Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (May 02, 2018) Entrepreneur |
- Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (May 02, 2018)
- Why I shitposted yesterday
- After 5 months, I finally got paid
- What should i major in?
- I'm lost, I keep getting the same feeling on every job I ever had
- I quit my job one year ago to produce, film and edit this documentary. I just released the trailer. thoughts?
- Anybody have resources/advice in taking Instagram worthy photos?
- For those of you with multiple businesses, what do you say when someone asks you "What do you do?"
- What is the difference between spam/annoying people with your product/service and useful information?
- List a RENTAL type business below!
- Do you think it's time for Australian road transport businesses to thrive?
- Matrix to get one customer: .86% conversation rate, why so low?
- Employer refuses to pay owed wages. Using this as motivation to spearhead my new business!
- The Open Source Entrepreneur: Alex Karasulu - CTO and Founder of OptDyn
- How do you withdraw your "pay"?
- Crypto / Travel entrepreneur
- Barbershop without being a barber
- Ordered matcha and I absolutely hated the taste. What now?!
- Customized payment processor/gateway - any examples in the wild?
- Resources for learning about co-op business models: Podcasts, books, etc.
- Customer Referral Strategy
- My App Encounter Launched On Product Hunt Today - Now What?
- Any experience starting a coupon business?
- Is it time to quit my job?
- Looking To Build An App For Equity
| Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (May 02, 2018) Posted: 02 May 2018 06:06 AM PDT Please use this thread to ask any wantrapreneur questions. We do this to not overflow the subreddit with wantrapreneur questions, so please try to limit the questions to this weekly thread. 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: 02 May 2018 10:52 AM PDT Yesterday I created this post which hopefully brightened your day a little. Your comments were amazing, so I wanted to try and contribute something actually useful to this sub: why I shitposted. The problem I've realised that sometimes when I'm overwhelmed with work and need a break I will play video games, watch Netflix or do something else which doesn't require thought. But for me, these activities only kill time - they are not rewarding or revitalising. The solution I decided to try being more creative instead. But whatever I chose to do, it wouldn't have to be good, make money or even be published. I would create something for the hell of it and enjoy the process - this was liberating. The result I decided whenever I need a break from work, I would try to make someone laugh - even if that person is myself. I know a little photoshop so a while ago I created some ridiculous content on Instagram. They only got a few likes, but it made me chuckle and I came back to my work refreshed, happy and more motivated. Yesterday, my efforts came in the form of a silly shitpost. Next, who knows - I might make a stupid cartoon or something (I can't draw, but fuck it, stickman have stood the test of time). So if you need a break, try doing something new. Make someone laugh, write rap lyrics, paint along with Bob Ross - who cares. Just pick something and find the joy in it. [link] [comments]  |
| After 5 months, I finally got paid Posted: 02 May 2018 04:28 AM PDT About 5 months ago, after months of procrastination, I decided to merge two of my passion, technology and writing. During then I was doing an overseas internship in Shanghai and was amazed by the adoption of technology over here. I decided to focus on writing about the advancement and adoption of technologies in China. After months of countless night and dozens of articles later, I was finally tasked to write a 5000 word article about the state of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry in China and was paid 1 Eth for it. FINALLY!!! What a huge milestone for me, and definitely a great motivation for me to continue writing! Man it feels good to know that someone appreciates my hardwork. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 05:28 AM PDT Ill be going to college soon and as of right now im undecided on my major, which major would be the most useful to an aspiring entrepreneur like finance, marketing, Info systems etc [link] [comments]  |
| I'm lost, I keep getting the same feeling on every job I ever had Posted: 02 May 2018 10:42 AM PDT Hello reddit, I'm turning to you because I don't know where else to ask but anyway, here's my story. I'm 26, from Barcelona. I studied Computer Science and I started working in my second year, in a medium (~1500 world wide employees) telecommunications company. I joined as a Service Desk agent but I was quickly promoted to Product Owner which I loved. I really liked my job EVEN THOUGH sometimes I had nothing to do (very important point for my story). 2 years passed and I went to do an Erasmus to Budapest, where I finished my degree and stayed 1 year to work in a small (~120 employees) software development company. Again, things went well at the beginning but at the end I had nothing to do. I was literally sitting in my chair browsing internet for 6+ hours. Every. Day. It was killing me so I found another job, this time in Nice (France). I'm working for a multinational top 1 company with 1500 employees just in my office. And again, I'm feeling like I have nothing to do. Today I spent 5h reading a book about coaching (my passion) and how to handle people... So I'm starting to think that maybe IT is not my business and that I should be looking at another direction... Like I said, coaching is my passion and I think I'm good at it. I'm a people's person but I don't know how to make a living out of this... That's why I'm coming here, I know it's a hard question and maybe not even allowed but I need some inspiration on how to deal with this situation... I always had this "feeling" in me that told me to try something on my own, my own project, and if I had to do it with something it would definitely be about coaching, self improvement and stuff like this. It doesn't need to give me money or make me be able to live out of it. It would be enough for me to "work" on my passion. Thanks once again for taking the time to read this, I truly appreciate it! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 01 May 2018 09:33 PM PDT |
| Anybody have resources/advice in taking Instagram worthy photos? Posted: 02 May 2018 01:06 PM PDT Hey guys, My dad owns an online sock selling business(well, it's really a whole operation, but that's the important part). Our website looks really cheap and shoddy right now, and I'm trying to revamp it. I need lifestyle photos for our socks (different photos for different categories like Holiday Socks, Men socks, etc). Just really nice, fashionable high-res pictures. I wanted to outsource the work, but it's harder than I thought. My question is: How hard is it to take these types of photos? For reference, please go to socksmith.com and scroll through the front page. That's about what I'm going for in terms of quality of the pictures. Does anybody have any resource for me to begin learning how I can take these photos or advice for how you guys got started with website and instagram worthy photos? Thanks for the help! [link] [comments]  |
| For those of you with multiple businesses, what do you say when someone asks you "What do you do?" Posted: 02 May 2018 11:53 AM PDT I've got three startups all in different industries so I never know if I should pitch one or mention all of them. What do you all say in these situations? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 01:53 PM PDT |
| List a RENTAL type business below! Posted: 02 May 2018 10:29 AM PDT One of my favorite type of businesses are rentals, because it's much easier to make money from one acquired client rather than continuously having to acquire new ones. Still hard work but more passive. I'm trying to make a list of 100 or so different types of RENTING. Feel free to join me and write a few ideas of your own if you'd like. I'll start with the most obvious: Real estate (house) [link] [comments]  |
| Do you think it's time for Australian road transport businesses to thrive? Posted: 02 May 2018 01:51 PM PDT NatRoad on road transport businesses "Australia's national land freight task is predicted to grow by around 75 per cent between 2011 and 2031," said NatRoad CEO, Warren Clark. With developments in other infrastructure such as rail, what are your thoughts on the future of the country's road transport industry? [link] [comments]  |
| Matrix to get one customer: .86% conversation rate, why so low? Posted: 02 May 2018 07:49 AM PDT Hi marketing, social media, sales gurus! Can you give any insight into these crazy numbers? It seems like so much effort/money for 1 customer. But I am new at this. Are these numbers reality? Or am I doing something wrong? I've been running a campaign on Facebook, Instagram, and Google AdWords for the past 7 days for a new local service I'm providing. The conversation rate of .86% comes from customers/website visits. 1 customer/116 visits. Here are the numbers: AdWords $27.45: 712 impressions, 13 clicks Facebook $26.25: post reach 7k, post engagement: 570, new page likes 25 Instagram $11.41: 1,580 account reach, 2,392 impressions Website visits: 116 new, 56 to the select a product page. Last night 1 of these people converted to a customer! Keep in mind that this one customer is only worth $40 one time. It cost us $65.11 in marketing alone. Not including the actual service, hosting, time.... revenue -$34.88. Building a brand is expensive? Help. [link] [comments]  |
| Employer refuses to pay owed wages. Using this as motivation to spearhead my new business! Posted: 02 May 2018 09:54 AM PDT I've been researching and planning (read: procrastinating) my business idea for nearly 5 months. Finally decided on all the whats, hows and wheres last month. But I've been struggling with the WHY to push me into action. Now I have it. My WHY is: I want to determine what I'm worth in terms of dollars instead of being told what I'm worth. And to a lesser degree I also want control over my own schedule. For those who may be wondering, no I'm not going to try to go after the wages I've been denied, because unfortunately I need to maintain some kind of relationship with these people as they are my relatives. There's no need financially on my part to press the issue and just cause further damage to the relationship. I am of course cutting all business-related ties with them permanently. I also graciously gave them notice and will work my ass off to leave the offices I clean for them in absolutely pristine condition for the next poor employee. Purely as a point of pride on my part. Also before anyone screams: "How are you going to live?" My wife and I can live for a year on our savings, and if need be, either one of us can easily get another job. Thanks for listening! [link] [comments]  |
| The Open Source Entrepreneur: Alex Karasulu - CTO and Founder of OptDyn Posted: 02 May 2018 09:44 AM PDT Hi Fellow /r/Entrepreneur,
I would like to share an interview with a fellow entrepreneur, Alex Karasulu.
Alex Karasulu is the CTO and Founder of OptDyn, the makers of Subutai, the world's first intelligent Peer-to-Peer Cloud Computing platform.
Summary
Alex Karasulu is an entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in the software industry and a recognized leader in the open source community. He is widely known as the original author of the Apache Directory Server, used by IBM both as the foundation of the Rational Directory Server and also integrated into the Websphere Application Server. Alex co-founded several Apache projects, including MINA, Felix and Karaf, among others, which, along with their communities, thrive independently past his day-to-day involvement in the projects. He is the founder of Safehaus, where he authored the first low-resource mobile OTP algorithms in open source with the OATH community that was later adopted by Google in their Authenticator product. In addition to IBM, Atlassian, Cisco, and Polycom are just a few of the many companies that sell commercial hardware and software solutions that bundle or embed software and products that Alex has created. Alex holds a BSc. in Computer Science and Physics from Columbia University.
Where did the idea for your company or product come from?
The idea first occurred to me when I realized just how much computer resources are wasted on the edge and even in the cloud itself but the real push started once we realized the impact of running applications close to where all the devices reside to make industrial mission critical Internet of things possible.
What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?
It's a massive juggling effort right now with so many things going on. We are both a cloud software and hardware company dealing with blockchain technologies so the rapid changes in these areas are constantly requiring us to learn and research new advances to stay ahead.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Sheer willpower to persevere against all odds! Of course there's the first quick research effort to determine if something is feasible according to the laws of the universe and economics. Then there's the impact assessment to the business. We're constantly iterating like this and driving forward to improve our products. We're blessed to be working in such an exciting field. We never get bored with creation.
What's one trend that excites you?
Blockchain and FinTech are insane. We first saw how the cloud was virtualizing everything and now with the blockchain we see finance and entire economies being virtualized. Blockchain is insane and it will change everything.
There is a huge shift occurring right now on 3 major axes to give birth to a new world: (1) the blockchain is virtualizing economics and removing intermediaries, (2) the cloud has matured and offers so much potential even to the mass market now, and (3) the Internet of Things (IoT) is bringing on-demand Industry 4.0 capabilities to the market. These mega-trends coming together to offer even more innovative possibilities will reduce costs for everyone, and change our lives as we know it. Expect incredible advances that will change society and impact every aspect of our lives over the course of the next 5 years.
What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?
I think while I sleep. I realized that my mind has its own subconscious power if I let it do its thing instead of freaking out. We find ourselves in the darkness all the time where information is not available in textbooks, research papers, or in the state of the art. Relaxing, not stressing, and saying it will come to me, lets that most advanced computer, the human brain, solve problems while you sleep. I just have to make sure I absorb enough information to let it go on its own. There's a zen to it. I call it the way of no way.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Be more brave! I find that intelligence is not the main factor. It's more than guts to try something outrageous that catapults you ahead of the rest to bring a new innovation to the market. Most people don't try crazy ideas and they fail there.
Tell us something that's true that almost nobody agrees with you on.
No one believes that we can achieve the miracle of autonomous cloud computing on the edge. We're in the business of building intelligent clouds that move around like amoebas around available idle resources while preserving the operation of applications inside it. It's crazy, but we're using serious math, AI, and predictive analytics to make magic happen.
As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do? Heh, this might come off as madness. I advise every entrepreneur to exercise self induced schizophrenia. Kind of like having lots of personalities you purposefully create and can consciously switch back and forth from. Build entirely different people inside you. This is the most efficient team you can have.
What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?
I've always tried to stay on the bleeding edge to differentiate our business. Everyone can use the existing tools do something that looks great. The tooling has made just anyone capable in technology and that's great but its the edge where some serious math and physics is required to do the black magic where we feel most comfortable to compete. The darkness where others fear going. It's high risk but it's also high reward.
What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?
I had so many failures but I regret none of them since you learn most from failing. I guess the pain sticks with you and forces you to think. As a specific example I would probably cite my attempt at a technology business around Identity Management. I failed to realize that its very difficult to sell a product that requires more work to make it solve a customer's solution. This is the problem of middleware. What you're selling needs to be integrated, and that requires more headcount, time, and incurs more risk to the customer. Enterprise middleware is even more tricky because usually the CIO that buys that product needs to show an ROI. If it takes too long to show that ROI they won't bite. It's all a matter of showing what you did with last year's budget to get your next year's budget approved. Your product needs to demonstrate instant ROI to avoid these pitfalls. Very costly and hard lessons were learned through the Identity Management middleware of my last failed enterprise. However it's what enabled the one that's succeeding today.
What is one business idea that you're willing to give away to our readers?
It's a great time for VR based search engines to turn Internet interaction into a 3D exploratory experience rather than just listing a bunch of links with a search. I think this would rapidly overtake the lame link listing search engines of today and would appeal massively to the masses. And of course advertisements would take on a new interactive VR format (wink wink).
What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?
I guess it was a good wireless headset for music and teleconferencing. It freed me up while talking so I could pace, articulate, and just be myself as if in front of the person.
What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?
I use our own product, Subutai. It's a peer to peer cloud computing system so it saves me a lot of money over using Amazon when I want to experiment with something. I can share resources with my friends and colleagues to immediately blow up things I need. Subutai ties all our machines together and makes it look like a single data close where we can just drag and drop apps into it. Eventually, I'd love to build a Jarvis like (Iron Man movie assistant to Tony Stark) assistant that just builds what I need to explore some new idea.
What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?
There's no specific book I can name but I recommend everyone read a book on the blockchain and understand it. It will change everything in the world and you need to be aware of it.
What is your favorite quote?
Power is taken, it can never be given. That's my personal Alex quote but I guess you wanted one that I did not come up with (someone must have said that though). One of my bosses told me something that I say to myself every day, "Life is hard when you're stupid."
Key Learnings:
Have faith in that amazing organ called the brain. If you give it enough information, it will often solve many problems for you even while you sleep. Don't be too tied to one mode of thinking or even one kind of personality that defines who you are. You need to be many people in one to succeed. We learn through pain and suffering. Failures produce lots of pain, so don't cringe at your failures. Failures build up to result in success if you embrace and learn from them. If you're making a product or service to sell to others make sure you understand your customers condition very well. Bravery is just as important as any other trait sited for being a key element of successful entrepreneurship.
Original Interview Post: https://ideamensch.com/alex-karasulu/ [link] [comments]  |
| How do you withdraw your "pay"? Posted: 02 May 2018 01:24 PM PDT Hello entrepreneurs! I am running a business as a single member LLC and I was wondering how others in the same situation pay themselves. Since it is just me, I am a disregarded entity so I did not elect to pay myself a formal salary. I do not have any employees. Specifically, do you pay yourself a certain amount weekly/bi-weekly/monthly, or do you withdraw money from the business according to your needs? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 12:59 PM PDT Hey Everyone, I worked in the I.T field for 7 years as a programmer. I quit that about a year ago to focus on crypto trading/ cryptos. i have done well despite the whole 2018 bear market ( dont worry we will moon again !) about 5 months ago i moved to south america and I am just living here and loving it ! has anyone been a digital nomad in the crypto space where they live outside of their home country ( Australia) if so how has the journey been? Any tips ? Pros and Cons? im also looking at growing my business and establishing a company does anyone have any tips over the last little while i have brainstormed and wrote down a list! feeling excited ! [link] [comments]  |
| Barbershop without being a barber Posted: 02 May 2018 12:56 PM PDT Hi yall, Just trowing this idea, I want to open a barbershop (10k) investment, which is nothing but I am not a barber myself. How I plan on making money is by renting out the chairs and offer barber courses to others (huge market). What your initial thought? Can it work without myself being a barber? Let me know. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Ordered matcha and I absolutely hated the taste. What now?! Posted: 02 May 2018 12:46 PM PDT Some people adore matcha, some people dont. I have a huge opportunity in selling matcha however I HATED the taste. My manufacturer is Japanese and has a certificate for selling matcha so I am sure he gave me the quality I ordered (ceremonial top quality). I'm confused now. Should I sell the matcha even though I hated it ? What would you do if you were in my place ?? [link] [comments]  |
| Customized payment processor/gateway - any examples in the wild? Posted: 02 May 2018 12:18 PM PDT Looking for any examples of payment processing or gateway pages (bonus points if it's via elavon) What have you done to make your payment page look good? [link] [comments]  |
| Resources for learning about co-op business models: Podcasts, books, etc. Posted: 02 May 2018 11:57 AM PDT I'm interested in learning about co-op business models, how to start a co-op, how to transform an existing business into a co-op; basically, any and all things co-op. Some context: I am considering going buying into a local wine bar/store with a friend and am interested in turning it into a co-op of sorts. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 11:49 AM PDT Hey guys! Small business owner here in my second year as a small/part time residential contractor doing work almost solely by word of mouth. Given that most of my business comes from client referrals I was curious as to other strategies some may have to increase the likely of them making the call. I don't do a whole lot formally right now, I mostly just offer 10% off their next service if they ask or if I know them pretty well. Some other ideas I've had 1. Creating a tiered insentive system, $500 of work gets you 5%, $1000 gets you 10%. Or based off number of referrals. 2. Offering a % off the service if they make a referral call while I'm on site. 3. Sending out an email, or making cold calls to clients basically just asking for work or if they know anyone. I'd like to work on making this my full time job, but I'm having a hard time pulling in enough work to justify. Anyone have any success with any particular method? Cross posted from r/smallbusiness [link] [comments]  |
| My App Encounter Launched On Product Hunt Today - Now What? Posted: 02 May 2018 11:32 AM PDT Hey There Entrepreneur community! Today we launched Encounter, the worlds only catfish proof dating app on Product Hunt - Click Here For PH Page With Facebook's announcement of getting into the dating space, we feel Encounter has the real solution to the problem with online dating and we want to be the standard dating app for all people no matter race/gender/sexual orientation. I was tired of the bologna and cheese with no cheese when it comes to every online dating app out there on the market today. People hide behind their profiles because folks are afraid to be their authentic selves. Which is a shame because if you are truly looking for something real and potentially long-term you're going to have to open up. Plus it doesn't matter how perfect someone is on paper or what their bio says or how photoshopped their profile pics are you could end up meeting in real life and hate the way they chew their food, or the sound of their voice, or the size of their shoes. The craziest things, right? We thought so too. You're never going to get rid of the smartphone, but with Encounter, we just want to make people look up. Let's face it - a phone can't keep you warm at night. Every day people are swiping away the love of their life and we are on a mission to stop that. Encounter wants to be the standard app for everyone to use, regardless of race/gender/sexual preference. Truly the app for all single people on planet Earth. We have facial-recognition AI built into the platform making Encounter catfish proof. Plus it keeps people accountable. Profile information is minimalistic because you should not be reading someone's life story online you should be getting to know that person face-to-face on an Encounter. When two people match you can't do anything until you physically go on date first. For straight matches, it's ladies choice. LGBTQ? The match selects at random. Yelp is integrated into the platform so dates can only take place at physical businesses - no typing in the address to the basement of someone's house or the cross streets in a back alley in a sketchy neighborhood. Uber is integrated so you don't drink and drive or you just might not want someone to know the type of whip you roll around in. After the first date, each person gets to decide if they want to move forward with communication inside the app. No need to give out your cell phone number on a first date, if there's chemistry then you'll both say yes, if not, you don't have to worry about ghosting, spamming from creepers, spamming from bots, and keep your personal information safe. Any and all feedback of any kind is greatly appreciated. We appreciate your support in the stop to swiping and the progress of keeping it real. [link] [comments]  |
| Any experience starting a coupon business? Posted: 02 May 2018 05:27 AM PDT I have a marketing model for a coupon business, but no experience in this area. I would love to hear anyone's experience in this area. Especially related to securing the businesses and contract considerations... Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 May 2018 11:13 AM PDT Hi all, For context: I'm 22, a software developer, I've had 1 successful acquisition as founder, by June I'll have $70-80k saved up, and I don't have a college degree. I dropped out of college at 19 (studying Comp Sci and entrepreneurship), got a job as a software developer while working on my startup. Fast forward 3 years, and I've had 4 full time jobs (I have a terrible tendency to quit jobs after 6-8 months), I've launched 2 startups, 1 succeeded, and 1 failed. The one that failed was the most recent one, and while I learned a lot, it just didn't work out. I'm currently a software developer for a small startup where I've learned a lot as well. I work 8 hours a day and when I get home I work another 3 hours on my new startup which I'm super excited for and will launch in August. So here's the problem I'm having: I quit jobs so quickly, and I hate that about myself. This current place is great, best job I've ever had, I make a lot of money, I work from home 2 times a week, and the people are great (I've been there 6 months). But I hate working for someone else. I have enough money where I can quit and not worry about getting another job for years but I feel like that's a bad idea. This new startup I'm building could either be massive or terrible, and I think I'll learn which it is relatively quickly after launching. I think it definitely has potential though. It fills a huge gap, and solves issues I've had myself. It also placed 13th out of 350 for a startup funding competition in my state. So long story short, I want to quit, but if I do, my resume will look so bad based off of the 6-8 month stints I've had at jobs. But then again, I don't need to work for someone else. I'm very financially stable, I don't spend much money, and it would give me the time to work on my passion in life. What do you think, reddit? Stick it out or quit, like I always do. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking To Build An App For Equity Posted: 02 May 2018 10:55 AM PDT Hi guys! You heard me right! I want to build your app basically for free, but with the hollow promise of a stake in the company. I will only accept offers that are incredibly demeaning and low, too, as I have no self esteem and will be doing all of the work for exposure and good entrepreneurial feels. I can build the app in a matter of weeks, as I am just now learning SWIFT and Lua. I can throw around other jargon like "cloud" and "blockchain", too! Hit me up, especially if you're making a furry dating app for cougars. [link] [comments]  |
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