A few years ago I figured my family would be better off if I was killed in a car accident as my life insurance would pay off all our bills and my wife would be able to pay off the house.

Looking back on this I realize just how desperate things seemed. I was up to my eyeballs in debt and could not make all of my monthly commitments, then, the phone started to ring and the bills turned different colors – it was the “Collection Department”. Well, I thought that was bad; after a few months of them calling, it got worse. My creditors had sold my debt to a Collection Company who had me on speed dial.

I was a guy in sales who had good and bad months, only at the time, I was in a bit of a dry spell and the collection calls did not make my life any easier. They would call me at home, at work and on my mobile phone.

I began to think that my only option was to claim bankruptcy, or as I said before, get killed in a car accident or something, so the insurance paid off.

THERE IS A STRATEGY TO GET OUT OF DEBT!

A friend of my suggested something simple and also helped me understand a bit of how the collection companies work:

Collection Companies are in the business to make money, they either make money off of interest, are paid a percentage of the collection, or a combination of the two. They are hired by the company that you owe money to, because the Collection Companies methods are very harsh and typically get results. The Collection Companies will threaten your credit bureau (big deal) they will mentally try to beat you down, they will try anything that they can to get money out of you. Here is the thing, many people have just decided that they do not want to pay and are playing just as many games with the Collection Companies as they are playing with those that owe money. If this is you and you are just playing games, leave this page now.

If you go bankrupt, you lose AND they lose; the collection company makes no money and the company that you owe money to has to write off your debt as a business loss.

Here is the solution – Develop a Win-Win:

Figure out what you can afford to pay per month, for three months in a row, without having to settle with eating the Kraft Dinner box before your next pay check…$10, $25, $50, $100, then figure out what the number could be the following three months. Try to make the number twice as much for the second period (example: Three months worth of post-dated cheques for $25, followed by three months of post-dated cheques for $50)

Then, YOU call the Collection Company (not when they call you to beat on you for money) and TELL THEM what you are going to pay them; they won’t like it, but THEY HAVE TO ACCEPT IT! If you are showing a “reasonable effort” to pay back your debt, they have to leave you alone and accept the money. Six months is more than enough time to get a better job, start a business, or whatever and will likely be enough time to get generally back on your feet.

Now, if you are not able to completely stand the monthly bills after six months, then, call them up an tell them what you are going to do next. By the way…this works with the banks and car companies too, but probably three months at the max.

The point is, as long as you demonstrate to them that you will be regular in your payments and that the payment amount will go up over time, they will leave you alone. If they decide to strike your credit, this is not nearly the hit you will get on your credit report if you claim bankruptcy. In fact, showing future creditors that you worked your way out of debt instead of going bankrupt will earn you bonus points.

You can do it, I know you can!

To Your Success!

©Greg Nicholls – Nicholls Consulting – All rights reserved

Find out how Greg Nicholls has achieved Financial Success by subscribing to the “Deserve Money Newsletter” for free. Visit http://www.DeserveMoney.com right now for all the details.

Greg is also known for teaching people a simple system on how to build a successful business while working from home; for more information about the business that brought home a 60-70 hour per week executive, who now makes more money on 1/3 the hours; contact Greg by email at info@DeserveMoney.com, or call his toll free number right now from anywhere in North America 24/7 at 1-800-388-4563, or from outside North America to Canada at +778-786-2287 to setup your appointment.

Greg Nicholls, a 36 year old Husband, Father & Entrepreneur will help you understand why you Deserve Money in your life and how to get it! To subscribe to his free weekly newsletter, visit http://www.deservemoney.com and begin to benefit from his inspiring insights today.

The terms fundraising and fund development are bantered about almost interchangeably. But, there is a difference. Here’s my attempt at an explanation.

Fundraising is probably the easiest of the two terms to define. It is activity that is conducted with the intention of raising money for a nonprofit organization or charity. It usually involves asking people for donations, using a variety of communication methods, asking people to purchase a product or service that supports the charity, or having people participate in an event of some sort. Some extend the definition of fundraising to include activities like sponsorship sales, which is essentially a form of advertising, gaming and gambling activities that benefit charity, and application for funds from government programs.

Fund development is a bit less straight-forward and a bit more of an abstract concept. The way I think of fund development is the process by which organizations use fundraising to build capacity and sustainability. Fund development is a part of the strategic marketing of a nonprofit organization. It is the concerned not only with raising money, but doing so in a way that develops reliable sources of income that will sustain the organization through the realization of its long term mission and vision. Fund development usually involves building relationships with people and other organizations that will support the charity. It requires a strategic plan that relates funding to the purpose and programs of the organization. A part of the strategic plan will be a fund development plan that coordinates various forms of fundraising, marketing, communications, and volunteer management.

There are various ways of categorizing nonprofit organizations and charities. When it comes to determining which require fund development strategies, as opposed to fundraising, I tend to think in terms of three categories. There are organizations that do not concern themselves with development because the membership keeps changing, the goal for fundraising is almost always to meet the immediate needs of the members, and the infrastructure costs are supplied by a larger, affiliated organization. Church youth groups, bands, cheerleading squads, and sports teams, and so on, fit into this category. Participants in these groups are usually involved for a few years, so typically no long term relationships with people outside the group are established, their is no incentive for members to fundraise beyond their immediate needs and they are usually affiliated with larger groups, like schools or churches, which supply needs like meeting space and leadership. These types of groups typically engage in fundraising activities that require minimal organization, leverage volunteer participation and require simple communication strategies.

A second type of organization is primarily member based. Funds are raised from among the members themselves for the purpose of sustaining the organization’s needs, which are usually a building or meeting space of some sort and staff. The money required may be in the form of fees paid to belong to the organization, as in the case of a professional association, or in the form of donations, as in the case of a church. These organizations have a built-in fund development strategy. The supporters of the organization are the recipients of the organization’s programs and services. So the strategy for sustaining the organization and building its capacity usually revolves around the members themselves organizing in a way that provides trust of the leadership to spend funds wisely, communication about how funds are being used, involvement of the membership in budgeting and other decision making processes, and a strategy to build and rejuvenate the membership.

The third type of organization potentially describes the rest of the nonprofit and charitable world. This is the organization that serves the entire community or society in some way. It has a long term vision and strategic plan and requires funding to maintain its service to the community year after year. Sometimes organizations like this have a base of government support, but often must raise funds from a variety of sources to maintain their budgets. This type of organization must have a fund development strategy in place to ensure its long term viability and build its capacity over time. The methods of fundraising it uses may be similar to the other organizations described above, the difference being that underlying its choice of fundraising methods will be the desire to build sustainable relationships with all funding sources.

A key decision an organization must make is what type of fundraising or fund development strategy it should use based on the type of organization it is and if it has long-term needs. Many organizations start with meeting their needs through short-term fundraising strategies and at some point must make the transition to fund development strategies. Otherwise, they will flounder, moving from one fundraiser to another without developing sustainable relationships.

Ron Strand is a part-time Instructor at the Centre for Communication Studies at Mount Royal College and the President of Strateo Consulting Inc. – a strategic marketing and communications consulting firm.

I am looking at offering my services as an affiliate marketer to small businesses. Where can I look for clients who are looking for people to run their affiliate programs and what would be the average salary expectations for a small business?

Rather than look for clients, I’d suggest making it easier for those potential clients to find you and learn about your Outsourced Program Manager (OPM) services.

It should go without saying, but you’ll need to have a Web site that details the services you provide in affiliate management. When that is done, advertise your services in the pay per click search engines.

Also, submit a free listing to the Affiliate Buyer’s Guide for the Outsourced Program Managers section.

Consider advertising in the various affiliate marketing forums. There are also lots of affiliate marketing blogs where you could promote your services.

Other places to reach clients would be advertising in Revenue magazine and being a sponsor at Affiliate Summit.

If you have relationships with any of the affiliate networks, ask them if they’d be willing to send some business your way. They get advertisers looking for an affiliate manager and you could help out be being a quality place to refer clients.

Lastly, check out the ads being posted online for affiliate managers at places like AffiliateManager.net, Craig’s List, HotJobs, and Monster. Those ads are generally looking for an in-house affiliate manager, but you might just get lucky when pitching your services to these companies.

As far as compensation, it varies widely depending on your experience, relationships, reputation, services, skills, etc.

In general, rates will start as low as $1,500 a month and go higher than $10,000 a month. If you’re looking exclusively as small businesses, you’ll skew towards the lower end.

In addition to a fixed monthly retainer, ask for performance incentives as part of your remuneration.

Get a lawyer to draft an agreement for you to provide to potential clients and always get everything in writing.

http://www.affiliatetip.com

There are numerous ways to make money on the Internet. Some are better suited than others for your particular business. The key is to experiment and, even more important, track the results of your efforts. Here are some ideas that have worked out well for other marketers. I have included some sample of what you could write.

1. You can offer your e-book as a free bonus for buying one of your main products or services. People will buy your product or service more often when you offer a free bonus. If you do not have your own e-book, you can get the right to various books. They are often available free if you search.

“Get a free e-book when you order our ______ before _______!”

2. Another method is to allow people to download your e-book for free if they give you the e-mail addresses of 3 to 5 friends or associates who would be interested in your e-book. This will quickly build your email list.

“Download our e-book at no cost if, in exchange, you refer 3 of your friends to our website by email.”

3. It takes a little time, but it’s easy to do. Create a directory of web sites in e-book form. List people’s websites in the directory that will agree to advertise the e-book on their website or e-zine. This will give them an incentive to give away or advertise your e-book.

“Get a free ad in our free e-book in exchange for linking to our website!”

4. You should allow other people to give away your free e-book. This will greatly increase the number of people who will see your ad in the e-book. You can also include a mini catalog of all your products or services that you offer in the e-book. You can choose include your own products or your affiliate links to others’ products.

5. Always have people sign up and give you their contact information before they will be able to download your e-book. You could also use this as a very effective way to conduct market research by requesting their names, e-mail addresses, website addresses, mailing addresses, their interests, specific questions they may have, etc.

6. Make money selling advertising space in your e-book. You could charge for various sized color ads, classified ads or banners ads. You could also trade advertising space in your e-book in return for advertising your products or services.

“Promote your business in our free e-book for only $_____. It’s been downloaded over 5000 times!”

7. You can give away the e-book as a gift to your current customers as a way of letting them know you appreciate their business. You monetize this by placing an ad in the e-book for a new back-end product that you are offering.

“We are giving you this e-book as our way of thanking you for being a loyal customer.”

8. Also get free advertising by submitting your e-book to freebie and freeware/shareware websites. People will then download your e-book and see your ad. Those websites are already attracting a lot of visitors that are always looking for quality free products.

9. Make money by selling the reprint rights to marketers who want to sell your e-book. You can make more money by selling the master reprint rights. This would allow other people to resell the reprint rights. You should, of course, include your signature line or ad in these e-books also and get a lot of exposure.

10. Contests will always be popular and you can set up a contest right on your own website and offer your e-book as a prize. To really get peoples attention you can include other prizes with relatively high perceived value. You’ll get free publicity by submitting your contest ad to free contest or sweepstake directories.

11. You will often get valuable referrals from people who are telling friends about your e-book. Word-of-mouth, or viral, advertising is extremely effective. Just think of how many times that you have bought some products because one of your friends or family members recommended that you buy it?

12. Make money cross-promoting your e-book with other people’s products or services. This technique will double your marketing effort without spending more time and money on your part.

13. If you publish an e-zine, which you should, you can increase your subscribers base by giving away your e-book to people who sign up. This is a productive incentive to subscribe. Also allow your subscribers to give it away to multiply your list.

“Get our free marketing e-book by subscribing NOW!”

14. Give away the e-book to people as an incentive to join your affiliate program. This will increase the number of people that sign up to promote your business. The very best incentive for you to offer, other than prizes and cash payments, is to create an e-book for them to use that will help them promote your product or service. Then customize it so that each affiliate can have their affiliate link inside the e-book. This will take some time, but it will pay off big time.

15. The best way to get ad copy ideas is to study how other marketers promote their similar products. Collect their sales letters, classified ads, online ads, e-mail ads, etc. Set up a file that you can refer to as needed. When you see a good idea for a guarantee, for example, you can add some of your own ideas to it and then make it your ad. But make sure you don’t just copy it, of course.

16. Many marketers have been successful by offering a free e-book that contains a couple of sample chapters. If they like it, they will have the option of ordering the full version. It would work just like a software demo or shareware. Most people have at one time sampled something that they enjoyed and later on ended up buying it.

17. Whenever you give away something for free, make sure you attach a value to it. Of course, when you tell them that a freebie is worth with a certain dollar amount you’ve got to be realistic to be believable. Always remind them that the value of the bonuses make up the cost of the product they’re buying.

“Subscribe to my free e-zine! A $199 value!” or “You’ll get $1245.95 of bonuses!”

18. Add additional freebies to increase the value.

“Subscribe to my free e-zine and get free access to our “Subscribers Only” private website!”
“Download our free business e-book and also get a free report valued at $47!”

19. Create urgency by telling them the freebie is only available for a limited time.

“Download our free e-book, this offer will only be available until April 30.”
“Subscribe to our free e-zine before midnight tonight and get free access to our Members Only website.”

20. Always test your ads by using your autoresponder. You can have people email your autoresponder to request more information and then you just check your traffic reports. Publish your advertising copy and tell them your product will be released on a certain date. Then have them e-mail an autoresponder to be reminded when it’s released.

21. Credibility and trust with your visitors is something you need to work on building. One little step is as simple as to tell them something they already know. Don’t overlook these statements…they are effective.

“I know you’re really looking for a good bargain.”
“I know you don’t want to pay a lot for Internet access.”

22. Make residual income from your customers by selling back-end products. If you don’t have any of your own, you need to sign up with related affiliate programs.

“Thanks for ordering our product. If you would like to learn more about Internet marketing, I highly recommend (affiliate product)!”

23. Most serious marketers use a redirect page to increase their sales. People view the long affiliate URLs as unprofessional in emails, so you should redirect them to a web link. If you have signed up with an affiliate program and it has a really long URL, you should use a redirect page to shorten it in your ad. It takes your customer to the redirect page and then they are sent to the target web site.

24. When the time comes that you consider yourself an expert in your niche, it’s time to start considering making additional income by charging for consulting. The consulting should be related to your website’s theme. Start out by giving free 15-minute consultations as a sample of what you have to offer. You can do them by phone or in a chat room. If people like what they they hear, they may be willing pay your hourly fee for more advanced mentoring.

25. People like surprises because it’s a change of pace from the daily routine. Offer your prospects a surprise free bonus for ordering. It will be a mystery for them. There are people who will order just to find out what the surprise bonus is. It is a natural tendency in people to be curious.

26. Everyone wants life to be easier, therefore it is imperative to give your prospects easy ordering instructions and easy product instructions. Make it easy for them. There’s no room for frustration if you want to keep them as customers or clients.

“Our product comes with step-by-step, easy ordering instructions!”
“Our website offers 5 easy ways to order!”

27. People want to feel secure and safe. Stress to your prospects that you have secure ordering and display your privacy policy.

“We want you to feel safe and secure and offer you the most secure online ordering system available.”

28. People want to feel that they made the right decision after a purchase. They like to be complimented for their achievements, including their purchases. Give your prospects plenty of compliments for considering your product and then afterward congratulate them on their wise decision.

“You made a very smart choice by waiting to learn more about e-book marketing.”

29. We are all curious about things that could affect our current lifestyle. If you could use words like “Secret” or “Confidential” in your ad chance are that you will see increased response.

“Who wants to learn the 7 secrets of attracting more responsive projects. Get our Confidential Report.”
“If you order before April 15, you will also get a Secret Mystery Gift valued at $200!”

30. People want to invest in their future rather than being sold. Convince your prospects to “invest in your product” instead of “buy our product”.

“This will be the most intelligent investment you’ve ever made!”

“It will be your most profitable investment of 2008!”

Wishing You The Best In Online Success,

Kaare Pedersen
Joe Congo, LLC

Kaare Pedersen is an author, seminar speaker and Internet entrepreneur.
Get your copy of my Free 14 day
Internet Marketing course NOW!
http://www.joecongoattraction.com

Why would you not consider yourself a business of ONE person? Or your family as a business of 3 or more people? Well that is exactly what you are – “Me Incorporated”, “I Inc”, “We Incorporated”. You truly must consider yourself a small family business. Like any business you have ongoing expenses (mortgage, rent, utilities, groceries), revenue (salary and other income) and major capital expenditures (house, vehicle, vacations, renovations).

Like any good ‘household business’, you need to do some planning. Set out a budget for the year, track your expenditures and retained earnings (savings). Yes, all of this looks, feels and is exactly like a well run business. On My Gosh! Don’t rush out and buy an accounting package to run your household. And no need to take a crash course on accounting or bookkeeping. You can accomplish all your financial tracking and planning requirements with some paper or by using a simple template with your favorite spreadsheet package – Microsoft Excel or even with Open Office.

Just like a well run business, your household budget and tracking your spending is best served using a visible record of events; namely, financial records, bank or check register. It is just like tracking your road trip progress using a map. If you know where you are now, then you will have some idea when you will arrive at your destination. In life, money or finances allows you to get to your personal destinations or dreams. A visible financial roadmap of your ‘Me Incorporated’ finances, mapping your progress, seems logical.

Running your ‘Household Business’, like corporate business, requires a few processes to keep track of your finances:

1) Establish a yearly and monthly household budget. Consider all your expenses – weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly outlays of money. You will be surprised at the length of this list and all the places you spend your money.

2) Track monthly your actually spending and income against the budget you established in step 1. This will help you see the ‘peaks and valleys’ of spending or seasonality aspect of your expenses. Over time, you will come to know these expense ‘peaks and valleys’ and this will help you maintain a positive cash flow. Bottom line: have money in the bank to pay all your expenses and still have some left over (retained earnings). Your single biggest challenge in running any household (or business) is always having enough money in the bank to pay the bills; especially, the unexpected ones. Having a buffer of savings will help with these ‘peaks’ in expenses.

3) Track all your bank account activity. Track and enter in your Bank or Check Register every deposit, every electronic (ATM, web, PayPal, debit machine) transaction and every analog (check, money order) withdrawal. And reconcile your bank statement every month. Know exactly how much money you have available in your bank account(s).

4) Especially track your spending through credit cards and lines of credit. These are potentially the ‘run away’ expenses. Remember only once a month do you see the visible record of your credit card spending. Compound that with the fact that most people have more than one credit card. This can easily result in multiple ‘spending surprises’ each month. Be diligent in tracking your use of credit card transactions. Breakdown the credit card expenses into their respective budget items – gas, groceries, clothing, entertainment, etc. This will help you separate normal household expenditures from other shopping incidentals. You will come to see your spending patterns and can now make adjustments. Just like your bank account, reconcile your credit card statement every month.

All this personal bookkeeping every month can be done with pen and paper or set up a personal finance and budgeting template using your favorite spreadsheet software. Using an electronic spreadsheet allows for all of the mundane calculations to be processed automatically, reducing monthly reconciliations to a simple 5-10 minute endeavour. Whether you choose an analog or digital approach to your personal finance bookkeeping, these visible records are the most effective way to plan and control your personal finances and reduce one of the major stress points in your life – Your Financial Health.

Carl Chesal is a business and channel development consultant, trainer, internet marketer and professional photographer. His hobbies include Gardening and Woodworking. He operates BizFare Enterprise Inc, providing business, marketing, and internet marketing consulting services. Bizfare Enterprise also operates a number of secure on-line shopping sites, like a DIY Woodworking Projects and Recipes at Home And Body How To.

As I get questions from CEOs and entrepreneurs at my blog, I will take some of the questions that I think might have a broad audience and use them as an article.

Question:

We just finished our business plan and are starting to pitch our deal to angel investors and venture capital. Since we are already spending money on buying stuff for the company, can we start spending the investor money as we get it?

Answer:

The first thing you need to buy is a big sword – so you can fight off all the dragons that are getting ready to hatch! Firstly, you didn’t say – but I hope you have a Reg D PPM for a LOT of reasons.

One of the things that should be covered in your Reg D PPM is how you handle investor funds as you receive them. For every successful offering I have ever been involved with or even watched from the sidelines, the money is always escrowed as it is collected. That means that the money is deposited in a separate, untouchable escrow account until all of the minimum level of funding is reached. None of it goes into the company’s operating account until then.

Why?

If you are raising $1 million as an example, the investor who gives you the first $100,000 is going to be as protected as the investor who gives you the last $100,000 if it is all escrowed. If, instead, you spend the first investor’s money on starting the company while you are still trying to raise the rest, he is at substantial risk:

• Even semi-sophisticated angel investors understand this and you will find it virtually impossible to raise your funding for your start up company unless the funds are escrowed OR you get all $1 million, in our example, from one group. In that case, they can ensure the same thing: full funding before you start using the money.
• You business plan is built around having a total of $1 million in order to successfully implement the plan.
• If you are unsuccessful in raising all $1 million, it means you can’t implement the plan.
• Which probably means you will run out of cash and go out of business AFTER you have already spent the first investor’s money!

If you don’t have a PPM, get one. If you already have a PPM, make sure it has the escrow language in there. It’s hard enough getting angel investors to write a check that will clear the bank. Don’t make your task even more difficult!

Bonus: For more on funding documents, business plans, articles, tips and tools for entrepreneurs and start up company CEOs, you’re invited to visit my blog and web sites…and ask your own questions…

While there, I invite you to download both a sample comprehensive business plan and a complete Reg D private placement memorandum (PPM) for FREE…

While there, I invite you to also download a free 36 minute audio on Funding Foreplay: A four module audio training course that is designed to teach start up company CEOs like you – how to properly prepare and present the dozen documents you must have to successfully romance and seduce angel investors and VC to invest in your company…

http://www.ShouldYouStartACompanyToday.com <~~~ The Blog + Free Sample Business Plan / PPM / Audio / More…

http://www.StartUpCompanyUniversity.com <~~~ Courses for the entrepreneur and start up CEO

http://www.ChiefDragonSlayer.com <~~~ Business Plans and Business Planning

Robert Lee Goodman, MBA, Ceo & Chief Dragon Slayer…

© 2008 – Robert Lee Goodman. All Rights Reserved Worldwide

If you have a job seeker website, the best way to attract visitor and potential clients if by offering free resume samples; since this is one of the major concern of employment seekers you must give them some “tasty “ to make them take the bait.

And thanks to technology and content provider software you can offer them what they demand and lead them to higher online buying levels. Just by utilizing free sample resumes, you will learn how to produce a truly wise management professional resume (you can always sell resumes for specific positions or occupations and make custom resumes too). It will not simple help you to consider how to write a resume, however will start you off by developing your abilities and skills will speak because themselves when you may not use the experience to support you.

On the other hand, by the time you have old a free resume sample software to its meat prospective, you will become acquainted with to produce a appropriately-written, and well however-out resume that will act like your primary selling aid – a kind of presentation card – that will attract employers enough to make the employment seeker for a personal interview where you can present in front of him/her the best from you. You have to emphasize in your articles that in the interview that person will actually be adequate to achieve his/her purposes thanks to his/her personal presentation. The samples of resume are an aid to get “invited” for this second major step in job application.

A digital sample resumes free can allow you to choose the way in which you will type your resume and the message that you like to send to the potential employer.

Although, that’s not all your adviser resume had better do. Such as your free adviser resume sample will discover, your online resume adviser should produce other tasks as well. Because hiring managers of companies who utilize posted an object will receive such it’s usually happens that resumes, your online professional resume adviser should likewise be able to answer any of the questions demanded by the customer.

You must also remember that after the great effort and endeavor on putting together your best resume, the majority of it resume samples received mostly end up in the trash basket or as recycled paper. To prevent this undesirable fate, always remark to your website visitors to not make the initial mistakes of handing in a resume that is tough to read, with the every basic information, typos –thank God the software helps with us-, avoid the disturbing words: Be straight and concise and focus on your strongest points.

Feel free to visit our website at: http://www.great-sample-resumes.com. You will find more free sample resume articles, tips and free advice from experts.

When a disaster strikes—whether it be a hurricane, earthquake, flood, terrorist attack, or some other devastating event—many businesses are eager to volunteer and assist those in need. They want to help rebuild the damaged homes and businesses, and they often donate the necessary materials and manpower to do so. Unfortunately, the resources that are brought in on a volunteer and donation basis typically run out much sooner than expected. And very often, those businesses who gladly gave their time and resources to those in need feel guilty charging for additional services, so they pack up and leave the area, proud of their good deed, yet leaving those in the disaster area with few recovery options.

A great example of this is what happened in Port Charlotte, Florida after hurricane Charley. Initially after the hurricane, a large number of contractors went to the area, donating services, supplies, and other things needed to rebuild the community. The federal government also came in and paid many of the rebuild bills, even things not normally covered by FEMA. But then the money started to run out, and the majority of the volunteers went home. The funny thing is that the residents of Port Charlotte didn’t want the contractors to leave and would have paid the contractors their normal rate to stay and finish the disaster recovery efforts. But the contractors—those who were there on a volunteer basis—felt guilty taking money from disaster victims. Now, two years later, many Port Charlotte residents are still seeking reputable contractors to help them. It’s an unfortunate situation that doesn’t have to happen.

Perhaps even more concerning is that we’re starting to see a similar trend in the people and companies that help with disaster preparedness. Recently the Annals of Emergency Medicine, one of the largest emergency medicine journals, published an editorial aimed specifically at universities that were profiting from selling courses developed under grant dollars. That is, they created disaster preparedness materials using federal grant money, and then they made hospitals and communities pay to receive the course materials. While such a practice is clearly unethical, many people thought the journal was implying that it’s unethical to make a business of disaster preparedness—to go into communities and hospitals and charge a consulting fee or teach for profit how to be ready in the event of a disaster. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth.

So does that mean it’s possible to profit from a disaster situation and not feel guilty? Yes! And those businesses that are able to come into a community after a disaster strikes and offer a needed product or service can profit handsomely…and ethically.

3 Ways to Profits

When it comes to profiting from disaster, most people think of price gouging or profiteering. Price gouging is not only immoral and unethical, but in every state and every territory, it’s also illegal. It’s a criminal act in which you’re taking advantage of people who have no choice but to pay. When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we heard examples of unscrupulous store owners selling generators (that normally retailed for a few hundred dollars) for two and three thousand dollars. All those people received jail time or fines, and their business license was revoked. Such people are not seeking to profit from disaster; they’re seeking to profit from misery. There are essentially three ethical ways to make money after a disaster.

1. Volunteer and Donation. In this scenario you volunteer your time and donate your products or services. You cover all your own costs and accept nothing in return, other than perhaps food and lodging. In return for your time and materials, you get the warm fuzzy feeling of doing something good for the community. You become an everyday hero. If you’re visible during this time, you also get great publicity, which could lead to business down the road from those who remember your good deed.

2. Discounted Services. This is the most common scenario, and just as the name implies, it means that you offer your products and/or services to the community at a discounted rate. Those who opt to go this route figure out how low they can price something without the decision being a burden on the business. Realize, though, that no one in the community asked for the discount (although none will turn the discount down either). Often, the business owner gives the discount because he or she has some level of altruism.

3. Full Price. In this scenario, you come into the community and bid a fair market price for a product or service, roughly equivalent to what other companies would charge during non-disaster times. And because it’s fair market price, people are more than happy to pay it. This is completely moral and ethical. Unfortunately, few businesses make the transition to full fare after starting out as a volunteer. But if you really want to grow your business and profit from disaster, this is the way to go.

From Free to Fee

So how does a business make the transition from a volunteer to a paid consultant or contractor? Here are some suggestions:
* Be upfront. State how long you can offer your products or services for free. For example, tell people, “I can afford to volunteer for two weeks. I can afford to bring X amount of materials. If we run out of materials before two weeks, you supply the material and I’ll stay the remainder of the time I stated.” After the two weeks are up, before you pull out and leave, talk with the people you’ve been helping. Explain again that you can only afford to volunteer for two weeks. Very often, at that point, they’ll ask you to bid the remainder of the work. Then you can offer a fair market bid. If you get a “yes,” then why would you not stay? You’re already there, and now you’re making money. If they say “no,” then they’re taking responsibility for their own recovery. At that point, you can go home and tend to your business, knowing that you’ve done a good deed.

* When your community does its disaster relief plans (before a disaster hits), put your company on the list of businesses available to aid in the recovery efforts. Businesses can work with their local communities to be “first-called” in the event that a disaster strikes. What does that mean? Assuming that the business is capable of responding, that business will put the community recovery (or specific targeted recovery within the community) at the front of the line. But that’s just the beginning. In some cases, a business (let’s say a hospital, for example) may contract with a service provider (such as a roofing contractor) and pay a retainer fee so that in the event of a disaster, that contractor will put the hospital at the front of the list. In return, that contractor gets the bid for the other work the hospital needs done. The contractor is happy to give that deal because it guarantees them business. This is completely ethical. In fact, it’s a win-win solution. The business gets the repairs they need done and contractor has guaranteed work. What could be better?

The bottom line is that businesses need to understand the different ways they can help, and they need to get over the stigma of profiting from disaster. Realize that the people receiving your products or services don’t mind paying for them. In fact, nobody on the receiving end of the products or services expects to get everything for free, and most of them will gladly pay a fair market price for anything you offer. So take full advantage of this profitable market segment. By doing so, you’ll be helping people in need while helping your own business grow.

Dr. Maurice A. Ramirez is co-founder of Disaster Life Support of North America, Inc., a national provider of Disaster Preparation, Planning, Response and Recovery education. Through his consulting firm High Alert, LLC., he serves on expert panels for pandemic preparedness and healthcare surge planning with Congressional and Cabinet Members. Board certified in multiple medical specialties, Dr. Ramirez is Founding Chairperson of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Senior Physician-Federal Medical Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. Cited in 24 textbooks with numerous published articles, he is co-creator of C5RITICAL and author of Mastery Against Adversity. Dr. Ramirez invites comments at: http://www.disaster-blog.com