Category: Planning & Management

Contributed by SBA

Each year you will discover hundreds of fund raising events happening everywhere. They vary from very large fund raising events for major companies to fund raising events for small groups or businesses. If someone is planning the perfect small business fund raising event, he or she will be trying to figure out what to do to make it successful. Some tips or steps can help an individual prepare and plan for the perfect event, while avoiding any potential problems.

Tips to Plan the Perfect Small Business Fund Raising Event

• Before starting to plan the event, an individual will need to check with the local ordinances of the area to make sure what licenses or permits may be needed. Some laws may restrict certain events for that area, and it is better to know before the event is planned what is permitted for the area and what is not.
• To have a successful fund raising event, the entire community and businesses will need to get involved. By involving the local business owners, an individual can sometimes obtain discounts on advertising for the event.

Businesses in other towns may also benefit from helping with a fund raising event, and they may be willing to help support the event through advertising at their establishment or by offering monetary support. A fund raising event will be more successful if it has better exposure, and this can be accomplished by going into other nearby towns for support. The event needs great exposure from the local areas as well as other areas.

A small business takes funding to be successful and at SBA.com, an individual can find the funding necessary to get started. Then, they can plan additional fund raising events to keep the business going for years. The fund raising event can be rewarding for the organization as well as for the ones involved in the process.

Sometimes planning an event can seem like an overwhelming task, but if someone wants it to happen, it can. A fund raising event is beneficial for everyone involved since individuals get involved in helping others. There are many fund raising ideas available and with the right steps, the event is simple to prepare and plan.

Steps to Prepare or Plan for A Fund Raising Event

1. Choose the reason for the event. A fund raising event needs to have a purpose to obtain interest and involvement from other people. An event without a purpose will not gain as much attention.
2. Set a time for the event, and then aim to stay on track to meet that time schedule.
3. A location for the event will need to be chosen. The venue will need to be chosen according to the number of people expected to participate and the types of activities planned. Any other important factors that might relate to the event will also need to be taken into consideration when choosing the location.
4. Choose a team to help organize the fund raising event. One person cannot do everything that is involved in planning and creating the perfect small business fund raising event. A few extra volunteers will always be welcomed.
5. Promoting and advertising the event is the key to success of any venture. If other people do not know about an event, they cannot support it or attend the event. An individual can make flyers to distribute to the community, make announcements at gatherings, announce the event on radio and television stations if possible, advertise in newspapers and visit local businesses to inform them of the upcoming event. The more people informed means the greater success for the event and a bigger profit.
6. Prepare for the day by gathering volunteers and making sure that each one knows what needs to be done. If the event day arrives and there is not enough help, the event will not be perfect. Assign duties to volunteers in advance to avoid any confusion later at the event.

Planning, preparing and promoting is the three keys to the perfect small business fund raising event. The event will be easy to do when these tips and steps are followed. Careful planning followed by preparation with a great team of individuals will lead to a perfect event.

For more resources on funding a small business start-up, visit http://www.sba.com/funding-a-business.

From: BestMastersDegrees.com

Some simple mental tricks can improve your efficiency and the quality of your work while reducing job stress – without keeping you in the office all night.

At Best Masters Degrees we decided to bring together some the best job hacks all in one place for easy reference. Here are the 10 best that we came up with:

Tip 1: Keep a progress bar for a key project and fill in the sections as you complete a task. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and progress and help you visualize the project broken down into more manageable tasks.

Tip 2: If you don’t need to respond to an email or speak up in a meeting this very second, wait five minutes. This period can help you form a response, and the added time may make you rethink your position entirely.

Tip 3: Prime the pump. Keep your mind sharp by reading things that challenge your assumptions or beliefs. Read something new and challenging every day.

Tip 4: If you’ve got a particularly challenging issue or project you always seem to put off, devote 30 to 60 minutes a day to that problem and that problem only. If you find yourself with an excuse not to do it, simply repeat, “Do it now.”

Tip 5: Work in 20-minute chunks, followed by a few minutes of physical activity such as walking to the water cooler or going to the restroom and taking a longer route back to your desk. Even throw in a few pushups or jumping jacks if your are brave. Studies have shown that humans work best in 10-20 minute concentrated chunks and the physical activity will keep you from hitting that brick wall.

Tip 6: Got a job with a million little tasks? Break them into chunks; set a timer and get as many of the tasks done as you can within that time.

Tip 7: Sometimes you just need to punt and try it again tomorrow. Don’t feel hopeless and beat yourself up if you feel like you’re dragging your feet in mud. Remember that with a good night’s sleep you’ll have renewed energy the next day.

Tip 8: Keep a file of positive feedback and revisit it when you are feeling particularly stumped or less than appreciated.

Tip 9: Don’t let roadblocks put you in a funk. Pick some smaller tasks you know you can truly complete. Use that momentum to create a snowball effect.

Tip 10: Don’t allow your instant communication methods dictate what you get done in a day. Set certain periods of time throughout the day (say, three 30-minute periods) to tackle your email, cell phone and instant messaging). Turn them off the rest of the day so that you can focus and work more efficiently.

You’ve had numerous conversations about your ROI—the Return on Investment—your company achieves.

But what about your RROI—the Redefined Reality on Investment—you achieve?

Think of your RROI as what’s different—new and improved—about your business and lifestyle since you started your company. If you previously worked for someone else, what’s better now that you own a business?

A desire to Redefine our Reality is the #1 reason most of us buy or create our own company. But is your investment of time, energy, and money redefining your reality in the ways you imagined?

Give your attention to three key areas within your business to truly Redefine your Reality through your Investment:

Unique Contribution

What primary activities do you invest your most valuable resources—time, energy, and attention—in daily?

Are they activities that are uniquely yours, i.e., tasks that you do best, that maximize your profits of money and lifestyle? Or, are they lower-producing duties that someone else could do, either outsourced or by an employee?

We all start out doing everything, which is part of the entrepreneurial blessing and curse—blessing because at first, we feel the need to do it all; curse because we’re just good enough to think we have to do it all the time.

You define your USP—Unique Selling Proposition—that distinguishes you from the competition. Have you defined your UCP—Unique Contribution Personal—that you make to your business that is yours and yours alone to do?

To grow your RROI and receive the lifestyle you want, define your UCP and be vigilant in outsourcing or employing everything else.

Core Values

How do you achieve your unique contribution daily at work

For many of us, we start with high ideals, expressing our desire to do business differently; core values like integrity, honesty, commitment to exceptional customer care, etc. But after we do business a while, we get worn down, particularly if we are still doing it all. Less beneficial core values sneak into our practices.

These unpreferred core values come in via the cracks of our business kind of like the “stink bugs” that somehow keep finding their way into our home this spring. Despite our best efforts to seal and spray, these odiferous critters show up in the strangest places.

What stinky core values creep into the way you do business? The intense pressure this negative world brings to bear on us today as business owners provides opportunities to either shine or stink.

To grow your RROI and receive the lifestyle you want, define your core values and guard your business practices as a valuable asset.

Focused Priorities

When the phone rings, the email bings, the Facebook messages sing, the Twitter feed dings, and the text messages ping, you understand this is an ADD world. Getting your UCP done while driven by your core values sounds good, but is like trying to do physics while caring for a toddler…

…which makes it all the more important for you to focus laser-like on your priorities. All of that technology has a place, second place, to your focused priorities.

Remember: you pay the bills for all of this technology. Find the “on/off” button. Use it.

Focus your priorities on your UCP, driven by your core values, and be amazed as your RROI—Redefined Reality on Investment—emerges in front of your very eyes.

The business owner lifestyle you imagined becomes yours as you Work Positive.

About the Author:

Dr. Joey Faucette is the #1 Amazon best-selling author of Work Positive in a Negative World (Entrepreneur Press), coach, and speaker who help professionals discover success in the silver lining of their business and achieve their dreams. Discover more at www.ListentoLife.org/speaking.

Does this sound harsh or… Do you admit it? Can you see it? Do you feel that pull towards the very thing you know you shouldn’t…

Is it chocolate? Or technology? The mobile phone? Or all of them?

You think I’ll just have a quick look… I’ll just check my email… I’ll just see who’s on facebook… I’ll just eat one piece or slice…

And here’s the thing, it’s a fine line. There is no harm in the ‘just quickly’ whatever. The harm is in doing it all the time.

Suddenly hours have gone by, the chocolate bar has disappeared and you are feeling bloated and guilty with that added feeling of, ‘I don’t know where it went (time or food!)’ and the panic of,’ I have no time to finish what I need to.’

I call it the black hole and it can apply to lots of areas of life.  Here’s an example, it’s called “The Social Media Black Hole.”

I decide to send a few tweets, line up some facebook posts and tag a few colleagues and then check my linked in account for updates. I glance at my phone to see that it’s 9am and open up all three pages simultaneously, telling myself it’s quicker that way.

The next thing I realize that it’s 11.43am and I haven’t even uploaded the facebook link I was looking for. What was I thinking?  Where did the time go?  What about my deadlines?

Does this sound familiar?

Well, at first I thought that my phone wasn’t working, the clock was clearly wrong. Then I decided that it was pure avoidance; I must be resisting something so I allow myself to get distracted. But soon I realized the truth. Some things are simply addictive. Once you start it’s REALLY hard to stop.

But here’s the good news.

It’s not everything, it’s not uncontrollable, and you can DO SOMETHING!

So, it’s not everything – NO, you have your pet addictions, the specific things that pull you in. Is it a food type?  Or a type of technology?  Do you check Facebook all the time or is it your email?

I don’t like television much, so I’m never attracted by watching just one show.  It just doesn’t do it for me.  But you know what yours is.

So just face it, say it and understand it.

You can control this.  You have to create strategies and practices that allow you access, but limit the time and energy you spend there. I don’t believe in diets, I can’t deny myself chocolate or anything forever, but I can set limits and you can too!

So, set yourself a kind limit. Allow yourself a Facebook feed a few times a day…just not several times an hour. Check your email at the start of the day and the end. Or better still, use your favorite addictive activities when you have an external limit; so check Facebook 5 minutes before you have to leave to pick up the kids. Or check your email in between client meetings.

Most importantly, keep on top of your time and energy. Don’t waste it, it’s precious.

Don’t feed your mind and body with limitless junk, they are what keep you healthy, focused, creative and on track in everything that’s really important in your life and work.

So don’t be harsh or extreme. Be kind. And see how you will treasure your time and energy and you will thank yourself for it.

An internship program can be a tremendous asset to your company. Not only does it become a source of relatively inexpensive labor, it can also become a hiring pool. Yet, if your interns don’t’ find your program valuable, they’re going to bolt. You’ll wind up with a program that’s lackluster, at best, with high turnover, low productivity or both.
That said, you’re not IBM. You can’t provide extensive benefits to your interns. However, there are a few things you can do to make your interns happy with the program and more productive while they’re in it:

1.  Give him something to do.

One of the biggest challenges facing companies with interns is finding something for them to do. Interns aren’t yet skilled in their field; after all, that’s why they’re interning. They want to be, though.

Not only do they want to learn how your business runs, they also bring to the table skills of their own. Find meaningful work for your interns to do, and you might just be surprised how well they do it.

Along these lines, try to pick meaningful tasks for your interns. Give them something to do that makes a difference. Let them contribute to the whole business. Even if it’s a small task, let them do real work. They aren’t there to do mundane data entry; they want to be able to have hands-on, real-world experience in your industry.

Give your interns progressively larger and more important assignments as you go. When they complete something well, move onto something bigger and better.

2.  Provide her with constant feedback.

Understand from the beginning that feedback for an intern can be different from feedback for an employee. An intern is there to learn. As such, you need to be able to provide all feedback in a positive manner. Point out what the intern does well, of course, but also be positive about things that didn’t go well.

For example, if you need to make corrections to an intern’s work, follow up with a discussion about it. Explain to her why you made the changes that you did. Talk to the intern and make sure she understands what those changes do to the overall process and the overall product or service. Make her feel like an integral part of the creative process.
Feedback for an intern shouldn’t be a weekly or monthly meeting focus, either. It should be something that happens on a daily, moment-by-moment basis.

3.  Help the intern identify his strengths.

Don’t ask an intern what his strengths are. He may not know, especially when it comes to how those strengths relate to your industry. The question creates all sorts of unnecessary pressure, and there’s even a good chance they might answer wrong.
Instead, find out what the intern likes. You’ll get a more honest assessment. Put interns on assignments that interest them, and you’ll find them in a much happier state. Along the way, chances are pretty good you’ll help them identify what exactly it is that they really are good at.

4.  Make the experience usable after she’s gone.

You want your intern to take what they did at your company and be able to proudly display it on a resume. By allowing your interns to do real work (see #1) you are giving her real experience. That experience will help her when they move into a job of their own.
Teach your interns how to describe the work that they did at your company so that they can use it during the job interview process.

5.  Value your interns.

If you truly value your interns, they’ll know it. If you demonstrate to them that you appreciate the work they do, that you are happy with the work they do, and that you’re glad they’re a part of the team, they’ll be much happier. Your interns will believe you truly care about them, and that you’re not just out to get free labor for a summer or a semester.
Accordingly, treat your interns to an occasional lunch. Consider inviting them to certain office events, such as your annual holiday party. Introduce your interns to a visiting client, and let the client know how happy you are to have the interns with you.
Give your interns some positive experiences, and they’ll be much more productive. Not only will they learn more in the process, your internship program will have a decent reputation and you’ll draw only the best applicants, year after year.

About the Author:

Greg Muender is President of of Ticket Kick, a California company that helps drivers get red light tickets, speeding tickets,  and other traffic tickets dismissed by helping drivers through the “trial by written declaration” process. The company, which formally launched in 2010 has been providing similar services since 2006 and is the leading company in this location and growing rapidly.