Customizable Certificates Help Coaches Become “Well-Prepared”
In sports, recognizing each of the players is important. It not only boosts their self-esteem, but gives everyone a chance to see their efforts have not gone unnoticed.
As a coach, and the father of four girls who were usually on the team he coached, he noticed how much they enjoyed the certificates he had made and handed out at the end of the season. Spotting the opportunity he had available to him, Mike O’Halloran decided to bring in a graphic designer, Greg Johnson, and together they made certificates that were easily customizable and good looking.
Mike has since taken his certificates and turned them into a business venture known as The Well-Prepared Coach.
What is The Well-Prepared Coach?
The Well-Prepared Coach line features well-designed, coach handouts and award certificates for basketball and soccer coaches. The products are sold as downloadable PDF files that work on both PCs and Macs. Customers can print as many as they like. Coaches can customize the handouts and certificates with information specific to their team and players.
The Basketball Coach Handouts title includes: “Player Expectations,” “Shot Tracker” (to record where your players are shooting from on the court), “Treat Sheet Sign-Up,” “Emergency Contact Information,” “Basketball Homework,” and more.
The Soccer Certificates title includes: “Soccer Superstar,” “Dynamite Defender,” “We Get a Kick Out of You,” and more. This title includes 120 designs to choose from including recognitions for team parents and coaches.
There are currently 6 titles: 3 in basketball awards and basketball handouts, and 3 in soccer awards and soccer handouts. We have three price points: $9.99, $14.99 and $19.99.
What inspired you to start selling your certificates?
While coaching my kids’ basketball and soccer teams, I liked to recognize the team players individually at season ending parties. Along with the other coach, we’d pass out award certificates that highlighted individual and team accomplishments and say a few words. The kids enjoyed the spotlight.
I noticed that my own kids kept these certificates, which I had hastily prepared, up on the walls in their rooms for a long time. If the certificates were going to be up for a while, I figured they should look a lot better. I asked Greg Johnson, a professional designer in the Twin Cities, to design a certificate for my team two years ago. The players loved it. When other coaches started asking for copies, Greg and I discussed expanding the concept to a larger audience. The Well-Prepared Coach line was born.
To increase awareness and handle sales transactions, we turned to Lulu.com. Because our products are downloadable, you can go to our site at http://stores.lulu.com/wellpreparedcoach, select the product you want and be working on your team’s handouts or award certificates within minutes.
Do you have any plans to expand past your basketball and soccer options into any other sports?
Yes, we’ve had requests for volleyball and hockey editions so those two are high on our list. In addition, we’re planning some non-sports related titles.
Why do you feel it is important to recognize each player individually using a certificate like the ones you sell?
We believe in the adage, “SHOUT PRAISE and whisper criticism.” Even if words of praise have been spoken, it serves as a great reminder to put it in writing. Kids post the certificates in their rooms, on refrigerators and family bulletin boards. The certificates serve as conversation starters with friends and reminders to the players themselves as to a fun season and what they can accomplish if they put their minds to it. Kids, and adults for that matter, enjoy having their contributions recognized.
Why do you like about Lulu and why did you choose it as your store platform?
Lulu provides a wonderful service. In addition to handling transactions and fulfillment, a sizeable audience comes to their site daily.
Do you have any specific goals you’d like to reach over the next year as your business continues to grow?
Soccer and basketball are two of the biggest team sports in the U.S. and the world. So, there’s plenty of room for growth with our existing products. To date, awareness for our line has been driven by word of mouth. As more and more of our certificates are finding their ways into players’ and coaches’ hands, our business is growing. We just want to continue to increase awareness of our products and maintain the same high quality of our products as we expand our line.
What do you enjoy most about running your own business?
I enjoy being able to focus on the creative aspects of a business like developing new products.
How much time, on average, do you spend handling the needs for your business?
It varies greatly, but overall, it’s very manageable.
When you look back to the beginning, when you were just getting started with The Well-Prepared Coach, were there any problems you encountered during the launch? What were they and what did you learn from the experience?
When we first started, we had a lot of questions about how to phrase particular awards. We decided to do a little research with players from local teams to find out which wording worked best for them. The great thing about kids is that they don’t hold back any punches. If they think you’re off, they’ll let you know. And, at times we were off, the kids let us know, and now we have a better product because of it.
Based on the value of the kids’ input on our first product, our strategy for the entire product line became, “Test, test, test; before we invest.” We can see the improvements by having a lot of eyes review our products.
What is it about your product that you feel separates it from the other award options available on the market?
Our basketball certificates and soccer certificates are different from most in that they’re offered as a PDF file that allows you to both customize and print as many as you like – so it’s a great value. We offer a lot of different options within one product and the designs are fun and contemporary.
We haven’t seen anything exactly like the coach handout products for soccer and basketball. Well-designed, customizable forms are included for: team treat sign-up, shot tracking, players’ homework, practice plans, emergency contact info and more. Forms like these can be created, but it’s time consuming and most folks won’t be able to match the professionally designed appearance.
Rocklin Melting Pot Restaurant Will Close
The Melting Pot fondue restaurant in Rocklin is shutting down after its dinner service on Halloween night,
a victim of the continued erosion of the region’s disposable income over the past two years.
The local franchisee, Michael Frampton, will continue to operate his Melting Pot location in Sacramento, which is a few blocks away from the Sacramento Convention Center and the big downtown hotels. Business and meetings at downtown location have held up fairly well through the downturn. The Rocklin location’s business took a hit, however, as consumers cut back when housing values declined, gas prices surged and the stock market fell.
The Melting Pot is a high-end dining experience where, with wine and several courses, the bill can easily reach $50 a person.
Logo from The Melting Pot.
Liberty Tax Offers Recession-Proof Franchise Opportunity
Corporate layoffs could soar as much as 37% in 2008, predicts Career Protection, the leading national provider employment negotiations.
With movement continuing out of America’s corporate doors, it’s encouraging that a franchised business is opening every eight minutes. Forced retirement, job cutbacks, and economic uncertainty all point to a safety net of a recession-proof franchise opportunity. Liberty Tax franchising is that opportunity, combining the certain product of income tax preparation and affordable start-up costs.
The tax industry features a growing market of taxpayers. Approximately 62% of them will outsource the tax preparation task to paid professionals, up from 51% in 1994. All of these factors are why, in eleven years, Liberty Tax Service has accelerated its presence in the industry as the fastest growing international tax service ever, with 2700 offices in the US and Canada. Liberty Tax franchising is a fit with various life scenarios: keeping a day job while starting a franchise, entry into the tax business with little or no experience, and the challenge of a busy seasonal business with a bonus of extra summer family time,.
Liberty Tax and its CEO John Hewitt are garnering many accolades for a superlative franchise opportunity that welcomes a diverse America to join its ranks. Hewitt has 39 years of tax industry experience, the most of any CEO in the tax preparation business. He is the only founder of two franchises that Entrepreneur magazine has ranked in the top 25 of their Franchise 500: Liberty Tax Service and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Hewitt is very accessible to employees and franchisees and is always in the forefront of system operations.
Logo from Liberty Tax.