Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (March 02, 2018) Entrepreneur |
- Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (March 02, 2018)
- Anyone ever feel morally reprehensible?
- Successful business ideas are really just problems that need solutions.
- Finding a technology manufacturer/ building a prototype?
- ToyGaroo: Burning $250K Building the Netflix for Toys
- Due to my blog, I got invited to attend a national conference in my niche. I'll be attending as 'Press' and get free entry.
- Is there a good resource to learn how LinkedIn works?
- Anyone have reliable and fast shipper to India? FedEx just failed me completely.
- Communicate with customers when they are on my website
- Want to Win a Pitch? Ignore the Pitch.
- Feedback needed for an app project
- How much does a US Utility Patent cost?
- Weird startup metrics?
- There are tons of plastic toys and figures out there, but the barrier to entry seems high... am I wrong about this?
- I am a software developer that has developed a software for helping with flipping that I use daily. Should I keep it to myself or start charging people to use it?
- Importing goods from China for private label
- How do you handle when your software crashes, major bugs, etc?
- Open Letter: Businesses for Overturning the FCC's Net Neutrality Repeal
- Volume discounts on wholesale
- B2B Prospecting Tool, What Industries Would Benefit From This?
- Anyone run a catering or recruitment business?
- Teespring Advice
- You’re Not Crazy. You’re An Entrepreneur.
- When is another business considered a partner?
- To piggyback on my last two posts, how do you stop people from stealing your investment?
| Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (March 02, 2018) Posted: 02 Mar 2018 05:07 AM PST Please use this thread to share any accomplishment you care to gloat about, and some lessons learned. This is a weekly thread to encourage new members to participate, and post their accomplishments, as well as give the veterans an opportunity to inspire the up-and-comers. 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]  |
| Anyone ever feel morally reprehensible? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:09 AM PST I want to become an entrepreneur, I truly do. but as I browse through Instagram, seeing people selling leggings and t-shirts for 50 bucks that can be bought for 5 dollars on Amazon or Alibaba. I wonder do they feel bad for capitalizing off of peoples ignorance? I understand the nature of capitalism is to capitalize but does it have to be to the point where you bamboozle customers? Like how does a cigarette exec actually sleep well at night knowing that he is basically marketing death to the poor and over-stressed? Perhaps I should not feel sorry for others because ignorance is a choice(most of the time) and mature adults should be aware of the consequences. It just wouldn't sit right with me knowing that i have the ability to make someones financial burden easier by diminishing my own profit. Does anyone here ever feel bad knowing they're finessing others? Thanks for any replies. [link] [comments]  |
| Successful business ideas are really just problems that need solutions. Posted: 01 Mar 2018 09:11 PM PST If you're paying attention, there are problems ready to be exploited all over the place. You just need to be tuned in and listening to the right words and phrases around you. When you tune in and pay attention, you realize there are 1000s of million dollar business ideas all around you. Most big million dollar ideas today are not breakthrough inventions. Yes, this is what we hear about most in the media but in reality, most million dollar businesses have taken existing ideas or products and made them better or just different. Here are some examples of billion-dollar businesses that jumped in and executed on an existing idea.
You get the idea. You don't need to invent something brand new to start and build a million dollar business, you just need to take an idea and execute on it better or just different than others. The hard truth is that it really all comes down to execution. If you can you execute better than the existing competition and market and distribute it better, you win. There are plenty of ideas out there for products that can make you millions of dollars. Where to find the good ideas Some people have a problem with too many ideas, while others have a problem of not enough or just not the right one. If you're trying to find an idea for a business, the best place to start is with other people's problems and complaints. find a problem than many people are experiencing and then create something that solves it for them. Here are 4 types of complaints to listen and look for.
Pay attention to these terms:
There are many others you can use but these are things people talk about all the time in life and online. You can find these terms and what comes after the … on Google, on Facebook, on review websites, on Twitter and basically anywhere people leave feedback or comments. Google Alerts You can automate this process so that new ideas land you inbox using Google Alerts. Google Alerts can monitor the web for new content around your terms so you get notified when new content shows up on Google. Twitter Search Twitter Advanced Search is another treasure trove of data for finding million dollar business ideas. Enter the terms above into the advanced search and find a whole bunch of problems that need solutions to. Automate your idea search There's also a simple way to automate these searches using If This Then That. You can set up an IFTTT recipe that sends these tweets to a spreadsheet. So, when somebody tweets "I hate that I can't find good babysitters", the tweet lands in your spreadsheet and then you can review your spreadsheet periodically for the good ideas or problems that need a better solution. Another great tool that I use to research idea keywords is Semrush. Once you find the tail end of that sentence after I hate… take those keywords and enter them into Semrush and see what kind of traffic the keywords get. This helps to give you an idea of the size of the market how many people are searching. The more people looking for a solution to that problem, you might just have a niche market on your hands. In summary Ideas are plentiful. There is opportunity everywhere as long as you're looking, you will see them and find them. The key to turning that million dollar idea into actually a million dollars all comes down to execution. It's how you take that idea, develop it into a product and build distribution channels to get it out to the masses. I hope this helps you come up with some ideas or at least look at the world in a different way and be open to the opportunities around you. Source: http://craigcherlet.com/how-to-find-your-million-dollar-business-idea/ [link] [comments]  |
| Finding a technology manufacturer/ building a prototype? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:19 AM PST I am trying to find a way to pair an app with a motor (which will raise a desk from sit down to stand up) are there any companies or technologies that do this? Should I prototype one myself, or is it possible that a similar technology already exists for other applications? [link] [comments]  |
| ToyGaroo: Burning $250K Building the Netflix for Toys Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:22 PM PST Hey /r/Entrepreneur. I am Rich Clominson, from Failory, a website where we weekly interview failed startups.
We have just published a new interview with Phil Smy, the founder of ToyGaroo. ToyGaroo was the Netflix of toys. Funded by a great group of people based in Los Angeles, the company appeared on Shark Tank asking $100k for a 10% stake. They ended up raising $250K in 2 funding rounds, but after some months, they had to shut down the company. Inventory and logistical costs were too high, so capital rapidly disappeared.
I don't want to make you read something you are not interested in, so here are the main points:
Let's get into the interview! Hi Phil! What's your background, and what are you currently working on? I started out as a musician but after deciding I also like to have food on the table, I got into writing software in the early 90s (yes, I am old). I wrote traditional software - Macintosh applications - in the beginning, but starting in 1996 I got into the fledgling internet. Since then I've worked in Canada (my homeland), US, and across Europe starting in 1997 (writing software is a much better way to see the world than joining the military, in my opinion). I always was a consultant and started lots of companies. Back in the early 2000s, I co-founded a company that wrote gambling games for mobiles (WAP - remember that?!). Other companies included Filmamora, a DVD rental by mail company, in Spain. A kind of Netflix for Spain. That led to my contact with Team Toygaroo. Right now, I am living in Japan and I own and run two large websites - the first is Zonmaster, an after-sales support service site for Amazon sellers. We provide auto-responders, financial views and the like. The other is LotteryCanada, a site I've been running for 20 years. Oh god!
What was ToyGaroo about? Toygaroo was an exciting twist on the "rental" phenomenon - we called ourselves the Netflix of toys. People would sign up for a "toy box" subscription and pick how many toys - 2, 3, 5, whatever the subscription level was. They could have x number of toys out at a time. If they returned one we'd send a new toy from their list. That way there could be a near constant stream of toys coming into the house. And if the kids really loved a toy they could buy from us. The company was founded by a great group of people based in Los Angeles. They had good marketing experience, but needed the software. I came in, licensing the Filmamora software to them and modifying it as needed - which essentially turned into a re-write of the code.
How did you build it? We had the Filmamora codebase and I had a lot of experience in the concepts as I'd been running Filmamora for a few years by this point. We had a small warehouse in the Los Angeles area that we ran all the logistics from. We had a very spiffy toy cleaning device. Toy cleaning was the #1 concern of our customers. (top tip: listen to your customers! it's not about you, it's about them.)
Which marketing strategies did you use to attract ToyGaroo first customers? We never really had an issue with attracting customers or press. We were on national TV shows (including GMA, if I remember correctly) before the SharkTank appearance even. I think that everyone could see the idea had potential. Really it was a matter of contacting the right people - once they heard the idea they were on board. I am not the marketing guy, so I can't really get into the nuts and bolts of that side of it.
How was it like to participate in Shark Tank? I think inside Toygaroo there were 2 camps - the "go on SharkTank" side and the "don't" side. I was on "team don't". We were already growing and getting exposure. We hadn't really worked out the finer details - like shipping pricing and toy sourcing. It was the latter that we were interested in finding help in. Toy companies didn't like us as they saw us as depleting sales by offering rentals. (I myself had a meeting in Tokyo at Konami where I was told point blank they would never cooperate with such a scheme). I honestly can't remember how the SharkTank thing came about - I wasn't living in LA at the time, but I vaguely remember that it was a friend of a friend who introduced us to the production team. I know that it was a matter of weeks between the initial chat and the taping. So, we ended up going on SharkTank, and getting investment from O'Leary and Cuban. I wasn't there at the taping - I was actually in Hawaii at the time. But I was on the other end of the phone during the negotiation process. The show takes a long time to film - I think our team was in there for 4 hours or something like that. It gets whittled down to 10 minutes of TV time, but there was a lot more negotiation and back and forth than what ended up onscreen. Personally, I wanted Herjavec. I thought he would have been a better fit. But, to be honest, after the whole experience I don't think there is such a thing as a "good choice", just a "less bad" choice. Like most SharkTank appearances, we got a spike when the show aired. Which was not what we needed as a sudden influx into a business that depends on stock is not a good thing!
Which were the causes of ToyGaroo's failure? There are differing views here, I'm sure. I can only give my opinion and recollection. Toygaroo was doing well and we were always getting more customers. The issue was getting control of two things - inventory costs and logistical costs. We had hoped that O'Leary would be able to introduce us to people in the toy business, given his past with Mattel. If that ever happened I didn't hear about it, and certainly, we never saw any purchasing benefit. Maybe he tried and failed, I don't quite remember. So, we had a pretty high cost for the toys. We were even going to the local Walmarts and ToysRUs to get toys as they were selling retail cheaper than we could get wholesale. That in and of itself is not a bad business model for a startup, but, because of our new partners we were under close scrutiny and high pressure to "grow grow grow". We had little to no interaction with Cuban himself, but he did assign an assistant to monitor us. They claimed that the Toygaroo team was infighting, but the truth is we were battling with them. We knew that the model was wrong - we offered free shipping and because toys were so variable in shape and size that was the wrong thing to do. My recollection is that we wanted to move away from the 'free shipping' model but Cuban's team was adamant that was a USP for us and also 'part of what they signed up for'. So costs spiraled. I honestly think that had we been able to source more cheaply and change the shipping model we would have kept going. When it became apparent that the finances were sinking us, and that we weren't able to fix these two key issues of sourcing and shipping, we approached Cuban (and perhaps O'Leary) for another cash injection, which they declined to do. Funnily enough though, once we were really down to the last dollars, they did offer to 'take Toygaroo off our hands' for essentially nothing. I don't know what reasoning they had for offering to take a sinking ship. I can guess. I don't think - knowing those guys - that it was charity. We decided to close down the company as we were majority shareholders. All of us had other opportunities, and all of us had run other companies. So we knew sometimes you just have to move on.
Which were your investments? Did you achieve some revenue? Did you lose any money? The SharkTank money was spent, obviously, and unfortunately the other partners, who had funded things, also lost money. I can't really say how much. It wasn't millions, but of course, it's upsetting for all. The only small sense of satisfaction I got from the whole thing was that O'Leary lost money and I made money, as I owned the software and had simply licensed it to Toygaroo, and that license fee was paid.
If you had to start over, what would you do differently? Not go on SharkTank, just build organically. Always have a handle on the key components of your business. We just didn't. We were at the mercy of pricing. I'm sure the shipping issue could have been overcome, I've since done it in other ventures. But sourcing toys...that's tough.
Which are your favorite entrepreneurial resources? Entrpreneurism isn't rocket science (unless you're Elon Musk of course!). People spend so much time listening to podcasts and all of that, when there are some very simple truths. Come up with an idea, research it, work on it, see what other people think, don't spend money on it unless you absolutely positively have to, don't get investors until AFTER you are making a profit, provide great customer service. For business books, I loved the Sam Walton autobiography. I love Peter Drucker. Books that are more about social phenomenon - like Jonah Berger's Contagious, Bold by Peter Diamandis, or Ryan Holliday's The Obstacle is the Way - are also awesome. It is about a mindset. Create something, make it as good as it can possibly be. Don't accept mediocrity.
Where can we go to learn more? If for some insane reason you want to listen to any more of what I have to say you can find me on YouTube or my website. I tweet on occasion at @psmy, but mostly about how I am getting shafted by Air Canada all the time. If you sell Private Label on Amazon I can't imagine why you wouldn't be a Zonmaster customer already, but if you're not, head over there.
Original interview published at https://failory.com/interview/toygaroo [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 Mar 2018 06:52 PM PST This is a huge opportunity for me. I've been working on my blog for the past three years. It brought in a little over $10,000 last year in advertising and affiliate marketing. I have felt like 2018 would be my year and this solidifies it! I'm really looking forward to networking within the niche and hopefully nailing down some advertisers that would be interested in my site. The company putting on the event sent me a personal invitation due to my authority in the industry. Feels good man! Just thought I would share with you all! [link] [comments]  |
| Is there a good resource to learn how LinkedIn works? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:55 PM PST I'm new to LinkedIn and I don't really understand how it works. Is there a resource where I can learn from? My goal is to get in touch with business owners who might want my service. [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone have reliable and fast shipper to India? FedEx just failed me completely. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 10:10 AM PST I have a customer in India. They needed a part quickly so I jumped on FedEx's highest level of service for just about next day delivery. That was 2/9. The package was sent with commercial invoice enclosed. A mere 13 days later (9 after scheduled delivery), they requested additional customs documentation. By then I had called several times. I sent it immediately. Their email system spat back a four out of office notifications asking me to send it to the exact address I had sent it to instead of four addresses I had not sent to. Brilliant configuring there guys. I call to verify it was received. They apparently aren't open at the same time as their India office so they send a notice and assure me it was. Time passes. After 10 calls, each asking about the status of the package and four promising a return call from a representative they tell me that "The tracking number was never activated so the documents were not received. You'll have to send them again." It is now 17 days past the delivery date or 325% overdue with many promises and no deliveries. So: 1) Does anyone have a better option than FedEx to India? (DHL a possibility but they were slower) 2) Similar experiences? 3) Any tips for getting my package actually delivered? 4) What the hell can you do about customer service like this? Is this just a "suck it up entrepreneurboy, you know it's a tough world" situation? The invoice is due in 8 days and they refuse to even allow a shipping claim (which I expect they will try to deny) until the package is delivered. [link] [comments]  |
| Communicate with customers when they are on my website Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:10 AM PST Is there a tool that I can use to communicate with my customers while they are on my site? Like, when they remove an item from the cart or search for something and couldn't find the item they are looking for? [link] [comments]  |
| Want to Win a Pitch? Ignore the Pitch. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 08:47 AM PST //Full disclosure, this is an article I wrote over on Medum For many startups, pitch competitions are a vital source of funding. They provide access to capital, much of the time without taking equity. Plus they provide a vital arena for gathering constructive criticism on your concept. So what can your organization do to have the best possible shot at taking home 1st place, and maybe even a big cardboard check? Ignore the PitchBut why? Let's first look at what pitch competitions (in general) look at:
#1 can mean lots of things. If your thing is a for-profit company, will you make money? If it's more of a social venture, will it improve the world? By how much? #2 just means whether or not you/your team have the skills needed to make it to your goal. Do you need a coder? Someone great at scooping up users? An industry expert? And #3 asks that you understand the needs of your goal. How will a big boatload of cash help you do your thing? Do you need so much capital to even start that the winnings of this competition aren't even close? So let's assume that you believe all three of these things are true, how do you prove it to your audience (i.e. the judges)? Start.Investors, grant writers, and pitch judges are all more likely to give you $$ if they think you're going to succeed anyway. Show them that you can by making it a reality even before the pitch competition. New ventures have so many questions that need to be answered:
Think about these questions as if the pitch competition wasn't an option. If it's just an idea, answer those questions. Google until you can't google anymore. Once you have those answers in hand, congratulations, you have a plan! Now there's nothing stoping you from executing on it! You can do tiny versions of your idea and use what you learn to refine those answers even more! These questions are going to need to be answered at some point, so why wait until after you win? Remember that whole pitch thing?Now all you have to do is tell people what you did. There are a couple of things that your audience will want to see:
Outlining your problem and solution will make the the audience aware that the problem exists and requires solving via your solution, that your thing is worth doing. Your traction demonstrates that you are able to execute on your solution, that you can do it. And finally outline your plan going forward, and how winning will help you do that plan even faster and better. TL;DR: Forget about the pitch, do your thing, then tell people about it. The strategy I talk about here has come from advice from our experience at HungerPerks and the five different pitch competitions we've competed in. The inspiration to write this came from a talk we gave to help UAkron students gear up for The EXL Center's "Be the Change $10k Challenge". Please check it out at UAkron.edu/BeTheChange, I can't emphasize enough how much the EXL Center has helped us along our startup journey. So what do you think /r/Entrepreneur? What have your experiences with pitches been like? [link] [comments]  |
| Feedback needed for an app project Posted: 02 Mar 2018 10:52 AM PST Hey guys, long time reading all your post and sometime replying whener i feel my advice could really contribute to something. I'm considering launch a mobile app, the thing is i have zero or less expertise in such field, my main activities are construcion oriented but my partner is currently working developing front-ends for some app's, so i'm a little optimisct because at least someone understant the technical part of the business. Today I'm here because I have a couple of question for anyone who had been envolve in something like this before or someone who is planning something like this and is a bit more ahead in path from where i currently are. 1) Would you recommend to find some developers and pay them to make the code and basically give a beta version of the app or would you recommend us to learn some coding in order to launch the app? 2) If the only way for the app to generate money is via ads. Will the project be facible or it wont generate enought money? Thanks in advance, any advice is welcome. PD: I have an engineer degree and knwow the basics of c++ and know how to use python in a finance oriented way, also my partner works developing front-end and know html, javascrip and ssc3 so i guess we could potentially learn how to program an app. [link] [comments]  |
| How much does a US Utility Patent cost? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:11 PM PST Let's say I have an idea for a chair that turns into a bed. What would it cost me to patent that idea so that nobody can copy the idea in any shape/form? Would I be able to file for a utility patent if I don't have a product yet? Would it cover ALL methods of turning chairs int beds and vice versa with just 1 patent? Because there is obviously almost an infinite number of ways to turn a chair into a bed using different methods. This is not my actual idea btw. It is just similar to something I'd like to do. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:56 PM PST What are some weird startup metrics? Which you would target for weekly 7% growth? From unconventional companies, not consumer focused companies. Examples would be: Biotech, Nuclear Energy, Hard Tech, Quantum Computing, R&D, Finance, Hedge Fund, AI. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:53 PM PST So I have a brand I think a small toy line would really work with (think similar to those POP funko toys), but it seems like the barrier to entry is pretty high in terms of pricing (many require minimum orders in the thousands). Any toy makers out there to comment on this? Am I wrong? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:40 PM PST Hey all! So this is a throwaway account just looking to see what the general consensus here is. I'm a computer science student, but in a bid to make some more cash I started getting into flipping. Started with a hell of a lot of trash but started to find a few profitable items over and over. Basically in a nutshell what I have done is made a piece of software / script that scans the internet 2-4 main sites for the best prices on these specific items and gives me links where I can buy them immediately, along with an average price of the item as it is being sold in my area. EXAMPLE: Not real product USB Camera Pen - €14.99 Average price (mix of marketplace and other sites such as gum tree / craiglist: €22.99 In that instance I would buy maybe 100 bucks worth and keep them there. That sort of transaction would usually result in about 50 odd bucks once they were sold, but of course my products are usually more profitable than that. The software is not perfect yet and has a few bugs but it is a thing that I am working on to fix ASAP. Should this be a thing that I should keep below the radar or start charging it to people for usage of it? [link] [comments]  |
| Importing goods from China for private label Posted: 02 Mar 2018 04:38 AM PST Hello everyone, I am brand new to selling my own products and have questions regarding importing goods to the U.S. I've been trying to research but it is very difficult to find all information needed and I'm not sure if I am missing anything else. I was wondering if anyone could help answer? 1. Country of Origin needs to be marked. Does this need to go on the actual product itself or can it be on the packaging? Does the distributor, manufacturer, contact information (address, website, etc.) need to be visible as well? 2. I'm not too familiar with HTS. If I understand correctly, the supplier/manufacturer should know the code and can provide this to me so I can estimate how much I'd be paying when importing? Do I need this code labeled as well? 3. How do I know what requirements are needed such as warning labels, age ranges (ex. Ages 3+), etc.? My product doesn't seem very dangerous to require it but you never know. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you handle when your software crashes, major bugs, etc? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:29 AM PST So, I have a SaaS business, and everything has been going great. So much so that our clients have switched their previous method of doing business all over to our service. Awesome. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Open Letter: Businesses for Overturning the FCC's Net Neutrality Repeal Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:14 PM PST Since the FCC's December vote to kill net neutrality, companies and users across the country have been pressuring Congress to pass a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution that would overturn the agency's repeal. If passed, the CRA would restore protections that stop ISPs from blocking and throttling your sites and apps, or charging companies new fees to reach customers online. Without net neutrality protections in place, major ISPs are in effect able to impose a new tax on companies and startups across the country. To get this CRA passed, groups are organizing an open letter from businesses who want to see strong net neutrality rules in place. Click through the link below to add your company's name and ask Congress to overturn the FCC's net neutrality repeal. SIGN ON: Businesses are demanding REAL net neutrality protections from Congress. There's already 50 votes confirmed in the Senate, and only need one more to move it on to the House. There are a number of senators who are still on the fence but are considering doing the right thing – and pressure from businesses is exactly what's needed to push those undecided senators over the edge (away from the ISP lobby) and get them to vote for the CRA. If you can, sign on today. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:48 PM PST Does anyone have any recommendations for volume discounts for wholesale customers? I don't do much wholesale and usually only do a couple dozen pieces to one buyer, but I just got an inquiry for up to 16,000 pieces. What kind of a discount, if any, should I offer for such a large volume? [link] [comments]  |
| B2B Prospecting Tool, What Industries Would Benefit From This? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:44 PM PST I am in a B2B position where I am completely responsible for producing my own leads.
Initially, I was cold calling, door knocking, and working hard on my referral network. This was taking up much of my time, I spent hours each day prospecting. Some days were fruitful, other days I came up dry. After some critical thinking, I knew there was a better way to get in front of my ideal prospect. Work smarter, not harder, right? I really wanted to put myself in my prospects shoes. Where were they hanging out, that I could easily access? Social media, of course! I felt like the lightbulb turned on above my head. Now, I knew that not all social media platforms were created equal. I looked into Facebook and Instagram marketing, and realized that this was not where my ideal prospects were spending their time. And if they were spending their time on these platforms, it wasn't always geared towards business. There was one platform, that I discovered to be an absolute GOLD MINE for B2B prospecting.
If you haven't guessed it yet, I'm talking about LinkedIn.
Prospecting on LinkedIn is very viable to what I do, for multiple reasons. Almost HALF of all LinkedIn users have an income over $75,000. So affordability is not as much of an issue compared to FB. People are there for three main reasons: -To network -To grow their business -To DO business
I looked into LinkedIn Ads, but was steered away due to how expensive ad spend was. I wanted to reach out directly to my ideal prospects, surpass the gatekeepers, and only talk to the key decision makers.
There was only one issue: how could I reach out to my ideal prospects, on a large scale, and in a time efficient way. This is when my agency created a proprietary tool for their consultants to utilize. This service organically reaches out to thousands of my ideal prospects, messages them individually, and follows up with them over time, without me having to lift a finger. There are in-house professional copywriters. They craft out a sequence of messages to entice my prospects to reach out to me, and book an appointment. Since this is not advertising, there is $0 in ad spend. I simply set appointments with the people that are interested in my services, and I do not waste any time with the ones that are not interested. I am receiving 20-30 B2B appointments each month using it. This system is only available in-house currently. This post is not to promote this service, simply to ask for input and feedback on where it would be beneficial. We have allowed some of our current partners to use this service, and it has helped them grow and connect with their prospects in the same way. So far, our partners have used this system successfully in the following industries: -Marketing Agencies -Insurance Brokers -Recruiters -Medical Device Sales Reps -Pharmaceutical Sales Reps -Merchant Services -Sales Coaches -3PL Brokers
After the feedback we have gathered from our current partners, as well as our personal success with this service, we are considering branching out and offering this to our partners in other industries. I'd like to hear your feedback on what B2B (or possibly B2C) industries YOU feel like this service would be beneficial in, and what industries you feel this would NOT be beneficial in. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts! [link] [comments]  |
| Anyone run a catering or recruitment business? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:31 PM PST I am into content marketing (link building) and am pretty good at it. Got me a few clients and always looking for more. For those who don't know, link building helps improve your website's ranking and traffic. But, I have ideas I want to test out for recruiters or caterers so am happy to do it for them at a reduced rate. Can be local or national. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:39 AM PST Does anyone have any advice for marketing on FB their TeeSpring store? I feel I have a good handle on how to make the shirts and find a demographic that would work, but I really want to make sure I optimize my spending on ads. Any advice? Would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| You’re Not Crazy. You’re An Entrepreneur. Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:30 AM PST So you chose to leave behind your lucrative and respected career almost as soon as you graduated from university. Instead you decided to start an internet business. You don't make any money for the first two years and people start to worry about you. You tell them you know what you're doing... but you don't really. And your savings are slowly running out. You don't know whether you'll succeed or fail (and neither do they), but you have a vision that you believe in, and you're determined to see it through. You don't want anyone to convince you otherwise. You're an entrepreneur. Arguing Won't Convince Anyone You try to convince people that you're right by telling them that plenty of other people are making a living on the internet. That you don't have to trade 40 years of your life for money anymore (in a soul-crushing job that you hate), because technology!! That you can't stand being a slave for someone else. But all of your arguments fall on deaf ears. They stick to their arguments:
You don't understand them and they don't understand you... so this discussion, in its current form, is a complete waste of time. If you want to get to the point where you FEEL like you're actually on the same page with people, you have to look for (and be open to finding) truth, whether you end up being right or wrong. That's why it's incredibly useful in negotiations, arguments and disagreements to develop the skill of seeing things from the other person's perspective. Understand THEIR Point Of View It's a better idea to drop your desire to be "RIGHT" ... and ask questions until you understand the other person's opinion. Let me explain what I mean, because it's probably not what you're thinking. People misinterpret this. I'm not suggesting that you automatically accept their opinion as truth. But I am suggesting that you look for the truth in their opinion. There is truth there. The fact that they have that opinion in the first place... that came from somewhere. It's based on something real (beliefs, past experiences, whatever) and it feels true for them. If you can't accept that... then you're not accepting them as a person. And they'll fight you, because their beliefs and experiences run deep. When you really understand WHY they have that opinion, HOW they got to it, WHAT made them have that opinion... you will find truth in that. When you can see how, in their circumstances, YOU might have formed the same opinion that they have... well THAT is something you can both agree on. You can accept them at that level, and they will feel accepted. This is the starting point. Until you truly get to that point, and they actually FEEL understood, you generally won't convince them of your opinion, no matter how "right" it is. Get THEM To Start Understanding Your Point Of View People defend their opinions like they're defending their identity. They get into arguments because they want the validation of being "right" ... not because they want to uncover the truth. In order to reach a consensus, one of you (ie. YOU) has to be genuinely open to being proven wrong. This doesn't mean you're going to "lose" arguments more often because you're open to losing them. It's quite the opposite. If you can get to the point where you truly understand THEIR opinion and how they formed it... you can start to compare their decision process to your own. What assumptions did they make along the way that are different to your assumptions? And how can you both, TOGETHER, test those assumptions to uncover the truth. That's the attitude you take to reach consensus in an argument: "Hey, you believe this and I believe that. I'm open to being proven wrong, so let's figure this out. What is your opinion based on?" This is what people mean when they give advice like "make the other person feel right". It's not a trick. You're not cleverly manipulating them into thinking they arrived at YOUR opinion on their own somehow. It's much simpler than that. You're putting in the work to look for what is right about their opinion. Which makes them open to exploring what is right about yours. How To Reach An Agreement In this example, you want to convince them that you're not crazy. That giving up a respected career to work on an internet business was not a terrible decision. Your arguments carry no weight with the other person until you've understood and acknowledged their arguments, which are:
Here are some questions you could use to understand their point of view better... 1. What is it that I'm risking, from your perspective? Like, I'm interested to hear what you see as my worst case scenario? 2. Yeah you're probably right. I don't know if I'd want it to last forever though. What are you really worried about when you say that? 3. Hmm, how do you define success? And what do you think will happen to me after 30 if I don't succeed? 4. What would you say makes a good career? And I'm curious... what is it about having a "good career" that's so important to you? Each of these questions acknowledges one of THEIR arguments. Notice "you" in bold throughout. You're not saying, "I'm right, you're wrong." You're saying "Let me get a clearer picture of why you think that. It doesn't feel like I'm wrong... but it's entirely possible that I am, and I'm open to being convinced." How To Win-Win An Argument The other thing that these types of questions do is... they actually unravel the other person's argument. When they respond, you'll start to see what their argument is made up of. You'll see the individual pieces (some of which you'll even agree with) that are much easier to digest than the whole enchilada that was originally shoved down your throat. For example, their definition of success might be buying your own home, whereas yours might be having the freedom to travel whenever you want... essentially having no fixed home. Once both of you see that the other person is right, in the sense that EACH opinion is geared towards a PERSONAL definition of success, and that it's simply your definitions of success which differ... well now you've reached an understanding. They might even realise, once you break their argument into smaller pieces for them, that they actually like your definition of success (or a different piece of the pie) better than their own. And they won't resist that realisation just because they want to be "right", BECAUSE you never tried to prove them wrong. So drop your desire to make the other person WRONG, and develop the skill of seeing things from the other person's perspective. You'll find it incredibly useful in negotiations, arguments and disagreements. [link] [comments]  |
| When is another business considered a partner? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:22 AM PST I am unsure if the other businesses I am working with are considered partners or not. I have a clothing brand and I am using their fabrics in our clothing and might even get their hang tags provided by them. One I signed an agreement and the other I did not. Reason I want to know if they are partners are not is because I want to add some legitimacy to my website by having a section that says "Our Partners" and shows all their logos. I don't want to ask because that sounds super childish and naive. I don't want to list them as partners unless I'm really sure because it would be weird if they went to my website and said "We aren't actually partners" [link] [comments]  |
| To piggyback on my last two posts, how do you stop people from stealing your investment? Posted: 02 Mar 2018 11:08 AM PST Let;s say you are a rich businessman, let's say you are Jeff Bezos. Obviously, you are rich. Let;s say your executives are also rich af. How do you invest in companies and startups that you believe are/will be successful. How do you stop from letting people steal your investments. Like a rich employee doesn't go to the founder of a little startup and say "let ME invest in your startup"? I would hate to have that happen and they become super richer than me. [link] [comments]  |
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