College Student Creates Internet Business As Internship

Here’s a great story about a college student. He needed to do an internship for his major, but didn’t want to do what “everybody else did”. A family friend had an existing business that was profitable in its own right. But he wanted to expand onto the internet but he didn’t have the time or expertise. He put up the money and the rest, as they say, is history. Who do you know with a business that needs to expand to the Internet? Will they hire you for a base rate of pay plus start up expenses and share the profits with you after start up costs are repaid?

From the Bedford Bulletin

So, what’s his business?

It’s called “Log Cabin Solutions” and its purpose is to connect customers, and potential customers, with log home suppliers, including manufacturers, builders, decor and restoration providers and land sales. It generates revenue by selling advertising to these businesses who join a network that Rogers calls a “community. ”

“We aren’t going for quantity,” he said.

They offer an advertiser the opportunity to lock in as the provider of a log home related service for a specific state or area. Potential customers can click on a state and the Web site takes them to the log home providers for that state.

Turpin said that advertisers benefit because none of them directly compete. The services displayed for a state or area compliment each other. That’s where the network or “community” aspect comes from.

Turpin got the idea for this service because, in the course of running his business, his customers have asked him for references to business that provide other services. He saw that there was a need for a place where people could go to get questions answered.

“Most people want somebody local that they can deal with and trust,” he said.

Rogers and Turpin stress to potential advertisers that they must be able to provide their service to the entire area that they want to lock in. Turpin, whose business covers the entire state of Virginia, brings his eight years of experience in the log home business to background research on potential advertisers. He said that he wants to make sure that the advertiser is a legitimate business. He also wants to be sure that it doesn’t have a record of frequent complaints.

This is a real business, not just a school project. Rogers expects the partnership to continue after the internship is completed. He said that the beauty of it is that the fact that it’s Web based means that it can be operated anywhere.

In addition to creating a successful business, Turpin, the experienced businessman, wants to pass on something to Rogers, the student.

“Don’t make money the priority,” Turpin said, summing up his business philosophy. “If you concentrate on taking care of the customer, the money will come.”

Log Cabin Solutions’ Web site can be found at www.logcabinsolutions.com.