HELP! I’ve been feeding my competition ideas and insights to my plans... small business |
- HELP! I’ve been feeding my competition ideas and insights to my plans...
- How to send final demand for payment?
- Has anyone hired someone to do marketing for you? Where did you look and do you have any recommendations?
- Non-Profit/Affordable Marketing Help
- Voice Actor looking for a service that does everything financial. (File for S-Corp, manage "payroll", taxes, etc.
- Tax write offs for leasing vs buying a new vehicle?
- [Need Advice] How to start looking for and approaching potential customers?
- New Business/Formalities
- What was the first step you took in forming your small business?
- As a sole proprietor can I buy stocks?
- What was the most successful marketing campaign you ran? Why did it work and how do you know?
- Charity Idea - How would one go about this?
- Restaurant owners: how often do you introduce new menu items? How do you test them?
- Those of you who’ve owned a local super market for a while, has business grown or slowed over the years?
- Marriage of Psychology & Neuroscience with Entrepreneurship. Participate in this research to make the most of your traits!
- Planning on buying a percentage of the small business I work at and not sure how to structure things.
- What address to use for corporate registration?
- Did my CPA give me bad advice? Wanting a better understanding before I start looking for a new CPA. Related to taxes due as an LLC / S-Corp.
- ecom transaction middle man, seem legit?
- Financial Reporting Tool Recommendations?
- Paying Independent Contractors as an Independent Contractor
- What are good rewards for an employee “sales” contest?
- Where to find freelance salesmen?
- Question on Work Comp for a new company (go directly through state fund VS use broker)
| HELP! I’ve been feeding my competition ideas and insights to my plans... Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:01 PM PDT So basically I've been planning a shop in my small town of about 14,000 that gets allot of tourist trade. It's in a similar field to where I currently work and have let everyone I know my plans in detail to some people. Well I've been working with a loan company for months to try and make it a reality but it's slow progress. And could be another month yet. Well today I found out that one of the people I have told every detail to has a wife who works in one of the local competition shops in town and now I hear they want to expand into a larger shop front and begin doing everything I have been planning. Now they already have an established business and probably the cash to start it... there is only one available shop front in my town and now they are also after it. I have been negotiating with the estate agents and everyone knows my plans for this shop. This news come a week after I find out another woman in my town is also planning a similar shop to me. I can't hurry the loan process anymore as I'm mostly waiting on them but I also can't move any further forward without the cash... Sorry if this post hasn't made sense I might be remaking because I'm feeling deflated, fed up and angry.. [link] [comments]  |
| How to send final demand for payment? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 06:17 PM PDT Edit- folks it's a net 30 contract, with them being 21 days over the net 30 I've got a client that owes me 7k and they are 21 days past due. I have attempted to contact them via phone call and email at least 8 times since they first became delinquent. They do not have a cash flow problem, they liked my work, they just operate with a 100 million dollar budget, so my 7k invoice means nothing to them. I am beyond frustrated and I want to make sure I send something that scares them enough to send me my money, but I don't want my emotion to be evident. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Love you guys. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 04:13 AM PDT My business is pretty small, and I'm OK with that, it's just me and a couple friends who occasionally get dragged along to help me set up. (they don't officially work for me. I pay them in pizza) I have a new project that just isn't doing too well. The project itself if good. All of my customers are now repeat customers. They all come back, which is great! But there's only a few of them. If I can get people through the door I know I can keep most of them. But I can't get them through the door. I've tried Facebook, flyers, local publications. I just don't know what I'm doing. So I'm thinking about hiring someone to help. (I will pay them in money, not pizza.) But I don't know where to look. Any suggestions? Update: thanks so much for all the comments and messages. I'm in the middle of some work right now, but I'll do my best to respond to everyone over the next couple of days. Thank you, I didn't expect to get as many responses x [link] [comments]  |
| Non-Profit/Affordable Marketing Help Posted: 11 Apr 2019 10:45 PM PDT Hi everyone, I've been getting tons of interest about this and just wanted to spread the word. I own and operate Elevado MKTG, a non-profit dedicated to helping people get started with marketing and/or develop their own marketing campaign. We are aiming to become an authority for business owners to find clear, helpful info in an otherwise murky industry. We know how frustrating and confusing online marketing can be, which is why I left my own job to do this full-time. We do a ton of work and can always take on new clients, although sometimes we may not be able to address your case until our backlog clears. We also take on regular clients as well, for a reasonable market rate. All profit generated from our services goes to helping smaller companies and new entrepreneurs get started on their business- which is how we make this work. If you're already considered hiring an agency, check us out first! In any case, we are onboarding businesses right now. Our fees range from free to $100/hr depending on the size of your business. In most cases we can at least give people resources and direction, if nothing else. If you're interested in being considered in one of our programs, please complete our onboarding here: [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 09:04 AM PDT I've been a voice actor for about 8 years. At this point I'm making around 100k gross and growing. My taxes and finances are a mess every year, especially considering nearly every job I book results in another W-2. After months of research, I think filing as an S-Corp is the right move for me. I have the basics down, but I'm just too busy, (and honestly lazy/irresponsible) to keep up with all this. Is there a CPA service that can handle ALL financial business? I realize this may get expensive, but it's better than really messing things up or continuing to forget things and wind up in legal peril. I have a good chunk set aside for this reason and am ready to go super legit this year. Sorry if any of this comes of ignorant, but when it comes to this stuff, I AM. Also, is it better if they are local? Im in New York. [link] [comments]  |
| Tax write offs for leasing vs buying a new vehicle? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 08:15 PM PDT We are adding a new truck to our fleet this year. This heavy truck is $110,000. We have the option to lease it or buy it with financing for 5 years. I understand if we lease the truck, we get to deduct 100% of the lease payments? What about maintenance like tires and brakes if we go the leased option? But if we own and finance the truck for 5 years we can't take the monthly payment off but we can deduct the interest on the loan and depreciate the truck? But how much would that be a year. This is not a car or pickup but a 33,000 gvw commercial truck used 100% for business. I know we could 179 it and take 100% off the first year but we don't want to do that. We would rather take around $20k a year tax savings off than all at once. [link] [comments]  |
| [Need Advice] How to start looking for and approaching potential customers? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 11:10 PM PDT I have never started a business before and as a freshman, I would like to learn how to find and approach customers. What bootstrapping tips would you think I should know to make a sale? What elements of the business should be ready before I approach customers - like should I have a large inventory, a website, social media ad campaign ready? Also, how do I bootstrap my product promotion? Are there any books that may help or courses I can take? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 10:16 PM PDT Hello! Hopefully someone here can help and I hope that I'm in the right sub. This question is for myself, but it is not "my business" per se... My boyfriend is a mechanic and has been working for another mechanic for a while. Now, this man is retiring and moving to a completely different state and my boyfriend is intending to start his own business in this same place. I want to make sure we have all of our ducks in a row and that everything is legal as quickly as possible since the other guy will probably be out of the picture by the end of May. I'll start off by saying: We are located in Pennsylvania (Fayette County if that's necessary). It would be a mechanic shop, and not a dealership although the man my boyfriend works for also has a dealership license. We had previously tried to start our own business but never took off - so, we've already completed forms for a sales tax license, business license (??? this was a while ago and I can't find the form now), and a fictitious name registration. I'm fairly certain that all of this was back in 2016 or so, and nothing was ever done with it. We never had income under this and never reported anything tax-wise because it just wasn't there (and I was 18ish and had no idea what I was doing). So now, I am hoping that y'all might be able to help me with a few things: Should we just get a new EIN or try to use the old one? What other licenses or forms might we need and should we just apply for new ones? How do taxes work for this sort of thing? My boyfriend is in the mindset of "Just get to work and it will work itself out", but that's because he thinks I'll take care of all the paperwork and whatnot, and I really would rather he not get in trouble with the law because I mistakenly didn't do something. I will also add that right now our credit is terrible and funds are limited, so I am hoping that we won't need to hire an attorney right off the bat. Please, any advice you can offer is appreciated!! I'm trying to read as much about the local laws as possible but have a difficult time understanding it and I'm worried about misunderstanding things. [link] [comments]  |
| What was the first step you took in forming your small business? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 06:28 PM PDT It's been my dream for my entire adult life to open my own coffee shop. I spend a lot of time thinking about it and I write down all the ideas I have for it, but I have no idea how to get started. I didn't study entrepreneurship or business in college (I don't think it's a necessity, I just don't really have a foundation on where to begin). I feel so overwhelmed by all the things I don't know that it's preventing me from even beginning— so my question is, what was the very first thing you did to start your business? [link] [comments]  |
| As a sole proprietor can I buy stocks? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:11 PM PDT I have been operating as a sole proprietor in the US and have a separate tax id (not using my SSN. ) I receive money in a business bank account. I have money now in my business account, which I need to use to purchase a new laptop and other business expenses in the future but not right now. My bank has offered me a savings business account at a very low interest rate. Would it make sense to open a stock trading account under my tax id ? Or should I just pay myself and move the money into my personal bank account and then my personal stock trading account under my SSN then back into business account for business purchases? I have business expenses that would count and tax write offs. [link] [comments]  |
| What was the most successful marketing campaign you ran? Why did it work and how do you know? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 10:49 AM PDT Take a second to share some of the most successful marketing campaigns you have done. One of mine was taken through a rando video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wRYeMXaoLw Essentially, I got all these other companies to promote a product business of mine. All for free (took about 20 hours of time though) we made $6,000 and got 5,000 new email contacts which then produced more income. It wasn't the most amount of money I've made from a marketing effort, but pound for pound was the highest return I have ever experienced. We didn't even make it very big because I wanted to make sure it worked first. The reactive startup formula in the video definitely worked (I had to tweak a number of things) and I intend to replicate it on a much larger scale. What are some methods that have really helped you? Please try to link to resources when possible. [link] [comments]  |
| Charity Idea - How would one go about this? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 01:38 PM PDT I have a small personal training side business. I have an idea that could kind of be a charity for an issue I hold dear to me and has had more of the spotlight than when I was a kid - bullying. If I have an established LLC already, how would I go about creating a charity so people could donate to a fund for me to train teens that are victims of bullying? Would this even be the best way to go about it? [link] [comments]  |
| Restaurant owners: how often do you introduce new menu items? How do you test them? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 05:19 PM PDT Hi restaurant owners, I know many of you have a set menu that customers are familiar with, but how often do you introduce new menu items? How do you go about figuring out what to roll out? And do you do any testing beforehand before you "officially" roll it out? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 09:24 AM PDT |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 08:00 PM PDT If you are running your own business or trying to start a business or just being involved in a new venture, you are invited to take part in a new exciting research project linking insights in psychology and neuroscience to entrepreneurship. The project is called Entrepreneurship and Neurological Diversity. It focuses on certain psychological traits, self-care, and entrepreneurial outcomes. As a participant, you can receive your own personal profile, as well as a written summary of the findings so that you can benchmark yourself against other entrepreneurs. Some entrepreneurs are attracted to uncertainty and enjoy taking risks while others like planning. It is extremely important for you as an entrepreneur to understand yourself and make the most of your traits! Please note that your responses are anonymous. Only aggregate data are analyzed and presented, and no individual can be identified. Here is a link to the survey: Entrepreneurship and Neurological Diversity Here are a couple of prior articles written about my research: If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please don't hesitate to contact me. My email address is [jwiklund@syr.edu](mailto:jwiklund@syr.edu)." [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 01:35 PM PDT A little background: My father has owned his own financial planning firm for over 30 years and he intends to sell the business to me as he heads toward retirement. I've worked for him for the last 8 years. Prior to me joining the firm, he was basically coasting toward retirement. He wasn't actively trying to grow the business - he liked his clients, his clients liked him, and he made good money. When I decided to join him, he had to change gears a little bit, as I naturally wanted to grow the business. Since that time, the business has grown a lot - more than doubled in revenue - and he's making more money than he ever has before (as am I). Currently, I get paid a salary, plus a cut of the revenue from any business that I personally bring in, and a small cut of the revenue from any business that we bring in together through specific marketing efforts. Before actually getting to my question, I want to stress that I love and respect my father. I think he's one of the best people on earth. I don't want to take advantage of him or low-ball him. Likewise, he's not looking to sell for as much as he would if he were selling to a stranger. So, if I say something that seems like I'm being demanding or ridiculous, it's not out of greed, but out of ignorance. For the last year, we've been trying to figure out what things would look like if I bought 20% of the business. Yesterday, he did some notepad calculations with me and showed my new income as 20% of the profits (my proposed ownership share), which equaled about $20k more than what I'm currently making with everything included. Using those numbers, I wouldn't really have sufficient cash flow to make payments on the loan I'd have to get. I didn't think that looked right, but I didn't say anything to him as I didn't want to seem demanding. I just told him I'd need to think about it a little more. My thoughts are as follows: I should still get a salary (perhaps smaller than my current salary?), plus I should get a portion of the profits as well (call it a dividend, maybe?). My reason for thinking I'd get a salary plus "dividends" is that my main role isn't really going to be changing, so I should be paid for that work with a salary, and "dividends" get paid out to me as a shareholder in the business. Is my thinking off here? I just want to make sure I'm being reasonable before going to back to him with my thoughts. [link] [comments]  |
| What address to use for corporate registration? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 05:51 PM PDT Hi everyone! I'm registering a corporation for a startup and I'm torn between whether I should be using my own home address as a temporary location just to get the name registered and then switching it to either a virtual office or an official office if/when we grow. We have no profit right now since we're still in the development phase and spending $15 or $30/mo on a virtual mailbox doesn't really seem worth it since, and perhaps this opinion is flawed, I can use my home address for mail and can ensure there are no issues with delivery. However, we've never been through this process before so I expect there's something we're not considering? I don't really mind getting a little extra mail delivered to my home, especially if the intention is that we will be switching this address down the line anyways. Is this a normal approach or does this sound absolutely asinine? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 11 Apr 2019 05:23 PM PDT When setting up our company a couple years ago, our CPA advised us to establish an LLC that pays taxes as an S-Corp. He said that it would save us 7.5% on the salaried portion of our income, which is fairly substantial. I will give an example of some numbers (the income below is not exacty... just easy math)... if anyone can do a quick estimate on how these taxes should have been paid (as an LLC paying taxes as an S-Corp) I would appreciate it. I've tried researching this online, and the examples are far too generic. The LLC has 2 owners... my wife and I. Our company paid us $150,000 in salaries. After paying salaries and deducting expenses, the company profited $250,000. So we have to pay personal income tax on the $150,000. Then we pay taxes on the company's $250,000. What should our total taxes be? The reason we're confused is we were told that the tax rate for our salaries would be different (higher) than the company rate... that the income from the company would be 7.5% less. However, when the CPA did our taxes, he just added the $150k and the $250k, and multiplied the $400k by 35%. It seems like there was no point in setting up our company this way. p.s. we asked the CPA about this during our meeting today, and he got agitated. He is 74 years old, and a major introvert, and had no patience to explain things to us. This was our first full year of income, so this is the first time it's come to our attention. [link] [comments]  |
| ecom transaction middle man, seem legit? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 04:16 PM PDT I posted this under r/webdev but realized its probably best asked here. i have a potential client that is not permitted to receive money directly from customers due to agreements with their product suppliers. They are proposing i act as a middleman with their existing ecomm and in return would receive a percentage from each transaction. I would set up a cart strictly for checkout, accept payment, forward customer invoice to the designated dealer fulfilling the order, and pay the main corp less my cut. Something feels funny about this arrangement. The last thing i want is to get wrapped up in some sort of money laundering scheme. Has anyone here done something like this before? Maybe this is a completely normal request. Any thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Financial Reporting Tool Recommendations? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 09:39 AM PDT I'm interested in doing deeper diving into my financials, and I find the reports in quickbooks online to be so-so. Wondering if anyone has any recommendations for other apps/services that offer interesting reporting and visualization that I could dump my QB data into. [link] [comments]  |
| Paying Independent Contractors as an Independent Contractor Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:34 PM PDT As the title states, I am an independent contractor for a company. However, I am starting my own company and will be paying my own independent contractors from the income I earn from the company that pays me. How can I clarify this within my taxes? For example, when I receive my 1099, how can I clarify that not all of this income is my own, and roughly 50% is being paid to my own independent contractors, so I only pay tax on the 50% that I receive? [link] [comments]  |
| What are good rewards for an employee “sales” contest? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:29 PM PDT I'm going on vacation this weekend and my part-time staff are running a tradeshow booth for my business while I'm gone. To encourage them to be proactive in their sales and marketing while they're there, I'm considering running some sort of contest between them. Like most sales or consults booked. What rewards have you typically found to work best amongst your employees? Cash, gift cards, prizes? [link] [comments]  |
| Where to find freelance salesmen? Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:13 PM PDT We are currently online only (Amazon, eBay, Website etc) We are looking to supply our products direct to retailers and distributors (online & offline) however this is not our area of expertise. Could anyone give us a pointer to where we can find freelance salesmen that would work on a part time basis for commission + wages? [link] [comments]  |
| Question on Work Comp for a new company (go directly through state fund VS use broker) Posted: 11 Apr 2019 02:01 PM PDT Guys hi, I am doing WC for our tour company (we just starting, ~50k payroll). We are NYC, and 99% likely will end up with state insurance fund (nysif). Does it makes sense to use insurance broker or should we go directly with nysif? I expect directly should be cheaper. Please advise. [link] [comments]  |
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