Read this final article from Editor of Business Opportunity Watch Marian Owen with great advice on making your party plan business a success from the start.

It’s ideal if the products need a demonstration either on how to use them or on how to choose the one that’s right for you. The prospect of seeing an interesting demonstration is likely to excite that key marketing factor of curiosity, which has the power to stir people to leave their comfortable sofa in front of the television and go out to a party. Also, an invitation to a demonstration avoids the off-putting idea that it’s just about buying products.
Choose a company which has a wide range of products because this has been proven to result in increased sales.  As you earn money from your party plan, you should invest some of your earnings in buying more product lines for display.  Even if some of the products are poor sellers, people still like to have a good choice. And the last thing you should do is to whittle down your display to the items you like best, else you’ll exclude people who don’t share your own taste and your sales will fall.

Many party plan companies offer a 7-day 100% money back guarantee on their products, even for a simple change of mind.  Make sure your chosen company does too, because this increases consumer confidence and so it also increases sales.

If some of the company’s products are consumables which need to be regularly replaced then this can help your sales.  This can also apply to fashion items such as clothing and jewellery – even though they aren’t strictly consumables, they beg to be replaced with the latest fashion.

Crucially, to be successful, party plan products must have something special or unique about them.  Not only must the products themselves be special or unique, but their availability needs to be unique, too: they should only be available via party plan and via party plan consultants.  This is important for boosting party plan sales because the products then have a genuine, strong air of exclusivity which increases their value in the eyes of purchasers.

It’s a serious disadvantage for party planners if the products they sell are easily available elsewhere. The scenario then is that customers who’ve been introduced to the company by the party planner can buy their further stocks elsewhere so that the party planner loses out on the commission from repeat orders. This can sometimes be the case where the company has an established brand name. What you have to do then is to weigh up the potential advantage that the pull of a good brand name may give to your parties as against the disadvantage that your customers can subsequently buy direct from the company.

It’s human nature that customers will tend to buy from the source that’s easiest for them.  So if the company has a retail shop which is local to you, then this is likely to take some of your repeat sales.  More often, however, the competition is in the form of a corporate online shop.  Some companies are very good about this and they effectively remove themselves from competition by not taking orders on the company site and instead directing site visitors towards their local consultant.

Other companies try to partially solve the problem by giving each of their consultants a website.  However, in this case,  consultants will still only receive commission if their customers are painstaking enough to enter the consultant’s particular website address instead of simply going to Google and keying in the company’s name to land on the company’s main site.

Canny consultants will of course try their best to make sure that their names and their websites remain fresh in their customers’ minds by sending out a monthly newsletter or equivalent. Even then, though, they’re going to lose repeat business from busy customers who prefer to order by post rather than ordering through a consultant who then comes knocking at the door to make a delivery and you feel obliged to invite her in.  This problem is increased if the company’s web site offers free postage on orders over a fairly low threshold amount.

For the company, party planning is a great way of bringing them new customers at low cost.  But unless there’s a structure to ensure that repeat purchases by these customers are credited to party planners for commission purposes, then it’s not so easy for party planners to build up a business in the longer term.

If you’re only looking for a party plan opportunity for a shortish timescale, however, then any problem of competition from the company might not be a real issue for you.

In summary …

Party plan companies offer you an enjoyable way to earn money.  Take your time to choose the company that’s right for you, and in due course you could build up your business so that it’s giving you a near full-time income.

Marian Owen
Editor of Business Opportunity Watch
www.businessopportunitywatch.com

This is the second of three articles about picking the right party plan business from Marian Owen, Editor of Business Opportunity Watch, www.businessopportunitywatch.com

First of all, you need to find out what choice you have.  There’s a nice website with a good selection of companies at Party Plan Together in their Directory section. If you search Google UK under “party plan” then you’ll find some more – but make sure that you distinguish between true party plan companies where party plan is the main selling method, and other companies which recommend a number of selling methods, party plan included.

Search the Internet under the companies’ names to read forum comments etc to get an idea of the feedback about the companies you’re interested in.  Forum comment is useful even though it can’t, of course, be taken as gospel because comments from people who are consultants for a company are likely to be favourable (unless there’s something going badly wrong) and negative views could be from consultants for a rival company.

Now you need to draw up your short list, and rather than trying to spot which is “the best” company or currently the most popular company, it’s actually more a case of choosing the company that’s right for you personally.

So you need to draw up your short list on the basis that it’s vital that you share the company’s values and you have a real passion for their products.

Why is passion important?  Because passion equals sales: in a face-to-face selling situation, your enthusiasm will make all the difference.  An enthusiastic person running a party will create the right atmosphere of fun and excitement which will make the party (and its sales) go with a swing and will encourage other people attending the party to agree to hold their own parties.  That’s how you build up your party plan business: guests at parties agree to become hosts, and before long you’re holding several parties a week.  Some of these people will want to join the business as consultants, and that’s when you start to build your team.  Team-building is where the real money is to be made because you can then earn commissions not only on your own sales but also on the sales made at parties run by members of your team.

Attend a few parties for the companies you’re interested in.  Resist any pressure to join before you’ve really decided.  And my advice is don’t be too influenced by how much money you think you might earn e.g. don’t go for one company over another just because they pay 5% more commission or because their products cost a bit more.  (In fact, with the recession, it would be more sensible to choose a company which has a good percentage of their products at prices below £25.)

Instead, concentrate on the two vital elements:

- do the products really grab you?

- is it obvious from the parties you’ve attended that the products really grab other guests, too?

To succeed at party plan, in addition to being passionate about the products, you clearly need to enjoy meeting people. and you also need to be well-organised and to have patience and persistence. Sustained effort with the business is required, and you should be prepared to put in three months of hard work before you start to see real rewards. Party plan is like a ripple effect: you need to hold at least one party a week to keep the ripples going so that your business keeps moving forward.

Party plan companies do everything they can to make it easy to hold and run parties by giving you a specific, tried and tested format to follow. Also, most companies offer regular training days, either free or for a modest cost.
Come back next week to find out How to Choose a the Right Party Plan Products

Marian Owen
Editor of Business Opportunity Watch
www.businessopportunitywatch.com

Party Plan Is a Pretty Safe Bet
If you’re looking for an opportunity to earn extra money from a part-time home-based business opportunity, then a party plan opportunity is a pretty safe bet.

There are several reasons for this:

Normally you don’t have to pay more than £100 to start (and never more than £200) and for this you receive (along with your business kit, party invitations etc) a stock of products for your first party.  So, unless you gave up before you’d even held a handful of parties, you’d be unlikely to lose out money-wise … and you’ve still got the products to use yourself or give to friends and family as presents. In addition, under the Trading Schemes Regulations, you have the legal right to a refund from the company if you return stock which you bought within the previous 90 days.  Have a look at the brochure called The Trading Schemes Guide from the DTI (now called BERR) which explains this right and other rights which you have when you join a party plan company.

Party plan companies are generally well-managed and efficient, with an experienced management and a formulaic approach which is tried and tested.  Party plan doesn’t tend to attract fly-by-night operators because it requires too much investment in stock, systems and staff.

Products sold at party plan are typically good quality and, whilst they’re not cheap, they’re good value. Because the products are sold face-to-face to the public there’s little room for the grandiose claims and false promises which bedevil many other types of home business opportunities.

Commission arrangements are easy to understand and are based on product sales, typically starting at 25% if you join the company as a consultant.  So if you found hostesses to hold two parties a week with average sales of £250 per party, you’d be earning £125 a week.

Probably the main reason why a party plan company is a safe option, though, is that you can try it before you buy.  In the world of business opportunities, this is a superb advantage. You can attend a party and then you can host a party yourself before you make any commitment to enter the business as a consultant.  These two (or more, if you want) trials enable you to thoroughly examine and test the products for yourself and ensure that you’d be happy running parties yourself and – most crucially of all – they enable you to see first-hand how popular the products are with the other guests.

Come back next week to find out How to Choose a Party Plan Company.

Marian Owen
Editor of Business Opportunity Watch
www.businessopportunitywatch.com

Your Name and Age: Joanna Mulaku 34

Tell us about your family:

I live in Isleworth South West London with my Husband and two children, Delfina 5 and Maximus 18 months

What did you do before coming up with your business idea  and how was it making the transition?

Prior to having children I was a Restaurant Manager for Cafe Rouge, after having Delfina although I would return to work quickly I soon realised that I did not want to go back to the restaurant business. That together with health complications meant that I was out of action until Delfina was 20 months. Due to financial reasons I went back to work full time as a Recruitment consultant, which I did for 2 years before having Max. Just as my maternity leave was coning to an end I was made redundant, I had been doing a small amount of working from home selling end of line, high end cosmetics on eBay and was enjoying it, most of my stock was coming from America so when the value of Dollar increased I wanted to find something that was more consistent.

When did you launch?

Vnatural with L’Occitane launched in March this year, I joined as an independent area team manager in August.

What research did you do before launching?

I have known and used L’Occitane products for many years so I was more than happy with that side of the business I researched Vnatural on the web and spent time talking to the and meeting founders.

How have you funded the business?

The start up costs are already relatively low which was one of the reasons I chose this particular business, and through Womans wsdo,m a not for profit organisation which helps women get in to business and self employed roles, the costs where even lower due them sponsoring the first 10 women who joined £500 towards the cost.

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

I have so far used mainly on line advertising, as my main role is to recruit and train consultants I have advertised on gumtree and viva street etc, we also advertise on www.Workingmums.co.uk and www.remotemployment.co.uk and specific sites such as www.stallfinder.co.uk  and www.partyplantogether.co.uk.  I have also find social networking sites like twitter and www.everywoman.co.uk very helpful.

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

My biggest challenge is finding the best balance for my work and home life, I am still working part time, 2 days per week and have two children, 5 and 18 months so time is precious and I often find myself working late into the night.

How do you fit in work with the family?

My husband works lots of evenings giving me time to attend meetings and meet with and train new consultants, during the day while he has the children and does the school run etc, I then work on the computer when the children have gone to bed.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

Be prepared for hard work, you get out of what you put in.

If you have a flexible working business opportunity, please explain briefly what you offer and how people find out more.

Being a L’Occitane with Vnatural consultant gives you the opportunity to work flexible hours from home which fits in with your family life. The products can be sold at parties events or within corporate organisations so the is plenty of scope for building your business, to find out more about becoming a L’Occitane with Vnatural consultant in West and South West London contact Joanna Mulaku at jojomulaku@googlemail.co.uk or visit www.vnatural.co.uk and click “become a party planner”

Your website link: www.partyplannerslondon.co.uk or www.vnatural.co.uk

Special promotion for Family Friendly Working readers: There is currently an offer on the starter kit available to anyone who joins before the end of 2009. The starter kit price is £95 + vat reduced to £75 + vat until the end of 2009. PLUS, Joanna has just secured TWO FREE KITS for the first two people to sign up. Contact her via her site for full details.

Name of Business: Parties Around the World

Your Name and Age:Deirdre Bounds, 44

Tell us about your family

 I’m married to a gorgeous American Actor called Bryan and we have two children, Frankie age 8 and Ava age 3. We live in between Leeds and Harrogate so get the best of both worlds of city and country life.

What did you do before coming up with your business idea and how was it making the transition?

I set up the ethical travel company i-to-i.com, which became the world’s largest gap year company.  I launched the business from a bedsit in Leeds and over the course of 10 years, built the company up, selling to a FTSE 100 company  in 2007.

Before this I was a backpacker and travelled the world for 4 years (having had a mid-20’s crisis and ditching my mediocre marketing job). I came back and became a youth worker and a stand-up comic and then started i-to-i.. So there is nothing truly spectacular in my background.

When did you launch? July 2009 

How did you get started?

 I came up with the idea for PAW around 4 years ago and my son’s first big birthay party. As a busy mum, I found the organisation time-consuming, the number of presents appalling, and sweeping up plastic broken toys pretty thankless.

 What research did you do before launching?

 I roamed the mums at all of the parties I was invited to and asked them would they be interested in an alternative – not one disagreed that these parties needed to be ‘busted’ in some way as it wasn’t teaching our children anything.

How have you funded the business?

Privately along with my business partner, Carl Hopkins.

How do you promote your business? What has worked best?

We promote PAW through our Charity partners who inform their members of this great new way to raise money for their cause. We also will be talking to schools as we believe PAW supports many aspects of the school curriculum. We have had some success in promoting PAW via social sites, we have our own Facebook site and we have been contacted by relevant parenting and mummy blogs. Initially we managed to pull favours and a PR consultant (Faith PR) wrote and issued a press release which was picked up on a regional and national level.

What has worked well about your business?

As we are so new it is early days, but the proposition itself has been well accepted and seized upon. The opportunity of more ethical parties, reducing the consumerism surrounding our children, the ease and high quality of the invitations, RSVPs, thank you cards that are all produced free on Parties Around the World.

What has been your biggest challenge so far? How have you dealt with it?

Finance. Like any start-up business there are always costs before there is any income, so cash flow is an issue. We have input our own money and had to make further loans to the business plus pull as many favours as possible with  our very supportive supplier base.

How do you fit in work with the family? 

I have a nanny – I would advise anyone who can afford it to get a nanny and take away the constant stress of working around a nursery. When I had my first child I was back at work within 5 days doing the wages. He went to nursery at three months – it was difficult, but it was a choice both me and my husband made. With the second child, we could afford a nanny as we couldn’t take the stress of being late for nursery collection. It was a good decision to make.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?

I wouldn’t, we don’t need the competition thanks!

If you have a flexible working business opportunity, please explain briefly what you offer and how people find out more.

We have lots of opportunities and would love lots of help but sadly we do not have the revenues just yet to pay people on either a full time or flexible basis. We are working on and in the business for nothing at the moment. 

Your website link: www.partiesaroundtheworld.co.uk

When you organise a party on Parties Around the World it is FREE so we cannot discount any more than that, but the first 25 Family Friendly Working readers to organise their next party with us will receive a unique JELLY MOULD! Just quote Family Friendly Working when you book.

Name of Business

Your Name and Age:  Dawn Raymond, 41

I live with my partner, Lee and our 3 children – all boys aged 5, 7 and 9.  We live in Heanor, Derbyshire.

What did you do before?  I graduated from Leicester Uni with a degree in French in 1990.  I did various office-based jobs, and ended up at a French textile company in Leicester.  I worked there for 8 years, starting as a sales co-ordinator and PA to the Sales Director, and ended up as an office-based Sales and Logistics Manager for lining fabrics and clothing accessories (zip fasteners, hook and loop products etc).  I left in 1999 following the birth of my first baby, and settled into the life of full-time mum.  When my other 2 children came along, although I was ready to go back to work, I found it extremely difficult to even get to interview stage.  Having had a few years out, and with such young children, I guess I wasn’t the most promising prospect to potential employers!

When did you launch?  September 2005.

How did you get started?  I had my first website built by a fellow WAHM who I’d “met” on an internet forum.  She took payment by monthly instalments, so that wasn’t as big a start-up expense as you’d expect.  I sourced a few stock items (party bags and fillers) online, did my own product shots and uploaded them myself.  I set up a PayPal account, and that was about it!

What research did you do before launching?  Very little, to be honest.  I had my own experience of children’s birthday parties, and found the party bags something that was often left till the last minute, a bit of a pain – a kind of necessary evil, if you like.  I wasn’t the only one – most of the mums I knew saved them ‘til the last minute – one even commented to me (as she was judging a game of musical statues) that she hadn’t even done the party bags yet, and the party was due to finish in 10 minutes!

So, having been out of work for a while, and trying to come up with a business idea, I had the idea of  providing filled party bags – they would be simple, affordable and a quick solution to a niggling problem. 

I had a look online to see if there was anybody else doing them.  To my surprise there were loads!  All sorts of different companies ranging from specialist, high end filled party bags, though Ebay shops, to websites that sold the whole party package.  You might think this would have put me off, but the fact that there were so many companies out there doing it, convinced me there was a big market for this kind of product, so there would be space for me.

How have you funded the business?  I started off with about £300 on my credit card.  After every sale, I ploughed the money straight back into the business and gradually grew, increasing my turnover each month. 

How do you promote your business?  What has worked best?

As my business is an online one, I find the best way to promote it is online.

I’ve been a member of several parenting forums for a number of years, and find the members there incredibly supportive.  In the early years, the majority of my customers were forum members, and I can honestly say if it wasn’t for one parenting forum in particular (BGH), and the homeworker members there, I wouldn’t have a business.

So apart from participating daily on parenting forums, I also have a blog which I update regularly with articles, new products, competitions etc.  This then feeds into my Twitter account, which in turn feeds into my Facebook account.  I also have a Facebook page.

I’ve also written articles and posted them on Squidoo, and plan to do more article submissions as they are a good way to build inbound links.

I often run competitions and publicise them on competition sites, on Facebook, the blog etc.

Word of mouth is also invaluable – when you consider the number of children invited to one birthday party – each of those guests will receive one of my products, and their parents are a potential new customer. 

The most effective way to promote my business has to be internet forums.  There is a ready-made customer base there, wall with children.  But you have to be very careful not to ram your business down people’s throats, or join forums just to promote your business.  People will see through it immediately, and will be put off.  It may even earn you a ban for spamming.

(The least effective marketing I’ve done is a paid advert in a primary school magazine.)

What has worked well about your business? What has worked well is the fact I can do it from home and fit it around my family.  There is no commuting time, no office politics and no need to find reliable childcare.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?  How have you dealt with it?   At one point I found myself number one on page one of Google for the search term “party bags”.  This was incredible, and led to a huge upsurge in orders.  My biggest challenge came when, for some unexplained reason I suddenly disappeared from page one of google for this search term.  I was sent back to page 100 or something equally silly.  This was my biggest challenge because I had to figure out why it had happened and how to get back up!  I dealt with it by learning all I could about Google and SEO.  it took a while, lots of patience and work, but eventually I came back to page one.  I’m still not entirely sure why I was dropped, but it gave me an opportunity to concentrate on my niche products (which rank very highly on Google), and to discover other methods of marketing, instead of relying only on a good Google position!

How do you fit in work with the family? My partner also runs his own business from home, and helps me with mine by packing my orders.  The kids have always been used to at least one of us working from home, so they know they have to be quiet at times, and let us get on with work.  They generally amuse themselves well, and can always come to us when they need something.  It’s good for us too because their interruptions (demanding food mainly!) mean we have an enforced break from work.

During term-time, we have the luxury of child-free hours so make the most of it.  My work day normally starts as soon as I get up – I turn the pc on, then the kettle, then I print all the orders off while getting the kids up and ready for school.  My partner normally starts packing them while I’m on the school run so by 9 am we’re already up and running.

My working day usually finishes at 3.30 when I collect them from school, but I have to still dash off to deal with phone calls, orders and queries until 6pm when I let the answer machine take over.  Saying that, when you run your own business from home it’s almost impossible to switch off completely. I always check orders and reply to customer emails etc in the evenings when the kids are in bed, so whilst it’s a disjointed working day, it’s a long one nonetheless.

What advice would you give to someone else wanting to work in this area?  Don’t try and be like everyone else – there were many people doing this when I started out, but there are many, many more now, so do your research and try to do something different.  Decide which end of the market you want to target, and concentrate on that.  Don’t try and please everyone at once.  And don’t expect quick results – give it at least 18 months.

My website:  www.funkydorypartybags.co.uk

Discount for FFW readers – 10% off all orders – code FFW-10-FDPB

Joanne Dewberry of Charlie Moo's

Charlie Moo’s – Party Bags, Gifts and Toys

I launched Charlie Moo’s the birth of my daughter Megan in August 2008. The business is named after my 21month old son Charlie who we affectionally call Moo. I wanted to provide parents with quality wooden and traditional toys and gifts at a reasonable price based upon my own experinces. I started to  incorporate the smaller wooden items into multibuy options of 10, 20 and 30 and suddenly a Party Bag side began to grow.  The cloth bags are specially handmade for Charlie Moo’s not only are they gorgeous but any child will want to treasure them after.  I felt that it was important to fill the bags with items which the children could use, keep and stand the test of time.  I only stock items that have been tested by Charlie, Megan or my nephews and that are at a price I would pay myself, as a parent.

I have found the whole website aspect so very challenging. I am  completely computer illiterate!! Google is a complete mystery to me.  It is my aim in 2009 to promote the site and see more orders coming in so that I can do less fairs and fetes.  Although without the fetes Charlie Moo’s wouldn’t be in the position it is right now. 

What has been my biggest challenge so far? Apart from building a website – having two children under the age of two! But with a newborn at least  I had lots of late nights early mornings to work on building my site and searching for suppliers! 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last few months meeting like minded mummies who have taken the initiative to start up their own business to enable them to spend more time with their children.  I still totally consider myself as a stay at home mum, my children, and partner, play a major role in my business.

www.charliemoos.co.uk