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Peru - http://www.ancientsummit.com Guess I should have mentioned it. Thanks.

Thank you for your concern. The answers I am hoping to find are quite specific and would really need the expertise of someone in the travel business. I am running a fairly successful new business with many of my travellers writing wonderful posts on the travel forums. I am looking to learn proper procedures with ground operators there. If you can direct me to those answers, I would be most grateful. Thanks again

I am not in Peru full time so I must have a middle man. This type of business requires a middle man for many reasons. My situation is somewhat unique in that most agents ouside of Pere are general travel agents who book anywhere in the world and are not experts on one place. I only book Peru and I am somewhat of an expert after living there for so many years. I have all of my own connections and contacts there and I instruct my "middle man" as to what I want them to do and how to carry that out. They price the tours and send them back to me. I add my commision and send it on to the passengers which is normal. But I do a lot more work on each trip than the average travel agent who just sends an inquiry for an itinerary with no real knowledge of the place and total dependancy on the operator in that country. So I am in a quandry about what is correct for me to want to pay the operator. I think I deserve a bigger discount because I do so much of the work to put the trips togehter and my profit margin is looking very low right now.

Thanks - i actually did call SCORE last week and waiting to hear. In the meantime I am staying on course. I don't have a business/marketing plan and never had the time to write one. This thing just started to grow (because I do a great job) and I am in a tailspin. Hopefully SCORE can help me.

Thanks but it doesn't work like that in Peru. Those are for big hotels, etc and we do small tours and many of the hotels have 20-40 rooms. They don't link in with those type of systems. My question is really to look for a proper way to structure commissions between myself and operators I use down there. I am doing a lot of work up until the time the passengers arrive in Peru. Lots of hours and personal attention. They take over in Peru but wind up making more than I do. I think. So am looking to create a solution where it is attractive to both of us.

L- I don't know the first thing about business or business plans. I am just doing this - it is kind of crazy and yet I am becomming famous on the travel forums. I assume there is a charge for a business plan, correct? The thought of having to do more paperwork is not appealing to me. I just had to write an article for The International Eco-Tourism Society newsletter TIES which is a passion and part of my mission statement (if I had one) and i barely had time for that. I would need a lot of help to write a business plan.
Thanks. Have you seen my web site?

L- are you saying YOU can help me as a SCORE person? The article is being published in the next newsletter for TIES but I can send the draft. It has photos, etc. If you email me I can send you info and the draft and other info about other projects I am working on. I have a world of plans for my company. You see, I have been involved in Peru for over 20 years. If you read my website you will get an idea. Let me know how to proceed. I am feeling hopeful. thanks,