Watch out for new scam, forced card transaction small business |
- Watch out for new scam, forced card transaction
- Anyone have any good experiences with social media growth companies, account management?
- The Dark Days Of A Self-Motivated Entrepreneur
- Creative agencies/Service providers: Raise your prices!
- Wanting to start a clothing line. Anybody here with experience?
- Am I dumb?
- What are the best Small Business Applications
- Bonus Structure for GM
- How valuable is one-time professional SEO setup?
- Opened Engineering Firm but lost main client (Architect).
- Facebook boost?
- [Advice] My boss has been using the ever dangling carrot and now that I've finally drawn the line, it looks like it's going through. What should I do to see how legit this is?
- Calculating UPS incentives/discounts.
- Where do you guys hire people? Why is hiring so hard?
- Restaurant/café owners: how do you optimize staff cost?
- Im starting a business and im terrified [x-post from r/personalfinance]
- How hard do you find hiring and onboarding good salespeople?
- How can I get better at getting customers to buy?
- I can't figure out how to start a business in my field
- Physical therapist looking to lease building - looking for some insight.
- Writing a SOW/Quote for Potential New Client. Concerned About IP. How do I handle?
- Nominee/director services for Estonian company?
- Naming business how important is a unique url
- Point me in the right direction?
| Watch out for new scam, forced card transaction Posted: 26 Feb 2018 12:06 PM PST Customer attempts to pay with credit card and is denied, they will then make a big show of calling the number on the back of the card and arguing with the bank. They will hand the phone over so clerk can talk to bank. "Bank" will walk them through the steps of using the terminal to force the transaction. Transaction will go through. Transaction will be denied next day by credit card company. You just got robbed of whatever they used the card for. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone have any good experiences with social media growth companies, account management? Posted: 27 Feb 2018 02:29 AM PST Looking for a social media management company to grow an Instagram account for a new company. Obviously, I've Googled my request, but it's impossible to know which of the companies offer genuine organic growth and which are using automation, bots etc. I'm essentially looking for someone to go through and like, comment on and follow/unfollow, interact with relevant accounts in my niche. Basically all the usual practice for good organic growth. With the aim of building an engaged following to drive traffic to an e-commerce site. Previously I was a professional photographer, and my niche isn't massive (the largest accounts maybe have 30-40k followers, and I'm confident my content is on par with theirs. I'm also confident with captioning, hashtags etc and am happy to queue up posts etc. but advice/input on this would be welcome. I'm imagining upwork or fiverr might be the solution, but I've had some average experiences on there before, so maybe there are some personal recommendations. I've spent some time working on the account, following and liking etc and it's slowly growing but feel that my time could be spent better elsewhere in the business. TL;DR looking for a recommended person or company to grow Instagram account through organic practices (not bots). Just need organic growth, not content production, full management etc. [link] [comments]  |
| The Dark Days Of A Self-Motivated Entrepreneur Posted: 26 Feb 2018 07:16 AM PST I'm a 31 year old small business owner. I own a small power equipment repair shop in New York and I have been in business for almost 2 years now. Sitting here at my desk looking out my only window wishing this cold gloomy day would pass and spring would arrive. I come here seeking help. My business is never really slow and the work load is mostly constant. As its only been 2 years I can't help the feeling of being lost. Reaping no great benefits of being a business owner I can't help but wonder if I'm headed in the right direction. Like I stated before, although I am busy I'm making less money then I was at my previous job. I'm working with my accountant now to help solve this problem. I have obtained certain commercial accounts that I dreamed of having yet I still sit here feeling underwhelmed. My life is consumed with this business. If I'm not working in it then I'm talking about it or reading about business or watching videos on business. I try and do other things but the burden of business emotions seem to always get in the way. On the other hand I don't know what else I could do as a job. My goal as being a business owner had came true. I have to self motivate myself everyday and to be honest I feel as though it is wearing on me. I work very hard and sacrifice my mental well being for my dream. Asking myself constantly if I should quit, but if I do will I live me life with regret and the feeling of "what if?". Don't get me wrong not everyday is as testing as today. Just want to reach out to other small business owners and get your perspective and thoughts on this subject. It seems like a non-talked about subject. [link] [comments]  |
| Creative agencies/Service providers: Raise your prices! Posted: 26 Feb 2018 10:45 AM PST
I hear something like this every time I take on a new client and I've been seeing it on this subreddit too. The business owner telling me this visibly run down. They haven't taken a single moment for themselves in years. They haven't been to the gym, they don't eat right, they don't sleep. They have such low quality of life and that is the in direct contrast to WHY they started their business in the first place! They wanted freedom and a life they loved. Instead, they are making less than they ever did and never do any of the things they used to enjoy. It can't last much longer. And if you're keeping this pace, it will ruin you and your business. I always wonder about the folks that never get help… and I seriously do not want this to happen. So I'm gonna show you what I have helped hundreds of agency owners do: Raise. Your. Prices. Increasing prices sounds simple enough, but I can't tell you how many people scoff at the idea. "I can't do that! I'll lose my business! The market wouldn't pay any higher! I'm barely closing with the price I'm charging now." But I've never had an agency price themselves out of business by charging TOO much. Here's why: When you start raising your prices, the first folks who balk are the prospects who aren't really interested in working with you, who don't really need the services you offer. You start to get rid of tire-kickers who were just going to nit-pick and argue with you about everything you did anyway. Good riddance! Higher prices attract the clients who need your service. So while you may have fewer clients (initially), the ones you do have are more committed, will stick with you longer, and trust you to do what you've been hired to do. You will probably even find that you close at a higher rate when all is said and done. Plus, when we are getting paid more for what we do it also makes is feel differently about our services and our value. When our time is more valuable, we realize that we can afford to hire; we are not required to do it all ourselves and we can actually help our clients better than we ever could. So here is how to start….Don't blanket email everyone on your client roster that their next invoice will be 20% more expensive. This is NOT the way to start raising prices. Instead, as your first step, just say a higher number in your next sales meeting. Go as high as you can bear - 10%, 20% higher and see what happens. (If you're feeling bold try 50% higher.) The only thing you have to lose is adding another low-paying client that will be even more stress to your unmanageable workload. You can even do this with each new client until you get to a price point that will work for you. You'll probably surprise yourself at how much you've been undercharging in the past. Who's in? Who's raising your prices? If not, why not? [link] [comments]  |
| Wanting to start a clothing line. Anybody here with experience? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 10:47 PM PST |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2018 10:34 PM PST I'll keep it short. I have a bit of personal/business debt I want to get rid of, and my business makes about twice my amount of debt in a year. I should sell my business for as much as I can pay my old debts and move on, right? [link] [comments]  |
| What are the best Small Business Applications Posted: 26 Feb 2018 08:40 PM PST Hi Redditors, What's a software/application/chrome extension can't you live with out? I've been loving Xero and Tello. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2018 03:11 PM PST I recently hired a GM for my business flagship location, as I step away to open a second location elsewhere. I want to provide the GM with quarterly performance-based bonuses based upon the metrics of revenue growth, cost optimization, and employee retention. However, having not had a bonus structure for any staff in the past, I don't feel totally solid on how to work all of the figures out to determine her bonus level. My plan is to offer bonus at 0%, 5%, 10%, and 15% of her annual salary, broken down quarterly. Does anyone have any suggestions of what some specific metrics could be to gauge performance? Such as cost optimization for payroll reduction, COGS, etc.? Revenue increases at certain percentages of overall growth? Employee retention up to a certain number? Anyway--just looking for ideas and suggestions. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| How valuable is one-time professional SEO setup? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 06:40 PM PST Identifying market opportunity: check. Securing suppliers: check. Building a website: check. Getting anyone to said website: halp. How much (if any) is reasonable to pay for a one-time SEO optimization for, like... a six-page Wordpress shop? Should I just buckle down and head to the library? [link] [comments]  |
| Opened Engineering Firm but lost main client (Architect). Posted: 26 Feb 2018 06:39 PM PST I quit my job a six month ago to be 100% dedicated to my MEP engineering firm which focuses on MEP for homes, commercial, schools, hospitals, and data centers. Most of my work has been with this one architect whom was very supportive and gave me a ton of his MEP work. Suddenly he was diagnosed with cancer and past away last month. Since then, I have been struggling finding new customers or an architect to team up with. In my field, most of the work we get is through architects. Sometimes I wonder if made the right decision. It has only been a six month and I am wondering if I should go back to working for someone. I really don't want to but I have a family and obligation to support them. I decided I will give it a couple more month since this has been an extremely exciting time for me. It was something I thought about for years and now that I am here I won't throw in the towel! I am open to any suggestions on how to find new clients or connect with architects. If your an architect, how would an new engineering fi typically approach you? How should I advertise? Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2018 05:55 PM PST Has anyone ever used the boost options on facebook and has success? I have kind of a niche market, I'm a behavior analyst and I work with adults and kids with disabilities or behavior difficulties so I'm not sure how effective mass marketing would be for me. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2018 03:34 PM PST project manager/graphic designer, $20 an hour, 80% benefits, 30 years old. I work for a small tech company. My boss is a real fucking piece of work. I've been putting up with his shitty attitude for 2 years because of the ever dangling carrot of having a stake in the company. I've been making my hourly wage of $20 with benefits. I have nothing on paper saying that I have any reason to stick around. The ever looming investor apparently has chose to go ahead with investing a million dollars, suddenly just as I put in my notice. Seems awfully convenient. I want to confront this. I want to have, in writing, what I'm looking at, because what I currently have, isn't worth staying. I just don't know how to approach the idea without my boss suddenly getting that "blood in the water" look. If you want to know why I'm quitting, I'm not opposed to talking about it, I'm just trying to make this post as efficient as possible. The short and skinny is he leaves you with little to no information and then gets mad when the job doesn't get done to his liking. [link] [comments]  |
| Calculating UPS incentives/discounts. Posted: 26 Feb 2018 03:31 PM PST I think I'm being overcharged by UPS/not all the discounts per the agreement are being applied. Is there a spreadsheet/system anyone has where I can alter the variables and see the discounts I should be getting. I tried doing this the long way (reading the agreement and trying to do the calculations myself, but I'm hopeless). If you can even point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful. Halp [link] [comments]  |
| Where do you guys hire people? Why is hiring so hard? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 02:40 PM PST I am having a huge issue hiring someone for my cleaning company. I've listed my job on Indeed and even spent $50 on sponsoring my listing. I've had about 25 people apply and I've interviewed about 6 people so far. Everyone I've interviewed so far has been terrible. Everything from sex offenders to people with DUI's. I'm willing to overlook many things but even I have limits. The job is full time and 13-15 dollars an hour. For cleaning in Texas that is higher than market value. Here's a link to my posting. https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Rampant-Lion-Enterprises/jobs/Great-Company-Great-Carpet-Cleaning-Technician-ff226c6e6cd939ef?sjdu=QwrRXKrqZ3CNX5W-O9jEvTACWkuh2LToa3YBxlQhgVf41abSQX_pM28dQpkdXgzTCzWMUFeso14aY1c06B3AVCS12yr5PYiGtRKyrsnChUL4ePkJ965syUKIhPV7he22AJGF7Snnlk3f-3Lkp5kOfA&tk=1c7a3vqq818b20lb&vjs=3 If anyone has a suggestion or can tell me what I'm doing wrong. Please do! Also if you need a job in Austin, Texas please contact me! [link] [comments]  |
| Restaurant/café owners: how do you optimize staff cost? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 08:21 AM PST Staff cost (gross wages / net revenue) is really hard to optimize and get to a healthy 30-35%. How have you done it? For those who've worked at Starbucks or other well established enterprises, how is it done there? How do you optimize a roster? [link] [comments]  |
| Im starting a business and im terrified [x-post from r/personalfinance] Posted: 26 Feb 2018 01:49 PM PST I've been dreaming of this my whole life so im going to do this. But in order to actually start this business its becoming clear im going to have to leave my job. If i leave my job i lose my health insurance. I've got about $20k lying around so i can keep myself up for long enough. I live at home so i have no expenses. I already have 1 client so far so this business is already netting me half my jobs income. There's huge potential for scale but there's a much larger margin for error. Im only 23 and as much as i act like i know what im doing i really have no idea. I know how to do the work but i've never run a business before. Im afraid i might not get more clients, i might screw up and get sued, im afraid of so many possibilities that are just starting to hit me. Has anyone else here done this? Am i making the right choice? [link] [comments]  |
| How hard do you find hiring and onboarding good salespeople? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 01:33 PM PST |
| How can I get better at getting customers to buy? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 12:55 PM PST Hi all! I am looking for advice. I currently work for a very small local business. I am simply an employee who is here to focus on selling and provide excellent customer service (as well as a bit of data entry stuff that is pretty basic). Recently it has been very slow, but on days that are fairly busy, I'm still not making a lot of sales. I'm very dedicated and believe myself to have great social skills. I always welcome every customer and let them know I'm here to help and can help them find anything if they need it. When I see customers approach a product that has testers (we keep them behind counter) I always offer to let them sample and give a bit of info on the product. I'm happy to chat with them, but also try not to bother those who just want to peruse. I know I can be a little shy about taking initiative when someone is very interested in an item as I don't want to come off pushy. When I've asked my boss in certain situations what I should say to close the sale, she usually tells me to say the same things I have thought of (she's an excellent sales lady). Does anyone have some tips to help me bump up sales? [link] [comments]  |
| I can't figure out how to start a business in my field Posted: 26 Feb 2018 12:46 PM PST I am a (somewhat accomplished) freelance animator. Currently, I'm in limbo of looking for more freelance work. I send out 40+ emails a day to different companies and haven't received a response in months. I'm considering this - if I were to start a business, I would need a product to sell. However, since everything I do is custom, I can't exactly sell a product to a consumer without it being catered to their preferences. (we're talking 2-5 weeks of work preferences) My capabilities are: Motion Graphics / Animation (explainer videos, intro ID's, graphics) Virtual Reality Video Production (filming, stitching, editing) Illustration (Vector & Hand-Drawn) Decal design & cutting (small orders only) There are definitely other capabilities, but those are what I consider highlights / something I can do daily. I love freelancing, but I want to find something that can build residual income while I keep freelancing, and I don't know where to begin; this is something I could really use advice with. I want to build something that's a do-it once and then it generates revenue sitting there type of thing. With my background in Illustration, I've tried to upload files to stock sites, but those don't seem to sell unless you're uploading 7 days a week - and that's a gamble since there are so many companies vs. individuals on sites like that. There's a flood of designers uploading those sites as well. I was considering starting a lapel pin company; something I can mail-out tiny packages from my mailbox when I get an order, but I have heard those don't sell daily, and I see a lot of illustrators 'out there' who don't seem to be making sales left-and-right either. I've inquired with some of the top sellers, and they say it's just like cash to use for Starbucks. That contains a large startup cost. I've been trying to get a friend involved with my idea, but he has no motivation. With my VR capabilities, I've been trying to put together a portfolio of stock footage I can sell, but I'm limited by travel (no car, no income, no plane tickets, nearby parks are limited) With my Motion Graphics capabilities, I have no background in coding, HTML / C++ / any of that stuff people would normally say, "just automate _____" - this is a constant go-to or cop-out answer people try to convince me to acknowledge; there is no automation with real animation though. I've tried learning how to develop plug-ins for After Effects, but yet again, I can't comprehend code. With my decal capabilities, I have tried selling decals on eBay in the past, but got flagged for using a name or 'counterfeiting a logo' that immediately turned me off from wanting to do anything within a niche I was trying to tap into. If there's anything someone could guide me to to help conceive ideas I would greatly appreciate the help. I'm always trying to figure out new ways i can develop a business and avoid being pushed into a full-time job ever again. [link] [comments]  |
| Physical therapist looking to lease building - looking for some insight. Posted: 26 Feb 2018 12:18 PM PST I'm hoping I can get some insight from anyone. But maybe if there are any fitness trainers, gyms owners or other physical therapists on here - any feedback would be great as well! I am a physical therapist in a small town in Canada. I am looking to lease a building within the next year. I am looking for a building big enough to have 2-3 treatment rooms and a small rehab/gym space. But I am also looking into having at least 2 Olympic weight lifting platforms for training as well. And possibly a small area for selling braces/tapes etc. There are a few buildings for lease around town currently. I am not a home owner and have never leased a building before. I am currently renting a room within another business. Looking for a long term lease. I'm trying to create a questionnaire that will cover all my basis when I do go and interview for building leases/landlords.
Hope these questions make sense. I'm really just looking for some feedback as I start this process. I am a new practioner in town, but growing fast. [link] [comments]  |
| Writing a SOW/Quote for Potential New Client. Concerned About IP. How do I handle? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 11:37 AM PST I am writing a scope of work and quote for a project for a prospective new client. It is software development work. The client already works with a team of developers from India. The software I'm developing is largely based on my experience with a particular manufacturing process. But I can't really write the SOW without providing some pretty key details. My concern is that he'll refuse my quote (his right obviously), but take the details of my SOW and give it to his lower-cost Indian team to implement. What do I to do A) protect myself and B) not scare him off with my paranoia? [link] [comments]  |
| Nominee/director services for Estonian company? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 11:00 AM PST I formed a company in Estonia with LeapIN. They don't offer nominee/director services. Can I get those services from another company and use them for my Estonian company? Anyone who has done this? [link] [comments]  |
| Naming business how important is a unique url Posted: 26 Feb 2018 07:13 AM PST So I am naming a business and the url for the name I want is not available, it is but it cost $2000. How important is it to have the exact name for the url, facebook, and twitter? There is another name I can use but I don't like it as much, I can get the url for that name and all social media. For the name I want the url would need to have dashes between the words, facebook I would need to add more to the name and no idea about twitter. [link] [comments]  |
| Point me in the right direction? Posted: 26 Feb 2018 10:47 AM PST
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