Stage 2 Development... Investment, Business, Joint Venture, Sponsorship Opportunity...

Investment.	Objectives.	Questions.
Stage 2 Development.	Stage 3 Development.	Interested Parties.

Stage 2 Development.

Development... Stage 2.

The basic Business concept could be described as... developing online Communities around a Social Issue. Acting as the 'Hub' of a Social Network... gathering, disseminating, and generally facilitating the flow of Information... in order to further develop the Concept/Plan... to promote as an online, interactive Project... to engage the various Stakeholders in a constructive dialog... to provide amenities like... Chat Rooms: Message Boards: Discussion Lists: Forums: Newsgroups: Newsletter/Magazine... via a Website which would enable Visitors to... make Comments: express Opinions: submit Ideas: form a Group: write a Blog... and to successfully Interact with other Visitors.

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Development... Stage 1.

Long term development can be done in three Stages. The initial commitment during Stage 1 is similar to writing a book... in that the greatest initial investment is in the Time taken to... Research the Problems: Study published Articles on the Subject: Develop a good understanding of... what works: what doesn't... and their limitations. To Formulate an original Concept/Plan: to Write the Plan: to Develop an Implementation Strategy: to Design a Website: to get it online: to iron out Technical Problems: to Expand: Refine: and Promote as an online, Interactive Project.

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Costs.

Stage 1: is limited to... the purchase of Computer Equipment: [Dell GB] Software Programmes: [PC World] Internet Access: [AOL] Web Hosting Service: [1&1.co.uk] a Payment Service Provider: Research Literature: Search Engine Registration: Phone: [Carphone Warehouse] P.O. Box: General Office Supplies: and a lot of man-hours. Costs are under control because of very low Fixed Overheads. Initially... all ongoing costs are paid 3-12 months in advance... so there is no desperate need for... Finance: Loans: or Cash Flow of any kind.

Content is nearly all original... written by us or to be supplied by Visitors: [who could be based anywhere] so 'Product' costs are kept to an absolute minimum. Also... no Printing or Distribution costs: no Stock: no Despatch: no raw Materials: no Commercial Premises: no Employees: no Credit given: no bad Debts: no Transportation: no Travel: no Advertising: etc. etc.

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Expansion.

There is absolutely no point in trying to cost out a proper Business Plan here. It is really a question of quality, capacity and speed. How much is a new website? How much is a marketing campaign? Decide on a budget... then decide on the priorities. We could carry on developing at the present rate indefinitely. Future costs associated with a more rapid expansion might include such things as... Commercial Premises: Equipment: Marketing: Promotion: Advertising: etc. with any work being undertaken by... Freelancers: Contractors: or Employees.

This Business Model... could truly be described as a 'Virtual Company' as it would not be possible to carry out anything like it if the Internet did not exist. It is the intention that everything which could by done on Computers and via the Internet should be done that way... which means incurring very few of the costs that are normally associated with running a traditional business.

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The Potential Market.

Who might be interested in this subject? Any road user in the Industrialised World with access to the Internet... many who don't have access to the Internet... plus, quite a few others in Developing Countries. So... almost anyone really!!

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More Specifically...

Family and Friends of anyone killed or injured in a Road Accident.

Drivers who have had a Road Accident.

Any Professional or High Mileage Drivers.

Drivers who hate Speed Cameras... and are worried about losing their licence.

Employers who want to keep an eye on their Workers.

Parents concerned about the risks to their Children.

Communities with vehicle related problems: i.e. Speeding: Parking.

Government Organisations... Local: National: and International.

Driving Clubs... Members and Enthusiasts.

Learner Drivers.

Elderly Drivers.

Pro-Motoring Groups.

Anti-Motoring Groups.

Safety Campaigners.

Insurance Companies.

Vehicle Manufacturers.

The Emergency Services.

Law Professions.

Those who are sick of dealing with Inconsiderate and Aggressive Drivers.

Drivers who abhor the idea of having their vehicle controlled by a Satellite.

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3 separate Entities... all Inter-Linked.

1 - The Concept... is a system which could be introduced by a Government as a means of reducing Road Accidents by utilising the power of the Internet. This Concept can... Evolve: Develop: and Improve over time into a detailed Plan, with the help of our Visitors. Readers should make their own assessment as to whether they believe The Concept could be a viable alternative for the future.

2 - The Project... which would be an online: Interactive: Project to promote the ideas laid out in the Concept... to follow it through the Political process to a point where it was being introduced in a Country or State by its Government. Readers should have a look at the sections... Help Us and The Project and make their own assessment as to whether they believe this Project is viable. [Baring in mind that part of the Project involves developing the Implementation Strategies as well.]

3 - The Business... which is also very much Internet based. It concerns the Products: Services: and Facilities that you offer to people who are using the Internet... are involved in the Development and Promotion of the Concept... and its Implementation. [Again... Readers should have a look at the Business outlined in this section and make their own assessment.]

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Costs... Fixed and Variable.

Costs are structured very differently from most conventional businesses. It can be almost as easy to maintain a Website that has a million Visitors a month as one that has ten Visitors a month.

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Fixed Costs.

Very few costs are totally Fixed... many of the following costs only become Fixed after a commitment has been made. It is essential to create an effective 'Hub' for the Network... but nothing more.

Stage 1... Services... Hosting the Website: Domain Registration: [1&1.co.uk] Payment Service Provider: Internet Access: [AOL] P.O. Box address... which can all be done on a fairly small budget. Premises... can be based at home. Employees... not necessary... if operating on a small budget then any work can be out-sourced... i.e. Web Design: Technical Support: Marketing: Accountant: etc. Equipment... some equipment is necessary... Computer: Printer: Scanner: [Dell GB] Phones: [Carphone Warehouse] Software: [PC World] etc... just the sort of things many people have at home anyway. Minimal funds paid out for Registration with Directories... and some limited Promotion, done over the Internet.

Stage 2... Developing a Website could still be done to a budget depending on... Quality of Design: Capacity: Reliability: Functions: Frequency of Up-dates: Speed of Response: Volume of Information: Rate of Expansion: etc. Hosting is relatively cheap... even using your own Dedicated Server at 1&1.co.uk Premises... fixed costs only apply after a lease has been signed. Employees... there is no particular number of Employees that need to be recruited in order to make this a viable proposition... it could slowly expand... continuing to out-source work and doing it to a budget.

Stage 3... There could be 0: 5: 10: 20: 50: employees?? it very much depends on the way it develops and what the budget allows. Equipment... costs would increase in line with Employee levels. Finally... there are also things like... Insurance: Broadband Access: Phone Bills: etc. etc. which are also dictated by Employee levels... which in turn can be dictated by a budget.

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Variable Costs.

To a large extent... many of the costs mentioned under 'Fixed' can also be 'Variables' depending on the circumstances. This is not like building a factory or some such thing, where you need to plan in advance... the size of the Building: its Location: what Equipment to purchase: recruit Employees: as well as... Design: Produce: Sell: and Distribute the Product itself.

A large part of the Project involves promoting the Concept... [which could also be done by visitors or members] so many of the Variable costs would be associated with... Advertising: Promotion: Marketing: P.R. etc... which are all fairly easy to keep within an allocated budget. Other equipment and general supplies can be purchased from any convenient outlet... so, no problems with Suppliers.

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Income Streams.

Initially... it is not really possible to generate much of an income. As visitor numbers increase... some income might come from affiliate advertising. A little further down the track it might be possible to carry adverts on a monthly Newsletter... or offer some kind of membership with access to premium content. The following looks at some obvious Income Streams. [For those to be investigated in the Future... see Stage 3 Development.]

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Readers.

Initially... we have just left the option open for Visitors/readers to make a Donation, if they wish... so as to avoid any promises of producing things like Newsletters by specific dates... [we would not want to be in the position of having to produce a Newsletter for a very small number of Readers when there were more important things to be done.]

Future... when numbers have reached a sufficient level, a Membership could be offered to Visitors... which may give them access to the more 'Interactive' elements... [i.e. anyone could still access the Website to be a 'Passive' reader... offer Ideas: Comments: Opinions: etc... but things like... Chat: Message Boards: Blogs: Discussion Lists: Newsletters... might be restricted to Members Only.] Similar Organisations appear to charge about US$25-35 for a single person... so for arguments sake, let's say Membership of about US$30... or £15.

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The essential point... it should be possible to convert a high proportion of Visitors to Members if there are sufficient benefits to Membership... i.e. anyone paying the Membership should find it easy to recoup the subscription costs through... Special Offers: Discounts: Promotions: Prizes: Free Downloads: Competitions: Premium Information??? Even if this means taking a smaller commission... or no commission from some Advertisers.

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Advertisers.

Future... although we start out with one basic Website... the whole thing could easily be duplicated... and also translated into different languages. As the Website is only a few Megabytes [about 6] it could be copied... 10: 20: 50: 100 times... without incurring any real costs. Each copy having its own... Chat Room: Message Boards: Forums: Blogs and News Section. Every Visitor would start at the same Home Page... but from there, would be taken to one of the 'cloned' sub-sites set up to cater for an individual Country or State. This would give a lot more Visitors the chance to Participate... Interact with people from their own area... and provide a lot more space for 'Targeted' Advertising.

There is little point having something like an Insurance Company advertising to people all over the World if they only sell in Britain... but this system would make it possible to earn commission from Advertisers in other Countries selling to their 'Local' populations. In theory... there is no reason why you couldn't be earning commission from a multitude of different Advertisers on a hundred different 'cloned' sub-sites... i.e. Car Insurance: Finance: Legal Services: based in Texas: directed at Texans: on the Texas sub-site. As Advertisers would only be paying commission based on results, there is no reason for them not to Advertise... it is totally risk free. These sub-sites could be operated by local operators who make their own copy of our website and link it to our Home Page... [more about this in Stage 3 Development.]

Advertisers... while many Advertisers might be related to 'Driving' in some way there is absolutely no reason why they could not cover a whole range of Industries... the Visitors would be from every type of background so there is no need to specialise in a narrow field. [In this Biz-Opp section we have placed some Adverts for the Companies that we currently use while we're running this website... just to see what works and what doesn't.]

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Related.

Unrelated.

Insurance: Vehicles... [Privilege]

Insurance: [Health] [Travel]

Electronics: [In-Car Gadgets]

Mobiles: [Carphone Warehouse]

Sat-Nav and Detectors.

Books and CD's.

Legal advice for Traffic Offences.

Computers: [Dell GB] [PC World]

Motoring Orgs: Memberships.

Web Hosting: [1&1.co.uk]

Car Accessories: [Halfords.]

Internet Services: [AOL]

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Publication.

The core of the 'Publication' would consist of the content on the Master-Copy of the Website written by us. We could allow people to submit their own... Articles: Ideas: Comments: even to Re-write whole Sections: etc... which might appear in a prominent position for a short period of a Week? a Month?? Plus... all the Interactive elements such as Forums or Blogs written by the visitors. [Anything really good might find a permanent place on the Master-Copy.]

So even though the core of the Website might not change much over the long-term... it could have elements that were changing on a daily basis. The big difference with this type of Internet Publication is in all the associated costs... a million people a month could visit the Website and it wouldn't cost any more than £100-£200 p.m... even using our own Dedicated Server.

Furthermore... a Monthly Newsletter could be distributed by e-mail to a 100,000 Subscribers: [perhaps sending out 100-200 Gigabytes of data] and this would also cost something in the region of £100-£200 p.m. This covers all the costs that would normally be incurred with the Printing and Distribution of a conventional Magazine. [Different demographic groups could be placed in separate Files so that any Advertising could be targeted more effectively.] Even supplying enough capacity for a million people to use Message Boards: Forums: Chat Rooms and to write their own Blogs would not be that expensive.

Alternatively... you could just make the Newsletter available online [plus any back-issues] issue any Subscribers with a password... then sent out a simple e-mail [with a link to the Newsletter] telling them that the latest issue is now available.

So... apart from almost no Printing or Distribution costs... there is no great need for Writers: [Members write and submit copy themselves] few Deadlines: [this is not 'Time-Sensitive' Information] no Sales Force: [just sign up with Google AdSense or affiliate advertisers] no Credit Control: [no Credit given, so no bad Debts] no need for Stock Control: [no Stock] no Suppliers: [buy necessities from local stores] few Advertising or Marketing costs: [visitors spread the word as part of the project] and few Transportation or Travel costs.

In Stage 1 and the initial Stage 2 period there is also no need to be available seven days a week: [so can be done on weekends and in the evenings] no need for full time Employees: and no need for Commercial Premises. All outgoings are easily manageable... being paid for 3-12 months up front... requiring no Finance: Loans: or Cash Flow of any kind.

The Website... is not High-Tech: it consists of simple Text Based Documents: it is low Maintenance: and the Information is not 'Time Sensitive'. We just need to form a 'Hub' for the Network which can generate and maintain a high level of Interest by... continuing to develop the Concept: promote the Project: engage all the various stakeholders within the Interactive Elements of the Site: to publish Articles: and develop strong Social Networking Communities.

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SWOT analysis.

This is a standard analysis done by any business whereby they look at the current Strengths and Weaknesses within their operation... also the current/future Opportunities and Threats in the wider market.

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Strengths.

We are only dealing with... original Content: our own Articles: plus new Ideas: Comments: and Opinions: submitted by our visitors. Our 'Product' consists of simple text-based documents: i.e. 'Electrons' passing over the Internet. Most things can be done on Computer and via the Internet... keeping Fixed and Variable costs to an absolute minimum.

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Weaknesses.

Stage 1 can easily be financed... and Stage 3 can be defined as the point where you become self-sustaining. Stage 2 will require outside funding to progress... [unless the gap can be bridged through voluntary Donations... and affiliate commissions] so, this is where the main weakness lies. Any concerted effort to Promote the site inevitably brings an increased workload [replying to e-mails, etc] and there are insufficient resources to deal with this sudden increase... and as soon as you stop the Promotion... momentum is lost. A lack of financial resources also means there is no ready access to any technical expertise... web designers: webmaster: forum moderators: Internet marketing specialists: etc. etc. etc.

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Opportunities.

There are many different organisations involved in the various aspects of Road Safety. Some have very large memberships even though they are just concerned with one particular Country and usually just one aspect of driving. [Very often maintaining a Web presence is not their primary objective... it is just a small part of what they do and they may have a lot of work... responsibilities... and operating expenses beyond the Website.] Some also have very Interactive Websites... with strong online Communities... even though the subject matter might be fairly narrow.

Others seem to have quite large memberships even when the website is... plain: there is little to do other than read Articles: and there is no Interaction. So... in theory it should be possible to build a very solid Social Network if the website covers... many Countries: has interesting Articles: covers a wide range of Topics: has many opportunities for Interaction: and has definite benefits to Membership. The coming decade will inevitably bring some radical changes because of New Technology, so... the 'Opportunity' is right now!

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Threats.

There is always a danger of 'cloning' by a company or organisation which is already 'geared up' and ready to go. They could very quickly... rip-off this whole Concept and try to pass it off as their own: build a better Website: re-hash the Copy: adapt many of the Ideas: and be up and running before we have hardly started.

Although in the short term they could be up and running well ahead of us... in the longer term they would run into some obvious difficulties. They may have a lot of technical and marketing expertise... or financial resources. But in the longer term... they would eventually hit problems unless they managed to get to grips with all the issues under discussion... and to develop their own source of original ideas.

Internet Failures. There have been many Internet ventures which have ended in complete failure... but many of them could hardly be described as genuine Internet Companies at all. One example of a high profile failure which managed to burn its way through millions was 'Boo.com' which was set up to sell designer clothes online. The basic Business Model was no different from a company that used to sell clothes direct to the Home using colour Brochures... the only difference was they exchanged printed Brochures for an online Internet Catalogue: [which was... technically complex: expensive to develop: and needed constant up-dates] and ordered online rather than by Post or Phone... but otherwise all the costs remained the same. They still needed all the same... Employees: Offices: Warehouses: Suppliers: Stock: Sales: Despatch: Credit Control: Distribution Network: etc. etc. With this Structure they might equally have been described as a Telecommunications Company on the basis that they had a Telephone!!

Other Failures... might have been because they were... highly Technical, costing millions to develop and maintain. Had a large Market Share but not the means to generating sufficient Income. Or, were never really worth anything and had unrealistically high Share Prices based on nothing more than speculation.

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The Bottom line is...

Whatever the Business Model... whatever the size of the Business... the same basic Questions remain... How easy would it be to generate more Income than Expenditure? Could Income be increased? Could Expenditure be reduced? The worst case Scenario would come about, if [like many people before] we fell into the trap of making a large financial commitment based on a projected Income which then failed to materialise. There is a variety of possible Income Streams: low Fixed Overheads: and most Variables can be set within a budget. Given the basic Cost structure... any 'Threat' of a complete financial meltdown should be minimal.

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