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    Home Unlabelled Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (August 30, 2019) Entrepreneur

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (August 30, 2019) Entrepreneur

    August 30, 2019

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (August 30, 2019) Entrepreneur

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (August 30, 2019)

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 06:16 AM PDT

    Please use this thread to share any accomplishment you care to gloat about, and some lessons learned.

    This is a weekly thread to encourage new members to participate, and post their accomplishments, as well as give the veterans an opportunity to inspire the up-and-comers.

    Since this thread can fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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    [AMA] I am a participant in YCombinator's Startup School 2019

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 10:01 AM PDT

    Hi !

    I am a participant in YCombinator's Startup School 2019 and the admin for the largest Discord for Startup School 2019: https://discord.gg/2nHnfzn

    We use the Discord to find (technical/business) cofounders, give and receive feedback, connect, meet, exchange ideas , support each other in our entrepreneurial journeys and share our successes (for example: one of our members went from 0 to 25K USD in MRR in just 6 months !)

    This year, more than 20K people signed up for Startup School. Hopefully some of you will join us for Startup School 2020 ! In the mean time, you can already join the Discord: https://discord.gg/2nHnfzn

    I am here to answer any questions you might have about Startup School or anything else related to it !

    https://www.startupschool.org/

    EDIT: Startup School is essentially 3 things:

    1. Video Group Sessions with other participants in the program where you train your pitch, give feedback and share obstacles and successes once a week.
    2. Lessons given by YC partners (you can also access them without being part of the program on their Youtube Channel).
    3. Updates you need to submit once a week where you rate your own morale from 1 to 10, weeks-to-launch and the number of users you have talked to.

    Next to this, you also get:

    4) Exclusive free deals for your startup (for example, credits in large amounts) for services and products from companies like Google, Segment or FullStory and many many others.

    5) A forum only for Startup School participants.

    6) A directory of the startups participating.

    The program lasts 10 weeks and to graduate, you need to submit 8 updates on 10 and have attended 8 video group sessions on 10.

    Finally, if you graduate Startup School, you have a chance to win a 15K USD grant (equity free) by applying to YC. If you are accepted to YC though, you are no longer eligible for the 15K USD grant (instead, you join the accelerator for their core program and they invest 150K USD in your startup).

    submitted by /u/__Player1__
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    We automated a client’s business and reduced his number of employees on payroll from 5 to 1.

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 03:53 AM PDT

    Three weeks back we had the opportunity of meeting few offline business owners at a local event. We met one particular business owner who had recently inherited his father's drugs and medical equipment wholesale business. Upon further discussion he disclosed to us that he hated it. The business apparently was heavily dependent on low skilled yet permanent employees and how they needed constant supervision thus there was not a single day that he could take off.

    We were looking for leads and this looked like a perfect opportunity for us to implement automation in an offline/non-internet business where automation is usually not so popular.

    This was his entire work flow-

    1. His business had a total of 900+ regular clients who were usually store owners and retailers that were spread across the state.
    2. Out of which 400+ placed orders on a daily basis through emails and calls.
    3. When every time someone placed an order, an employee of his would check the inventory software to check live inventory status of the drugs and if it was available or not and then send an order confirmation / cancellation mail to the store owner.
    4. After sending the confirmation they would print the invoice and pass it on to the warehouse where the order was packed and shipped.

    The issues-

    1. He had 5 employees to handle the order requests and even when a single of them remained absent, he used to lose business.
    2. Checking each order and confirming/cancelling them used to take about 30 minutes where a cancellation sometimes used to lead to bad reputation among the store owners.

    The solution-

    1. We understood that all of the 5 employees only had one major function, that is to read emails from store owners and then check the stock status in the software and confirm or cancel the order, this happened because the store was unable to see the livestock status of the wholesaler himself. So we wrote a python script to read and extract all the inventory from the software and update it in live to a google sheet.
    2. Now store owners with whom the google sheet was shared could view the live inventory and order accordingly.
    3. We also wrote a script to download all the order mails, read and save the order list (customer and corresponding date wise) in another sheet. Now all it required was one employee to check the google sheet and prepare the invoice to pass on to the warehouse. Thus reducing the number of employees required to handle the orders to 1.

    We deployed the system and within 5 days he had removed 4 of his employees forever. It costed him $900 to save $1000 every month and to bring efficiency into his business. Here is a wireframe of the system that we deployed for him.

    But does a business always need to be under stress so as to adopt automation ? No. Any business looking for efficiency and lower operating expenses should look into automating the workflow. Often offline and non-internet companies underestimate what automation can do for them like in this case- it brought back freedom to the business owner. If you want to know how your business processes can be automated and want to reduce your expenses then feel free to reach out to send me a PM or you can mail me at [info@abtris.com](mailto:info@abtris.com)

    For programmers interested in learning how to automate businesses I would suggest to start by reading " Automate the boring stuffs by - Al Sweigart ". Would definitely change the way you look at a business.

    submitted by /u/SwabhimanBaral
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    "If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs." -Derek Sivers

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 08:19 AM PDT

    Let me put that another way: If you've been searching for a business idea for more than a week, it's time to face your laziness problem.

    submitted by /u/trader644
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    Don't take customers that are looking for a cheaper price.

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 03:43 AM PDT

    Just took one, even though I knew not to, to fill an empty half a day. Now she's dragging our crew through the mud for every spec she finds. Writing this as I have received an A-OK from her, packed our stuff, sat in a car setting up GPS to another client and she came out of the house because she found some dust inside the frame of one window.

    We are unloading our microfibers now to accommodate. And then she again found something she disliked. And the sun is coming out. Kill me.

    Edit: In the end she was just cheap and wanted a discount like they always do, not an impeccable service. I let my guys do the thing and she insisted that I'd come too. After ignoring her initial request and doing some office work, I came to check how all was and she struggled to find specs to point at, but gleefully hunted for more. 20 Eur discount and the she forgot all about her mission for quality.

    These people make me sick.

    submitted by /u/stasik5
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    Farming is way Underrated

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 02:41 AM PDT

    So much hullaballoo and gatekeeping surrounding farming.

    It doesn't have to be big. You don't have to be a redneck. You don't have to live too far from a city or the suburbs. You don't need to 100s of thousands in expensive equipment.

    Where does a startup/new farmer gain a competitive advantage? Well it certainly ain't gonna be in old staples like corn or soybeans (though some 1st gen farmers have proven to make successes there too.... Gavin Spoor is literally a college student with over 200 acres of farmland, and he's making massive cash doing it part time).

    There's tonnes of crops and products that fit the bill:

    High tech horticulture, aquaponics, microgreens, high value fish farming, blueberries, hazelnuts.... Just depends on the climate. These guys are literally making 10s of thousands on mushrooms in a shack!

    Sure, you'll be out-competed on corn and soybeans by the guy with the 5,000,000 Euro farm and the 500,000 Combine. But that's the problem, don't go into competition with those guys!

    Curtis the Urban Farmer is a great example.

    Stay:

    1.) High value.

    2.) Local.

    3.) Fresh.

    then you're good to go, with often low startup capital costs, and high ROI!

    submitted by /u/NorthVilla
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    I made my first ever sale today!

    Posted: 29 Aug 2019 02:49 PM PDT

    In fact, I made 11! Totalling £450 in revenue totalling in £380 pretax profit!

    It's been a long and hard journey to get to this point.

    The most important thing I've done was to build my audience before launching the product. I amassed 220 email subscribers who registered interest in my product.

    This grew from finding my target audience on Instagram and creating valuable resonating content for them. I also ran ads in order to test my proposition and to validate if people would intend to buy the product or not (smoke test).

    It's early days but the fact I've sold something for real now makes it REAL!

    The secret is, the product doesn't exist yet. It's a pre-order purchase. It will help me learn if the price point is correct, and if people actually buy it (And they are! Whoop!)

    Just thought I'd share a little victory after a long year of iterative product development and market research.

    EDIT: I really really appreciate the positive support from you guys. It's really reassuring to know I'm on the right path. Thanks for your encouragement! I'll write up how I got here in more detail in another post.

    submitted by /u/hellvetican
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    Any suggested readings on corporate job positions?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 10:43 AM PDT

    Hi,

    I just finished reading E-Myth and I was really blown away about the intricacies of the Organization Chart and the relations of each position to one another. I realized I have soooooo much to learn still.

    Can anyone please recommend books about what each position entails (CEO, COO, CMO) and how a company functions?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/Tigero123
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    Live Chat Window for site?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 01:33 PM PDT

    I want to add a live chat window for my wordpress website so that customers can contact me. Is there a good free plugin that will work? All I need is that I can use it on my phone and that it lets me input times that Ill be offline

    submitted by /u/lightningrunaway
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    How to create pictures/videos for kickstarter/indiegogo projects?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 07:40 AM PDT

    Hey experts! I believe when people create campaigns on those platforms, sometimes those products do not yet exist.

    If so, how did the creators have high-resolution pictures and videos of their products? Did they pay a graphics studio to insert the yet-to-exist product into videos? What are some examples of such studios and how much does this cost?

    Ty

    submitted by /u/firefirehelphelp
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    Career opportunity vs Startup

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 02:46 PM PDT

    Hey everyone,

    In the company I work as a project manager I have a good chance to take over the operations by becoming the COO during next year. The company is growing really quickly (~90 employees) and is expecting a funding soon. This could be a great career opportunity as I am still quite young (25).

    On the other hand I have a side project with a friend which I also deeply believe in, where I'd need to show my full commitment towards end of this year by leaving the company.

    How would you approach the situation? I am really torn apart between a workplace I love which potentially gives me great advancements in my career soon vs finally founding a company (2nd time) which I ultimately really want to do!

    submitted by /u/Nanoxin
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    How in the hell is a small business supposed to acquire funding?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 02:02 PM PDT

    So for starters I'm in Canada, I'm not sure if things work differently in the US or not but to say small business lending is a fucking disaster here is a glorious understatement. Banks aren't allowed lending working capital to businesses here. The only bank allowed to do this is the BDC, which is supposed to be a non-profit set up to help small businesses grow however with their monopoly on business lending they seem to be basically run like a for profit. So that basically leaves private lenders with hilariously high "interest" rates that "aren't interest" because "it's not a loan". I'm pretty sure I could get more favorable rates from the mob... One of the offers I got involved no joke a 45% fee on a 3.5 month term. I couldn't believe it. I was legitimately insulted he even thought I'd consider taking that offer.

    Now obviously there are credit cards, line of credit, etc... but those aren't exactly easy to get on a good day and you're still paying 20% in interest a year on any credit card debt. There is one type of business loan you're able to get from banks in Canada which is backed by the government however it can only be used for big purchases like leasing/buying machinery/equipment, property, renos, that type of stuff.

    So how the hell are you supposed to grow? I'm at a point now where it's getting incredibly exasperating and I'm having a legitimately hard time motivating myself to push forward. I've basically managed on hitting about 450,000CAD in sales through sheer force of will but I'm plateauing really bad as a result of a lack of cash flow. As some additional context without giving too much away about myself it's an online retail store focusing on a specialty/niche market that also allows for local pick-ups. The industry I'm in is a mess with incredibly inconsistent release dates causing items to often all come out at the same time and none of the distributors offer net terms which if they did would basically solve my problem. If anyone wants to discuss the specifics in more detail feel free to message me.

    I basically need to find either an investor or even better would be a partner but it's essentially impossible. The most frustrating thing is I don't need 500,000$. I literally need 25-50k to streamline everything, take a few steps back, then regrow sustainably. Basically after 3-4 years of blood, sweat, and tears it's turned into a bit of a Frankenstein's monster. I know what I need to do to fix things long term and position myself in the best way possible going forward but without any ability to acquire any kind of funding it's very difficult. The main issue I'm facing is that finance guys have no interest because "retail is dead" and it being a niche industry makes it too small potatoes for them to care and the people who are interested because they're passionate about that stuff don't have any money.

    submitted by /u/Mlrkey
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    How do I complete market research on a business idea without giving the idea away?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 02:02 PM PDT

    As the title suggests, I am curious how to go about completing market research/survey prospective clients without handing the business idea to someone. I would assume that being a bit vague when asking questions could help this. Or do you have to commit to putting all the information out there to collect reliable data? Thank you for the input in advance!

    submitted by /u/FutureSuccessIThink
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    [USA] If you are registering an LLC for an online business can you register it in any state?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT

    I'm registering an LLC for my online business soon and I want to know how it works when registering in a state. Obviously it's cheaper in some than others. Can I pick any one that I like? Or does it have to be my state of residence? Could I use a family members address if I wanted?

    submitted by /u/pterodactylwizard
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    ABQ-based startup is looking for a us based digital marketer/co-founder with web design skills to join the team.

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 01:51 PM PDT

    ABQ-based startup is looking for a digital marketer/co-founder with web design skills to join the team. The startup's goal is to become the LinkedIn of esports. It has early sign ups from 25 college teams varying in size from 40 to 200 students. It was recently accepted into an accelerator program out of a large applicant pool and upon completion of the program will receive a seed investment of 100k and follow on seed round from network of investors. It also has a contracted developer to assist in mvp development and some starting funding from a UNM program.

    ​

    The startup has 9 mos. of customer development behind it. The digital marketer needs to be proficient in copywriting, facebook advertising, seo, sao, and discord if possible. Marketing strategy is flexible though as the startup has garnered all its sign ups through landing pages and customer development. B2C with light B2B. Web design skills highly preferred, we need help with the look of our ui :). 10 to 15 hours a week. Pay will be limited if it all during the 12 weeks. This will occur for 12 weeks. Initially, the digital marketer will join the team in the accelerator program to launch the startup process faster. Subsequent to the program the startup team will go full time and will be able to pay salary. Founder will be offered compensation in the form of equity and later on salary. Moving to Albuquerque is not required as the work can be remote. Relocation to team's location will though eventually be necessary following accelerator program and following seed round investment. If anyone fitting this description is looking for a startup to join while it goes through accelerator here is your chance.

    submitted by /u/E2e1el
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    Web Development Business

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 01:49 PM PDT

    Hi Guys, really struggling to turn my hobby of building custom we applications for small business into a small business (4 years experience). Had a couple of clients over the past year who were extremely happy with there results but havent had anything for a few months now. Is my price of 10 pound per hour too cheap or something ? All advice is appreciated. Check out my siteshttps://www.picklered.com/ and https://tradingcompared.co.uk

    submitted by /u/fulleylove
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    How should I charge for this?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 09:58 AM PDT

    I have a client who's come back to me after being very happy with a previous site wanting me to manage another site of theirs I did not make. This site by their own acknowledgement is a piece of shit and has a lot of issues and it's in Wordpress, which I'm proficient in but by no means an expert.

    They occasionally come to me with problems and I'm not sure how to charge for it, I don't know how long fixes will take as it's not my website and I feel like hourly is awkward because they may expect to pay $100 and I may end up charging $800 based on time spent, how do I handle this?

    submitted by /u/durantt0
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    Looking to start a business, which of these has potential?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 09:51 AM PDT

    #1: Sales presentations for creative agencies looking to land major clients.

    #2: Fix 10+ marketing problems in a business (consulting).

    #3: Automated RSS email newsletter implementation for startups.

    ​

    Notes:

    - My experience is in corporate marketing (ex-Marketing Manager) and all of these ideas were part of my responsibilities.

    - Someone had mentioned that I should do courses - not sure what would be popular in the marketing space these days.

    - I did a similar post on this but adding prices ruined the whole discussion lol.

    submitted by /u/trevteam
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    From idea popping into my head to almost 400 users

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 04:44 AM PDT

    Last year, I was really into sports - calisthenics to be specific. Was doing workouts quite a lot. At that time, I was using some random apps that would help me schedule my week and track some progress. Every single app I tried was lacking something. So being a software developer for my whole life I thought that I should make one myself.

    In some random way I made a cooperation with largest calisthenics group in the UK - United Calisthenics Group - so exercise videos and other content was not an issue anymore.

    Painful 6 months later (I have a full-time job, wife and still was coding a side project) I launched first version of Caliverse. I must say that this process have taught me a lot - from how to make apps (I'm a web developer myself), all kinds of server infrastructure things to how to make connections, market and promote myself for free. What I still don't know - how should I make money of this project since I really like offering people this all for free but I value my time as well. This is the tricky part.

    But all in all, I must say, that this was super interesting journey so far and I hope it will bring much more in the future.

    If you want to try Caliverse out:

    iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/caliverse/id1472004214

    Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.caliverseapps.caliverse

    submitted by /u/caliverse
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    Where can I buy instagram accounts?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 01:22 PM PDT

    Where can I buy instagram accounts? Any telegram groups you guys can link me, etc?

    submitted by /u/istillfeelalone
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    Anyone Working as a Consultant? I have some questions...

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:55 PM PDT

    I'm thinking of getting into consulting, but don't know much about the actual process of it.

    What are the most common problems you're asked to solve for your clients?

    Do you do the work yourself, or outsource it?

    What's your typical rate? Is it hourly or per project?

    How do you go about finding your clients? What's the best way to convince them you could benefit their business?

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/eyal8r
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    Best local business options?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:52 PM PDT

    I've seen some quality posts here that say cleaning, painting, window cleaning, and a few others are very good.

    I'm going to be outsourcing the work, so I think cleaning may be the best option to find work.

    Anyone have any thoughts?

    submitted by /u/LopsidedSolution
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    Where do you find Parts for mass manufacturing Products?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:34 PM PDT

    So as I´ve seen it, most businesses manufacture their electronics, parts and such in house and "bare-bones" with lithography or other advanced manufacturing techniques.

    But I do not need my custom parts, but I don´t think I can just buy branded Boards and use them (Right? I´m not sure)

    Even if, where do I find Parts (Processors, ESC´s, Radios, Batteries etc.) for manufacturing electrical and other complex products? (Also where I can order 1000 Units at least)

    submitted by /u/BlueSpottedDickhead
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    Made a short "Design for Developer" cheat sheet for the developers out there who want their product to be beautiful!

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:33 PM PDT

    Hello everyone!

    While it is always better to hire a professional UI/UX designer for your product, sometimes we do not want to spend too much before validating our idea or concept. However, it is still important that the product looks nice and clean!

    We made a short cheat sheet for developers out there that could benefit from learning a little more about design. Hopefully it will be helpful to some of you.

    Keep up the hard work everyone!

    Cheat sheet: https://imgur.com/a/MhHSRvX

    submitted by /u/appandflow
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    If you could start an instagram marketing service or a video editing service, which would you start?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:31 PM PDT

    and why?

    I have some experience in both and need to start a "side hustle", which one should I focus on? I believe you should have 1 focus or youll get scattered

    submitted by /u/mnfloro
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    Stretching Too Thin?

    Posted: 30 Aug 2019 12:28 PM PDT

    Well all know that having more than one revenue stream is vital to business growth and success. The meat and potatoes of my business is going to be handmade custom furniture for a very specific niche. In addition to this, I also want to produce a YouTube channel primarly for marketing and driving traffic (and hopefully sales) to my website. I also plan on posting weekly/monthly content on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram that drives traffic to the YouTube channel and website combined.

    Of course, if the subscriptions reach target, I'll be able to monotize the channel with niche specific ads, but Im also considering adding a lootcrate service thats centered around the product and niche. There are a few on the market for said niche, but I want to really expand and elevate the genre.

    In addition, Im thinking about outsourcing the development of an social app that ties it all together.

    Finally, as Im also an author, I considering writing a novel; a psuedo-autobiography about my journery during this entire business building process. I want to include a free copy as part of the purchase of the main product, as well as the lootcrate.

    Im worried I may be spreading myself too thin and want to come up with a timeframe for adding all these different entities to the business without getting overwhelmed.

    Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

    submitted by /u/Soul33s1
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