry or a tourist town, which includes a vast number of things -- working in a restaurant, cleaning motel rooms, designing advertising brochures, leading walking tours, mowing grounds and doing landscape work, acting in plays, repairing equipment, taking photographs, fishing, handing out information pamphlets, operating carnival rides, caring for children, presenting seminars...and much more.
You might consider registering with temporary staffing agencies, either those specializing in a particular employment field (day labor, medical professionals, technology specialists, etc.) or general temp. placement firms. Once registered, it is oftentimes possible to have the registration transferred to another office within that company so you do not need to do all the paperwork in each city.
If you haven't checked out our website, Workers On Wheels, spend some time reading the other information there. The FAQ will give you basic info. The various articles, profiles, interviews, and letters by working RVers will give you ideas about what others are doing and how they handle various aspects of working and living on the road. Also, be sure and subscribe to our free e-mail newsletters (see below).
About Coleen Sykora
Coleen Sykora and her husband Bob live, travel, and work full-time from their RV, a lifestyle that focuses on the journey. Visit www.workersonwheels.com for free information on earning an income while living your dream.
Subscribe to the free WORKERS ON WHEELS e-zine by sending a blank email to: workersonwheels-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com.
Subscribe to the free full-time RVing lifestyle e-zine, RV LIFE AND TRAVEL: LIFE AS WE LIVE IT...ON THE ROAD WITH COLEEN AND BOB, by sending a blank email to: rvlifeandtravel-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com.
Discover how you can begin living life to the fullest with Coleen's new book How to Get a Life by Living Full-Time in a Recreational Vehicle. This book includes a step-by-step game plan, listing things you can start doing today to become a full-time RVer. And perhaps most importantly, it shares with you what it really is like to live full-time in a home on wheels.
Author: Rauf Mohamed Yusope
In developing success in life such as building a home business, one can learn greatly when developing in ones' great strengths. There are many great lessons that one can learn on how to focus on strengths to develop on success for home business.
A great lesson that one can learn is through focusing on the individual strength, it can enable such individuals to understand his strengths better. Through such understanding, with persistence and consistency in taking great action, individual can achieve great level of success
Secondly, the great lesson in focusing in ones strength is it can enable the individual to internalize and realize their great potential. For example, through developing such focus such as writing down ones strengths, it can enable individuals to create a clear plan and work on the plan to success. One can learn here that such plan can involves small but consistent action taking by such individuals. Through such great consistency, it can enable them to reach great level of success.
Thirdly, in building strengths in oneself, one can realize that he can experience disappointment and setbacks. Through such experiences, he can also realize that he might need to step out of his comfort zone and face many great learning opportunities such as criticisms and delayed gratifications to achieve success. Such learning opportunities can teach individuals to learn about patience and controlling emotions in dealing with the different challenges and situations.
Fourthly, in developing strengths, one can also learn to appreciate others feedback better. Through the continual learning and development of strengths, feedback from others is an important part of the process. Feedback from others enables the individual to take a step back, reflect, create the plan and act on it to develop on building and developing the business.
Fifthly, such understanding in ones strengths can develop individuals' mental strength as well. Once the individual understand his strengths better, he can develop great confidence and focus on continually
improving himself.
In developing and focusing on strength, one can realize that it requires planning, consistency taking action to develop and improve on the strengths. It can also require the individual to step out of his comfort zone. Through such experience, one can learn that it is a continual learning journey and developing on strength in the home business can require such individuals to continually learn and improve. In such learning experience, one can learn that with a simple and clear plan to succeed, individuals can develop their strengths effectively and achieve great success in the business.
Do you want to learn more about Home Business?
Get Your Free Home Business Tips at Work at Home Ideas and Opportunities!
Rauf writes articles on home business and personal development for success.
Article Source: www.linkroll.com -
Learn How to Focus on Strengths to Develop on Success for Home Business
Choosing the Right Home Business For You
© 2006 Elena Fawkner
Pay any attention at all to your email inbox and you'd be
forgiven for thinking that the only way to run a business
from home is on the Internet. Sure, many people are
running spectacularly successful Internet-based home
businesses. Many, many more are doing so even more
spectacularly unsuccessfully.
But what if you're not interested in running an Internet
business? What if you want to start and run a home
business the old-fashioned way? Where do you start?
Actually starting any home business is the easy part.
The hard part's deciding what that business should be.
So how do you even start the process of deciding on the
right home business for you? The key is to be methodical,
realistic, objective and patient.
Step 1 : Personal Inventory
The first place to start is to inventory your skills,
experience, interests, and personality characteristics.
These are what you have to work with - your raw
ingredients, so to speak.
Make a list of personal qualities and factors that you can
throw into the mix. Include things like:
=> your personal background;
=> training and education;
=> work and volunteer experience;
=> special interests and hobbies;
=> leisure activities;
=> your personality and temperament.
All of these qualities and factors make up what you know
and what you're good at.
Step 2 : Identify What You Like
It's one thing to know a lot about something or be good at
it. It's quite another to enjoy it enough to want to make it
your life's work. So, remove from the list you created in
Step 1 anything that you don't really, really like doing or
which plain doesn't interest you. No matter how good you
are at it. If you're lucky enough to like what you're good at,
as a general rule, stick with what you know.
Step 3 : Match Your Likes With Marketable Activities
If Steps 1 and 2 still haven't suggested feasible home
business ideas, review the following activities that have
proven marketable for others and weigh them against
your "likes" from Step 2:
Crafts - pottery, ceramics, leadlighting
Health and Fitness - aerobics instructor, network marketing
for a health products company, home health care
Household Services - cleaning, gardening, shopping
Professional Services - attorney, architect, interior
designer
Personal Services - make-up artist, hairdresser
Business Services - business plan writer, meeting planner
Wholesale Sales - antique dealer, dropshipper
Retail Sales - children's clothing, widgets
Computers - web design, internet training.
You get the idea. This is not an exhaustive list, obviously.
You can visit the AHBBO Ideas Page for a list of over 500
home business ideas at http://www.ahbbo.com/ideas.html .
Step 4 : Make a List of Business Ideas That Fit With Your
Likes From Step 2
By the time you're done, you'll have a hitlist of possible
matches between your skills and interests on the one
hand and home business ideas utilizing those skills and
interests on the other.
Step 5 : Research
Armed with your list from Step 4, identify those ideas that
you think have marketable potential and then research
whether that belief is accurate. In order to have
marketable potential, the idea must satisfy the following
criteria:
=> It must satisfy or create a need in the market. The
golden rule for any business is to either find or create a
need and then fill it.
=> It must have longevity. If your idea is trendy or faddish,
it doesn't have longevity. Go for substance over form in
all things.
=> It must be unique. This doesn't mean you have to invent
something completely new but it does mean that there has
to be some *aspect* of your product or service that sets it
apart from the competition. This is easy if you go for the
niche, rather than mass, market. Don't try to be all things
to all people. You'll only end up being too little to too many.
=> It must not be an oversaturated market. The more
competition you have, the harder it will be to make your mark.
It's unrealistic to expect no competition, of course. In fact,
too little competition is a warning sign either that your business
idea has no market or that the market is controlled by a few
big players. What you want is healthy competition where
it's possible to differentiate yourself from competing
businesses.
This all gets back to uniqueness. If you can't compete on
uniqueness, you must compete on price (or convenience).
If you're forced to compete on price alone, that just drives
down your profit margin. Not smart business.
=> You must be able to price competitively yet profitably.
The price you set for your product or service must allow
you to compete effectively with other businesses in your
market, it must be acceptable to consumers and it must
return you a fair profit. If any one of these three is off,
move on.
=> Your business must fit with your lifestyle. If you're
a parent of young children and you primarily want to start
a business from home so you can stay home with them,
a real estate brokerage business that requires you to be
out and about meeting with prospective clients is obviously
not going to work.
You'll instead need to choose a business that can be
conducted entirely (or near enough entirely) from within the
four walls of your home office. Similarly, if your business idea
would involve having clients come to your home, you're not
going to want an unruly 3 year old underfoot as you're trying
to conduct business.
=> Your financial resources must be sufficient to launch and
carry the business until it becomes profitable. No business is
profitable from day one, of course. But some are quicker to
break even than others. If your business requires a
considerable initial capital outlay to start - computer, printer
and software for a web design business, for example - it will
take you longer to break even than if the only prerequisite
was the knowledge inside your own head, such as working
from home as an attorney.
If your financial situation is such that you can't afford to quit
your day job until your business is paying its way, this, too,
will mean it will take longer to break even than if you're able
to devote every waking hour to your business. Just do what
you have to do. That's all any of us can do.
Step 6 : Business Plan
Once you've gone through the above process and identified
what appears to be the right business for you, the final "gut
check" is to write a business plan for your business, much as
you would for a presentation to a bank for financing. Include
sections for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,
and set goals for what your business needs to achieve for
you, by when, and how you are going to get there.
There are plenty of good resources online about how to
prepare a thorough business plan. A great place to start is
at About.com (http://www.about.com). Just type "business
plans" into the search box.
Although it may seem like a waste of time and effort to
complete a business plan if you don't intend to seek outside
financing, taking the time and exercising the discipline needed
to really focus your mind on the important issues facing your
business, you will be forced to take a long hard look at your
idea through very objective and realistic eyes.
If your idea passes the business plan test, then you can be
reasonably confident that this is the right business for you.
If you come away from this exercise feeling hesitant,
uncertain and unsure, either do more research (if the reason
for your hesitancy and uncertainty is lack of information) or
discard the idea (if it's because you don't think your idea is
going to fly). If this happens, just keep repeating Steps 5
and 6 until you end up with an idea and a business plan that
you're confident is going to work!
Although it's frustrating to wait once you've made up your
mind to start a business from home, this really is one situation
where the tortoise wins the race. By taking a methodical,
systematic and disciplined approach to identifying the right
home business for you, you give your business the best
possible chance for long-term survival, hopefully avoiding
some very expensive mistakes along the way.
Elena Fawkner is editor of Home-Based Business Online.
Best business ideas and opportunities for your home-based or online business.
I am sure that many of you are tired of looking online for a way to make some extra money. Some of us have even been burned with a plethora of "business opportunities" or "be the next online millionaire" or "make six figures online in two days". Well, I have still to find one of those that really work and believe me, I have tried quite a few, and so many that my pocket is not in talking terms with me anymore.
I can honestly tell you, I know now what fish feel like when at the end of a hook. We swim around the bait, we look at it, we smell it and after circling around and google-ing a couple of articles about our bait and feeling like sharks, we bite, but truly we are only minnows. The fishermen at the other end of the rod have done this for a very long time; some of them have even hired very expensive bait designers so the lure is irresistible. After the initial hype of yes, this looks good, I will be racking in tons of money in a few days, heck, even if it takes me two weeks I will be in financial heaven, you come to terms with the gruesome reality, "I have been scammed", and you find yourself out of your hard earned Starbucks Budget or in some very bad cases, our of your next month rent. I could use quite a few descriptive words to qualify these so called Gurus, but I am sure your imagination can do a far better job at that, plus I don't want to be banned from the Internet.
The reason why most of us fall in these quick sand traps is "need". Yes, the more you need to bring in money, the more desperate you are to try almost anything, so listen well my little grasshoppers, keep your cool and use some sense. The second reason why we become sitting ducks is "greed", so here is your second pill Scrooge, you can make money, just take it slowly. The only get rich quick schemes I know are hit the lottery or have a letter delivered from your recently deceased rich aunt's lawyer.
The best way I have to analyze the value of what I am getting into is, "did I learn anything from it". After I got taken advantage from way to many sites and products, I came to the conclusion that I was going at it the wrong way, I was expecting for the product I bought to make the money for me. This will never happen. You have to work to see results and even though it is not hard labor, you have to put in some time and effort. You don't give a man a fish, you teach him how to catch them. So this is what I looked for in my next venture, and I found it. The knowledge alone, made this investment worth it. If you are a rookie, a newbie, a greenie, whatever they call it nowadays, this is the way to go. You need to learn how to crawl before you get your own airplane.
Are you still buying leads for your home based business? Please tell me your not! Please tell me that in this, the age of Internet marketing, that you have found a way to generate your own leads? Still no,.....Will let me help you.
Here are 3 ways you can start generating leads for your Home Based Business TODAY:
1. Sign up for your own blog at blogger.com or wordpress.com and start adding helpful unique content to it today! The goal of any blog is to give people information about you, your opportunity, or the industry. When people read your blog they will see you as a expert in your field and contact you via your phone # or website. The rule of thumb when writing any blog post is 80% content 20% sales pitch.
2. Sign up for accounts at forums or blogs related to your niche or opportunity. For example, if you were in the network marketing industry one of the first forums I would sign up for is betternetworker. Once you sign up for any forum you will then want to setup your profile. This is a very important step, take time and put some thought into your profile. This is what people will see when they click on your picture or one of your posts. You want to make sure your profile is unique, interesting, and has links to your blog and your website. After your profile is setup, I would then start posting helpful content on the forum. The goal is to position yourself as a expert. Help people solve there problems, and the leads will come.
3. Write Articles -- This is exactly what I am doing here. Writing articles that provide value to the reader is a awesome way to generate leads for your business. The key here, is to remember to start off every article with the question of "What are the problems my ideal prospect is having?" and then solving that problem in the article for them.
After you have signed up for your own blog, posted content in forums related to your niche, and wrote a couple of articles here are some things to keep in mind.
* It will take a while before you start generating leads using these methods. DON'T GET DISCOURAGED!!
* Consistency is essential for success. You must dedicate time each and every day to your business to produce results.
* Whether posting in a forum, writing a blog post, or writing a article, remember the goal is to attract people to you, NOT to sell people. Never should your content be more about you than about solving your prospects problem.
Start with these three lead generation methods, and you will be well on your way to having more leads than you know what to do with.
I am sure you are familiar with what a home based business is and if not it is simply the promotion of a company product or service and getting rewarding for the sale or enrollment that you get. Now I definitely know that you are familiar with a high class university. Now that you have an understanding of what both of them are I will give you the reasons that make a home based business better than the university.
The reasons why a home based business is better than a high class university is because in a university you are actually going there for the minimum of 4 years and at the end of the term you may be lucky to get a good paying job.
With a home based business you are actually starting a business in which you will learn all about the responsibility of being your own boss. You will be able to obtain what is known as self knowledge and this is definitely way better than college books.
As you learn in the high class university you won't have a chance to see a return on your investment until you graduate and that is a maybe. But if you decide to go into a home based business you will have the opportunity to learn and at the same time earn as well. Many people who go to a university do it for the wrong reasons. I am big believer that you have choose what you have a passion for and go for it.
I am not at all saying that going to a university is bad but what I am trying to say is that if you have a passion for a career there is fine to go but if you are just going for the sake of going it is pretty much a waste of time.
I’ve listed some of the profitable niche businesses today, often from entrepreneurs who are running their businesses from their homes. Some of these businesses ride on existing trends with massive customer base such as iPod or MySpace, by providing support or additional services. Others, on the other hand, are a result of the creative and innovative mind of the business owner as they produce new products. While there’s no set formula for success, the most successful businesses are those that are able to spot opportunities -- even in the seemingly ordinary things in our every day life.
Here are 10 of some of the unique home-based business ideas that have proven to be very profitable:
1. Gourmet Pretzel = Plain salted pretzels are the most common types of pretzels offered in the frozen food aisles in the supermarket or grocery stores.
Pretzel-lovers Kim and Scott Holstein had the idea of offering uniquely flavored soft pretzels as the gourmet alternative to the plain salted pretzel. They experimented with various flavors, adding fruits, cheeses, spices, cheddar jalapeno, herbs, sun dried tomatoes, and others to see which flavors work best.
Believing that a huge market exists for their distinctive pretzels, the Holsteins decided to launch their business in May 1995 out of their cramped studio apartment. With $25,000 borrowed from family members and credit cards, the couple launched Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels http://www.kimandscotts.com/.
Now their pretzels are sold in restaurants, coffee shops, and grocery stores nationwide, including Barnes and Noble coffee shop, Sams Clubs, Whole Foods, Albertsons, among others. However, their biggest sales outlet is the home shopping network QVC where they have appeared more than 22 times selling about 625,000 pretzels!
2. MySpace Web Layouts = According to web measurement firm Hitwise, MySpace.com received 72.73 percent of the market share of U.S. visits in May 2008 among 58 of the leading social networking websites. With the enormous traffic of MySpace, there is a huge opportunity for other online businesses to develop business models that revolve around this massive social networking site.
One entrepreneur who saw this opportunity is Ashley Qualls. Ashley founded WhateverLife.com http://www.whateverlife.com in 2004 at the age of 14 when friends and others clamored for custom MySpace layouts. WhateverLife.com was created to showcase the graphics, pictures, backgrounds, layouts, and skins she has developed for MySpace, which are all free for the taking.
Ashley does not create the best graphics in the world – but she creates the graphics that speaks to her target audience. As a teenager herself, her success stems from her unique understanding of her core audience – young teenage girls. FastCompany magazine reports that her site gets 7 million individuals and 60 million page views a month. Given the massive amount of traffic, WhateverLife.com reportedly earns more than $70K a month from advertising, such as popups and Adsense ads.
3. Domain Naming Service = Finding the right name for your website can be a difficult process. It is often hard to think of snappy domain names or domain names that perfectly capture the essence of your business – and most importantly, that are still available. Some business owners and even ordinary users who want to have a Web presence struggle to think of what domains to use for their websites. The process of naming the site can be long and hard, whatever approach you use – whether to combine key concepts of your site or use keywords describing your site.
This is a niche that Dmitry Davydov successfully ventured with PickyDomains.com http://www.pickydomains.com . Making brainstorming for new domains easier, clients who want a domain name deposit $50 and writes specifications about the desired domain. PickyDomain.com’s team of domain name contributors will come up with a list of names. If the client doesn’t like the suggestions, the client gets the 50 bucks back.
4. Sympathy Gifts = When a love one dies, be it a friend, colleague or family member, cards and flower arrangements are typically given to the family. However, there are many who are looking for alternatives to traditional bereavement cards and flowers, and who are looking for a more personal way to express their feelings.
When the father of her sister-in-law died, Renee Wood was looking for a meaningful sympathy gift to express her feelings but was unable to find one. Instead, she created a teardrop shaped pendant with a forget-me-not flower embedded in the design along with a verse she had written. When friends asked for her special necklaces, she knew she had a business on her hands. That was the start of her business, The Comfort Company http://www.thecomfortcompany.net .
Today, her company sells jewelry, ornaments, pet loss gifts, garden benches, and other items that function as sympathy gifts and memorials. Renee’s business is doing well with more than 200 orders a week – and growing.
5. Ipod Service = Ipods are the hottest music accessories today, with the signature white earphones showing up everywhere from subways to streets to offices. In March 2008, about 170 million Ipods have been sold worldwide.
Given the popularity of this product, it is no wonder that service industries revolving around Ipod would crop up. HungryPod.com http://www.hungrypod.com , a business that converts CDs into MP3s that can be uploaded to Ipods is one such example.
Catherine Keane, then 23, started HungryPod.com in September 2004 after hearing an acquaintance pay $500 to convert her CDs and load them up to her Ipod. She initially provided her services in the New York area, later branching out to the Web through her website HungryPod.com.
Her niche business grew primarily through word of mouth, Craigslist ads, and a 2004 New York Times article. In addition to CD conversions, she also offered music consulting services by selecting songs for her clients and buying them in iTunes. Her business soon earned revenues of more than $100,000 a year, employing three people.
In May 2008, Catherine sold her HungryPod business for an undisclosed amount to competitor Moondog Digital. But Catherine has shown that money can be made with the right niche business.
6. Home Improvement Referrals = If you’re a homeowner, one of the most perplexing challenges is where to find reputable home repair or building contractors, from painters to plumbers to architects. New contractors, on the other hand, also find it difficult to find customers for their services.
Debra Cohen launched a profitable home-based niche business with her Home Remedies of NY, Inc. http://www.hrnbiz.com/ , which is a homeowner referral network that matches homeowners with reliable, prescreened home-repair workers. The referral services are offered free to homeowners; while contractors pay a commission to Home Remedies for any work secured. With the success of her referral services, Debra now offers a business opportunity where other entrepreneurs can replicate her service in different areas. To date, there are more than 400 Homeowner Referral Network (HRN) businesses operating in various parts of the United States. 7. Crocs Accessories = Crocs are the very popular resin clogs dotted with holes and comes in every color, from pinks to blues to yellows to blacks. They are ugly shoes, but both adults and children love them. In fact, the company grew from $1 million in revenue in 2003 to a projected $322 million in 2007. Given the tremendous popularity of these shoes, Sheri Schmelzer decided to ride the wave and offer products that would allow users to customize their crocs. One day, she decided to create charms to be used to fill the holes of her family’s crocs shoes, which are plenty. Hence, Jibbitz http://www.jibbitz.com was born. Her business sold about 300 designs of charms for crocs and she was able to sign up more than 4,000 retail outlets. In December 2006, Crocs the company bought Jibbitz for $20 million with Sheri and her husband remaining on board. 8. Dog Eyewear = Eyewear and shades helps protect our eyes from sun damage. So why not create UV-absorbent sunglasses or other eyewear to help protect the eyes of pets from sun damage as well? Dogs in particular are susceptible subjected to wind and airborne debris when they are transported in open-windowed vehicles. Veronica Dilullo and her husband created goggles for dogs – or Doggles http://www.doggles.com – when they noticed that their own dog Midnight would always be squinting and seemed really sensitive to the bright light. The patented Doggles have flexible snug-fitting frames, foam padding for comfort, and shatterproof & anti-fog lenses. Their product has been featured in sites such as CNN, The Today Show, Good Morning America and other publications. 9. Speakers Bureau = Non-professional speakers are always on the lookout to find speaking engagements, typically combing through local organizations and contacting companies themselves. On the flip side, organizations (even big companies) are also struggling to find speakers for their events. It’s a time consuming process for everyone involved. Bryan Caplovitz, a former business technology consultant, saw the need for a marketplace where non-professional speakers could find speaking opportunities, and organizations could find speakers for their events. Hence, he created SpeakerMatch.com http://www.speakermatch.com , an agency that matches emerging public speakers and subject-matter experts with meeting planners. Meeting planners list their events and speaker needs for free, while speakers pay a small monthly fee to post their profile on the site and pursue leads for possible speaking engagements. Today, SpeakerMatch.com has become the go-to site for those looking for speaking engagements. 10. Unconventional Beauty Product = Nancy Jarecki was in a hair salon in Rome when she noticed that some women after having their hair colored would linger at the door, only to leave when given small doggie bags. Asking one of the colorists, she learned that the women were waiting to get a hair coloring kit so their hair "down there" can match their new hair color. To address a silent problem of women (and men, too), Nancy launched her company BettyBeauty http://www.bettybeauty.com offering her main product line called "Betty" whose tagline is "Color for the Hair Down There." Apparently, women everywhere get so frustrated with mismatched hair colors in their bodies. Blondes want to be true blondes and have their hair down there sport the same shade; and so do redheads and other colors! Nancy's success comes from providing a great Nancy's BettyBeauty company is expected to reach more than $1 million in sales this year, and she's coming up with new products -- all for the hair down there.
The Demand for Daycare Centers
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 instruction he receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely affect his ability to learn and properly adjust 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. 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 child- care 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 curriculum, 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 play yards 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. Complementary Businesses You Can Operate 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 shortage 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 want 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 can 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!
