Do these people have any shares in the business or are they contractors only? If they are contractors and will remain so, I think you as the company owner have control over how the commissions are split. I'm not a lawyer so I can't say for sure and this is not legal advice. I would start with a transparent conversation with them and explain the reasons why you need to do this. Get their input and make them feel like they are contributing to the solution. Yes, you'll need an attorney to draft up all of the contract/employment agreements but first you need to narrow down a few options that will work for your business.

How many people are on the list currently? Survey them and find out what they want, and then give it to them.

Well, if you really want people to pay you for ad placements, I recommend adding some value to them first - retweet them, add insightful comments to their blogs, share their content, promote their stuff. This also gives you an opportunity to gauge how your audience reacts to it, which gives you clout when you start asking them for money. But, I'd also caution you around your assumption that paid ad placements will make your business more money. Yes, you get revenue from the advertisers, but if this is a turnoff for your audience, you lose subscribers, no one clicks and advertisers drop off. The money is in the list - so make sure this is something they want.

What problems do you see in the world that you can envision a simple solution for? Businesses always solve a problem for somebody.

On your profile page, go to Ads Manager. There will be an option to create an ad. That's the simplest way, but you should have a strategy before you do it. Why are you making ads? Who are you trying to reach? What are your advertising goals? If you don't have answers to these, you will just waste your money.

Do you know people in this industry who can mentor you and help you gather this information? The answers depend so much on how you want to deliver services, who your customers will be, and whether you have any immediate direct competition. Assuming you have a solid business concept to work with, the next step is to write a business plan. Through that process you'll discover a lot about your staffing needs, equipment requirements and more. It sounds like you have a lot of research to do - let me know if I can help.

What is the daytime working population of the area you'll open up in? Most of your clientele will be people who work or live very close by. I'd start by identifying the size of the market near you and then estimating how many of those people will choose you over your competitors. If you're offering something totally new and different for this area and demand is high, you shouldn't have much trouble getting people through your door. With regards to your cost analysis - with any food business, the cost of food is typically about 30-33% of the price you sell it for. Staff often add another 30% and operational expenses, another 30%. You can use this benchmark to set your pricing and then monitor and evaluate as you go. I have years of experience working with food start-ups on business plans, financials and market research and would be happy to have a call with you.

I'm just getting started with Clarity. I have a few free calls booked (I just asked my existing audience if they'd like to book for free) and that should give me a few testimonials. I've also set my rate to half of what it normally is, to encourage people to book calls. I'll raise it later after I've worked with a few people. I will follow up with those who book calls if I think they're a good fit for my business plan bootcamp or other programs.

Check out what Vio.ca is doing in this space - truly innovative. Also look at WeTransfer and Xoom - not sure if they will specifically work for you, but there are quite a few companies offering similar services and hopefully one of them will handle transfers to Indian accounts. Where are you sending money from? If it's the US, you'll have more options.

I'd start by getting really clear about why you want to reach them. These folks are in high demand so you have to hook them with something really compelling in order to get their attention. Follow their work, retweet it, comment on it and let them know you're adding value for them. Then you can reach out with a bit of a warmer connection. I'm not a PR person specifically, but I'd be happy to take a call with you to talk more about your strategy for reaching out to media.