Business Network

Business Network

If you're local to the Kansas City area and offer small business support services such as administrative, marketing, or technical services then you may be interested in joining our network.

Examples of types of companies who might be interested:

• Accounting Firms
• Advertising Agencies
• Event Planners
• Graphic Designers
• Technical Support
• Web Designers
• More ...

What is the business network?

Businesses may barter their services as a subcontractor or just be a vendor in the network. Bartering is simply offering your services in exchange for the services of another. If you specialize or even provide any of the services we offer, you may want to consider offering your services in exchange for other services our company may offer. This network works with our token system in which you can receive tokens for services you provide to apply toward services you receive. By joining the barter network, you're basically agreeing to provide services to our customers in exchange for services offered through our company. You may also opt to not receive services we offer and only provide services by just being a vendor. By using our services, you may end up receiving some services from others in the network unless you specifically opt out and elect to only use our employees for all or specific services.

Can you give me some examples of how the network works?

Sure, here are a few:

Assuming:

• ABC Accounting Pros is an accounting firm in our network who provides basic to advanced accounting services. their normal rate is $60/hr.
• JKL Lawn Service is a lawn mowing business who doesn't provide any service we offer.
• VWX Web Masters is a web development and design company in our network who provides basic websites to advanced development. their normal rate is $60/hr.
• 1 token = $1

Examples:

• JKL wants some basic flyers made to hand out and a simple website built for their company. We work the flyers (or offer it to a graphic designer if we had one in our network) and VWX decides to take on the website project using a simple template website. Because of our agreement, they provide basic customizations to the template at our rates instead of their normal $60/hr. This means we bill JKL $40/hr minus any discounts that apply to them and VWX receives 28 tokens per hr (40 tokens/hr - 30% (in this example)) from us to barter with or cash in on.
• ABC wants a website built with a small custom component. VWX offers to do the website project and uses a simple template for some of the content of the website and bills at our rates for that piece of the project and completes the custom component at their normal rates of $60/hr. This means we bill ABC $40/hr minus any discounts that apply to them and VWX receives 28 tokens per hr (40 tokens/hr - 30% (in this example)) from us to barter with or cash in on. In addition, VWX bills ABC directly for the custom component at $60/hr.
• VWX decides to cash in on their credits from JKL and ABC projects by requesting accounting services. ABC agrees to provide basic accounting services at our rates instead of their normal $60/hr. In addition to this, VWX wants a CPA to look at their books so ABC bills out their CPA at their normal rates of $60/hr. This means we subtract any token credits VWX has and bill VWX the rest at $40/hr minus any discounts that apply to them and ABC receives 28 tokens per hr (40 tokens/hr - 30% (in this example)) from us to barter with or cash in on. In addition, ABC bills VWX directly for the CPA at $60/hr.

What is the purpose of this network?

Instead of just hiring all in-house staff to compete with the other local businesses, we've decided to invite the local small businesses to help us and each other in the form of a small business network. Many businesses are specialty companies that may have a need for some of these other services and could benefit from the expertise of other local companies. However, they may not have enough work for a bulk rate to make it affordable to them. By combining a little bit of work from a lot of companies, the volume of combined work should be enough to reach a reasonable price point for each individual company and enough work for the provider to make it worth their time also.

What are 'preferred' businesses?

These are companies that consistantly produce high quality results in a timely manner and use open-source software and/or approved software to perform their services and end product. Preferred businesses should provide the end product in a native open-source editible format (such as Open Office's odt format or Gimp's xcf format) as well as a universal printable format (such as pdf, jpg, html, etc) These companies may be utilized first before other businesses. This is so we can promote one of the foundations of our company, use of open-source software.

How much will I receive for my services?

When we offer services to customers, we typically provide various discounts which may be 15% or more off our standard hourly rates. These and other overhead expenses such as advertising promotions and payment processing fees may total to almost 40% of our standard rates. Therefore, as a business in the network, you'd receive a flat rate of 60% or more (usually around 70%) of our standard rates for what we consider basic to intermediate services and you don't have all of the additional overhead expense. i.e. for a standard hourly rate of $40/hr, 70% would be $28/hr (28 tokens/hr) For an approximate amount of what you'd receive, subtract an additional 15% commission fee from our rates discounts. We attempt to price out at competitive rates to encourage customers to retain our services to keep us and our network busy. As a business in the network, you have the option to choose which of our service types you want to offer.

What are tokens and how can I cash them in?

Tokens are credits or representation of your service input into the network. They can be traded for services or 'cashed in' at a rate of 1 token per $1 within 30-90 days from the 'invoice' date. By default, we provide services to new customers on a Net 10 basis where their invoices are due within 10 days and established customers of 3 month or more of consistant timely payments may be granted invoicing on a Net 30 basis. Due to this, tokens may not be 'cashed in' until after these terms. By entering into the business network, you agree to these payment terms.

How do I estimate projects?

We have an itemized fee schedule for typical items involved in many types of projects. To provide consistant estimates between businesses, everyone in the network should consult this list first when providing estimates. If anyone has questions about the standardized pricing, they're welcome to make suggestions regarding pricing changes, additional service items, etc. The goal is to provide fair and consistant pricing for the businesses in the network as well as the customers.

How large are the projects?

Average projects may be of varying sizes from $50 to $5,000 depending on the scope and nature of the project. We're setup to support small to mid-size businesses and typically don't do projects estimated over $10,000. We usually impose a maximum credit balance of $2,500 for new customers and $5,000 for established customers. Once a customer has maxed out their account, their services may be suspended until they settle their balance. Projects estimated at $1,000 or more should include a standard 25-50% deposit for new customers and a 25% deposit for established customers and paid before work begins. Any waving of deposits or increasing of credit limits would be at the risk of the business providing the services. This is to protect us as well as the businesses in the network from financial risk. Businesses should keep this in mind when working on larger projects and should submit invoicing on a regular basis to alllow customers to zero out their balances.

What kind of services are considered out-of-scope or advanced?

Some things that may be considered out-of-scope are Windows computer support or any professional financial or legal advice; advanced would be things such as: custom web designs not template-based whether they be html or flash and any programming or coding including java, php, cgi, etc for applications that are not just an install. You are not required nor expected to provide out-of-scope or advanced services at the standard rates and may request to provide custom quotes for each out-of-scope or advanced level service. If you have any questions as to what is considered beyond the scope of the standard rate, let us know.

Can I upsell customers on out-of-scope or advanced services?

Sure, you're welcome to offer related services that we don't as long as you abide by our terms. We're setup to provide quick, easy, and affordable solutions to our customers and routine work as well as some potential upsell opportunities for the businesses in our network. Out-of-scope and advanced services may be estimated, quoted, and approved services may be provided by businesses and billed directly at a business-specified rate.

How does your non-compete agreement work?

Once we introduce you to a new customer, you agree to not compete with us for a period of one-year from time of introduction. You may be exempt from this agreement if we introduce you to one of your pre-existing customers and you can prove that you've done business with this customer prior to our introduction and within the last year. Simply stated, you either go through us, or agree to provide us with a 20% finder's fee, for every service provided for a minimum of 480 billable hours for every new customer within a year of introduction. You're welcome to promote your company and its services as long as you abide by this agreement. Failure to adhere to this agreement may result in being barred/banned from the business network and/or legal consequences.

What other requirements are there?

Those in our network will not be considered employees of our company and therefore will need to either be 1099 contractors or a business entity that assumes all employee taxation, benefits, etc. In addition, applicants may be required to sign non-compete and non-disclosure agreements in order to protect ours as well as others in the networks interest. To maintain quality control over services provided through our company, we may also screen those who apply to be in either network and therefore may require an interview and/or samples of work. Some of our services may use a standardized service list, time schedule, and/or estimates so those in the network should be able to provide services within these allotments at least 90% of the time. Any member not meeting our standards may be suspended from the network.

Are there other options?

Sure, if you don't want to participate in the standard business network, for a small fee, you can be in our resource list, set your own rates, and work with the customer directly.

How do I signup?

Simply contact us .