NPO Musketeers was initially conceived to help nonprofit organizations with the Google Ad Grant. Yet the concept evolved to include startup businesses for multiple reasons. One reason is that the students we train will have more opportunities to improve their skills if we have other beneficiaries in addition to nonprofits. Another reason is the positive benefit we could provide to communities, local economies, families and individuals by helping businesses get started and grow to achieve stable operations.
The Effect Of A Stable Business & Self-Sufficiency On the Community, Local Economy, Individuals & Families
There are some who may never consider the overall effect of a stable, local business. However, it touches the lives and provides opportunities for self-sufficiency for everyone involved with the business. There are many nonprofits that work to improve the employment status of individuals. NPO Musketeers counts as one of them through our skills training program, and we applaud and support the efforts of all nonprofits that make this part of their missions. But there are fewer nonprofits that offer the support of business ownership as a means for the individual to become self-sufficient, and possibly even contribute to society instead of just being dependent on it. This pathway to self-sufficiency is a little different, but the end-effect is the same or better.
The first individual that a stable business affects is the business owner. If a person has the aptitude to be a business owner, then the potential to raise their standard of living is much higher than if they were simply employed. Becoming the owner of a stable business allows the individual to be self-sufficient and contribute to their community in a positive way. The next individuals that a stable business will affect is the family of the business owner. Financial security is a significant factor in helping families have the necessities of living, stay together, and have quality of life. For many business owners the first and most important blessing of having a stable business is that they can provide for their family.
The next individuals that are positively affected by a stable business are the employees that are hired by the business. This in turn creates additional opportunities for more individuals to become self-sufficient, improve their quality of life and contribute to the local community and local economy. Getting a business to the point where they can hire one or more employees is major landmark indicating the stability of the business.
A stable business is an immediate part of the local economy with the business and individuals in that business receiving income, spending that income locally, and paying state income taxes and retail taxes, which maintain local programs and infrastructure. Once the individual is self-sufficient they are also more likely to take additional steps to contribute to the community through local churches, schools, charities and so on, but much less likely before they are self-sufficient.
Some Of The Biggest Road Blocks Preventing Startups From Growing Into Stable Businesses:
There are many kinds of businesses, and many kinds of business owners. Yet, one of the biggest road blocks that prevents a startup from growing into a stable business is the business owner. That, and funding.
Here is a common scenario: a technician, operator, or employee becomes really good at their trade, to the point where they know they can provide a product or service better than anyone else. So instead of providing that service for someone else’s business, they decide to go into business on their own. At the beginning the business is completely owner-operated and with low sales volume it can be maintained exclusively by the owner. But the more quality work the owner provides, the more work they get, to the point where they become severely overworked – and understaffed. Not to mention that they don’t know much about the administrative side of the business. They don’t know how to create systems for order fulfillment (leaving some customers unsatisfied); they don’t know or they neglect the accounting; and they either don’t know or neglect the marketing. The point where they become overworked often comes before they can hire a whole team. If they can add to their team it’s often one by one, and they usually start with more technicians, so the owner is still stuck with administrative duties.
Here is another scenario: An individual discovers that a particular need is missing in a specific market, and they’ve come up with an idea to fill that need so they want to start a business around that idea. They might need training in starting and operating a business. They will also especially need marketing to promote the new product or service, but instead of seeking capital funding to pay for the marketing, they could potentially have marketing services provided for them until the business is stable.
Perpetual Seed Marketing & Discounted Business Services For Startups
The first way that NPO Musketeers will help is by developing a concise training program for starting and operating a business. A lot of training programs are expensive, or they are filled with fluff and they don’t offer very much actionable information. We want to give the crash course in business that is effective enough so they don’t delay getting started due to never-ending planning but so they are also prepared enough to start and maintain the business.
The next way that NPO Musketeers will help is by offering discounted business services through a network of partners who have a similar passion for helping businesses grow. The network consists of professionals, as well a some students and interns, who can help with business structure, consulting, legal work, accounting and other services which the business will need. Startups, as well as established businesses and nonprofits can all benefit from the resources that we are aggregating for them. Those who participate in our programs are encouraged to use those resources because some of them help with the fund raising efforts of NPO Musketeers and that allows our programs to continue.
The third and most sophisticated way that NPO Musketeers will help is the Perpetual Seed Marketing Program.
Details Of The Perpetual Seed Marketing Program
Through our fundraising efforts we will provide six months to a year’s worth of marketing for startup businesses. After six months to a year the business should reach at least two major milestones:
- They can start paying for the service as an operating expense of the business
- They can hire at least 1 employee
Once they can start paying for the service, they also start paying back for the services they received for six months to a year on a no-interest payment plan. When they pay back the amount that they received, the same funds are then used to help another startup business which makes these funds perpetual.
In order to qualify the business owner must meet the following criteria:
- They must show an aptitude for owning a business.
- They must have a viable business plan.
- Does the profit margin allow for stable operations and scaling the business?
- Will the product or service be a unique benefit in the market compared to competitors?
Businesses will be expected to share Profit & Loss statements with NPO Musketeers on a monthly basis. Generally their profit margin should be between 50%-60%, although some businesses will operate on higher volume sales and a lower profit margin.
During the initial stages of this program, the only businesses that are eligible must be in the following industries or niches:
- Home Services & Contractors
- Automotive
- Health & Wellness
- Restaurants
- Retail
These are all local businesses. They either have a brick and mortar location with a customer target of about a 5-8 mile radius in suburban areas (could be a larger radius in rural areas), or they provide onsite services within a specific geographic region. Part of the mission of NPO Musketeers is to help build local communities and economies.
The marketing services that will be provided for them are the following:
- Logo design (if needed)
- Business Card design
- Website design, development & maintenance (business must pay for hosting & domain name)
- Local SEO & Reputation Management
- Social Media Management for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn & Twitter
- Optional: Adwords or PPC advertising management (generally considered at 6 months, business must provide funding for ad budget)
Through direct partnerships NPO Musketeers has negotiated to have these services provided at a significant discount by a reliable marketing agency. Below are the general estimates needed for each optional pathway (and the amount it would be if it wasn’t discounted):
- 6 Month Startup: $5,100 (discounted from $8,800)
- 12 Month Startup: $8,700 (discounted from $15,100)
- 12 Month Startup with Optional 6-month PPC management: $9,900 (discounted from $16,300)