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PC BIZ of the MONTH
Excerpts from the book, "101 Computer Related Businesses",
Copyright 1994 by Michael A. Tims.
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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