How can you design or invent a new product ? An approach used by many of the big companies on the SP 500 list. Entrepreneur |
- How can you design or invent a new product ? An approach used by many of the big companies on the SP 500 list.
- How to find the first customer?
- Was planning on growing my business while working. Now work want me gone...
- $100k/Month Helping Companies Outsource Admin, Design and Development
- Is YC really that prestigious? Why or why not?
- How do you deal with health insurance when you go all in full time on a venture at the beginning?
- How to monetise a 25,000 follower FB page
- Awesome youtube playlist from Dragon Innovation on Product development and design for manufacturing (DFM)
- Every competitor in my market looks the same. Do I go down the same path?
- Luxury Clothing Brand Name Brainstorm
- Are selfish people more successful than nice people ? Interesting research study by Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
- Looking for feedback on this waitlist...
- Coin Op Car wash or coin op laundry? (NV)
- E Commerce Business NYC Start Up
- Software to manage sales team and send quotation
- How to increase business (tutoring)
- For anyone working on their business plan....
- Experience with Housecall Pro vs. Launch27?
- For those of you who started a business/hustle at a young age, what was it like? How was the process? Were you taken seriously?
- Need some advice!
- Does anyone have experience setting up a rewards based crowdfunding platform?
- Selling wholesale credit and shipping questions
- $440K/month business selling healthy shakes [started in a dorm room]
- Should one focus on content creation or SEO? Which would give best results in terms of traffic for website?
- Subreddit for people trying to break free while working a full time job?
| Posted: 05 Oct 2019 07:01 PM PDT In 1980s a Japanese professor named Noriaki Kano developed a model for product design to meet a high level of customer satisfaction. The model, in short, goes like this : Every product should have a 3 levels of attributes or features. and these 3 levels of attributes are : 1- The First Level (this is what the customers expect to be there and it MUST be there) : the product in this level should have all the basic attributes or features that a customer expect to receive. An example would be - hotels are expected to have clean sheets and hot water . you never see a hotel advertising that they also have a hot water right? .. cause it is a basic feature that the customer expect to see. 2- The Second Level (this is what the customer expect to be there but it is not necessary to have it) : an example would be a swimming pool or full equipped gym room. if the Hotel has a big gym room, that would be great, but if they have small gym, the customers are still satisfied with the hotel. These are the features that the hotel would advertise about normally. 3- The Third Level (this is where you have a feature that the customer doesn't know or except to be there ) : this feature works as a surprise and it will take increase your costumer satisfaction up to the roof. This is where the luxury level is located. imagine you booked a room at the hotel to be surprised with an exclusive ticket to your favorite show or something else that you did not expect at all. this is the level where you create a very loyal customers and make yourself unique compared to your competition. There is a problem in the first level though. this problem is that the cost of investment is very high but the reward is very low. Meaning, for example, you need to invest tons of money on the heating system so the customer in the 10th floor room of the hotel get hot water instantly once they open the faucet. if they got the hot water very quickly, no one goes around thanking you your efforts and the tons of money your spent to make that possible. BUT if they did not get the hot water instantly, you will receipt a lot of bad reviews. imagine if the toilet was not working. the customers will rain you with bad reviews but if it works properly. no one will mention it. that is why you need to be careful on Level 1. the Cost of the investment is high but the reward unfortunately is too low. BUT Sometimes, even if you screw up on the first level you still can get satisfied customers. that happened with the Iphone when it was launched first time. When Apple launched the Iphone first time they used AT&T as a carrier. the service was so bad that sometimes you can not even make a phone call in most of the country. imagine that you buy a phone but you cant use to make phone calls which the most basic feature that the customer expect. what saved the Iphone ass is the fact they had the third level features. Compared with the other phones in the market at that time, the iphone provided features that the customer did not expect such as many apps , iTunes, Touch screen and beautiful futuristic design. Even though most customers had problem with making phone calls, they still loved the product. This is just a short intro about Kano's Model. I hope you enjoyed the post. [link] [comments]  |
| How to find the first customer? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 08:19 AM PDT I'm a software developer, and i like that. Its just that, I've always wanted to become an entrepreneur. I'm only on my first year at work, and I already want to move from programming to business. I want to open a software consultant company that offers software engineering solutions on a very wide spectrum. However, I will need to have a first customer that is interested on having some engineers working on a project. How do I get to meet people that are interested on such a deal? What should my first step be? How would you approach this? [link] [comments]  |
| Was planning on growing my business while working. Now work want me gone... Posted: 06 Oct 2019 08:36 AM PDT Appreciate some advice here. I work for a local college as the Marketing guy (not great money, just shy of £18,000 a year). Long story short: I was pulled into a meeting last week and they are essentially launching an investigation into why I won't pass an exam prior to my contractual deadline of January 2020 (which is when my employment would've been made permanent). It's a high level project management exam, which I attempted 2 months ago (after being put on a weeks course). They told me it'll take 2 weeks from Monday, after which I may be dismissed (30 days notice from then). I've got to be honest, I wasn't particularly bothered as my head has been out of the place for months anyway. I've been working on launching my own Marketing agency and web business (I also offer AWS cloud consulting) and I've got a few local businesses on retainer at what's a good rate but slightly lower than competitors to prove my worth. I can certainly say it's had an impact on my job (all nighters before work etc). I've also developed a managed WordPress platform that's picking up as the product is finished. The plan however was to keep working while building up a client base and so I could cover any business expenses. Part of me says I'm screwed now, but the other part says hand my notice in asap and focus on bringing in clients asap as the income from my job isn't hard to match (and I've done no real marketing myself due to time). Any thoughts on this? I've got ideas to bring some in and referrals seem to be working so any thoughts on that too? Am I screwed or can I get out of this? Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| $100k/Month Helping Companies Outsource Admin, Design and Development Posted: 05 Oct 2019 04:01 PM PDT I had tried many different business ventures before, but they didn't work. I was a single mum when I first decided to become an entrepreneur. I needed some flexibility in my work arrangements, so I decided to start working online, to start my own business. My first introduction into outsourcing was when I was project managing for different companies. I realised that it took a lot of time and effort to be liaising between contract staff and my clients. I then decided to change the business model, and become a recruitment agency instead, where I connect virtual employees, mainly from the Philippines to clients. Instead of project managing, I would instead fill the role of recruitment. I first started working with a number of contract staff from the Philippines, and the experience was really positive. They were hardworking, dedicated and well-skilled. Some of the contract staff that I started out working are still working with me today. I have always been the best recruiter - l know how to find the best people for the job, what the best fit is, how to connect with people, and that helps when it comes to recruiting on a larger scale. Who is your target demographic? We work best with small to medium-sized established companies who are looking to grow their team. They are looking for someone who will stay with them on a long-term basis, and not just casual or once off. Marketing companies, IT companies, e-commerce companies are just some of the industries that our clients are from. I have a strong marketing team and we are engaged in many different platforms - from LinkedIn, to email marketing, to YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. Clients are attracted to us when they share the same purpose and mission as us - a desire to grow their business, while at the same time, having a positive social impact on the wider community. We are a company with a social purpose - that is my guiding mission. Clients see the community projects that we undertake, they identify with us, and they enjoy working with us. How did you fund the business initially? I grew the business in a lean way. The business funded itself. The business model is always a positive cashflow. Tips to finding your employee is to recruit not just for technical skills but mainly look for the soft skills/personalities. Someone reliable, honest and a fast learner. Commit to hiring them, training them, even when times are tough and cashflow is low, never look at getting rid of your staff. You need them to grow. The service we sell is Virtual assistants for marketing and administrative support. From web development, email marketing, social media to CRM management, customer service etc. Have you run any companies in the past? Yes, I had a nail polish business. It was my first taste of business and I quickly learnt to outsource work to grow my own business. I wanted to start my own business because I wanted time and financial freedom. I wanted to be able to look after myself, my son, and my family. And I wanted to be in a position where I am able to change the world. If you are on a salaried job, your ability to help others is limited. But I want to dream big, aim high, and then be in a position where I can do so much more and help so many others. My family - being traditional Vietnamese - were very sceptical at first. But, they have since come around and they respect me for all that I have achieved. My friends have given me their utmost support! What motivates you when things go wrong? I'm naturally a very positive person. And I'm confident of myself and my team. Things might go wrong, but it depends on your perspective. To me it's either you succeed or you learn. You win either way. My end goal is to create millions of home based job opportunities for people around the world, helping them achieve time and financial freedom. My advice for someone starting out is make sure you focus on doing what you love, not just chasing the money. To combine your passion with solving a problem for the world. Find the problem out there and solve it, rather than just starting a business because you came up with a cool idea. Make your business model a recurring model. When things get tough remind yourself of your big dreams and goals. Sacrifice a few years of hard work for a lifetime of freedom. We are growing year by year, I'm grateful for our progress. What is stopping my business from being 3x the size is just time. I have the strategies and team. We have projects we want to implement which just takes time. There is a great quote I love, "there is no elevator to success, you have to take the stairs". I'm proud of the culture we have built at Outsourcing Angel. Proud that we help at least 300 people each month through our charity initiatives. What are the top apps your business could not run without? We're an online company, so that list can be endless! Slack - for daily communication within the team and communication with clients and leads. Screencast-o-matic - for easy communication of tasks, instructions with a remote team Zoom - for video conferencing Hubspot - a client management system Basecamp - for project management Active Campaign - for email marketing/ pipeline management Google Suite - for files management, document sharing and co-editing with a remote team If I had to pick only 3, then it will be Slack, Zoom, Basecamp All these apps are essential for communication - the whole team works remotely, so we need to make sure that we have open channels for communication, we are expressing ourselves clearly and precisely, and that we are organised in our work structure. What are your goals with Outsourcing Angel for the future? I definitely want to continue building up Outsourcing Angel into a global company with stronger presence in other countries like US, Canada, UK etc. We are developing our Affiliate Program and looking for more strategic partners. We are in process of developing new services example VAs specialising in niches like video editing, linkedin etc Revenue right now is $100k/month, looking to 10x in the next 2 years. At this point in time, I cant imagine ever selling the company. I love it so much :) If you enjoyed this, find the original here. [link] [comments]  |
| Is YC really that prestigious? Why or why not? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 06:17 AM PDT I've seen plenty of YC startups fail - more than Founders Fund at least. I may be wrong. But how good are the companies they pick? And should I work for one? [link] [comments]  |
| How do you deal with health insurance when you go all in full time on a venture at the beginning? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 05:47 AM PDT If in the US you usually get insurance through an employer, so what do you do otherwise? [link] [comments]  |
| How to monetise a 25,000 follower FB page Posted: 06 Oct 2019 05:31 AM PDT Hi, Basically, I am a business analyst in my day job but decided I wanted a side hustle and wanted to do consulting for people. I ended up partnering with this guy who has a 25,000 follower Facebook page. He offered me weekly retainer or less money and a portion of the page, I chose the latter. I really want to look to monetise the page. My goals for the next few months are to grow the fan base/engagement etc. and then look at making some money. The page is food reviews and food related memes. Can anyone give me any suggestions about what would be the way to go about this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2019 05:51 AM PDT Been watching it and thought it might be handy for others wanting to know about the manufacturing process and how to get prototypes and things created etc... covers costing, manufacturing, project management and other cool stuff.., [link] [comments]  |
| Every competitor in my market looks the same. Do I go down the same path? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 12:09 AM PDT Hey, So I've been doing market research on my competitors for an E-commerce photography business I'm planning on. I've found 6 clear competitors that offer similar products. However, I've noticed 5 of the 6 competitors all have the same Instagram + website design + general branding look. Minimalist, white background and very clean/sterile look. The other competitor has an old early-2000s look (doesn't seem like they updated it in ages) and I've been wondering whether my website + branding should go with the flow with my competitors or try to be different? The latter appeals to me but I did further research and found most of the smaller crappy websites who attempted to look different failed. This has made me paranoid about going against the grain. Is there anything else I should consider before I rethink my website/branding layout? [link] [comments]  |
| Luxury Clothing Brand Name Brainstorm Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:50 PM PDT Hi everyone, my name is Kenneth and I am hoping to lunch my clothing line soon, the only problem is the name. Can you help me find a name that screams luxury? So far I have Suave, Platnum, Albilon, and Monarch Stigma, [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:46 PM PDT Our parents taught us to be nice and good. Also a lot of times we hear "Nice guys finish last " . BUT can "being the nice guy/ girl" help you be succeed ? When Adam Grant conducted the research at Wharton School, he was surprised by the results . The study was conducted on many random people to see how being nice or a jerk is related to being successful. the research findings categorized people into three groups. 1- The Upper Level - The Most Successful People 2- The Middle Level - Successful People 3- The Bottom Level - The Least Successful People Here are the research's results : - The Bottom level (the least successful) - contains the all the nice people who would offer help without expecting anything in return. - The Middle Level (the successful) - contains 2 kinds of people : Selfish people who always receive but they almost never give back or the people who help you but expect you to return the favor ( the help but not for free) - The upper level (the MOST successful people) contains also the nice people who would help others without expecting anything in return. Now you are asking "Then, what is the difference between the nice people in the upper Level and the in the lower level?" ..... right ? Adam found that the nice people in the Bottom level are the ones who always help other. They always consider others' need before their own need. They are the ones who doesn't know how to say "NO". (I think my Mom lives in this level). On the other hand, The nice people who are the MOST successful and are to be found in the Top level are the ones who allocate time to help others for free without expecting anything in return. They might allocate an hour a day or a day a week just to help others for free. The rest of the time, they are focused on self improvement and self help. Basically they help others without expecting a return BUT also they know how to say NO in times when they working on themselves. Check the Book - Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker . I hope you like the post .. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for feedback on this waitlist... Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:46 PM PDT Hi everyone, I work at an early-stage startup, called LittlePrep, which helps stay-at-home parents and educators start their own daycares or preschools out of their homes. We assist with licensing, setting up a classroom, setting pricing, and managing payments. All of our schools are listed on our website so that they are easy to find for parents looking to enroll their children in childcare. We're looking to launch in areas with the most interest, so we built a signup waiting list: https://waitinglist.littleprep.org/signup Feel free to leave any feedback in the comments. I would love to hear any thoughts on the waitlist/how we can better promote our service. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Coin Op Car wash or coin op laundry? (NV) Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:34 PM PDT Hello entrepreneurs! I'm looking into businesses that require little to no employees. Does anyone have any words of wisdom/caution for an amateur small business owner that is looking to buy a coin-op car wash? Or any resources that I can read up on? I already have an investment property that is rented out and I'm looking to diversify. Thanks in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| E Commerce Business NYC Start Up Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:26 PM PDT Anyone located in NYC planning on making an e-commerce business? [link] [comments]  |
| Software to manage sales team and send quotation Posted: 06 Oct 2019 01:06 PM PDT Hi, can you guys recommend a good software where i can manage a small sales team who sells for me? I dont need a software that manages the accounting side. Here are some things i want the software would handle
Thank you guys! [link] [comments]  |
| How to increase business (tutoring) Posted: 06 Oct 2019 12:38 PM PDT So I've been fortunate to find a niche that I'm really good at: SAT tutoring. It started Freshman Year of college during the summer. I couldnt get any internships so I ended up joining a tutoring company called Varsity Tutors. That was my first formal introduction into the world of formal tutoring for standardized testing and I was paid pretty well, around $20. Sophomore year summer, I applied to princeton review, and after a grueling process of interviews and "teachbacks", I was accepted as a teacher but I didn't stay long...just long enough to pick up new and effective teaching methods. On top of that, I also did well on the SAT (2380) back when it was out of 2400, which nominated for the US Presidentisl Scholars program among other thing. Basically I tell you all of this not to brag (doing well with standardized testing is definitely not something impressive), but to give you context on my background. So I posted a craigslist ad last summer (summer before Junior year) and I got a couple students willing to pay me $50. I also made a website for my tutoring that has a description of my teaching methods, the price, and ways to contact me if interested. After this October 5th SAT, all my existing students have finished with me so now it's up to me to find new students. Although I've gotten something like 400 views so far on my website, I havent gotten a single email yet. I also went to different high schools around my area and passed out flyers for my tutoring service; luckily, the school administrators were more than happy to share it with the students. So I come here because I wanna know the next step I should take. Should I actually form an actual business? Right now, every earning I get is tax free so I really dont wanna ruin that lol. What else can I do to get more students? Btw I should mention that I increased the price from 50 to 60, cause after this summer, I got nice testimonials since my students did well on the test. But I am more than willing to move the price down to 50 again if that's what the problem is. I should also mention that I'm tutoring via Skype, so location and/or time convenience shouldn't be an issue. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated, thanks so much in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| For anyone working on their business plan.... Posted: 06 Oct 2019 12:19 PM PDT This article really breaks down what kind of information needs to be in your business plan, section by section. [link] [comments]  |
| Experience with Housecall Pro vs. Launch27? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 10:38 AM PDT Anyone tried both and picked one over the other? I'm having a very tough time deciding. I know the founder helped a lot of people on Reddit and Launch27 is a cult hit, but Housecall Pro is also built by a successful carpet cleaner, which is what my business is going to be. After using them they both have their pros and cons and I'm having trouble deciding which will be better down the line. Pros to Launch27: Booking form intergrated into website Promo codes and referral system Super customizable Pros to Housecall Pro: Outstanding support and infrastructure Built specifically with this business in mind Simpler to use while still being customizable. Dispatching to employees is top notch compared to Launch27 So really, I'm having trouble deciding because with Housecall Pro the booking system is redirected through their own domain and platform making it less customizable and no current promo code ability BUT, there dispatching platform to employees and account dashboard is phenomenal compared to Launch27. I just worry that with the booing system being a redirect instead of integrated, it would look less professional and less trustworthy. And the lack of promo codes ruins a huge marketing and target audience idea for me. What do you guys think? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2019 10:07 AM PDT |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2019 10:04 AM PDT I want to start up a business in the next two years but just not sure what buiness; so my question is should I look to study a business degree or diploma at university or college for the time being untill I have the Eureka moment? My Back story.. I'm 27, live in scotland. I've been my with my current employer for almost 10 years as a gas/electrical engineer and I've decieed I never want to work for anybody agian. I have a good amount saved up and a small passive income through property investments. I'm looking to hand my notice in on march 2020 and take 3-4 months out to go travelling before I look into a possible career change. Any advice/ recommendations was be awesome! Thanks [link] [comments]  |
| Does anyone have experience setting up a rewards based crowdfunding platform? Posted: 06 Oct 2019 09:31 AM PDT So after going back and forth with several business ideas I've finally settled on starting a crowdfunding platform. I will be using a SaaS company to build my site and take care of all of the back end duties. My question comes in when trying to legally set this business up the right way. All of the videos and articles that I've read online basically just talk about building your website and marketing it. Is there something I'm missing? Is all I have to do is get an LLC or is there some special licensing that I have to get to set my platform up correctly? [link] [comments]  |
| Selling wholesale credit and shipping questions Posted: 06 Oct 2019 09:26 AM PDT We manufacture and sell the products ourselves online. Other retailers have wanted to sell through their sites or storefronts and we're in the position now to take a serious look at it. Credit: The big thing that is causing some concern is offering credit/net-30 to these retailers. Is net 30 still common these days or is it more acceptable now for payment on delivery? The retailers are all somewhat smallish -- no big-boxes. Orders will be around a few thousand $. Shipping: We're in Canada, and most of the retailers are in the US, with some in the UK and Europe. I know the buyers pays the tariffs and taxes, but do they pay for the shipping as well? I assumed they do, but have seen it mentioned several times that the seller pays for shipping. One of the retailers said they wanted us to ship on their account -- which I assume most of them will do. [link] [comments]  |
| $440K/month business selling healthy shakes [started in a dorm room] Posted: 06 Oct 2019 09:01 AM PDT Hey - Pat from StarterStory.com here with another interview. Today's interview is with Joey van Koningsbruggen (u/https://www.reddit.com/user/JoeyvKoningsbruggen) of Jimmy Joy, a brand that makes nutritionally complete meals Some stats:
Hello! Who are you and what business did you start?Joey van Koningsbruggen, 29 years old and started Jimmy Joy in May 2014 at age 24 to make nutritionally complete meals. We create different products to make eating as healthy as easy as possible. Our products are: Plenny Shake, Plenny Bar, Plenny Drink. The meals are ideal for anyone who wants to eat fast but avoid fast food because they value nutrition. It is popular amongst high earning, ambitious males in big cities. They use it to kick start their day and as fuel during demanding work hours; think coders, accountants, top-level gamers, etc. Another audience is sustainability-conscious and vegans. Our products are plant-based and have a long shelf life making it 3.5 times more sustainable than an average Western diet. We also compensate for our CO2 emissions through charities like TreesForAll. We currently make around $440,000 per month. I started in my dorm room and expanded globally over the years. What's your backstory and how did you come up with the idea?I got annoyed with having to choose between healthy or fast food. So I set out to create healthy fast food. Which then became a mission to create the healthiest meal scientifically possible. Starting with interns from the University of Wageningen and by partnering with a large manufacturer of baby food, the first recipe was created to be as close to health recommendations from the World Health Organisation. When the company grew I hired a food technologist, a research analyst and worked with certified dietitians to do in house research to improve further health. Food is more than just the nutritional makeup however and recent updates focussed on flavor and sustainability too. Real fruit was added to improve flavoring and the highest quality ingredients were sourced to create not only the best in nutrition but also in texture, creating a smooth milkshake-like experience. When I started there was nothing like it in Europe, I made it because I really wanted the product to existing here like it did in the US. The US company was focussed on making meals as close in the experience of drinking water. I immediately felt the need to work on taste. Even though the focus of our meals is nutrition, the taste is still very important, which is why I started with different flavours and options, flavoring with real fruit, vanilla sticks, and cacao. The idea wasn't very validated at the time. I wanted it, soon my friends wanted it, then their friends, etc. It grew from there and got a lot of media attention, BBC, Men's Health, etc. Later a lot of other companies joined with big funding, Huel started making nutritionally complete meals in the UK with millions in funding only one and a half years after me, a company called Feed popped up two years later also with millions of funding. The idea is very validated now but back then it was a very bizarre thing to be able to have all nutrients for a meal in one go, which the media loved. The free press was lovely but we had to change our name because we got sued for the former brand name. I got a lot of free press because a friend of mine wrote a piece for Vice. He really liked the fact that I was a drug dealer once and so he made it a prominent part of the article which made it go viral. It got translated and published on all the Vice sites in the world. That spiked interest, which drove more journalists to write my story. It got really crazy, I got invited to a big national talk show, the BBC made an item on us. At one point I was even followed around by an entire video production crew trying to make a reality TV show out of my life. Joey's Wereld it was called 'Joey's World' in English. I enjoyed the whole ride but it was a little over the top. Media trembled over each other just to write and shoot the exact same item that another outlet already made just because it did well there. It was fun nonetheless and it drove a lot of traffic so I am not complaining lol. When I started the company I just finished college and had no funding at all. At one point we had a 14-day backlog and used the funding from customers to actually create the product. Those early customers are really what made the company and were very supportive for example during delays, almost like friends, the internet is such an amazing place. As long as I was able to explain what I was doing in blogs and video's they were very forgiving on delays. Take us through the process of designing, prototyping, and manufacturing your first product.When I started I used pea protein which tasted horrible. Because I told my friend that I was going to live exclusively off my recipe for 30 days I felt the need to improve the taste and switched to whey and soy. After selling some meals I used the money to gather nutritional expertise and instructed them to create the healthiest meal scientifically possible. Most iterations after that first recipe were focussed on health & nutrition. I currently employ 3 MSc in nutrition to work on that. We do our own production because outsourcing is expensive. I think it is great to make healthy meals accessible so the price is a big factor. This is a picture of me in our first production space. After this one, I invested $220,000 to build a BRC certified production space which is under pressure so no particle from outside can come in. Employees enter via a lock system. We also automated the majority of the production process, mixing, filling and sealing of the bags. Describe the process of launching the business.There was no real launch of the product. I started making videos for my friends on Youtube and Facebook about a recipe I made and my commitment to live off it for 30 days. Three days later a writer who is well known in Holland asked if he could join so I made some meals for him. He shared my videos amongst his social media following (30-40k) and more people contacted me if they could have some. I created a simple website using WordPress and orders came flowing in. Back then the production process was very labor-intensive so I soon found myself creating meals full time. I had to order and weigh all 18 individual ingredients. Because I was getting them from B2C sites they quickly could not supply my demand so I had to switch stores and brands, each with different densities of the active compound, which had to be factored in during the production process, making it even more time-consuming. I hired my roommate and remodeled our 60m2 house in the center of Amsterdam into production space. The kitchen, the living room, we used everything for production. I removed my bed and slept on a mattress under a large table which I used to weigh micronutrients on. It was quite a hectic period because there was a lot of media attention, which demanded time, I carried all individual orders to the post office, which was heavy and time-consuming, I did supply chain management by buying dry the local stores, delivery times were slow so there was a lot of customer support, the ingredients that I did order B2B confused delivery chauffeurs because I requested pallets to be delivered to the center of town and to be left on the pavement so I could carry the individual 25kg bags 4 stories up. I hired two more friends, they still work in my company today, but I ran out of space. Which is why I sold 30% of my stocks to a guy who had a small warehouse and promised to do the production. It later turned out to be the worst decision of my life. I started working with a manufacturer of baby food to create our micronutrient premix. It took some time for me, my newly hired food technologist and them to work out the formula but when we finished, it saved so much production hassle. It dropped our ingredients from 18 to 4 and we could finally aim to lower delays. We switched from my business partner his warehouse back to Amsterdam where I rented space of 250 m2 which was 9 meters high. Because we could stack pallets on top of each other it seemed to last us for years. I did $1,700 in the first month and $350,000 in the 4 months after. The growth kept increasing however and six months later we had to move to a 2000m2 warehouse close to the harbor of Amsterdam. Below you see one of our two production areas where we produce our Plenny Shake Active which is a product that is higher in protein and in a bigger bag, which we produce manually. In the second year, we did 4 million in revenue and I wanted to expand into the US. I made a verbal agreement with my former business partner to create a new legal entity to do the US from for liability and tax reasons and that I would run R&D and marketing from it. I resigned from the company as CEO and created the new entity to become CEO again there. I saw this as a small foot as I trusted my business associate and did not do proper legal work. It was a big mistake. I saw my paycheck disappear while he increased his own salary 2 fold. He started doing business with himself creating a distribution company that charged $3 per package more than what we were paying. When I found out it was very difficult to get back. I hired a lawyer and battled for two years. The company dropped 40% in revenue under his leadership. I recently settled in the arbitration to buy back his stock. Now half a year in we are growing again. 13% in the first quarter, building it back up slowly. Since launch, what has worked to attract and retain customers?Word of mouth is important. We fuel it by having loyalty and refer a friend program. We run ads on Facebook and Google mainly. We aim to sell a starter box in which new customers get a free t-shirt, shaker, and scoop so they can familiarize themselves with all our products and choose their favorite in a second order. How are you doing today and what does the future look like?We are profitable and are focussed on launching more products and flavors. We are also expanding in the US were we recently set up local fulfillment in LA and NY for fast deliveries. We just launched a new bar called the Plenny Bar which is completely vegan making all our products entirely vegan. Through starting the business, have you learned anything particularly helpful or advantageous?I really only have cliches to mention here tbh: work hard, fail fast (A/B test), trust but verify, take time to choose business associates wisely and have clauses to break up quickly when things go south. What platform/tools do you use for your business?We use Shopify as a platform and offer subscriptions. We are about to launch three new plant-based bar flavors and are actively improving our whole product line still on a mission to make the healthiest meal possible. What have been the most influential books, podcasts, or other resources?Four Hour Workweerk, Tim Ferris. The main takeaway is to do what you love, reduce your cost of living to be able to live off your hobby asap. I never worked for anyone as a result. I started for myself as an artist painting portraits of people and experimenting a lot with art and eventually food. I also really like Ending Aging from Aubrey de Grey. The reason I like Jimmy Joy is that it helps be healthy. But eventually, though we will still die from the damage that occurs from being alive. Aubrey proposed a damage repair approach to medicine which recently has really taken off. Google started Calico to combat aging with a billion USD in funding, Insilico Medicine uses AI to dramatically reduce the time to discover drugs to help repair damage from old age, Jeff Bezos invested in Unity targeting the removal of senescent cells etcetera, etcetera. The whole longevity field is exploding right now with billions in funding and it all started with this book from Aubrey de Grey and Peter Thiel funding him. Advice for other entrepreneurs who want to get started or are just starting out?Create something you'll love. I was a visual artist before this and would not have the energy to persists if I did not truly want this product to exist. I think Naval Ravikant is a good guy to follow on this topic on Twitter. Are you looking to hire for certain positions right now?I fired, hired, reshuffled and rehired the team after I bought the company back and am currently not hiring. 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 [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 06 Oct 2019 08:52 AM PDT I run a Wordpress site, and have been posting content to it on an adhoc basis for a number of years. I am now looking to increase the profile of the site... And will be pivoting it to have a more commercial leaning in a few months. I'm just trying to work out my budget and have come to realise that I might not be able to pay for freelancers to create content AND pay someone to work on SEO. I'm hoping that if I were to work on the content, then by virtue of the fact that I am creating so much content related to my niche, that the content will be able to take care of any shortcomings related with SEO / keywords etc - by building a community of people who will regularly be coming back to the site, which will then end up resulting in Google having to recognise the site more. Is this right, or should I allocate some resources towards SEO as well in order to drive up traffic for my website? [link] [comments]  |
| Subreddit for people trying to break free while working a full time job? Posted: 05 Oct 2019 11:52 PM PDT Is there a subreddit community specifically for people who are working some full-time 9-5 job and are simultaneously trying to break free through their side project or gig? [link] [comments]  |
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