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Home Party Plan Basics
Home party plans rake in millions of dollars each year and vary in products from candles, pocketbooks, toys, jewelry, make-up, and more.
Why not your hobby too? With enthusiasm, a solid plan, and a good product anyone can start a direct sales business, otherwise known as
home party plans.
Choose Your Product Line When choosing your product line, pick a product you enjoy, after all, you'll be making a long-term commitment to your business. Loving what you do and what you sell will also shine through to your customers and enthusiasm is contagious. You can choose one product and develop a line using a variety of colors and styles, or you can choose to develop a line of products. You can make your products yourself, hire help, or buy wholesale. Whatever you choose, you’ll want products that can be made or purchased over the long-haul. You want to build a rapport with your customers and one way to do that is to offer a product line that keeps them coming back. Return on your customer's investment should be immediate or near immediate. In other words, product arrive should be no more than three weeks from time of purchase. Choose A Business Name Choose a name for your business that is easy to remember. Choose a name that can grow with your business. Keeping the same name is important because it builds name brand recognition which makes word-of-mouth advertising easy. Obtain A Business License Decide whether or not, you will be a sole proprietor, a corporation, or a limited liability partnership. A sole proprietor is the easiest format, but doesn't offer the best protection. And since sole proprietors don’t need to apply for a Federal Tax Identification number, just a state sales tax license, they're often asked to give up their social security number which can increase the possibility of identity theft. Corporations and limited liability partnerships require more paperwork to get started, but offer far better protection for your business, and your family—which is very important since you'll be using a lot of contractors to keep your business running. Make A Schedule When working for yourself, it's easy to let little distractions keep you from accomplishing your goals. Making a schedule helps you stay on track and get everything done on your to-do-list. On your schedule, list the days you will:
Determine Your Profit Margin
An operating manual not only helps you develop a functional plan for your business, but it helps newcomers help you run an efficient and profitable business. When writing your operating manual, keep these tips in mind:
After you have an idea of how your business will run and what you will sell it's important to obtain the materials you need to get started. Start by making a list of all the things you’ll need to run your business: office supplies, products, catalogs, colored paper, brochures, flyers, order forms, packaging materials, bank accounts, etc. Book Your First Party When you first start out, you won't have any consultants, so you'll be doing the first few home party plans yourself. Since you'll be the owner and the consultant, you'll need to find a hostess. The first place to look for a hostess is to contact everyone in your address book. Inform them about your new business, but more importantly, tell them what's in it for them. Tell them about your hostess plan and stress the free stuff they can earn simply by allowing their friends and family to shop in their homes. Book as many parties as you can. You can never have too many parties booked. Cancellations and rescheduling are a big part of any business. Advertise Your Business Don't just rely on people you know. Advertising is the key to a successful business, so start talking about your new business to everyone you meet. Hand out brochures and flyers every chance you get. And when you get a “no thank you”, consider it one step closer to that yes. And don't forget to advertise in your local parenting publications, newspapers, and magazines. Seek Professional Help Once your business begins to show a real profit, when you make changes in your business strategies, or when you begin to hire outside help, including hostesses, secretaries, or warehouse workers, seek professional help. By hiring outside help, from those who have the knowledge you don't, you guarantee less headaches in the future. About The Author Susan Squier is the author of Hobby to Lucrative Home Party Plan and a contributing author for Hobby Farms Home Magazine. E-mail Susan at suesquier@yahoo.com for more information on her 200 page manual on how to turn your hobby into a lucrative home party plan. Reprint Rights This article may NOT be reprinted without monetary compensation and written permission from the author. For reprint rights or comments/questions about this article, please contact the author. |
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