My company is in the most saturated and despised market in the world. small business |
- My company is in the most saturated and despised market in the world.
- Freelancer vs Web Development Company: what to choose?
- Since i work on Shopify projects. Startups/ small businesses often rely on Magento and Shopify for their online presence / branding. Let me share '3 Powerful Ways of Overcoming Shopper’s Desire to Touch Products' as i have seen this as a major blockade.
- Tips for encouraging reviews?
- Looking to hire a video editor to put together specific clips from YouTube videos. I intend to use the video in my training product. What do I need to be aware from a legal or copyright perspective? I'm in the UK.
- From Employee to Bootstrapper
- I'm starting a small business of acrylic glass invites using uv-printing technology, but I am facing a big road block.
- New business
- Expanding clientele
- Llc question
- If I’m a new e-commerce business in CA and have not made “substantial physical presence“ aka <100k I don’t have to collect sales tax ?
- The daycare I work at has 30 members and my boss decided to get cloud sharing what are the best choices?
- Attract Chinese Customers with Mobile Payment
- Best no-fee business checking account? Need alternative to Spark Business Checking.
- Help with a small business loan
- Any reccomendations on company gas cards?
- I am looking to sell my online subscription box business. Where do I start?
- Do I need to file business tax quarterly
- Questions About Starting A Small Computer Business
- Paying for an employees health insurance
- Google Reviews on Website
- Energy bill split by arbitrary means
- For those of you who have run a business out of a "coworking" space. What are some of the pros and cons?
- Product testing in Canada
| My company is in the most saturated and despised market in the world. Posted: 26 Feb 2019 11:06 AM PST That's right folks i run a digital marketing agency! Ask me what its like to be hated by every business owner that speaks to you! AMA bitches. Edit: Did not expect people to ask me real questions. You never cease to amaze me Reddit! Since I've gotten some variant of this question 3 times already, here it is with the answer: Question: "How can you tell if a digital marketing company actually knows how to do SEO"? Answer: "Ask them for case studies, then check google for search terms you think that client should be ranking for. If their clients aren't on the front page for anything, they're full of shit." Edit 2: Everybody I'm really humbled that this got so much attention. Thank you all for asking these questions and listening to my answers. It really means a lot to me. Gono be heading off now as its late in NY, but check out our site, semnexus if you are interested (shameless plug). I'll still try to answer questions as best i can! Edit 3: Holy shit this got a plat. Thank you! Edit 4: Ok guys since I've been getting a few questions on how to improve rankings, and this is a golden opportunity to beat clutch, here's whats honestly my biggest SEO trick. If enough people click on a keyword nested in an anchor text like app marketing agency and wait for ~15 seconds before bouncing off, SEO rankings will shoot up for that keyword. I've got a few tests that prove this This is a temporary boon, but it works and I'll follow up with ranking data in a few days once this forces the rank up. Currently #2, this should shoot me up to #1 for at least a couple days. Thanks again everybody! [link] [comments]  |
| Freelancer vs Web Development Company: what to choose? Posted: 27 Feb 2019 02:31 AM PST Article provides some tips that may help you decide whether a freelancer or a dev team is right for your project. I hope you will find this information useful! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Feb 2019 03:47 AM PST Ecommerce product development for online platforms has increased. Mainly because online shopping is common as it's convenient for buyers. In fact, many shoppers check products on physical stores before buying online. However, online shopping in product development has one big disadvantage i.e. a shopper cannot touch the product. In this blog post, we will discuss three useful ways for overcoming shopper's desire to touch products. Thus, customer experience will improve and overall buying behavior of a website too. 1- PhotosUse context based images such as how the product is working. No doubt product features listing in description is important but try to illustrate them in graphical images. Second, don't miss out on zoom filter. The finer a shopper can see into the details of the product, the more he will trust the product. Also, show close-ups in image gallery of product detail page. 2- VideoA picture is worth thousand words. Imagine a video telling a whole product story. A video shows better how human interaction is related with product. Also, how the product is making 'a process' easy. In simple words, how a customer experience is improving. Videos bridge gap of 'how the product can be used' in real time. Images may take time for building an understanding. Video does that in short span. Videos are effective especially: -Explaining high tech products, especially which involves assembly of products. -Showcasing client / customer testimonials. -Brand recognition. 3- Customer reviewsReviews make selling products easy in a way that customer starts trusting the brand. Shoppers answer questions / concerns of the customer who may be thinking of buying one. Build a review system which includes photos and videos uploading. Reviews reduces uncertainty factor of a potential customers. Genuine customer reviews go long way in accrediting the brand with credibility. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 08:05 PM PST I've been in business for a year now and overall am chugging along. I sell high end custom saddles, but my fitting and repair services are probably more what makes my brand than the saddles to be honest. I have about 200 followers on Facebook, just started an Instagram, that's it. Six five-star reviews in Facebook that all focus on the quality of service. So my question is: How do I encourage more reviews without seeming needy? Do I add a line or a link even to my invoices? Do I put it in my annual service reminder emails? I keep forgetting to ask in person, which I know is probably ideal. Also, should I encourage Google reviews? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Feb 2019 01:39 AM PST |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 10:20 AM PST Earlier this month I left my developer job at Amazon to work for myself. I've documented most of the steps I've taken to prepare myself financially before I took the plunge to go solo. Even though every situation is different, I think this might be interesting to those thinking about doing the same thing. Ask me anything. BackgroundI am 35, living in Seattle with my wife and two small kids, ages 2 and 4. I'm starting this quest for an independent lifestyle with no business and household income yet, and my target is to cover my family's expenses from my new work before I run out of savings. I will be spending the next couple of months exploring some business ideas, and then will try something in the market and iterate/change based on market feedback. SavingsDue to extraordinary luck and being in the right place at the right time, I managed to save a good amount of money in the last 5 years. My net worth was negative in 2013, but it now stands at around $1.4M, with $1M in liquid assets and the rest in home equity. That entire $1M, minus a small amount, is at stake in this venture. In fact, I've already mentally written it all off. On my savings balance I've set a surrender threshold of 6 months' worth of expenses, and if it dips below that line I will abandon this route and go get a job again. I'm quite confident I could find a job within a couple of months that makes ends meet, but I've reserved six months coverage just for the extra precaution. I realize that $1M in savings is an exceptional amount of money for many people considering a similar path. However, I believe I would have still left my job and gone this route even with savings that covered just 1.5 years of expenses. One year of runway is a reasonable amount of time to give something a shot, with the other 6 months to fall back to the job market if things don't work out. Also, remember that even if you start with one year of covered expenses, the runway will grow longer as soon as you start making money. You don't need to break even immediately within the first year. For example, in my case, I'm starting with 5.5 years of covered expenses. If I simply manage to add $250 of linear income growth per month, I will break even with my expenses in my fifth year while still staying abundantly clear of my surrender threshold. This projection is what gave me the most confidence in taking the plunge now rather than continue to defer it. Adding $250 per month with a digital product in a global marketplace seems doable. For example, if I built a $50/month SaaS, all I'd need is 5 or 6 net new customers per month (depending on operating costs). I'm not expecting it to be easy, but I can see this happening. ExpensesI admit that it would have been hard for me to regress my standard of living, especially with a family. In fact, I promised my family that our lifestyle wouldn't have to change because of this experiment I'm doing with my career. We did seriously consider moving 30 miles out of Seattle, where houses cost $350 per sq. ft rather than $500, but my family wasn't enthusiastic about being far away from our current community, and it wouldn't have made a big difference to my runway anyway. Here are my current cash outflows, averaged per month: The last item is a very conservative budget, and barring any emergencies, I don't expect to have to spend it all. But the rest are basically my fixed costs. If the circumstances were different, I might have looked at trimming some of the expenses, but it actually doesn't make much difference in my situation. Obviously, I still retain the option of trimming some expenses in the future, but I'm not expecting to do so right now. Health InsuranceWhen I was with Amazon, I paid $290/month for a family health plan with a $4.5K deductible and $9K max out of pocket. COBRA gave me the option of staying with the Amazon plan for 12 more months at a cost of $1,450/month. When I first looked at alternatives in the ACA marketplace, there was only one insurer in Washington state. It was more expensive than COBRA, and it didn't cover any of our preferred doctors. But in 2019, two other insurers showed up, and one of them offered a plan with our doctors in-network for $1,125/month, with a $14K deductible and $14K max out of pocket. I'm fine with the high deductible, as I only want health insurance so that I don't go bankrupt if I get into an accident or get cancer. So I went with that plan. It also turned out that Washington state requires the purchase of dental insurance if you have kids and you buy health insurance through the ACA marketplace. I wouldn't have bought it if it was optional, but since I had no option family dental coverage added another $125/month to the bill. I was able to enroll in the new plan before I left the job, and I didn't need to provide any evidence or documentation for the special enrollment. Life InsuranceI bought $5M term life insurance for 15 years with a $1,365/year premium. I did my search through the Geico website, which uses the LifeQuotes broker behind the scenes to aggregate options from many providers in a neat table where you can play with different term lengths and different benefits. I added a feature called living benefits to my coverage, which for an extra $200 premium allows you to withdraw the benefit early in case of a terminal illness. My experience with LifeQuotes was okay. The whole process from applying online to activation took nearly 3 months, which was longer than I expected. Apart from a health check, the underwriter also required tax returns and detailed asset disclosures. I don't really know why they needed that, but I suspect the financial situation of the insured might be linked to fraud risk — even though it seems difficult to commit fraud with life insurance! I completed this process while I was still employed, but I think it wouldn't have been a problem doing it after I left. However, I still recommend getting life insurance while employed, since it makes the financial questions much simpler to answer. Disability InsuranceFor disability protection I bought insurance that pays $10K/month until age 65 in case I can't program anymore. The premium is $2K/year, and the policy is guaranteed renewable at the same cost. Unlike life insurance, I think it is very important to get disability insurance while you are still employed, because the policy is designed to pay if you are unable to continue doing the same type of job you have at the time you buy the insurance. They do employment verification and are more rigorous about health history and financial disclosures than the life insurance underwriters. I would actually have preferred to get $15K/month, but since I also had disability insurance of $25K/month from Amazon, my total benefit would have exceeded my salary, and the underwriters consider that over-insurance. Again, I suspect this has to do with fraud risk, because they really insisted on not taking my money. At least the benefits from disability insurance obtained privately are not taxable, so I would be able to keep the whole $10K/month if I ever were to claim. I searched for this insurance through an online broker called Policygenius. The overall experience was better than LifeQuotes, and the process was completed in 2 months. Umbrella InsuranceI bought $1M umbrella insurance from Geico for just $137/year with a single click from their website. I already had auto and home insurance with them, and this policy extends the liability coverage after the first insurance is exhausted. Coverage through the website is limited to $1M, and you have to call to request higher limits up to $10M. I might add more coverage eventually if the cost continues to be around $150 per $1M. While I was on the Geico website, I also made sure that I was maxed out on all the liability coverage on my auto insurance. I have it at $1M injury and $500K property damage, which is the maximum allowed. To lower my premiums a bit I increased the deductible to $2,500. Just like with health insurance, I don't need insurance for repairing a scratch. I just want it to avoid financial ruin. Retirement SavingsI have only been in the US since mid 2012, and I've maxed my 401K contributions ever since. I've accumulated about $180K in my 401K account thanks to the bull market, and I consider this money, minus tax and early withdrawal penalties, to be part of my liquid savings. This might shock people who consider early withdrawals as something you would only ever do under extreme hardship, but for me this is just another form of optionality. I don't intend to do an early withdrawal, but this is money like any other. As a small optimization, I will likely convert my 401K to a Roth IRA sometime this year. The conversion will require me to pay income tax on the $180K, but since this year's tax brackets will likely be the lowest I will ever be in, this seems like a good strategy. A Roth IRA grows tax-free, and withdrawals are not taxed. Home EquityI bought my first home at the peak of the bubble in 2008 (outside the US), and when I sold it in 2014 I had to write a check to the bank instead of the other way around. I had better luck later when I bought my current home in Seattle just before the market spent 20 straight months as the hottest in the country. My home equity grew by about $400K in 3 years, and just before I left my job I refinanced my mortgage to cash out $250K of that equity. I didn't really need the extra cash, but I figured that liquid cash in the bank adds optionality, and it would have been hard or impossible to refinance later without a high income stream from a steady paycheck. I've put the cashed-out money into short-term US treasury bonds at 2.5%, and after paying the bank 4% interest this $250K is only costing me $3,750 per year. It took me about 3 months to close the refinance, but that's because my property is in a mixed-use zone, which spooked many lenders. A regular single-family home should be able to be refinanced in about a month. My total closing costs were about $3.5K. While I was shopping for the refinance, Key Bank also offered me a $150K line of credit at 5.5% interest at no cost and with no withdrawal obligations. They didn't even require an in-person appraisal. I took that as well, and it closed within a couple of months. InvestmentsI've put 70% of my savings in short-term US treasury bonds and about 10% in CDs, both of which pay about 2.5% right now. I picked up some CDs not for the slightly higher interest rate, but out of paranoia, just in case the US government does something unthinkable. The other 20% is in a few tech stocks that I've held on to for a long time. It wouldn't be a bad idea to convert those stocks to treasuries as well, but I enjoy a bit of speculation on the side. Also out of paranoia, I've split my positions across two brokers. Since I'm going to depend on this money to put bread on the table, I didn't want all my eggs in one basket. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Feb 2019 12:48 AM PST We are in progress of starting a business that specialises in acrylic glass invites/gifts. Basically, we use uv-printing technology to print out their custom design on acrylic glass that we laser-cut into a few shapes, and package it in a box with preserved plants/roses/flowers. We package them very differently -- i.e. we cater to an audience that prioritizes luxury and being 'extra'. The market research so far has been promising and there seems to be a demand in my country. Here's a close similarity to what I'm doing, except that I'll be putting mine in boxes and utilising flowers as well: https://imgur.com/5t7NpcV A big problem I'm facing now is what the recipients getting the invite are supposed to do when they get it. I want to find a method that can make the product functional or having the ability to be repurposed, but I'm very out of ideas. The most feasible one I have so far is re-using it as a photo frame or printing a QR code as well, but I still think there's other ways I can go around it. Does anyone have any creative ideas to help me with this roadblock? Any other e-commerce business owners out there that has experienced similar issues (concern over what the consumers will nitpick about) and how they went around it? I would love any kind of advice regarding this. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 10:52 PM PST My girlfriend and I have a business idea, we're in Colorado, and are needing any guidance we can get. We're looking at starting off selling at flea markets but have no idea of the legality surrounding this and google is churning up conflicting results. Any help is appreciated! Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 10:12 PM PST My dad owns a small tattoo shop. Hes the only artist there. He wants to expand his clientele. He posts on his Facebook and Instagram business pages often, but not as often as he should. What are some other simple ways to advertise? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 09:16 PM PST Can you cash different checks from other services into your current llc.I need some insight on this. What do I do when I receive a check for being a independent on another service?? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 06:58 PM PST At what point do I know ok I've made so and so transactions I should start collecting sales tax? ....also the sales I've made before the 100000 or however many transactions will those need to need to be accounted for ? Or does the taxation start at the $1 mark after the 100000? I'm so new at this I'm not sure if this made sense but I hope you can answer ! Ty in advance ! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 06:13 PM PST He wants to send editable worksheets and paperwork to the employees and have employees send paperwork back. He also wants the 2 administrators to be able to print and view (no editing) important paperwork. Cheap options would be great and If you could give the cost if 30 users were using this "cloud drive". [link] [comments]  |
| Attract Chinese Customers with Mobile Payment Posted: 26 Feb 2019 05:38 PM PST UpGlobalTour Technology Co., Ltd is the senior partner of Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay Quick Pass in the US. The mobile payment can provide maximum convenience to your Chinese clients and it will be the new highlight and competitiveness of your company: 1.When your Chinese clients do not have enough dollars in cash due to different reasons, they can pay in CNY, and you can receive in USD directly. Both parties do not need to suffer from foreign exchange. 2.Your clients' foreign currency quota will not be used via mobile payment. It helps your clients make large payment smoothly. 3.Your clients can collect random bonus for each payment. 4.You can release customized promotion plans through the platforms. 5.Besides, you can enjoy the promotion and regular marketing activities provided by the platforms. Mobile payment system is easy to use and free to install. It is very popular in China. When Chinese customers go overseas, they prefer to use mobile payment and actively search for merchants who support this payment method to prevent exchanging and carrying large sum of cash. If you are interested in mobile payment, you are more than welcome to reply. We will contact you for further communication. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Best no-fee business checking account? Need alternative to Spark Business Checking. Posted: 26 Feb 2019 05:23 PM PST Now that Spark Business (Capital One) is giving their business checking customers the middle finger by discontinuing their mobile deposit app and getting rid of free bill pay, I'm wondering what the best bank to switch to is? Ideally it would have free bill pay and ACH payment options, the option to write checks, free mobile deposits and short turnaround times on deposits, no monthly fees or minimum balance, and have a good website so that you don't need a physical bank near by. Any recommendations would be appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Help with a small business loan Posted: 26 Feb 2019 04:55 PM PST My father runs a construction company that brings in close to $100,000 annually, but he only shows up to $30,000 to $40,000 on his taxes for some various reasons. However we are up to our necks in credit debt, bills, and debt owed to family and manage to just scrape by with what we currently bring in. We are always having to worry about money in the house hold. I would like to expand our business mainly because of the fact that there is not too much overhead costs when doing so and much more revenue could easily be generated by just getting more manpower in our line of work, but with $0 in savings this is virtually impossible. How could we go about getting a loan or credit line of up to $30-$50,000? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Any reccomendations on company gas cards? Posted: 26 Feb 2019 12:14 PM PST Spending so much on gas and would love some input on which gas card provides the most benefits. [link] [comments]  |
| I am looking to sell my online subscription box business. Where do I start? Posted: 26 Feb 2019 03:53 PM PST I have worked for the last year on an online dog and cat subscription box business. It has steadily grown and now has a combined over 250 subscribers bringing in a monthly revenue over 9.4k. Does anyone know anywhere online I can sell businesses? I am looking for a place that is reliable and trustworthy. [link] [comments]  |
| Do I need to file business tax quarterly Posted: 26 Feb 2019 05:18 AM PST Hey Guys, I have an s-corp and business account. I'm not expecting to earn a significant amount from my business at least for the next few months. For the last few months, my earning has been less than my expenses, in that case do I need to file business tax for the first quarter? If yes is it easy to do it myself? I live in Georgia. Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Questions About Starting A Small Computer Business Posted: 26 Feb 2019 03:47 PM PST Hey guys, just figured I may as well ask here and get some input. I am 23 and wanting to start a business focusing on building custom PCs. I really enjoy doing it and have done it for lots of people for a bit of side money. I would want to probably also fixing PCs and whatnot, but I was just wondering if anyone had tips on how to even start such a thing. How to advertise, what I should do starting up, etc. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Paying for an employees health insurance Posted: 26 Feb 2019 02:05 PM PST Hey Guys, If an employer has a very small business. (Less than 5 employees) And I wanted to pay for someone's health insurance monthly payment, whats the best way of proceeding? I'd like my employee to pick their plan and I'll simply pay for it. This person is like family. Thoughts? Edit: This is in the state of CA [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 05:56 AM PST I recently started requesting reviews on google and would like to share them on my website. Is there a way to do this via a plugin or embedding a code so that the reviews show that they come from the google business page? [link] [comments]  |
| Energy bill split by arbitrary means Posted: 26 Feb 2019 01:07 PM PST I'm looking at purchasing a business and one of my concerns is the crazy electricity bill. It won't kill the deal for us, but well, just why pay more than we use? The space is split among three parties: the private gym (to be purchased), an accounting office, and a granite business. There are no sub-meters, so the property owner (owns the accounting office) has someone check the meter manually and split the cost by a set distribution (I assume based on square footage, TBD):
I'm wondering if this is a normal practice or not when renting commercial space. Supposedly sub-meters would be expensive. EDIT: Just also noticed the overview they provided the current owner for a recent month listed a meter's Before and After reading specific for the Gym. The gym was then charged an electricity bill accordingly. But doesn't that mean a sub-meter must exist? Unless the landlord is fibbing, dumping the entire electricity bill on the tenant, and pretending that they have a part of it as well. I can't tell if I'm in an idiot or running into some fraudulent practice, but I'm hoping I'm just an idiot. EDIT2: Let me not count out the chance that the landlord isn't fraudulent, but an idiot. But still, I'd say / hope I am. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 01:00 PM PST Has privacy ever been a concern for you? Did you ever feel like someone was looking to steal your work/ideas/content? Were you able to stay focused in such a busy environment? I'd love to hear some accounts of people who have used such a space to run a business, either as an indepedant worker or with a small team. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2019 12:52 PM PST Does anyone have experience with having products tested in Canada? Is this required? I am selling grooming tools sourced from China. Slicker brushes and metal combs. I will eventually sell dog toys and clothes. Insurance company is asking me if these products have been tested, and where. [link] [comments]  |
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