Making Your Event "GREEN"

Going “green” is the new trend almost everywhere, even in the world of event planning.  It’s becoming so popular that it’s starting to be called a lifestyle instead of a trend because it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. 

If you’re wondering how you can help the environment while making your event as environmental friendly as possible, here are a few things you can incorporate into your event:

·       Include organic food in your menu

·       Make invitations out of recycled paper

·       Supply eco-friendly wines

·       Make sure to buy flowers that are free of pesticides

·       For party favors, include a jar that’s available for people to donate to your favorite charity

However, if you are looking to plan a “green” corporate event, there are many options to help with that as well.  GREEN EVENTS SOURCE is a website just for that.  They have a program for event planners that is designed to take the guesswork out of greening meetings, conferences and special events.  They do this through:

·       Targeted Training and Education Programs:  They train your staff, attendees, members, management, exhibitors and others about various aspects of green events or to help design a custom training program to specifically meet your needs.

·       Consulting and Planning:  They help your company establish a plan to green your meetings and events, or even help you develop and implement an organization-wide initiative.

·       Event Management and Coordination:  They have the experience and know-how to manage and coordinate your event and do it with the utmost attention to environmental impact.

For more information about the companys products or services, check out this link.

So, if you want to clean up your event and make it more friendly for the environment, there are countless tools and resources available online just for that.  I decided to discuss a couple of my favorites.  I hope they help!

SOURCES:

http://archive.clubnewsmaker.net/activate/www.clubnewsmaker.net/activate/e_article002032922.html

http://www.greeneventsource.com/eventplanners.php

 http://www.cosmicyou.us/events/cosmicyou-21-day-go-green-challenge-vow-by-dna-wake-up

Use Social Media to Market the RIGHT Way

Marketing your products or services using social media can be very beneficial.  The only problem is that people think that just making a Facebook page or Twitter account and posting a few statuses will get your product out for everyone to see.  That would be great, but unfortunately, that’s not how social media works.  Dave Kerpen, chairman of Likeable Media & founder of offshoot Likeable Local has come up with seven moves that work when using social media to market your business.

1.) Listen, Then Talk

            -See what your customers or prospects are   talking about

            -Try to respond to posts that are relevant to you or your business

           

2.) Respond to Everyone

            -When you get a message, respond

            -Don’t pick out certain people to respond too

            -60% of brands don’t respond to customers or prospects

            -By responding, you’ll stand out from competition

3.) Tell, Don’t Sell

            -Tell personal stories that are relatable

                        -Your humble beginning

                        -Leadership characteristics

                        -Customers overcoming obstacles

            -Try to get testimonials from customers & employees

4.) Be Yourself

-Kerpen states, “When I am authentic, when I am vulnerable, when I am me, customers want to do business with me”

-Basically, don’t put on a front

5.) Advertise (Better)

            -use social media but research how to make it better

            -target the right people by finding your target market

            -use correct keywords to be found easier in search

-“What’s cooler than reaching a billion people on Facebook?  Reaching the right 1,000, the right 100, the right 10, the right one.” –Dave Kerpen

6.) Give Stuff Away

            -People LOVE free

            -Not just free products, but information

                        -webinars

                        -good content

                        -articles

7.) Be Grateful

            -Constantly thank customers and partners on social media posts

-According to donorschoose.org, of those that received a thank you note, 38% were more likely to donate again.

 

Social media is a very valuable tool in today’s marketplace, but it’s important to research your target market in order to get the best results possible when using it.  By knowing the target market, you’re able to place your ads on the right sites in order to bring in traffic.  I also want to add these tips are important for using social media, but it’s also important to know which social media is the best to use for your company.  Blogging could be more effective than Facebook.  It’s all in your research.

For more information, you can check out the website below.

http://www.inc.com/allison-fass/dave-kerpen-social-media-moves-that-work.html?nav=featured

Picture Sources

http://www.pinnaclecart.com/blog/2012/12/21/6-ways-to-make-social-media-work-for-your-ecommerce-business/

http://www.onesocialmedia.com/blog/

http://heidicohen.com/social-media-marketer-favorite-non-social-media-tool/

Lessons Learned from Writing a Business Plan

Okay, so I knew writing a business plan would be difficult, but doing it on a timed schedule while finishing school work, working two jobs, attending to your significant other and children, as well as housework and cleaning, can get a bit overwhelming.  (Phew!  That took a lot out of me to write that!)  However, by following experts TimBerry and Rhonda Abrams for the last few weeks, I’ve taken some words of advice from them that will help make the process a bit easier.

First off, Tim Berry discussed data in a few of his blogposts.  He states that it’s important to be able to prove everything you’re talking about.  That could include studies and statistics.   I know when I was working on my business plan, I was in a bit of a hurry, and so I didn’t look for statistics and studies that could’ve helped.  That’s one thing I need to change.  Secondly, on his website, he has a post called, “5 Points on Business Planningand Imminent Change” (timberry.com n.d.).  The title basically speaks for itself but some main points he discussed were to always identify assumptions, change is always imminent, every business plan needs regularly scheduled reviews and planning is better than no planning (timberry.com n.d.).  This is one thing that I did change about my plan.  I knew that I missed a few details so I went back and reviewed what I thought I needed to add, and fixed that.  I thought I would only have three employees because it’s an online-based company, but it turns out I needed to add a few more professional’s to handle the work I DID NOT want to do.

As far as Rhonda Abrams goes, she feels that it’s important to incorporate strong values into running a business so it can also benefit the bottom line (rhondaonline.com n.d.).  I was actually thinking about this when I was watching the video on Zappos, but it didn’t really click until I read that sentence on her site.  It is important to incorporate your strong values.  Bring good work ethic, so when your company does expand, and you need to hire, strong work ethic is something you’re going to look for in an employee.  By doing that, your bottom line will continue to benefit.  Also, I feel it’s important to allow fun in the workplace.  I’m a fun person and I want my employees to have fun.  If they are fun, they will carry that over to the customers.  If a customer is happy, they will most likely use your service again.

One more thing I thought was important that I would like to use with starting my business is Rhonda Abrams “The Successful Business Organizer” (rhondaonline.com n.d.).  Ever since I started this business plan, I’ve kept telling myself I’ll get organized, but that doesn’t happen.  I want that to change and I can possibly do that with this organizer.  It’s basically a take-with-you-everywhere handbook for starting new businesses that is packed with checklists, worksheets, and forms every new business owner could need.  So, yes, organization is a must for me!

After getting all this advice plus everything we've learned from class, I think the idea itself is the most important thing for the investor's to read.  If you don't have a good idea, or if they just don't like your idea, all the other information will be irrelevant.  So it's important to make your business idea clear and use as many details as possible.

After getting back the critiques and changing as I go, I’m confident that my business plan will turn out decent.  Even though I don’t have any desire to start my own virtual event planning business, I can take all that I have learned and carry it over with me for when I decide to start a business I want.


SOURCES:

5 Points on Business Planning and Imminent Change. (n.d.). Planning Startup Stories —. Retrieved May 29, 2013, from http://timberry.bplans.com/2009/02/business-plans-and-change.html

About Rhonda Abrams, keynote speaker and bestselling author. (n.d.).RhondaOnline.com: Starting a Business--advice and tips from business guru Rhonda Abrams. Retrieved May 29, 2013, from http://rhondaonline.com/content/aboutRho

The Blog on Social Media Business Planning. (n.d.). The Blog on Social Media Business Planning. Retrieved May 29, 2013, from http://www.smbplan.com

Tim Berry | Business Planning Expert. (n.d.). Tim Berry | Business Planning Expert. Retrieved May 29, 2013, from http://timberry.com

Writing Successful Business Plans

If you’re going to plan a business and anticipate major success, it’s more than apparent you’re going to have to come up with a good business plan.  Now, I know what you’re thinking...sounds long and boring, right?  Well, don’t think of it that way.  Take the advice from Rhonda Abrams by visioning your business plan into a business-model process.  “With the business-model process, you lay out your broad vision if your company…” …just envision that “a business model is a sketch and a business plan is a blueprint” (Rhondaonline.com n.d.).  That sounds little better, right?  Sketch…?  Vision…?  No…?  Okay, maybe it’s just me.  Well, if you don’t want to take her advice, you can also seek some advice from TimBerry.  Both of these professionals are recognized professionals in the field of writing and/or reviewing business plans.

Rhonda Abrams is a graduate of Harvard University with more than fifteen years of advising, mentoring and counseling entrepreneurs and small business owners (Rhondaonline.com n.d.).  She also takes on the task of being a popular public speaker, best-selling author, and a syndicated columnist.  Her column “Small Business Strategies” is the nation’s most widely-read column about entrepreneurship, reaching 20 million viewers and readers (Rhondaonline.com n.d.).  According to Abrams, her business-model process will lay out a broad vision for your company: how you will make money and how you’ll relate to your customers” (rgj.com n.d.).  Once the broad key components are sketched out, then each component is divided into sections and researched in detail.  She also has an organizer for purchase that keeps everything in order during this planning process.  This woman thinks of everything!

She’s not the only one though!  Tim Berry may be more experienced. Not only does he have two Master degrees and a BA from Notre Dame, but he has written and co-written a few books about business plan planning, as well as being founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software.  He also taught business planning class at the University of Oregon for 11 years (timberry.com n.d.).   In Berry’s blog, he stated that your plan should be realistic and credible.  It should also include cost of sales, projections, profit or loss, balance sheet and cash flow projections.   Berry states that it’s important because “it’s a matter of having dots connected and making reasonable projections, which you can pull apart the track plan vs. actual so that times goes on you have something you can review, revise and manage” (timberry.com n.d.). 

Now, both experts have a lot to say in their blogs and their numerous writings, so it’ll be important to check those out.  It’s obvious writing a business plan will take a lot of work and research, but there are numerous tools as well as tons of information available.  If first starting out, I’d definitely recommend seeing what you can learn from these two individuals first.  They seem to know a little something about the business planning process.

SOURCES:

About Rhonda Abrams, keynote speaker and bestselling author. (n.d.). RhondaOnline.com: Starting a Business--advice and tips from business guru Rhonda Abrams. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://rhondaonline.com/content/aboutRhonda/aboutRhonda.asp

Abrams, R. (n.d.). Small Business Strategies with Rhonda Abrams - USATODAY.com. USA TODAY: Latest World and US News  - USATODAY.com. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/columnist/abrams/index

Abrams, R. (n.d.). Rhonda Abrams: Delve deep, be specific for best business plans. RGJ. Retrieved May 10, 2013, from www.rgj.com/article/20130409/COL0807/304090032/Rhonda-Abrams-Delve-deep-specific-best-business-plans

Business Plan Software and Sales and Marketing Software - Palo Alto Software. (n.d.). Business Plan Software and Sales and Marketing Software - Palo Alto Software. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://www.paloalto.com

Tim Berry | Business Planning Expert. (n.d.). Tim Berry | Business Planning Expert. Retrieved May 11, 2013, from http://timberry.com

Crowd Funding: Helping Finance Your Dream

No matter what your dream is, it’s going to end up costing money.  The problem is, that if you don’t have rich parents or a significant other to pay for it, you might end up working multiple jobs or taking out countless loans to get it started.  That is, until now.  There is a thing called, crowd funding, that basically gets other people to fork over the dough in order for you to get started on something you’ve always wanted to do.

Now, I know it sounds too good to be true, and there is a little work you have to do in order to get the funding, but it is quite simple.  First off, it’s probably important to explain what crowd funding is, so here’s a little description.  According to Oxford Dictionary online, crowd funding is “the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet” (Oxford Dictionary Online n.d.).  A lot of musicians and filmmakers use crowd funding in order to get their projects financed.  At the same time, entrepreneurs use it to get their businesses started as well as scientists to help get funded for research. 

There are a number of crowd funding websites to turn to for multiple projects.  I want to list a few:

-GoFundMe.com

-Towema.com

-Indiegogo.com

-Kickstarter.com

-Crowdrise.com

And the list goes on and on.  You can check out this list, plus more at, http://www.crowdfunding-website-reviews.com/. 

Crowd funding is a lot like presenting your business proposal to investors, except your presenting your ideas to regular, everyday people, in hopes of getting your project funded.  However, just like with any other business deal, there comes the fee.  The fees for the crowd funding websites are all different, but nonetheless, there will be fees.  Some examples would be taking a certain percentage of your sales, once you start making money.  Or, another example would be to charge a flat percentage rate of your total fund.  These are just a few examples of the fees of crowd funding, but at the same time, the most popular ones. 

Lastly, it’s all about strategy when it comes to funding your big project.  Like anything else, you must do a lot of research before making a huge step like this, especially if trying to borrow $1,000’s of dollars.  Also, most of these transactions are done over the Internet, and with all the scams going on these days, it’s even more important to be extra cautious.  So be careful!

Until then, Happy Crowd funding!

10 Crowdfunding Sites To Fuel Your Dream Project. (n.d.). Design Tips, Tutorials and Inspiration - Hongkiat.com. Retrieved April 27, 2013, from http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/crowdfunding-sites/

Best Crowdfunding Websites Reviewed | CrowdFunding Website Reviews. (n.d.).Best Crowdfunding Websites Reviewed | CrowdFunding Website Reviews. Retrieved April 27, 2013, from http://www.crowdfunding-website-reviews.com/

Definition of crowdfunding in Oxford Dictionaries (British & World English). (n.d.). Oxford Dictionaries Online. Retrieved April 27, 2013, from http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/eng