Thank you Thursday! - (December 07, 2017) Entrepreneur |
- Thank you Thursday! - (December 07, 2017)
- How do you guys stay highly productive and focused? This is how I do it. (My productivity sucked in 2016 but skyrockted in 2017)
- Getting rich slow, Bitcoin, and the fear of missing out
- How do you manage multiple social accounts?
- How do you plan for a business when they're still writing the law?
- What would you go to university for if you had to?
- Is there an online course that’s worth while and truly goes into the process of creating/launching a startup?
- Build Influence from opinion leaders with Social Capital
- How do you guys feel about Vine 2?
- Met A Very Young Entrepreneur Today
- Need some reading list recommendations for improving my branding skills
- What sort of technology challenges do you face in your Consultancy or Micro to Small Business (1-200 employee)?
- Small digital marketing package for businesses.I've included all the details inside.What do you think?
- Recommended Books
- Why is our culture OBSESSED over free stuff?
- How I Automated Order Workflow Generation For My Custom Putter Business
- Why Stopping Every 25 Min to Do 4 Poses Throughout the Day - Works
- Local farmers market
- An idea to make the road of entrepreneurship less lonely and maybe even less difficult.
- Best Human Instagram Tool
- Some Amazon FBA suppliers are expecting shipping delays. Anyone going to see an impact?
- E-commerce mastermind group for newbies?
- Feedback on this digital marketing agency site?
- Anyone successfully do computer repair? Tips, ideas?
- As an entrepreneur, and a startup... I've been very careful not to SPAM Reddit. However, I have concerns I am shadow banned. Can you let me know if you can see this?
| Thank you Thursday! - (December 07, 2017) Posted: 07 Dec 2017 05:06 AM PST Your opportunity to thank the /r/Entrepreneur community by offering free stuff, contests, discounts, electronic courses, ebooks and the best deals you know of. Please consolidate such offers here! Since this thread can fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 12:13 AM PST Hey guys,
In 2017 I had one goal: Increase my productivity. Why this is important
If you think about it, we work like an operating system: We process information, we learn stuff, and we create stuff. I thought that increasing my productivity would allow me to add RAM to my body and create much much more stuff. As we are ending near 2017 here is what I have learnt :)
THE PROBLEM: In 2016 my productivity sucked and I did not grow a lot. My productivity basically was: A text todolist (Evernote), that kept creeping up with todos that never got done. And most of them were unimportant!
The importance of high impact work vs. errands
This is probably the biggest advice I have to give. This is actually one from Paul Graham. Most of us are doing "errands" during the day. Things that are somewhat important but not so crucial.
Example of errands: optimising your website, tweaking the designs, going to a conference, hiring people, having meetings, ... High impact work: Talking to customers and selling your product. Developing X crucial feature for your company. Writing a blog post in your industry.
To know what is high impact work, ask yourself two questions: "If you could only do one thing to make this business succesful, what would it be?" The answer is simple: "Try to sell this SaaS to 10 potential customers a day".
Second question: "Does this scare me a little bit?" (if it scares you, probably good to do it).
Every day I try to accomplish 3 high impact actions (that scare me a little bit). So two rules of thumb to do high impact work:
1) Are you scared to do this task? (Example: Launching a new site and promoting it and actually talking to customers) 2) What is the one thing that will actually matter for your business?
2. Stop seeking perfection. NOW!!!
The problem with to-do lists is that they never get done.
Everything seems important, but actually only a few tasks will produce 90% of the outcome (you don't want 100% of a business that will make 1000€/month, you want 90% of a business that could make 10000€/month. Stop seeking perfection!). This is the pareto rule. That's why focus is important. Focus is not about leaving some good opportunties aside, it's actually stepping your foot on gas on the 1, 2 or 3 actions that will make you more money. The other opportunities seem attractive, sure, but what are the 2 or 3 actions that will actually matter much more? We don't want to be perfect, right? For the sake of what?
If you want to be perfect and precise go work for someone else or go write academic papers (actually I hated university for that reason). You are an entrepreneur!
Ever felt about the best electrician in town? Sure he has no website, no whatsapp but he is super focused and that's why he is successful.
3. Scheduling > todolist
Okay so now that you know what is important and why you have to focus (and thus now I hope your todo lists won't be as long as before), let's actually see how to execute real work.
The only way that worked for me is actually scheduling (and measuring, will talk about that later). Look at your 2 or 3 high output actions for the day and then schedule the less important stuff for the day.
My day basically looks like this:
The key for good scheduling is to ask yourself: "Which actions take me the most energy?". If you launch a new product and need to talk to customers or even let's say you have to go door to door to sell your product --> This will take a lot of energy. Do it in the morning. Do stuff where you don't have to think or be motivated in the afternoon.
Talking to friends, drinking tea (not coffee please), exercising, going outside will give you energy.
Last but not least, measure your output. Let's say you "Talk to customers" for one hour. Talk to 20 of them. Try to see how you can grow this and duplicate/automate yourself.
4. Shutting off all social media, uninstall Instagram, Facebook, ...
So this one is also quite important. I now only check Facebook for business (it's a huge part of my business) but I have uninstalled most of the other social media apps. I also check Whatsapp only during lunch and evening or if I have a client call. I also never read articles or business related stuff during the day (only during the evening but mostly only Sunday). I also don't "save them for later". I just check Twitter, Reddit in the evening and then actually spend my whole Sunday morning to read and process stuff.
What are your top tips for staying highly focused and productive? [link] [comments]  |
| Getting rich slow, Bitcoin, and the fear of missing out Posted: 06 Dec 2017 07:35 PM PST We've pretty much all seen it. The Bitcoin craze and the incredible rise in price. Crowds of folks shouting something along the lines of Bitcoin is going to the moon! Will it make it to 100,000 or 1,000,000?… sure it's possible. Bets are being made. It's tempting for many to participate so not to miss out on a "once in a lifetime opportunity". Guys, fear of missing out investing is NOT a solid investing strategy. In fact, it's not really investing at all.. it's speculating. INVEST in Bitcoin if you believe in it. I'm all about shooting for the moon and making big bets, however, I'd still keep the moonshots to less than 15% of the portfolio. Just my opinion here. You can get rich (slow) by investing in people, places, and/or things you believe in and spreading out the risk. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you manage multiple social accounts? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:33 AM PST I am wanting to start devling into helping people manage social media accounts as I do this as part of my job already and want to try reaching out and have a few people who would like me to do it for them. Is Hootsuite or Buffer good options to use for managing multiple accounts? I am interested in instagram and such as well, but I feel like instagram not allowing for scheduled postings and such make it much more tedious and hard to keep track of. Just curious what others might use to help manage and keep all their clients organized and easy to digest with information. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you plan for a business when they're still writing the law? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:11 AM PST From New Jersey, and Phil Murphy has made the comment that he wants to legalize pot within his first 3 months. If he does, and if trends continue, I'm sure it'll take at least 2 years before everything is set and done. Obviously a lot of people are gonna want to jump on this but without the legislation even written yet, how does one plan a business not knowing a large portion of the details? Guess the main question would be how would one have a laid out plan to jump on the opportunity? [link] [comments]  |
| What would you go to university for if you had to? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 09:23 AM PST Pretty self-explanatory. I have to go to a uni. I won't graduate with any debt. EDIT: I do enjoy computers and am somewhat interested in how they work. However, I am not sure if I'd get burnt out. Also, what do computer science majors do on a daily basis? I plan on using my degree to get a job that pays a fair amount for a couple years, then use that money to start my business. I'm 17 y/o for anyone that was asking [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 09:50 AM PST |
| Build Influence from opinion leaders with Social Capital Posted: 07 Dec 2017 09:49 AM PST It is proven over and over again that working with others is often the only way to massive success in business and all aspects of life. The best companies and people have been built with others by their side. Rarely does any one of us have all that's required to succeed with the complex tasks we face every day in this turbulent world. Through building social capital we can achieve this in our own independent world. What is social capital? It is a term regarding influencers that can give you help, authority, consent, or cooperation when you need it to penetrate people, risky, complex, daunting new tasks or require behavioral change in your peers. The power they bring is what they call social capital and in some circumstances they can help make change predictable where without it, it may not have been possible. We must learn to identify and persuade important opinion leaders to give us the much needed influence when we need to get our job done, get attention, or create a better reputation in our world. An example of this is why many political leaders or successful leaders, and anyone gaining trust or wanting to increase their reputation rub shoulders with other top influential leaders. Country leaders creating friendships with other country leaders, business leaders with other top business leaders. This gives you trust with their core group of people to listen and respect your wishes more. This is why you see many new business leaders and top ones rubbing shoulders with top ones in the game. It gives them influence themselves; it is a way of leveraging their social capital to give them some more themselves. The majority of people, public communities usually discuss openly with others before they change behaviors in many circumstances. A lot of times the influence to change or stay the same comes from one particular or a small handful of people that have the reputation already. This is where social capital can come into play to help break through these heavy resistances. Major influencers or opinion leaders can penetrate even the toughest habits of others to get them on board. This can also relate to learning a skill such as tennis, marketing, whatever it may be. The need for influence or advice on how to change our behaviors or adapt to a new way is often needed from a pair of outside eyes. We usually have a hard time listening to the average person because we do not want them to be better than us; it is usually just an ego thing of us not wanting to be wrong. When you have a mentor, manager, parent or coach instruct you on what to do, give you critical criticism, it often is easier to listen to the person that has the reputation and you let down your guard and allow for yourself to be open to their criticism. This is another reminder to understand influence and the needs of others and ourselves. We all have the desire to be accepted, respected, connected and that really pulls at human's hearts. Managers, parents, and coaches learn how to adopt this awesome power, and can change just about anything. Use these tips to know how to apply it to your life to build influence where you want. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you guys feel about Vine 2? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 09:12 AM PST Any monetization strategies? Snatching usernames when it comes out? [link] [comments]  |
| Met A Very Young Entrepreneur Today Posted: 06 Dec 2017 06:58 PM PST I was at my day job today and this kid walked into the store, probably 13-14 years, old 8-9th grade. He got a bunch of bulk packs of gum. He was asking if we had a specific bulk pack and went on to explain that he sells it in school and he gets more profit on certain varieties. We had a conversation for a few min about how he does it and he explained it all to me and I just thought it was really awesome. He didn't just say he sells it, he actually went in to profit margins and which kinds of gum sold more than others. He just struck me as a future business owner. For some reason he also struck me as a leader, an alpha. He didn't talk in a quiet, shy way like most kids. He spoke up with confidence, initiated the conversation and everything. Maybe I'm just overreacting but I just thought it was awesome the way this kid was acting and handled himself. Kid with $20 in his pocket could just go buy a video game and be happy, but he's worried about turning it into more money. Anyway, thought it was a cool story and wanted to share. [link] [comments]  |
| Need some reading list recommendations for improving my branding skills Posted: 07 Dec 2017 12:50 AM PST Hello folks, I would love to improve my branding skills, but have no idea how to do the right way. Already red tons of articles from websites like INC.com and Business Insider but most of them had little value. Any reading list (articles, books and ebooks) or other tips would be highly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 12:24 PM PST I work in IT and my background includes a lot of customer support and entertainment industry. I currently work for a small technology services provider, but I feel we are not servicing our clients as well as we could. Without getting into specifics, I feel that as a Help Desk and IT Support we are great, but at the top level the idea is that we are supposed to emulate the CIO and their division of the companies we represent. We have clients ranging from consultants who work out of their home or some office space they rent or sub-lease, up to small businesses with as many as 75 employees. Often times we have no idea that they are having a website re-designed, they ask for new workflow steps to be implemented piece-meal resulting is an unmanageable mess because they didn't think to include their technology experts in the discussion of process, and any other number of issues. As small business owners, what are the types of challenges that you face where you end up calling on someone with a deeper understanding of technology? How can someone with my background best add value to your life on a regular basis? Full disclaimer: I am interested in branching out as a consultant but am looking to refine my offering. I work in a somewhat affluent area and am used to working with executives and stake-holders and giving them the white-glove treatment. I see lots of independent workers and consultants and would like to adapt the MSP model to service them with a monthly strategy call and project management for things like migrations, new websites, etc. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 12:14 PM PST From what I've seen so far most businesses who try to rank higher, get some traffic from referrals and sell their services/products online neglect at least one thing. For example, let's say Joe has this amazing shoe store targeted at Yoga practitioners who use only cruelty-free, comfortable, hippie-looking footwear. He does some content marketing, manages to rank a little bit but SEO is too slow and he doesn't have enough money to invest in advertising each month either. He misses on PR. Joe could hire someone to write positive stuff about him, another blogger would pick up to story and then another blogger picks up the story, next thing you know, from one controversial yet positive story he lands an interview that brings him some instant traffic and recognition from a few pieces of content. Another story could be how Joe started attracting some traffic from Quora, but then again, stuff like this takes time and business owners almost never have the time for social media. My idea is to put together small digital marketing packages priced at around $900 per month that would exploit more than just one way to bring revenue. This way Joe can also find out what works best for his business without actually wasting too much time and money on it. Do you think small business owners would be interested in something like this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 12:14 PM PST Does anyone have some books that they'd like to recommend which could improve my mindset? [link] [comments]  |
| Why is our culture OBSESSED over free stuff? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:59 AM PST Recently, I reached out to one of my potential users and asked her why she didn't complete her registration and if there's anything I can help her with. She responded, oh well, there are services out there similar to yours that are free, I don't feel like paying. Well, the funny thing is, my service does offer a free tier. It's right there as the first option along with my 2 other paid options that offer unique features my competitors do not. She didn't like the fact you can't get ALL features with the free tier. This got me wondering, why are we living in this culture now that we feel like we are entitled to everything (ok most) things for FREE? Business cost money to run. I am a bootstrapper. I can't host my web server for free (well not at the highly available tier that my free users wanted), I can't get good designs for free, I can't eat for free. And to serve the free users, I have to keep lots of costs of running a web app low. I would like to sign up for a paid tier of Sentry and New Relic to monitor my app better. But I can't, so I have to find services that kind of meet my needs to do it FOR FREE. It's like this vicious cycle that iterates to every other area of business. Yes, it's amazing that there are companies like Google can offer things like GoogleSheets, GoogleMap and very sophisticated technologies for free, but at what cost? Many new startups have to offer a free tier to stay competitive and burning the funding at a crazy rate. At the end of the day, WHO is really paying for all the free stuff? I'm genuinely interested in what everyone here thinks! [link] [comments]  |
| How I Automated Order Workflow Generation For My Custom Putter Business Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:42 AM PST I started my golf company one year ago, and have seen some amazing growth since then. Here's how we've made that happen. I'll tell you how we structured the website to capture sales, how we automatically translate those sales into work orders, and how we optimized the manufacturing to allow multiple hands to touch each entirely custom piece while maintaining the overall quality. Our website is hosted on wordpress. This allows us to implement the best SEO practices. We built the site using the DIVI theme, which makes things relatively drag-and-drop and limits the need for coding. Our sales happen through Woocommerce, which has tons of plug-ins for your specific needs. Our products are usually Composite Products. We also set up many of our products with Extra Product Options, because the meta-data is captured for future delivery to our order creation workflow. We accept payment using Stripe, mainly because it also allows Apple Pay. You'll need to ensure your site has its SSL certificates to do this. We also allow paypa, just because a lot of people are comfortable with it. Once payment is received, the real magic begins. We use Zapier.com to pass data throughout our system. When Zapier sees a new order, it mines all of the data and translates it into our Google Spreadsheet. Then, when Zapier sees that a new row has been created, it creates a new Board on Trello.com and names it. Then, when Zapier sees that a new board has been created, it populates it with the data from our Google Spreadsheet. Trello is our choice for workflow management for several reasons. First, it integrates easily with Zapier. Second, it's website and app based, meaning that my workers can use their personal phones to determine the next step for each putter. Third, it allows our customers to follow along every step of the way through their build. We number each Trello board by Woocommerce order number. We also add the customer's name and the shape of their putter to the board. We then print a label with that information, and attach it to a small bin. The wood that we get is custom made for each project. When the Trello board is created, we also add a card to our supplier's board. This means that we don't have to send out a PO for every block. We just make 1 pickup a week of whatever they have finished. To make the putters, we begin with stabilized wood. Stabilized wood is much harder and more dense than standard wood. We can stabilize just about any species. Now putters need to weigh around 350 grams to work properly. To reach that weight, we designed a process of inserting standardized weights. This process allows us to hit any weight the customer desires. We first calculate the density of the block. We then know the final volume of each putter head, based on our initial Solidworks designs. These two numbers give us the final weight of wood in the putter. To reach our desired weight, we add the complementary amount of lead. After we've drilled the holes and installed the lead, we glue it all together. We let it cure overnight, and then begin hand shaping. Any scraps that are thick enough are turned into ball markers and other trinkets. There's a lot more detail I could go into for each step, but that would require a full book. If you have any questions, just ask! The specifics will also be very different for your project/company. The most important things to explore are the website structure, the zapier integrations, and the trello board design. I would recommend that you start with Trello and automate with Zapier as needed. Trello will allows you to document the process and interact with your customer in ways that would be onerous without. [link] [comments]  |
| Why Stopping Every 25 Min to Do 4 Poses Throughout the Day - Works Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:34 AM PST |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:20 AM PST I am considering opening a booth at my local farmers market (verobeachoba.com/farmers-market) selling succulents. This is a completely new medium for me and I tend to have a nervous disposition. What steps can I take to make my booth standout, how should I run my booth, should I start an LLC, so I can allow purchases with credit cards, should I make a website and invest in marketing material? Does anyone here have any experience and experiences with farms markets? What should I look to avoid and how can my business thrive? Thanks to all in advance! Edit 12.7.2017_2:44pm: Any good ideas on managing inventory while manning the booth solo? [link] [comments]  |
| An idea to make the road of entrepreneurship less lonely and maybe even less difficult. Posted: 07 Dec 2017 11:07 AM PST My last title sucked, so I'm reposting. Let's try this again! So, in the process of working on our next version, I got to thinking. The journey to entrepreneurship is hard and lonely. It's definitely filled with more "No"s the "yes"es. An entrepreneur's job is to imagine, create, solve, and execute on what people will use in the future. And although it's not a crime... sometimes it sure as hell feels like it! So, what if we organized ourselves and became mobsters of innovation? Most of us are willing to have honest conversations, offer advice and guidance and even rollup our sleeves and get dirty if we know we can be of assistance to a fellow entrepreneur. Why hasn't anyone created a platform to organize the masses of misfits who call themselves entrepreneurs? Sure, there would have to be ground rules... the value of becoming apart of the "mob" would be discount service, access to fellow entrepreneurs, talent barter, and even launch support. Imagine a misfit mob with 100k entrepreneurs. If we rallied behind product launches (which would have to pass some sort of agreed upon criteria) - we would be a force of nature. We could put our ideas on the map nearly overnight. Sure there would be challenges... but we're all used to conquering those. Am I on crack? Or is this something that is doable? The required commitment from each entrepreneur would be engagement, the return would be a powerful network of talent, knowledge, and users to help with all phases of entrepreneurship. Thoughts? Just for fun. The mafia sounds so frightening... so, I changed the definition to reflect what it would be like if it were an entrepreneurial mafia. Ma·fi·a ˈmäfÄ“É™ noun: Mafia; noun: the Mafia an organized international body of entrepreneurs, operating all around the world who have a complex and ruthless code of ethics to help one another in a time of need and have controlling influence of products developed in the family. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 07:19 AM PST Hey everyone, I've been doing some looking around at the best Instagram tool that does not use a bot and I was wondering if anyone had any experience or input into any of them? Popamatic - https://popamatic.com/ - Seems like a good service, saw a couple of sketchy reviews online as well as a couple of reddit comments on them. Only $39 ThriveSocial - https://thrivesocial.io/ - The site looks nice and they have some real life examples on their website which gives me more confidence. Only $35, $80 if premium Networking-Expert - https://www.networking-expert.com/instagram.html - Another pretty good looking website. I can't find any real life examples or reviews. And it is the most expensive with $39 being the base package; $139 for the most expensive. Does anyone have any experience with any of these? Right now I am leaning towards Thrive Social but I would love some input! Thanks!!! I am working on a wedding vow site called XOJuliet.com by the way if anyone was interested. [link] [comments]  |
| Some Amazon FBA suppliers are expecting shipping delays. Anyone going to see an impact? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 10:54 AM PST I was reading a post about possible delays in Amazon shipping triggered by the season and wondered if anyone else thought it likely and if it would have an impact on their business. I don't sell there but I use it to get in parts/tools when something fails or runs out at the last minute and a robot might be delayed in shipping. It would suck if my backup plan took as long as the normal ordering process. (Yes, I know I should have more backups but I don't have the volume to justify it right now). Here's their discussion https://www.reddit.com/r/FulfillmentByAmazon/comments/7i3n0k/amazon_is_going_to_get_absolutely_crushed_with/ [link] [comments]  |
| E-commerce mastermind group for newbies? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 10:46 AM PST I'm new to e-commerce but extremely obsessed and eager to make this eventually a full time job. I'm 20 years old near the LA area. Does anyone have recommendations for a mastermind group, or apart of a group that can extend the invite? Let me know! Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Feedback on this digital marketing agency site? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 10:27 AM PST We've put a lot effort into this so I am looking forward to your feedback as potential customers. Please be blunt and upfront with critics. Here is the url: http://envsndigital.com/ I personally think it's pretty good [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone successfully do computer repair? Tips, ideas? Posted: 07 Dec 2017 10:26 AM PST I'm a systems administrator by day, wannabe author by night (wannabe as in that I've written 4 fiction novels, but haven't successfully marketed the 1 that I self-published). I have been a wantrepreneur for years now, but specifically in the past 6 months that desire has skyrocketed. My problem has always been coming up with an idea. My skillsets are listed above, and I've always shied away from fixing computers because I'm not sure how to gauge the market demand or if it's it's even something that's feasible. How do I figure out if there's enough demand for fixing computers, and how do I stand out while offering less services than the other guys that can fix way more hardware issues than I can? Well, the obvious answer is more attractive pricing (then is it even worth my time?) or offer to fix on-location, but here's the kicker: I can't realistically travel as much as that would require. I have back problems, and driving around all day in traffic would make me hate everything. That means I also can't lift heavy equipment. For anyone with a similar set of skills that they've monetized, how did you do it? Is there anything I'm overlooking that I could do with computer + writing skills that is marketable locally first and foremost? Note: I have no development skills. Basic WordPress installation/setup at best. I have the drive and resources to throw at an idea, I just have no ideas. I always see people here say "find a problem to solve" but finding that problem is the problem. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 07 Dec 2017 09:43 AM PST |
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