11-month old business; too much debt? small business |
- 11-month old business; too much debt?
- How seriously (legally) do I need to take my small beauty service business?
- Dealing with broker while buying a business
- Build business credit, with no assets, no collateral, no revenue, no investors, no team, no product or service, just an Incorporated llc with checking account owner credit is poor and relys on side job income which is paycheck to paycheck, advice?
- Please help me validate this app idea
- Should I make my own business website using squarespace/equivalent?
- Displaying Products on Tablets
- Is there a better way to gain clients when competition is wix/Squarespace?
- [Management] Working significantly more than my partners who are brothers, how can I approach this properly?
- What do i ask customers i have not converted?
- Advice on whether to take on new client
- How do you deal with harmful friendly competitors?
- Need Some Help Bringing Traffic to Our Online Store
- This might be the wrong group for this question. But what would be cheaper. To hire someone to do my lawn or to buy new machines .
- Couple months away from ready products - need to start the blog - where to start to build the site. Shopify vs Squarespace
- Needed: Feedback from business owners
- Looking into buying real estate for my small business and wondering about tax implications
- Starting reseller business - which business structure should I choose?
- [NJ] Novice residential contractor question about financing and liens
- Hit a capability wall - need big-time funding
- Hi all! I've create a service that connects you to an (very) affordable dedicated assistant to help you with your business!
- My two business partners and I live and work together doing post production and motion graphics in CA. Until this year we’ve been schedule-C independent contractors, but this our first year with an s-Corp and it’s (expectedly) leading to so many questions.
- Buying land and making it livable
- New to small business, how do i quote and invoice.
| 11-month old business; too much debt? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 07:01 PM PDT Using a throwaway for privacy. I own a retail store in a small city. I have been open for 11mo and did about 60k in sales my first 7 months (May-Dec). I currently have 23k in inventory and almost 30k in debt. I was very conservative in my startup costs originally, doing a lot of painting, building shelves, and other cost saving efforts; i only spent 5k to get the small space started back in May of 2018. After 5 months of good business, I moved to a larger location, nearer to and already established shopping center. At that time, because business was going well, I invested in new retail furniture, new lighting, and other needs to grow my business. I spent about 15k on leasehold improvements and furniture. I also took on 3 very part-time employees to help grow different areas of my business (opportunities to expand into product development that aligns with the brand, online sales, in-store programming, etc.) but these areas have not yet started generating revenue. I am located in an area that has had a pretty harsh winter, and I'm told by fellow retailers in the area, that sales have been down for everyone this year. It's my first winter in business, so I have no frame of reference. I did 3k in sales January, 6k in February, and 5k in March. But I feel like I'm scraping by. Also, as mentioned above, my investment into the new location and inventory has left me with almost 30k in debt. I'm tightening up procedures and asking more of staff, reducing their hours a bit (they don't mind), and trying to also reduce my costs. I recognize we'll need to tighten up or we could get ourselves into trouble. I guess what I'm wondering from other business owners is... is 30k debt with 23k inventory (a retail value 46k...) just completely insane? Will I ever dig myself out of this? I have no frame of reference because it doesn't feel like these are questions you can ask of fellow business owners. Even so, different industries and specialties have different pricing and investment cost. Please be kind... I'm pretty freaked out about all of the debt and responsibility. I feel mentally and professionally equipped to handle what's ahead, but I hope I haven't gotten myself in too deep. Is my debt/income/inventory ratio concerning? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| How seriously (legally) do I need to take my small beauty service business? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:11 PM PDT So I'm starting a spray tan business. I'm going to be doing it from April-end of August and then taking a long break to travel and then may or may not resume it when I get back. I would say the odds of me hitting the ~10k minimum where I would need to report it to the IRS are fairly low. How much financial structure do I need to set up? Business bank account? Tracking finances in something besides excel? A LLC? How separate do I need to keep my personal finances? [link] [comments]  |
| Dealing with broker while buying a business Posted: 04 Apr 2019 07:15 PM PDT My family is in the process of purchasing a business for 400k.With this purchase,a good faith deposit of 10% needs to be made to an escrow.Problem is that the escrow happens to be the sellers broker.As a result,there is no third party to act as an arbitrage in case something goes wrong.The seller's broker wants to be the "escrow" service and they have already stated in an email that they will not budge at all on this condition.What this implies is that essentially the brokerage firm has complete control over the release of the "good faith" deposit.They basically told us if we aren't okay with this that we can kick rocks.In my eyes there is nothing that is good faith about this at all.Can someone with business experience please give me some advice on the situation? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2019 08:22 PM PDT Well also here's my goal: Make robots to cleanup plastic garbage in the ocean, then use that plastic to make more robots and build geothermal energy generators, then have the robots install theose generators at the bottom of the ocean, and finally use plastic to make cables that bring power up to the surface where I can sell that to governments and businesses. The generators would pretty much have a wireless charging port and wifi so the robots can recharge their batteries while remaining under water indefinitely and still be able to send and receive data to the surface. Keep in mind wifi on travels a few feet underwater so by having data coming in through the power cable the robots can maintain communications which is important for navigation. [link] [comments]  |
| Please help me validate this app idea Posted: 04 Apr 2019 07:36 PM PDT Hello Reddit, I mainly lurk here and from reading a couple of articles and books about entrepreneurship and small business. I thought I'd get feedback about this personal finance app idea first and learn about its advantages and disadvantages from an objective view. My background: - I'm an accounting student and in an internship, and I recently found my love for creating reports on BusinessIntelligence as well as its analytics. - I teach young kids about programming though my experience with programming and algorithms are fairly beginner in Javascript, Python and C - My partner who has a degree in computer engineering as well as experience in web development is eager to create the app - I've led a social entrepreneurship club with the mission of providing social enterprises and/or community projects within underserved communities around my town in financial literacy App Idea: A finance app that allows users to not only track their personal expenses, wish list items to purchase, but also informs users the number of working hours, or years it takes for them to purchase the item with their current salary. For simplicity an example, purchasing a fancy $42 mascara with an hourly salary of $14 means I'm purchasing it with 3 hours of hard work, which forces me to ask the question: Is this mascara really worth 3 hours of my time? Target Audience: - Students who want to save up for prom, teachers in grades 1-5 to use in class?, as well as young professionals that use an Android tablet, or phone Pricing: Subscription model: $2/month or $20/year with perhaps a student discount, etc. Market Research: Browsing Google Play there's plenty of competition, just searching for "Finance savings app" and Thriv - Savings Goals (digital piggy bank and savings planner) to Wallet - Finance Tracker and Budget Planner What do you think? How can I improve this idea and increase its value to make this app valuable to users? Any feedback and/or recommendations are welcome. I sincerely appreciate it. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I make my own business website using squarespace/equivalent? Posted: 05 Apr 2019 01:18 AM PDT Hi Im considering starting a commercial cleaning business. I'll continue with my full time job in engineering but try to get some leads and see how the market is before considering quitting. I am thinking about making my own website using wix/squarespace or some company like that. Would you recommend that platform or do you think it comes across unprofessional and these are more e-commerce/blog type site makers? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Displaying Products on Tablets Posted: 05 Apr 2019 01:17 AM PDT Have some extra tablets lying around. Would be nice to have it display some pictures of our products and to serve as an advertisement. Are there any android apps out there that can display slideshows of photo non-stop? Some kind of lock to prevent it from exiting the app would be nice as well [link] [comments]  |
| Is there a better way to gain clients when competition is wix/Squarespace? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 05:57 AM PDT Just starting out so I don't have any significant amount to put into advertising, but my services are a lot better than wix or square space. Right now I have 25 clients mostly local tradesmen who I reached out to, but I know I can't really find people this way because everyone who I can find online already has a site, I've had some luck with targeting referral sites like Angie's list but I only started that recently and it's hard to reach out when most people think phone numbers from out of town are spam and don't pick up. I just kind of hit a wall, can't do ads because the competition just blows that out of the water. I currently offer the following package:
Any ideas/suggestion? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:26 PM PDT Hey All - I am in a bit of a predicament here. I am in business with 2 brothers, one of which who is a good friend of mine and is my age(mid 30's) and his younger brother who is in his early 20's. The issue is that I am spending a ton of time keeping this business afloat and cannot seem to get them to put in the same amount of effort. The good news is that we all signed an agreement via a lawyer when setup our LLC that if there was any ever disagreement for this type of thing, we could start logging our hours. So there is a way that I can be compensated for my time if need be, but I don't want to go that route yet because it will be far more disruptive. I recently decided to create a task list complete with Task owner, priority, latest update, and expected due date. It's in google sheets so I can tell that neither of them have opened it. I sent out a weekly email with the link for them to recview and that barely ever gets a response. I setup a phone call for us to sync up for every 2 weeks and I get a bunch of feedback like " Yup I'll take care of that, or I can definitely do that!" and then it doesn't get done. Because I have invested in this company and I really belive in it, I just end up doing everything I can to keep it afloat. I literally work every single day on it, but I doubt that my either of my partners do. One has only one job to work on social media(daily posts) and news letters(weekly emails) and it is not happeneing at the frequency we aggreed to. The other partner's only responsibility is creating and submitting a product order each month which can't take more than a couple hours. How can I approach this without offending anyone? TLDR: I'm putting in hours daily and my partners arent. We formed the LLC via a lawyer and have rules in place that I could activate but it would damage the relationship between myself and the other owners who are brothers. [link] [comments]  |
| What do i ask customers i have not converted? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 11:25 PM PDT Hey Folks, We have managed to land just 5 clients out of like 52 leads. I wanted to understand if i could send a survey to the other 47 people. If i do, what do i ask them? Please direct. Thanks, [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on whether to take on new client Posted: 04 Apr 2019 10:46 PM PDT I have a full time job as the Director of Technology for a large government institution. In my free time (nights and weekends) I do IT consulting for smaller businesses and I typically bill hourly. So I do it for fun and to make some side money. I need advice, I was introduced to someone from a mutual contact that owns a digital signage company and he needs help with IT consulting so I google his name and it appears that he had some sort of criminal record and someone posted on mylife.com that he has screwed a few people (whatever that means). Because financially I've done pretty well I try to make sure I take all precautions necessary to prevent taking on a problematic client or becoming a target of someone's scheme I'm not sure whether to help or hand him off to someone else. Any advice on how you would approach this scenario if you were in my shoes? If I took him on what precautions should I take? [link] [comments]  |
| How do you deal with harmful friendly competitors? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 11:10 AM PDT I'm in a pretty sticky situation. Some ex-coworkers of mine are talking about opening a business which would directly compete with me. I fully support that drive and motivation to go out on their own. However, I am speechless concerning their lack of business acumen. They couldn't fill out 1% of any business plan; they've done no research or calculations of any kind. They are looking at opening up down the street from. When I voice my concerns and how they could hurt me too, they tell me that there's more than enough business for everybody. I've done the math and that's not true. They don't listen to me when I tell them the numbers, which I've compiled over YEARS. I try hard to help them out because they're my friends and colleagues, but without saying too much. They have a lot of pride and are very delusional and it's becoming antagonizing and upsetting. (i.e. starting an aggressive Yelp ad campaign for a yet to exist business because they "felt bad for hearing the account manager's pitch and not taking out ads") So I was wondering if you'd just stop trying to help turn a possible lose/lose situation into a win/win and just look at them as competitors and not friends? They've invited me to join them, but I don't trust them enough to entrust my livelihood with them. I've spent years prepping and launching my business. They're doing it on a whim. I'm at my wit's end. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Need Some Help Bringing Traffic to Our Online Store Posted: 04 Apr 2019 06:25 PM PDT We have an online boutique which we started in August of last year, and to this point, traffic has unfortunately been abysmal. As in, under 5 visitors a day on most days. We have worked very hard to pick products that are quality and actually enjoyable to our customers, but so far, we haven't had much of an opportunity to showcase that quality because nobody knows about us. Instagram is where we have been focusing most of our marketing efforts, but we feel like we're spinning our wheels. A lot of our followers are very low quality, as in they are just looking for a follow back or trying to sell us something. Also, we don't know what to post because obviously flooding people's feeds with product images doesn't motivate them to buy. We did experiment with sending samples to two fashion accounts on Instagram, and although they gave us very little boosts to our traffic, one did result in our first sale. Are we missing something when it comes to Instagram? The advice that every guide and guru on the internet gives about marketing is to go with Facebook Ads or Google Adwords. We would definitely be willing to give either one of these a shot, but I'm having a very hard time finding any solid resources when it comes to getting started with them. Another concern is, again, what kind of content would our ads be? I'm assuming just posting product photos doesn't work very well, but I could be wrong. I'm just trying to think of it from the perspective of a Facebook or Google user. If I saw and ad for something, I probably wouldn't click it. In general, we just feel kind of stuck when it comes to getting people to our site. Dealing with getting sales is one thing, but if nobody even visits our site, we have to solve that issue first. If anybody could point us in the right direction, we would be very appreciative. Thank you. Let me know if you need any more info. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2019 10:05 PM PDT |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2019 09:14 PM PDT Need to start creating my e-commerce site to start creating content and blog page, the product is not ready yet. Shopify is $29 per month. Anyone used squarespace, it is comparatively cheaper. I want to avoid paying $29 when I am at least a couple of months away from selling my first product. Any thoughts? I am thinking maybe I can move later on to shopify if needed. What do you think? My product will only have couple variations. [link] [comments]  |
| Needed: Feedback from business owners Posted: 04 Apr 2019 08:13 PM PDT Hello everyone! I am conducting market research for the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota, specifically on the consumer behavior of business owners. In our study, we are seeking to learn more about furniture purchasing habits and preferences of business owners, like yourselves. If you could take the time to take this short survey (about nine m/c questions) it would be very much appreciated. The University thanks you for your cooperation! [link] [comments]  |
| Looking into buying real estate for my small business and wondering about tax implications Posted: 04 Apr 2019 08:08 PM PDT Hey all, I'm pleased to say it's looking like 2019 is going to be a big year for me financially. I am a creative professional and I have an LLC (classified as an S-Corp), and my receipts this year will far exceed anything I've had in the past. I stand to net what amounts to about 4-5 years of living expenses (with my current overhead) this year alone. I've always wanted to get into real estate, and I'm thinking about buying a small house, doing some remodeling, and using it as an office for my business. If I were to do that, do you know what kind of deductions I'd be able to take for the purchase/mortgage/remodel in 2019? I'd have to modify my 2018 return and pay more taxes in order to pull this off, so I'm trying to decide if it's worth it. Thanks for your insight. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting reseller business - which business structure should I choose? Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:24 PM PDT Hi there, first time poster in this sub. I've finally decided to buckle down and get started on my small business. I'm not getting any younger, and I'm not getting any wealthier either. It's going to be a basic reselling business, wherein I purchase pallets of liquidated product and attempt to sell it locally and on eBay for profit. Preferably locally, as my city and state taxes total to less than the fees, cuts, and risks associated with eBay. Still, I need to pursue as many avenues as possible to get the fastest return. I've been looking into the different business structures. At present time, I will be doing this alone, as it will be starting out as a fairly small enterprise. This means a partnership is out of the question. I'm also thinking that corporation is a bit much for my needs. It's looking like it's going to come down to sole proprietorship or an LLC, but I had a few questions before I jump into registering the business. Now, if I'm understanding correctly, a sole proprietorship is essentially just registering a trade name, but there won't be much of a separation between myself and the business. An LLC treats the business as a separate entity, which offers certain protections and ensures that your money remains your money while the business's money remains the business's money. So I guess my question is, which would you recommend, and why? Moreover, if I form an LLC, how I do receive income from my small business? Do I need to set a salary for myself and keep the rest of the money within the company? [link] [comments]  |
| [NJ] Novice residential contractor question about financing and liens Posted: 04 Apr 2019 07:09 PM PDT I'm considering contracting some general home improvement and bathroom work. One if the things that I'd like to offer clients is 0% financing. What I'm worried about is the client stopping payments after the 90 day period when I can file a lien on their property. Is there a resource that would cover this gray area in detail? [link] [comments]  |
| Hit a capability wall - need big-time funding Posted: 04 Apr 2019 07:03 PM PDT My business has been around for a few years. I do pretty well for myself and I've carved out a niche as the go-to source for the service I offer in my field. I want to expand my offerings but in order to do so, I need a large (LARGE) injection of capital. Basically, I'm looking to go from a 95% virtual setup to a brick and mortar setup - but more than that I am trying to expand capability. I operate as a design and manufacturing consultant that specializes in some cutting edge software resources. In order to properly grow and capitalize, I really need to be working on the R&D side of my field as well. For me specifically, that means machine shop equipment, inspection equipment, etc. I have a few pieces of equipment that I run out of my home but more and more of my customers are asking for things I can't do. How do you go about getting those HUGE loans or investments (especially with lower-than-needed collateral)? I can't bootstrap my way to where I want to go (that is, if I want to stay relevant and potent in my field). I can't possibly work through novel materials/processes research for additive manufacturing in my home (as an example). Any ideas on how to tackle this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Apr 2019 12:25 AM PDT Tasks include answering phones, responding to emails, social media mgmt, recruiting, you name it! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:27 PM PDT We split all income three ways equally bringing in 80k-ish a year total. Not much, but we make it work. Our accountant, friends and many others strongly urged us to start an S-Corp as opposed to acting as three independent freelancer, because we owe so much on taxes filing schedule C. Does anyone here have experience making this jump? We officially became incorporated last month and have started generating income under our new company and we aren't sure how to properly pay ourselves. Should we do K1 at first until we're stable enough for payroll? Or is it better to start payroll asap? What payroll companies do you folks like, we got a quote from ADP for $70 monthly and $45 bi-monthly. Is this average? Some people are telling us to just do payroll ourselves but that seems outside of my comfort zone. I feel stupid asking these questions but I've gotten so many conflicting answers from business consultants, my accountant and other business owners that my brain is a mess. Thanks for any insight folks! [link] [comments]  |
| Buying land and making it livable Posted: 04 Apr 2019 06:09 PM PDT Hey! My girlfriend and I are kicking around the idea of creating a small community where people can come and air bnb over night. We want to buy land and then put 4-5 small separate units on the property to start. My question is, how costly is it to get electric and plumbing going from scratch on a blank lot of land. Calculating the budget has led us to believe the profit can potentially be big, but the one thing we can't estimate accurately is the plumbing and electric. Does anyone have experience with this? Thanks!! [link] [comments]  |
| New to small business, how do i quote and invoice. Posted: 04 Apr 2019 05:22 PM PDT I'm a painter and decorator currently full time employed but i'm looking to start up on my own. I have never made a quote or invoiced a customer and i'm wondering if anyone can teach me the etiquette. I live in the UK if that makes a difference. What kind of things are listed on the quote? Are there any good templates for tradesman quotes? Likewise for invoices. Say for example i quote a job to be £300 and they agree. But when i finish the job the labour plus materials only comes to £200, am i still suppose to list labour hours and hourly rate on the invoice? If so how do i explain the extra £100 that we agreed on on the invoice? If not do i just state a straight cost? So many question. [link] [comments]  |
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