Warning: LegalZoom registered agent price hike - now 3x the price small business |
- Warning: LegalZoom registered agent price hike - now 3x the price
- Is $75,000 enough?
- Does anyone have experience cancelling an annual Salesforce subscription contract?
- How long did your website take? Did you produce it in house, or hire someone?
- Need help finding a simple check in/check out inventory management system...
- Do I need a separate Business License for each DBA?
- A Website Design for better business
- How comps/promos affect food cost
- To Yelp, Or not to Yelp?
- Reputable virtual phone number companies
- Terminology for stickers on clear backliner?
- Looking for feedback on our CRM software for small businesses
- Annualized return to owner?
- Can I just vent? "Fully earned after 30 days" BS
- Starting & Growing A Business Is Hard (Lessons Learned) [Kind long]
- Is it ok to go to a clients house who owes money?
- Blockonomics has just released its Bitcoin payment plugin for Magento based websites. Psst Nike! Now you can accept Bitcoins on your website with Blockonomics :-)
- applying for business license, not sure if I want to be sole proprietor or LLC?
- Try these three ways to boost traffic to your website without really changing your daily lifestyle
- Countries with lowest annual cost for incorporating an online business?
- Great online courses
- Pro bono help for struggling business (or start-up)
- Business blog is currently ineffective. How can I turn this around?
- Incentivized Reviews
| Warning: LegalZoom registered agent price hike - now 3x the price Posted: 09 Jan 2018 08:56 PM PST So I just noticed a $499 charge on my credit card, and it turned out LegalZoom has decided to bump their $159 registered agent service up to $499. I've been paying the $159 for several years and know it could be a bit cheaper, but it was never worth the trouble of changing who I was using. They did send me one email saying they would do this, with the number buried in a single line of text the middle of a 3 page email. For some reason they also decided to fill my inbox with 3 unrelated emails in the previous 48 hours rather than the single email I'd received in the previous 4 weeks. Hardly the transparency you'd expect from a reputable company. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 07:04 PM PST My partner and I are planning to start our small business later this year. He is an accomplished tattoo artist who's been in the industry for 10 years with a very good grasp on what it takes to operate a tattoo business and how much they bring in. He also has experience with laser tattoo removal and will be getting officially certified soon. We are moving to the Boulder, CO area and will be opening an upscale tattoo, tattoo removal, piercing and (possibly) art studio catering to upscale clients with a spa-like and comfortable, contemporary feel. We have researched, planned, visited the area to check out the competition and discussed it exhaustively over the last year and have come up with a solid business plan. We feel really good about what we will be offering and believe we'll be filling a niche and doing something that not many in that industry is really doing. We have a pretty high net worth right now thanks to a healthy investment portfolio and after checking out lease numbers and other expenses, we think we'll be safe setting aside about $75,000 to get the business started up. We already have much of the equipment we'll need, so the biggest expenses will be the lease, remodeling, furnishings and advertising. Are we greatly underestimating our start up costs? What are things we need to be aware of and account for? Are we crazy to think we'll be able to make this work? 😆 [link] [comments]  | ||
| Does anyone have experience cancelling an annual Salesforce subscription contract? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 01:33 PM PST Does anyone have experience cancelling an annual Salesforce subscription contract? Our company's annual contract is ending in the next 7 days and "automatically" renews (and they send us an invoice for the amount), but after 10 years we've decided we want to move to something else (which we've already found). However, we've just learned we can only cancel a Salesforce subscription contract 30 days before it expires. Or, does anyone know if one can legally trim down the number of "seats" we have, which is 10 right now, and just pay for one seat without consequence. (NOTE: Our Salesforce Sales Rep is out on maternity leave, and we have been trying to get help from someone else, which is nearly impossible!) (just cross-posted this in "Contracts" also) [link] [comments]  | ||
| How long did your website take? Did you produce it in house, or hire someone? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 02:00 PM PST My friend and I are starting a business (interior sign company) has been pretty fleshed out where we are looking for a website. Is it worth it to use a service like wordpress, wix, etc. Or should I just save my time and spend the money to get it designed (or if you have a good recommendation)? Any horror/success stories? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Need help finding a simple check in/check out inventory management system... Posted: 09 Jan 2018 01:15 PM PST Hello all, I'm currently trying to optimize the inventory system for my local Makerspace. Our main issue is that we have tons of materials in our inventory that is just a pain to manage manually by hand/excel. For example: we may have say 10 spools of a single colour of 3D printing filament for 10 different colours; and when we take a spool out of inventory for use, it has to be manually tracked or checked out of the inventory. This becomes very difficult and tedious to keep up with especially during rush times when many different numbers of spools of many different colours are being taken out... Most of the things we inventory come packaged with their own barcodes and UPC's labled on the box; and with that in mind, I'm considering some type of electronic based inventory management system to help optimize and speed along our inventory management process. However, I have very little experience in this type of work and I'm not really sure where or what to start with. Do you have any suggestions regarding an inventory system that could help us? Edit for anyone who may have a similar situation in the future. user /whingeypomme shared a great wiki that I initially missed in my search: https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/Hackerspace_Software, at the bottom are some options for just this type of need/use case. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Do I need a separate Business License for each DBA? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 10:11 PM PST I'm in San Diego, CA and have 2 DBAs. Do I need a separate business license for each of the DBAs or just one under my birth name? [link] [comments]  | ||
| A Website Design for better business Posted: 09 Jan 2018 10:11 PM PST To create Best and a better business website for your service/product to market then I would say you are on the right way know to get more about: https://mohsinfancy.com/know-before-requesting-website-design-quote/ As a veteran designer, developer and project manager for more websites than I can count, I've identified a common problem with many Web projects: failure to plan. The same issues come up repeatedly in my work, so I've written this guide in order to help clients, other designers, businesses and organizations plan and realize successful websites. [link] [comments]  | ||
| How comps/promos affect food cost Posted: 10 Jan 2018 04:03 AM PST Hey guys/gals Still learning on the go about the food industry and trying to get a solid answer on this since I can't seem to find it on google. Running a fast casual restaurant in a reasonably hard business area. We've had to incorporate some promotions and loyalty programs to incentivize repeat business. I know this is not unusual, especially for new and struggling businesses. But how, if at all, does/should this affect my way of calculating food cost? Should I be adding the sales number I lost in promos back when calculating or is my true food cost simply going to be higher because I'm giving away food? Thanks in advance [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 03:52 PM PST Good god those yelp solicitors are persistent - a phone call every quarter whether you ask for it or not. And when you ask them not to call, or ask them to delete your page - they have amazing phone skill training to evade giving a straight answer - instead circling around to how you wouldn't want less customers, wouldn't want less people seeing your listing, etc. Even mentioning the new documentary "Billion Dollar Bully" - their phone training teaches them "Oh, Im not familiar with that." or "Well yelp isn't involved in the production of that film, so I have no way to speak about it." So then down to the simple factual data - If you're not in the restaurant industry - does Yelp serve any real value? Example : Search "restaurant" on yelp - you'll see hundreds of businesses with hundreds to thousands of reviews. Search "appliance repair" on yelp - I see 3 businesses with less than a handful of reviews COMBINED. Long story short - Has anyone had amazing results with Yelp Ads ? I was held hostage by the yelp salesperson way too long trying to explain how much better my google results have been than my yelp results and ( with their aggressive call training never say no never give up methods ) she kept throwing me into circle after circle to avoid giving me the real answer ( which would be the biggest reason to NOT do business with yelp - why would I pay money to a company who can't give me straight answers - ever ? ) [link] [comments]  | ||
| Reputable virtual phone number companies Posted: 09 Jan 2018 06:49 PM PST For a month now, I've been in virtual phone number hell as I've gone through two dodgy companies (most recently eVoice) to try and get a virtual phone number for my business. My needs are not complex. I want call forwarding to multiple numbers based on a schedule, I want a voice greeting, and I want voicemail. However, all the company's backends look circa 2003 and don't allow any self-service customisation. How is there not a Google out there already doing this? Or is there? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Terminology for stickers on clear backliner? Posted: 10 Jan 2018 02:43 AM PST I'm having trouble communicating (or even googling) the kind of stickers I need to order. I'm talking about stickers that come on a backliner/backing that is a transparent plastic film. I don't mean the sticker itself is transparent (companies keep thinking that's what I mean), I mean you peel it off a clear backing. Any help would be appreciated, is there some term for it that would help me specify this? [link] [comments]  | ||
| Looking for feedback on our CRM software for small businesses Posted: 09 Jan 2018 12:56 PM PST Hi, We've been building Orchestra, our simple CRM software based on the needs of a client but keeping in mind, we'd like to turn it into a product. The CRM software is designed for flexibility (i.e. store as much details as you want about your customer) at a more affordable price point. We're looking for small businesses/startups/CRM experts to help us beta test and provide feedback on the software. The landing page is outdated and doesn't fully communicate everything that's been built so far - feel free to comment or PM me directly if you'd like to help. So far, you can log customer service activity and view them all in a single timeline but we're looking to scale out to include sales and marketing activities so you can view a customer's entire interaction all in a single platform. We're also looking at integrating with various data sources/SaaS (i.e. e-commerce, Gmail, etc.) Our plan is automate logging as much as possible while providing a single view of the customer. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks! [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 09:35 PM PST What does this mean in the context of selling a business? ELI5 would be much appreciated :) [link] [comments]  | ||
| Can I just vent? "Fully earned after 30 days" BS Posted: 09 Jan 2018 06:39 PM PST I really can't FN stand internet companies that use the fully eared after 30 days model. It's guaranteed to rip off the unsatisfied customer. In this case, it was me. After a few months, I decide the company I was using is not what I need for my business and I cancel. Fully earned means no refunds if you cancel anytime after 30 days. How is this shit legal? It's literally saying I'm going to take all your money you spent on an annual subscription on day 31, even if you decide my company sucks. Where and how did this bullshit "fully earned" policy come about? How is it legal to rip off people this way? From my perspective, if I sign up for an annual, it's not fully earned until the year is up. Thanks for letting me vent. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Starting & Growing A Business Is Hard (Lessons Learned) [Kind long] Posted: 09 Jan 2018 08:42 PM PST
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| Is it ok to go to a clients house who owes money? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 11:28 PM PST Hi everyone I'm just wondering if it's ok to go to your clients house to request them to pay if there is no other way to contact them. My client owes my company over $3000 and is not answering the phone and it has been 2 months since I sent the first invoice. He promised he would it pay it by today but hasn't been contactable and no money has been put into our account. Is it ok to just go to his house (tomorrow) and knock on the door and apologise for showing up out of the blue but it's been hard to contact you and we need you to pay us asap. His company is medium sized but reputable. I know he has been overseas and is already back as his company is up and running already Thanks guys. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 11:26 PM PST Here is the link for you to explore it further: https://blog.blockonomics.co/accept-bitcoin-payments-on-magento-4-easy-steps-2f09f4dd8b?source=collection_home---6------0---------------- [link] [comments]  | ||
| applying for business license, not sure if I want to be sole proprietor or LLC? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 05:25 PM PST I'm new to this so forgive me if this isn't the right subreddit or someone has already asked and answered this. I recently found work as an independent contractor for a media/video production company. Many of the other employees who are contractors suggested I start the process of setting up my own business. Their reasoning being that there are several tax benefits and potential write-offs once I start invoicing as a business rather than an individual. I've got the basics info I need to start the process of applying for my business license with the city/county where I live. I do a lot of freelance video work and once I have this set up I can simply invoice for all of the various media work I'm doing. My question is what's the difference between setting up my business as a sole proprietor or as a limited liability company (LLC)? My business would consist mostly of myself, but I would like the door to be open for me to sub-contract other workers or possibly hire another employee or have another individual on the books so to speak. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Try these three ways to boost traffic to your website without really changing your daily lifestyle Posted: 09 Jan 2018 10:23 PM PST | ||
| Countries with lowest annual cost for incorporating an online business? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 04:16 PM PST Which countries (excluding shady tax havens) have the lowest annual running corporate fees (trust companies for management, accountants, chartered accountants, administration and domiciliation services (registered agents), etc.) for non-resident owners?
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| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 08:43 PM PST The Fizzle Show is a great podcast that covers good business innovation and practices. They also have a series of online courses that you can watch and learn that covers everything from website optimization, social media, podcasting, blogging, etc. If you want a free 5-week preview, you can follow this link. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Pro bono help for struggling business (or start-up) Posted: 09 Jan 2018 07:39 AM PST My initial intent was to see if anyone needed a hand (and it still is) but I realize now that I ended up writing a blog post. I'll leave it in the hopes that someone can get something from it. That being said, if anyone needs a hand or an outside set of eyes, let me know. I am happy to help anyone who needs it. Pro-jective is about helping individuals and small business owners succeed, not making money. My point with this post is that large course corrections aren't always needed. 1% better everyday is something to strive for, in personal pursuits as well as business.
Excuse any spelling or grammar errors, time constraints and mobile take a toll.
I know it seems kind of backwards, but a key reason I started working in industrial solutions (theoretically the "paying" side of my business though my contracts are few and far between) is so that I can have the time and resources to help the little guy. I am not an investor so any help I can give will be in sweat equity. My "day job" sees me engineering solutions for a very large business as well as the side work I do through Solutions Supplied. My background is industrial manufacturing but I have spent the last few years working in six sigma for services. I basically take the lessons learned through years of manufacturing improvements and find a way to apply them to small business (or large, as I do with my paying customers).
I will give an example of the sort of things I have come up against in the past. About 15 years ago I was doing some work for a mid sized manufacturing company and ran across a contractor working on a project. When I met Tim he was 10 feet down in a ditch with his guys digging out a broken pipe. I knew for a fact that Tim was a little out of his element as I had previously seen him working on design plans for a custom lift cart for the warehouse side of the business. We ended up having a discussion about scope. He had been running his business for 10 years at that point and he was having a hard time understanding how he was still in the position he was in. It's one thing to enjoy getting your hands dirty, it is another to HAVE to be physically leading a team after many years. Something was wrong. Tim and I discussed it over lunch. Like many small business owners Tim never set out to be an entrepreneur. He was good at what he did (mostly industrial facility maintenance) and ended up stranded when a previous employer went under. Over the years he had built up a few clients so he just rolled with it. And as a lot of people find out over time, being good at what you do is different than being good at running a business. I want to clarify that there is nothing wrong with keeping your business small if that's what you want. Time was clearly unhappy with his situation. I would never push someone to grow if that wasn't what they wanted. Tims story was a common one. He ended up taking a partner without properly protecting himself…..yadda yadda…..Tim lost most of his liquid capital and is still grinding away daily. I consider that a learning experience in itself but not a deal breaker as there are still options. After a quick look at his past 2 months worth of contracts I realized that Tim wasn't monetizing nearly as much as he could have. He was designing these complex specialty carts and then selling the physicall item without utilizing his design past production. He wasn't patenting anything. He was spending so much on the day to day he was having a difficult time seeing the bigger picture. Even his expectations of his guys needed to change if he was going to shift the direction his company was headed.
It doesn't take a huge course correction to make a change. I dislike corporate speak but the Kaizen theory of "little steps" really can help in day to day running of a business. I would like to say my work with Tim was a success. I would like to say that but I can't. We met a few times and I set him up with quick patents as well as a buyer for his designs (design book really, he would have gotten 50% of any profits made off of his design work). His mind was so set on the way things were he wasn't willing to take a serious look at change. I wonder sometimes if taking small steps back then would have changed they way Tims business ended. Maybe the outcome would've been the same (he went under in 09' with the rest of us) but we'll never know. As someone who has had to walk 400 people out of a manufacturing facility as the facility shut down, the feeling is same to me whether its 400 people or 4. It feels hopeless and I don't want that feeling for anyone else if I can help. I appreciate your time, JW [link] [comments]  | ||
| Business blog is currently ineffective. How can I turn this around? Posted: 09 Jan 2018 09:02 AM PST As the title suggests, the business blog I manage on behalf of the company I work for is ineffective at the moment. It doesn't get any traffic, it's super salesy, and I just don't see it going anywhere. Most of it adds little to no value to the customer experience. Despite that fact, my boss wants me to continue to write blog posts that are salesy (and just plain boring) in nature (i.e. why people should finance their engagement rings with the financing platform we have, why other financing platforms are bad, etc.). No one would want to read this stuff, and no reasonable influencer would link to a blog post which is so clearly encouraging low-income people to finance expensive diamond rings... To make matters worse, the e-commerce website doesn't get much traffic either. It ranks for just a couple of terms, but those terms are low-traffic terms that attract people with bad credit who are very specifically looking to finance luxury jewelry (since, sadly, that's who our shop sells to). I'd like to branch out and write more compelling content, but my boss wants the financing content since our financing is the only thing we've ever converted on. I do agree with his reasoning here, but our business's content is suffering because of our approach. That said, I'd like to know how you guys add value to your content without disrupting your sales funnel. I'm finding it difficult to give my boss what he wants and write content that people actually care to read. [link] [comments]  | ||
| Posted: 09 Jan 2018 07:30 PM PST I have read it is illegal to incentivize reviews, yet my competitor is doing so. How would I report them or is it legal to give away coupons or bonus points. [link] [comments]  |
![Starting & Growing A Business Is Hard (Lessons Learned) [Kind long]](https://b.thumbs.redditmedia.com/8nyKjkrnIlCkFHAV81pb65B1cH3Jkqf3_axUf03fgpU.jpg "Starting & Growing A Business Is Hard (Lessons Learned) [Kind long]")
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