Leather Furniture ReFurblish Business: How to Start a Leather Repair Business

Old and damaged furniture are either discarded or sold at a ridiculous amount. The price in some cases is discounted at a reduced price.

The leather contractor stands to gain lots of profit repairing the damaged and defective furniture. There are two business templates that define leather furniture repair business.

 Start a furniture repair business from scratch or refurbish used furniture. Refurbishing used furniture is a very lucrative business because of the huge profit margin.

Increase your Earnings

To maximize your earnings open a show room alongside your refurbished business. Having a retail operation creates an avenue to sell your furniture. To properly position your enterprises try to follow these rules

1.    Produce high quality workmanship consistent to major manufacturers in your country.

2.    Set appropriate pricing mechanism for customers

3.    Carry out the entire contract in your workshop to save cost and maximize profit

4.    Do effective and secure shipping to reduce mishaps in handling and shipping

Benefits of Starting Your own Furniture Repair Business

Owning a refurbish business has lots of business opportunities and benefits. The benefits point to huge earnings and opportunities. Three benefits of running a refurbish business are high rates, good profitability and lots of outside repair work.

The rates charged by professional companies are high in comparison to other service providers. Upholstery contractors make lots of money repairing old furniture for customers or their show room.

Another benefit to the contractor is low expenses and over head. The high rates charged guarantees profitable margins.

How to start your refurbishing business

Learn the Trade

You need to learn the trade because it is a technical field. It involves carpentry knowledge and upholstery.

 Gain valuable knowledge by becoming an apprentice or a vocational institute. If you are not interested in doing the work yourself hire carpenters and upholstery staff.

Finance your Business

The amount of funding is moderately challenging. You can start a furniture repair business with $40,000.

You need small bank loans or cooperative loans to effectively position your company. A partnership agreement is another way to raise funding.

Other funding sources are core investor or equity sales in your business. Try target saving and reach out to family and friends.

Register your Company

Register your company and get appropriate licensing. Find out what is obtainable in your country.

Find a Good Location

You need two things for you office space. Find an office in a busy area that has a workshop space behind. The workshop is where you do all the refurbishing while the front store to sell the furniture.

This simple solution solves lots of transportation costs and saves money and time. your store front should be attractive welcoming and have a good interior design.

Equipment

The job entails two basic upholstery and carpentry work. You need technical skills and the right tool to create amazing furniture.

To earn huge payouts your job need to meet professional standards obtainable in the industry. Having proper knowledge on tools and how to use them is the difference between a roadside carpenter and an establish brand.

Minimum Starting Tools

Professional furniture repairers and beginners use the same basic upholstery tools. There are many diverse tools however narrow set your sight on only tool you need.

Purchasing only essentials reduces wastage and undue expenditure. The right tools save money and offer efficiency and value.

Here is a list of basic startup tool your need for your refurbishing business.
Upholstery tack hammer
Regular hammer 
 Heavy duty scissors
Staple pin and staple remover
Flat sharpened screw driver  
Pliers
Ripper 
chisel
Curved needles  
Electricity 
carving knife
Screwdrivers
Webbing stretcher  
Tape measure

Functions of the Tools

The carved needles measures 4inh or 6inh and is used to sew fabric together. The electric knife is used to cut foam while the tape measure is for measuring.

Ripped chisel is effective in removing old fabric and you need straight slotted screwdrivers. Other is straight claw to strip old leather cover and sharp scissors to cut the fabric.

Power Tool

You also need power tool to make your job easier. There are a number of power tools you should consider.

Buy a metallic body heat gun, steamer to steam wrinkles out of fabrics and air nozzle. The air nozzle is used as a blower to remove dirt.

There are three types of upholstery staplers to consider. They are the heavy duty hand stapler, air stapler, electric stapler.

You also need a saw, electric drill, foam saw, iron and jig saw.

Machinery

You can buy an air compressor and band saw to cut special shapes. Other machinery include foot sewing machine and press button.

Marketing

A good billboard in front of your store is a good idea. Make your products visible by adding a display window to your store.

Place colored advertisement in national newspapers for a wider reach. You might need a truck or bus to transport your furniture.

If you don’t have your own trucks hire cargo transporters to carry your furniture. Distribute handbills to residents in your area showcasing your products and services.

You can network with property developers and government organization for supply contracts. Building a website targeted at your locality and market base.

Read More

How to Build a Profitable Football Website Business

 You can start a football website and leverage on the popularity of the sport. The major advantage of starting a website is the worldwide audience.

You have two choices when starting a football website either to narrow your focus to a certain demography/domestic league or worldwide.

Selecting a certain niche gives your site a focus and targets a particular audience. Niche websites rank well on search engines although they have limitations.

The most popular niche groups are entertainment news, ports, lifestyle, fitness, health and politics. Other groups that rank well are news and current affairs.

Football websites face lots of competition from soccer magazines, predict score sites and game sites. It does not matter the sector you choose the unifying factor for success are hard work and dedication to your business.

How to Create a Successful Football Website

There are a few things you need to do to find success. If you work according to our recommendation you will earn a decent income.

1.    Choose a top level domain name (.com)

2.    Install a good Wordpress template

3.    Select a good niche subject in this case football/soccer

4.    Post high quality content and post at lest 4 times a week

5.    Add social media, privacy policy, about us, contact, affiliate declaration

6.    Make your football website interactive and easy to navigate.

7.    Use several sources of income like advertisement, referrals, affiliate links, product sales or service.

Things to Post on your Website

Football News

Football News updates is a good place to start when running a football focused website. You will attract thousands of football enthusiasts daily.

You can source your news via sports channels, other sports websites, and newspaper publications. You can also add an RSS feed to automatically add football news and updates.

Make sure your news is current trending and well researched before posting.

Live Scores

Live scores feeds is very popular with football fans and gamers. They are desperate in knowing if their favorite teams win or lose. Adding live scores is a definite grown puller.

Add a gadget that automatically updates football scores to your website.

Predictions

Football betting predictions is big business because gamblers seek any way to beat the bookies. They are eager to pay sums for betting techniques, strategies and winning odds.

You can include predictions into your football website and charge for subscriptions or membership fees. You can even sell your predictions via email to desperate football gamblers. Many football websites focus on only predictions to generate traffic and subscribers.

Offer Subscription

Having loyal followers is important to the success of your website. You can get paying subscribers and forward newsletters, betting tips, best odds and news feeds. Offer added value and watch your subscription list increase exponentially.

Paid Predictions

Paid predictions can give football websites huge earnings. If you manage 80% accuracy and a few actual winners you will start rolling in money.

Active gamblers seek different ways to win bets, a popular location is paid predictions. They are willing to part with a little money if it offers them any advantage.

League Table

Every football website needs a good league table. The table should show the standing of major football federations and leagues.

The football league table should be current and updated regularly for best accuracy. If you have the technical skill you can include a widget that does this task automatically.

Make sure your table highlights all the major leagues in the world.

 Match Dates

What is a Football website without a table of match dates? Your audience needs to know upcoming games and the teams involved.

Many football fans visit websites just to study the match fixtures for the week. Always update the match dates as posted by each leagues federation or governing body.

How is your Football Website Going to Makes Money

Placed advertisement

Placed advertisement can become a massive revenue earner for a football website. You can seek direct advertisement placement from top betting websites and sports stores.

A heavily trafficked website attracts many Sports Companies who are interested in paying you high premium for advertisement space on your website.

Write a price list for advertisements based on position on your website. The positions to offer are header, sidebar, within text and footer.

To get private placement advertisements your website needs to attract large traffic daily. The advertisers will not be interested in low trafficked website.

Create a sales letter and send to interested companies with statistics and why they should adverts with you. If they show interested then send them your advertisement prices.

Google Adsense

Google adsense will accept your website if it has valuable content. Any website with high traffic can attract lots of advertisements. You are also at liberty to use any of the advertisement networks you like.

Google Adsense has certain criteria before they accepted your website. Read the terms of service and what they expect before signing up for the program.

They don’t accept gambling site, porn and a few other subjects. Websites with geographical locations like Africa, India and Asia need a few months of notable online presence before acceptance.

 Referral and Affiliate Links

A good way to make additional income is through Affiliate/referral links. Adding affiliate links to your website is easy, find a good one sign up and get the link.  They have contextual links, image and headers the choice is yours to make.

Write a book on Football

Write a book on football and sell it directly from your website. The topic should interest your audience and add value to their football madness. A book on betting strategy, odds and even a semi biography of a famous footballer will sell nicely.

Sell Products and Services

A huge earner for websites is selling products and services on their websites. You don’t have to create the product or service.

There are lots of companies looking for websites willing to sell their products. Find one that offers high commission that have good quality products.

Conclusion

A football website is a profitable business venture if you put in the work. You can hire a web developer to create your site if you don’t have the experience.

Make your site a web blog or add a blog post to your website. You need quality content and lots of audience to create a profitable website.

Read More

Event Planning Business-How to start an Event planning Business

Every occasion needs some kind of planning such as naming ceremony, cooperate launching and political campaign rallies. Others are wedding ceremony and seminar.

Without adequate planning the occasion become disorganized, confusing or a flop. The event planner has the duty to coordinate and supervise the occasion so every aspect runs smoothly.

Event planning is serious business and like most businesses requires training and dedication. You need to love the job and have a keen sense of organization.

 To become an event planner you need to have good organizational skills. Other things needed are networking and communication skills.

Competitive Market

What are your interests?

Before you become an event planner you need to discover your interests and focus on them. Knowing which area of event planning to concentrate on would give you an idea of what you need.

The ocean is vast so is the kind of events that you can specialize on. Among several categories are political rallies, birthday parties and weddings.

Others are religious gatherings, educational events and corporate events. Every category demands different ways to organize and handle the event.

Working exclusively with a certain niche shows your prospective customers that you are a professional in your chosen market. Doing many unrelated event types can bring up unseen challenges and does not give your clients that exclusive service they want.

Other events that might need the services of an event planner are occasions such as festivals, religious gatherings and state events.

The scope of work of any planner is only limited by the person’s ability and knowledge of the market chosen.

Which Occasion Dos Not Require an Event Planner?

Top of Form

• school activities
• political rallies
• weddings ceremonies
• corporate branding

Bottom of Form

Scope of Work of an Event Planner

The event planners job is selling expertise and organizational skills for a fee. The client pays for your time, knowledge so the occasion runs smoothly and meets their expectation.

Arrangement; the party planners job is to see to the arrangement of the event venue and make sure all things are in place. If the occasion is a wedding the event planner makes sure the tables are arranged properly in the manner expected by the couple and guests.

The planner oversees the cake, musicians and catering service. Other duties are providing the ushers, lightening, decoration and every aspect of the occasion.

This depends on the contract and assignment or work schedule. Other duties of an event planner are providing caterer, hiring the band, service staff and the decoration.

Sometimes the event planner has only to coordination the decoration of the hall. While the other functions like catering and music is contracted to other professional’s.

Organization; the organization of the event is the event planners job. This aspect of the job is the main brief of the event person.  The choice of venue is at the discretion of the clients although the event planer can make a recommendation based on experience.

Organizing every aspect of an occasion is what event planning is all about. Networking and getting the right people to work with to pull off a successful event is very important.

Networking; networking is a very important aspect of event planning. No matter how big an event planner is they need other professionals to create a good synergy.

An event outside the planner’s immediate location is challenging however networking makes the job easier. Networking doesn’t only work when an event planner needs something.

Satisfied clients will recommend your services to friends and acquaintances if you do a good job. Top brands are conscious of their competitors and would more likely hire an event planner with a good pedigree.

Tools Needed to Succeed As an Event Planner

promotions	packaging	job requirements
newspapers	create niche	learn on job
handbills	offer full service	volunteer
word of mouth	make budget	research
electronic media	loans, credit	join organizations

Summary of Event Planning

To succeed as an event planner there are things that you need to do. Some of which are mentioned below.

1 Focus on a niche market

2 Create a unique niche

3 use good caterers for meals

4 Use effective Strategies to create value

5 Offer full service

6 Register with the appropriate authorities

7 Join a good event planners association

8 Learn on the job

9 Volunteer your services to other event planners

10 Create a budget that works

11 Negotiate hard with your client

12 Proper pricing would give your job longevity

13 Creativity and good organizational skill is necessary as an event planner

14 Public relations is imperative as well as self promotion

15 Prepare a portfolio of your work for clients

16 Honesty is the best policy. Don’t offer what you can't deliver.

Promotions and Planning

As an event planner promoting your business would help you reach clients. Use radio jingles, television advertisement and multi-media platforms.

Other promotional tools that are effective are billboards, handbills, word of mouth and business cards. Networking is one of the most effective ways to reach new clients.

 It is not out of place to put your business card on the tables during an event for the guests to take if they wish. Many event planners have made useful contacts this way especially if the event was nicely done.

The event planner needs to network within the industry, join organization and become relevant  others in your industry can recommend you to their clients especially if your niche area is different that theirs.

Word of mouth can carry an event planner only as far as the recipient of the information, this method has a low success ratio but it still works and could surprisingly get a big budget client.

Event Planners Fees

Charging the right fees for your services can make or mire an event planning business. There is nothing like to high a fee or to little a fee, your fees is commensurate your contract. The job starts from the preparation, networking, transportation, time and the service rendered

Quantifying every aspect should give the planner a reasonable ballpark figure. Charging to little because the client is cash strapped would not help your business grow.

Good and excellent services aren’t cheap haggle but remember poor pricing might affect your service delivery. When you charge write down every bit of work, equipment and service that would be rendered.

Assign a monetary value to them and add service charge of one third of the total sum to get a number. Event planners have different methods of quantifying their services to reach a price.

 Find out a system that works for you and seems reasonable. There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to pricing your service.

 Find out how others in your industry charge and leave room for haggling and negotiation.

Some of the things that you can quantify while trying to reach a price are supplies. Others are the cost of transportation, meetings, and travel expenses.

 To charge take into account all the different things that are required to successfully organize a top class event before presenting a comprehensive bill to your client

How to Develop as an Event Planner

There is no substitute for knowledge so a good event planner should constantly research. The person can develop planning skills by voluntary work with other planners. You can read through tutorial, journals and event work free to gain experience.

Gain as much experience as you can by finding those that are into the industry and learning some of their tricks. Good event planners strategist and organizer with an eye for décor and arrangement.

Event Planners Job Scope

The event planners job scope is divided into two segments. You may be contracted to take care of the entire event from the catering, drinks, lighting, decoration, and venue. Others are promotional and seating arrangements.

Getting the entire contract is an event planners dream especially if it’s from a top brand of company. The second is when the job scope is narrowed down to only one or two aspects of the event.

 This job is easier however full control of an event is preferred. For example if the caterers they hire does a bad job and serve substandard food or snacks it might affect the event planner negatively.

Such happen so the event planner needs to work doubly hard to showcase his talent in better light.

Create a Catalog

Making a catalog of your work is one of the most important ways an event planner markets his services. Create a portfolio of all your past jobs with pictures, reviews, locations and clients. Having such information makes it easier for the client to decide on hiring a particular planner.

The work is moderately difficult however rewards are great. You can actually make lots of money doing this job.

Another interesting aspect is that it can be done part time, full time or as a hobbies. The only criteria are that you should have good organization skills and a passion for what you are doing.

 Provide Real Value

Providing real value to your clients is important, the client’s motive for hiring an event planner is to reduce the stress associated with organizing an event. They need the event planner to take charge of all the details from the venue, lighting and air-conditioning

Other functions are table arrangement, catering and ushers. Sometimes the event has a promotional theme or colors.

Value is why the event planners job exists in the first place. A large company would rather hire a good event manager to make the occasion a success.

Research

The event planner needs to do a lot of research especially when organizing certain events. Find out what they expect and what they want.

For example in certain religious gatherings there are things that might be forbidden or taboo. Adding such a thing to the décor or at the gathering would not go down well with the clients.

Conglomerates expect certain things at their meetings or during the launching of a new product. The event manager should take into account all the expectations of his clients in order to plan the event successfully and get good reviews.

Research also has to do with hiring some specialized equipment that to added value. Some of such equipment's are special lights, prompters, screens and special effects. The kind of equipment depends on the type of event, amount paid and the client’s expectation.

Other aspects of research are keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing and learning about new technology.  Running an event planning business is having an edge over your competitors so you can get high paying satisfied clients.

Read More

Babysitting Business Ideas: How to Start a Babysitting Business

Babysitting has evolved over the years from a simple enterprise to a multi-million dollar business.  Although it accommodates young entrepreneurs looking for a source of income the business is also done large scaled.

Babysitters provide an essential service to couples and parents. The service reduces stress and allows couples quality time together. Working parents who need additional support to take care of their kids hire babysitters.

Startup for this business is small and the rewards great. It also offers lots of flexibility, part-time structure and negotiable wages.

The business is done all year round and is not subject to undue licenses and interference. If you are interested in babysitting business then you need to know what obtains in this kind of work

Get Experience

Before you start a babysitting service you need to have some experience in child care and safety. Attend seminars, symposiums and workshops to learn child care and safety.

You can find lots of courses in vocational colleges and institutions. Many non profit organizations have such classes and you can gain more knowledge from books.

Get certification from organizations as Red Cross and learn basic first aid treatment. Other relevant things you need are certification in child and infant care. You can choose Red Cross Babysitter Training and Safe Sitter courses.

The reason for going through training and certification is because your job entails taking care of a child. The training prepares you for emergencies and proper child handling.

Get References and Recommendations

You need lots of references and recommendations for potential clients. Parents want to know the competence of the person they leave their children with.

Having such credentials is a proof or endorsement of your professionalism. The references should be from authentic sources and satisfied clients.

Register your Business

Your enterprise needs a business name and identity. Choose a befitting name for your company. Then register your company with the corporate affairs commission.

Register your business either as a sole proprietorship or limited liability company. Having a business name shows more professionalism and seriousness.

Choose Age Range for Your Services

Choosing an age range for our services is important so clients know what to expect. The younger the child the higher the difficulty level and service your company renders.

It costs more to take care of children younger than 2 years old. Taking care of babies is costly compared to children with 3-6 years.

Once you have chosen the age range for your services put them in a list and add prices.

Establish a Price Schedule

The price schedule is aimed at your target customers and services you render. The price schedule is based on age grade, experience and service provided. Your price should be based on hourly rates and work scope.

The duration and level of care dictates the price you charge. To remain competitive study what other agencies are charging. Make your charges reasonable and competitive.

An average price range between $10 and $28 per hour this depends on the country and locality.

Charging Parameters

1.    Decide what to charge based on Scope of work and age range

2.    Study pricing regime of competitors

3.    Find out what the client needs

4.    Charge per hour

5.    Extra experience and professional service attract extra cost

Open a Business Account

You need a business account to collect earnings from clients. The business account also helps in sourcing soft loans to expand your business.

This is where the name you registered becomes very important. To get a business account part of the banks requirement is a registered name, utility bills and tax evidence.

Interviews Prospective Clients

Once your company is contacted for a job you need to interview the client. You need to get acquainted with the child and understand the client’s expectations. Having inside knowledge of the type of care they expect allows effective pricing and better care.

How to handle the Child

Learn how to handle emergency conditions such as accidents, fire and natural disasters. Make sure you interview parents to understand their needs and requirements. This will guide you in matters of feeding and basic rules.

Pay full attention to the child in your care and save parents contact phone number. Let the parents provide a list of things the child can eat and things he is allergic to.

Build trust with the parents and kid by being nice and attentive.

Build a Website

You need a website targeted to your immediate environment. Local businesses do well when they have an online presence.

Buy a domain name, host your website and offer babysitting service to people in your geographical location. Place online advertisements in social media and add your site to yellow pages.

Advertise your Babysitting Service

No matter your business format either sole proprietorship of Limited Liability Company you need to advertise your services. There are many players so you need advertisement to reach new clients.

Start your advertisement campaign by printing handbills, poster and banners. Give out lots of brochures and complementary cards. Put you paid adverts in newspapers, church bulletins and local child care magazines.

You also need a dedicated phone number or office to receive clients. You can hire a secretary or answer the calls yourself.

Case study of sittercity.com

Sittercity.com was founded by Genevieve Thiers when she was in college. She loaned $120 from her father to register a domain name for caregivers.

Today the business has grown having over a million registered caregivers and 70 full time employees. Like most businesses that have zero startup capital the inception of the business venture was difficult.

It took several years had hard work by the young entrepreneur to bag a seed investment of $5 million and the rest is history.

The message here is to love what you are doing, find a niche and work hard.

Read More