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Consider a Lucrative Career in the Fund Raising Consulting Business
One of the most rewarding careers in the world is that of a fund raising consultant. Each year millions of dollars are raised for charity and other organizations by a fund raising consulting business. Organizations are always looking for the person who can put their company on top. This article will outline some of the key aspects that are critical to your success in the fund raising consulting business.If you are thinking about a career in the fund raising consulting business you will need to be aware of the two major goals of any organization. The main reasons for a company wanting to hire a fund raising consultant would be to raise funds for a certain project or to seek counsel for raising the over all productivity of their fund raising team.You Must Make Proper AssessmentsFund raising consulting always starts with making a proper assessment of the company or organization in which you are going to be consulting for. These responsibilities will include such things as -- Analysis and evaluation of an organization's current fundraising efforts is essential. You will start by analyzing the abilities and readiness of the organization by conducting feasibility test and other factors to ensure ultimate success.Understand Campaign ManagementA spread sheet or data base must be constructed in order to keep proper records of any and all expenditures. You will also track any donor information within this data base. You will often offer assistance in monitoring the campaign calendar, enlistment and cultivation of leadership level volunteers, and planning the campaign phases to ensure proper structure.Develop Executive Coaching SkillsThis is one of the more complex aspects to the fund raising consu

br> Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Your productive capacity: 7 procedures a day x 250 days = 1,750 or 21.875% of the total market. The average selling price for a procedure is $400. Thus, the revenue for the first year in your business plan financial projection would be 1,750 procedures times $400 or $700,000.

Now, let’s say you’re were projecting 2,200 procedures per year. This would mean that you would have to alter your operating plan to be able to perform 2,200 procedures. You would also have to demonstrate how you would capture an additional 200 procedures from your competitors. Granted this is an over simplified example, but it should give you a feel for how this process works.

Regarding price, in most cases you should have a clear idea of how to price your product or service. There are usually other, similar products or services out on the market. Unless your competitive advantage is a cost reduction and/or unless price is a critical basis of competition, just estimate the value of your improvement and add it on to the average price currently offered in the marketplace. In order to make this estimate, you’ll have to be talking to potential users. Find out what they pay now. Find out how

Credibility Comes from the Customer
At a recent tourism industry conference, the participants explored how effective partnerships could help boost travel to their region.A long chain of ‘travel partners’ was involved, including national tourism boards, wholesalers, travel agents, airlines, hotels, taxis and transport companies, restaurants, tourist attractions, shopping malls, medical facilities, media representatives and even banks.The panel discussion was lively. The airline suggested the media should lower advertising rates. The journalist said national tourism boards should provide more up-to-date information. Restaurants asked travel agents to pre-book special meals. Transport companies wanted to tie-in with tourist attractions to ensure all-day bookings.And everyone wanted the media to run only glowing reports and attractive photographs to lure the tourists closer.These industry professionals were so busy pointing to the others in the room, they missed the most important ‘travel partner’ of them all – a truly delighted tourist.After all, which is more likely to influence your choice of a vacation destination? A colorful magazine advertisement? Or a colorful story from your next-door neighbor about his fantastic holiday in the land of his dreams?Which do you find more credible? A commercial with actresses promising ‘smiles in the air’, or a candid comment from your colleague about the incredible service she receives aboard her favorite airline?I wonder why the travel industry doesn’t put more emphasis on cultivating positive word-of-mouth from delighted customers as the most important and effective ‘promotional partners’?For example, premium travelers often receive a basket of fruit and a signed ‘Welcome’ messag

Business plan financial projections seem daunting because they are so uncertain. This very uncertainty, however, is what makes preparing them easy because you can’t possibly be right. You can’t predict the future. None of us can. All you can be is competent in the way you prepare your business plan projections.

Before you finalize your business plan this year, consider these six caveats to preparing your business plan financial projections:

1. Don’t offer pull-out-of-the-air, “conservative” guesstimates about getting some percentage of the overall market demand or year-over-year growth.

It is a mistake to assume that business investors will appreciate your being conservative with your business plan financial projections in the early years of your business. Don’t think for a Wall Street minute that presenting “conservative” business plan financial projections indicates “realism” to prospective business investors. Business investors invest for one reason: to earn a return on their money. How long the money is invested influences the amount of the return earned. Let’s say a business investor wants to triple an investment. Well, if that investment triples in 3 years, the return is 44%. If it triples in five years, the return is 25%. Adding just two years to the investment period nearly halves the return! Now do you see why time is so important to a business investor? Here are a few other examples: let’s say a business investor wants to:

Make 5 times an investment in 3 years = 71% return
Make 5 times an investment in 5 years = 38% return
Make 7 times an investment in 3 years = 91% return
Make 7 times an investment in 5 years = 48% return
Make 10 times an investment in 3 years = 115% return
Make 10 times an investment in 5 years = 59% return

So, while you may find it attractive to figure out how to make “just a living” until the business venture proves itself, you now understand why business investors want sales and earnings to grow absolutely as fast as possible, without being deceived, in your business plan financial projections. On the whole, business investors are risk averse only to the extent that they don’t want to lose their money or tie it up in a low return investment. Typically when you make the claim that your business plan financial projections are “conservative”, it usually just means that you have no idea how and why you’ll achieve a certain level of sales within a certain time frame. Interesting, these kinds of estimates, provided that you’ve done some good thinking about market segments and overall demand, often turn out to be too low. Remember, it’s just as bad to underestimate your sales, as it is to overestimate them.

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

Sure it’s easier to do things this way, especially with Excel and other business plan financial projection software. Costs are real, however. You need to know what they are very specifically. If you’ve done your homework in developing your business plan, then you should already have this information, or at least the basis of it. Just estimate and calculate your costs on a product-by-product basis.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Think about what percentage of the overall market share your competitors already own. Assume that they will continue their present trends in growth. (Note: some competitors may already be trending down and losing market share.) Temper your market share estimates with some discussion of how your entry into the market will affect these trends. Then, estimate the percent of total, potential demand that remains available to you.

Now, based on the limitations of your operations plans, calculate how much of this remaining available demand you can achieve. This is a very simple calculation. Start with your overall productive unit capacity and factor it by the expected yield of sellable product, then multiply these unit sales by their respective selling prices and voila, you have the revenue numbers for your business plan financial projections.

Let’s take an example.

Your research indicates that 2 out of every 10 females age 23 to 55 will under go some type of non-invasive cosmetic treatment in your area. Your research also shows that this number is expected to grow 20% each year over the next 5 years. There are 40,000 females in your target market. You identified four competitors in your target market. These four competitors currently handle on average 6 procedures a day. You plan to start a non-invasive cosmetic treatment center that uses the most advanced technology and is thus capable of performing an average of 7 procedures a day. Using this data you calculate the following statistics about your market and market potential:

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Marketing With Plastic Business Cards
Business cards have been used both as a common form of advertising and as a means of exchanging contact information between business people and the public. More recently, with the introduction and increased popularity of plastic business cards, businesses have discovered a newer, durable and longer lasting way to make a memorable impression.There has been a significant increase in the use of plastic business cards. The once-common business card has now evolved into a visually striking and powerful marketing medium.Plastic business cards also provide a permanence and durability that effectively brand a company’s identity and message in new and exciting ways. The use of color, combined with a variety of clear and tinted formats, allows for a very creative approach to many different types of messaging, branding and image building.A business card that looks and feels like a credit card is perceived as having a high value, increasing the chances that the card will be kept by the customer. It is also more unlikely that the card will be discarded.Value-based offers via plastic cards are especially powerful with this type of marketing. If you receive a professionally designed plastic card by hand or by mail, and the card includes a discount of offer, chances are you will keep it for future use. That is the real power of plastic value cards.Meanwhile, the applications and practicality of plastic cards extends far beyond the simple business card. Plastic cards have changed significantly over the years. Now, it is difficult to even think about modern life without the availability and convenience of plastic cards.Today, consumers pay for at least half of their purchases with plastic cards. Most large retail

s 25%. Adding just two years to the investment period nearly halves the return! Now do you see why time is so important to a business investor? Here are a few other examples: let’s say a business investor wants to:

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

Continuous Improvement - PDCA - The ACT Phase
We have now reached the fourth phase of the PDCA cycle. This article completes the loop (as well as setting the foundation for beginning at Phase 1 again - Continuous Improvement.As mentioned in the previous articles of the set, some benefits may be derived from reading this article in isolation. However, if you get the chance, please read and use the complete set. The article ids follow...Make Continuous Improvement One Of Your Goals - As Soon As You Possibly Can (ID: 74077) Continuous Improvement - PDCA - The PLAN Phase (ID: 76694) Continuous Improvement - PDCA - The DO Phase (ID: 78506) Continuous Improvement - PDCA - The CHECK Phase (ID: 81089) O.K.We have Planned in Phase 1 We have Done in Phase 2 We have Checked in Phase 3Let's Act in Phase 4...Congratulations! are in order. The process has been followed and the desired improvement or project implementation has been successful, even if only in part - YES, you've got it - that's the whole point of continuous improvement.Remember the famous question, how do you eat an elephant?ONE BITE AT A TIME!So, what do we do with this improvement? We certainly don't want to lose it or return to whatever root cause(s) existed before.There are a few but fundamental actions - in summary...Standardize the effective changes Stay in complete control by documenting your improvements Make the improvement the new norm BUT continually monitor the effect using the same measurement techniques Communicate, Communicate, Communicate"Do not be afraid to make decisi

imates, provided that you’ve done some good thinking about market segments and overall demand, often turn out to be too low. Remember, it’s just as bad to underestimate your sales, as it is to overestimate them.

2. Avoid calculating costs as a straight percentage of revenues.

With these warnings in mind, use the following steps to develop your business plan financial projections:

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

5 Ways to Make a Cracking Career Move
Something that comes up time and time again when people come to me for help is ‘What’s my next career move?’ There are so many choices out there (which is part of the problem) and it can be tougher than a bag of hammers to figure out what to do and where to go next. That’s why I want to share with you 5 strategies for figuring out your next career move and for making darn sure it’ll be a cracking move for you.Look at Your Wiring Your brain has billions and billions of neurons connected to each other by even more synapses. I’m not going to count them. These synapses are the pathways of the brain and they enable information to flow freely and allow you to think and do. Some of the synapses will be like motorways, throwing huge amounts of information around really quickly, while others will be like a little country lane blocked by a tractor – not very effective.The stronger pathways will be the things you’re best at and it’s by capitalising on how your brain’s wired that you’ll get your best results. In the real world that means that the things that come naturally to you (your talents), the things you’re best at (your strengths) and the things that mean the most to you (your values) are hardwired into you, and those are the things that you excel at.Talent A talent is something that comes naturally to you and can be any recurring pattern of feeling, thought or behaviour that you can apply to get a positive result. It tends to be something you do without even thinking about, something that seems to come spontaneously from the top of your head, something that’s always exerted a ‘pull’ for you or something that might feel like a whole bank of switches have been flicked to the ‘

d on the limitations of your operations plans, calculate how much of this remaining available demand you can achieve. This is a very simple calculation. Start with your overall productive unit capacity and factor it by the expected yield of sellable product, then multiply these unit sales by their respective selling prices and voila, you have the revenue numbers for your business plan financial projections.

Let’s take an example.

Total market 40,000 females x 20% = 8,000 procedures per year
4 competitors x 6 procedures x 250 days = 6,000 procedures per year
Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

How To Generate Unique Business Ideas That Make Money?
Every money making opportunity that you see boils down to one common thing: idea. As you know the best ideas pay. The most creative ideas pay.The best thing about ideas is it's free and everybody has the capability to think of ideas.In order to be creative and innovative about ideas, you have to have knowledge. Knowledge is important. You need to know thousands of things to be creative.Below are steps that you can take to come up with profitable innovative ideas:1) Read and study as many things as possible about your industry or product. You need to investigate specific information of what you are going to sell. For example, if you want to be involved in real estate, you study everything about the subject matter in details. If you want to start a business, you have to know what's going on in your industry, what sells and at what price, etc.2) Improve general knowledge. Don't limit yourself to only learn about things in your own industry. Learn as many topics as possible from other industries. It can be any topic. This enables you to think out of your own industry.3) Mix and match ideas from cross industry. Once you investigate and research enough, your mind is the storehouse of all the ideas you have studied. And this is the main source to your creative ideas. All the knowledge you have learned so far is the raw materials to produce new ideas.4) Thinking of raw idea. After you have done your study, think hard about the solutions you want to your problem. Then stop and relax. Get a cup of coffee or go for a movie. Do something relaxing and let your subconscious mind work for you. The idea or solution will come to you at a much unexpected moment. For me, ideas always come to me before I s

br> Available procedures: 8,000 less 6,000 = 2,000 per year

3. Never determine price on the basis of a margin you think is attractive.

The market will pay you only for the value you deliver, which is determined by the consumer paying the final price. It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that a 20%, 40% or even a 60% margin is great. Never considering that if the product or service you’re offering provides a real advantage. If you do this, you may be grossly underestimating the price you can get in the marketplace and underestimating your business plan financial projections. Consumers don’t think in terms of margins. They could care less about what you ought, “reasonably”, to get for your product. That’s why you must find out the most that they’ll pay. This is the value of your product or service. Come up with some reasonable basis for determining this real value. Keep in mind the obvious: If the consumer’s value on the final product or service is less than your cost plus a reasonable profit to keep your business growing, you’re in trouble. Your business model will not be sustainable and your business plan financial projections useless.

Now calculate the costs of manufacturing and distributing your product. These costs flow directly from your revenues estimates and operations plan. How much will it cost to purchase what equipment and materials, hire what personnel, engage in what selling efforts, pay what accountants and lawyers, rent what kind of space and so forth, to achieve the revenues you're showing in your business plan financial projections. You must be very specific. Project your costs over time. Keep them tied to the units you need to sell to achieve the revenues in your business plan financial projections.

Obviously, costs and revenues work hand in hand.

4. Keep your fixed cost low.

Keep in mind that none of these revenues and the cost estimates are going to be perfectly accurate, which means the amount of profit or cash available to pay “fixed” cost isn’t going to be accurate either. As a result, you can lose your shirt trying to pay for equipment, a receptionist, or other activities that don’t contribute to the sole objective of making sales. Wherever possible, rent space, rent time on equipment, answer your own phones, etc. To the extent that you keep costs variable in your business plan financial projections, you can cut back when sales are slower than expected. It’s the worst situation to have a big, well-furnished office with an expensive secretary who needs the job, when the money isn’t coming in. High fixed costs in your business plan financial projections also send the wrong message to investors that you know more about the “form” of doing business than about actually making money.

Now pull all your numbers together to prepare the financial statements that summarize your business plan financial projections. You need three basic statements: cash flow analysis, income statements, and balance sheets. All of these come directly from the above calculations. Your cash flow analysis indicates when and what amounts of capital infusion you’ll need to start and sustain your business plan. Make your income and balance sheet projections on the assumption that you’ll get the capital. For the first year or two of your business plan financial projections, present each of these statements on at least a quarterly basis. Monthly is best. I suggest doing a 24- or 36-month projection depending on your growth plans and changes in the industry that you foresee. Follow these monthly or quarterly projections with annual projections till you cover a span of 5 years.

Finally, run through some “what-if” scenarios or sensitivity analysis. Though you business plan financial projections should be based on your best, and best-supported estimates of costs and revenues, you know you can’t be 100% right. That’s why it’s important to identify those elements or assumptions of your business plan financial projections that you feel are most uncertain. Write out the nature of the uncertainty and the range you think the estimates will fluctuate up or down. Then change the estimates accordingly and re-run all your statements. Pay close attention to how your business plan financial projections, especially cash flows, change when you change each assumption. This will help you determine how much “cushion” you have available and, if business isn’t going according to plan, at what point cash will become an issue.

5. Do not simply assume that costs and revenues may be “off”, up or down, by some percentage.

Again, I know that Excel makes it easy to do this. For all the same reasoning as above, stay focused on the assumptions and details that make up your business plan financial projections. It’s the details you need to examine for their sensitivity and their impact on the bottom line. You only need to alter those specific

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Postcards have become a highly-effective modern-day marketing tool. Follow these 6 proven postcard marketing tactics and you will generate a flood of traffic to your website, a steady flow of sales leads or any other sales activity you want.

What can a sewer treatment plant do to bolster its standing in the community when so many people say that place stinks? The common industry comment is of course; Well that may smell like Sheet to you, but that is our bread and butter? Indeed, very funny and yet, that does not alleviate the smell and it is only funny to hear once.

As late as the 1870s surgeons could be seen performing open operations on their patients while dressed in Brooks Brothers suits with full Bemberg lining, corozo buttons, and double besom flap pockets. They would wear a white pinpoint cotton dress shirt with French cuffs, forward point collar, and the tie would be optional. Today’s doctors don a pair of Wal-Mart scrubs in the color of the season and a pair of Nike Air tennis shoes to perform a three-hour operation.

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