Your Questions About Business Online Services Group
Linda asks…
IRA Network – Investors Resource Alliance – business plan service + investors?
I have an online business and am currently seeking seed or equity funding through angel investors or other venture capitalists. I am NOT interested in an SBA or other business loan, nor “building business credit” services – I don’t need or want business debt.
I submitted an executive summary of my business plan to an investment group called Investors Resource Alliance or “IRA Network” and received a fairly positive response. Out of a dozen submissions to companies which match entrepreneurs to investors and many direct submissions to venture capital firms, this was the first to express real interest.
Before I can be submitted to their network of some 5,000 investors, they want to rewrite my executive summary, as well as my business plan. The service they’re offering costs $3,500 (some of which can be deferred) and includes the business plan, PowerPoint presentation, project due diligence, marketing research, one-page overview, etc – basically every document I would need to be submitted to investors and make effective presentations. Their sample business plans look very professional, are 30+ pages in length and include all necessary sections. The IRA Network has been operating for 15+ years and claims to have secured funding for hundreds of companies each year. I looked them up with the Better Business Bureau, and while they have some complaints, they have an A+ rating after resolving or attempting to resolve the complaints to the satisfaction of the BBB. They are a BBB accredited business.
My question – is $3,500 a reasonable up-front cost for this business plan and investor submission service? IRA Network would also take a 5% cut out of the capital I may get as a result of their direct efforts as well. That’s their real motivation – to take 5% of the $500,000 in funding I am seeking, which I am OK with.
I could potentially get my company in front of 5,000 investors, and my business plan, executive summary, etc. definitely need to be rewritten by a professional. Are there other services that write professional business plans and submit them to investors for less?
FYI – my company has already been founded, the website launched and tested, and I’ve attended counseling and several classes with SCORE. So, I’m not completely green about running a company and attracting investors, although this is my first business.
Any help or comments are welcome.
Please don’t post SPAM from your business lending company!
Jere answers:
You don’t need anyone to do a business plan for you or do these services for you.
Here’s a free tool that will walk you through the entire process and get you ready for funding.
Http://fundingroadmap.com/
It’s a cheap yearly membership but you get a free trial to see if it works. It’s amazing but very complicated, almost too complicated. But with the detail of your post most likely you can handle it.
Paul asks…
Online Business question?
I’m trying to get an idea of what the cost is to start an online business, not sure if you guys can answer but all info is appreciated. I’m looking into a credit card solutions for payment processing and the site I went to doesn’t really give a clear answer. Basically if a website is brings in let’s say $5,000/month would anyone know about how much it would run me to pay the credit card processing group. Is this a monthly rate? I know this probably varies but I’m just trying to get an idea of how pricing works with this service.
Jere answers:
It is hard to determine what your merchant account costs will be by just giving the total transaction of $5,000. You need to give information on:
– transaction fee (the more sales you have, the higher the transaction fee — so there is a difference in this fee if your $5000 sales can be broken down into 5 transactions as against smaller lower priced 500 transactions)
– discount rate (this is typically high for online merchants because of the condition called “card not present”)
— average ticket price (you’ll pay more in merchant account fees if your items are lower priced because you’ll pay more in transaction fees)
– number of units sold
There are merchant account cost calculators out there that you can try. Check out this one at http://www.merchantaccountforum.com/calculator.html
Donald asks…
How can I find a UK residing person/s to market/popularise my ONLINE TUITION business ? ?
I am an ACCA tutor based in Srilanka.I have an idea of launching an ONLINE-LIVE-TUITON service for UK residing students. India and Srilanka are doing well in online tuiton industry with a rapid growth rate of 400% per year. UK/US students prefer south-asian tutors bcoz,they get tha same quality education like in the UK/US, for a fraction of the cost. Now, I need one or more person/s,to popularise our online tuiton service in the UK, by doing some simple activities such as posting ads on local newspapers,issuing hand-bills to libraries,word of mouth ad,etc.etc. We are not a large corporate group to start offices in the UK. I can’t put ads on Craigs or Gumtree etc.bcoz,my country, SL, is not listed in those sites.(ie,an ad can b posted,but,it never appears).Our target group of students in the UK amounts at more than 150,000. If the UK rep/s can find atleast 50 students per term (a term is 6 months),they can easily earn GBP 3500(or US$6500 approx.) per month. As UK residing reps are the people who are going to deal directly with students including collecting fees,there is no chance of getting scammed(unless the reps scammed us!). But, my big question is: how can I find one or more (responsible) part-timers who can represent us in the UK? Web ads result in zero,bcoz,who search these in net? The most searched word is “sex”. If you have any valuable idea please let me know. My mail is: nicetutoring(AT)yahoo(DOT)com Thanks for reading.Pls help!
Jere answers:
I’m sorry that I cannot help because I am in the US, but I had a question about your posting…
You say you want to provide online live tuiton services in the UK, and that you are a tutor.
I have never heard the word tuiton, but in the US, a similar word is tuition. Tuition is the money a student pays to a university for their coursework. It has nothing to do with what we call “tutoring.” Tutoring is when a mentor helps a student to study, prepare for tests, understand what they read or what they heard in class.
Is it an online live TUTORING service you are proposing?
Sandra asks…
Online Business? Ideas? Tips? Yola? HELP!!!?
So I’m interested in creating an online business through a site calles “yola”.
1. I want to make a site that interests a large group of people from all ages and backgrounds. What type of things would appeal to a large group of people? clothes? foods? fact site like for traveling? What do you think?
2. If I create a site that contains information, can I still profit off of it? if so, how? because right now I would think that one has to sell something in order to make profit off of their site. Correct me if I’m wrong.
3. What, in your opinion, is the first step in creating an online business? I think it is to come up with a service or good that appeals to the larger public.
4. Have you tried or heard of Yola? what do you think about starting a small business through them?
5. Do you have any experince in small online business? Want to give me any pointers please?
Thank you.
Jere answers:
I wrote an article just for people who want to open a business but don’t know what they want. It is linked below. May not be what you think.
Joseph asks…
Which pet grooming business is cheaper to operate – a mobile grooming service or a rent/own your own shop?
We’re having a discussion on one of my online groups as to which type of pet grooming business is cheaper to operate and/or makes a bigger profit. I was interested to hear from different pet groomers who have done the research as to which one is more cost effective – a mobile grooming vehicle or an in shop type grooming business.
Thank you to all who care to share their knowledge with me.
Jere answers:
Honestly, the cheaper one to start up will be the single location shop. However, the mobile grooming services will rake in the cash for you in no time. You can charge more for being a mobile service, especially if there aren’t many in your area. A few years ago, I went to a class at Groom Expo that talked about the business end of things and they compared the business costs of both. And then they compared the profits at both. You will see a marked difference in mobile grooming profits. When I talked to a rep for the mobile grooming van company, they said that by grooming 6 dogs a day 5 days a week, you are breaking even. Most groomers in shops need to groom 10 dogs a day 5 days a week in order to break even. Think about it – you can charge $60 to groom a Shih Tzu in a van because of expenses and convenience to the owner, but in a shop its hard to justify anything more than $30.
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