SELF EMPLOYMENT
Start Your Own Association Management Service
There are literally tens of thousands of associations across the country
and around the world representing professional and grass roots
organizations, special interest groups, and just about anything you can
think of that brings people together for a common mission.
Although they may start out small, the administrative duties of managing
the association's day to day business may soon overtake the ability and
time of volunteers. In cases where an association cannot yet justify
hiring a full-time administrative director, they often turn to people that
contract professional administration services.
In addition to providing needed administrative direction and support, the
association management service provider frees up volunteer time to focus on
the mission, policies, and program strategies for which the association
exists.
That's where you come in. It becomes a cost effective, smart business
decision for an association's boards of directors, and a good opportunity
for entrepreneurs with administrative and management skills, and the desire
for a home-based business. - association management service providers can
charge up to $35 per hour and earn up to $52,000 per year working 30 hours
a week!
The duties association management service providers may perform range from
simple filing to public speaking or lobbying. The job description includes
just about anything it takes to serve members and keep an organization
well-oiled.
The scope of the work needs to be defined with your clients and agreed upon
between you and association leaders to which you will report. Expect to
talk about things like: 1) member services and development - collecting
dues, keeping membership lists, coordinating newsletters and other
literature about the organization, answering phone calls, receiving,
distributing, and responding to mail, organizing meetings and conventions,
booking speakers or personally doing public speaking on behalf of the
association, 2) fundraising - helping with events, coordinating fund
drives and mailings, 3) good business practices - bookkeeping, ordering of
supplies, maintenance of equipment, office cleanliness.
If all this sounds like a lot, don't fret. Today's technology will be your
greatest office assistant. Most business records and project coordination
can easily be done on a computer, and by establishing a few communication
links with frequent users or sources you need, can be done from home.
Along with a basic set of office management skills ,a computer (preferably
with modem and fax capabilities), and a phone, it is very important in a
business like this to be skilled at dealing warmly and patiently with
people. Remember, associations live and breathe because of the dedication
of volunteers who lead busy lives outside their involvement in volunteer
tasks. It is not uncommon in volunteer setting to see egos clashing and
conflicts of interest causing rifts within groups.
At times like these, your ability to be a gracious and respectful employee
is important. The same goes for interaction with association members
association members - you may often be the first person they come in
contact with in the organization and how you deal with them can make or
break their willingness to belong.
Lastly, once you've done all these things right, your organizational skills
- or lack of them - will be the clincher in the level of your clients'
satisfaction and will help you win or lose your business with them.
What can you hope to personally gain out of a business like this besides a
earning a good income? Well, you may have the opportunity to do some
traveling to interesting places, attend stimulating meetings and
conventions, and meet prominent people within the industry. And with the
variety of tasks you may be asked to perform, boredom should be the last
thing you run into.
Finally, because most volunteers are contributing from the heart, they can
be highly appreciative of a job well done that saves them extra time and
hassle they don't have. Be prepared, however, to be on the same schedule
as volunteers - on call as needed, working evenings and weekends, and
brushing up against organizational politics.
To get going in your new businesses, you'll need to start by finding a way
to tap into an industry either you know something about or can learn
something about to get started. Ask a knowledgeable friend, read up in an
area of personal interest, and find out everything you can about the issues
the industry faces and the specific types of associations that serve these
industries. Become familiar with the dynamics of how the industry
operates.
Then start contacting. Call presidents of professional or trade
associations. Join a gout or two and network. Volunteer to do a workshop
for association teams on how to manage their project. Read and respond to
classified ads regularly.
And what if you discover a special interest group without an association -
and it could use one? Start your own. The same duties and skills apply.
With all the new technology and fields of interest popping up all over the
place, the opportunities to band people with like interest together is
almost unlimited. Do some targeted marketing to recruit members. Send
direct mailings. Find out what trade magazines they read and advertise in
them. It may be the beginning of your new association.
Running an association yourself could earn you up to $30,000 per year for
membership dues alone (400 members at $50 yearly dues). Stack on top of
that the sale of ads in your association newsletter, and you've got
yourself a healthy business!
For more information, contact:
American Society of Association Executives, 1575 I Street N.W., Washington,
DC 20005; (202) 626-2723.
Institute of Association Management Companies, 104 Wilmot Road, Suite 201,
Deerfield, IL 60015; (708) 940-8800.
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