TRANSFORM THE WAY YOU WORK. TOGETHER. BUSINESS PLAN
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CONTENTS
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OPERATIONAL PLAN
CLIENT’S PERSPECITIVE
SWOT ANALYSIS
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WEBSITE FEATURES FINANCIAL MODEL
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INVESTMENT APPROACH TO MANAGEMENT
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ResellMyService.com is a website where freelancers from any industry or geographic location can sell their services, not to the end user, but to salesmen and women who can then resell said service for profit. ResellMyService.com provides the necessary infrastructures to project manage, file accounts and network, all in one place – making starting an online business simpler for everyone. It’s a simple concept, based on business models that are already hugely successful. However, the difference with ResellMyService.com is that everyone who uses it, makes money from each transaction – which creates a very positive and happy community of users. So who are our users? Well as the info-graphic in section 2 shows, they are freelancers and resellers. When referring to ‘freelancers’ we mean anyone with a skill set that can be sold to someone else on a temporary contract basis. These skills could be anything from online services to things like accounting, business plan writing, illustrations or even something like floristry: the list goes on-and-on. The ‘resellers’ are people looking to make money online by selling other peoples’ services to third parties. They buy from ResellMyService.com freelancers and then resell to third parties. These people are usually adept sales people and/or strong networkers who have a lot of contacts looking for specific services and products. We want ResellMyService.com to provide a onestop-solution for people looking to start and grow an online-based business. The infrastructure of our website and services will provide business startup advice and guidance in a seamless way. This includes providing project management facilities, website templates for resellers and brandable project bases. We believe this has huge potential. Everybody is trying to make money online and we are covering all aspects with freelancers trying to find work, and entrepreneurs always looking for new ways to make money.
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With regard to how the money is made and moves about within a full ResellMyService.com transaction, we have demonstrated this in the same info-graphic on section 2. The freelancer lists services for sale, and the resellers can then upload their services to their own catalogue for resale to a third party. ResellMyService.com is an obvious solution to the diffused benefits of our current competitors. It provides a self-contained, helpful and positive community where all its users make money and deliver high quality products and services to 3rd parties. With regard to the costs involved, there is no barrier to register for either user (freelancer or reseller). We have a series of tariffs for resellers, which start off for free, and move up through $20, $50, $100 and possibly even $200 per month depending on the amount of freelancer services purchased. The freelancers can also sign up for free and post their services. They only pay a 5% commission on all transactions with resellers. We’ve put a lot of thought into knocking down all barriers to register and use ResellMyService.com – we know that once they’ve started, users will realize the potential of this all-encompassing tool and will be happy to pay the nominal fee to have access to this suite of business services and software.
“ To me as a freelancer, the idea that I’ve got my own type of sales team is just fantastic!
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OPERATIONAL PLAN Buys and Receives Services
Receives Payments
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Retains 5% paid to freelancer
FREELANCER
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RESELLMYSERVICE
Resells to third party
RESELLER
BUYER
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1 Builds a Portfolio
Monthly subscription
So how does it work? With regard to how the money is made and moves about within a full ResellMyService.com transaction, we have demonstrated this in the info-graphic above. This also shows the flow of actions from start to finish in each transaction.
3) The reseller purchases the item from the freelancer. From this purchase the freelancer is charged a 5% service fee from ResellMyService.com. The funds are held in Escrow to provide confidence to both parties.
1) The freelancer uploads a list of their services onto their ResellMyService.com Portfolio Page, accompanied by a list of prices. (The freelancer is able to sign up for free; there is no monthly subscription, and therefore no barrier to start selling).
4) The reseller sells the final product once transferred by the freelancer. (ResellMyService.com would take no percentage of this transaction; because we could never control it without compromising the business model).
2) A reseller who is paying a monthly subscription, once they purchase over $250 of ResellMyService.com freelancer services, finds the appropriate product for them to resell to a 3rd party client.
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5) The funds are released from Escrow to the freelancers ResellMyService.com wallet.
There are currently more than 2.8 million users online at freelancer.com
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CLIENT’S PERSPECITIVE
We have worked on both sides of the target market. Dan as a freelancer, and Matt as both a freelancer and reseller. Both founders used competitor websites like Elance, PeoplePerHour, Odesk, and freelancer.com to find the right people, prices and workrooms. Then sites like FreeAgent.com to manage their finances and perhaps Shopify to actually sell the end services. Using all these different sites with their various fees, subscriptions, usernames, links and passwords gets extremely cluttered, time-consuming and expensive, and there is rarely any consistency. None of these business models were, or even are, going to change their business models drastically enough to adapt at this stage and so we knew that with all competitors being successful in their own right, it would surely be revolutionary to all users to have a solution that provided all of the above, in one place. In essence, a service that understands that the common denominator in this market is that everyone wants to make money - and as easily as possible! ResellMyService.com really would empower anyone to start, run and grow their own business online regardless of their level of experience. What ResellMyService.com aims to deliver to its customers compared to other sites out there is an experience that provides a full infrastructure for people wanting to run a business online, aiming to streamline their activity so that it’s all in one place.
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We would provide helpful tips for how to maximize each user’s experience of ResellMyService.com, and we want them to feel like we are helping them to succeed, as opposed to grabbing money and leaving them to get on with their own work. It is for this reason that we would not charge high commissions nor would we request a monthly subscription until the user is earning enough money reselling. We want to nurture long relationships with each and every user, something not easily achieved with an online business model. As you can see from the various statistics in our business plan, our competing sites have experienced impressive growth and it is our opinion that this only stands to prove the market’s willingness to engage in businesses of this type. We are increasingly encouraged by the way the industry is maturing, more and more people are realizing the benefits of freelancing, and in such a tough global financial climate, there are surging numbers of people looking to make money online, people like resellers. For them ResellMyService.com is providing the perfect online business structure and platform. The potential for our business model is immense. It’s not just a creative team of freelancers for the resellers, and a global sales team for the freelancers. It’s an all-in-one business opportunity for every single user.
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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths
Weaknesses
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Caters to a rapidly expanding market that has been created as a result of having a record number of highly skilled graduates in unemployment, forced into starting their own businesses in online freelancing.
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The potential for multiple revenue streams is limitless.
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It is all online, so streams the focus of the business both operationally and financially.
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There isn’t a large direct competitor doing exactly the same thing, to our knowledge. There are similar models, but this is a hybrid of several successful sites.
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There are absolutely no barriers to register and use ResellMyService.com for either user.
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It is international, does not have to be limited to any specific country or region, which gives us enormous immediate exposure.
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Based on our conservative initial projections, ResellMyService would break even at 12 months (See “Break Even Analysis”).
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The companies that we deem to be our competitors would find it very difficult to incorporate an infrastructure that would allow them to compete directly with ResellMyService. com.
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Will be hard to get enough traffic initially, PeoplePerHour, Elance, Odesk and sites like Shopify etc. have existing reputations for being the place to go.
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Development and marketing costs in the early stages of start-up mean a larger level of investment is required.
Opportunities •
ResellMyService.com freelancers could potentially create web themes for resellers. The themes could then be sold on ResellMyService theme selection marketplace as long as they meet the required standards.
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A market place for resellers to purchase services from freelancers to improve their own ResellMyService.com based business, including SEO, branding and other ways to help - which means an additional revenue stream.
Threats •
Freelancers and resellers cutting deals outside of the website - this happens with most business models like this, but for ease of transaction most people don’t do this. Also the freelancer is the only person to gain from this deal as they wouldn’t pay the 5% commission.
elance.com signed up 610,000 freelancers worldwide in the first half of 2013 They generated $130,000,000 src: Elance.com
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WEBSITE FEATURES
ESCROW
SECURE LOGIN
To give security to both the Freelancer and the Reseller. A reseller funds Escrow when they purchase from a Freelancer. The Freelancer then provides the service/product in line with their own stipulated delivery information and requests release of funds from Escrow. Reseller then releases funds - and 5% is automatically transferred to ResellMyService.com (the company).
We require secure login for all users. Facebook, twitter, google authentication. i.e. Login with Facebook, Twitter or Google credentials. ONLINE/OFFLINE/AWAY STATUS ON PROFILES Simply a notification on freelancer profile page stating their status (like out of office on outlook).
HELP/FAQs We have discussed needing a section that is always to hand with all the answers on how to use the site, FAQs and general support. We should create attractive ‘User Guides’ that explain all aspects of the website. If there are issues that extend beyond the answers we provide, then a detailed contact form should suffice to begin with.
PRIVATE MESSAGING/PROJECTS
As the reseller or freelancer uses the site, little help bubbles will appear to advise how to use a particular section. First time only.
To the right, the document management system, keeping track of all files, invoices etc. appropriate to that particular project. Once a freelancer uploads the final work to the reseller, the reseller can then simply drag and drop the file to the third party, rather than downloading and uploading again.
Knowledgebase with helpful articles. Forum for user interaction. Feature set request from users, which can be discussed. AUTOMATIC FEE DEDUCTION AND DIRECTION TO ResellMyService.com. As we mentioned in the first feature, we’d be taking a commission on sales through the website, we’d need to ensure that on all transactions this is done automatically and without any glitches. Reseller releases funds once product/service is delivered, 5% commission is then taken automatically (only from the freelancer’s income).
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Messaging between Freelancers and Resellers is essential to facilitate purchases. The “Workroom” will consist of all projects. Once the user selects a project, the message conversations appear both between the freelancer and the third party.
No restriction on size of upload so freelancer and reseller don’t have to go elsewhere to send files. Peopleperhour.com has a 20mb restriction. When a reseller sells something to a third party from their website, a project ID is given and opened in the workroom. The reseller can then assign the freelancer to that project, so everything is kept together. Reseller can add other freelancers to the project if they ever need to collaborate, for example a designer and web developer, so reseller does not have to be the middle man. Reseller can request additional work within the same project if required. Freelancer can send invoices for said work.
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ADVANCED SEARCH FEATURE Resellers should be able to search for freelancers by Location, keywords, preference, skill and language etc. CATALOGUE BUILDING FACILITY We want to make life really easy for our Resellers who are paying monthly subscriptions to have access to the wealth of Freelancer services that they can offer their own (3rd party) clients. On each freelancer profile, products and services are offered for a price. The reseller can then add those products and services to their own catalogue which is then available when adding products on their own website. Once a template has been chosen, this website can then be accessed within ResellMyService.com where they can manage their site via a CMS. (This has to be hosted with ResellMyService.com) The benefit of this is all pictures and detail are extracted from the Freelancer (already in the website), which provides the reseller with a complete portfolio straight off-the-bat. The Reseller has the option to customize the portfolio at a later date if required. The Reseller will choose their own price, so have complete control over how much profit they would like to make.
LOCKED PROFILES Users gain immediate access to prices once they sign up. A free tariff will be available up to a total spend of $250 on freelancer services/products. Once they have reached this amount, they would have to start paying for a subscription. We would continue to make the standard 5% commission from Freelancer sales during the free tariff.
PROVISION OF TEMPLATE WEBSITES FOR RESELLERS TO START QUICKLY 20 Responsive themes.
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Resellers can pick a template from the templates library. Once they have their selected template of choice, users will: Enter the ‘customize site’ wizard, pick a colour scheme, upload a logo and change text and contact information. They can then add products using their previously created catalogue or alternatively can create a new catalogue. PAYMENT GATEWAY INTEGRATION Paypal, Skrill, Credit & debit cards inc. American Express, Visa, Mastercard, Switch, Solo etc.
AUTOMATIC EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS (BASED ON USER ACTIVITY) AS WELL AS MARKETING MESSAGES For example after a project is completed an email is triggered to both reseller and freelancer. When they sign up initially a welcome email is sent.
“We want to make it as easy as possible for resellers to create a business online”
DESIRABLE FEATURES: TIMELINE
THEME & API DOCUMENTATION
Similar to Basecamp’s ‘Progress’ option this feature would show all account activity. REAL TIME NOTIFICATIONS Within the workroom, it would be desirable for it to update automatically rather than the user having to refresh the page. New projects, new messages, payments etc. This would really make the workroom a great place to be.
“We want to create an intuitive online office environment”
VIP SYSTEMS We want to provide a ‘VIP frequent user program’ that allows freelancers and resellers alike to enjoy financial and fun perks within ResellMyService.com the more they use the site. There are progressive tiers of VIP category: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond. For example, let’s say a user achieves Gold status then they will have access to the Gold VIP perks for 3 months and will have to retain the same level of use, however, if their site engagement drops then so too will their VIP category, and consequently their perks will be removed until they earn them back again. We haven’t yet established how we would measure the frequent use other than completed projects.
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Allow external developers to create themes and apps for resellers, which can be sold on the ResellMyService.com marketplace. We could then take a percentage fee from each sale. RMS MINI-ACCOUNTANT The ResellMyService.com mini accountant would help manage user’s finances by providing advice, tools and automated calculations. BOOKMARKING SYSTEM The reseller while searching for freelancers, can shortlist their favourites by bookmarking to look at later to compare and contrast.
FINANCIAL MODEL
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We have 2 main revenue streams: The FREELANCERS RMS charge a 5% commission on what they sell. There is no fee to register, hence no barrier to sign up. They get to post their services for free.
The RESELLERS There is no fee to register and a reseller can start making money immediately. Once a reseller purchases more than $250 worth of services, they will have restricted access until they sign up to a monthly tariff. There are 3 tariffs for a reseller which is dependent on the volume of purchases from their creative team of freelancers.
So‌ $20 = Up to $1000 $50 = Up to $3000 $100 = Up to $Unlimited The Add-ons Marketplace for resellers provided by ResellMyService.com freelancers and third party developers and designers. Marketplace to include themes, applications and other promotional products to help our resellers succeed.
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PROJECTIONS Given that there will be no financial barrier to registering and doing business on ResellMyService.com we predict that in the first month approx. 54% of all reseller sign ups will be on the free tariff with only 1% subscribing to the highest tier service.
Looking at the growth rate of the reseller revenue we have tried to make our projections as realistic as possible. With this in mind at no point does our month-on-month percentage growth exceed 50%, and furthermore the early months of development see the highest percentage growth because the initial sign-up numbers are lower and therefore easier to obtain higher % growth rate.
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To the left we have a pie chart demostrating the split of revenue streams within ResellMyService.com. To the right we have a pie chart illustrating the proposed devision of investment required to successfully launch. BUSINESS PLAN
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BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS
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Peopleperhour.com was founded in 2007. It already has more than 450,000 registered users. src: peopleperhour.com
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INVESTMENT
£110,000 in return for 11% equity Development Phase
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PROJECTED TIMELINE OF ACTIVITY
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ORGANISATION VALUES Attentive Relevant Innovative Accessible Collaborative
BRAND PERSONALITY Brave Young Trustworthy Fun Thoughtful BUSINESS PLAN
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BRANDESSENCE ESSENCE BRAND
BRILLIANCE SHARED
VALUE PROPOSITION
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We would like to thank you for taking the time to read our Business Plan, and invite you to ask us any questions that you may have. We are, of course, open to negotiation on the terms of a potential shareholder agreement. Unlike many businesses, the focus of ResellMyService.com is to enable all concerned to make money more easily – our website users, our affiliates, our investors and ourselves. Our operating ethos revolves around always achieving a high quality and sustainable output and it is for this reason that we are asking for your investment; without it the business would not be worth pursuing.
Daniel Kempe – Co-Founder Matthew Spurr – Co-Founder
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