PC BIZ of the MONTH Excerpts from the book, "101 Computer Related Businesses", Copyright 1994 by Michael A. Tims. ---------------------------------------------------------------- BIZ-081 REUNION PLANNER Very similar in scope to a meeting planner or party planner, the reunion planner should find himself/herself quite busy into the 90's and beyond. The nintys will see many more 20 year and greater high school and college reunions than ever before. By specializing in reunions, a party or other type planner can carve out his or her own niche in this lucrative market. One of the abilities the reunion planner must cultivate is the ability to find missing class members. This is in addition to the usual party planning duties of making reservations for halls and lodging, arranging for speakers and other entertainment, arranging for catering, plus attending to at least a hundred other small details. Finding missing class members might involve searching on-line computer databases, searching national telephone directories, searching birth and death records, searching voter registrations and marriage records, and searching through friends, neighbors and associates. You may even need to turn to other people tracking companies such as Re-Unite of Florida, a people tracking specialist company. Some reunion planners plan a hundred or so reunions per year. Most reunion planners take their fee from the registration fees paid by each person attending the reunion. As you can see, the more people attending a reunion, the higher the reunion planners income. This business has led to six figure incomes. To get an idea of just how many high school reunions are held each year in your area, first count the number of high schools, then figure approximately 8 reunions per school per year. These would be for 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, 20-year, 25-year, 30-year, 40-year and 50-year reunions. If you start out arranging small reunions to get the hang of it and get all the details worked out, you could soon set minimums such as classes having at least 250-350 members which would earn you a better return for your time involved. You can learn more about the reunion planning business by contacting the following association: National Association of Reunion Planners, Box 844, Skokie, IL., 60076. The computer requirements for this type of business are not critical as you will be working mostly with word processing software to write correspondence, etc. I have found that a basic 286 based computer will probably be sufficient for most of your business needs. Of course, if you already have, or can afford, a faster CPU such as a 386 or 486, it would probably eliminate the need for you ever having to upgrade. A hard disk, however, is a must. Without a hard disk, you would have to constantly change floppy disks back and forth to run most programs which would be too time consuming and inefficient. Many programs come on multiple floppy disks and require a hard disk to even use them. There is an old saying that you can never have enough hard disk memory. Start with a minimum of 250 Megabytes of disk storage space and if you will be running "Windows" programs, think about an even larger hard disk. A dot matrix printer will probably suffice for most printed output you would have for in house use, memos, etc., although for more professional looking letters or if you will be doing your own advertising circulars, that you may be sending to prospective clients, a laser printer would be preferable. The newest models for personal use have up to 600 dpi (Dot Per Inch) resolution and carry street prices less than $1000. Other office equipment you may want to consider might include a FAX machine to be able to send and receive reports, make orders, etc., directly to and from your clients without having to wait for the regular postal service or even for over-night priority mail. One of the new FAX/modems might be an even better addition to your computer set-up than a stand-alone FAX machine. A FAX/modem is an electronic device that connects a computer to the phone line (much like a plain modem) and enables the computer to act as a FAX machine. A FAX/modem can be an internal type called a FAX board that plugs into an expansion slot inside your computer. External FAX/modems are more costly but are easier to connect to your PC. In either case, the FAX/modem allows you to send a file as a FAX document to any stand-alone FAX machine or to receive a FAX document which can be viewed, stored as a file, or printed out on your printer. A telephone answering machine which can sense the difference between FAX transmissions and voice may also come in quite handy in the home office, although you will probably want to have a second phone line installed to promote a more professional image. A second line would also cut down on personal call interruptions during your "working" hours. There are many software programs, both commercial and shareware, which would be an advantage to the reunion planner. Among the more popular shareware programs, are the following: Smart-N-Easy Party Planner, v1.0, 1 disk, Matco #130703 General software requirements for a business of this type consist of the usual word processing, database, accounting and personal and business income tax preparation software. As with most of the business ideas presented in this book, I feel that properly selected SHAREWARE (try-before-you-buy type software) will prove to be more than adequate for all your basic business software needs. Using shareware when you are first starting a business can save you hundreds of dollars in start up costs. I have found most shareware to be as good, if not better, than high priced commercial software packages. For word processing software, I would recommend either of two fine shareware programs. The first is "Super WP", an excellent WordPerfect clone that has many features superior to the commercial program. The second is "PC-Write", which is said to be one of the finest wordprocessor programs, shareware or otherwise, available at any price. A database program is usually needed to keep track of customers, client data, mailing lists and many other forms of data, etc. The shareware program, "PC-File", is an excellent shareware database program that has features such as custom report writing, letter writing with mail merge, data analysis, plus charts and graph support. "PC-File" also features dBase III and Clipper compatibility, should you ever wish to write a custom application for your business. Every small business needs bookkeeping software to keep track of income and expenses. What they don't need is a full blown accounting package that takes more time than the business itself. The shareware program, "Medlin Accounting", is an easy to use, time saving IRS approved single entry bookkeeping system which is more than adequate for the small-to-medium sized business. It features a general ledger module, an accounts receivable module, an accounts payable module as well as an inventory module. Another financial program I would recommend to any small businessman, or individual for that matter, is the shareware program, "Checkmate Plus". "Checkmate Plus" is an easy to use, yet powerful, checkbook style, double entry accounting system which will also print checks on either laser or dot matrix printers. Spreadsheet programs are sometimes required by the small business and I would concede that the industry leader is the commercial program, Lotus 1-2-3. However, an excellent clone to Lotus 1-2-3 is the shareware program, "As Easy As". Menu-driven for easy use yet a very powerful spreadsheet program. Features 8192 rows by 256 columns, dBase III import/export, macro playback, dot matrix and laser printer support, worksheet linking, charting and much, much more. Communications software for use with telephone line and computer modem is often needed by the small business. By using communications software, the home based entrepreneur is able to access remote computers, informational databases, bulletin board services (BBS's) client's computers, etc., right from his/her home office over the phone lines. This makes many high tech businesses able to be run successfully from any place a phone can be accessed. The full featured shareware communications program I would recommend is "Procomm Plus Test Drive". This time-proven shareware offering of a commercial program will prove perfect for most of your communications needs, and has such features as a 100 number dialing directory, script file capability and support for most major file transfer protocols including XMODEM, TELINK, and COMPUSERVE B. However, If you should purchase a fax/modem for your office, many of them come already bundled with communications software. For a complete listing of commercial as well as shareware programs featured in this book, see Appendix A. ===================================================================== Michael A. Tims is the author of "101 Computer Related Businesses" as well as the syndicated column, "PC Biz of the Month". Mr Tims is a full time high school mathematics teacher, but still makes time for several computer related businesses of his own. Send a 55c SASE for his huge shareware catalog, on-disk, and other PC business offers. Write him at Matco Electronic Publications, POB 509, Suite. 310D, Roseville, MI., 48066-0509 or Email him on American Online - MTims48021@aol.com Mr. Tims also maintains a BBS dedicated to small computer businesses. Have YOUR computer call HIS computer at 1-810-774-2315 (8-N-1). If you have been looking for ideas to make money with your own PC, "101 Computer Related Businesses" is available on floppy disk, as a virtual book, directly from the publisher for only $29.95 Postpaid. State disk size preferred when ordering from, Matco Electronic Publications, POB 509, Suite 310D, Roseville, MI., 48066-0509. Many other PC business ideas and opportunities are also available. Excerpts are carried on AOL in the SMALL BUSINESS FORUM-STRATEGIES FOR BUSINESS FILE LIBRARY and EPUB FORUM-NEW FILES LIBRARY. Thanks, Michael A. Tims - MTims48021@aol.com QQVE13A@prodigy.com