A Ball For All Seasons
Shamya White - Whites Imaging, LLC

This is a nice article the Gaston Gazette wrote about one of our licensees.  Click on photo to enlarge and read article.

A Loving Memory Launches A Ballstars Business
By Deborah Sexton

The story of Dan Kersey’s Ballstars business has a rough beginning. Thankfully, though, it has a happy ending.

Two years ago, Dan’s grandson, Chad, was taking a college class that required him to get information on franchises. As a favor to his grandson, Dan and his wife went to a franchise show in nearby Denver — and while the experience initially wasn’t a pleasant one, the result certainly was. “People would practically grab us and drag us into their booth, so we were getting ready to leave the show,” Dan says. “Then, we went around the corner and met a couple of gentleman from BallStars, and we were immediately interested.”

Since retiring from his job selling books to libraries and schools, Dan, who also is a former basketball coach, was ready for a change and seriously considering taking the plunge with BallStars. Meanwhile, his son Jerry, who was fighting cancer, urged Dan to go for it. “He said, ‘Pop, you need to do it because you can create memories,” Dan recalls. His son passed away in September of 2005 and in February 2007, Dan launched Kreate Memories, named it in his son’s honor.

PHOTO: Dan Kersey, left, became a BallStars’ licensee at the urging of his son who later passed away of cancer. On the right is grandson Chad, who helps with the business.

At-Event Displays Help Drive Ballstars Business

Dan Kersey, a former library book salesman and basketball coach in Colorado City, Colo., doesn’t consider himself to be the most technologically proficient guy on the block. However, thanks to the tools provided by BallStars — including a Web site template — he has successfully launched his own tech-driven business, Kreate Memories. The one-year-old business drives part of it sales from its Web site, www.kreatememories.com.

Kersey also drives revenue the old-fashioned way by exhibiting at events and offering his company’s personalized products. “I set up a display on weekends at a local sports complex,” he says. “I designed a table with a big banner and some posters from BallStars. Then, I used the oak display case that BallStars offers and displayed the most popular balls. The hours varied depending on the event, but typically I would set up Saturday morning around 7 a.m. and go to around 4 or 5 in the afternoon Saturday and Sunday.”

He generated buzz for his business by creating samples made from photos of area athletes. “I had a full-size soccer ball with a local picture stole out of the newspaper of a gal that was an All States soccer player from the south. We also had designed a basketball for the 2AA State Champions last March. Then we had a bunch of local kids’ pictures that I begged, borrowed, and stole.”

“It created a lot of stir,” Kersey says. “So after baseball season, we set up at a complex that hosts Bantam football games. So we changed up the display to focus on football. I fit right in with that. On average, we probably sold half a dozen right there on the spot. There was a ton of interest. Later I picked up several teams that 20 and 30 players in them.”

Kersey designed a form that allows him to collect information from every one who approaches his display — even those who are “just looking.” “This gives us the critical information we need to follow up with them later,” he says. “So even when we don’t sell balls, we’re getting a lot of exposure for the business.”

PHOTO: Dan Kersey created sample balls that he puts on displays at events. After displaying balls at a Bantam football game, he comments, “There was a ton of interest. I later picked up several teams.”
 

BallStars Business Becomes A Family Affair

Dan Kersey’s BallStars business — Kreate Memories, Colorado City, Colo. — is doing more than creating memories for customers who purchased the company’s personalized items. It’s also creating some great memories for Dan and his family members, many of whom are helping the one-year-old business get off to a great start.

Dan’s son, Jerry, who passed away of cancer in September 2005, was a football coach at an area school. Because of this connection, Dan has contacts at the school, which was helpful in selling balls to parents and fans when the school won the Colorado 40 High School championship in 2007.  His grandson Chad helps maintain the company’s Web site, www.kreatememories.com. And when Dan set up a kiosk in the Pueblo Mall, a local shopping center, for two weeks in November and four in December 2007, he got plenty of help from his family.

“My grandson Chad helped out at the booth, and so did my wife and daughter. We were busier then one-arm bandits with football jobs because of our setup in the mall. It was a worthwhile investment because it got the word out about us,” Dan says. “We got an order from a team in the eastern part of the state, and if I hadn’t been in the mall, I don’t know if they would’ve heard of us.”

PHOTO: Dan Kersey set up a kiosk in the mall during the months of November and December to capitalize on a high school championship win and holiday sales. The resulting exposure later netted him orders from other parts of the state.

The Facts about Friends and Fund-Raising

Sometimes succeeding in business is just a matter of knowing the right people — and offering the right product.

Dan Kersey, owner, Kreate Memories, Colorado City, Colo., found that out when an area high school approached him about organizing a fund-raiser for the booster club. Kersey set up a display with products, and the school did the rest, including manning the booth and handling sales.

“They even processed the orders,’ Kersey says. “All I had to do was print the balls. They made a percentage of the total sales. That opportunity came about by word of mouth through someone I met when I exhibited at the sports complex.”

The fund-raising event was successful enough that Kersey plans to do a number of similar events this holiday season, all built around the BallStars Christmas ornament. In the meantime, Kersey’s keeping plenty busy (full-time, in fact) by partnering with at least seven area photographers. “It will create cash flow by setting up exhibits in their stores,” he explains. “It’s just about getting out there and being seen. It’s not going to work any other way.”

PHOTO: BallStars balls make great fund-raisers. Not only team members but students, parents, and fans are all interested in having mementos of the season. Kersey found assisting schools with fund-raisers to be a great money-maker.

Dan Kersey
Kreate Memories
 

Georgia Entreprenuer Grows Business with BallStars!

Michael Howard had been working in corporate America for more than a decade when he decided to start his own business selling miniature replica football helmets. However, it wasn’t until he hooked up with BallStars in early 2005 that Howard was able to turn his Lawrenceville, Ga.-based business, Volunteer Collectibles, into a full-time job. “I needed more products and more sports to go full time,” he says. “BallStar’s 2200 manual system allowed me to do that by covering more sports, like basketball, golf, soccer, and volleyball.”

Howard’s home-based business provides balls and helmets to Georgia’s youth sports market, up to high- school age—mostly basketball, soccer, and football so far, although he’s pushing to increase sales in softball and volleyball. His clients include the Georgia High School Association (GHSA), for whom Volunteer Collectibles is the official licensee for commemorative logo balls.

“I do balls for the champions of each of their sports, and GHSA gets a royalty for each ball sold with their logo on it,” Howard explains. “They help get the word out about my business via their Web site and monthly newsletters.”

Instead of giving trophies or plaques, many of Howard’s clients prefer commemorative championship balls that are decorated to the school’s specifications. Howard also does balls to be given as a Player of the Week award by team coaches. These tend to be generic without a photo or a name allowing Howard to deliver a full season of balls at one time. End-of-season commemorative balls tend to have a player’s name, individual photo, and position.

Volunteer Collectibles has already provided balls for more than 70 high schools, and Howard hopes to eventually build relationships with more than 400 of them. In the meantime, he has a roster of more than 200 clients, including some corporate customers and buyers from a Web site (http://www.volunteercollectibles.com/) and an eBay Store (http://stores.ebay.com/volunteer-collectibles) he maintains.

“I’ve done thousands of balls this year,” he says. “I went through 20 cases of mini soccer balls in two weeks. And I’ll sell more cases soon, as well. Things are going so well that I’m having growing pains. In the near future, I’ll be hiring a few sales reps.”

The BallStars’ system is easy to use, Howard says, and no training was required. “It’s simple,” he says. “I’ve only had a few questions, and when I call BallStars they were very helpful, no matter what I needed.”

A great niche Michael Howard developed is player of the week balls. He visited football coaches during the summer who would order enough balls for the season, which Howard then produced and delivered before school started.

Not all the balls Michael Howard sells have photographs. This speeds production while boosting profits.

Several nights a week, Michael Howard attends between one and three soccer games where he brings samples and talks to coaches about what he can offer.

Ballstars Franchisee Uses Free Publicity To Promote Business!

After 20 years working as an executive for non-profit organizations, Mark Reed had plenty of experience with fund-raising. So much in fact that about a year ago, he started his own business as a fund-raising consultant. The challenge, he found, was helping smaller groups raise enough initial capital to get the ball rolling. Then he discovered Ballstars.

"The Ballstars system is a great fit for some of my smaller clients, because they have an immediate need to raise quick money," says Reed. "Many smaller nonprofits don't have a lot of funds. This is a great avenue to raise dollars that gives them a solid base to get started."

Reed decided to form his Ballstars company as a separate entity from his consulting business and On- The-Balls®, Urbandale, Iowa, was created. Since Reed purchased his system, he has actively targeted sports associations, booster clubs, high school athletics, and other groups. "We use a pricing strategy that allows us to make a fair profit while bringing in needed revenue to our clients' organizations," he says.

To promote his new business, Reed is aggressively soliciting for free publicity, a proven strategy that has worked for him as a nonprofit executive. With his business being less than six months old, he already has been featured in two publications. The first article ran in the Des Moines Register, a statewide daily paper read by 4 out of 5 Iowans, and the second article was featured in the Des Moines Business Record, a weekly business newspaper.

"I've worked hard to get stories in the newspaper," says Reed. "That's marketing you can't put a price on."

His first story came about after Reed contacted the business editor of the Des Moines Register to pitch his company's story. He has two suggestions to increase the chances of having a story run. "What I've learned is you have to have a really great facts sheet. It should include facts about your business and explain what you do. Then you should direct the reporter to your Web site. If you don't have your Web site up, you miss an opportunity," says Reed. "One of the first things the reporter did was go to my Web site to see what it was all about. Then she reviewed the fact sheet during the interview. She'd say, 'Tell me more about this part.'"

Some features that appealed to her was that you could order one personalized ball and that orders were turned quickly. Also, we knew nobody else had photo sports balls. So when I initially talked to the reporter I told her, "This is something you won't find anywhere else," notes Reed.

"I used the Des Moines Register article to convince the Des Moines Business Record to do a story. Another key is to be as helpful and cooperative as possible," Reed says. "You've got to be willing to do what they need you to do. Be open and tell them that you can provide as much information as they like. You also have to package the story in such a way that even if a reporter can't use it today he or she will put it in a file and when a future story idea is needed, there's a great one in there."

Reed also suggested that the paper send out a photographer to shoot his fully decorated On-The- Balls® van. "When the photographer arrived and I showed him the van, he said, 'The van is great but we'll get a glare in the picture. Let's put you in your office tossing a ball.' That photo landed me on the first page of the article."

Reed plans to continue to work the press. His next goal is to be featured on a radio sports program. His advice to other Ballstars' licensees is simple: "You've got to be persistent. Ask reporters if they need you to come to them. Offer to send photos and/or samples. If you plant the seeds, you can get some great stories."

Mark Reed, president, On-The-Balls, Urbandale, Iowa, intends to use his Ballstars system to put together fund-raising programs for his smaller clients. He has a fund-raising consulting business that he started after being a fund-raiser himself for 20 years.

One of Reed’s advertising tools is his On-The-Balls van. Where ever he goes, people see the van, which has created great exposure for Reed’s business.

Reed understands the value of having professional photos that he uses to promote his business via his Web site and to the local press. He likes to provide as much information to reporters as possible and make himself available for questions or anything else a reporter might request.

Ballstars’ Ball Raises $2,500 For Foundation

Teams, schools, and other organizations are always looking for ways to raise funds to support their causes. What many Ballstars’ licensees have learned is a photo transfer ball makes a great fund-raiser because it is so unique and the ability to personalize each ball makes it much more appealing to people who are sick of buying popcorn, gift wrap, and candy to support their kid’s activities.

Jay Doyscher, owner, PhotoBalls, Fairmont, Minn., had a special opportunity to contribute a fund-raising ball that had special meaning for the family involved and also raised a whopping $2,500 for a very worthy cause.

Doyscher, who also has a sports photography business called Action 2 Photo, has had great success placing Ballstars’ photo ball gift kits with screen printers, embroiderers, gift shops, photo-developing stores, jewelry stores, and sporting goods stores. To date, he has placed the gift order packet displays in 51 stores.

“Customers purchase the gift kit in the store, fill it out, and send the gift kit to us. We mail it back to the store for them to pick up. By having to stop by the store to pick the order up, it’s an incentive for the stores to get a little extra business because the customer has to come back to their door a second time,” says Doyscher.

One of his stores, Moore Monograms & More, Estherville, Iowa, owned by Cindy Moore, an embroiderer, had a tragedy affect her small town. A 12-year-old boy named Collin Helmers, drowned in a boating accident last summer.

In memory of Collin and to take action to increase water safety in the area, the Collin Helmers Foundation was formed with the intention of providing scholarship money for students interested in studying emergency water rescue and also to buy equipment such as underwater cameras.

To fund the foundation, organizers decided to hold an auction. While Cindy was talking to her two neighbors whose hair salon was a few doors down from her shop, the idea came up to create a special commemorative football to be auctioned in Collin’s name. Cindy called Jay and the football, which featured Collin’s photo, was created. Jay charged his regular price, but threw in an oak display case for free to enhance the value of the item.

On the day of the auction it ended up being the highest single item sold for $2,500. It was bought by Collin’s uncle who then presented it to Collin’s parents. The next day an article about the auction and its highest-selling item was featured in the local newspaper. But that’s not the end of the story.

“Since then, Moore Monograms called us and ordered additional balls, because they felt the uncle should have his own ball since he paid that much money,” recalls Jay. “So we made two more full-size footballs, which were presented to the uncle and the grandparents.”

This story is just one example of the many ways that Ballstars products can be used to promote worthy causes and raise revenue. Be aware of opportunities in your area where you can help organizations meet their fund-raising goals.

This football, created by Photostars of Fairmont, Minn., was used in a fund-raising auction held in Esterville, Iowa to benefit a foundation created in memory of a boy who drowned. It raised $1,200 at the auction and Photostars later sold two more of the same ball.

Owners Jay and Tanya Doyscher, Photostars, charged their normal price for the football, but included this beautiful oak display case at no extra charge. The oak display cases are available from BallStars.

Entrepreneur Scores Big In Youth Sports Photography Market

For the past 22 years, Ray Bishop, president, Team Imaging, has been supplying youth sports photographers with a wide range of merchandise that displays individual and team photos. His business has grown to the point that in addition to his own sports photography company, Bishop Photo, he also supplies about 15 other large companies, who typically have more than 100 photographers working for each of them.

One of the reasons for Bishop’s success has been staying one step ahead of the competition with unique offerings. So when he learned about Ballstars’ personalized photo sports balls, he knew he had found another winner. “A lot of photography companies offer the same thing,” he says. “One of the greatest advantages that BallStars has provided is giving us a product that the competition didn’t have.”

Team Imaging offers photo merchandise for the most popular sports, but the majority of sales are in baseball, soccer, and football simply because, “we do more pictures for (these sports),” Bishop notes. All products are produced in the company’s 25,000-square-foot facility located in Bethlehem, Pa.

In addition to Ballstars’ photo sports balls, the company also offers photo baseball bats, mouse pads, mugs, T-shirts, caps, calendars, photo sculptures, matted photos, and trophy plaques. With nine offices spanning the East Coast from Boston to Orlando, Bishop estimates that the company sells thousands of photo balls each sports season. Since adding the sports balls three years ago, “Sales have been grown every year,” says Bishop.

The process Bishop has established for collection of orders is quick and hassle free. A league will call to set up a time to do photos. Up to 30 teams might be photographed in one day. Teams are scheduled 15 minutes apart. As parents arrive, they are handed an envelope with a list of photo packages and merchandise they can order. They fill out the order form, write a check, and orders are collected. Orders are delivered to Team Imaging, produced, and products are delivered within three weeks.

According to Bishop, getting set up with the Ballstars’ photo transfer ball system was easy. “We never attended any training. We did it over the phone,” he says. “It’s a pretty straight-forward operation.”

In addition to being happy with the success of Ballstars’ products, Bishop also notes that the company’s technical and customer service has been top notch. “The people I have worked with at Ballstars are extremely professional and courteous. They have been great. I would say out of the 100 suppliers we use, Ballstars has been the best to deal with,” says Bishop.

The Kearney High School Football Team won the Kansas Class 4A championship in 2002. One of our Licensees showed the Booster Club our full sized football with a picture of a football team on it. Everyone at the school loved it and decided to get one for every coach and have it autographed by each player.

The footballs were such a hit that the booster club decided to sell them as a fundraiser. By the time the booster club was finished, they had sold 110 footballs and had raised hundreds of dollars for the athletic program.

This has now been repeated in dozens of high schools around the country. Until now, no one believed that a high school could get their team photo on an autograph football. There are 15,000 high schools in the United States alone and only a few have yet to see our product. Think of the potential.

The Oregon Trail Junior High School Band is like most school bands in the country. They work hard all year with the hope that they can get selected for a parade in a major event such as a College Bowl Game.

Raising the funds for these trips is the responsibility of the parents and the booster club. No school district funds can be used. Candy, pizzas and car washes have all been used at one time or another with most schools trying to sell the same things.

It's now December 5th and their fundraising efforts were coming to and end and it looked like they were going to come up short of the total cost. One of the parents had seen the BallStars photo ornaments and suggested the band members show them to their neighbors and see if there was any interest. BallStars quickly put together a fundraising package for the band members along with a sample ornament for each member to carry and after just one week, the band had raised the rest of the money. The fundraising effort included an incentive for each band member: for every 10 ornaments they sold, the band member would get one free. Therefore there was a double incentive for each band member to get out and sell this new project.

There is no risk to the school or the band and the buyers actually get something they can keep and use for years to come.

BallStars has now developed a complete fundraising program for its Licensees that can replicate the success of the Oregon Trails Junior High School Band.