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    Home Unlabelled Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (October 04, 2019) Entrepreneur

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (October 04, 2019) Entrepreneur

    October 04, 2019

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (October 04, 2019) Entrepreneur

    Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (October 04, 2019)

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 06:11 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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    3 studies reveal valuable traits you need to become an entrepreneur

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 05:31 AM PDT

    Only a small fraction of people start their own business.

    Everyone else ends up as an employee.

    What separates these two groups?

    Why do some people take the risky choice of starting a business, while others try to advance their career as an employee?

    A lot of studies have tried to unravel this question.

    One interesting stream of research shows there is strength in diversity...

    The Jack of All Trades Theory

    In 2005 Lazear from Stanford University identified the "Jack of All Trades" trait as a solid predictor of entrepreneurship.

    The hypothesis was that individuals with balanced skills are more likely than others to become entrepreneurs.

    He tested this idea using data on Stanford alumni it turned out to be true.

    "Those who have varied work and educational backgrounds are much more likely to start their own businesses than those who have focused on one role at work or concentrated in one subject at school." he says.

    This supports common wisdom.

    Entrepreneurs need to be well versed in a variety of skills, and bringing together a diverse set of skills usually creates innovative idea babies.

    While on the other hand, employees flourish by specializing in a very specific set of skills to the exclusion of others.

    A later German study successfully replicated these results.

    Then, in 2013 Backes-Gellner and Moog expanded on this idea to include relationships and experiences.

    They analyzed survey data from 2000 German college students and found that you're more likely to become an entrepreneur if you have a balanced portfolio of skills and relationships.

    The more perspectives you're exposed to, the more varied and honed your ideas become. Also calling on your diverse set of relationships helps a lot when launching a business.

    To be clear - a high skill level or high number of social contacts does not create a disposition to be an entrepreneur. Instead it's the balance of different skills, experience, and relationships.

    "It is the jacks-of-all-trades across a whole portfolio of individual resources and not the masters-of-one who are likely to become entrepreneurs," Backes-Gellner and Moog write. "The mere social butterflies or the mere computer nerds are not likely to become entrepreneurs because they are both too imbalanced and thereby less likely to be successful as entrepreneurs."

    Interestingly they also found qualities that predict against entrepreneurship.

    These include a desire for job or income security, or having an apprenticeship or internship. That last one is also quite logical since it leads to specialization.

    Key Takeaway: Develop a balanced portfolio of experiences, relationships, and skills. Not only will it aid you in your entrepreneurial journey, it's also a great way to live your life.

    Got any anecdotes, example, or tips to share?

    I'm giving Gold to the best comment :) As judged by me, not the one with the most up votes. Awarded in the next few days to give everyone a chance to comment.

    P.S. If you're interested in this stuff then come join us at the Client Science FB group, where we talk about these things in-depth.

    submitted by /u/BenJackGill
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    My Skill is Bringing People Together So I Built a Voice Talent Marketplace

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 08:41 AM PDT

    Starting Voices.com was definitely a lightbulb moment. In fact, I call it the "aha" moment. The question my wife and co-founder Stephanie and I asked each other was this: what if we could build an online marketplace that brought together buyers and sellers of voice-overs? We always viewed ourselves as connectors, so running an online marketplace was a natural solution to the problems facing the industry at the time.

    How did you get your first three sign ups?

    The first three sign-ups came from existing contacts, the talent who discovered the recording studio website we had been running and where we were hosting sample recordings of their voice. From there, however, Stephanie utilized the old Yahoo! Directory to discover other voice talent and invite them to join our website. Likewise, I also leveraged the same directory to invite people at advertising agencies and video production companies and invite them to find voice talent for their next project on our website.

    Our business model is based on shared success. It's a freemium model on the seller site, meaning voice talent can join for free or upgrade to $499/year to unlock premium features and benefits. On the buyer side of the market, those clients looking to hire voice talent, we charge a 20% transaction fee on top of the rate quoted for work to be done. So, for a typical $500 project we'll add on 20% resulting in a total of $600 for the client. We find this approach to be fair as the talent always gets paid exactly what they quote.

    We validated our idea by installing a toll-free telephone line into our home office and then taking hundreds of inbound phone calls and answering common questions. While the toll-free number served as free customer support, it also afforded us the opportunity to ask very direct "what if" type questions and gauge interest in new product ideas, far before we invested development resources. We seemed to always have a shortlist of ideas that we'd run by customers and prospective customers to see if they'd be willing to pay for such a benefit. This concept is now known as determining the willingness to pay.

    The strongest area of growth continues to be online video. Videos are just so versatile. From pitch videos, product launches, and promotional videos to corporate training videos and other tutorials, there are a variety of ways that businesses can educate and inform their audiences of their product offerings.

    Have you raised any money? How much?

    Exactly two years ago, we raised $18 million USD from Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital out of San Francisco. As growth stage equity investors, they were attracted to a large and growing market for voice and audio products, investing in the leader in the space and a prudent use of capital that involved investing in our core technology platform and accelerating our sales and marketing efforts. We continue to invest in those areas of product, technology, sales, and marketing.

    Who is your target demographic?

    With a two-sided marketplace our target market is quite nuanced. On the client side we target advertising agencies, corporate marketing departments, media companies, Fortune 500 companies, and content producers. As for talent, we're looking at talent agencies and casting directors, recording studios and audio production facilities, professional voice talents and actors, radio personalities, amatuer voice talents, and aspiring actors. We've done a lot of research into the size of the global voice over market and found its monetary value is $4.4 billion dollars.

    How did you fund the idea initially?

    Our business started as an idea on a napkin and from there my wife Stephanie and I were tasked with bringing that idea of an online voice-over marketplace into reality. We used a combination of national banks for long-term loans (we had two 4-year loans and paid them off early) as well as credit cards to fund day-to-day purchases. After a year on a waiting list, we were accepted into the local business incubator at a university where we grew from me literally working on the floor with a laptop to the point where we had actual staff.

    Any tips for finding first employees?

    When it comes to finding your first employees it helps to focus on building your team, rather than looking for employees. Define your company culture and look for people who would complement it. The goal is to build a team who enjoy coming to work and who will feel co-ownership in your company's successes. It is easier to teach employee skills than it is to make a talented employee fit into your culture.

    Did you run any companies prior?

    I opened my own recording studio in London, ON, after finishing an audio engineering program. There, I immersed myself in the most effective ways to record music, but also commercials for radio and television. I had all of this equipment and knew that there must be more that I could be doing with it, so that lead me to bring in local voice over talent to record in the studio. As the reputation of the studio grew, we were receiving requests from across North America to represent voice over actors. There was a clear need for a single marketplace where businesses and voice over talent could connect. That's where the idea for Voices.com started.

    What were your family and friends first thoughts you creating your own your company?

    I've been fortunate to build this business with my wife, Stephanie, so there has never been any pushback about giving Voices.com 100% of my attention. I'm an entrepreneur at heart and my family understands that.

    If you enjoyed this interview, the original is here.

    submitted by /u/WideHold
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    Sales for Founders 101

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 12:33 PM PDT

    Hey r/Entrepreneur! Thought I'd share some basic tips and information on sales for founders with you all since I just recorded a 3 part series about the topic on my podcast The Mentors. This is mostly relevant to B2B businesses, though some B2C concepts also apply if you're doing direct sales. (I'm going to share links to each part of the series below, but you'll get everything you need to know right in this post)

    First off, I've done sales both for other startups and for my own, and I believe it is a skill that is possible to learn because when I started I sucked. But I got pretty good at it within about a year of doing it.

    Secondly, I strongly believe that even if you're not the best sales person at your company, you need to be the first one. You can't outsource the process of understanding your customers, especially in the first year, because learning about their problems and how they buy will then inform all of your messaging, marketing, and product/service offering decisions moving forward.

    The Basics

    There are 3 basic ways of selling a product and it largely depends on how complex the product is, and how expensive it is.

    Self Service
    Think products like Hootsuite or Squarespace. If you can explain the product/service simply enough on a sales page and through a pricing page on your website, and if it's something that a business or individual can pay for with just a credit card (~<$1,000 per year), then you can probably get away with never having any sales people on your team for people to buy your product. Some companies offer free trials to get people excited about their offering, but be careful to not make the trial too long. The length of the trial should only be as long as it takes for someone to get value from the product, otherwise you run the risk of losing engagement and therefor losing the sale.

    Inside Sales
    Examples include products like Salesforce, Hubspot etc. If the product is a bit more complicated where someone needs to sit through a web demo, or be talked through the features on the phone, then you will likely need to employ an inside sales team, which is essentially a telemarketing team. You can generate leads over email, LinkedIn, or through cold calling, but you likely will never have to leave the office to close a deal because the product is simple enough, and the cost is likely somewhere between $5,000-$50,000 per year. Wide range I know, but it really depends on the product and who you're selling to. Some inside sales teams can close deals in the hundreds of thousands if not higher without ever leaving the office. Sales cycles range from a few weeks to 6 months.

    Outside Sales
    Examples of products are DataDog, AWS, Microsoft, and any management consulting business. This is for products that are typically mission critical for a business, where you're selling to multiple stakeholders in an organization over several months or even years, and contract values can be in the millions. This kind of selling almost always requires a sales person or even an executive to travel and meet people in person multiple times during the sales process, and is therefore one of the most expensive ways to sell.

    One thing to keep in mind is that if your product is very complex, you have to be careful about how you price it, because if it's too cheap, and you have to sell in person every time, you may never make enough money to make up for the costs of selling. That being said, it's totally fine if in the first year of selling you take the time to visit your customers in person to understand their problems, even if your average contract value is relatively low. Just know that in the future you'll have to adjust your sales process.

    Getting Meetings

    There are many ways to generate leads. Content marketing, event marketing, conferences, SEO/SEM, cold emailing, cold calling etc. But in this post I'm going to focus on the last two. In my experience, sending emails (or LinkedIn messages) and making phone calls are still the fastest way to generate meetings, especially if you're a founder who doesn't have much money to spend on lead generation.

    Cold Emails

    Whether you're sending emails or LinkedIn InMails, the process is pretty much the same. Your results will be better if you can get inbound emails where people opt in and demonstrate interest, but I can tell you first hand that many founders get started by doing cold outreach, until they can figure out who the best target customer is, and where they can market to them.

    The basic rules to remember are 1) Keep your emails short. Email = work and no one will waste time reading about how awesome your features are. The way to write a short email is to be direct telling the person exactly who you are and why you're reaching out, and to focus on the problem you solve for them versus telling them everything you possibly can about your product/service. 2) Build credibility. Why should they trust you? Maybe you're an expert, maybe you have 1 other name brand client, or maybe you've worked in their industry before. See if you can find a way to show credibility because you're trying to establish trust from the get go. And don't be shy about telling people you're the founder. For some it'll be a turn off because you're really small still, but for others they will appreciate that the founder is reaching out directly. 3) Make your ask very specific, and ask for ONE thing. Do you want a call or in-person meeting? When? Don't give people too many options for how they can help you because then you risk decision paralysis and they'll just never respond. And don't forget to add a question mark at the end of your email so you prompt a response.

    ​

    Cold Calls

    Many of the rules from cold calling apply, but I would say whether you're selling for the first time or not, you almost always have to learn how to sell all over again when it's a new product to a new customers. So make sure you have everything scripted out and rehearsed. Eventually it'll be natural, but don't trust that you'll be amazing right away. That means writing out your quick opening value statement to hook the person, writing out all the possible questions you will ask to keep them on the phone, and writing out all the potential objections someone will have and how you will handle them. Practice these and do role playing with co-founders/friends and after a while, cold calls will be a lot less scary.

    Closing the Deal

    As discussed above, some deals can be closed over email, over the phone and some in person. Some take a week and others take a year. For this example I'll be talking about how to go for the close in an in-person meeting since for founders this will be the most common way you'll close your first several deals.

    Get them to articulate the pain
    Before you go for the close, you must make sure that the person you're selling to articulates the specific problem and the associated pain in their own words. Even better if you can get them to quantify it in terms of hours, dollars lost or gained. Don't be afraid to get personal. Ask how this problem impacts their job and them personally and only sell based on how your solution will solve that specific personal pain. If a person articulates their pain to you, they are more likely to make a purchase because the pain is not passive but actively in their mind.

    Qualify
    Make sure you confirm that 1) the problem exists 2) the budget exists and 3) they or someone they can introduce you to are the budget owner and/or decision maker. Knowing this will tell you if you should be spending time with this customer or another one, and understanding their buying process will help you control the sale and get it to a close. Questions can include, "tell me about a time you've tried a similar solution," or "how do you typically buy products like this and is there anyone else I should loop into the conversation?"

    Go for the close
    If the pain is active enough and your solution will very clearly alleviate that pain, then the customer will chase you down themselves and figure out how to make that purchase. But that probably won't happen in the first year of your business, so you'll need to get creative for how to go for the close. A few ways to do this are to Create Urgency by making the customer feel like you're a scarce asset. Maybe you're only working with a few customers this year and you want them to be the first one and build the solution based on their needs. When you're a startup people understand that you may not have the bandwidth or budget to serve more than a few customers. Another tactic that many people use is to say that their boss, or advisory board or whoever is on top of them to close in the next week. You're basically asking the customer for a favor to hurry things along, but this works well if you've established a great relationship with them over time. Finally, during the negotiation you can offer a discount in the last minute, perhaps for signing a longer term contract, but they need to sign by the end of the week or month. Again all of this can only work well if they truly think you'll be able to solve a specific problem for them.

    That's it for now for sales for founders basics. Please comment if there's something I missed or if you want further clarification on anything!

    submitted by /u/seregarev
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    Criteria/Checklist/Fail Test for numerous business ideas?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 01:26 PM PDT

    I have alot of ideas but don't know if their a certain criteria that must be checked or a test to see if the ideas are viable before proceeding to continue?

    submitted by /u/MistahQueen
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    Facebook Group Scrape: Emails, Full Name, Gender, Phone Numbers, Location

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 01:02 PM PDT

    Heres a little snapshot of helping another client scraping a facebook group : https://gyazo.com/a2baaa0f375bba1943a393801a9e6d19

    dm me for more details

    submitted by /u/OptionsBoy
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    Can you still make a living selling products online?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 12:47 PM PDT

    I've been looking into buying various products (jewelry, clothing, accessories), online, from China, and reselling them here in the US, online. Can one still make a living doing this, or is this market/idea pretty much saturated now?

    submitted by /u/WyldBlu
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    How to start a laundry business?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 12:36 PM PDT

    Hey everyone, I'm looking to start a basic laundry business in a place that's poor with high student and renter demographics. My question is what do I need to start up a basic laundry Matt?

    Please disregard labor in this calculation.

    What I would like to know is what equipment do I need.

    What are typical utility costs?

    And what are the typical gross profit margin.

    I plan on using industrial washing machines used.

    I plan on making my business model about $5 for a wash.

    Water is barebones cheap here, about 60% cheaper than up north in the USA.

    Electricity is expensive but I'll use gas to power my washing machines.

    My hours of operation would be 9 AM to 9 PM

    Daily.

    Any advice please?

    submitted by /u/ohiodylan
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    Obtaining Business Data

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 08:07 AM PDT

    Is there anywhere to obtain google analytical data for foot traffic into businesses?

    ​

    Secondly, is there any way to obtain the address for when a permit for a storefront is filed with the state, this way I can contact the owner prior to opening of the business?

    submitted by /u/BigBeard86
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    Audience Toolkit My One of The Best Favorite Facebook Targeting Tool.

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 11:51 AM PDT

    The Groundbreaking Way to Attract Targeted Audiences from Facebook by Combining the Power of Social Media with a Fully-Automated Traffic Gathering System.

    Audience Toolkit by Simple Social Tools. The Groundbreaking Way to Attract Targeted Audiences from Facebook by Combining the Power of Social Media with a Fully-Automated Traffic Gathering System. Audience Toolkit by Simple Social Tools. In the recent years, the competition in the traffic in online marketing business is getting fiercer and fiercer. Because of this, many online businesses are starting to use more sophisticated system for their business in order to get the largest portion of traffic for their business. One such way is by using the power of social networking in order to gather highly-profitable targeted traffic into your business and quickly turn them to profits. This method has been proofed to be working and businesses that use it has been racking in profits quickly. Unfortunately, this work has a problem. Doing all the works with this method can be labor-intensive and cost a lot of time and money to do.

    See Full Review

    submitted by /u/Minhaj450
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    restarting bookkeeping service

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 10:52 AM PDT

    Am considering restarting my bookkeeping service after 7 years back in an office. For small business what do you prefer, on-site, hosted or cloud?

    submitted by /u/amadeus2012
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    Brother wants to create a site for his fitness program he’s starting. Where should he begin?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 10:43 AM PDT

    My brother is looking into creating a website for a fitness thing he's starting up, but is kind of lost on what to do with the site. He's not on reddit so I decided to ask for him to help him out. What's the best way to do it? He wants to make money from it if possible, and doesn't mind spending money if needed. What are some good options for this? I'd appreciate any answers!

    submitted by /u/StarWarsFreak93
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    How do you guys find good business ideas ?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 04:43 AM PDT

    Hi, I'm tired of my job and I want to do my own thing... but I can't find the right thing to do.

    I'm in a job where I have really specific skills, so I can't really use them elsewhere (I'm an optician).

    I guess I can talk to customers, and do some paperwork, but other than that, my skills are unusable elsewhere.

    I have a hard time finding profitable ideas...

    What would you do if you were in my shoes ?

    (By the way, sorry if I made some grammar mistakes, English is my second language)

    submitted by /u/Frog_eater
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    37, disabled & my husband is self employed- we are looking to start our business & have hit a wall in how to get started.

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 10:17 AM PDT

    TL/DR at the bottom. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

    I am a retired police officer (I became chronically ill after the birth of our son and had to retire from law enforcement 8 yrs ago). At the time, my only option was to allow my house to foreclose because it was in an area with MANY foreclosures (SW Florida) & we were unable to find a buyer for a very long time. I recieve disability and am unable to work physically because of my chronic condition.

    My husband was a web design/ programmer, making around 80k before the company he worked for folded, which pushed him to start out as a lighting & sound engineer. After a short stint doing events, he got heavily involved in the installation side of technology, and he's now making upwards of $200/hr between installing & programming systems & equipment.

    He was an independent contractor, but now he's gotten in on the ground floor with a friend's business- the entire business is in the friend's name, but my husband is an intregal part (the business couldn't run w/out his knowledge & abilities). They are doing very well and picked up multiple HUGE contracts for chains of businesses- currently they are working on 180 new vet clinics accross the US and that's only one of many.

    We live with extended family & have very few bills; no mortgage, no rent- just a single car payment, insurance, our phones. We help out with electric/gas, etc- but the bulk of the household bills are my parents (who we share the house with)- my husband maintains thier vehicles, we renovate and care for the house and they pay the bills.

    Our only major expense is that we are currently paying for three storage units a month- $1100 total- for a MASSIVE collection of Lego and Lego related products that I've been collecting for many years. This collection has been my way of working towards the business I want to start.

    The Business; My goal has always been to open a Lego related business consisting of multiple parts;

    -A new & used Lego shop selling everything from current items, to custom printed parts, build-your-own figures, bulk brick, specialized parts, etc etc etc.

    -A model building studio- where adult Lego model builders can come work in a place with a massive parts library- (both professional builders who do commission work- artists who work in Lego - as well as hobby builders who work on large complex builds but may not have a place at thier home to work on or store thier builds.)

    • A large museum-like display area w/ interactive exhibits, activities- with large walk-through displays, building challenges, the history of Lego (and displays of many classic themes and sets throughout the ages).

      • Classes & clubs for kids (after school, summer camps, scouts & home school groups)- Based on robotics, engineering, team building, creativity, etc. (As well as birthday parties)
      • We also want to have entertainment based area, themed to Lego- Car ramps where you can build & race your builds. Challenges where you can try to solve puzzles using Lego- an indoor "Lego" Minigolf course where you can experiment with changing the design of the course was/ obstacles similar to giant Legos...

    -A secure storage area where adult collectors can store thier Lego collections (built, unbuilt, boxed, etc)- because many people have HUGE collections but not enough room at home to store them (and storage facilities are NOT ideal temp and settings for these type of collections).

    & Finally (but also most importantly)- We are HEAVILY involved in two charities that we have been running(not official 501c3 corporations)- For 5 years, we've been running Project Christmas- adopting local families in need at Christmas & providing everything the families need (5 years old, last year we helped 64 families with 119 kids). We also run a charity that creates custom Lego kits for kids and adults suffering from health issues, chronic pain, etc- and delivers them to families in domestic violence shelters, children's hospitals, etc.

    We have the entire business EXTREMELY well planned out, we have a focus-group online that has both volunteered to help with the set up and opening, but has been heavily involved in the ideas & planning of the business. We own nearly everything necessary for the inside of the business... Including displays, shelving, signage, promotional & decorative Lego related displays, and all of the Lego necessary for the massive displays, the new & used Lego shop, the model building studio, etc etc etc.

    What we don't have- is a location for the business. Although my husband makes GREAT money- we don't have any real organization when it comes to our income, and neither of us have fantastic credit thanks to young mistakes. (Mine is all paid-off, with no outstanding debt- and he's been steadily clearing up about $13k in remaining student loans).

    I have no idea how one goes about starting a business that needs a $300,000 warehouse-like building, and affords to hire contractors to do a $40,000 build-out. (this is approximately the costs we've come up with, through our research).

    If I continue paying $1200 a month in storage unit fees- I'm throwing that money away. And yet- I need the contents of the storage units to open the business. I'd like to move everything into a rental property and start with SOME of the ideas, growing the business to another location or expanding in the same location if we're able. We contacted a local owner of a 12,000 sq foot building with fantastic road-frontage, a huge parking lot, just minutes from our house- asking if we could possibly rent PART of the building, and then expand as we grow... Because the entire warehouse has sat empty for more than 15 years...

    ...but the owners response was that they "would really rather focus on selling it". I can't imagine we could EVERY get a $3000 a month mortgage with our credit & my husband's being self employed. - even if we DID get the mortgage, at $3000/m, we wouldn't be able to afford to improve/build out the empty warehouse. We were really disappointed that they weren't interested - and that they'd rather have it sit empty (it's been through 3 realtors with zero inquiries besides us in more than 10 years).

    We live in an area with an ABUNDANCE of mixed use space, but this building was really IDEAL in location for our needs.

    Anyway- I have absolutely no idea how people get started when they have a passion project that they want to turn into a real business. We need to stop throwing away money in storage fees every month- and I genuinely want to move everything into one place, and turn my hobby into an actual business. We have a TON of support from the Lego community, we live in a major suburb of a huge City, and the support for our idea is VERY BIG.... I just don't know where to start.

    Your suggestions, comments and feedback are very much appreciated. I am in no way,.a business major, and I can't thank you enough for your patience with my LONG post.

    For years, I have been amassing all of the products & display items, retail fixtures, signage- literally everything necessary to open the business - we have it all. Just no place to actually open.

    TL/DR; Our family has a huge hobby/project that we believe could be a very successful business- we just have no idea how to transition or get started. We have a good amount of disposable income, but that income fluctuates vastly bc my husband is self employed, and our personal credit is not good (but it IS improving.) Without an investor to start us off with a large sum - I have no idea how to move forward with starting our business. Thank you <3

    (If you are interested in knowing more- http://www.evansfamilylegoproject.com & http://www.Instagram.com/EvansFamilyLegoProject) are ours! )

    submitted by /u/redandbluenights
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    Where can I find a good sales rep or manufacturers representative?

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 10:08 AM PDT

    I am looking for manufacturers representatives to contact distributors, stores, retailers and sell office chairs in the "e-sports" category (think racing or gaming chairs). Recently launched our brand (less than 2 years) and we are expanding and looking for high performers that know how to get into retailers or know the industry. The position offers uncapped commission and the product is fantastic (recent entry to major retailer) so it is the perfect opportunity for someone that wants to grow with the brand

    submitted by /u/mikolikeschicks
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    Register a company (UK)

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:49 AM PDT

    Looking to open up an online store as a side hustle. Do I have to register it as a company? I do want the customer bank statement to appear with my company name.

    If so, do you recommend a virtual registered office? .

    submitted by /u/smit789
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    I am opening up a coffee/beer/wine tasting room in my busy and growing town. I am hoping to interview a couple other bar/restaurant owners to finish off my business plan.

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:34 AM PDT

    As the titles states... I have everything finished including renderings of the future site, quotes and prices from local contractors to build it out, every single model I could think of and have about 60% of the funding secured. I have a large investor that is willing to put forth the last 40% for a small return as he is very excited to see this in our town. He would like to see us complete some interviews of other current/ex owners of bars to include in our plan. If anybody is on here that would be willing to answer between 10-15 questions for us, that would be amazing.

    Questions wouldn't be too personal but rather experience based on what worked, what didn't work, what could have been done better or even avoided all together, etc...

    Thanks in advance!

    submitted by /u/XXCHAONLY
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    $3,500/month with a website about playing bar games.

    Posted: 04 Oct 2019 09:01 AM PDT

    Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview.

    Today's interview is with Patrick Hess of Bar Games 101, a brand that makes bar game resources

    Some stats:

    • Product: bar game resources
    • Revenue/mo: $3,500
    • Started: October 1979
    • Location: New York City
    • Founders: 1
    • Employees: 0

    Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?

    My name is Patrick Hess and I am the creator of Bar Games 101, a website about a wide variety of games to play with your friends and family.

    We feature articles about classic bar games like pool, darts, shuffleboard, and foosball, as well as many other games that are fun to play at home or while traveling, including board games, cards, and dice games, backyard games, and traditional tabletop games.

    Our blog posts aim to explain how to play and get better at these games, mostly for beginners, while also helping our audience discover new games to check out and the best gear to use.

    As our library of game-focused content expands, traffic is increasing as well, with over 200K monthly unique visitors and revenue over $4,000 for the month of August.

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    What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?

    Back in 2016, I was researching some ideas for a new online side project with low start-up costs. The goal was actually pretty simple: to develop a website about a fun topic that could, eventually, earn some passive income and help pay the bills.

    I have a legal background and currently, work as a business development executive within the industrial sector. Needless to say, I was looking for something on the lighter side.

    Using one of my favorite SEO tools called Ahrefs as well as the basic Google keyword planner and Google trends, I started brainstorming some topics and doing keyword research. I wanted to find a niche that was broad and interesting (or at least that I had a bonafide interest in), but not overly competitive.

    Here's why:

    • A broad website or blog niche allows for several related sub-niches, more topics to write about over the long-term, and more potential traffic for different types of monetization (i.e. display ads, affiliate revenue)

    • But if I picked a competitive niche like fitness or gadgets, it would be harder to start ranking.

    • Yet, if I picked something based on the search metrics alone, but was not genuinely enthusiastic about the subject matter, I knew I would eventually lose motivation.

    I had recently played shuffleboard, one of my favorite games, in a bar. As this was already fresh in my mind, I started researching the subject matter and related topics like pool and darts. And I quickly realized there were several 'long-tail' keywords in these game categories with decent search volume and relatively low competition.

    Based on the number of topics to write about and estimated traffic from solid blog posts that would hopefully rank well, it seemed like an authority website model about the overarching theme of "classic bar games" had strong potential.

    Plus, I've always loved a good bar game.

    I grew up with a pool table in the family room (my Dad was, and still is, an avid player). My brother and I played countless games of pool against each other and with our friends during our childhood. I also enjoyed many darts matches (even played in a few leagues) and games of foosball and shuffleboard in bars over the years.

    And, most importantly, it sounded like a fun project to work on in my spare time. So I decided to run with it and build a website.

    Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.

    I started by focusing on my favorite classic bar games that I would enjoy writing about. Then I came up with a list of topics that covered different aspects of the pool, darts, shuffleboard, and foosball.

    These were basically "how-to" guides that would teach a beginner how to play classic games like 8-ball, 9-ball and cutthroat pool; cricket and 01 darts; other dart games like around the world, killer and shanghai; the rules of knock-off shuffleboard; and a summary of tips on how to play and get better at foosball.

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    Although I generally knew how to play these games, I still needed to do a lot of research to get the rules right, and then communicate this information and advice in a useful and digestible format. I also came up with a complete list of all the bar games I could think of, and then drafted an outline for a very long post on the subject.

    Next, I found a Wordpress theme and design I liked and set up a self-hosted Wordpress blog with a simple category structure. Then it was just a matter of writing and publishing the first round of articles.

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    At this point, I wasn't even thinking about monetization for the website. I've learned from a couple of earlier (failed) projects not to get ahead of myself.

    I just wanted to create something that could stand on its own as a useful online resource about classic bar games.

    Then, if that resource started to get some traction, I would start thinking about how to monetize it.

    Describe the process of launching the business.

    The first step for this project was picking a domain name. I liked Bar Games 101 because it conveyed the original purpose of the website: to teach people how to play classic bar games. I already had a hosting account with Siteground, so I simply registered the domain with them and installed Wordpress.

    Other than the domain registration and hosting costs, which were minimal, the only other upfront costs to launch this project was to hire a graphic designer for the logo and to find a premium Wordpress theme to build out the site.

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    I sort of know my way around Photoshop, but my skills are very limited, so it was a huge help to find a talented graphic designer on Upwork. She created a great set of logos using the color scheme I wanted. For the theme, while I've used several premium Wordpress themes and frameworks in the past (including Genesis, Divi, etc.), this time I discovered GeneratePress. It's lightweight, well-documented and supported, and easy to customize; perfect for my needs with this project.

    Total costs to get the website up and running, including the graphic design, were about $200, plus all the time it took me to write the first round of articles and design the website. I quickly set-up a couple of social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest) and then hit publish on all the articles.

    Admittedly, I did a very poor job of getting the word out for this site. In fact, I did virtually zero outreach: no link building, no advertising, no networking whatsoever. I just built the site and then hoped that it would start seeing some organic search traffic based on the quality of the articles, search volume, and overall interest in my chosen bar game topics and keywords. After working all day and with family responsibilities, plus some other projects I was working on, I just didn't have the time or energy to promote the site. So, no big surprise here, it took quite some time to generate traffic to the site.

    Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?

    Several months after publishing the first set of articles and creating a "resource" about classic bar games, the website eventually started seeing a couple hundred visitors per day. We even earned a little affiliate revenue from a post about finding the best electronic dartboard. But I was running out of topic ideas to write about within the original category structure, and traffic plateaued. Momentum was fading quickly.

    Luckily, I revisited my original list of bar games and realized that there are way more games that the site could and should cover than just the standard mix of pool and darts.

    The idea to expand the scope of games on the site might seem pretty obvious, but it took me a while to see the potential of appealing to a much broader audience.

    From that point on, I started researching tons of new game ideas and outsourcing articles to a handpicked group of writers. Researching new games, assessing potential search volume/competition, and either writing or outsourcing articles on a regular basis have been a very effective strategy for increasing organic search traffic, and earning new and repeat visitors to the site.

    For example, a few of the most popular articles on the site include long, in-depth posts about a unique mix of games, including the best 2 player card games, the best single player card games, how to play dominoes, axe throwing 101, the best dice games to play at the bar, how to play horseshoes, and how to find the best cornhole boards.

    We also have several posts about new board games, as well as games like air hockey, skeeball, beer pong, flip cup, bar trivia, bocce, polish horseshoes, adult card games, backgammon, ring-toss games, different versions of monopoly, bachelor party games, and many more.

    Discovering and learning about these new and traditional games is now a critical part of the job; not a bad gig!

    How are you doing today and what does the future look like?

    Currently, the website sees over 200,000 monthly visitors and gets well over 300,000 monthly views. From that traffic, the site now earns an average of $3500 per month based on advertising revenue from Mediavine and affiliate sales (primarily from Amazon Associates).

    As you can see from the screenshot below, traffic really picked up in 2019 over the last few months (the spikes represent an uptick in weekend search volume due to the nature of the site) and is growing monthly.

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    (Analytics for the last 30 days… July 14 - August 14, 2019)

    I believe the increase in traffic is due to the fact that the site has aged a little and has earned more authority in Google, as well as my commitment to researching new games and publishing consistently.

    Back in November of 2018, the site exceeded 25,000 monthly sessions. At that point, I applied to Mediavine, an ad management program that works with publishers in several different blog verticals. This brought in a whole new stream of passive revenue for the site. If you have a blog that gets decent traffic (at least 25K monthly sessions) and want to monetize with ads, I highly recommend applying to Mediavine. They are very supportive of their publishers and offer access to a large community of knowledgeable site builders and content creators.

    I now reinvest some of the revenue back into the site for content creation and a couple of premium plugins. Currently, my total monthly expenses are around $350.

    One of my goals over the next couple of months is to clean up the site and consolidate articles to focus on improving the overall quality and time spent on the site. I have also started to work on my conversion optimization rate (CRO . . . just learned that one) for the top affiliate posts.

    In addition to optimizing existing posts, I also look forward to publishing new guides about a bunch of different games, including vintage board games, traditional pub games like "shut-the-box", and ancient international games like Mancala.

    Also, one of the best things about this website is hearing from actual game creators, as they are often looking for a place to write about and promote their ideas. And we have the perfect audience for them! It's been great to feature some of these new games on the site, such as a new dice throwing game called DAGZ, a Kickstarter project called OTR, a fun cornhole-golf hybrid called Chippo, the creators of an axe-throwing company, and a new board game called Hobbes. I plan to feature more new game creations in the coming months.

    Ultimately, I'd like to aggregate all of this content into a comprehensive e-book (i.e. "The Bar Games Bible") with rules and instructions for modern and traditional bar games. And I think the next phase with this site may include also more video, but I have a lot to figure out before then.

    Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

    One thing I picked up in creating this website was that I spent way too much time trying to design and optimize for desktop visitors. The reality is that over 80% of my traffic comes from mobile visitors. This means that all design and formatting decisions should start with mobile as the primary viewport, rather than the other way around. Since I come from a certain B2B background where most content marketing still targets a desktop audience, this was an eye-opener for me.

    Second, it's really hard to find the "right" writers. But once you do, stick with them. Even if they cost a little more. I've learned that it's worth it to pay more up front for a quality work product and have less editorial work on the back-end. There are a lot of talented writers out there, but many do not know how to write for the web, or at least how to write for your specific audience. It's worth the time to communicate your goals thoroughly and try different writers out before finding the right match(es).

    Along these same lines, the decision to start delegating work to others has allowed me to scale the site a little more than expected. I have a tendency to try to do everything myself, but it's not an efficient or sustainable way to build an actual business. Which brings me to my next point.

    It's important to treat a project like this, however small it is and even if it's a side project, as an actual business. Once I started tracking expenses, reinvesting towards outsourced content, and taking content strategy seriously, I started to see things improve and it kept me motivated.

    As a bonus, this project has also validated my belief that the games we write about are still fun and relevant. Whether it's the personal interaction, competition, or even mental stimulation, people are still interested in learning how to play 'analog' games. Despite all of the digital options, we have today, there's nothing better than getting away from the phone or computer and playing a game of pool or round of darts with a few friends, or even a few rounds of rummy or Jenga with a family member.

    What platform/tools do you use for your business?

    For website creation and content management, I use Wordpress as CMS and GeneratePress as the theme. I know there are some skeptics out there, but I love Wordpress and use it for several projects at work and in my spare time. And, if you're looking for a really nice lightweight Wordpress theme for your next project, definitely check out GeneratePress.

    I use Siteground for hosting and recently signed up with Cloudflare to boost speed and increase security on the site.

    I also use WP Rocket for caching and site optimization, a plugin called AAWP (Amazon Affiliate Wordpress Plugin) to create and manage many of my affiliate links, and Yoast SEO to configure basic SEO settings in the Wordpress backend.

    For SEO analytics, keyword research, site auditing, backlink monitoring, and much more, I use a tool called Ahrefs. It's an amazingly powerful tool that, once harnessed, will give you tons of insights into potential keywords and optimization strategies. I use Ahrefs for several projects.

    For finding freelancers and outsourcing content, I've used Upwork and Problogger. I've also had really good luck finding writers through platforms like WriterAccess and Express Writers.

    I use Canva for image editing and Mailchimp for email campaigns (something I would like to focus on in the future, but up until now has not been a major part of my strategy).

    One final tool I'll mention is Wordable. This is a handy tool that allows you to export from Google Docs directly into the Wordpress editor. I'm still testing it out, but it is already proving to be a big time saver.

    What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?

    Books

    For marketing advice, I've read enjoyed a few of Seth Godin's books. Currently, I'm reading "This is Marketing: You Can't Be Seen Until You See".

    For an inspirational biography, I would definitely recommend "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life", by Walter Isaacson.

    Other books that I found helpful were "The 7 Day Startup", by Dan Norris, and "Virtual Freedom", by Chris Ducker. The latter is a must if you are unsure about why or how to outsource some of your tasks.

    Websites

    The website that started it all for me was Copyblogger. That's what got me interested in content marketing several years ago, and I applied those lessons to a number of projects in the B2B space. All still highly relevant today and useful for any type of web project.

    Other blogs I read to learn about site building, affiliate marketing, SEO and entrepreneurship are RankXL, Authority Hacker, Niche Pursuits, Backlinko and the Ahrefs blog. I also like the blog at Orbit Media to learn more about website design and content marketing.

    Podcasts

    I really like the Money Lab podcast. The hosts provide very practical information for anyone trying to build a web based or content business. Plus they're really funny.

    I also enjoy listening to the NPR podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz for inspiration.

    Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?

    Not sure if this is helpful or particularly insightful, but these are some basic things I've learned through trying to create an online content-based side business.

    The first piece of advice is to be patient. If you're trying to build a content business like this one (on the side), unless you have some secret formula for instant success (which some claim to have), it will take some time to see results. Just build a solid foundation and plan out your long term strategy.

    Then, be persistent. If the initial results are mediocre but you believe in your idea and have strong analytics to support your belief, don't give up. Trust in your research and try to stay motivated to push through. This is where I failed numerous times. You get sidetracked or jaded, and then move on to something else before the project has had a chance to succeed.

    You also need to be flexible. If you're too rigid with your original plan, you might miss out on opportunities to expand or modify your original idea and move past that initial plateau.

    Keep it fun. If you're working on a side hustle, pick something that's fun or that you're truly interested in. This can make all the difference in pushing through the initial phase. If it's something you enjoy working on, then you simply treat it has a fun hobby. Then, when it has some legs, you can treat it like a business.

    My final tip is: do what works for you. What I mean by that is, if you're as time-crunched as me, don't try to apply everything you hear or read online to your business. If everyone says do link building and outreach, but you only have time to do some research and write articles, just start with that and get something built. If you try to do it all up front, it can be overwhelming and counterproductive.

    Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?

    Always looking for writers who are interested in researching and writing about games. This would be a freelance opportunity that pays per article. Contact me if interested. If you have experience in graphic design, or even creating or editing videos, that would be a bonus. I also may need a VA in the near future to handle basic Wordpress updates and other admin tasks.

    Where can we go to learn more?

    If you have any questions or comments, drop a comment below!

    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

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