The term "junk mail" is a well-known term. To the common guy or gal on the
street, "junk mail" to them is advertising flyers from the local grocery
store and pizza shop that arrive in their mail every day. To the mail order
dealer, it means something totally opposite because a mail order dealer in
St Paul MN is not going to get a pizza ad for a shop in Jackson MS.
Therefore, "junk mail" refers to pyramid schemes, chain letters and other
worthless information that you are inundated with as a newcomer. Often you
will get so much of it that you will think this is all mail order has to
offer and quit. THIS IS NOT TRUE. This is only one phase of the mail order
industry -- and it's too bad that beginners get hit with the bulk of it. As
you continue to grow in the mail order business, the amount of "junk mail"
you receive will diminish compared to the legitimate offers and orders.
This is how you know your business is growing in a successful direction.
But back to the matter at hand. How can you make money with this "junk"?
One way is by studying and analyzing the piece of mail from a marketing
standpoint. Since people obviously are making money with "junk mail" (it
would have phased out long ago if it didn't) it's up to you to find out HOW
they are doing it.
Is it the words they use? Normally, "junk mail" offers appeal to a person's
emotional wants and desires. They claim to offer hidden secrets, untold
wealth and quick cash. They make false claims by telling people they can
now send their kids to college, buy their wife a beautiful diamond ring,
take a well-deserved vacation to an exotic tropic island and pay off all
their debts.
When the person reads this stuff and forms visions of sugarplums in their
heads, they will rush right away and send away for the product immediately.
What made them believe you? How was the "junk mail" written to cause a
person to immediately react in this manner? These are things you have to
study and determine. Then, use this new found knowledge to sell your own
product.
The problem with "junk mail" is that if a person gets all hyped up and
sends away for the product they have built it up to be bigger-than-life.
And when the product or information they ordered arrives, it simply is a
sheet of paper or another piece of "junk mail" trying to sell them
something else. The person feels cheated, stupid, and taken advantage of.
People may always exist that will respond to this type of "junk mail." But
you can use the same marketing concept to provide the people with something
REAL. This way, they won't feel cheated, stupid and taken advantage of.
This is where the "junk mail" authors who wrote this stuff in the first
place overlook the true marketing potential.
More money could be made if the person buying something is satisfied and
makes a repeat purchase. In fact, newcomers are eager to learn and will buy
anything to get started learning. By taking advantage of them only means
that you will make one sale in that person's lifetime. But if the product
is good and worthwhile -- they will order from you again and again. Many
newcomers today will be big businesses tomorrow. And I'm sure if a newcomer
found a honest company that really helped them break into the mail order
field they would continue to do business with them when they really did
make millions of dollars. See what I mean? The back-end sales for a
lifetime would be worth the investment.
I'm not saying that you can take a piece of "junk mail" claiming to make
the person $1 million in 30 days or less and turn it into a valuable and
worthwhile product. Since this is a downright lie, there is no way to
market this honestly. However -- you can study the piece of "junk mail" to
determine what words and phrases were used and how the ad is written so you
can understand how to present a REAL product that people will be eager to
buy.
Then, pass the word and tell every new person you come into contact with
about these pie-in-the-sky-schemes. You might even want to try writing to
some of the people listed on the chain letters. Explain how all this "junk
mail" only appeals to their emotional needs and how the company who
originally wrote these materials are USING them to only get their money. If
everyone passed along this information -- it wouldn't take very many years
before we could put a stop to all this nonsense.
If people slack off on buying it and see the scam for what it really is --
the cons will diminish!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
How To Reorganize Your Time To Accommodate A Home-Based Business
Almost everyone needs or wants more money coming in, and with
this desire most would like to start some sort of extra income
producing project. The trouble is, not many of these people seem
able to fit "a second job" into their time schedules.
It's true that most people are busy, but extra time for some sort
of home-based extra income producing project can almost always be
found. It may mean giving up or changing a few of your favorite
pastimes--such as having a couple of beers with the guys or
watching TV--but if you score big with your extra income project,
you will have all the time you want for doing whatever you what
to do.
Efficient time management boils down to planning what you're
going to do, and then doing it without backtracking. Start by
making a list of the things you want to do tomorrow, each evening
before you go to bed. Schedule your trips to the store or
wherever to coincide with the other things you have to do, and
with your trips to or from work. Organize your trips to take care
of as many things as possible while you're out of the house.
take stock of the time you spend on the telephone---and eliminate
all that isn't necessary.
Whatever chores you have to do at home, set aside a specific time
to do them, and a specific amount of time to devote to them. For
instances, just one hour a day devoted to yard work would
probably make your property the envy of all your neighbors. Don't
try to do a week's work in one big flurry. Whether it's painting
your house, fixing leaky faucets, or mowing your lawn and
trimming your shrubs, do a part of it, or one particular job each
day, and you'll be amazed at your progress.
Take care of all your mail the day, you receive it. Don't let
those bills and letters pile up on you. If you're unable to pay a
bill immediately, file it in a special place that's visible, and
note on the envelope the date you intend to pay it. Answer your
letters the same day you get them.
Once you start listing and planning what to do, and then carry
out your plans, you'll find plenty of "extra time" for handling
virtually any kind of home-based income producing project. People
in general may not like routines or schedules, but without some
sort of plan as to what is supposed to be done, the world would
be mired in mass confusion. Laws, ordinances and regulations are
for the purpose of guiding people. We live according to an
accepted plan or way of life, and the better we can organize
ourselves, the more productive and happy we become.
The secret of all financially successful people is simply that
they are organized and do not waste time. Think about it. Review
your own activities, and then see if you can't find a couple of
extra hours in each day for more constructive accomplishments.
When you begin planning, and then when you really become involved
in an extra income producing endeavor, you should work it exactly
as you have organized your regular day-to-day activities---on a
time basis. Do what has to be done immediately. Don't try to get
done in a hour something that's realistically going to take a
week. Plan out on paper what you have to do--what you want to
do--and when you are going to do it. Then get right on each
project without procrastination.
Finally, and above all else, when you're organizing your time and
your business, be sure to set aside some time for relaxation. Be
sure to schedule time when you and your spouse can be together.
You must not involve yourself to an extent that you exclude other
people--particularly your loved ones--from your life.
Taking stock of the time you waste each day, and from there,
reorganizing your activities is what it's all about. It's a
matter of becoming more efficient in the use of your time. It's
really easy to do, and you will not only accomplish a lot more,
you will also find greater fulfillment in your life.
this desire most would like to start some sort of extra income
producing project. The trouble is, not many of these people seem
able to fit "a second job" into their time schedules.
It's true that most people are busy, but extra time for some sort
of home-based extra income producing project can almost always be
found. It may mean giving up or changing a few of your favorite
pastimes--such as having a couple of beers with the guys or
watching TV--but if you score big with your extra income project,
you will have all the time you want for doing whatever you what
to do.
Efficient time management boils down to planning what you're
going to do, and then doing it without backtracking. Start by
making a list of the things you want to do tomorrow, each evening
before you go to bed. Schedule your trips to the store or
wherever to coincide with the other things you have to do, and
with your trips to or from work. Organize your trips to take care
of as many things as possible while you're out of the house.
take stock of the time you spend on the telephone---and eliminate
all that isn't necessary.
Whatever chores you have to do at home, set aside a specific time
to do them, and a specific amount of time to devote to them. For
instances, just one hour a day devoted to yard work would
probably make your property the envy of all your neighbors. Don't
try to do a week's work in one big flurry. Whether it's painting
your house, fixing leaky faucets, or mowing your lawn and
trimming your shrubs, do a part of it, or one particular job each
day, and you'll be amazed at your progress.
Take care of all your mail the day, you receive it. Don't let
those bills and letters pile up on you. If you're unable to pay a
bill immediately, file it in a special place that's visible, and
note on the envelope the date you intend to pay it. Answer your
letters the same day you get them.
Once you start listing and planning what to do, and then carry
out your plans, you'll find plenty of "extra time" for handling
virtually any kind of home-based income producing project. People
in general may not like routines or schedules, but without some
sort of plan as to what is supposed to be done, the world would
be mired in mass confusion. Laws, ordinances and regulations are
for the purpose of guiding people. We live according to an
accepted plan or way of life, and the better we can organize
ourselves, the more productive and happy we become.
The secret of all financially successful people is simply that
they are organized and do not waste time. Think about it. Review
your own activities, and then see if you can't find a couple of
extra hours in each day for more constructive accomplishments.
When you begin planning, and then when you really become involved
in an extra income producing endeavor, you should work it exactly
as you have organized your regular day-to-day activities---on a
time basis. Do what has to be done immediately. Don't try to get
done in a hour something that's realistically going to take a
week. Plan out on paper what you have to do--what you want to
do--and when you are going to do it. Then get right on each
project without procrastination.
Finally, and above all else, when you're organizing your time and
your business, be sure to set aside some time for relaxation. Be
sure to schedule time when you and your spouse can be together.
You must not involve yourself to an extent that you exclude other
people--particularly your loved ones--from your life.
Taking stock of the time you waste each day, and from there,
reorganizing your activities is what it's all about. It's a
matter of becoming more efficient in the use of your time. It's
really easy to do, and you will not only accomplish a lot more,
you will also find greater fulfillment in your life.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The Lure Of Easy Bankruptcy
Here is a true story about bankruptcy, and the advantages
it offers. A husband and wife team of practicing
psychiatrists, with a joint income of $78,000 per annum,
accumulate personal debts totaling $22,000, and also have
outstanding a $33,000 mortgage on their com-fortable
suburban New York home. They are not in arears, nor even
over their heads. They simply seek more discretionary
spending power.
Their solution to the problem? They file for bankruptcy
and are able to immediately reduce their debt load to a
mere 10 cents on the dollar, repayable on an extended
schedule in very small amounts. An officer in one
of their finance companies notes that they could refinance
the mortgage or even sell the house. But you will see in
a moment why that was not necessary.
Traditionally, personal bankruptcy has been a desperate
last resort for those so deeply in debt and harried by
creditors, that there really seemed to be no other
solution. The typical profile included low-income, under-
educated clerical workers or laborers, or perhaps
transient non-homeowners. Common age groups were those
who were in their twenties, or those over sixty five years
of age.
This is no longer the case. Today's profile includes
people with good jobs, even families with two incomes. It
is not surprising to find those with six-figure incomes
declaring bankruptcy. The process comes no longer out
of a dire necessity, but it is now a means by which people
can rid themselves of debts that cramp their lifestyle.
The most common applicants for bankruptcy include recent
college graduates who file in order to avoid paying back
government-guaran-teed student loans. Their rationale?
They feel society owed them an education.
You will also find older, "keep up with the Joneses" types
filing for bankruptcy. For suburban executives to Wall
Street professionals, they are unwilling to live within
their means.
The passage of the Federal Bankruptcy Act of 1978 made the
whole process much easier. This change significantly
liberalized personal filing procedures in the name of
consumer rights.
Chapter 7 makes no reference at all to the debtor's
income. It permits debtors to clear the slate by turning
over all their assets except those specifically exempted
to creditors. Among the exemptions: Up to $7,500.00
equity in the debtor's house (15,000 if both file);
$4,000.00 in accrued dividends; $1,200.00 in automobile
equity; $500.00 in jewelry; $200 per category of household
items (including clothing, books, etc.) and more!
Chapter 13 requires that debtors show only a regular
income to handle a reasonable three-year pay-back plan.
The court's definition of reasonable happens to be as
little as 1% to 10%, even when a payment of 50% could
easily be managed.
it offers. A husband and wife team of practicing
psychiatrists, with a joint income of $78,000 per annum,
accumulate personal debts totaling $22,000, and also have
outstanding a $33,000 mortgage on their com-fortable
suburban New York home. They are not in arears, nor even
over their heads. They simply seek more discretionary
spending power.
Their solution to the problem? They file for bankruptcy
and are able to immediately reduce their debt load to a
mere 10 cents on the dollar, repayable on an extended
schedule in very small amounts. An officer in one
of their finance companies notes that they could refinance
the mortgage or even sell the house. But you will see in
a moment why that was not necessary.
Traditionally, personal bankruptcy has been a desperate
last resort for those so deeply in debt and harried by
creditors, that there really seemed to be no other
solution. The typical profile included low-income, under-
educated clerical workers or laborers, or perhaps
transient non-homeowners. Common age groups were those
who were in their twenties, or those over sixty five years
of age.
This is no longer the case. Today's profile includes
people with good jobs, even families with two incomes. It
is not surprising to find those with six-figure incomes
declaring bankruptcy. The process comes no longer out
of a dire necessity, but it is now a means by which people
can rid themselves of debts that cramp their lifestyle.
The most common applicants for bankruptcy include recent
college graduates who file in order to avoid paying back
government-guaran-teed student loans. Their rationale?
They feel society owed them an education.
You will also find older, "keep up with the Joneses" types
filing for bankruptcy. For suburban executives to Wall
Street professionals, they are unwilling to live within
their means.
The passage of the Federal Bankruptcy Act of 1978 made the
whole process much easier. This change significantly
liberalized personal filing procedures in the name of
consumer rights.
Chapter 7 makes no reference at all to the debtor's
income. It permits debtors to clear the slate by turning
over all their assets except those specifically exempted
to creditors. Among the exemptions: Up to $7,500.00
equity in the debtor's house (15,000 if both file);
$4,000.00 in accrued dividends; $1,200.00 in automobile
equity; $500.00 in jewelry; $200 per category of household
items (including clothing, books, etc.) and more!
Chapter 13 requires that debtors show only a regular
income to handle a reasonable three-year pay-back plan.
The court's definition of reasonable happens to be as
little as 1% to 10%, even when a payment of 50% could
easily be managed.
Monday, September 15, 2008
How To Get Everything You Want Out Of Life
FIRST, be prepared to know yourself better. A serious appraisal
of your life is essential to getting what you want. If you need
to get to Pittsburgh by Friday, you've got to know where you're
starting from. A serious self-appraisal may take weeks to
complete. How well educated are you in the things you would like
to know? How much effort do you put into each aspect of your
life?
What are your best and worst points? How do you choose your
friends, your home, your job and your hobbies? How do treat your
friends, family and strangers? How deep is your personal
spirituality? You have hundreds and hundreds of special traits,
but how well developed is each of them? Which of your traits are
the worst? What have you accomplished over the past twenty, ten,
five, two and in one year? In the past month? The past week?
Today? Who have you hurt? Who deserves better than you've given
them? And most important, how close are you now to where you
hoped you'd be when you looked ahead a year ago, five years ago,
or even as a child?
Be prepared to cry a little as you make this appraisal of your
life. Humans are far from perfect, and even the minor goals we
set for ourselves are not achieved, and it can hurt to see
exactly where you are. Draw upon every bit of serenity you have
when making this appraisal, and always keep in mind you are on a
fact-finding, not a fault-finding mission. Whether your
strengths match evenly with your weaknesses on paper is not
important. What you want is a written record of who and what you
are in as great a depth as possible, a blueprint of your house
which you can use as a base for improvement.
Great people in every field start with such a deep analysis and
revise it yearly to chart their progress, and the time and
emotion spent in such an appraisal will be chicken feed compared
to the value you will receive from it.
SECOND, make a special report based on your self-appraisal and
include the report everything you ever did which you didn't
think you could do. THIS ABSOLUTELY VITAL! It will provide you
with enormous inspiration when faced with a problem you don't
think you can overcome. These are not only real-life success
stories, they are your success stories, positive proof that
there's more in you than you might think. These experiences are
the batteries you'll use to power the shovels which will move
mountains in the future. Remember, even an almost-dead battery
will start a car. Have this report in writing and keep it with
your personal analysis, and make a copy in case you lose it.
This will be a vital document in times to come.
THIRD, decide where you want to go. Most people fail because
they don't set goals worthy of themselves. If they do, they do
not live each day in pursuit these goals. This, and every other
step outlined here, is absolutely vital to a truly successful
life.
When you set your goals, make them better than you've done
before, but make them achievable. In other words, if it is at
all possible that you or someone like you could achieve the
goal, it is worthy. But don't set them too low either, or you'll
be breezing through life, bored and unchallenged. Set goals for
each day, for the next week, month, year, two years, five years,
twenty years, fifty years (regardless of your age).
Be definite about what you want. Write your goals down and use
as much detail as possible. Make them firm... for the moment.
You will find as you achieve certain things that some goals will
have to change, and that's fine. Just don't go around changing
your mind every time the wind changes or you won't know which
way is up.
Set as many goals as you like, and include among them - what
you'd like to be doing, where you'd like to go, what you want
for your family, what kind of person you'd like to be, how much
you'd like to be earning, your net worth, your health,
personality, education and spiritual growth. Keep your daily
goals confined to activities which will lead to accomplishment
of your long-term goals. Don't be afraid to set goals. Mistakes
can be corrected; doing nothing cannot be corrected.
The next step takes no real effort, and strangely enough, it is
the most difficult step for the average person to take.
FOURTH: COMMIT! Make the decision to achieve those goals, to
strive for the things you want which will make your life and
yourself all that much better. Make that commitment from the
heart, not at the lips! It will take time to really feel that
commitment, and regularly reviewing the goals you've written
down will make it possible to truly feel that commitment. You'll
go through agonies at first and wonder if any of this is really
worth it, and that's the point most people give up.
Remember this and you'll look forward to that agony. Every
change comes with pain. It hurts to be born, to fall in love, to
pass an exam, run a marathon. Once you start feeling that pain,
know it for what it is - your old self screaming for life. Let
your old self win and you lose!
Once you pass through that barrier of pain between what you are
and what you want, you will know what it is worth every bit of
discomfort. You've been through it before, and you'll need the
memory of past incidents where you've made it to help you get
through it.
You'll need the support of others, too. So you'll have to
consider the people with whom, you spend most of your time. If
they are not as interested in improving themselves as you are,
it's time to expand your circle of friends to include those
people, and make them the best you could want. Make your friends
inspirations to you in your quest for a better life.
The final step is so simple and so tough it literally separates
the men from the boys who will never grow up. It means
sacrificing immediate pleasure for real satisfaction down the
road, so if you're not ready to make the trade, go back two
paces.
FIFTH: Spend every moment of your life in the most effective,
efficient way possible in the pursuit of your goals. You'll
never be able to do this as well as you will want to, but that's
fine. Nobody spends all their time as effectively as humanly
possible. The degree to which you can tune your desire to the
things you want and discipline yourself to do the things that
lead to getting them - will determine how successful you will be.
Regardless of how weak you are now, you can and will increase
the value your time and activities and garner more happiness
than you might think fair only if you'll keep your failures in
perspective. Think of them as lessons and gain something from
them. Use your successes as a well of strength on which you can
draw when you're ready to quit.
These simple steps are the true secret to getting what you want
out of life. It has been proven time and time again by great men
down trough history, and centuries from now. The words may
change, but the ideas will be the same.
For centuries men have tried to find ways of making this simple
set of guidelines more complicated and more difficult to
understand and follow. Most of them succeeded admirably. Most
got what they wanted by doing so. What they really wanted was
less than they set out to achieve. Getting what you truly want
is so difficult precisely because it is so simple. Humans are
very complex beings and thrive on making things even more
complicated.
It might help to remember that the foundation of every religion,
belief, system and philosophy that has worked its way to a
culture and taken root is personal happiness. In every case,
happiness is achieved by reducing things to their simple
possible elements.
of your life is essential to getting what you want. If you need
to get to Pittsburgh by Friday, you've got to know where you're
starting from. A serious self-appraisal may take weeks to
complete. How well educated are you in the things you would like
to know? How much effort do you put into each aspect of your
life?
What are your best and worst points? How do you choose your
friends, your home, your job and your hobbies? How do treat your
friends, family and strangers? How deep is your personal
spirituality? You have hundreds and hundreds of special traits,
but how well developed is each of them? Which of your traits are
the worst? What have you accomplished over the past twenty, ten,
five, two and in one year? In the past month? The past week?
Today? Who have you hurt? Who deserves better than you've given
them? And most important, how close are you now to where you
hoped you'd be when you looked ahead a year ago, five years ago,
or even as a child?
Be prepared to cry a little as you make this appraisal of your
life. Humans are far from perfect, and even the minor goals we
set for ourselves are not achieved, and it can hurt to see
exactly where you are. Draw upon every bit of serenity you have
when making this appraisal, and always keep in mind you are on a
fact-finding, not a fault-finding mission. Whether your
strengths match evenly with your weaknesses on paper is not
important. What you want is a written record of who and what you
are in as great a depth as possible, a blueprint of your house
which you can use as a base for improvement.
Great people in every field start with such a deep analysis and
revise it yearly to chart their progress, and the time and
emotion spent in such an appraisal will be chicken feed compared
to the value you will receive from it.
SECOND, make a special report based on your self-appraisal and
include the report everything you ever did which you didn't
think you could do. THIS ABSOLUTELY VITAL! It will provide you
with enormous inspiration when faced with a problem you don't
think you can overcome. These are not only real-life success
stories, they are your success stories, positive proof that
there's more in you than you might think. These experiences are
the batteries you'll use to power the shovels which will move
mountains in the future. Remember, even an almost-dead battery
will start a car. Have this report in writing and keep it with
your personal analysis, and make a copy in case you lose it.
This will be a vital document in times to come.
THIRD, decide where you want to go. Most people fail because
they don't set goals worthy of themselves. If they do, they do
not live each day in pursuit these goals. This, and every other
step outlined here, is absolutely vital to a truly successful
life.
When you set your goals, make them better than you've done
before, but make them achievable. In other words, if it is at
all possible that you or someone like you could achieve the
goal, it is worthy. But don't set them too low either, or you'll
be breezing through life, bored and unchallenged. Set goals for
each day, for the next week, month, year, two years, five years,
twenty years, fifty years (regardless of your age).
Be definite about what you want. Write your goals down and use
as much detail as possible. Make them firm... for the moment.
You will find as you achieve certain things that some goals will
have to change, and that's fine. Just don't go around changing
your mind every time the wind changes or you won't know which
way is up.
Set as many goals as you like, and include among them - what
you'd like to be doing, where you'd like to go, what you want
for your family, what kind of person you'd like to be, how much
you'd like to be earning, your net worth, your health,
personality, education and spiritual growth. Keep your daily
goals confined to activities which will lead to accomplishment
of your long-term goals. Don't be afraid to set goals. Mistakes
can be corrected; doing nothing cannot be corrected.
The next step takes no real effort, and strangely enough, it is
the most difficult step for the average person to take.
FOURTH: COMMIT! Make the decision to achieve those goals, to
strive for the things you want which will make your life and
yourself all that much better. Make that commitment from the
heart, not at the lips! It will take time to really feel that
commitment, and regularly reviewing the goals you've written
down will make it possible to truly feel that commitment. You'll
go through agonies at first and wonder if any of this is really
worth it, and that's the point most people give up.
Remember this and you'll look forward to that agony. Every
change comes with pain. It hurts to be born, to fall in love, to
pass an exam, run a marathon. Once you start feeling that pain,
know it for what it is - your old self screaming for life. Let
your old self win and you lose!
Once you pass through that barrier of pain between what you are
and what you want, you will know what it is worth every bit of
discomfort. You've been through it before, and you'll need the
memory of past incidents where you've made it to help you get
through it.
You'll need the support of others, too. So you'll have to
consider the people with whom, you spend most of your time. If
they are not as interested in improving themselves as you are,
it's time to expand your circle of friends to include those
people, and make them the best you could want. Make your friends
inspirations to you in your quest for a better life.
The final step is so simple and so tough it literally separates
the men from the boys who will never grow up. It means
sacrificing immediate pleasure for real satisfaction down the
road, so if you're not ready to make the trade, go back two
paces.
FIFTH: Spend every moment of your life in the most effective,
efficient way possible in the pursuit of your goals. You'll
never be able to do this as well as you will want to, but that's
fine. Nobody spends all their time as effectively as humanly
possible. The degree to which you can tune your desire to the
things you want and discipline yourself to do the things that
lead to getting them - will determine how successful you will be.
Regardless of how weak you are now, you can and will increase
the value your time and activities and garner more happiness
than you might think fair only if you'll keep your failures in
perspective. Think of them as lessons and gain something from
them. Use your successes as a well of strength on which you can
draw when you're ready to quit.
These simple steps are the true secret to getting what you want
out of life. It has been proven time and time again by great men
down trough history, and centuries from now. The words may
change, but the ideas will be the same.
For centuries men have tried to find ways of making this simple
set of guidelines more complicated and more difficult to
understand and follow. Most of them succeeded admirably. Most
got what they wanted by doing so. What they really wanted was
less than they set out to achieve. Getting what you truly want
is so difficult precisely because it is so simple. Humans are
very complex beings and thrive on making things even more
complicated.
It might help to remember that the foundation of every religion,
belief, system and philosophy that has worked its way to a
culture and taken root is personal happiness. In every case,
happiness is achieved by reducing things to their simple
possible elements.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
How To Start Your Own Day Care Center
There's a definite need for day care centers as more and more
mothers of pre-school age children are forced to find jobs
outside the home. This is due in part to the current economy, and
unfortunately, to the high divorce rate, which means mothers who
might ordinarily stay at home and care for their own children
must seek income to help make ends meet.
Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of
the century, and the popularity of this type of business to
continue growing from there. They base their forecasts on the
fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the
time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences
they enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desire
of young mothers to work outside the home.
Profitable day care centers are much more glorified baby-sitting
services. Social researchers have found that the most important
years in a child's development are those from one to six. Thus,
the exposure to the world in which he lives, the instruction he
receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely
affect his ability to learn and properly adjust as he progresses
on through his years of formal education.
For mothers of today--usually better educated than their
mothers---are more aware of these factors and wanting the best
for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school
education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care
centers. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school
age children--even those who aren't forced to work outside the
home.
Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be trend
for many companies to finance and operate day care centers for
their employees in or close by their factories or office
buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave
their children closer to home than where they work. Thus,
privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhood
areas should not be worried too much about competition from the
few company operated day care centers.
The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center is
to understand what makes them profitable.
There are a lot of day care centers operating will full
enrollments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even.
This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the state
government, causing exorbitant overheard costs of operation.
Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 children
in order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracket
of $100,000.
Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies.
Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum area
per child, both inside and outside the building, plus at least
one hot meal per day. A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20
children, and even a licensed nurse on the premises may be
required. Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and then
design your business plan to meet these regulations.
Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, by
learning and expanding from your profits, and of course, through
the long term benefits of establishing a quality image. In fact,
we recommend that you start small---with a baby sitting
service---and build upon your progressive successes. Unless, of
course, you have half a million dollars to invest.
Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home and
backyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you might
try locating in your church or one of your area's civic club
facilities. Also, you should check out the possibilities of
renting or buying a vacant house. A large ranch-style home with a
large backyard would probably suit your need at this stage. But
be sure you have zoning approval from your city council before
signing a rent lease and finalizing your plans.
You might find, if you have your business plan in order, that a
church or labor union will sponsor your business, or even offer
financial backing. Arranging some sort of partnership or
sponsorship agreement with an established local organization will
solve a lot of problems for you, not only in the area of space
but in assistance with start-up costs and city-father approval.
Incidentally, a day care center is perhaps the ideal business for
absentee ownership or a group of professional investors. Keep
this fact in mind as you organize your plan and seek financing.
See our business report, HOW TO RAISE MONEY FOR STARTING YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
Generally, a "shoestring entrepreneur" in this business will do
very well to locate in a vacant convenience store, or even a
vacant grocery store in a larger shopping center. The zoning will
be in your favor, plus you'll have adequate parking space, and
less expense in partitioning or remodeling the building to suit
your needs.
Ideally, your day care center should be located on a main
thoroughfare, with the building set back from the street. You
should be on the right hand side of the street as the traffic
heads towards the major business or industrial areas of your
community. In larger metropolitan areas, this would be on the
city-side of the "bedroom" communities. In smaller communities,
you can locate just about anywhere except in the downtown area.
If at all possible, you should plan your facility similar to a
hospital or motel entrance. This would be a driveway from the
street to your door, usually under a covered drive-thru, with the
driveway continuing back out to the street. Your long-term
parking space would be located in the center of the "U" or
between the driveway and the street. You want to strive for the
convenience for the parent in being able to drive right up to
your door. She can drop off the child with only a few steps into
your facility and easy access back onto the main thoroughfare.
Depending on your city sign ordinances and your finances, go all
out with your sign. Advertise the name of your name care center,
the hours you're open, whether you accept drop-ins, overnighters,
or weekenders, and of course, your phone number.
The sign makers and advertising people may strongly advise you
against so much wording on your sign, but in this instance, don't
listen to them. Your sign should state all essential information,
and serve to convince passers-by that you can handle their
child-care problems whenever the need arises.
If you initially locate in, or through the sponsorship of a
church or labor union, these people can assist you tremendously
by including a mention of your services in their membership
bulletins, and by passing circulars or flyers.
You'll need to decide on your regular day care hours. Generally,
these are from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. You'll also need to decide
whether you want to offer breakfast for the children. If so,
you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morning
meals. We'll discuss kitchen facilities and kitchen help later,
but first decision must be if you will include breakfast. You'll
already be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because for
those parents wanting to feed their children at your home, you'll
be able to add $8 to $12 per week to their billing. By buying
your food supplies in bulk, you'll probably be able to realize
some savings in overall food costs.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states,
but even where they're not required, they are pretty much
standard fare in most day care centers. Fresh fruit, cookies, and
juice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centers.
As mentioned earlier, you'll definitely be providing a hot meal
for the children at noon. This entails a cook, dishes, planned
menus, food supplies in bulk, and perhaps even small size tables
and chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen help and facilities
for washing the dishes.
These are just some of the important overhead costs you must plan
for, and of course you will work to keep them as low as possible.
As you should know by now, the greater the overhead, the more
children you're going to have to take in, and the more children
you take in, the greater your space requirements.
All profitable day care centers operate according to planned
routines. .The day is broken down into one-hour segments, with
pre planned curricula, much the same as classes at a public
school.
A typical day begins with a play period from whenever the
children arrive until about 9 0'clock. For this, you'll need
indoor sand boxes, toys, and perhaps a family sized television
set. From 9 to 10 the children are separated into
groups---generally by ages--and you hold a reading or story
telling session. The mid-morning snack time is scheduled sometime
between 10 to 11. For the younger children, this might include a
mid-morning nap, after snack time, a learning session is usually
held. Typically, this is the time when guests are invited in to
speak or entertain the children.
Work with your Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, and city
administration for guests. Children will especially enjoy visits
by policemen, firemen, and others who talk to them about
citizenship, show films, and teach them about things they can do
in the community.
You can also get upperclassmen at your local colleges to visit
and demonstrate such things as drawing, working with clay,
building with wood, making things out of paper, and hundreds of
other talents or skills they might might be learning. The
important thing is to bring "outsiders" in to talk to the kids
about goes on in the world.
Noon to 1 o'clock is generally lunch time, and 1 to 2 is another
learning session. During this afternoon learning session, you
might offer the rudiments of reading writing and arithmetic.
These teachings chores can be handled by college students
studying to be teachers, retired teachers, or unemployed persons
with teaching certificates. It's not so much a session to teach
proficiency as a time to stimulate a interest in formal
education. The basic goal of most day care centers is to instill
within each child a desire to learn more about the world in which
he lives. Thus, each child should be full of plans for "when I
get to be six years old and start school, I'm going to..."
About once a week, your afternoon learning session should be a
tour or a trip to someplace that might be interesting as well as
educational for the children. Again, you're making the idea of
learning not only interesting, but an exciting adventure as well.
These trips can be anything from a walk in your immediate
neighborhood to loading all the kids into cars or onto buses and
taking them to the zoo. Check it out first, but on th whole,
you'll find most businesses in your area will welcome
opportunities to show the children around their offices or
factories. The same thing quite naturally applies to your city
offices, fire department, police department, and radio or
televison stations.
On days when you don't have a trip scheduled, your "learning
session" might be a film or program related to nature,
particularly animals. The advent of the Video Cassette Recorder
has opened endless possibilities in this area. Nap time and snack
time will fill a period for younger ones, and books and quiet
games will occupy older children who do not take a nap. When the
nap period is over, they're allowed to play until their parents
come to pick them up.
Whenever possible, you should encourage the children to be
outside during play periods. If you have lots of playground
equipment, you won't necessarily always have to have organized
games, but you will have to have a playground
supervisor---someone to watch the children and see they don't get
hurt as they play. You can hire part-time help for this chore,
perhaps from the local colleges, for minimum wage. If your city
ordinances do not cover the specific age requirements of a
playground supervisor, you might be able to hire students form
your neighborhood high school. Select all the people you can hire
relative to their affinity with children and their dependability.
Be aware of today's climate of extreme concern in protecting
children in day care situations.
Your playground will require a fenced-in area. Drive around and
look at the playground equipment in play yards of your public
schools and day centers in your area. You should have the basic
sandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in this area you
can be creative and original, provided your equipment meets
safety standards.
Some states require that you have a registered nurse on the
premises, but generally, the main things needed are medical
information from the parents and a written procedure to follow in
case of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injured
or becomes ill, you should take them to the nearest medical
center, while another staff person gets in touch with the
parents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot be
present at the medical center, all information should be passed
on to them immediately it is available.
It's a good idea to have all helpers indoctrinated with basic Red
Cross first aid knowledge, and have a well equipped first aid kit
on the premises. As for any requirements to a fulltime nurse, you
should be able to hire registered nurses who are either not
working or looking for extra income. You might be able to "hire
the license" of a registered nurse. You should pay a small fee to
hang her license in your office, and she agrees to be available
to serve your needs when you call.
Most day care centers are currently charging from $35 to $65 per
child for a five day week, plus $5 to $10 more for the inclusion
of breakfast, with another $1 per meal when they serve an evening
meal to the child. If you do receive pay in advance, you can very
quickly get "in the red." We strongly suggest setting up your
financial structure and clients payment schedules with this in
mind.
By having your customers pay in advance, you'll eliminate a lot
of bookkeeping chores and time, the problems of collections, and
you'll have operating funds with which to run the business. A
point to stress when asking for payment by the month, in advance,
is that because monthly payments are based on only four weeks of
day care, they'll be getting a week free service every three
months.
Every profitable day care center requires a sharp manager or
director. This person might be yourself, or someone you hire for
the job. Regardless, this person will be the key to your success.
The director should have empathy with people, be an excellent
judge of people, be sales orientated, and have an outgoing
personality. As much as anything else, this person must have the
ability to listen to, and really hear what other people are
saying without the influence of preconceived opinions, or making
snap decisions. This person has to have the success of your
business in mind at all times, which means building and
maintaining an impeccable reputation.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervision
of your other help and the budgeting, scheduling and overall
day-to-day operation of the business. It is imperative to the
success of your business that you have the very best person you
can get in this position, regardless of the cost. A good director
for a day care center will command salary equal to teachers in
your public schools, plus fringe benefits allowances such as free
enrollment for their children and perhaps medical and dental
insurance if you choose to provide group coverage.
When a prospective client calls to ask about your services, you
should explain how you operate, and emphasize your invitation for
them to bring their child in so the two of them can be taken for
a tour of your facilities.
Once in the center, your manager or director takes the parent and
child on a tour, all the while explaining to parent the
advantages of the center's structured learning and play program
compared with everyday run-of-the-mill baby-sitting services.
It's important to have the child along, because he sees the other
children at play, he will be drawn to them, and this will greatly
influence the parent in deciding that your center is the right
place for his child.
After the tour, steer the parent back into your administrative
offices and propose enrollment of the child. Begin by asking
where the parent works, what hours and if he or she ever has to
wok overtime. You then ascertain the hours they'll want to drop
off and pick up their child.
Strict procedures are absolutely essential regarding the pick-up
of any child. Frightening as it may be to contemplate, we have
all read accounts of strangers (or non-custodial parent)
kidnapping a child. Printed forms must be provided and
authorization signatures must be compared when anyone other than
the legal guardian takes a child from your care. You will learn
these requirements from your licensing office. Our advise to you
is to follow them meticulously.
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing your
rates, your services, an outline of the curriculum, and a
statement of your benefits goals for the children.
Check with a legally qualified person about the need for a
contract. The parent will probably simply fill out a
questionaire-file card giving address, place employment, medical
information about the child, and place he or she may be reached
in case of emergency.
Most day care centers accept all children between two and six
years of age. An there are many nowadays who take infants from
six weeks.
Of course, your personnel in this situation will be thoroughly
oriented in infant care, an you must ascertain if these babies
are well brought in to you. Otherwise, you put yourself in the
position of "hospital" care instead of day care.
Generally, children aren't allowed to bring toys from home. You
may want to allow the children to bring their own blanket from
home for nap time, but if you allowed toys from home you would be
opening "Pandora's box" of possible problems relating to sharing
and ownership. In light of this, you will want a full complement
of appropriate toys and play items in your center.
If your decide to include short-term baby-sitting services, a
good idea would be include within the layout of your facilities a
small one bedroom apartment for a live-in person or couple. An
older retired couple would be ideal, with the husband also as
maintenance and handyman.
Around-the-clock baby-sitting services, in addition to your
regular day care center, can add tremendous and immediate
cash-flow profits to your business, but correspondingly increase
your payroll for qualified personnel. Such services would enable
the parents to drop their children off in the evening, and leave
them around the clock or over the weekend. There will generally
be no need for any planned program because these children will be
sleeping during most of the time they're in your care.
As you establish the image and reputation of your day care
center, the parents in your area will be much more inclined to
leave their children with you for baby-sitting duties. And
because you are considered tops in the area of responsibility,
you'll be able to charge the very top rate of the baby-sitting
fee structure. Keep current with fees charged by other quality
businesses similar to yours.
The demand for uplanned or emergency baby-sitting services is
very large. Not too many day care centers are aware of this
potential for extra profits yet, but the ones that are find that
their incomes can increase by 30 percent or more ! We certainly
recommend consideration of this idea for anyone involved in a day
care service.
Another area that could mean enhanced profits for you is bus or
van pick-up service for the children. Of course, this would
increase your operating costs (and consequently your fees) but
the convenience of pick-up is gaining in popularity. You'll need
a custodian for indoor and outdoor cleanup, and if you have
access to a bus or van, he could be assigned additional duties as
the driver. Some day care centers offering pick-up service for
their children contrast with local transportation services for
their children contract transportation services to provide this
service. Be certain of the driving experience of your driver if
you contract for this transportation service.
Most day care centers open with very little fanfare or
advertising. Generally, even without advertising most are
reporting 90 percent capacity enrollment within six months.
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign,
you should be able at 90 percent capacity within your first six
weeks. In an area where a severe shortage of day care facilities
exists, and with the right advertising and promotion, even
sooner.
Your first step should be the door-to-door, hand-out distribution
of a quality informative brochure. To save on costs, you can hire
students attending advertising classes in you area colleges or
even a free lance advertising copywriter to help you with the
design and writing of this brochure. However, the bottom line
should be that you have a good commercial printer do the printing
on the best paper can afford. All of this has to do with the
image you're wanting to create, and the quality of the service
the "buyers" feel they're getting for the prices you are
charging. Don't skimp on your brochure--you're aiming at people
looking for the best place for their children.
You should place at least a two-column by four-inch grand opening
display ad in you local newspapers. At the same time, you should
place similar ads in the local magazines and other publications
catering to the working mother. Send along a group picture of
your staff, and a story about your services with your advertising
order. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV
stations and invite them out to your grand opening.
Be sure to place a "service information" ad in yellow pages of
your telephone directory. This should be the largest size you can
afford. And remember that you need to make contract for a yellow
page ad well in advance of the release date of the directory.
After your grand opening, and until you attain full capacity,
continue to hand out your brochures at the entrances to the
office buildings which house companies employing working mothers.
Continue to run ads in your local newspaper, although these ads
needn't be quite as large or run as regularly as the grand
openings ads. Run an ad in the classified section describing your
baby-sitting services.
At your grand opening, offer free refreshments for everyone.
Coffee and punch for the adults, with juice for the children, and
cookies for everyone. You should have members of your staff
circulating among the parents to answer any questions and hand
out brochures about the center.
You can begin small, and expand in stages with your profit.
However, you must draw up a long-range plan detailing exactly
what you intend to do, and each milestone you'll have to pass
before proceeding to next your goal. In this way, you can succeed
and attain not only the ultimate business, but also the kind of
profits planned at the start.
The basic, and bottom line secret to success with your own day
care center will be your ability to hold your costs in line while
achieving maximum capacity enrollment. You've got the plan, and
my best wishes for success!
mothers of pre-school age children are forced to find jobs
outside the home. This is due in part to the current economy, and
unfortunately, to the high divorce rate, which means mothers who
might ordinarily stay at home and care for their own children
must seek income to help make ends meet.
Many experts expect the demand to increase through the turn of
the century, and the popularity of this type of business to
continue growing from there. They base their forecasts on the
fact that more and more young parents have happy memories of the
time they spent in day care centers, and the learning experiences
they enjoyed. And again, there is the continuing need or desire
of young mothers to work outside the home.
Profitable day care centers are much more glorified baby-sitting
services. Social researchers have found that the most important
years in a child's development are those from one to six. Thus,
the exposure to the world in which he lives, the instruction he
receives, and the habits he forms during those years, definitely
affect his ability to learn and properly adjust as he progresses
on through his years of formal education.
For mothers of today--usually better educated than their
mothers---are more aware of these factors and wanting the best
for their children, are demanding the structured pre-school
education and learning stimulation offered by modern day care
centers. This is an honest desire of the mothers of pre-school
age children--even those who aren't forced to work outside the
home.
Another thing in your favor: Even though there seems to be trend
for many companies to finance and operate day care centers for
their employees in or close by their factories or office
buildings, studies show that most working parents prefer to leave
their children closer to home than where they work. Thus,
privately operated day care centers in residential neighborhood
areas should not be worried too much about competition from the
few company operated day care centers.
The first step toward start-up of a profitable day care center is
to understand what makes them profitable.
There are a lot of day care centers operating will full
enrollments of 35 to 65 children, but just barely breaking even.
This is generally the result of regulations imposed by the state
government, causing exorbitant overheard costs of operation.
Basically, you'll need facilities to handle 150 to 200 children
in order to realize annual profits in the "before taxes" bracket
of $100,000.
Check with your state and local government regulatory agencies.
Many states require day care centers to provide a minimum area
per child, both inside and outside the building, plus at least
one hot meal per day. A licensed teacher for every 15 to 20
children, and even a licensed nurse on the premises may be
required. Be sure to know the regulations in your area, and then
design your business plan to meet these regulations.
Actually, you can begin by operating a baby-sitting service, by
learning and expanding from your profits, and of course, through
the long term benefits of establishing a quality image. In fact,
we recommend that you start small---with a baby sitting
service---and build upon your progressive successes. Unless, of
course, you have half a million dollars to invest.
Once you're beyond the baby-sitting stage, out of your home and
backyard, beginning to build a real day care facility, you might
try locating in your church or one of your area's civic club
facilities. Also, you should check out the possibilities of
renting or buying a vacant house. A large ranch-style home with a
large backyard would probably suit your need at this stage. But
be sure you have zoning approval from your city council before
signing a rent lease and finalizing your plans.
You might find, if you have your business plan in order, that a
church or labor union will sponsor your business, or even offer
financial backing. Arranging some sort of partnership or
sponsorship agreement with an established local organization will
solve a lot of problems for you, not only in the area of space
but in assistance with start-up costs and city-father approval.
Incidentally, a day care center is perhaps the ideal business for
absentee ownership or a group of professional investors. Keep
this fact in mind as you organize your plan and seek financing.
See our business report, HOW TO RAISE MONEY FOR STARTING YOUR OWN
BUSINESS.
Generally, a "shoestring entrepreneur" in this business will do
very well to locate in a vacant convenience store, or even a
vacant grocery store in a larger shopping center. The zoning will
be in your favor, plus you'll have adequate parking space, and
less expense in partitioning or remodeling the building to suit
your needs.
Ideally, your day care center should be located on a main
thoroughfare, with the building set back from the street. You
should be on the right hand side of the street as the traffic
heads towards the major business or industrial areas of your
community. In larger metropolitan areas, this would be on the
city-side of the "bedroom" communities. In smaller communities,
you can locate just about anywhere except in the downtown area.
If at all possible, you should plan your facility similar to a
hospital or motel entrance. This would be a driveway from the
street to your door, usually under a covered drive-thru, with the
driveway continuing back out to the street. Your long-term
parking space would be located in the center of the "U" or
between the driveway and the street. You want to strive for the
convenience for the parent in being able to drive right up to
your door. She can drop off the child with only a few steps into
your facility and easy access back onto the main thoroughfare.
Depending on your city sign ordinances and your finances, go all
out with your sign. Advertise the name of your name care center,
the hours you're open, whether you accept drop-ins, overnighters,
or weekenders, and of course, your phone number.
The sign makers and advertising people may strongly advise you
against so much wording on your sign, but in this instance, don't
listen to them. Your sign should state all essential information,
and serve to convince passers-by that you can handle their
child-care problems whenever the need arises.
If you initially locate in, or through the sponsorship of a
church or labor union, these people can assist you tremendously
by including a mention of your services in their membership
bulletins, and by passing circulars or flyers.
You'll need to decide on your regular day care hours. Generally,
these are from 6 a.m. through 6 p.m. You'll also need to decide
whether you want to offer breakfast for the children. If so,
you'll have to plan for a cook and food supplies for morning
meals. We'll discuss kitchen facilities and kitchen help later,
but first decision must be if you will include breakfast. You'll
already be set up with kitchen facilities and a cook because for
those parents wanting to feed their children at your home, you'll
be able to add $8 to $12 per week to their billing. By buying
your food supplies in bulk, you'll probably be able to realize
some savings in overall food costs.
Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks are required in some states,
but even where they're not required, they are pretty much
standard fare in most day care centers. Fresh fruit, cookies, and
juice are the usual snack foods served in most day care centers.
As mentioned earlier, you'll definitely be providing a hot meal
for the children at noon. This entails a cook, dishes, planned
menus, food supplies in bulk, and perhaps even small size tables
and chairs. You'll also have to have kitchen help and facilities
for washing the dishes.
These are just some of the important overhead costs you must plan
for, and of course you will work to keep them as low as possible.
As you should know by now, the greater the overhead, the more
children you're going to have to take in, and the more children
you take in, the greater your space requirements.
All profitable day care centers operate according to planned
routines. .The day is broken down into one-hour segments, with
pre planned curricula, much the same as classes at a public
school.
A typical day begins with a play period from whenever the
children arrive until about 9 0'clock. For this, you'll need
indoor sand boxes, toys, and perhaps a family sized television
set. From 9 to 10 the children are separated into
groups---generally by ages--and you hold a reading or story
telling session. The mid-morning snack time is scheduled sometime
between 10 to 11. For the younger children, this might include a
mid-morning nap, after snack time, a learning session is usually
held. Typically, this is the time when guests are invited in to
speak or entertain the children.
Work with your Chamber of Commerce, civic clubs, and city
administration for guests. Children will especially enjoy visits
by policemen, firemen, and others who talk to them about
citizenship, show films, and teach them about things they can do
in the community.
You can also get upperclassmen at your local colleges to visit
and demonstrate such things as drawing, working with clay,
building with wood, making things out of paper, and hundreds of
other talents or skills they might might be learning. The
important thing is to bring "outsiders" in to talk to the kids
about goes on in the world.
Noon to 1 o'clock is generally lunch time, and 1 to 2 is another
learning session. During this afternoon learning session, you
might offer the rudiments of reading writing and arithmetic.
These teachings chores can be handled by college students
studying to be teachers, retired teachers, or unemployed persons
with teaching certificates. It's not so much a session to teach
proficiency as a time to stimulate a interest in formal
education. The basic goal of most day care centers is to instill
within each child a desire to learn more about the world in which
he lives. Thus, each child should be full of plans for "when I
get to be six years old and start school, I'm going to..."
About once a week, your afternoon learning session should be a
tour or a trip to someplace that might be interesting as well as
educational for the children. Again, you're making the idea of
learning not only interesting, but an exciting adventure as well.
These trips can be anything from a walk in your immediate
neighborhood to loading all the kids into cars or onto buses and
taking them to the zoo. Check it out first, but on th whole,
you'll find most businesses in your area will welcome
opportunities to show the children around their offices or
factories. The same thing quite naturally applies to your city
offices, fire department, police department, and radio or
televison stations.
On days when you don't have a trip scheduled, your "learning
session" might be a film or program related to nature,
particularly animals. The advent of the Video Cassette Recorder
has opened endless possibilities in this area. Nap time and snack
time will fill a period for younger ones, and books and quiet
games will occupy older children who do not take a nap. When the
nap period is over, they're allowed to play until their parents
come to pick them up.
Whenever possible, you should encourage the children to be
outside during play periods. If you have lots of playground
equipment, you won't necessarily always have to have organized
games, but you will have to have a playground
supervisor---someone to watch the children and see they don't get
hurt as they play. You can hire part-time help for this chore,
perhaps from the local colleges, for minimum wage. If your city
ordinances do not cover the specific age requirements of a
playground supervisor, you might be able to hire students form
your neighborhood high school. Select all the people you can hire
relative to their affinity with children and their dependability.
Be aware of today's climate of extreme concern in protecting
children in day care situations.
Your playground will require a fenced-in area. Drive around and
look at the playground equipment in play yards of your public
schools and day centers in your area. You should have the basic
sandboxes, swings, slides and jungle gyms but in this area you
can be creative and original, provided your equipment meets
safety standards.
Some states require that you have a registered nurse on the
premises, but generally, the main things needed are medical
information from the parents and a written procedure to follow in
case of accident or illness. Basically, when a child is injured
or becomes ill, you should take them to the nearest medical
center, while another staff person gets in touch with the
parents, and explains what happened. If the parent cannot be
present at the medical center, all information should be passed
on to them immediately it is available.
It's a good idea to have all helpers indoctrinated with basic Red
Cross first aid knowledge, and have a well equipped first aid kit
on the premises. As for any requirements to a fulltime nurse, you
should be able to hire registered nurses who are either not
working or looking for extra income. You might be able to "hire
the license" of a registered nurse. You should pay a small fee to
hang her license in your office, and she agrees to be available
to serve your needs when you call.
Most day care centers are currently charging from $35 to $65 per
child for a five day week, plus $5 to $10 more for the inclusion
of breakfast, with another $1 per meal when they serve an evening
meal to the child. If you do receive pay in advance, you can very
quickly get "in the red." We strongly suggest setting up your
financial structure and clients payment schedules with this in
mind.
By having your customers pay in advance, you'll eliminate a lot
of bookkeeping chores and time, the problems of collections, and
you'll have operating funds with which to run the business. A
point to stress when asking for payment by the month, in advance,
is that because monthly payments are based on only four weeks of
day care, they'll be getting a week free service every three
months.
Every profitable day care center requires a sharp manager or
director. This person might be yourself, or someone you hire for
the job. Regardless, this person will be the key to your success.
The director should have empathy with people, be an excellent
judge of people, be sales orientated, and have an outgoing
personality. As much as anything else, this person must have the
ability to listen to, and really hear what other people are
saying without the influence of preconceived opinions, or making
snap decisions. This person has to have the success of your
business in mind at all times, which means building and
maintaining an impeccable reputation.
Your director will be responsible for the hiring and supervision
of your other help and the budgeting, scheduling and overall
day-to-day operation of the business. It is imperative to the
success of your business that you have the very best person you
can get in this position, regardless of the cost. A good director
for a day care center will command salary equal to teachers in
your public schools, plus fringe benefits allowances such as free
enrollment for their children and perhaps medical and dental
insurance if you choose to provide group coverage.
When a prospective client calls to ask about your services, you
should explain how you operate, and emphasize your invitation for
them to bring their child in so the two of them can be taken for
a tour of your facilities.
Once in the center, your manager or director takes the parent and
child on a tour, all the while explaining to parent the
advantages of the center's structured learning and play program
compared with everyday run-of-the-mill baby-sitting services.
It's important to have the child along, because he sees the other
children at play, he will be drawn to them, and this will greatly
influence the parent in deciding that your center is the right
place for his child.
After the tour, steer the parent back into your administrative
offices and propose enrollment of the child. Begin by asking
where the parent works, what hours and if he or she ever has to
wok overtime. You then ascertain the hours they'll want to drop
off and pick up their child.
Strict procedures are absolutely essential regarding the pick-up
of any child. Frightening as it may be to contemplate, we have
all read accounts of strangers (or non-custodial parent)
kidnapping a child. Printed forms must be provided and
authorization signatures must be compared when anyone other than
the legal guardian takes a child from your care. You will learn
these requirements from your licensing office. Our advise to you
is to follow them meticulously.
You should have a slickly printed, quality brochure showing your
rates, your services, an outline of the curriculum, and a
statement of your benefits goals for the children.
Check with a legally qualified person about the need for a
contract. The parent will probably simply fill out a
questionaire-file card giving address, place employment, medical
information about the child, and place he or she may be reached
in case of emergency.
Most day care centers accept all children between two and six
years of age. An there are many nowadays who take infants from
six weeks.
Of course, your personnel in this situation will be thoroughly
oriented in infant care, an you must ascertain if these babies
are well brought in to you. Otherwise, you put yourself in the
position of "hospital" care instead of day care.
Generally, children aren't allowed to bring toys from home. You
may want to allow the children to bring their own blanket from
home for nap time, but if you allowed toys from home you would be
opening "Pandora's box" of possible problems relating to sharing
and ownership. In light of this, you will want a full complement
of appropriate toys and play items in your center.
If your decide to include short-term baby-sitting services, a
good idea would be include within the layout of your facilities a
small one bedroom apartment for a live-in person or couple. An
older retired couple would be ideal, with the husband also as
maintenance and handyman.
Around-the-clock baby-sitting services, in addition to your
regular day care center, can add tremendous and immediate
cash-flow profits to your business, but correspondingly increase
your payroll for qualified personnel. Such services would enable
the parents to drop their children off in the evening, and leave
them around the clock or over the weekend. There will generally
be no need for any planned program because these children will be
sleeping during most of the time they're in your care.
As you establish the image and reputation of your day care
center, the parents in your area will be much more inclined to
leave their children with you for baby-sitting duties. And
because you are considered tops in the area of responsibility,
you'll be able to charge the very top rate of the baby-sitting
fee structure. Keep current with fees charged by other quality
businesses similar to yours.
The demand for uplanned or emergency baby-sitting services is
very large. Not too many day care centers are aware of this
potential for extra profits yet, but the ones that are find that
their incomes can increase by 30 percent or more ! We certainly
recommend consideration of this idea for anyone involved in a day
care service.
Another area that could mean enhanced profits for you is bus or
van pick-up service for the children. Of course, this would
increase your operating costs (and consequently your fees) but
the convenience of pick-up is gaining in popularity. You'll need
a custodian for indoor and outdoor cleanup, and if you have
access to a bus or van, he could be assigned additional duties as
the driver. Some day care centers offering pick-up service for
their children contrast with local transportation services for
their children contract transportation services to provide this
service. Be certain of the driving experience of your driver if
you contract for this transportation service.
Most day care centers open with very little fanfare or
advertising. Generally, even without advertising most are
reporting 90 percent capacity enrollment within six months.
With grand opening fanfare, and a strong advertising campaign,
you should be able at 90 percent capacity within your first six
weeks. In an area where a severe shortage of day care facilities
exists, and with the right advertising and promotion, even
sooner.
Your first step should be the door-to-door, hand-out distribution
of a quality informative brochure. To save on costs, you can hire
students attending advertising classes in you area colleges or
even a free lance advertising copywriter to help you with the
design and writing of this brochure. However, the bottom line
should be that you have a good commercial printer do the printing
on the best paper can afford. All of this has to do with the
image you're wanting to create, and the quality of the service
the "buyers" feel they're getting for the prices you are
charging. Don't skimp on your brochure--you're aiming at people
looking for the best place for their children.
You should place at least a two-column by four-inch grand opening
display ad in you local newspapers. At the same time, you should
place similar ads in the local magazines and other publications
catering to the working mother. Send along a group picture of
your staff, and a story about your services with your advertising
order. Phone the editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV
stations and invite them out to your grand opening.
Be sure to place a "service information" ad in yellow pages of
your telephone directory. This should be the largest size you can
afford. And remember that you need to make contract for a yellow
page ad well in advance of the release date of the directory.
After your grand opening, and until you attain full capacity,
continue to hand out your brochures at the entrances to the
office buildings which house companies employing working mothers.
Continue to run ads in your local newspaper, although these ads
needn't be quite as large or run as regularly as the grand
openings ads. Run an ad in the classified section describing your
baby-sitting services.
At your grand opening, offer free refreshments for everyone.
Coffee and punch for the adults, with juice for the children, and
cookies for everyone. You should have members of your staff
circulating among the parents to answer any questions and hand
out brochures about the center.
You can begin small, and expand in stages with your profit.
However, you must draw up a long-range plan detailing exactly
what you intend to do, and each milestone you'll have to pass
before proceeding to next your goal. In this way, you can succeed
and attain not only the ultimate business, but also the kind of
profits planned at the start.
The basic, and bottom line secret to success with your own day
care center will be your ability to hold your costs in line while
achieving maximum capacity enrollment. You've got the plan, and
my best wishes for success!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
What Makes An Entrepreneur Tick?
It is only natural that when you start a business, you are
doing something different than most people. They not only
will look at you because you stick out like a sore thumb _
but human nature will cause people to naturally ridicule
what you are doing. They will tell you all types of things
like: "You're not business material." "You can't make a
living working for yourself." "You'll fail because nobody
can ever make any money that way."
Entrepreneurship is not just about having a lot of ideas
or business sense. It is also about having a lot of guts.
You have to build self-confidence in yourself. You have to
only be concerned with pleasing yourself and your Creator
(God) _ not mankind. Then, when (and if) you should fail
with this particular venture, you'll just dust yourself
off and start again. It doesn't matter if people "think"
you're nuts! They aren't paying your rent and running
your life. Don't be concerned with what people "think" you
should be. Just please yourself and do what you feel
is right. People are too busy competing with society and
"keeping up with the Jones's" that they do things they are
not comfortable with just to appease them and look
"normal" (whatever that is.)
And if you have to _ start out small in building your
self-confidence. I used to be so self-conscious that I
would never eat at a restaurant alone because I thought
people would believe I was lonely and had no friends.
Unbelievable, but true. But, everyday I worked on walking
into a restaurant, taking a magazine to read and eating
alone. I would glance around, and to my amazement, no one
ever looked at me. No one cared that I was eating alone.
Then _ it dawned on me; "Who cares what these people
think? I'll never see them again." Besides, there were a
lot of other people eating alone also and I could absorb
myself in the magazine I had took to read. Now, I can eat
in restaurants and not give any thought to the people
around me.
But back to business _ when most people do fail in
business they try to "save face" by telling everyone they
are "just in a slump" and everything will be back to
normal soon. Besides, they don't want people to say: "I
told you so" and destroy any pride they are still hanging
onto. Unfortunately, this only delays the problem and
creates even more false hope for the people in your life
as well as yourself.
The best thing to do for anybody in this catastrophe is to
swallow their pride and admit they screwed up. Just face
it head on! Admit that you were so proud of your
accomplishments that your mind became diluted with
"visions of sugar plums and fantasyland."
If your small business is beyond repair, go out and find a
job and begin working on your next small business in the
near future. Keep your family fed and your financial
obligations met but look forward to the day when you WILL
succeed with your new business venture.
And why should you try again? Simply because you won't
make the same mistakes you made this time. If you built
something successful before (but failed), you are certain
to build the next business stronger and wiser. Even if you
fail the second time, it won't be because of mistakes you
made the first time. You'll learn more and more _ and
eventually be successful. It's inevitable!
doing something different than most people. They not only
will look at you because you stick out like a sore thumb _
but human nature will cause people to naturally ridicule
what you are doing. They will tell you all types of things
like: "You're not business material." "You can't make a
living working for yourself." "You'll fail because nobody
can ever make any money that way."
Entrepreneurship is not just about having a lot of ideas
or business sense. It is also about having a lot of guts.
You have to build self-confidence in yourself. You have to
only be concerned with pleasing yourself and your Creator
(God) _ not mankind. Then, when (and if) you should fail
with this particular venture, you'll just dust yourself
off and start again. It doesn't matter if people "think"
you're nuts! They aren't paying your rent and running
your life. Don't be concerned with what people "think" you
should be. Just please yourself and do what you feel
is right. People are too busy competing with society and
"keeping up with the Jones's" that they do things they are
not comfortable with just to appease them and look
"normal" (whatever that is.)
And if you have to _ start out small in building your
self-confidence. I used to be so self-conscious that I
would never eat at a restaurant alone because I thought
people would believe I was lonely and had no friends.
Unbelievable, but true. But, everyday I worked on walking
into a restaurant, taking a magazine to read and eating
alone. I would glance around, and to my amazement, no one
ever looked at me. No one cared that I was eating alone.
Then _ it dawned on me; "Who cares what these people
think? I'll never see them again." Besides, there were a
lot of other people eating alone also and I could absorb
myself in the magazine I had took to read. Now, I can eat
in restaurants and not give any thought to the people
around me.
But back to business _ when most people do fail in
business they try to "save face" by telling everyone they
are "just in a slump" and everything will be back to
normal soon. Besides, they don't want people to say: "I
told you so" and destroy any pride they are still hanging
onto. Unfortunately, this only delays the problem and
creates even more false hope for the people in your life
as well as yourself.
The best thing to do for anybody in this catastrophe is to
swallow their pride and admit they screwed up. Just face
it head on! Admit that you were so proud of your
accomplishments that your mind became diluted with
"visions of sugar plums and fantasyland."
If your small business is beyond repair, go out and find a
job and begin working on your next small business in the
near future. Keep your family fed and your financial
obligations met but look forward to the day when you WILL
succeed with your new business venture.
And why should you try again? Simply because you won't
make the same mistakes you made this time. If you built
something successful before (but failed), you are certain
to build the next business stronger and wiser. Even if you
fail the second time, it won't be because of mistakes you
made the first time. You'll learn more and more _ and
eventually be successful. It's inevitable!
Friday, September 5, 2008
Temple Rubbings -- The Unusual Opportunity
Raise Capital in 90 Days Online - Now!
This is a business where a person with no art talent can
produce art!
Temple or gravestone rubbing is believed to have originated
with the ancient (300 BC) Chinese. It was an efficient method
of communicating the "written word" and a forerunner to the
printing press.
The Emperors had their laws, slogans and messages carved in
stone (that's easy for an Emperor to do) then transformed to
parchment by rubbing with colored wax or other permanent dye
material. Centuries later, pictures (stone and metal reliefs)
were carved expressly for this purpose and today several Asian
countries feature large temple rubbings commonly called batiks,
which is technically a misnomer.
The name batik more properly refers to designed fabric that is
coated with a wax, a design scratched or applied with a heated
tool, and dipped in dye. Since the dye only affects parts not
protected or by wax, the design remains when the wax is washed
out. A marbling effect can be achieved when the dye is allowed
(or forced) to seep into cracks in the wax caused by crumpling
when cooled.
Although carved stone and metals are the most popular subjects
for rubbing, virtually any solid relief surface can yield an
interesting rubbing product: medals, leaves, architectural
reliefs, cultural, historic, or commemorative plaques.
Most commercial rubbings come from church and courtyard reliefs.
Their attraction and value are enhanced by unusual materials,
novel rubbing techniques, impressive frames and by novel
innovations such as certificates of authenticity.
Perhaps the most interesting source for rubbings is old
graveyards -- in any country! The markers and design are not
only historical, they are often art works of a bygone age.
Temple rubbings and gravestone rubbings are essentially the
same. Generally, impressions of oriental designs are called
temple rubbings, while gravestone rubbings are usually from
markers and tombs. The two terms can be used interchangeably
in the business.
A major market for gravestone rubbings is descendants and
genealogical projects. Many family records include information
from old markers; some have photographs and/or rubbings of those
old markers.. Because some of the stone markers are in soft
material like limestone, the photographs may eventually be the
only legible record.
Gravestone rubbings from the tomb of an ancient relative might
be considered quite a prize -- and not for just for their
sentimental value.
The basic tools needed to begin the art of temple or gravestone
rubbings are:
A piece of dry sponge, foam plastic or
blackboard eraser and a soft brush to
prepare the surface that is to be rubbed.
Fabric or paper to place over the design
to reproduce it.
A rubbing marker, such as a commercial
lumber crayon, or large flat sided school
crayon to rub over the design.
Tape and twine to hold the fabric in place
--and perhaps a kneeling pad.
For the rubbing fabric, its is best to use white butcher paper
at first. It is expensive and will do for learning and can even
be saved and mounted.
To make your rubbings look their best, however, it is best to
feature an unusual or interesting fabric. One idea is to use
marbleized paper, another is to buy or make your own special
effect fabric; still another is wallpaper -- fabric or paper
with a nice texture.
The fabric and frame should be coordinated and both should
complement or contrast with the rubbing itself. A variation
is to use a light fabric for the actual rubbing, and contrasting
dark color and/or texture for a border within the frame.
Another idea for a marker is to make your own applicator. A pad
should be relatively flat, porous and about 4" across (although
others sizes might be used for special parts of the job).
One suggestion is to start with a cutout circle of 1/8" plywood,
about 3" in diameter. Glue a powder puff to one side and a handle
to the other, then cover with a piece of 1/4" thick foam rubber
(like wet suit material). Tie the foam material together on the
handle side to leave a smooth convex surface on the rubbing side.
This "tool" can be dipped in burnt umbra or other wet or dry
stain and ribbed in a light circular motion to produce a very
smooth, unstreaked reproduction of the relief.
Variations in rubbing pressure, staining material color and
consistency, size and shape of the pad, fabric and your rubbing
techniques will produce a wide variety of effects. Experiment
until you find the ones you want.
Frames can be purchased or custom made. If not covered with
glass, the finished rubbing should be sprayed with a protective
covering such as Gloss Finish, which is used to spray finished
charcoal drawings to prevent smearing (available at any art store).
The higher your asking price, the more important it is to
protect and "showcase" your finished rubbing "under glass."
To make your first temple rubbing, select your subject, and a
nice dry day. Clean the surface thoroughly with your sponge or
brush. Use a little vinegar to for stubborn moss spots (let it
dry before attempting to rub). Do not use anything harder or
you risk scoring the surface which can damage the subject and
lower the quality of your rubbing. Remove as much moss as
possible for the best representation.
Next, place the fabric over the design and tape (or tie) it
in place. Always use larger sheets fabric so there is plenty
of margin to tie or tape without touching any of the surface
that is to appear in your finished rubbing.
Peel off the paper from your crayon marker ( or dip your sponge
pad) and use the flat side of the marker to gently rub over the
raised portions of the design from the center outward all around
until you have a light representation of the design.
Reverse directions and work from the outside in, gradually
applying more and more pressure until you have just the amount
of color, contrast and design that you want.. Study your rubbing
form all angles and distances while it is still held firmly in
place. Darken desired areas and correct any errors BEFORE removing
the tape or ties. Once you move the fabric,, you are finished with
that impression!
It should be mentioned here that some "experts" deliberately move
their rubbing fabrics slightly during their process. They complete
the rubbing in the basic color then move the fabric slightly. The
next step is to go over the highlights with a contrasting color --
for a sort of highlight or 3-D effect.
Especially in a foreign country, always check with the proper
authorities before attempting any type of rubbing activity,
regardless of whether the object is on private, public or
religious property.
It is not only good manners, but it can save embarrassment and
possibly hard feelings. There could be religious, political,
family or cultural considerations as well as property rights.
It is impossible to predict what your temple and/or gravestone
rubbing might sell for (somewhere in the $10 to $1,000 range?).
The price you realize will depend on the quality of your work,
the subjects and their artistic appeal, as well as their frames
and the manner in which they are marketed. The highest prices
can be realized with glass covered creations in a attractive,
contrasting fabric bordered frames and presented in art gallery
fashion.
Tip: If your subjects are oriental, you might hire an oriental
person to sell market them.
Persons visiting or serving in overseas assignments have a
unique opportunity to find interesting and historical rubbing
subjects,. But, there are also plenty of "stateside"
opportunities as well.
Consider just one specialty: epitaphs. There are some pretty
curious examples in some of the old graveyards across the
country, including funny sayings, terse explanation of
occupant's downfall and not a few with major errors.
In the past, most markers were not carved by professionals
or scholars -- many were made by people who hardly could read
and knew very little about stone carving. Some have words or
letters missing or crammed in at the end of lines. Some even
have corrections -- IN STONE! There are some very interesting
(and valuable) collections out there -- patiently waiting for
an enterprising entrepreneur.
BUSINESS SOURCES
THE KELSEY CO.,Box 941, Meriden, CT 06450, 203/235-1695.
Printing and related materials and equipment; type, paper,
presses, wood and linoleum blocks, etc.,Old, reliable company.
DICK BLICK CENTRAL, Box 1267, Galesburg, IL 61407-1267,
800/477-8192. Wholesale art, sign, ceramic, sculpture
supplies. Old, reliable company.
EL DO PLASTICS, INC.,Box 451, El Dorado, AR 71730,
800/643-1556. Magnetic sign & engraver supplies; has sponge
rubber pads (called Davis Daubers). reliable company.
MEYERS PUBLISHING CO.,2135 Summer St.,Stamford, CT 06945,
203/356-1745. Publishes ART BUSINESS NEWS, trade magazine
for art and picture frame dealers.
FABRIC FINDERS, 125 Wold Rd.,Albany, NY 12205.
Wholesale fabrics (first quality and seconds).
JAPS, 126 7th Ave.,Hopkins, NM 55343. Picture framing
supplies; offers framing gide for $3; free catalog.
PICTURE ART INDUSTRIES, 2566 Stirling Rd.,Hollywood,
FL 33020, 305/921-6664. Wholesale framed pictures featuring
lithograph prints under glass; over 1,000 pieces.
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS, INC.,5266 Barfield Rd.,Atlanta,
GA 30328, 404/256-9800. Publishes ART MATERIAL TRADE NEWS,
"The Journal of all art, craft, engineering and drafting
supplies"
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.,31 East 2nd St.,Mineola, NY 11051.
Discount books, clip art, stencils, etc.
QUILL CORPORATION, 100 Schelter Rd.,Lincolnshire, IL
60917-4700, 312/634-4800. Office supplies.
SWEDCO, Box 29, Mooresville, NC 28115. 3 line rubber stamps
and business cards.
This is a business where a person with no art talent can
produce art!
Temple or gravestone rubbing is believed to have originated
with the ancient (300 BC) Chinese. It was an efficient method
of communicating the "written word" and a forerunner to the
printing press.
The Emperors had their laws, slogans and messages carved in
stone (that's easy for an Emperor to do) then transformed to
parchment by rubbing with colored wax or other permanent dye
material. Centuries later, pictures (stone and metal reliefs)
were carved expressly for this purpose and today several Asian
countries feature large temple rubbings commonly called batiks,
which is technically a misnomer.
The name batik more properly refers to designed fabric that is
coated with a wax, a design scratched or applied with a heated
tool, and dipped in dye. Since the dye only affects parts not
protected or by wax, the design remains when the wax is washed
out. A marbling effect can be achieved when the dye is allowed
(or forced) to seep into cracks in the wax caused by crumpling
when cooled.
Although carved stone and metals are the most popular subjects
for rubbing, virtually any solid relief surface can yield an
interesting rubbing product: medals, leaves, architectural
reliefs, cultural, historic, or commemorative plaques.
Most commercial rubbings come from church and courtyard reliefs.
Their attraction and value are enhanced by unusual materials,
novel rubbing techniques, impressive frames and by novel
innovations such as certificates of authenticity.
Perhaps the most interesting source for rubbings is old
graveyards -- in any country! The markers and design are not
only historical, they are often art works of a bygone age.
Temple rubbings and gravestone rubbings are essentially the
same. Generally, impressions of oriental designs are called
temple rubbings, while gravestone rubbings are usually from
markers and tombs. The two terms can be used interchangeably
in the business.
A major market for gravestone rubbings is descendants and
genealogical projects. Many family records include information
from old markers; some have photographs and/or rubbings of those
old markers.. Because some of the stone markers are in soft
material like limestone, the photographs may eventually be the
only legible record.
Gravestone rubbings from the tomb of an ancient relative might
be considered quite a prize -- and not for just for their
sentimental value.
The basic tools needed to begin the art of temple or gravestone
rubbings are:
A piece of dry sponge, foam plastic or
blackboard eraser and a soft brush to
prepare the surface that is to be rubbed.
Fabric or paper to place over the design
to reproduce it.
A rubbing marker, such as a commercial
lumber crayon, or large flat sided school
crayon to rub over the design.
Tape and twine to hold the fabric in place
--and perhaps a kneeling pad.
For the rubbing fabric, its is best to use white butcher paper
at first. It is expensive and will do for learning and can even
be saved and mounted.
To make your rubbings look their best, however, it is best to
feature an unusual or interesting fabric. One idea is to use
marbleized paper, another is to buy or make your own special
effect fabric; still another is wallpaper -- fabric or paper
with a nice texture.
The fabric and frame should be coordinated and both should
complement or contrast with the rubbing itself. A variation
is to use a light fabric for the actual rubbing, and contrasting
dark color and/or texture for a border within the frame.
Another idea for a marker is to make your own applicator. A pad
should be relatively flat, porous and about 4" across (although
others sizes might be used for special parts of the job).
One suggestion is to start with a cutout circle of 1/8" plywood,
about 3" in diameter. Glue a powder puff to one side and a handle
to the other, then cover with a piece of 1/4" thick foam rubber
(like wet suit material). Tie the foam material together on the
handle side to leave a smooth convex surface on the rubbing side.
This "tool" can be dipped in burnt umbra or other wet or dry
stain and ribbed in a light circular motion to produce a very
smooth, unstreaked reproduction of the relief.
Variations in rubbing pressure, staining material color and
consistency, size and shape of the pad, fabric and your rubbing
techniques will produce a wide variety of effects. Experiment
until you find the ones you want.
Frames can be purchased or custom made. If not covered with
glass, the finished rubbing should be sprayed with a protective
covering such as Gloss Finish, which is used to spray finished
charcoal drawings to prevent smearing (available at any art store).
The higher your asking price, the more important it is to
protect and "showcase" your finished rubbing "under glass."
To make your first temple rubbing, select your subject, and a
nice dry day. Clean the surface thoroughly with your sponge or
brush. Use a little vinegar to for stubborn moss spots (let it
dry before attempting to rub). Do not use anything harder or
you risk scoring the surface which can damage the subject and
lower the quality of your rubbing. Remove as much moss as
possible for the best representation.
Next, place the fabric over the design and tape (or tie) it
in place. Always use larger sheets fabric so there is plenty
of margin to tie or tape without touching any of the surface
that is to appear in your finished rubbing.
Peel off the paper from your crayon marker ( or dip your sponge
pad) and use the flat side of the marker to gently rub over the
raised portions of the design from the center outward all around
until you have a light representation of the design.
Reverse directions and work from the outside in, gradually
applying more and more pressure until you have just the amount
of color, contrast and design that you want.. Study your rubbing
form all angles and distances while it is still held firmly in
place. Darken desired areas and correct any errors BEFORE removing
the tape or ties. Once you move the fabric,, you are finished with
that impression!
It should be mentioned here that some "experts" deliberately move
their rubbing fabrics slightly during their process. They complete
the rubbing in the basic color then move the fabric slightly. The
next step is to go over the highlights with a contrasting color --
for a sort of highlight or 3-D effect.
Especially in a foreign country, always check with the proper
authorities before attempting any type of rubbing activity,
regardless of whether the object is on private, public or
religious property.
It is not only good manners, but it can save embarrassment and
possibly hard feelings. There could be religious, political,
family or cultural considerations as well as property rights.
It is impossible to predict what your temple and/or gravestone
rubbing might sell for (somewhere in the $10 to $1,000 range?).
The price you realize will depend on the quality of your work,
the subjects and their artistic appeal, as well as their frames
and the manner in which they are marketed. The highest prices
can be realized with glass covered creations in a attractive,
contrasting fabric bordered frames and presented in art gallery
fashion.
Tip: If your subjects are oriental, you might hire an oriental
person to sell market them.
Persons visiting or serving in overseas assignments have a
unique opportunity to find interesting and historical rubbing
subjects,. But, there are also plenty of "stateside"
opportunities as well.
Consider just one specialty: epitaphs. There are some pretty
curious examples in some of the old graveyards across the
country, including funny sayings, terse explanation of
occupant's downfall and not a few with major errors.
In the past, most markers were not carved by professionals
or scholars -- many were made by people who hardly could read
and knew very little about stone carving. Some have words or
letters missing or crammed in at the end of lines. Some even
have corrections -- IN STONE! There are some very interesting
(and valuable) collections out there -- patiently waiting for
an enterprising entrepreneur.
BUSINESS SOURCES
THE KELSEY CO.,Box 941, Meriden, CT 06450, 203/235-1695.
Printing and related materials and equipment; type, paper,
presses, wood and linoleum blocks, etc.,Old, reliable company.
DICK BLICK CENTRAL, Box 1267, Galesburg, IL 61407-1267,
800/477-8192. Wholesale art, sign, ceramic, sculpture
supplies. Old, reliable company.
EL DO PLASTICS, INC.,Box 451, El Dorado, AR 71730,
800/643-1556. Magnetic sign & engraver supplies; has sponge
rubber pads (called Davis Daubers). reliable company.
MEYERS PUBLISHING CO.,2135 Summer St.,Stamford, CT 06945,
203/356-1745. Publishes ART BUSINESS NEWS, trade magazine
for art and picture frame dealers.
FABRIC FINDERS, 125 Wold Rd.,Albany, NY 12205.
Wholesale fabrics (first quality and seconds).
JAPS, 126 7th Ave.,Hopkins, NM 55343. Picture framing
supplies; offers framing gide for $3; free catalog.
PICTURE ART INDUSTRIES, 2566 Stirling Rd.,Hollywood,
FL 33020, 305/921-6664. Wholesale framed pictures featuring
lithograph prints under glass; over 1,000 pieces.
COMMUNICATIONS CHANNELS, INC.,5266 Barfield Rd.,Atlanta,
GA 30328, 404/256-9800. Publishes ART MATERIAL TRADE NEWS,
"The Journal of all art, craft, engineering and drafting
supplies"
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.,31 East 2nd St.,Mineola, NY 11051.
Discount books, clip art, stencils, etc.
QUILL CORPORATION, 100 Schelter Rd.,Lincolnshire, IL
60917-4700, 312/634-4800. Office supplies.
SWEDCO, Box 29, Mooresville, NC 28115. 3 line rubber stamps
and business cards.
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