• Breaking News

    Tuesday, December 4, 2018

    Home Unlabelled Marketplace Tuesday! (December 04, 2018) Entrepreneur

    Marketplace Tuesday! (December 04, 2018) Entrepreneur

    December 04, 2018

    Marketplace Tuesday! (December 04, 2018) Entrepreneur

    Marketplace Tuesday! (December 04, 2018)

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 05:05 AM PST

    Please use this thread to post any Jobs that you're looking to fill (including interns), or services you're looking to render to other members.

    We do this to not overflow the subreddit with personal offerings (such logo design, SEO, etc) so please try to limit the offerings 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.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
    [link] [comments]

    You liked the first, so here's another: I compiled a list of 50+ marketing tools and resources you can use for your next project

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 12:39 AM PST

    TL;DR: Here's the list: https://postmake.io/results?q=%23marketing

    Last week, I shared a list of design tools and resources I collected as part of a project I'm building. The feedback was great, so I thought I'd share the marketing list that I've been building over this past week.

    Marketing is a huge area, and parsing through these took me a while. I'm sure I missed some popular ones, so please let me know if you have any and I'll look into adding them. I used these websites among others as references:

    You can find the final list here. I also changed around the way the list is showed and filtered and made it more mobile friendly, so any feedback there would be greatly appreciated.

    I'm planning on expanding the directory with more categories over the next couple of weeks, but probably won't be posting it here again (don't wanna spam!). I received a lot of positive feedback while building this, so I'm thinking of expanding it to a full website with more categories, upvotes and ratings, comments, etc. If you have any recommendations or suggestions, please let me know. 👍

    I hope you find the list useful!

    submitted by /u/Malfunction92
    [link] [comments]

    How to have your software project succeed (told by a developer)

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 05:02 AM PST

    I always see posts of "I have an idea and I want to hire someone to write the software, how do I do?". As someone who has been developing software for many years, both in my own company products and when we are hired to develop projects for other companies, I'm always hearing the same questions and sob stories. I decided to write a list of what you should do to get a successful software project.

    Here's it. Everything you wanted to know, told by a real developer.

    Know what you want before you start

    If you learn one thing from this post it should be this one: have a specification that is clear and well written.

    Imagine you are building a house. Are you going to hire people and say "well, I want a house. Start it and we'll define things along the way"? No, you have a blueprint, you make a 3D model to see what it will look like, the engineer will plan its structure. It's the same thing with software.

    There are many ways to specify software, some very technical and complex. What you should do is to draw your software. Do a wireframe (what we call sketching the software screens). There's a ton of online tools that you can use to do it yourself (here's a free and good one, though I have no relation to them at all: http://draw.io/).

    You can draw it yourself. At this point you should not be worried with the design details, colors, beauty. It should have everything you want, however. Draw all the screens you think you need. This guarantees that the developer has a clear specification of what to build, and you have a good way to verify what he is doing and say "that's not what we agreed, see, this is the original plan".

    But it's even better if you hire someone that can do it well. In big projects I offer to do this initial specification as a first step of the project. It ensures that there's a great specification to follow, that the customer and I are in the same page, and that the budget and deadlines will be respected. Unfortunately few customers like to pay for that. They all regret in the end when they don't. They get tired of hearing me say "remember that story of the house that I told you when we began?"

    Get a detailed quote and plan

    Once you have a detailed specification, you can get a detailed quote. It's hard to estimate cost and time to develop software, and the only reasonable way to do it is to have it detailed and split into small items, which can be properly estimated.

    Your developer should be give you a quote and time plan that breaks your software into smaller parts. Then you can track if things are going well and the deadlines are being followed, and get deliverables that make sense and ensure the project is on track.

    Do not change your project mid way

    Going back to the house example, what happens if you suddenly decide that you want a pool in the middle of the living room, a basement that didn't exist and four extra floors when half the house is already built? Makes no sense, right. Yet that is what people often do with software.

    "Let's add this extra thing" is a sure way to get delays and bugs.

    People start with a software to organize recipes and in two months want to it include a flight simulator.

    Once you start development, freeze the features. All those great new ideas you have, write them somewhere. Wait for the software to be ready and working, delivered as planned. Then you call your developers and tell them you need several new improvements, and get a new quote.

    It's not fair to them to add new features and expect them to do them for free. And they'll cram it anyway possible to get rid of the backlog as soon as possible, sacrificing quality in the way.

    Software developers are bad visual designers

    I've not meet yet a developer that is a good visual designer: I mean doing user interfaces. Usually they are awful. And there's another problem, good designers are even more rare than good developers. If you hire a team of developers, either make sure that they have a designer there.

    The designer is the person who will see your wireframes and change them into a beautiful app that people will say "wow that is so pretty". But the designer should also make your software easy to use, which is something many designers just don't care about. It looks pretty but they don't care that it takes 5 clicks to do a basic operation.

    When interviewing a designer ask about usability. Ask what the designer will do to improve the usability of your software. Ask how he will analyze it.

    Interfaces are also not static anymore. You know your website? It has to work on a big 24" screen and in a small old phone, and everything in between. When you click a button, things must happen. In 2005 a designer would give you a Photoshop image and say good luck. Today any web designer that has no knowledge of CSS (the basic language that makes the web pretty) is more likely to give you a design that is static, boring and perhaps hard to implement.

    A good designer will create screens in different sizes, adapt content to the different screens, indicate animations and transitions, and if you are really really lucky, even help to implement these things.

    Oh, and can you hire a freelance designer? Yes, and that can work well, but have all this in mind and make an agreement that is clear about the deliveries, any support of future changes.

    Hire people who do things well

    You get what you pay for. Software is even worse, because though it will may look fine on the screen, it may be awful under the hood. It's really like a car that looks good but has an old broken engine.

    Remember that you'll have to maintain your software for ever. If it starts with a bad architecture and worse implementation it will only go downhill.

    New developers are like new anything: they do not have the experience or expertise to build a big project in a well organized way. Even experienced developers often make bad choices and start over (we call that "refactoring" and it's essentially tearing down a wall and building it again).

    Hire experienced people who know what they are doing.

    Nobody will work for free "to be a billionaire soon"

    "I have an idea that will sell for millions in six months and you'll get a share of that. But I won't pay you anything now".

    If your idea is that good, go and raise money. Developers are not there to finance your costs; that is what banks and VCs are for. Also, I'm sorry to say, but your idea is very unlikely to be that good and make that much money that quickly.

    If you disagree, hey, I have a great idea here. If you work for free for six months, one year tops, I'm pretty sure there's a good possibility I'll make a millionaire, what do you say?

    People are unlikely to steal your idea

    "I want a software but I can't tell you what it is because you'll steal it".

    Sometimes people steal ideas, but most people are not going to do that because they lack the expertise, money, time, desire and drive to implement it. There's a lot of work to get an idea to a prototype, then to a product, then to market it. If ideas by themselves were so valuable there would be people selling them. Have you ever bought an idea? Have you ever seen an idea store?

    And before you even start, you should tell your idea to other people to be sure it will work. Get feedback and see if everyone agrees that your idea is really great. Are they going to use it?

    When you're hiring a developer, get a Non-Disclosure Agreement and tell them your idea. Any decent developer company will have a NDA ready for you to sign.

    Avoid hiring a single freelancer

    Sorry any good freelancers out there. I've been one of you and I know you exist, but let's face it, you are rare.

    Hiring a single freelancer for anything other than small projects, like a small website, is a certain way to shoot yourself in the foot. I'm tired of hearing stories "then the freelancer disappeared" or "he never delivered, was always late" and "it was so buggy and he never fixed it."

    Freelancers are always worried with their income, so once they have you as a customer they start looking for the next one. And they often (but not always!) are not very serious. It's fine when you're hiring them for a short time, but when they're writing software that will be the basis of your project and you'll need long term support, maintenance and strict deadlines, you're transferring a fundamental part of your business into the hands of a single person that has no attachment to you or your company. Besides, even good people get sick, take vacations, have unexpected problems or decide to quit.

    For anything that will last more than two weeks, four tops, and which will require more work later, either hire a team to work inhouse, or get a company that knows what it is doing and that you can be sure they won't just change their email and phone number and disappear.

    Things break: tests and more tests

    I have never, ever, in my many years developing and in dozens of projects and customers, heard this phrase when being hired: "what kind of testing do you do?"

    Most people don't even know that you can write automated tests; in other words, code to test your code. This is (or at least it should be) mandatory for any project at all. Things break. You change something here and you break something there. It is part of software development. Sometimes you need to make big changes that may have effects all over your software.

    To avoid regression you write automated tests. And any respectable developer will run these tests all day long, whenever anything changes, automatically. It's called Continuous Integration. Ask your developer about it, about what kinds of tests they do (there are lots of kinds) and why they are good for your project.

    Take note, developers don't like to do tests for several reasons. First, it's boring! Second, it takes time. Third, customers don't ask for them or pay more. So why bother?

    Then what happens is buggy software that is always broken. Whenever a bug is fixed something else breaks.

    In our projects we spend about a third of the development time writing and maintaining tests (because tests are code, and they also break and have bugs themselves!). When it's an internal project we often spend even more, around 40% to 50%. Every build is tracked, and whenever something breaks we know it right away. Any project we have has hundreds to thousands of individual tests, and tens of thousands of points asserted. When we build something like our latest app Multiselfie, which takes pictures with several phones at the same time, we reproduce the entire flow: there are a lot of tests that simulate opening the app in phones. Some of them simulate 1000 (yes, one thousand!) phones. We wrote special tools just to check it if would scale.

    Maintenance is what will get you

    Software is a living thing. You need to support that new browser, that new phone, that new operating system. You need to change the interface because it looks old. You need to integrate with the new platform. Facebook/Google/Anywhere changed their API and you need to update your software. Your customer calls because he needs some feature you don't have. You invent a new feature you don't have.

    It's the maintenance that will get you.

    Whenever someone calls me and says "I have an existing software, can you take over and change it a little bit?" I answer as politely as I can "Sure, but I'll charge you three times as much as I'd charge you to write a new one from scratch".

    Inheriting software from other people is almost always so painful that it's not worth it. When written by "a freelancer that I used to hire" it's almost certain to be the worst thing ever written in the history of computing. No one will want to touch it.

    Final thoughts

    I hope this guide is clear enough! It certainly covers what I learned over the years, and what we do for our customers. If you have any questions ask. I'll be pleased to answer.

    submitted by /u/bruno-bg
    [link] [comments]

    How I predictably grow Instagram brand accounts by 50-80 real followers per day from zero with no connections or shoutouts or paid ads and the cure to ghost followers.

    Posted: 03 Dec 2018 05:26 PM PST

    You aren't playing a fair game if you are starting your account from zero (or relatively close to that) and growing going into 2019.

    People don't click and browse through hashtags. Most hashtags you see while researching hashtags are brand hashtags for people trying to get featured on bigger pages. Random people are NOT discovering pages through them.

    Bots and automated behavior are getting accounts shut down left and right.

    You aren't going to get on the Explore page unless you're "popular" (There's a subtle way around this further on in this guide for small accounts)

    Fear not though weary Instagram user because in this guide I'll show you how to wake up in the morning to loads of fresh followers, multiple real comments, and tons of likes without even having to post frequently so here you go:

    Instagram has changed greatly since that guy whose guide you read on the internet wrote it and will always change.

    There is only one practical mechanic to use for account growth without wanting to pull your hair out before your page gets big enough that people naturally mention you and you show up places so....

    Research pages in your niche that have as few followers as possible but no fewer than 2,500 and no more than 50k and start manually following their followers. I've noticed for some reason adding the followers of bigger or massive pages doesn't result in as many followbacks.

    If you get a followback whose page is in the same niche as you go to their followers and start following them manually on your phone.

    There's a cool little bonus when their followers check out your page they are going to see a little message appear below your @ handle that says "Followed by (bigger account that they follow)" it's a nice little social proof boost that results in more follow backs.

    Don't follow more than 275 to 375 accounts per day and no more than 100 in one sitting (per hour) or you risk a temporary penalty on your account where you can't follow anymore accounts for a day or two.

    When you get a follower immediately or as quickly as possible go to their page and leave a quality comment. The bar is really low. Always tag them in the comment and write a couple lines about what you like about a picture on their page. Sometimes it helps to comment on their caption.

    Whatever you do don't comment something about a woman's appearance unless it's ironic or written in a non-sexual way.

    I've also noticed that putting emojis in your comment actually hurts your chances of getting your comment noticed as well, I suspect because people think emojis look spammy.

    The vast majority of your engagement in the early days of your account (dozens of likes and lots of comments per photo) will come from following people and/or leaving a comment that shows that you're a real person. Some people will sprinkle likes all over your page sometimes on every photo.

    If someone likes many of the photos on your page you'll have a high chance of appearing on their explore page(s) every time you post.

    You'll notice some followers liking every photo you post within 30 minutes to an hour and half of posting it and this is probably why.

    Post 3 times a day until you get to 30-33ish posts to make your page looks full and active. Then post once a week until you hit 10k.

    No point in working hard to come up with high quality curated or original content and posting 3x a day when virtually no one is going to see it. Save yourself the trouble in the beginning then post the usual 3 times per day and profit.

    On dealing with ghost followers: Don't use hashtags they don't matter. That alone will eliminate 80+% of them. This goes against most advice but, most people haven't started their Instagram accounts recently I'm not knocking them. It's a different ball game nowadays.

    If an account follows you out of the blue and their profile actually looks put together like they're trying to promote themselves as a public figure, model , actor, brand page etc. assume it's a ghost follower until your account is bigger.

    They're going to unfollow you in t-minus 15 to 36 hours (although some have lasted a week). So don't bother interacting with them they don't look at their comments.

    Do not follow them back. Let them sit in your followers and add to your social proof. If they're in your niche follow their followers and enjoy the social proof boost I talked about above.

    On the Instagram strategy that circulates entrepreneur Reddit every so often (not calling him out just sharing my experience): I've tried going to random commenting user's pages through top pics on hashtags and leaving high quality comments but this doesn't result in follows and most people's pages are so typical and near identical (or downright not pleasing to the eye to say the least) that I found myself struggling to come up with anything authentic to comment about them anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

    submitted by /u/incomebum
    [link] [comments]

    Hypothetical: If I could get your small business its own customer engagement app for $500, would you take it?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 12:05 PM PST

    This is an idea I've had that I'm trying to validate! The app would have deal and discount features, as well as 'flash deals' exclusive to those who have downloaded the app.

    submitted by /u/danthedoozy
    [link] [comments]

    I learned these two skills last month and started making thousands of dollars. I’m not super successful but I’m seeing progress.

    Posted: 03 Dec 2018 05:13 PM PST

    I learned sales and marketing. The key in sales is to prospect for new clients, being able to provide value, and most importantly being persistent with your follow ups. 99% of any deal you close won't be on your first contact. In fact, most deals are closed after 5-14 engagements. I know what you're thinking, how tf am I going to do a cold sales pitch that many times (exactly what I was thinking too) but it's basically the missing ingredient in your businesses.

    TBH if you don't have any money, it doesn't cost anything to create a list of potential businesses or customers that would be interested in your service, finding the decision makers in that organization (I use LinkedIn or google search), then just email or call them and see if they be interested in your product or service. Just takes a little bit of practice and some balls.

    Good news is after about 1-2 weeks of doing this you stop caring about rejections, your pitch becomes more solid and you'll create a workflow that's comfortable for you. Be persistent and you'll start closing major deals!

    submitted by /u/TwizzleHoverboard
    [link] [comments]

    How does a young entrepreneur make money to start a successful business?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 02:10 PM PST

    Of course there is the option of investors, but they can be difficult to find sometimes.

    So say I'm passionate about restaurants and I would like to start my own. How do I raise the funds to start it? Let's say investors are not an option and I will have to look at other ways I can fund my project. Would I just have to work a 9-5 job and save enough money, or is there a better way of doing it?

    submitted by /u/nv95
    [link] [comments]

    Cold Calling for Noobz

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 08:06 AM PST

    Is it still cool to call people noobz? Asking for a friend.

    In a recent post I talked about why, if you do not have the skills or confidence to become a full-fledged entrepreneur, you should develop "entrepreneurial skills" by getting into B2B sales or a trade.

    I got a lot of good feedback and several questions from readers on Reddit. One of the most common went something like this: "I need to get more business but I am intimidated by cold calling. How do I do it?"

    Yes, it can be intimidating. But it can be extremely effective, especially if you are selling a simple local service. And I believe it is an essential skill for most entrepreneurs.

    A Case for Cold Calling

    In business there is a constant trade-off between "do it yourself" and "pay someone to do it." In sales and marketing you can spend money all sorts of ways: warm lead lists, paid advertising, hiring your own salesforce, etc. Each strategy has varying levels of effectiveness. Most of these strategies, for the fledgling entrepreneur, are far too expensive, unless you have some kind of internet business that is built upon paid advertising.

    So how are you going to get your name out there for free? You get a phone, OneNote, and Google, and you tell people about it one person at a time. It costs virtually nothing but time.

    Think that sounds ineffective? Here's a picture of JFK campaigning door-to-door in 1960.

    While this was likely a publicity stunt at the presidential level, he DID win a Massachusetts senate seat in 1952 largely by campaigning door-to-door and to small groups of titillated housewives. My point is if a US senator isn't above cold calling as a strategy to get elected as one of the most powerful figures in the country - you shouldn't be above it if you're trying to sell carpet cleaning or whatever.

    People underestimate the power of the phone to do big business (I don't have any facts to back that up, but I have a lot of opinions). When I was in B2B sales I sold complex technology products that cost, sometimes, hundreds of thousands of dollars completely over the phone - from initial contact to closing sale. Customers were comfortable dealing with that much money through the telephone wire.

    How not to cold call

    As a starting place - we're going to focus on how not to cold call. Here's a fake cold call from Bob, the owner of Bob's Carpet Cleaning, to Stacy at (the cleverly named) Art Supply Store:

    RIIIINNGGG

    Art Supply Store: Hello?

    Bob: Hi this is Bob from Bob's Carpet Cleaning. Is the owner of your business there?

    Art Supply Store: This is the owner.

    Bob: Oh, great, hi. What's your name?

    Art Supply Store: Stacy. What do you need Bob? We're very busy.

    Bob: I'm wondering if you need any carpet cleaning done? We're fast and cheaper than the competition. Can I get you a quote?

    Art Supply Store: No thank you. Have a nice day.

    Stacy hangs up.

    That conversation was bad. It was jilted. Bob didn't know anything about the customer, didn't get her to agree to anything, and focused on himself and his abilities without learning anything. He just started pitching.

    If you cold call like this it is going to suck, because people will not want to talk to you. You can feel the energy change when Bob asks Stacy for her name, because he just labelled himself as a complete stranger. She doesn't trust him and doesn't see any value in what he has to say.

    Mindset

    If you are timid about contacting a stranger, you need to get out of the mindset that you are bothering people. Instead, when you make the first contact with a potential client, you need to have the perspective that you are just starting a process of educating them about your product or service. Meaning a) you are bringing this person value and b) this is just the first contact of many.

    The reason you need to get this mindset is that it makes you think how you can actually help this potential client think about business and life differently and that you take the pressure off yourself to close the sale on the first call. If you can close the sale in five minutes on the phone you are already an amazing salesperson and can stop reading this guide or something is fishy about the deal.

    Goal of the first call

    To reiterate, the goal for the first call is to get to the next step, not close the deal. Don't put so much pressure on yourself for that initial contact.

    For me, the second step is the opportunity to sit down with the customer and gather information that would help me serve them. Let's pretend I am trying to sell a carpet cleaning service. I want to know certain things about the customer like do they have carpet? Do they clean it? Do they do it themselves or hire someone? What kind of value do they place on a clean workplace?

    If I can get a customer to consent to take some time out of their day and have a discussion like that, it means that they are likely taking my service seriously and see value in things I have to say about carpet cleaning.

    Now instead of trying to close the sale I am just trying to get the opportunity to ask a stranger a few questions. That's not so bad is it?

    Two Questions

    So you have the goal of the first call. How do you get there?

    You need to be prepared to answer the pressing question that is in everyone's head when they get a call from a stranger: Why are you calling me?

    You need to explain to the customer why you called them specifically. If someone thinks they are just some name on a list they will not want to talk to you. So you should know their name, their position, and some information about the company. And you need to briefly articulate who you are and why you are calling.

    Do some research on the customer. Let's take the example above. Bob researches a local art supply store. He looks at their website and LinkedIn and maybe even asks around his current contacts. He learns that Stacey is the owner and that they serve customers from the whole region with their specialty paints. So now he has a little bit of info.

    Immediately after that question you need to answer this one: Why should I care?

    This is where you come in as an educator. So I don't own a carpet cleaning company. But off the top of my head I think a carpet cleaner is really in the business of clean workplaces. I Googled "clean workplace" and this is one of the first articles to pop up: https://recruitloop.com/blog/5-reasons-clean-workplace-good-business/.

    I see the 5th reason shows that indoor air has 100 times more pollutants than outdoor air. That's a startling number! And the 3rd reason discusses how employees actually view their work as a second home. After 30 seconds I have something I can educate a potential client about. Is it a life-changing fact? No of course not. But now you have some value to show the customer.

    Making the first call

    So now that Bob has done his research and focused on providing value, let's try that cold call again.

    RIIINNNGGG

    Stacy: Hello?

    Bob: Hi this is Bob from Bob's Carpet Cleaning. I'm looking for Stacy Johnson.

    Stacy: This is her speaking.

    Bob: Hi Stacy. I'm calling from just down Main Street. I was doing some research on your company and saw that you are the owner of Art Supply Store. A lot of my retail clients collect a lot of dirt on their carpets from the foot traffic that comes in the door. Not only do dirty carpets hurt their brand, but it affects the air quality inside. I'd love a chance to talk to you about how I can help make your store a brighter, healthier place. Do you have a few minutes?

    Stacy: You know, we're really busy now, but one of my employees was just complaining about dust in here. Can you call back later this week?

    Bob: How about Tuesday at 2:30? I just need 30 minutes to ask you a few questions and learn more about your business.

    Stacy: TAKE ALL MY MONEY

    OK I made that last part up. Coming up with sales scenarios is always silly because you're always portraying the ideal situation. It obviously doesn't always go like that, or even most of the time. But I hope you can see the difference between the second approach - where Bob has done some research and is bringing value to Stacy, and the first, where he is just pitching to pitch.

    If you get that meeting make sure you send a follow-up email and contact the customer again the day before. Prospects will flake on you, but they will do it less if you hold them to it!

    Who has seen success with cold calling?

    Edit: I write about these things @ grocerystorelogic.blogspot.com

    submitted by /u/gslfrancisfrances
    [link] [comments]

    Been lurking here for a year now - finally having my first legal strategy session today!

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 09:04 AM PST

    After a year of research & development (including reading this sub often) the day is finally here! Today I meet with an attorney to strategize the legal approach to setting up my tele-medical practice and compounding laboratory. He's an expert in this field with a ton of related experience. So excited!

    The past year has been a test of my patience, perseverance and passion (PPP, ha). Every day felt like I was working on a puzzle that forever had a missing piece. Sometimes one piece would return but another would disappear in its place. I'm hoping that today's meeting will help things start to come together.

    Appreciate this community as a resource for support and information :)

    submitted by /u/littlepastel
    [link] [comments]

    Young Entrepreneur - My First Business Launch!

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 07:47 AM PST

    Just thought i'd create a post here to celebrate my recent business launch and also help to encourage and inspire other young people to do the same. I've honestly had the best time during the last 6 months learning about business, whilst I've been setting up my own.

    ​

    So the business you may ask? www.coffeecupcompany.com (Shameless self plug). We sell quirky coffee cups, dishwasher proof and produced in the UK, where I'm from. I say we, because it's run by myself and two friends. We're all 22 years old.

    ​

    We got the idea initially from reading a few different guides on drop-shipping and seeing how over saturated that market is. We decided to research other simple businesses that we could run whilst working a full time job. We found out about Shopify and researched into it more.

    ​

    We then decided on coffee cups because A) We love coffee and B) We're also quite creative. Both of which we thought we could transfer over to this business idea. Most of the mugs are designed in-house with a few having been created from Fiverr artists.

    ​

    So having both our product and website sorted, we then started the Instagram account. We figured that having another stream of exposure on social media couldn't be a bad thing and so we started our page. At first we would get maybe 10-20 likes per post, however now we average about 100. Just hit 1,000 followers with some fairly good interactions too.

    ​

    We launched on the 30th November and we're now in the process of trialing out different forms of advertising through Facebook. Creating different control groups with different demographics, assigned a small budget and seeing, which one produces the best conversion rate. We will then put more money into the successful ads. We created niche mug designs, such as the traveler collection, mountaineering collection, beard collection and we will market these separately.

    ​

    We're in no way marketing experts, so your input for marketing our products would be great!

    ​

    I think the most valuable advice I would give to anyone (and I know i'm not perfect and my business isn't successful yet) but I would say just get stuck in with an idea. It doesn't matter what idea, just get in there and start to learn and develop your understanding of business. So many people wait or make excuses as to why they won't start, or they're scared of failure but I say f*ck it. Start it today and gradually you'll start to increase your knowledge and generally speaking, you'll have a better idea of what you're doing.

    ​

    Hope this helps to inspire someone to start their own business :)

    submitted by /u/King_Tommm
    [link] [comments]

    Trying to make the leap form ETSY/Facebook Sales to Amazon FBA "small and light".... any advice?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 06:51 AM PST

    Hi! I make handmade jewlery ( about 2 types in 14 different colors and 4 other standard items) and I sell really really well in person and on facebook, I sell very little on Etsy even with free shipping. I think for my niche Etsy is over saturated, especially with those using cheaper components ( most use rhinestone and I use Swarvoski , all of my findings are surgical/stainless steel or sterling silver)

    So I want to start doing FBA "small and light" with amazon and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with it? I recently met a vendor at an inperson show who really does well with it and stressed that my products would do well. I already have UPCS from UPCode.net for all my products .

    Also any suggestion on finding a reaseonably priced photographer for my items. I do not have the time, talent or equipment to take professional photos that are amazon worthy.

    submitted by /u/BubblegumDaisies
    [link] [comments]

    Owners of Brick and Mortar Businesses, What is Your Biggest Frustration in Getting Leads/Customers?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 03:03 PM PST

    What is your biggest headache when it comes to getting leads/customers?

    submitted by /u/v3nge
    [link] [comments]

    Can you help me with a information?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 02:50 PM PST

    Hello,

    I have a company in Romania who makes leather chairs and sofas. The models and quality are the best. I want to find some new clients to work with. Them if you are interested or know someone who think is interested please contact me. I will be very grateful

    Thankyou

    submitted by /u/zbona
    [link] [comments]

    Essential Online platforms every Entrepreneur needs for their Business

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 02:46 PM PST

    All I see on here is tech business’s and T-shirt/ drop shipping, online. Who is killing it with something local, unique, or service related. What do you do?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 10:43 AM PST

    Ways to create a blogging platform?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 01:43 PM PST

    I am looking for some brainstorming help and insight on ways to create a website for blogging. I would like to create a site which allows users to create an account, and create blog posts on their own page, along with direct messaging and the other basics for that type of site.

    I do have experience with Wordpress, but what exactly what kind of steps would I need to take to create something like this? Sorry if this is obvious, but my Wordpress experience caters to ecommerce so this is new to me.

    For monetizing I would use basic ads and maybe offer upgrades of account abilities. Also, what kind of limitations would be expected by creating something like this through Wordpress?

    submitted by /u/BigSpenderOnline
    [link] [comments]

    Need advice setting up a business

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 07:03 AM PST

    I'm trying to register a landscaping LLC in Georgia but the question are has me pretty confused, this is a single member LLC, now I have to choose between registering a responsible party and an officer, but the officer is required to be entered, can I put the "owner" of the LLC as the officer?

    submitted by /u/aliro111
    [link] [comments]

    Tracking sales leads using spreadsheets

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 12:54 PM PST

    Hi all, I run a website that sells test prep flashcards to both individuals and institutional customers. When I put out a marketing message via Constant Contact, I'll get a number of inquiries for institutional purchases. I'd like to come up with a good way to track who I heard from, what follow-up I did, where things lay, what price I quoted them, etc. etc. I think a simple spreadsheet should do, but I wonder how others handle this (or, if you use a spreadsheet, if you have specific advice on what to include/not include).

    In terms of volume, I tend to have anywhere from 5-20 "live" opportunities at a given time that are at different stages.

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/Gee10
    [link] [comments]

    I work in different new condos every week. Not sure how to make contacts, and not sure if this idea might work.

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 06:34 AM PST

    So I work for one of the biggest pipe insulation company around here. They have a lot of projects, and I'm the guy who goes from one to another when ever deadline is here and the site is behind. I do pipe firestop and not insulation.

    How it works is builder company gets the project, they sub plumbing to a mechanical company, mechanical company then subs pipe insulation to pipe insulation company and usually(or always) pipe firestop works comes with it.

    From most people I hear that firestop always goes to the same company as pipe insulation, from some I hear that they come separate.

    Is there a way to find out if there's a business in this?

    Also I see many site supers plumber site supers, how would I go about making contacts with them? Sometimes I do get their numbers for site inspection follow-ups, but not sure what to do with the numbers when it comes to doing business.

    Also my boss offered to give me firestop work. Problem is, hes super cheap, all of the pipe insulation companies are, there's no money in there. I think it's a dead end.

    Thank you anyone who responds, I want to improve my situation but I feel stuck. Any help and idea is appreciated.

    P. S. Plumbers used to do everything, sprinklers, pipe insulation, pipe firestop, now sprinkler companies, and pipe insulation companies are a separate entities. Maybe firestop soon will become its own too?

    submitted by /u/Laimis666
    [link] [comments]

    I made an app that aims to revolutionize the entire dining in experience

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 12:28 PM PST

    Hello dear redditors, I wanted to share with yo a small video of an app I built myself dedicated to revolutionize the entire dining experience from viewing the menu, to ordering and customizing your oder from it, till viewing the bill and requesting it. here is the video: Demo

    1- The app starts with scanning a QR, on each table in any restaurant there will be a QR. QR will let the app know Which restaurant, branch, and table you're at. After the scan you're in.

    2- You can view the menu of the restaurant (It's dynamic so restaurant owners can edit the menu you see)

    3- you can order from the menu (with customizations set by the restaurant, and a free text for extra flexibility). Note here that the order will keep its customizations saved so the margin error of taking orders will be much reduced.

    4- You can call the waiter. A notification will be sent to the restaurant management system when you call a waiter from your phone.

    5- You can view the bill and request it. Not only that, if you are a group of people dining, each individual can see the bill at real time, and can see the bill that came out from his device alone. So the age of requesting the bill and each one looping through the bill and calculating his payment is gone!

    After the V1, which is this, there are many features in the roadmap. Some include AI (example: if you order many without tomato frequently, the app will by default know that you don't like tomato and deselect it from your future orders.)

    Please note that the video is a merely walkthrough and does not show all the feature.

    I'm an iOS developer and coded this. As I did not roll out yet (planning soon)

    Guys I need your thoughts! I didn't find any better place to share it than here. Also I need help on how to start (I think walking up to restaurants) as I am a dev and not a salesman.

    I need an investor who believes in the idea. With the investment to hire salesman, develop it into android, and run a marketing campaign.

    The investor having connections with a restaurant is a HUGE PLUS

    I'm completely new to this but completely pumped.

    Any help, or suggestions are most welcomed!

    submitted by /u/MohammadBashirSidani
    [link] [comments]

    Would you ever buy a webcam cover?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 12:28 PM PST

    I created a small side project with a friend on my final year of University. We all covered our webcams, and we saw loads of other people cover their webcams as well. This is where we decided to have fun with creating a small "business" out of it.

    We have a shopify store up live now: www.goawaysteve.com

    As you can see, we have gone humour central with this. We really wanted to created a funny culture with the product. Such as when you buy a unit, you get this comic book we made etc. Then every time we do a new product run, we are going to make a new "fun thing" with everyone.

    At the moment we are taking things as they come. We have a few ideas for where this could go. But, obviously it is a very limited reach.

    ​

    What do you think?

    ​

    ​

    submitted by /u/halfysworld
    [link] [comments]

    What are your thoughts about online grocery stores business?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 11:23 AM PST

    I was thinking of starting online grocery store business. I am from Pakistan and and want to Target just my city in start. Population is more then 3 million and there is boom in online business. Share your valuable thoughts.

    submitted by /u/AnasKhurshid
    [link] [comments]

    Coverage from News / Online Outlets?

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 11:19 AM PST

    We have a high viral potential product coming up in the health supplement space that's actually based in science instead of the stuff Dr. Oz and the rest pushes.

    Any tips on getting coverage from press apart from direct reachout? Thanks!

    submitted by /u/Omerbaturay
    [link] [comments]

    Negotiating Commission

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 11:05 AM PST

    Hello there, for starters I want to thank this group and all the great content. I currently work as a web developer for an SEO company, the way we structure deals and commissions is the following: I get paid 40% for all development related projects, a site goes for 5K I make 2k and so on. For Maintenance on existing websites is the same breakdown. For projects that I do not handle my self but I'm responsible for as a Product Manager I get paid 20% so 1k for a 5k website. Lastly if I close SEO Leads I get paid 15%.

    ​

    Taking into account the company I work for has the infrastructure to bring in these leads I consider the breakdown above to be fair. However, I have no points of comparison as it is the first time I work on a commission basis. Is this a fair breakdown? Should I try and negotiate a higher % after spending longer in the company?

    submitted by /u/stockbull
    [link] [comments]

    Amazon FBA shipping alternatives [Canada]

    Posted: 04 Dec 2018 10:49 AM PST

    I have a bulk product in producing myself that I'll box up max 25 kg, shipping fees for small business by Canada post are terrible 130% of the unit price, Amazon.ca is pricey but still profitable, however I'm scared of warehousing fees.

    As I don't know the exact demand, I don't want to get hit with crazy amazon warehousing fees with unsold pallets shipping back to me. So I think it is best to start shipping on my own.

    Any alternative to Canada Post small business for heavy items?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/Manumit
    [link] [comments]
    Read more
    at

    No comments:

    Post a Comment