Demystifying The Cloud – How Small Businesses Can Leverage Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is redefining how businesses run, impacting the operations of large enterprises as well as start-ups. For some, the notion of “cloud computing” is a relatively new concept.Cloud computing provides businesses with access to the valued end result or output of equipment and software, without the ownership or maintenance costs required by purchasing it. Most often, cloud computing is delivered as software as a service (SaaS) where users can access a web based solution via a subscription without the heavy investment in the IT infrastructure to support it. Recent growth in cloud computing is partly driven by the growth in mobile technology platforms that allow users to access information anywhere, anytime.Although large enterprises with multiple geographically dispersed offices have benefitted from cloud computing, it has been an even greater benefit to small businesses. Small businesses now have access to enterprise solutions via cloud computing that would otherwise be unaffordable for them. Even more importantly, these cloud based solutions allow small business to function more like larger business in the information they can access while simultaneously maintaining the flexibility and agility of a small business, allowing them to react and adapt to situations.Some of the benefits cloud computing provides for small businesses, include:No heavy investment or maintenance costs in IT- The software as a service method allows multiple users to subscribe to the solution. The vendor providing the solution- Intaact, NetSuite, etc. absorbs the maintenance costs, and by offering the solution on a subscription basis can pass along cost savings due to economies of scale attributable to user volume.Ease of implementation- Cloud based solutions eliminate the need for small businesses to invest in infrastructure development, training, and support. Businesses subscribe to the service, and training and support are provided by the vendor on an as needed basis. The business owner can subscribe and unsubscribe to the cloud service as they wish.Redeployment of IT- For small business with limited manpower, cloud based services free up time for IT resources to be redeployed on more strategic initiatives or reduce the need for full time IT employees.Security- Business owners should always check this, but reputable cloud based solutions are knowledgeable about the most up-to-date security measures and encryption technology. This becomes one critical task which the business owner does not need to address, as the responsibility is absorbed by the cloud service provider who may have more expertise in this arena.Scalability- Most cloud providers offer packages with different access levels so that small businesses only need to pay for the services they require and use, resulting in overall cost savings for the small business.Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery- As a small business, this is a critical task which can often lack the attention it deserves simply due to manpower and bandwidth. Cloud based services assist with this, as they back-up critical data offsite as part of providing the solution, facilitating access to this data in case of an emergency.Small to mid-sized businesses have the most to gain from leveraging cloud based solutions in their business operations.

How Important Is the Fundraising Auctioneer to the Success of Your Event?

I want you to think about the term “Fundraising Auction”.

A “Fundraising Auction” is an event where items of value are gathered, and then sold in a competitive bidding situation, either in a Silent Auction format, or in a Live Auction format by a Live Auctioneer. And since typically the best items are saved for the Live Auction, arguably it is the Live Auction that should generate a significant portion of the proceeds in any Fundraising Auction.

So why do so many non-profit groups consider the Fundraising Auctioneer to be the least valuable component in a Fundraising Auction?

The Hosting Facility gets paid.
The Printer gets paid.
The Caterer gets paid.
The Liquor Store gets paid.
The DJ gets paid.
The Florist gets paid.
But the Auctioneer … the individual who is expected to raise the lion’s share of the event’s proceeds… is expected to work for Free. And is usually under-appreciated for the professional services he/she provides.

I’m not trying to underscore the value of the invitations & programs, food, booze, music, and decorations. All are important in their own way. But each of these are “Expenses”. It is the Auctioneer who is going to bring “Revenue”… and thus, the “Profits”… into any event. Which is the ultimate objective of any Fundraising Auction.

Here is a real-life example of how under-appreciated the Auctioneer can be. In two comparable events we worked last year, during the dinner portion of the event one non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) at a table with the DJ, the Interns, the Volunteer Staff, and other event “Help”. The 2nd non-profit group sat the Auctioneer (me) directly next to the CEO of their organization, where we chatted about how important the pending revenue would be to their organization. Which group do you think valued the services of the Fundraising Auctioneer more?

Don’t ever under-estimate the value that a professional Fundraising Auctioneer can bring to your event. The Auctioneer adds value as a pre-event consultant. And the Auctioneer can change an event from a moderate to a huge success.

A Case Study Once I was scheduled to call an Auction for a major local non-profit group. They represented a very good cause and they had a strong and dedicated following. Their event was sold out, quality Live & Silent Auction items had been solicited, and the Special Pledge Appeal had been choreographed and was ready to go. The facility was first class, the appropriate caterer was booked, and the food was ready to cook.

But quite unexpectedly, some unseasonably inclement weather forced the event’s cancellation. Despite all of the committee’s hard work, cancelling the event was the proper decision considering the circumstances.

So the Event Committee scrambled to re-schedule the event for the following weekend.

They confirmed with the Hosting Facility.
They confirmed with the Caterer.
They confirmed with the Liquor Store.
They confirmed with the DJ.
They confirmed with the Florist.
Since they already had the Mailing List of those scheduled to attend, no new invitations had to be printed as all were contacted by email or telephone. So with everything in place, the group went ahead and re-scheduled the event for the following weekend.

But guess who they failed to confirm? You got it… the Professional Auctioneer. They thought so little of the Auctioneer’s contribution that they “assumed” that the Auctioneer would be available and at their beck and call.

But the Auctioneer already had another Fundraising Auction booked for that date with another non-profit group. It was only hour away from the re-scheduled event, and things could have been easily worked out. All Group #1 had to do was start their event one hour earlier, or one hour later, than the Group #2, and the Auctioneer could have helped both groups on the same day.

But because Group #1 failed to anticipate a possible Auctioneer conflict, because they failed to confirm with the Auctioneer before re-scheduling their event, their preferred Auctioneer had to bow out and they had to scramble to locate substitute “Volunteer” Auctioneer only days before their event.

And it cost them.

Learning Points

The Live Auction is usually where the profits are made at any Fundraising Auction.
A Professional Fundraising Auctioneer can be vital to the success of any Fundraising Auction.
The better Fundraising Auctioneers usually get booked quickly.
You need to recognize the important contributions that a good Auctioneer can make to your event.
Michael Ivankovich is a Bucks County Fundraising Auctioneer based in Doylestown PA, and serves the Great Philadelphia PA area. He has been a professionally licensed and bonded Auctioneer in Pennsylvania for nearly 20 years, has been named Pennsylvania’s Auctioneer of the Year, and has considerable experience in conducting Fundraising Auctions. Michael loves helping groups raise needed funds for good causes and one of his specialties is the “Special Pledge Appeal” or “Fund-A-Cause Appeal” which usually enables clients to double their revenue in a single evening.

Home Based Business Leads = Critical Steps on How to Generate Them

You need to have a consistent stream of home based business leads, if your going to build a home business on the internet. If not, you will struggle. Fact is, if you don’t have a constant flow whether off or online your business will die. It is important to have quality leads coming in, this means you have people who are interested in your business to talk to about becoming a distributor or a customer daily. I am totally against buying leads, reason being, leads bought from a lead company are not qualified and you will just be wasting time and hard earn money trying to sort though all the tire kickers to get even one that is qualified to become a distributor for your home based business.The best way to go about getting home based business leads is to generate them yourself, and most techniques and strategies out there today are completely free. Paid strategies will get you faster results, this is the direction you want to go if you have the budget and not much time to do free lead generation strategies, which can be very time consuming but well worth it.In order for you to generate home based business leads, you must have the right tools in place to do so, a system with a capture page and opt-in form to collect the visitors to your website contact information, offering them some kind of free valuable information in return for their contact info. Free training, free report anything they would gladly make the exchange for.An auto-responder with a series of follow up messages sending out valuable information to them daily or occasionally so you can keep in contact and build a relationship and trust with them. Having your own database of targeted prospects for your home business is one of the most critical elements, you can grow your list to an unlimited amount of targeted home based business leads. You do this through using various marketing strategies to drive traffic to your capture page with your unique offer.Once a lead has opt in to your form on your capture page, they are placed inside a streamlined sales funnel where your system sorts out the tire kickers from the serious business builders, so you only have to deal with people who are ready to learn and know what it takes to build a thriving home based business.You can generate thousands of home based business leads because the internet provides just that leverage, which may take you years to learn how to do, but I know what these guru’s are doing to get these results. I have a complete attraction marketing system fully loaded with all the step by step training and easy to follow blueprint waiting for you to gain access, so you can stop struggling to generate leads and build a successful business online.