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.