Client gone bad: advice needed small business |
- Client gone bad: advice needed
- Unexpected Death of a Coworker
- Stress
- Looking for advice on the next steps for my online business
- Workers compensation for first employee.
- WTF should be in an operating agreement?
- Why Startups and Small Business Fail? My Thirty One reasons..
- How to get traffic from Quora?
- Best ways to promote a PrintOnDemand store. Suggestions welcome!
- I got myself a little thing selling guitar pedals I build about a year ago, I've sold two pedals and know exactly why I don't have more interest. Marketing.
- Hate to ask this: How did you find something you were passionate about and follow through with it?
- What software should I use to create landing pages, collect customer data and sell products?
- Microsoft Access database template for customer relations, invoicing, etc?
- Software selection services for Small businesses?
- First time firing advice.
- If you have a remote business overseas, how do you track finances when you are not there?
- Best state for llc? Cryptocurrency atm company
- How to find the "need" in a niche based on "wants"?
- Best place to sell HTML5 Games?
- With all the odds against me, I am going to chase my goals!
- Anyone do medical transport?
- New LLC making about $100k+/year with wife & I employed - how to maximize retirement?
- Starting a Pressure Washing company or a Residential/Office cleaning company?
- Help advertising a fitness class
| Client gone bad: advice needed Posted: 12 Jun 2019 10:38 PM PDT I'm so embarrassed to be writing about such a stupid situation, but here goes... I have run my own small software business for 2 years now. I have a small number of clients who love my work and I am growing slowly but steadily by referral. One of my oldest clients (let's call him #A) introduced me to a potential new client, #B, in return for a percentage commission of any deal made. I'm a software guy who knows his limitations as a salesperson, so I was completely happy with this. My relationship with #A has always been strained: he is a guy where everything is an emergency, a genuine control freak and micro-manager who suffers real anger managment issues. I've been on the end of his verbal tirades a number of times but put it down to the cost of doing business with a large brand that looks great on my company's portfolio. I take great pride in creating software that is stable so thankfully I don't have to deal with him much these days: he has a support contract he pays for, but the service works 99.99% of the time so the phone doesn't ring from him often anymore. We visited #B's office together, #A did his sales talk (which to be fair was very good), and it was obvious my service was a great match for them: I've never been so confident of a sale. Since then, #A's demeanour changed completely. He cut me out of all communication with #B, and then dropped the bombshell on a phone call that he had arranged a deal with #B, and instead of commission, I would subcontract through him. This is a non-starter for me for a number of reasons and I told him as such: if he continues to go down this path we would stop working together entirely. He was somewhat taken aback, said I misunderstood the phone call we had, but two weeks later nothing has changed. I haven't been kept in the loop at all. I took the step of calling #B myself and was told by a staff member (#B wasn't available) that the deal was "progressing nicely". Many people tell me this is insane but to just ignore it: the software is under my intellectual property and copyright, I am the only one in the world who knows how to support it, etc. How technophobe #A thinks he can do this without me is anyone's guess and if he presents me with a contract, I simply refuse to sign it. This is fine, but on the flip side, I have other friends who see this as far more sinister and he is falsely representing my brand, something I should never let happen. Also, they feel I have a responsibility to #B - who may still be my customer one day - who, knowing #A's character, is being promised all sorts of impossible features. Dropping customer #A is an option, but I'd prefer an amicable outcome that grows my business if that is at all possible. My only "must have" is that any relationship between me and #B must be just the two of us however, and not through any 3rd party, not least because #A has proved himself so untrustworthy. Thank you for reading. What would you do? [link] [comments]  |
| Unexpected Death of a Coworker Posted: 12 Jun 2019 01:08 PM PDT This might not be the right place, so I apologize if that's the case, but the company I work for recently experienced the death of our main inside sales rep. It was an entirely unexpected accident and doesn't seem like the owner is sure what would be appropriate to do in this case. He's been the main point of contact for 50-70% of our company's sales for the past 6-7 years. The owner would like to send an e-blast to his client list informing them of the news and sharing a link to the page collecting donations for his funeral. Is this an appropriate way to handle this? Would phone calls make more sense? Any advice on handling this tragic accident at a small company would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2019 05:17 AM PDT How many of you small business owners have mental/emotional breakdowns from the pressure and stress? Last week the pressure and anxiety took me to the point of vomiting and crying (39yr old man, husband, father). I'm generally stable, healthy, exercise, don't drink, read, etc... I make more money than a lot of people 200-250k, but I sometimes envy the guy working at Target living what appears to be a stress-free life. My neighbor owns a small restaurant franchise and just had a mental collapse and was threatening suicide. Do a lot of you experience that type of intense pressure? Is it the modern-day demanding/picky customer that fuels this - knowing any person at any time can go online and trash you, your business, and everything you've worked so hard to build? I've been working on breathing exercises and trying to personally detach as a way to get through it. What do y'all think? [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for advice on the next steps for my online business Posted: 12 Jun 2019 10:02 PM PDT A little background info: I have an online store (amazon's equivalent) in SE Asia, which basically sells women's clothing. Started it out about a year ago, and has been growing steadily ever since. Initial capital was around 250 USD and last month's sales are roughly 1500 USD with a net income of 500 USD. I'm putting everything back in the business as I have a day job and have not taken money for my salary yet. Essentially I have 3 products that have a proven demand so my strategy was to increase the inventory for those 3 products. Questions:
Any comments or suggestions are welcome. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Workers compensation for first employee. Posted: 12 Jun 2019 02:42 PM PDT Hi folks, I run a very small construction outfit and I'm considering pulling on my first employee. Multiple people have recommended I shop around. I'm wondering if any of you have recommendations, thoughts, experiences with WC underwriters in the last year or two. We're essentially a handyman+ service we do finishing and occasionally larger scale remodels as well. Thanks for any advice offered, I appreciate any insights. [link] [comments]  |
| WTF should be in an operating agreement? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 11:34 PM PDT TLDR: In forming an LLC with a partner, when you wrote up your operating agreement: What would you have done differently? What did you do right? Extra Long Did Read: My partner and I have been in the same local industry for the last decade each sailing our own ships. (We are in sewn manufacture and upholstery) A year and a half ago I started working for her after my business tanked suddenly. I worked for her as an employee for several months as I rebuilt my company (again...amiriight??) Things worked out. My company recovered as I continued working part-time for her. She ended up moving her workshop into my warehouse and we organically started merging. Over the last ten months we started hiring together, production scheduling together, and decision making together. It became obvious. We gotta be one company. Now, we're doing the business plan, we're talking to business coaches, and insurance agents and attorneys and running numbers all the fun stuff. We haven't filed for the LLC yet. And before we do that we need an operating agreement. Tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me this might be the most important document I sign throughout this process. I won't do a LegalZoom template fill-in-the-blanks that's gonna fuck me years down the road. Attorneys are expensive and I want to spend that money wisely. Real world experience is invaluable. So I'm asking you r/smallbusiness what should be in there? In your own experience, what SHOULD have been in the operating agreement? What paid off? Do you still have questions? What kind of people are good resources during this process? What posed the biggest challenge in your partnership? Give me your opinions! I'm still figuring this thing out. [link] [comments]  |
| Why Startups and Small Business Fail? My Thirty One reasons.. Posted: 12 Jun 2019 10:56 PM PDT I have compiled thirty one reasons for start-up business failures.Most small business surveys show that the primary reasons for Start-up failure lie in the following areas:
Want to know how not to fail? Read the whole article here. https://www.viralify.me/2019/06/13/why-small-business-fail-thirty-one-reasons-for-start-up-failure/ [link] [comments]  |
| How to get traffic from Quora? Posted: 13 Jun 2019 02:34 AM PDT Hi,guys I am a newbie in online marketing and I got a task which is getting traffic from Quora to our website. I answered 20+ questions and gained over 900+ views in less than 5 days, but the traffic growth is almost 0. Could anyone give any ideas about quora marketing? What type of answers should I write and anything else I need to do to attract more potential customers? [link] [comments]  |
| Best ways to promote a PrintOnDemand store. Suggestions welcome! Posted: 12 Jun 2019 11:20 PM PDT I created a Print on demand store recently mainly selling tshirts. Up for a launch on 16th June. What's the best way to promote the store and get those initial sales? How to spread the word towards potential customers? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2019 12:03 PM PDT So I've been trying to sell custom/small batch guitar pedals (if you don't know, it's what makes a guitar sound gritty or fuzzy, plus there's other effects like reverb and all the spacey ones). I've made a few posts on Reddit about what I build, but don't like advertising, because I don't believe that's what Reddit is for. I rarely even say I sell what I build here. I also use Instagram, as much as I hate it. I haven't gotten a single sale via Instagram despite having 458 followers and plenty of daily profile visits. I know it's not the quality of my product, since what sounds people like is very subjective. It all has to be in exposure and marketing. Both if which I knew would be the hardest part for me getting into this. My pricing, from what I can tell, is competitive. Most of my stuff costs less that what a Boss pedal would cost. My "main" fuzz is $70, while a boss fuzz is $100. But like I said, sound is subjective so not everyone is going to like my fuzz over the Boss. I guess what I'm asking, is what's the best way to work with what I have. I don't have a lot of money to sink into anything, at the moment I'm running on materials I already have to build pedals. I have a small collection, at least 50pc of commonly used electrical components, and a couple of the more expensive parts that would cost a lot to buy in bulk. [link] [comments]  |
| Hate to ask this: How did you find something you were passionate about and follow through with it? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 06:42 PM PDT I would like to start something in my spare time. I do have spare time, but I just can't seem to think of anything good. have any ideas on how to go about this? [link] [comments]  |
| What software should I use to create landing pages, collect customer data and sell products? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 08:08 AM PDT Hey folks. I'm starting a small ecommerce store selling paintings (my own and local artists). Looking for a simple tool that would allow me to build clean landing pages, collect data like name, email, delivery address, and accept payments online, preferably via PayPal or Stripe. Can't afford to pay for a huge platform like Shopify, so please don't suggest that. Thank you very much! P.S Help of anyone who already has a similar business or startup greatly appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Microsoft Access database template for customer relations, invoicing, etc? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 07:33 PM PDT Hey guys, just wondering if anyone knows where I can download a Microsoft Access database so I can put in records of my orders, invoices, customers, phone numbers, etc? I've found a few online but they charge like $200 USD for it. Are there any out there less expensive or free? Cheers [link] [comments]  |
| Software selection services for Small businesses? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 05:48 PM PDT I've been in IT consulting for about 10 years now, and a lot of what I do is software selection engagements - think RFP assistance, ERP (e.g. accounting, purchasing, inventory) selection, fit/gap analysis, implementation vendor evaluation, roadmap development, solution design, etc. Since these result in multi-year, multi-million dollar implementation projects down the road, companies are willing to spend the money before beginning an implementation, to try and make the best choice possible. I've been thinking more and more about how I could go alone on this, and specifically help small businesses with making software purchasing decisions. I could offer other services as well, like Implementation assistance, solution design, etc. The options out there are overwhelming and sales people will tell you whatever it takes. But, I do think this may be a tough market to tap, as these won't be huge dollar value software purchases. Interested in any thoughts here, especially from those in the IT space servicing small biz, and of course small businesses yourself. Is this a problem that needs addressing? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2019 05:41 PM PDT I've owned a small family business for 10 years now. I am pretty sure I am going to have to fire my front desk person. I'm unsure of how unemployment works and if it is better to encourage the employee to resign and how that is done. I know a lot of companies fight their ex employees on unemployment claims, so I'm guessing that's something to avoid by getting the employee to resign. Any advice is greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| If you have a remote business overseas, how do you track finances when you are not there? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 05:30 PM PDT Is there a way to remotely tell and see the transactions your employee made, where the money is going, how much is being sent out and coming in, what are your profits and losses that you made remotely when you're not there? [link] [comments]  |
| Best state for llc? Cryptocurrency atm company Posted: 12 Jun 2019 05:03 PM PDT Doing some research we found Wyoming is a crypto friendly state and easy to file in. Anyone have any sort of opinion on this? We are switching ownership and the old partner wants to dissolve our last llc. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| How to find the "need" in a niche based on "wants"? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 04:52 PM PDT Hi All, I owned a small business in high school and years later I am now trying to start a new business based around my interests in anime and gaming. I hear the phrase "find a need, fill a need" thrown around pretty often. It seems like finding a need in my community is the best way to have a successful business (or so I've heard), but I cant imagine what "need" there is for gamers and anime fans honestly. I want to focus on merch, starting with stickers and console/controller decals. With that area so heavily saturated could it still be considered a need? Any ideas on what an immediate need in this niche could be? [link] [comments]  |
| Best place to sell HTML5 Games? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 04:23 PM PDT Hi I have 2 HTML5 games I'm looking to sell. both are unique browser games, with loads of features. They get around 1-2k page views daily. The games have a decent audience, and with their current game mechanics, they have a very high chance of succeeding. I don't know where to begin on selling these. There's over 3-5 months of time put into each game. Can someone guide me into the right direction? Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| With all the odds against me, I am going to chase my goals! Posted: 12 Jun 2019 03:40 PM PDT I am excited but nervous about launching my first business and need to advice on where to start, how to start and the things I should be reading and doing before it launches. I am starting a t shirt business that uses hemp material. I do not have any experience when it comes to starting a business. I am very excited to be taking action towards my goals. I do not really have any money but I 110% believe in what I want to do, I know it will change lives. What are some basic things to know about entering the t shirt business? I welcome any advice on how to get started thanks in advance! :) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 12 Jun 2019 03:34 PM PDT I work in the health field and have clients that take medical transports for appointments. I saw that in my area the medical transport businesses are coming from a different area to work in mine, so I thought the business has to be good enough for companies to expand to a rural area. I just wonder if the insurance for driving clients around is costly. Would this be a good business to start If I already have a vehicle I can use? [link] [comments]  |
| New LLC making about $100k+/year with wife & I employed - how to maximize retirement? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 03:21 PM PDT Hi smallbusiness, My wife (29) & I (34) recently started our own business with an LLC (taxed as S-Corp) to lower our tax liability. We try to expense as much as we can and keep our personal expenses low (eating, most rent since our office is at home), and we're looking to also maximize our retirement. We both have a respectable salary to pass-through the rest through distributions, but we really want to throttle our savings. We had previously had SEP IRA through Swell Investing (just because of the signup & referral bonuses), but now that we're employed, we've found it's better not to do SEP IRA. Questions:
We're looking to maximize the most tax savings & retirement we can, since we're both used to living quite frugally at like $40k/year and will be making more than double that gross. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting a Pressure Washing company or a Residential/Office cleaning company? Posted: 12 Jun 2019 03:18 PM PDT I'm currently debating between the two. I'm in a city where we have 4 seasons so pressure washing is out of the question during the winter times. I like pressure washing because I find it more niche and less competitive than a home cleaning company. It also seems that you can make more per hour. A residential/office cleaning company can be year round but I find it very competitive. When I do a quick search, there are pages and pages of results on home cleaning. It feels like every mom and aunt started one. However, I do believe if I can market right, I can get more market share. I do plan on hiring staff to scale and eventually doing both and perhaps even more in the future such as heading into industrial cleaning but at the moment I am a one man show with a full time job. Is there a path that someone here would recommend? [link] [comments]  |
| Help advertising a fitness class Posted: 12 Jun 2019 02:16 PM PDT I've opened up a fitness class in a few studios but want to get the word out by holding free public classes at larger events (no equipment needed). Any ideas where to do these or what kind of events to search for? For example, I remember once seeing Zumba have some open class at a Relay for Life event, so I wanted to do something similar. [link] [comments]  |
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