The Journey provides the fundamental training and resources to point the business owner in the right direction. The Preferred Partner program builds upon and complements the foundation training in The Journey by providing easy access to trusted experts in finance, law, marketing, accounting, Internet marketing and advertising, effective website design and in other areas. Startup Essentials “equips” our clients with access to these experts and their cutting edge tools. One exciting aspect of this program is that our Preferred Partners offer their basic products or services to our clients at a significant discount, and in many cases, at no charge! And for clients who choose to upgrade their participation in any of the Preferred Partners’ programs, we have frequently negotiated further discounts on their behalf.

At Startup Essentials, we also understand that a critical aspect of effective business and personal development programs is that they must equip the participant for success through superior Customer Support and ready access to collaborative experiences within a Community framework. Startup Essentials has invested heavily in the people and systems resources to build and continuously expand upon an excellent customer support system. The system provides Customer Support excellence by telephone, live chat and e-mail, live weekly Conference Calls that are also archived, the Startup Essentials Journey online learning portal, our Blog and newsletters, and more.

Startup Essentials equips our clients throughout the lifetime of our relationship with access to live, expert Customer Support specialists from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM CST, Monday through Friday. We also host a live “Essentials Call” each Wednesday evening. These exciting calls feature experts in all the key business disciplines who present useful information and answer questions submitted “live” through e-mail or chat. We also host Thursday evening conference calls, supporting clients as they progress through each of the four Journey Paths, including a special call to support clients’ progress through the eBay laboratory.

To round out the customer support system, Startup Essentials has released the next generation in support through the 2007 Journey Achievement Portal, or “Journey Portal.” The Portal features extensive tools, resources, and training to support new business owners every step of the way as they build and grow their businesses. The Journey Portal is our business owners’ access into an “electronic tool kit” that is a constant and ever-expanding companion as they progress through their personal journey to become successful personally and as entrepreneurs.