Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va., Small Business Column

Aug. 7–Call them the “dream team” of Richmond-area college planning.

The players are four businesswomen who own three companies — career-counseling firm BrownMiller Group; College Connections, which helps students with the admissions process; and CSS Tutoring Services, which aids in helping to raise SAT and ACT scores.

They collaborated to offer the College Counseling Package, designed to aid college-bound high schoolers. They hope the service will be a slam-dunk.

“We felt it was a wonderful melding of services we ought to be offering to students,” said Sally Brown, who along with partner Bonnie Miller operates BrownMiller Group. “It’s like one-stop shopping,” Brown said.

“With the three companies, we have everything needed for complete college planning,” said Christel Milak-Parker, founder of College Connections.

“We have some of the same clients independently,” said Carolyn Scanniello, who owns CSS Tutoring.

She said parents often ask the owners to communicate with one another to help the student decide on a school or career.

“What factors into that is what scores might be needed to achieve that. We decided some parents might be interested in having a coordinated approach to the whole process. That’s why we decided to organize the package,” Scanniello said.

A surge in attention in newspapers and magazines to similar programs in such large metropolitan areas fueled the businesswomen’s perception that they had a strong game plan. In some of those articles, consultants charge $650 for an initial consultation fee, and some charge fees up to $15,000.

“People are traveling to consultants in the Northeast and are paying thousands and thousands for the services, plus the expense of lodging,” Milak-Parker said.

No one was offering such services in Richmond, as far as the women could determine, and they thought the area was large enough to be a good market.

“So we combined all of our services for $2,000,” Brown said. “Parents get the expertise of all three businesses.”

Those interested in the College Counseling Package can e-mail Preparenow@comcast.net.

Any ideas? Staff writer Gail Kelley can be reached at (804) 775-8137 or gkelley@timesdispatch.com.

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