Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (September 04, 2019) Entrepreneur |
- Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (September 04, 2019)
- I am a VC, entrepreneur, and professor who funded Zicam Cold Medication out of a garage in South Phoenix, funded the Gardenburger out of a kitchen in Oregon, and created the first-ever Startup Roadmap for innovators to become entrepreneurs. AMA!
- Keep going, it’s not a chore, it’s your dream.
- My Industrial Design Lesson: From Product Idea, to Prototype, to Market
- I reverse-engineered the email lists of 50+ companies
- $15k/month selling heavy duty bags from oil rigs.
- Musicians are entrepreneurs too
- I've been trying to build a business that makes me money for 12 years...... and have failed. Is anyone else here in the same situation?
- I'm struggling to get my business off the ground after trying for 6 months and would love other perspectives
- Your thoughts on the product?
- Biting the bullet, wish me luck!
- Business License location?
- First to Market: Can this be a valid competitive advantage?
- Shout out to /r/Design_Critiques
- Is this a common phenomenon?
- Not sure what to do with a commercial property I have
- Accidentally marketed to our national competitor.
- Failure IS an option
- Who can we partner up / collaborate with?
- Don't be afraid to go back to work: Lot of work entrepreneurship, with little to no return... are you better off getting a part-time job working for the man?
- Short guide to making money on Instagram.
- How can we finally organize our remote, part-time team? (Software recommendations)
- Got a bussiness idea but need your help
- Thinking about starting a rental company! I am a forman at a company that rents items and I would be able to rent from my own company. I was wondering if anybody could provide me with the documentation, contracts etc needed in order to do this. Any help, advice or feedback would be great!
- Copywriting 101: here's an easy way to capture the attention of anyone who comes across whatever it is you're selling [1-minute read].
- Business Valuation - looking for Industry multiplier
| Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (September 04, 2019) Posted: 04 Sep 2019 06:14 AM PDT Please use this thread to ask questions if you're new or even if you haven't started a business yet. Remember to search the sub first - the answers you need may be right at your fingertips. Since this thread can fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 07:33 AM PDT Hey Redditors! My name is Aram Chavez. I was born and raised in Tempe, AZ, and am an active VC, entrepreneur, and professor. I was the principal investor behind Zicam Cold Medication, the Gardenburger, and in my work as a VC, have helped companies close hundreds in millions of dollars in funding. I'm also an entrepreneur who has been starting companies since my youth, including AhaToExit. When I got started in academia about 7 years ago, I realized that even the most innovative educational institutes did not have a process to teach entrepreneurship. As you know, there's a process for everything from making toast to building a rocket, but no one had come up with a process to help someone go from their idea (Aha Moment) all the way to their exit. That's why, with the help of my colleagues and partners, I created the first-ever Startup Roadmap. The Roadmap details 10 steps and 42 sub-steps that entrepreneurs can take to go from ideation to exiting their company, based on my 25+ years of experience with starting, funding and financing companies. I would love to answer any questions that members of the r/Entrepreneur Subreddit may have regarding funding, financing, entrepreneurship, and the Roadmap. Thank you so much! -Aram PROOF: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2017/08/25/20-people-to-know-startups-aram-chavez.html (Unfortunately have to be a paid subscriber to the Phoenix Business Journal to read the article.) Link to post on my LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aramchavez_today-is-the-day-im-going-live-on-the-activity-6574999852818800640-YYWR EDIT: Thank you for all of the great questions so far. I have to go teach a class right now, but I'll be back to answer more questions around 11AM PST! [link] [comments]  |
| Keep going, it’s not a chore, it’s your dream. Posted: 04 Sep 2019 06:10 AM PDT Working on your projects shouldn't feel like a chore. I love creating stuff, especially software, so much that I don't care how long it takes, as long as I get to create what I want, it's worth it. Luckily my job is creating software, but my dream is to one day be creating software for my own company, and doesn't feel like a job. First attempt My entrepreneurial journey started 4 years ago while I was studying at the university. I joined a guy who had already developed the idea of a website for renters and tenants to find each other. My part in the business was to develop the product and then he would be running the company. We worked great together and launched the website, where we got some traction in the beginning. But when the dust settle and business was ready to be run, we failed. Silver lining, I didn't get a business, but I got a really good friend, whom I'm still in contact with. Second attempt After my first failed company, I blamed my partner in the beginning, so I set out and tried to create another company, alone, since in my mind, I was certain that we failed because of everyone else, but me. Which was clearly wrong. My new idea was a website for people who commute on long distances, and people who personal belongings transferred on these distances. The idea was that the people who commute could make a few extra money, going places they already needed to go, and I would take a small fee of this transaction. I discussed it with a few friends who thought it was a great idea, and two of them actually wanted to join. At this point I had already developed most of the site. We planned a weekend to discuss the whole thing, and how we should proceed from there. At the end of the weekend, we had discovered a few major issues that we didn't think we could solve beside our day jobs. So i slowly stopped working on it until I realised it was dead. A few months past and while I was living my life, working, hanging out with friends, playing video games, I was observing the world around me trying to discover a problem I shared with others, that I could solve. Third attempt I lived in a condominium with ~100 people, and one day came to the conclusion that everything was run through paper: messages between tenants, messages between tenants and the landlord, laundry booking, booking of common areas, bulletin boards and messages on doors. I found my problem and talked to the landlord about creating a platform for all this communication online, and he gave me the green light if the other tenants were onboard and if we could roll back to the old system, just in case. After more than 8 months of developing in my free time, bouncing off ideas with the tenants, the website was ready. We transitioned to website and the end of last year, and they still use it today. This time everything was better, I had clarified a problem others had, I had users from the beginning and a crystal clear road. After the launch I was very excited and wanted to build a company around the website. So I tried to market the website, and talked to all the condominiums I could find, but everyone was either happy with their own solution or in the development of something themselves. After a few months of rejection I realised I wasn't the man to sell this product to the world, so I settled with my loyal 100 users, and still maintain the website today. Fourth attempt Which brings me to my fourth and most recent adventure. While trying to bring my last product to market through ads on various social media sites, I discovered how to get more value out of the Facebook Ads Manager, and developed a small interface for personal use, showed it a few digital marketing friends and put a pin in it. Some time after I gave up on my previous startup, I decided to develop a more consumer friendly version on the Facebook add-on. Which is the project I'm currently working on in my spare time. I recently launched and had a goal of 50 beta users in the first month, which I got in first 4 days, so my motivation and spirit is through the roof. This is what I love doing, and it excites me that someone else care about it as well. Working on these projects and learning from my mistakes is my favourite thing in the world. It keeps me going and disciplined, and gives me a sense of purpose I'm proud of. My message to you fellow entrepreneurs, is to keep going! Do what you really want and dream about. My dream is to make a living from something I have created, and to keep me on track I usually ask myself when I'm about to waste a whole weekend: "In 5 years, are you closer to your dreams because of this?". Remember your dreams, make them goals and start achieving them! Thank you /r/entrepreneur, you are a great community and a great inspiration to me. I love reading your stories so keep them coming! TLDR; After three failed attempts of creating a business, I'm still going, chasing my dreams and personal success. [link] [comments]  |
| My Industrial Design Lesson: From Product Idea, to Prototype, to Market Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:13 AM PDT Hey all, I am the owner of Iron Horse Firearms and inventor of the TOR(Thumb Operated Receiver). Don't like guns? Thats fine, this isn't about that. Taking an idea and making it a product can be really hard and confusing, and as everyone here has beat to death, you need a good lawyer to help navigate a lot of these waters. A good lawyer can be worth more than the money you spend on them. Asside from that it can be hard to figure out where to start when you have a product idea. To that end I want to introduce everyone to the field of industrial design. Industrial design firms help companies, evaluate, design, and manufacture prototypes. Including selection and evaluation of materials, manufacturing methods and more. Seriously, if you have a good idea this is a great place to start. The company we worked with, and has seriously been indispensable, and invaluable is called Metropolis Design. In addition to us they have worked with and designed products for medical companies, Overstock.com, skullcandy, intel, Black Diamond climbing gear, and many more. They have a broad range of expertise in 3D printing, CNC manufacturing, materials science and design, and more. If you have a product idea they can help. I want to briefly talk about the process I went through with bringing the TOR to market. It's a fairly complicated product, and very involved when you look at legal compliance requirements and all the different parts, and materials involved. After about a year+ of work on my own, I had a very rough prototype, and all the licensing I needed to move forward. I had met with lots of investors, but those meetings almost never got beyond the prototype. It was clear I needed a product quality prototype to show because there was lots of interest in what we were doing, but lots of doubt about our ability to execute. That is when we found Metropolis. They took this: To this: The process of creating a product isn't new and there are many methods for managing this process. One of the more popular ones that I want to talk about is called phase gate, and the steps are:
Companies like Metropolis can help with parts of every phase. Now they can't run your company for you, and they won't make you marketing plan, but they can help you define the product concept, determine how feasible it is based on how much it would cost to make, and what you would need to sell it for to make money, and help you build a working product quality prototype. Phase 1-Scoping:During this step the main goal is to evaluate the product and its corresponding market. Who are you customers, how do you reach those customers, and how much will that cost? How many customers do you potentially have? This is all important information to have. After you figure out that first part, we scope the product. What is it? What is required to make it? How much will that cost? Will we be able to amortize the cost of producing this product with the potential number of sales/customers we have and still make enough money for it to be worth it? Will we be able to charge a price they will pay that supports those things? The answers to a lot of these questions may still be hazy, and thats ok, but if you find any huge red flags at this phase you may need to reconsider what you are doing. For my business, I came up with the idea in the military. Asside from the advantages the TOR provides in accuracy, there is an incredibly large customer base for people who are disabled that can't use traditional fire arms, but want to for hunting, sport or home defense. So we found a good secondary market unintentionally, and we wouldn't have had we not gone through this phase. Now maybe you don't know how much it will cost to make your product, or what materials or manufacturing methods are best. Well here again is where someone like Metropolis can help. In the interest of keeping this a length people will actually read, I'll leave it here for now. But feel free to ask questions about anything in the comments and I will do my best to answer them. I have been trying to talk the guys at Metropolis into doing an AMA so if there is any interest in that, post that to please, as it will help me sway them. TL:DR = If you have an idea, an industrial design company can help you make that a reality, and one that we worked with and love is called Metropolis Design. [link] [comments]  |
| I reverse-engineered the email lists of 50+ companies Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:42 AM PDT So one of my clients recently went bust and we all lost our jobs. My assignment for most of the year was doing research via public and (some) private data sources, on specific tactics startups use to grow their email lists. I have more than 50 case studies, including scraped traffic data, employee interviews, screenshots, acquisition funnels, etc. (see below) I'm wondering: 1) Can I get sued by my client for sharing my work? I will only publish public info, however I did the work on client time. Client is now bankrupt—I had no formal contract and lost $2k on an unpaid invoice. 2) Are these of interest to you guys? First one below, hopefully I've provided enough value to not get shunned. Thinking I'll send one per week via email since they take a bit of writing, if you want more sign up here. (yes, this will be an email list about email lists, the inception of all email lists). If enough ppl are interested I'd like to turn it into a IndieHackers/StarterStory for email lists. \disclaimer: everything below is public information gathered from google and published founder interviews* Forensic list growth study #1: The HustleEmail list size: 1.3 million | Age: 4 years | Frequency: Daily | Content: tech/business news 0-1k subs - Tactics: Founders exported their Linkedin contacts and sent cold emails asking to join. Started writing blog posts at 1 per week with request for sign up at bottom. Resource intensive, low return at first. Created sharable infographics on famous entrepreneurs, does okay on facebook but doesn't convert to newsletter sign-ups. Abandoned strategy. Misstep: Scraped a student database of 15,000 email addresses and cold emailed asked them to join. "...waste of time...did not work." 1k-10k subs - Tactics: Hit 10k email subscribers via reddit posts (that have content in the body but link out to full length blog posts), following this viral formula: [morally suspect stunt/experiment in the real world] + [trending topic in a niche sub] = Reddit Hit Approximately 1 out 10 posts become hits. Example: Plagiarized a romance novel to game Amazon ebook rankings and posted an article with the inflammatory results to writing subs Did no-cost newsletter partnerships with bigger brands (you share mine, I'll share yours), ie. like MensHealth. KEY INSIGHT: Increased frequency of emails from 2/week to every day, ironically found it increased open rates 10k-60k subs - Tactics: Started a referral program for new subscribers (physical swag is unlocked at each bonus level). Placed the referral form directly on the success page after users sign up--and inside every single email they send. KEY INSIGHT: Inside the referral form, users were allowed to upload their entire address book in one click. Less than 1% of users refer at first, but those that do average near 25 referrals More blog success on reddit following viral formula. Tried Reddit voting rings to boost performance on reddit at first, but the success is mostly organic. Hits include, "Microdosing LSD for 14 days" and "living off Soylent for 30 days" (all fit into the formula above) Able to optimize squeeze page (sign up page) via testing now that site has some traffic Tests reveal a sign up page with one sentence and a single input form converts best. No asking for first names, no social proof, no sample newsletter, no bonus ebook. Removed double opt-in. 60k-250k subs - Tactics: Move off Mailchimp and onto an API based solution, eventually dedicated IP Start monetizing subscribers via native ads (written by The Hustle team in their tone, NOT banner ads), CPM's in the $40-$60 range. Daily open rates at 40% at this time. Click-thru rate on ads is in the range of 3-6%. Toptal is first advertiser. Note: The 2-3 person sales team required for consistently filling a daily ad slot at premium CPMs means you need at least some funding Co-founder Sam Parr does many interviews with indie entrepreneurship/growth marketing media outlets (target audience). Most seem to be in the range of about 10-50k listeners/readers. I'd guess these reach roughly 300,000-500,000 people in total, of which 20% convert to subscribers. Backlinks from viral hits & interviews help raise domain authority and elevate all other posts from the blog in Google Search. Organic search traffic steadily growing, but blog visitors convert at low numbers (under 4%). 250k-1.3mil subs - Tactics: Gets less interesting from here, and less relatable to the rest of us Ad sales and longer-term data on churn allows for calculation of reader LTV. Gives target for acquisition cost via paid ads (read Peter Thiel for more on this) Begin running HEAVY paid ads on Facebook, some twitter, some outbrain (see screenshots of ad evolution). KEY INSIGHT: Facebook allows uploading your email list to find a "lookalike" audience. Leveraging existing subscribers to find new ones becomes easy as pie. Facebook ads allow for a demographic shift from mostly men to more women—which is more favorable for advertisers (insight: women are hard to reach organically via reddit and tech blogs/podcasts) GOING DEEP: ESTIMATED NUMBERS Referral program: Responsible for roughly 15% of overall compound growth Organic vs. Paid Growth: Mostly organic up to 200k-ish subs, 70-90% of growth driven by Facebook ads after that Paid subscriber acquisition cost: $4-5 per user via Facebook ads but rising (tested via lookalike audience) Subscriber value: Roughly $1/month (take $50-250 CPMs x 24 letters per month @ 40% open rate x 2-3% monthly churn) Viral coefficient: Not even close to 1 on the referral program, so this would not be considered a true "viral" growth story by investors. PLATFORMS & TOOLS [Also have info on platforms and tools used but have left this out to avoid people thinking I'm trying to sell something] [link] [comments]  |
| $15k/month selling heavy duty bags from oil rigs. Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:09 AM PDT Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview. Today's interview is with Paul Chittenden (u/paulchittenden) of Bad Ass Work Gear, a brand that makes tough work gear. Some stats:
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Hi, my name is Paul Chittenden, and I am the Founder of Bad Ass Work Gear. Our goal is to make work gear that lasts. Well, at least longer than our competitors. Let's face it, the people we sell to are hard on their gear! Our flagship product is a very tough, heavy duty duffel bag specifically developed for the oil and gas industry, but also used by the Army, firefighters, hunters, and quite a few more creative uses. The oil and gas industry has its ups and downs. We were riding high when oil prices were up and companies were spending money on their employees. We dropped about 80% of revenue in the last downturn. 2018 and 2019 have been leveling off with more retail orders than corporate orders, averaging about $15,000 per month. What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I was born in Houma, Louisiana - a small town about an hour Southwest of New Orleans. I grew up wrestling alligators, fishing and hunting, drinking beer in sugarcane fields, and of course speaking with a funny Cajun accent. "I didn't have any clue what I wanted to be when I grew up after graduation. However, I did know I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That was clear." Houma is the hub of offshore oil and gas, the key to the Gulf of Mexico with its ports and access to the coast. Because of this, oilfield service companies and related businesses define this Louisiana community. Both my mom and dad worked in the oilfield. When I was 9, my dad got me a camouflaged bag for my hunting gear. He bought it from a little shop that specialized in heavy duty vinyl bags for offshore oilfield workers. It was tough as nails. Years later, I graduated from college with a degree in Business Management from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Our mascot is a Cayenne Pepper, and we're called the Ragin' Cajuns. This is probably not relevant to the story at all, but it is important to note. Now, I didn't have any clue what I wanted to be when I grew up after graduation. However, I did know I wanted to be an entrepreneur. That was clear. I also knew that whatever I did, I didn't want to go into the oil and gas industry. About a month after graduation, I took a job with Schlumerger, one of the largest oilfield services companies in the world. I would work offshore on oil platforms and make a ton of money. But wait, didn't I say that was the one thing I didn't want to do? Yep. What the hell? Anyway, I figured I could save up all the money I made to start a business. I heard a story about the founder of Raising Cane's working in Alaska fishing salmon to raise the startup capital for his first restaurant. I could suck it up for a year or two. Working for Schlumberger, they sent me to the same little shop that I got my first hunting bag from to get my first oilfield bag. It wasn't until I started working offshore that I realized how tough these bags really were. The bag was pretty large, because you have to stuff a ton of stuff in there since you'll be gone for a week or more at a time: boots, coveralls, underwear, hard hat, etc. I also packed a 12-pack of gloves (one pair per day), jeans for travel days, my own pillow (because I'm a weirdo), snacks, and protein powder. I'd have a driver haul me to the coast. Then I'd take my bag and throw in on the gravel while I grab all my other gear, a tool box, a hand pump, and some other miscellaneous tooling. Then, I grab everything and head to a supply vessel. I'd dump all of my gear on the back deck of the boat for the 6-20 hour ride out to the platform. Sometimes it would storm and the bag would get rained on and splashed from the high seas. Most times, it stayed dry and baked in the heat. Once we'd reach the drilling rig or platform, I'd have to throw all my gear into a personnel basket, and be lifted 150 feet from the vessel into the air up onto the drilling rig or platform deck. It looked something like this: Then, once again, I'd take all my gear and throw it out the basket onto the grating of the platform. The pic above is a drilling rig, so at least here the deck is steel plate and not too rough. Long story short, traditional bags didn't hold up long to this abuse, but these heavy duty vinyl bags did. I was making good money, but the time away from family and friends was taking its toll. I missed holidays, birthday parties, and family gatherings. I took all the money I made and invested it in the stock market, hoping to make my money grow. Instead, I invested just before the stock crash and lost half of it. So much for that stockpile. In 2008, I took a job with GE in their Oil and Gas division in Houston, Texas. Things were good. I was making less money than my offshore salary, but I was in decent shape. I got to travel, and manage some interesting projects. I picked up a book called the 4HWW and decided to bootstrap something since my savings was still all in the stock market. I don't know why, but the bag thing was my first good idea. There was nothing like it in Houston or in the emerging land based oilfield hot spots. I threw together a quick website with Wordpress. I used Elance (now UpWork) to hire someone to make some product renderings. Once everything was up, orders slowly started rolling in. Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.Okay, maybe I lied. Orders didn't really roll in. I didn't have a way to take payments, so it was really just product inquiries. But, my product was validated. The problem was, I didn't have a product. I scrambled to find a manufacturer because of course, I had no idea how to sew a button back on a pair of pants, much less sew a frickin' bag. First, I hit ThomasNet and searched for manufacturers. Then I sent them my own bags (by this time I had several) for prototyping, and I had a few mark-ups of my product renderings for slight changes to the design. Finding a good manufacturer was a pain in the ass. Most manufacturers wanted a minimum run of 1000 bags per color, per size, per style. I wanted to offer 3 sizes, 2 styles and at least 4 colors. Impossible. Every company wants the color of their bag to match their uniform. So standardizing color wasn't going to be possible, and I was at a major roadblock. I had to go custom and made to order. It was the only way. I was willing to invest $500 on this project. I couldn't buy an industrial sewing machine for that. Eventually, I settled on Craigslist. Houston has a ton of sewing talent so I posted a job on Craiglist. There was a lot of noise, but I also had a few hits from some industrial sewing workers looking for some side work. I worked out a deal to pay per piece, and started testing sewing contractors. It took a while to get the quality and craftsmanship to the desired level, but it worked out quite well. They were sewing from home. After a while, one of my seamstresses got tired of having me stop by the house to pick up orders. She was willing to ship them out for me if I bought her a label maker. Done deal. After that, I did this with the other sewing contractors as well. Now, I don't have to touch product. I'm a sales, marketing, and customer service. Describe the process of launching the business.I built the website myself using a Wordpress theme. This probably took the longest because I had no idea what I was doing. Though, it was simple enough to learn. I made my first logo in Microsoft Word. Take a look at that bad boy! It took about 8 weeks from my first inquiry to the time that I had manufacturing figured out. I invested $500 in vinyl, industrial webbing, zippers, and sewing materials for my team to start manufacturing. I had a product page up with my mock-up images. Instead of taking the customer to a payment page, it redirected them to a contact form so I could collect their email address. I had a few dozen emails on my waiting list so the next step was to contact them and let them know we were open for business. I got my first bulk order, selling 200 bags to a oil and gas contractor for their employees, in my 2nd month of operation. We have been profitable ever since. The biggest lesson here is to just start. There is a good quote from Richard Branson, "If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure you can do it, say yes - then learn how to do it later." Get started, be determined, and persistent. Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?Branding has been our key differentiator. I wanted to think of something really manly, tough, and something that would resonate with blue collar workers. Something Bad Ass. Bad Ass Work Bags stood out to me. Here's one of our earlier slider images. We later re-branded to Bad Ass Work Gear. Our initial growth was driven by word of mouth. Guys wanted a "Bad Ass Work Bag." Since I was in the oilfield, I started hearing people talking about these new indestructible bags. There were similar, less Bad Ass bags out there. I'd hear stories from friends and family in the field saying that guys were joking around with people with these "inferior" bags that theirs was Bad Ass! We included Bad Ass Work Gear stickers in all our orders. I had friends sending me photos of our stickers in galleys and drill shacks from remote places such as Alaska and North Dakota. Best of all was when I started seeing my bags in airports where oilfield workers frequent. Eventually, our SEO efforts started taking hold, we started receiving a steady stream of organic traffic. We really dialed in on our initial keyword research, and built some initial links. Unfortunately, the tactics we used back in 2013 won't work today! All our vinyl duffel bags are made right here in the good 'ole USA. Unfortunately, that means our margins are pretty slim compared to some of our competitors outsourcing to low cost Asian manufacturers. The low margins made our attempts at paid ads unprofitable. We still haven't figured this one out. Customer service is critical. People recommend us because we offer "Bad Ass" customer service. I've had one truly unhappy customer in seven years that we couldn't rectify. Other than that, our customer service turns even upset customers into raving fans. How are you doing today and what does the future look like?2018 was our best year yet, and we are currently on track to beat last year's numbers. In 2015 - 2017, the downturn in oil prices put a serious damper on our growth. Companies stopped buying bags, oilfield gloves, and other extras for their employees and our revenues dropped by 80%. The price of oil is pretty cyclical, and we can expect to see these drops every few years. We saw a big need for diversification in our business, and we began researching other occupations which are in need of tough gear. We didn't have to do a lot of researching. I mean, the answer was already right in our face. Firefighters were already buying our gear bags even though they weren't specifically made for that purpose. We spent the better part of 2018 designing a new line of firefighter bags. It's been a slower process than I had hoped, but we plan to release the first five designs before the end of August. Product photos are finished, and the next step is to simply load them on the website. Our plans are to continue diversifying our product lines and build a stronger company. Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?We were definitely blindsided by the downturn in oil and gas. We were having record growth every year until things dropped off. I wish I would have seen the need for diversification sooner so that we could have planned for it. Luckily, our lean structure helped with weathering the downturn as our competitors folded. We learned the importance of brand. Our customers do not flinch at paying more for a high quality, made in the good 'ole USA, Bad Ass Work Bag - even when competing bags are half the price. Our name speaks for itself. Of course, the quality HAS to live up to the name. I could only imagine if our product was crap, how fast people would be making fun of us everywhere. Our bags are tough, like our customers. We constantly get emails thanking us and some great stories (bags flying out trucks with only a some scuffed vinyl). We utilized product reviews for social proof. When people see all the positive reviews from fellow oilfield workers, it's a no brainer to purchase from us. Our reorder rate is awfully low when compared with other businesses. With such positive reviews and excitement around our product, it took me a while to figure out what was going on.
I can run through a bag in a year, but evidently others aren't as hard on their bags as I am. In fact, I got an email from my very first customer 5 years after his first purchase. It said, "After you read the below messages from way back when, and revel in how quick five years flew by like I did, I want you to know that I am STILL running the same bag and have never had a lick of trouble with it. Impeccable quality, unrivaled toughness, and a true,top-notch, BAD ASS bag." Our products are lasting too long! I see why the electronics industry invented planned obsolescence. If I started a new ecommerce company today, I would pick a broader niche and choose a consumable product so that I could increase our customer lifetime value. What platform/tools do you use for your business?We use Wordpress with Woocommerce for our shopping cart. We have AppSumo to help capture emails which in turn are added to our Mailchimp ecommerce flows. After a purchase, our email flows end in a review request utilizing Stamped.io. We're a big fan of Sumo to capture leads and then utilize Mailchimpfor our ecommerce email flows. For SEO, we have a subscription to AHREFs. We've hired for various services with UpWork for larger tasks (blog writing,etc.) and Fiver for smaller tasks (image editing, etc.). What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris - This is the book that made me make the jump to start Bad Ass Work Gear. I've also designed it to be low workload. I can literally run Bad Ass Work Gear in 4 hours per week, but I typically put in more because it is fun. Ezra Firestone - Simply get on Ezra or SmartMarketer's email list. You'll learn a ton about ecommerce and how to scale your online store just from their free material. Ecommerce Influence Podcast - Great content on e-commerce here as well. Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?A lot of new entrepreneurs are looking to make a quick buck. I think the most important thing is finding something that interests you. Maybe follow your passion, or find something that interests you enough that it has the potential to turn into your passion. Starting a business is hard work. Often, it is lonely work. You have to be persistent. A lot of people give up, just before their business is about to take the next step. Working around your passion will keep you interested longer and set you up for success. Find a mentor. A mentor isn't necessarily an old rich guy willing to take you under his wing. Books, podcasts, masterminds, Facebook groups, can all be good mentoring opportunities. Some of my best mentors are people I've never had the chance to meet. I've just pursued the biggest experts in relevant topics and followed them. Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?We are always looking for writers with oilfield experience. Where can we go to learn more?Liked this text interview? Check out the full interview with photos, tools, books, and other data. For more interviews, check out r/starter_story - I post new stories there daily. Interested in sharing your own story? Send me a PM [link] [comments]  |
| Musicians are entrepreneurs too Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:03 AM PDT I'm a guitarist and composer. There is not really much of an established business model for us musicians, so we have to be entrepreneurial. That's why I like this sub. I write and perform mainly originals on Spanish guitar. I have a YouTube channel, an instagram account and a website. I am slowly but steadily growing my fan base. My work is on most streaming platforms and I get around $0.002 per stream on average. Good stream count is a long term goal but for now I'm focusing on the few fans I already have. I'm looking for advice on what else to offer my fans. I have thought about courses, private concerts, original sheet music (which I already have for sale on my site), but I would like to know what would you like to see offered by somebody in my shoes? Edit.: Just wanted to clarify that by "offering" I meant selling. Physical product ideas are very welcome. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:37 AM PDT We all hear the stories of entrepreneurs who spend 6 months trying to build a business until they succeed. And others who spend about 2 years trying to get their business off the ground, failing at different stages of the business creation until they start seeing money. How some people spend about 7 years, saving money they can from their 9-5 to divert into the business until they finally start seeing a return on their investment. But what about those who spend 10+ years trying to escape the 9-5? Are you one of them and what's your story? People who have their day jobs, working for low pay, pushing aside the opportunity to move up in management for more pay [and more hours = less time for your business venture] just for the opportunity to be able to be self employed and financially stable? I'll keep this short since I don't really want this to be about me but I am curious how many other people in this sub are still working on a business right now. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 05:13 AM PDT Hi, My name is Amir and I've spent the last 6 months of my life working on an app called Bookey. Bookey is an app that lets users meet new people through book swaps. It uses a smart algorithm to match people who live close to each other and have indicated that they would be interested in swapping books. Think Tinder but you swipe on books, not people. I learned how to code, made the app and launched it at the start of August. I have then spent a lot of my time trying to grow the app using various channels. I've made social media profiles with small but significant followings. I've posted about my app on various places like ProductHunt, Facebook groups, Meetups, other places that promote start-ups and apps. I've gone around and put posters at cafes, libraries, universities etc. I've even gone to parks and pinned my posters to trees lol. I've done a little bit of FB/Instagram/Google ads but the cost of these ads are extortionate. I'm paying around £1.40 per click. I've sent out lots of emails trying to get collaborations with book bloggers, universities, book shops, cafes, supermarkets but to very little success. So far I have managed to get 300 downloads in just under a month but am now struggling to get any new members. I currently don't collect feedback in any organised way but am gathering suggestions from my friends who are using the app. Most say the app is good, works well and have given a few suggestions to improve the experience. I don't really know what to do now to grow my app, I feel exhausted from having worked so hard over the last 6 months and don't know if my current approach is going to get me anywhere. I would love any feedback or advice. Anything at all, your thoughts on the idea, marketing strategies, things you think could be improved. iOS app: https://apps.apple.com/app/id1472538465 Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Amir.Booky Instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/bookeyapp/?hl=en [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 01:58 PM PDT Hi, I'm in the stage of validation and I want your opinion on the concept of this product. So far, the concept can work. Also, how would you market this? Link: https://www.peempoint.com Thank you. [link] [comments]  |
| Biting the bullet, wish me luck! Posted: 04 Sep 2019 08:13 AM PDT Kind of a useless post, but I am just so excited about it so I wanna thank everyone who's posting good info here and share what I'm doing! It's gonna be a local code academy/bootcamp type of thing that I'm gonna do in my off days! I found the perfect space for it, made deals with my friends about using their PCs and got the PCs I have in good condition for the course as well! I'm designing a website right now and have paid an awesome designer to design an online ad, flyers and a business card for me ! I figured out a local marketing strategy and my target demographic, worked out what I'll do if the results are better than expected or worse than expected ! All that's left is to grind out the preparations and show my business to the world! I'll be keeping everyone updated if you'd like to know how it goes with some more details as soon as I learn a few lessons and get some bad or good results! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 07:12 AM PDT Hello all, I've encountered a hiccup in getting my local business license. For an e-commerce business with my home address, I have to stand before the board of my local city to get a zoning exemption. This isn't an issue, but what I'm worried about is 1) public notice will be mailed to all my neighbors about my business operations 2) my business location and ID will be public record (which I specifically got a registered agent to prevent) and 3) I'm renting my home. I have a registered agent with a physical address, could I just use this for local licensing purposes? I will be doing no physical business at my place of residence. Also, would there be any benefit to renting a virtual office/physical address somewhere outside city limits to avoid the local licensing period? Any insight appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| First to Market: Can this be a valid competitive advantage? Posted: 04 Sep 2019 02:37 PM PDT Are there any scenarios in which VCs won't laugh at this claim by an early-stage founder? My specific case: A marketplace platform emerging in a predominantly analog industry offering easy to rationalize benefits for both sides. [link] [comments]  |
| Shout out to /r/Design_Critiques Posted: 04 Sep 2019 02:18 PM PDT Looking for some feedback on a new app, website or logo? Head over to /r/design_critiques. Great community with very friendly users, I highly recommend checking it out. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT Hi all, I'm now 22 years old and have been wanting to be an entrepreneur my entire life.. problem is, I can't EVER lock down an idea. A few things I know is I want it to be web based, blog, content creation, or make websites for businesses. Whenever I start getting deep into these ideas I get "burnt out" due to my manic obsession for like 4 days then once I have it all set up I get tired and the idea is gone. I would really love for someone to help me lock something down or throw ideas into the bin and brain storm with me. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Not sure what to do with a commercial property I have Posted: 04 Sep 2019 02:11 PM PDT I apologize if this is the wrong sub, but here it goes: I have a two unit rental property, with both units currently rented out. Here's a google map's image of the property: https://imgur.com/phXAHZT The rented units are on the right side, facing the street, and are attached to each other. On the left side however, as you can see, there's a relatively large area of just junk. This picture is old and I've since cleaned everything up (the structure in the middle has been torn down), so now it's an empty lot bigger than the size of the rented units. On the far left, there's an alleyway that leads to the main street nearby, so it's accessible by car. What do you think I should do with that part of the lot? It's zoned as a "Store and Residential Combination." I was thinking maybe build a duplex with two parking spaces and have tenants access their side of the lot through that alley way. I don't know, what would you do with a lot like that? Any suggestions would be welcome! [link] [comments]  |
| Accidentally marketed to our national competitor. Posted: 04 Sep 2019 02:08 PM PDT There are around 3 of us in my business. An employee accidentally dedicated some energy marketing to our competitors owner and employee. They were scared about it. No big deal! I like the deal and we are cordial. My comment: "If we aren't doing this, something is wrong. He expects it. If anything he might wonder if he is working as hard." [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:20 AM PDT I will start off by saying I never saw myself as an entrepreneur, and never actually wanted to be an entrepreneur. I am not sure if I will make it or fall flat on my face, but I want to share my story and some true things I've learned through my personal journey. Where I started: I recently finished a master's in leadership development program and I had started the program because it was free for me as an employee at the University. I was 24 fresh out of college and just surviving. I was an overweight 335 lbs social anxiety ridden mess of a man. I loved playing videogames, and I discovered VR gaming. I then lost 100 lbs in 11 months as I was playing VR games 3-4 hours a night. My confidence skyrocketed and weight plummeted. Life was different. People started to notice the weight loss and I would brush it off at first as me just losing weight, not telling that I did it in VR because I thought it was probably stupid. I then shared how I did it with a colleague and things started to snowball into "this is amazing and unique,you should start a business". Version 1: I decided to just take a stab at a business. I had no money, no prior experience. Just this idea and passion. I wanted to get people into Virtual Reality and then told myself they would love it and then continue using my service. I came up with what I was calling virtual wellness centers. I wanted to open in a mall to gain foot traffic and onlookers. This was an epic failure. Why? I was doing it alone. I didn't have the resources or money. I was an idiot. Luckily I backed away from this option and pivoted after talking to more and more people in testing my concepts. Version 2: I was thick skulled in my first version. I wanted this to be MINE. That's a horrible approach when customers have the money that pays your bills. Version 2 happened because I kept getting feedback and instead of challenging feedback like I had been doing, I looked at why I was getting into the same arguments over and over again. Why would I do this when I can do it at home? What value do you actually provide? What about sweat? I'm not going to a mall to workout. All these things piled up and eventually I looked deeper at how to address them. Version 2 went over the top. I found VR Equipment and experiences to make it like a gym. I made active arcades, and it was a behemoth of an idea. This idea failed to launch because it was too much and too expensive. It was going every direction possible from exercise bikes to a place for kids to traditional VR. Version 3: By this point I was feeling awful and like a failure. But I had built up a network and following of believers. People telling me this will be huge and how it will replace the traditional gyms. I kept looking for my hook and angle. Working at a university I decided to shop the idea around as a gymcade that students could come to and workout, be social, and code experiences. The university loved the idea and I started talking to the Dean's of each college and had meetings I never imagined being a part of until now. I felt on top of the world, then I was crushed by what happened next. I had a meeting with a very high up group and they wanted to use virtual reality as a way to assist people with disabilities. Awesome, and amazing. But they essentially wanted a single headset and to design code and not use 3rd party software. None of this was my idea at all, I don't code and I am not in the medical field. They were adamant that my idea was amazing and maybe it would spawn over time into something and asked me to be onboard as a leader for bringing VR to campus for research. I declined because it is not my area of expertise. I felt ousted. Version 4: Now I am moving towards the next step. I am working out partnerships with local gyms. I have the interest of some other colleges, but they will likely want what my university wanted. Overall I am in a dilemma spot of wondering if this will work and if brick and mortar is right. I have numerous people telling me they would use a service like mine, but money talks. I have failed many times already but I'm learning and maybe someday you'll be using my gymcade and losing that extra weight! I know it isn't the typical huge success entrepreneur story shared on here, but I wanted to share my story and encourage those other struggling entrepreneurs to keep at it. [link] [comments]  |
| Who can we partner up / collaborate with? Posted: 04 Sep 2019 02:08 AM PDT Hi, my name is Christian Schultz, CEO & Co-Founder of the web-based gaming platform Tiltspot.tv. We are based in Trondheim, a medium-sized city in Norway. Our platform allows players to play social party games together without the need of buying additional hardware or do any downloads. For the game developers, we provide API and Plug-ins for Unity, javascript and HTML so they can publish their games on our platform. As we're a multi-sided platform we need to partner up with other companies, brands and developers to increase our userbase and what we can offer to both sides of the platform. So I'm asking; who should we try to partner up / collaborate with? Is there anything we need to add/remove to be able to do something with a new party? We appreciate all your feedback and feel free to ask any questions you might have! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 05:57 AM PDT If you're putting in more than 40 hours a week on something and not even making a living wage off it, you're better off just getting a job working for the man. At least then, you'll be able to provide for yourself while figuring out what you love doing that could actually sustain your lifestyle, and hopefully something scalable to boot! Don't consider yourself a failure if you have to go back to the workforce, consider it supplemental income that you can put towards your hopefully monumentally successful business venture in the not so distant future! [link] [comments]  |
| Short guide to making money on Instagram. Posted: 04 Sep 2019 01:27 PM PDT Instagram has massive potential to earn you passive income or a full time business. Because of Instagram's updated algorithm the follow unfollow method is no longer viable as your only strategy though. You now need to make sure you are doing everything to maximize growth. White Hat
Black Hat
Once you have built a following you can start monetizing it and watch the sales come in. The best monetizing methods for beginners would be affiliate marketing or dropshipping. You can choose any niche just make sure you are passionate enough to see yourself still enjoying it in 5 years. You can DM me if you have any more questions. [link] [comments]  |
| How can we finally organize our remote, part-time team? (Software recommendations) Posted: 04 Sep 2019 01:01 PM PDT Looking for recommendations to get us organized. The Company We run events; at least one per month and occasionally two. Our team is distributed, but also part-timers; everyone has full-time jobs. The core team is about 10 total, but there's always additional people popping in to support in some capacity on some event. We operate very well and have a great reputation in our segment of the entertainment industry. But, outside of what I do, nothing is documented. Communication is scattered between random emails, texts, and calls. The Situation I've used tons of project management tools and felt that Basecamp would be the safest bet based on likelihood to adopt. No one followed through and putting diligent processes behind it now is too little too late. Better finding a new system and start fresh getting everyone behind it. The Idea Since nothing is documented and having people both add and check-off their to-do's leading up to events is unfortunately too much to ask... Do we resort to just Slack (new) and Dropbox (our current storage service)? Is there something better? Ideally, Slack would have an interface to have our Dropbox folders easily accessible on the same screen, but not sure if there's another Slack-like service that everyone can adopt that would do this? Or something else I'm not thinking of? Not sure what else I should be asking myself as well, but welcome any questions to help figure this out. Much appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Got a bussiness idea but need your help Posted: 04 Sep 2019 12:59 PM PDT I live in a UK and I've got an access to luxurious resort based in a different country. It is owned by one of my family members. The owner already agreed to host my guests and to charge them bare minimum (its a good deal to him as well as the rooms wont stay empty.) The resort is located in the mountains with beatiful view. The hotel got everything thats essential, swimming pool, jacuzzi, classes for older people, massages, spas and all that. My business is to organise trips for older, but still active and healthy adults. From my experience I know that older people enjoy all sort of trips, especially to resorts to improve health and wellbeing. Also, that trip would be a good opportunity to socialise with other people and see other country, culture etc. The only thing is how to organise it, flights and all that. I would be responsible for all people, thus insurance would be neccesary, but is it possible to get insurance for that sort of company? Also, any ideas how to advertise it? Was thinking about going to local groups for older people such as walking group, events, etc. What are you thoughts? Or maybe there is a possibility to use my opportunity some other way? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 04 Sep 2019 12:50 PM PDT The company I work for just rented a mag drill for an entire month.. It costed them $194.40/week. I found the exact same drill for sale used online for $900. Seems like a no brainer to me. This is in Canada. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2019 03:11 PM PDT By the end of this post, you'll be better at grabbing the attention of anyone who comes across your product. If you're in a rush, just read the bits in bold. Some business owners believe they deserve the full, undivided attention of anyone who stumbles upon their product. Unfortunately for them, they don't deserve anything. Focus and attention have to be earned. Here's an all-too-common example of what I'm talking about: It may have taken us 3 years (and plenty of sleepless nights!) to develop, but ParkMate's 5\ rated UI is worth the wait. Free, easy-to-use and with 24-hour support, there's a reason we've been number 1 on the app store for over a month now. Our award-winning technology can find vacant parking spaces nearby in seconds. Join millions of happy users and download ParkMate for free today.* The mistake? ParkMate are talking about themselves too much. Can you imagine going on a date with ParkMate? It'd be painful. They've forgotten that they're competing for a slice of the reader's attention. And there are plenty of others who want a piece of that pie. So how do we win the attention of our readers? It's very simple: we start talking about them instead. Prospective customers love to hear about themselves. So tell 'em why they'll benefit from what you're selling and tell 'em now. How much time do you waste endlessly searching for a parking space? ParkMate finds one near you in seconds, wherever you are. Say goodbye to your parking misery and get it free today. Much better. By shifting the focus onto the reader, our copy becomes effortlessly more attention-grabbing. Suddenly, we're a much better date too. You can test this if you like. Head over to your homepage and count how many times you see the words "I", "we", "our" and "us". Then count how many times you see "you", "you're" and "your". If the former outweighs the latter, something probably has to change. [link] [comments]  |
| Business Valuation - looking for Industry multiplier Posted: 04 Sep 2019 12:27 PM PDT Hello everyone! I'm considering purchasing a trucking company (in the next 6-18 months) and am having difficulty finding a relevant industry multiplier to assess what the range should be, asking price-wise. I've gone to Bizbuysell and reversed engineered the multipliers in the trucking company category, but I thought I'd inquire here as well. If any one had a rule of thumb,regarding the earnings multiplier (SDE), I'd appreciate it. Thank you in advance, Dan [link] [comments]  |
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