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  • Hired Volunteers?

    We have thought about bringing people on as volunteers with the options of being paid if we met our quota of visitors for the year, that way if we don't meet quota then they will understand, but if we do meet quota then they will all receive checks when they were not expecting it. Do any of you think that could be something would work.

    If we showed the "Volunteers" that the numbers are not as high as we need then maybe they would help advertise with word of mouth to help the numbers so they can potentially get a "bonus".

    We have limited funds and are trying to find an area that could be potential cost savings. What do you all think?

    Ryan
    "....Any youth who makes security his main goal, shackles himself at the very start of life's race."
    - Clarence Birdseye

  • #2
    Ryan,

    In Kelly's (Raycliff Manor) he talks about this exactly... I would post a little from the book, but I don't want to infringe on anything... I'll just leave that to Kelly.

    But I will say that having stuff for your volunteers like soda, pizza/snacks, cough drops, it will make your crew feel like you appreciate them more than the average joe!

    KELLY! -Tyler
    Chris Riehl
    Sales@spookyfinder.com
    (586)209-6935
    www.spookyfinder.com

    Comment


    • #3
      Yes

      I agree with Tyler on this 100%. However if all goes as planned for my haunt, I plan on going the same way that you are asking.

      Comment


      • #4
        When it comes to hired help you always hope that you get what you paid for..but then if you don't pay them at all? You still might be getting what you paid for!
        I have had people working for me that had to be in certain places in the house for the patron's safety, yet they left in the middle of us being very busy and never told anyone that they were leaving!!!
        Yes, this was a paid helper, paid pretty well too!
        It has always amazed me how little I ask of many helpers here and yet they can't do it, can't do it for even short time periods.
        So I thought the problem was that they were getting bored. So I made several stations and different jobs for them to trade off with one another, then I heard complaints it was too hard or they just didn't want to.
        The best was a young girl my ex had hired , worked here three seasons, then was sorry to inform me that it got boring BUT she was going to move to Florida and work for her Grandmother in her business and "That will never get boring!"
        "What will you be doing ?"
        "Bookkeeping!"
        "Sorry to tell you this girl but almost anything that a human will ever find to do will eventually get boring" (if you let it!)
        " Bookkeeping?"
        Counting other people's money, no, that could never get tiresome.
        hauntedravensgrin.com

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        • #5
          myself I wouldnt even mention money if you are going to hire them on as vollunteers. They will be expecting it and when they dont get it they will B!@#@ and complain so what I would do is at the end of the year hold a party. IF you made enough and you so feel to pay them then give it to them as a thankyou. Because the ones at the party are most likely to come back to you. Also you dont want to pay these actors that leave before your last night do you. That alone will suck up all the money. Divid it up between the remaining actors that show up to the party. That way every one that shows up will get a even share. Does this make sense?
          5 years in the business and still ticking
          Ive been through HELL on Earth. What can you do?
          USSN

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          • #6
            ..and as their "employer" be sure to hint to several employees showing up to the "party" that you are expecting a nice, expensive gift from them all.
            Think about it. If you have 25 of them at the party and everyone just pitches in $20 , that's $500.oo!! They can buy you something Really nice for $500.oo!
            Expect good things in life and they will happen.
            It's lonely at the top.
            (Gee, I wonder why?)
            hahahahah!
            hauntedravensgrin.com

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            • #7
              Chloraseptic.....
              The word for the day is NPD. Check it out.

              Comment


              • #8
                Last year we had food and drinks (nonachol) and had tee shirts made for them. All their names were put into a drawing and gift cards were handed out, the largest being $150.00, everyone got something. We are going to do this again this year.
                Giving People The Chills Since 2005

                http://www.warehouse31.com

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                • #9
                  ^ That's sounds like a really cool idea... Hell, I'd volunteer! -Tyler
                  Chris Riehl
                  Sales@spookyfinder.com
                  (586)209-6935
                  www.spookyfinder.com

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Payroll is now one of our highest financial "liabilities", but I hate to use the word liabilities because our greatest assets are our Fright Team members and they deserve every bit of the pay they get. When we started the haunted attraction venture, we actually got a group of people together and let them know that the compensation was going to be directly relative to the success of the business. We worked very hard that year to under promise and over deliver. This is a philosophy we live by. We were very fortunate in that everyone was actually able to be paid, including their bonuses, above minimum wage from year one! Jim is right when he says, "you get what you pay for". We only work with individuals 18 years or older and everyone is compensated financially and given a whole lot of added incentives, such as parties, prizes, trophies, t-shirts, snacks and beverages while operating, etc. We really have developed one big family. For our Spring Break event, we have almost 100 % return Fright Team members. Only 5 of the team members for this event are new.

                    We've learned a lot over the past several years and we still have a long way to go. If there is some advice you should heed when considering operating a professional haunted attraction, consult with your CPA and get some legal counsel regarding the employment laws specific to your area. Advice on how to pay your actors, security and makeup artists, again is specific to your area and you need to make sure it really is professional advice. :wink:

                    Kel
                    Chris Riehl
                    Sales@spookyfinder.com
                    (586)209-6935
                    www.spookyfinder.com

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Great advice Kel! Now in a perfect world we would love a crew who helped us out each year just for the love of it, and on a small scale this has worked out fine. We have done the usual prizes, gifts and goodies, and we will always do these things. But we will be needing a much bigger crew in the future, so we will start paying our people w/ bonuses. I am a long time believer of, you get what you pay for, plus it makes it easier to fire them if they suck!

                      About your question Gallows, I think your people will take it different ways. Some will be fine without bonuses, and some will get pissed-off if they don't get any. I think this is something you will have to flesh out with your crew. If you have a willing crew, this should work great!

                      =Joel=
                      Heartstoppers
                      Haunted House

                      Sacramento, CA

                      www.scaredyou.com

                      www.fb.com/heartstoppers
                      www.twitter.com/heartstoppershh

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        reply

                        Maybe i just work with a really kick butt crew, but payment is NOT an option for my team.

                        We have been together for five years now and every year we hand the checks right back to our owner and tell him to put it back into the haunt.

                        I just don't get it, why do people pay actors to play,because even though your exerting energy your essentially playing!

                        Especially with todays haunts, people should jump at the chance to work at a haunt of todays caliber. Man it drives me freagin nuts when i hear people pay thier people, Party's absolutley,t-shirts and prizes yes but a dollar per hour agrred on i think in my opinion is just wrong and all your doing is paying somebody to stand in a spot.

                        As a vollunteer though, your doing it for you and your pride, thats it! Not money! We design or own costumes and learn our own make up, yes we have costumes to grab off the rack and yes the noobies have somebody do thier make up for them. But i want my team to excell in every aspect and creating their own characters and executing the whole thing themselves is first off getting themselves ready for the night mentally and secondly when somebody complements them on that character they did it and get the 100% satisfaction of it.

                        Our owner does buy make up but if you ask anybody in the immediate team everybody has thier own make up case and some exceed hundreds of dollars worth all out of our own pocket. Why because this is what we do as great haunt actors. This is why were recognized by so many people in the indusrty, this is also why we have had so many great offers to guest act when we didn't open last season.

                        I have already had four offers for this year if we don't open some as far as Ohio and Pennsylvania, when i hear somebody say hey we want you next year, thats all pride, that makes me feel great inside and even better when i tell my crew! This motivates us even more!

                        Last year three haunts took us in and paid for our hotels, everything else came out of our pockets which did add up to be quite a bit especially for a very young crew that hardly carries jobs to begin with. But it was better than sitting at home!

                        We have joined up with Dream Reapers for three TW's now and one weekend last season, we wouldn't miss it for the world, we love acting for the owners it's our favorite time of year even over October. Thats why were so broken hearted their moving the show to vegas, we can't afford to pay for all the extra expenditures such as plane fare. Im sure other things will come our way and thats how were going to approach it,one door closes and others open.

                        But again all of this comes out of our pockets because we love doing it, and i will promise one thing put any of my crew in a room with a paid actor and that paid actor will quit, it's already happened many times we chew them up and spit them out they just can't keep up. Reason why is that guys doing it for a paycheck and were doing it for our own pleasure!

                        Heres the real kicker because im sure many of you are thinking yeah but that won't work on a 14 or 15 year old, all they want is money, they won't have the pride and they"ll wear out and give up due to little work ethic.

                        The kicker part,ready and im an idiot for saying it here but screw it the shows in vegas now right!

                        The last three years we have performed at Dream Reapers and toured TW 75% of the kids in all the pictures i have posted, so many of the charcaters you guys have come to know and love are under 18 years old.
                        We have made at least 15 fake ID's just to get them in the door at TW and to be part of that awesome weekend. We hold our breath as we all line up at the door to get our badges. Now we know this is wrong and last year i even called the guy that runs TW and asked and pleaded to let them in but the answer was no. I told him this is also my entire production crew, they design sets and help build them all year long they need to see whats available.

                        I do make all the parents aware that there are scantily dressed people at the show but have yet to have one parent turn me down due to this.The parents actually love that we do this for their kids and give our time with not just the haunt and the convention but with life questions as well.We help them with homework, we answer questions their not sure their parents will understand and almost everytime they see they were looking at an issue incorrectly. This is what makes a very tight team,this is why were the very best of freinds!

                        Every year these same kids take every last dime out of their pockets to buy contacts,make up, and this year at the Dental Distortions booth they bought well over a dozen sets of teeth. Contacts, ha we are their best buyer. This year i believe they bought well over forty sets of contacts between a dozen of them. If the ladies looked a little thin on saturday at the contact booth thats because we got there on friday!

                        Again, this is what we dedicate ourselves to 150% because we LOVE to do it, it has nothing to do with the Benjamins so keep your money, buy them pizza and show them something really special. How to make themselves awesome characters and actors, they will love you forever!

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          In a perfect world Ken, we would clone you and your crew! I bet most of the haunt owners out there reading your post, is wishing they had a crew with your enthusiasm and dedication!

                          I think we all have a core group of actors that are on your level, but when you need large numbers of people to run the show, your core group can only do so many roles. So paying them becomes the solution.

                          =Joel=
                          Heartstoppers
                          Haunted House

                          Sacramento, CA

                          www.scaredyou.com

                          www.fb.com/heartstoppers
                          www.twitter.com/heartstoppershh

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by ClusterOne
                            In a perfect world Ken, we would clone you and your crew! I bet most of the haunt owners out there reading your post, is wishing they had a crew with your enthusiasm and dedication!

                            I think we all have a core group of actors that are on your level, but when you need large numbers of people to run the show, your core group can only do so many roles. So paying them becomes the solution.

                            =Joel=
                            Cluster i think you directed this at me but wrote Ken instead.
                            Just to let you know we ran with 100 plus actors at a very large haunt, my immediate crew is all we had the cahoonies to get in the doors at TW! But i get emails and myspace comments from all the others everyday saying how much they missed not haunting last season and when are we going to get another building.
                            My reply is when one of you kills the building inspector!

                            So yes i was speaking of a very large crew and it is possible. Look at it this way they could be on the street corner smoking crack instead but give people an ultimadum and they will partake.

                            Don't get me wrong here we do go through a lot of new people every year but if you show them how to do make up and design and build haunts they show up in force every night of the year wondering what needs to be done. Their learning something which to anybody is intrigueing and they want to learn more.
                            If you build a haunt by yourself and then put them into a spot with your costumes and just anbody to put some make up on them they loose interest.

                            We used to have our building year round and 50 plus people would show up in a snowstorm to help build until midnight,personally i was thinking they didn't have homes for awhile! I guess it's a good thing and i thank you for your compliment i know im blessed with my crew!!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              As one of the haunt owners that had the pleasure of having Kevins gang, let me say that as an owner, I would give my right fang to have any of them on my crew. They rocked my place and I have told Kevin that I hope he considers my haunt as their third home. They have a passion for haunting that is almost insane
                              www.atheateroflostsouls.com Or if you need makeup or supplies www.abramagic.com


                              "I am a frickin evil genius who deserves some frickin respect!"

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