Prosper Learning
Prosper Learning Inc Ethan Willis and Randy Garn had to sell pest The duo, who started Some early challenges Prosper’s "We didn’t get Prosper provides courses in real estate The "Sometimes, traditional education systems take Founded In 2002, Prosper began That "The majority of our courses are done on a "We have a Tuition ranges between $49.95 a month, which gives The distance learning school, whose teaching The "Being accredited with this online university will Prosper, which makes $50 million in gross revenues Prosper Inc Owners: Ethan Willis and Randy Garn Founded in 1999 Industry: Customized business education distance learning school Location: Work force: 280 employees Web site: www.prosperlearning.com This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page E1.
control products, satellite systems and water softeners door-to-door
for nearly two years before their dream of starting a business
education school in Provo became reality.
their own pest control company while attending Ricks College, now
BYU-Idaho, got the idea for Prosper Learning, a customized business
education distance learning school, when they realized entrepreneurs
like themselves
needed personalized guidance.
founders faced included learning how payroll works and funding their
business startup with retained earnings — which meant forgoing their
paychecks for several months in the beginning because any profit they
made went back to the company and its employees.
venture capital or lines of credit to start the business because we
didn’t want to give up ownership of the company or get into debt,"
Willis said.
investment, e-business investment, Internet marketing, business growth
and financial mentoring on how to manage company assets.
company saw a niche serving those who want to get an education in these
areas while maintaining the ability to earn a living at the same time,
Ellis said.
longer and do not deliver the payoff in time and money people hope for.
But the education we give our students is return-on-investment based,"
he said. "For example, we teach students how to read mortgages, how to
get Google to recognize your e-commerce Web site as a top site in
search engines and drive more business to your site."
in 1999, Prosper began by marketing course materials and relying on
other companies to provide training, but its founders soon realized
that business model didn’t work because their customers weren’t getting
the quality of training they wanted.
assigning personal trainers or mentors who would help students
customize their courses and keep them accountable to their goals.
has helped the company compete with the multitude of free business
seminars and training courses offered by other business groups and
associations in Utah.
one-on-one basis via video-conferencing, phone or fax with a private
mentor," Garn said. "We have more than 70 coaches or trainers with MBAs
and PhDs training our students at their own pace. Each coach takes on
23 to 30 students per week, and we also have specialized coaches
providing training to groups of three to 20 per week."
standard coaching procedure in place. Students have to commit to spend
10 to 15 hours a week on their courses and we will track how much time
they spend with their coaches," Ellis said. "We also have an in-house
database and resource center that helps students review their notes,
assignments and upcoming events online. We have over 1,200 archived
conference calls where our students can access via phone, fax, e-mail
or online."
students access to Prosper’s online resources, and $3,000 a year for a
customized course.
staff speak a total of 14 languages, has between 8,000 and 10,000
students, of which 85 percent are from the United States.
company is now trying to have all its courses accredited with one of
the largest privately-owned online universities in the nation, and
approved for student loans and federal funding. Both Garn and Ellis
declined to identify the online university, because the deal isn’t
completed yet.
give us more credibility," Garn said. "Once we’re accredited, our
students will be able to use credits accumulated from taking courses
with Prosper and use these in applying for courses with the online
university."
annually, is breaking ground at the end of July for a new
50,000-square-foot corporate headquarters at the Riverbottoms in Provo.
The new building is expected to be completed in July 2006. The company,
which now has about 280 workers, plans to add between 100 and 150
workers at that time.
Corporate headquarters at Riverwoods Business Park, 5072 N. 300 West in
Provo, coaching office at 625 S. State Street in Orem