Are you in the right job for you? Do you enjoy going to work? What about on the Friday, are you still as keen? Or do you tend to check your watch every minute after lunch time hanging for the day to finish.Maybe a day to day job is not right for you.I understand that with pressures of family and other commitments, that is isn’t that easy just to pack up and leave a job. I wouldn’t recommend quitting your job and starting a home based business anyway, because depending on the business, it could take some time for you to actually make an income from it. Regular income is a big plus, but why settle for something that you are not 100% happy with? What is stopping you from looking at what else is out there?So with a home based business, what are the benefits?1. The best thing about a home based business is that it can be flexible. You can do it in your own time. (In your pyjamas if you really want).2. With the internet at hand, you can potentially do everything from home! From price comparisons, to ordering, to delivering items, to calling, e-mailing, even to Skype (a free telephone service available all over the world).3. One huge advantage is, that you could even work on it when you’re not home. Work overseas, or even when you are on holidays.4. Most home based businesses create a passive income, so the income you can make is unlimited. No more ‘waiting for that big promotion’. You create your own success. If you are focused on achieving your goal in the business, you can make it happen.5. Once your business is up and running, and making you the money you require, you can then chose to quit your day job, and concentrate solely on your home based business. If you are a stay at home parent, or don’t have a job yourself, but can cover costs with some other source of income for a while, you can also build quite a substantial business if you put your mind to it.So, if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone; the regular pay cheque that comes with a day to day job, and are open to the idea that you can be so much more than you are now, then maybe you should take the step to start your own home based business.

Advertising in today’s economy is just as important as it has ever been before. The reason is simple; people are watching where they are spending their money. In addition, the methods of how to advertise have changed over the past decade. Large companies are now pushing more for advertising online and people are increasing their shopping and browsing online. We now have three main methods to advertise. We have online advertisement, television advertisement and brick and mortar advertisement. These can all be effective but some cost significantly more than others and may not yield the desired results for the money invested. So, what is the best way to advertise, you need to review what methods you think will work for your business

Television advertisement is the most expensive and can yield the quickest benefit depending on which slot you pick to advertise on. In other words, you will most likely benefit more to advertise during the 5:30-9:00 time slot if you happen to be a car dealership. The reason being is several people work during the day and you want people that are working to see your advertisement. Therefore, you will end up paying more for this type of advertisement. So make sure you reap the most benefit you need to look at your business and decide if when would be best for you spend money on this type of advertisement. You also should keep in mind if you should use this type of advertisement during one particular time of the year.

Brick and mortar advertisement is something similar to a shotgun blast and can be very effective for a decent price. However, you lack the ability to enforce branding as much with this type of advertising that you often can accomplish with advertising on the TV. The brick and mortar method consists of using advertisements in the local paper, billboards and even on the radio. These can be effective if people running your campaign can provide statistics on the genre of the group that responds to ads from each source. As an example if you selling products that cost thousands of dollars you would not want your advertisement playing on a radio station that predominately targets a younger audience that may not be able to afford your product or services.

Online advertising can be the cheapest but also the most difficult to achieve because you have to rely on people to go to your website or find your advertisements. Large companies are getting better at online advertisements by using search engines to advertise for them while including website address with their TV commercials. Larger companies are training people to regularly visit their website by offering specials online.

I discussed three different methods to use advertise. You can advertise on TV, brick and mortar advertising which includes radio, billboards and newspaper advertisements or you can advertise online. The way to select any of these groups is to know the age, gender and potential income of your audience in addition to seasonal adjustments in their buying patterns.

Fundraising Auction Tip: You should always provide potential bidders with a printed Auction Listing of both your Live and Silent Auction items at any Fundraising Auction. A printed Auction Listing is vital for several reasons:

An Auction Listing informs bidders of the order of sale, and what is coming up next. If you keep your bidders guessing, they will simply not bid.

If bidders are not 100% certain of what they are bidding on, they will not bid. A printed Auction Listing should answer any and all questions about what is being sold in order to encourage bidders to bid as much as possible.

Bidders often need time to plan their bidding strategies, especially on multiple and/or larger value items. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Couples often need time to consult with each other about what they are willing to spend on something. A printed Auction Listing helps them to do that.

Potential bidders need to know the specifics, the benefits, and the restrictions on any item they are going to bid on, especially on travel and/or other higher value items. A printed Auction Listing should answer all of their questions, in writing.

After bidders see that they have lost an item to another bidder, a printed Auction Listing makes it easier for them to re-strategize on what else they can bid on.
Printed Auction Listings generally come in 3 forms:

Printed in the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-inserted into the Event Program or Auction Catalog.

Printed on loose sheets of paper and hand-delivered to all attendees, or left on each dinner table in the room.
Auction Listings cost practically nothing to produce and they can make the difference between the success and failure of a Live and Silent Auction. You should never conduct a Fundraising Auction without one.

A Case Study

Let me share a real-life experience with you. Once I was hired to conduct a Fundraising Auction for a nationally renowned organization. The event was held in a major hotel, in one of the country’s largest cities, with several hundred “black tie” participants attending. It was an extremely professional event, with the music, singing, lighting, speeches, and awards all perfectly timed and choreographed. Everything was done to perfection… exception the Fundraising Auction.

Although I had signed an agreement to serve as their Auctioneer nearly one year in advance of the event, no one bothered to contact me for any advice or help. Approximately one week prior to the Auction date, I contacted the group to see if they had replaced me with another Auctioneer. But they said that I was still their man.

Upon arriving at the event I asked for a copy of the Auction Listing. I was told that there were none. I’m not sure whether they felt that the Auction Listing wasn’t necessary, or whether someone forgot to have them printed. This was never made clear. When I asked what I was to use at the podium, I was told to copy the list of Live Auction items from a committee member’s computer. It took me about 30 minutes to copy three pages of hand-written notes in order to prepare for my role as their Auctioneer.

I knew that they had created a PowerPoint program showing the various Live Auction items. When I asked whether the PowerPoint slide order corresponded to the order of sale I had copied from the committee member’s computer, I was met with a blank stare. The committee member left to check the slide order, and returned to let me know that the slide order did not correspond my notes, and he provided me with the correct slide order… hand-written on a paper napkin. This forced me to re-arrange my three pages of hand-written notes before taking the podium.

There was a Live Auction Table with descriptions of the Live Auction items that were to be sold, but the table was not clearly marked, and it received significantly less attention than the Silent Auction Tables, which were clearly identified. Since the Live Auction Table was located adjacent to the “Raffle Table”, it appeared that most people thought it was part of the raffle and therefore paid very little attention to it.

According to the event program (which did not include an Auction Listing), I knew approximately when I was to begin the Live Auction. At the designated time the Master of Ceremonies announced the start of the Live Auction to the several hundred people in attendance, and introduced me as Auctioneer. As I approached the podium I realized that photographs of award winners were still being taken… directly in front of the podium where I was to stand… which required me to stand aside for several minutes until the photographers were done. Can we say “awkward moment”?

As the photographers cleared, I approached the podium and began my Live Auction introduction. Approximately one minute into my introduction, the “Raffle Committee” approached the podium and stopped my Live Auction Introduction in order to pull the 8 or 9 Raffle Winners. These drawings lasted about 5 minutes. Upon it’s conclusion I was allowed to resume the start of the Live Auction.

When standing at the podium two intense and extremely bright spotlights were pointed directly at the podium. The lights were so bright that I literally could not see the center 1/3 of the room. I could see the tables on the right, and on the left, but was totally blinded when looking straight ahead. It took perhaps five minutes before the spotlights were turned off.

While at the podium and describing Lot #1, I had to ask someone to start the Lot #1 PowerPoint Slide… because apparently no one was assigned that job.

So with only the Auctioneer’s verbal description, and a PowerPoint slide, it appeared that few people in the room had any idea about what we were selling… or when we were selling it… until it was announced by the Auctioneer. As a result, bidding was extremely light and the final results fell several thousands of dollars short of where they should have been
The learning experience is this:

The Live Auction is where you place your better items, and where the real money should be made at any Fundraising Auction. Let bidders know as far in advance as possible what you will be selling, and the order of sale, so they can get excited about the Auction, and plan their bidding strategy accordingly.

Auction Listings are absolutely vital to the success of both Live & Silent Auctions. In my opinion, revenues at this Auction fell thousands of dollars short of where they should have been, because no Auction Listing was provided to the guests.

If bidders are not perfectly clear on what is being sold, including both the item’s specifics, benefits, and restrictions, they will not bid.

When you have a committee of volunteers, especially volunteers having full time jobs and/or very busy schedules, the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can help to keep the committee on track.

And once you retain the services of a professional Fundraising Auctioneer… use the services that you are paying for.