Tired of getting hit up for donations? small business |
- Tired of getting hit up for donations?
- My nearest competitor just went out of business. What would you do??
- Definite Guide for a know-nothing Marketer(business owner) to understand Search Engine Optimisation
- Found the perfect location, rent or go into buisness with the landlord
- Facebook Ads - E-commerce
- Wemu, Your Ultimate Business Companion!
- Are you not getting enough sales?
- What are your marketing needs?
- Turning down a close friend who wants to be a part of a small burger restaurant I am looking at opening. What are your experiences?
- Marketing help (former employee is competing with me)
- Seeking recommendations for investing with our LLC
- Does your business care about getting feedback from customers?
- Canadian LTD needing to operate in America
- Biz ideas directed towards an aging population?
- Is business school worth it? Also just curious about general advice. Especially from record store owners.
- What happens if business owner dies or is incapacitated suddenly?
- Looking to get booth for convention? Is it worth it? Home and Garden show for garden design business
- Merchant for Small Business in Canada
- I would like to hire a freelancer to take on some of my overflow projects. But have no idea where to start
- What job title would I use for someone doing my paperwork side of things?
- The Business of Management - Daily Small Business Advice to Help Keep You Going - Lesson 1: Standardize (Re-Post)
- This (hopefully) is a very simple question I’ve had trouble answering on google- when recording monthly sales, do I count a sale from the time the invoice is sent, or from when I receive the check?
- In the middle of creating a business, need help opening a bank account...
- Changing a name..
| Tired of getting hit up for donations? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 02:32 PM PDT Title says it all. We get multiple requests per week to sponsor a hole at a golf tournament. It didn't used to be bad, usually $50. But now it seems like sponsorships start at $100. Want your name on the t-shirts? That'll be $200. Wouldn't you want to bump it up to Platinum sponsorship for $500? Then we'll say your name at the tournament. Multiply that times the 20 or so every summer...it never ends. Spanish club wants to go to Spain: do mom and dad buck up to send Sally to Spain? Hell no, let's hit up the businesses. Johnny has cancer, we are selling t-shirts. Let's ask the businesses to "sponsor" the shirts. Every school function, booster club, sports team, on and on and on. We used to have fundraisers all the time, but we came up with the money to put it on, paid our expenses, and the profit was ours to keep. Recently I've noticed the most ridiculous trend. People have these grand ideas to have some sort of crazy fundraiser. They hit up all of the local businesses to sponsor EVERYTHING. Food sponsors, drink sponsors, shirts, coolie cups, bounce houses...you get the idea. People come up with the idea, but have zero resources to actually put it on, they just walk down the street with their hand out. 2 local churches had a great idea to provide snacks to local kids in need (they put snacks inconspicuously in kids' backpacks so they have something to eat at home.) It's a great idea, and normally I'd be all for it. Here's the kicker...they have done it for one week, ONE WEEK, and they're broke. One of the ministers came to me today asking for a monetary donation, suggestion was $100. He said that they are out of snacks and money. WELL, THEN WHY THE F ARE YOU DOING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE? They post on Facebook about the great things they are doing and get all the praise for helping our kids. In reality, all they are doing is begging for money, buying some snacks and handing them out. If I wanted to buy snacks for kids (which I don't mind helping out) I would do it myself and I'll take the Facebook accolades. I have an easier time with the mass mailings: easy to toss in the trash. But when Rev. Stevie shows up at your door with his hand out, I have a hard time saying no. Mind you, I'm running a funeral home in a town of about 5,000. They send someone who just used my funeral home for a family service, how can I say no to that? Maybe my past generosity has me labeled as a sure thing, because it seems like they always say "You're my first stop." Well thanks for thinking of me first. (eyes rolling out of my head.) Do you all get hit up for donations? Do you feel an obligation to donate? Do you turn people down? Sorry to rant, and I don't want to seem like I don't want to help out. I do plenty. It sucks because I feel like I need to pick up a second job just to sponsor everything. [link] [comments]  |
| My nearest competitor just went out of business. What would you do?? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 01:52 PM PDT I run a small, locally based service based tech firm. We are doing well in our local market and industry, but are still fairly small company of 3 people. My biggest competitor was bought by an out of state company about 7 months ago, and just last week announced that they have let all the employees go and are closing their doors. What would you do? How can I capitalize on this situation? It seems the company that bought them mismanaged their customers. I had heard a few poor reports or doubling prices, not informing the clients, and not responding to emails. [link] [comments]  |
| Definite Guide for a know-nothing Marketer(business owner) to understand Search Engine Optimisation Posted: 26 Aug 2019 10:10 PM PDT Is SEO Really free?SEO is very difficult to understand and even more difficult to make someone understand who is not technical. It's still a mystery how exactly the Search Engine Optimisation(SEO) works and how a website gets ranked by Google. So today I am going to make an attempt to help you understand how this Search Engine Optimisation works. So this is a definite guide for a know-nothing marketer(business owner) to understand Search Engine Optimisation. So as an agency owner sometimes it is really difficult to make a Client understand how SEO works and how to justify the cost. Let's dive in and understanding what is SEO and how does it work! First of all, I wanted to make something clear that SEO is free traffic but its not technically free. There is a lot of costs involved in getting a website on top of the search engine for a specific keyword but when it reaches the top of the search engine you will get unlimited free traffic or for the people who are searching for it. So the best way to explain how SEO works is going through an example. So let's say Max being a business owner hires a freelancer, Chris to rank his website for the keyword. So let's say for example… Max tells Chris that he wants to rank his website for the keyword "CRM Software". So First, Chris will research keywords. I will give a brief explanation of how this research works. First, he will go to Google and search for the keyword itself and see what are the top 10 results showing up and what is the user intent behind that keyword, based on this he will have an understanding that what kind of content that needs to be created to rank that website. Once you understand what kind of content needs to be there Now he needs to go into every article that is ranking and do a simple audit. how that content is structured, what kind of topics are they covering? Once Chris understands this then he can decide how the content should be and how much the length should have to be That's right guys! that's how you decide the length of the content. I have seen a lot of people just assuming that it's 500, 1000 or 2000 words will rank just because it has words in it but it doesn't work like that, it's not about the quantity of the words about the quality of the content and mainly it's about the user intent. you have to understand the intent behind that keyword that you are going after. Once that is done, then Chris will do keyword research using tools ( there are free tools and there are paid tools available ). So this cost is also included in the package. Why we need to keyword research is because even if you think CRM software is important for your business, it still depends on your business goals. If you want leads out of a CRM software but the user inter behind it is not commercial then there is no use to rank for that CRM software. you will generate traffic but not leads. Keyword research roughly takes somewhere around 4 to 5 hours minimum. I have to spend more time on keyword research than that but let's take an average. Once you understand all the related keywords and the content structure needs to be in the place. Then we can think about different keywords and content that will be interlinked together. Once the keyword and the content part is done then the next part is a Backlink. This is the most Misunderstood part in SEO and people still use the 2009 techniques that don't work in 2019. Let's make something clear here, creating backlink doesn't mean to create random links on a comment post, creating profiles on forms website and article directory. That used to work in 2009, now if you use this it's never going to work or you can get penalized. The way we find out the backlinks we need to create is by analyzing the competitor's backlink and for that use a third-party tool called Ahrefs (it's around $95 per month, that's right! ) Now what we have to do is put all the 10 websites that rank on Google for the keyword and check out their backlink profile. And try to outreach every person who is linking to them and ask them. can they link back to us? Sometimes they will say yes, sometimes they will ask for money and sometimes they will say no. And one more thing you need to understand is that not every backlink is created equal for example your computer has a link from entrepreneur.com. And if you try to create a backlink from small blogs and expect them to outrank. That's not going to happen, you need to find a way to get a backlink from the same source (there are a lot of techniques to do that). So once that list is ready. You can start outreaching them and ask them to link back to your article or add a guest post on your website and then link back to your article (there are many techniques to do that I am not going to get into the details I just want you to understand how the process works) Doing all this process can take up to three to six months depending on the difficulty of the keyword means you need to outsmart the other person's SEO work.
Now you can understand there are a lot of costs involved when it comes to rank a keyword and I didn't consider the cost of the guy who is doing all of these things for you. (His time and expertise) It may be free traffic once your rank for that keyword. (SEO is a never-ending process. you cannot stop doing SEO, once you are on the top if you do that someone else will outrank you.) I hope now you understand when SEO says it will take $2000 or $3000 per month and it's going to be a 6 or 12 months contract. He is not asking for too much. And if someone says I can do it for $1oo and will rank it in 2 to 3 months you should just run as far as you can from that guy. There is another fun fact or hack about social media. Comment has more weight than like. So if you like this post and it helps you in any way? And if you want to get a Free SEO audit for your website hit me up @ [saratnairdigital@gmail.com](mailto:saratnairdigital@gmail.com) :) [link] [comments]  |
| Found the perfect location, rent or go into buisness with the landlord Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:43 AM PDT Hey, guys, I'm looking for advice on a scenario that must come up often in business. I've found the ideal location for a small Hotel which I want to start. The landlord is open to suggestions on how we can work together. The location is just a shell at the moment which needs a lot of work done to it do get it ready for the business. The landlord owns a construction company and is happy to fit it out to what is required. As far as I can see my options are: 1) Rent / Lease only. This is the simplest option/ the norm and what I'm used to with my other business. This keeps things simple but leaves me with almost all of the risk/upside. The landlord will take care of the renovation and fit-out in return for a monthly rental. Terms to be agreed. Advantages. Keep full ownership of the company. Disadvantages. Higher monthly rental to make up for renovation costs. Need a strong lease agreement. (Certainty for me that I can run the business long term + break clauses). The landlord could theoretically take over the business if he saw it doing well, kick me out and take over. 2) Business Partnership. We go into business together. The landlord would offer a discounted rent in return for a stake in the company and its future profits. Advantages. Access to finance from the landlord for set-up costs. Reduced rent. Reduced risk. The landlord is much less likely to want to kick out his own business being a part-owner. Having a (Silent) business partner for help and advice. Disadvantages. Loss of company ownership, profit sharing. Obviously, there are a number of variables to consider when making a decision and structuring a deal. Are there any other things I should be thinking about and do you have any advice and recommendations? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 27 Aug 2019 03:41 AM PDT Hi guys, Yesterday I opened my first E-commerce site. ( https://giftdistrikt.com/ ) Should I invest straight away into facebook ad's? What are the first steps I should take before doing this, I can't wait to feel the rush of my first sale! [link] [comments]  |
| Wemu, Your Ultimate Business Companion! Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:09 AM PDT Hello! I'm Angela Evans from Wemu Applications, the ultimate business tool! We are launching our app for striving small businesses and solopreneuers. Wemu will be able to cover all of your online busines needs effortlessly anytime anywhere. The app includes online reservations, POS, inventory, Customer management, invoicing and insight reports on your sales. You can check out our website at www.wemu.io or follow us on instagram @wemu.io Please reply back with your email so I can send you some more details! Email: angela@wemu.co [link] [comments]  |
| Are you not getting enough sales? Posted: 27 Aug 2019 02:40 AM PDT Are you not getting enough salea?if yes let me help you.i have a digital marketing agency I can have a look at your business and may tell you what improvements you might need. I am doing this for free [link] [comments]  |
| What are your marketing needs? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 12:39 PM PDT As a marketer with an entrepreneurial spirit, I'm playing with the idea of starting my own marketing business. With that said, I plan to focus my target market on small business owners. I hope you guys can give me valuable feedback as you are target market! The consumer problem: small business owners either lack the time, the money, or knowledge to implement marketing. Marketing is significantly important when trying to grow a small business and is a crucial process in operations. The service: offering marketing consultation, assessments, planning, developing, campaign creation, marketing automation, social media, content creation, branding, buyer journey analysis, advertising, marketing management, etc. The whole idea is to be the partner that a small business owner can lean on when it comes to marketing. There's no question or request too small or too large, we're here to support you! If you don't have the time, I put in the time, get you the answers or help you save time by automating it. If you don't have the money, I'll give you the best plan or answers for whatever budget you're working with. Throughout the service, I'll educate you in the process to make sure you're learning as well. The whole business stands on the idea of supportive and personable solutions for success because I understand that every small business is unique. The service you get will be tailored to your needs through a partnership we develop. Like I said, I want to be the partner you can lean on when it comes to your small business marketing. So, do you think you would use this service? What are your marketing needs/problems? What services would you want to see? Any advice or concerns? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 09:31 PM PDT My friend (22M, call him sam) And I (22m) are front runners in a race to open a small burger shop in our local area inside a pub. Another mate - Nick was the first person I told about this opportunity, and he actually told this idea to Sam. We sat down and had a talk about the opportunity and were all very excited to build the business we all love. I've known Sam for a while, and I do believe he has good work ethics, is going about business with the right mindset and intentions and is professional in every business encounter we've had. Nick on the other hand has been my childhood friend however he's awfully bad at following through with anything he says hell do, makes excuses the shit he does and loves to get fucked up every night of the week. Taking this into consideration, we've decided to not involve Nick into the business because he has nothing valuable or insightful to offer. We haven't told him yet however he does have the feeling were "booting him out" because he thought that we would mention him in the presentation, like he is an important figure in our shop. we also did invite him to come attend the meeting but he cancelled the night before saying he had family issues - we saw his Snapchats and he was out getting fucked. We're waiting on the "yes" at the moment, so I've decided to hold off telling him were not goigto have him on board until after in case it further ruins the friendship. I honestly don't know why he's expecting a cut of this, the only thing he's done is link me and Sam together. My only responses to him now are "we will talk about it after we get the yes" Is my approach right? Should I be more upfront about this so he doesn't get his hopes up or should I just do what I plan on doing, leaving it until later? Also, you guys had any experiences with this? [link] [comments]  |
| Marketing help (former employee is competing with me) Posted: 26 Aug 2019 09:27 PM PDT Looking for help with marketing/advertising. I own a small glass shop in a rural community. The father-in-law of one of my employees, and the employee have started a new company and are now competing with me. I heard an ad of theirs on the radio for the first time yesterday. I'm a little concerned about having a new competitor, but I'm not too concerned because they brag about having the lowest prices and that's not where I compete. Marketing is not my strong suit and I'm not sure if I should spend the money on it to squash the new guy. It's tempting, but it might be a waste because I don't compete on low prices. Any thoughts? [link] [comments]  |
| Seeking recommendations for investing with our LLC Posted: 26 Aug 2019 12:19 PM PDT Hey r/smallbusiness, my business partner and I (50/50) have finally began pulling a significant profit <$100k in our commercial account. We are seeking a financial advisor as to what to do with these profits i.e. 401k, stock investing, etc. Any recommendations for online resources to prepare ourselves before meeting with them? Is our local Wells Fargo or Edward Jones a generally solid option to approach about this? Should we approach a CPA instead of a FA? Any suggestions/resources are welcome. Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Does your business care about getting feedback from customers? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 08:02 PM PDT I'm curious if your small business prioritizes finding ways to gather customer feedback? If so, what methods do you use, what do you do with the feedback and what industry? If not, why not and what industry? [link] [comments]  |
| Canadian LTD needing to operate in America Posted: 26 Aug 2019 01:55 PM PDT My partner and I have a business based in Canada but we do a lot of work in the US and we are to the point that having a US bank is becoming required and we want to bring on some US employees. My thought was to open a US LLC in Wyoming or something and have it owned by our Canadian company. I obviously want to avoid being double taxed and avoid doing anything illegal. Though the least amount of adminstration overhead would be good too. Does anyone know if I'm going the right direction? Or who would we even consult about this a US lawyer? Canadian? Accountant? [link] [comments]  |
| Biz ideas directed towards an aging population? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 07:53 PM PDT I live in a town thats population is aging. It also attracts grey nomads pretty much year round. How can I capitalise on the aging population? What businesses can be directed towards older people? I am in Australia. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 07:25 PM PDT I'm currently enrolled in general studies and would like to someday own a record store that also sells band shirts, skateboards, guitars, and other miscellaneous things. I'm wondering if business classes are worth it and also curious as to what advice you might have? I'm about 5 years away from my goal and plan to save $30,000 for a location and renovations. Not planning on having any employees and don't know much about taxes. Any advice helps! Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| What happens if business owner dies or is incapacitated suddenly? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 05:58 AM PDT Family business, older owner. He's extremely disorganized and on the brink of either a physical or mental health crisis. We are doing what we can but just in case — what happens I am event like this? There are huge business and personal debts/loans, two brick and mortar rents, a bunch of employees, etc. Does the business just get liquidated ASAP? There are two managers we could "will" the business to but I doubt they want the debt. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking to get booth for convention? Is it worth it? Home and Garden show for garden design business Posted: 26 Aug 2019 02:46 PM PDT I do garden design and install, if I get two jobs from this event over five days it'll pay for itself. It is a thousand dollars for a booth at the MN home and garden show, is it worth it do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| Merchant for Small Business in Canada Posted: 26 Aug 2019 02:43 PM PDT I'm currently looking for a good merchant provider that will accept digital good sales in Canada, any answers are much appreciated. Also interested about chargebacks and any advice on how to deal with them when selling digital goods. Thank you in advance [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 06:24 PM PDT I would like to hire someone to take on some of my overflow projects. But have no idea how to pay them, how to do taxes on them and anything involved with getting started. What is a good resource to get started? [link] [comments]  |
| What job title would I use for someone doing my paperwork side of things? Posted: 26 Aug 2019 10:51 AM PDT I need to hire someone who will be doing secretary duties, basic bookkeeping duties, assisting me when needed, posting things on social media, paperwork, etc. I don't have time to do these things myself anymore. I'm a very small business, so I only need one person part time to do these things. It's very basic and minor. I want to get a business college student to help me out, so I want this experience to be useful to them on their resume in the future when they're looking for a full-time job with a big company. Google has way too many options. Office administrator or executive assistant or something else? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 06:14 PM PDT Posted this in the morning as the start to an advice post I want to start doing for other small business owners. Its gone for some reason, even though it got really great responses. Posting again. Happy Monday and Best Business Wishes! Short Intro: I have been a part of this subreddit for a couple of months now. Admittedly, I came here to try and find leads for my own business, but found a really nice little community of people giving each other real help and I am here to do that very same thing. By profession, I am a Senior Advisory Consultant for a firm in DC that deals predominantly with Government agencies and large corporations where I focus on Financial Management Operations, Strategic Planning, Budget, and Financial Reporting. A few months ago my wife and I decided to begin the process of shedding the corporate yoke and start a business of our own, and there began the life of Terragon Solutions LLC. I provide small business owners, sole proprietors, and individuals with business management advisory services, strategy, budget, career counseling, interview coaching, and project management support to help get their own business and ventures off the ground. Working in the corporate and federal worlds have their own challenges and rewards, but at the end of the day, unless you are at the top, you are just another cog in the machine. You help make decisions, you provide your insight, and invest your time and passion in the hopes that maybe you will have affected change, in whatever way you can. Working with small businesses and individuals is an incredible passion for me because everything you do as a small business owner can truly mean the life or death of your business, and your livelihood by extension. If I can express my own passion through helping to make your life easier as a business owner and be the value add that helps you grow and thrive, then I know I am making a difference in the best way I know how. Now, onto the first lesson! STANDARDIZATION: The first thing that might come to mind when you read this word may be a clipboard with a list of tasks to accomplish or some pencil-thin man in glasses and a bow-tie reading off a procedural manual. In a word, "boring." But this underappreciated principle is one of the most difficult and costly lessons that a small business owner will learn as they build their business from the ground up. It is a critical lesson they will wish they had invested the time developing a model for before wasting countless man-hours in trial and error, do-overs, and needless refinement to get to where they eventually end up. We have all read the statistics of small business failure rates within the first year and in my experience, one of the least appreciated, but most glaringly obvious points of failure is the utter lack of standard procedures, processes, and planning when faced with the daily operation and care of business practices. Now, I understand completely; starting a business from scratch is daunting in and of itself without adding layers of procedure to the mix, especially for things that will be the bread and butter of your business practice or offerings. What standardization does is provide a framework and a baseline from which you as a business owner can automate your day to day, priority to priority. Think of it like this: we all have a morning routine right? Get up at 6 am, brush your teeth, get dressed, make coffee (or tea), read emails, and the work day begins. Well, that is a standardized process. Every day, you start off in just about the same way with a standard framework for how you will attack the rest of the day, almost without thinking about it, but you can tweak it as needed to accommodate the random turnings of life. Running a business has random turnings every single day, but devising a framework to attack each of the most important aspects of running your business is key to ensuring longevity, flexibility, and readiness to address whatever issues may arise, calmly and effectively. Standardization in the way that I mean to teach you has several pieces to it. Every process should be given the same care and attention so that you can put it all together to make the bigger masterpiece that is your business:
Write it down 2. Organize Your Necessary Resources:
Centralizing what you need helps save time, effort, and money in the long run. Write it down 3. Schedule Your Time:
Answering these questions can save you immensely in time and money. Write it down
Write it down!
Write it down! Rightfully so, a lot of you are going to think that this is obvious and rudimentary and I completely agree. But if you take the time to read through the steps, how many of you have really sat down and done this for each of your critical processes, collected, and then studied the data that a real focus on these steps helps to yield? Landing a client is the heart of any business. Providing services or sales of things people want and need is the very essence of community, society, and business. It is the glue that holds us together through a mutual understanding that what I pay you will yield a desired and quality result. Not to mention, it pays the bills and puts food on the table. What we often fail to realize and acknowledge though, is that while the heart needs to drum on, the brain needs to make the decisions that keep that heart beating. Taking the time to think about each of your processes and how they interconnect - from execution to invoices - helps you make the decisions necessary to ensure that you are providing your customers with the best service or products in the best possible way, while keeping every dollar you can in your own pocket to put back into your business, or even keep it at whatever size you want to keep it. Taking a critical look into what you do, how you do it, and how you can standardize it and optimize it is the best first step any small business owner (or aspiring small business owner) can take toward growing their business, improving their products and services, and increasing their bottom line. Most importantly, it gives us the critical information that each of us needs to make the best decisions for our businesses. I hope this helps. See you next time! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 06:03 PM PDT |
| In the middle of creating a business, need help opening a bank account... Posted: 26 Aug 2019 05:19 PM PDT Hello all I and some people are in the middle of creating a business and was wondering how to open a business bank account, and what is the overall process of it? Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Aug 2019 05:14 PM PDT Long story short, I've been planning on changing my business name for a while. It was pretty specific to the service we provided and the location (example: Event Services of Pennsylvania). I filed a DBA of "Event Services PA". Now I've gotten into other things, such as sports. I want to now have a new company name and make my old company name and additional service be the "products" of the company. New company name would be "Service Providers USA" with the old DBA of "Event Services PA" and new DBA of "Sports Services PA" being the product. Can I change the current company name to a new company name, retain the current DBA and file a new DBA for the new service? Old: Event Services of PA LLC New: Service Providers USA Hope that makes sense.. [link] [comments]  |
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