Me and my friend started a buissness in January with only 150$ as a start capital. Today, weave reached sales over 1,300$ and its still growing! (14 years old) small business |
- Me and my friend started a buissness in January with only 150$ as a start capital. Today, weave reached sales over 1,300$ and its still growing! (14 years old)
- My 3D printing business journey so far
- My business partner is taking on the first consulting gig solo (outside of our partnership), which makes me question partnership for future gigs. Should I back away from partnership now?
- Sales per Labor Hour
- Hopefully starting a local lipgloss business!
- I want customers, in person, to sign electronically.
- Gas Company Charged $6000
- Using Alibaba RFQ to produce fashion products?
- Offered opportunity to take over small consulting firm (<$5M) - What do I ask?
- what does it look like to scale to a larger operation? capabilities, assets, branding and engineering?
- Help with Delivery Business
- Running a business and finding love
- A CSS Template
- What types of products should I add to my web store?
- Gotta vent. I had a total brain fart with a client and now I look like an idiot.
- Need simplest possible CRM
- Best business checking account that supports sub-accounts?
- Why small businesses shouldn’t be afraid of software.
- What is your success story after having pulled the plug on a slowly dwindling business?
- How are brands classified?
- Vending machine for $50?
- Seeking advice and stories about scaling your personal business. All input welcomed
- Starting a small modeling agency booking random gigs here & there with a guy I’ve only known for a few months. Long story short, my supposed partner said he created an LLC for us & then asked me to split the cost.
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:42 AM PDT |
| My 3D printing business journey so far Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:14 PM PDT So I quit my retail job as a store manager in April. Bought a Geeetech A10 printer. Started printing bowls. Many failures. Finally nailed the printing. Tried selling them on eBay. No success. Looked into figure printing. Found out how to download WoW characters and print it. So many failures I can't even count. A graveyard of failed prints ensued. Finally finished one after 20 hours. Detail was alright. But felt cheap. Switched to Anycubic photon SLA printer. So many failures as well. Finally printed one correctly and the detail was amazing. Learned how to use 3D modeling programs like meshmixer, meshlab, 3DS max, blender, netfabb, and so many more. Took me months of trial and error. Felt confident enough to open an Etsy shop and sell custom 3D printed World of Warcraft figures. I saw no one was offering highly detailed ones. My girlfriend at the time bought the first one on Etsy and left a review. That started everything. After that I got an order for a 5 inch figure of his Hunter. Took my time and printed it in 5 different pieces. Learned how to manually fuse things together with resin. And as of yesterday, I'm now at 30 sales and $1800 in sales on Etsy. 11 orders currently to be done with more on the way. Not a lot by any means but I've been more than doubling my sales every month. October was $1100 alone. So it's progressing. I started with zero knowledge of 3D printing, 3D modeling, and Etsy. But through trial and error, I kept chugging. Roadblock after roadblock. Thoughts of just giving up. And so on. But now I offer full color figures of WoW characters, Final Fantasy 14 characters, Minecraft characters, and cars too! I have a looooong way to go but just wanted to share some of my journey so far. I skipped over so many things and it's more of a stream of consciousness while I watch shark tank so I apologise for that. But I'll any questions at all if anyone has any. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 05:49 AM PDT My friend/business partner and I launched our consulting business earlier this year with a small investment split 50/50. Our first few months were spent building a brand and website, which I did mostly due to my marketing and web production background. We built great social engagement in a short period of time. My partner's contribution would come in the form of networking. We decided not to form an LLC until we get our first gig. Fast forward to my partner telling me about an opportunity and then that he's taking this opportunity solo this spring and "will bring back learnings to our org." It surprised me as the "learnings" would not be anything new that we have not done before, but I don't know how the in person conversation went and how much our brand had to do with getting this opportunity. I'm having a hard time trusting our partnership as I'm already feeling like I'm contributing more. So Reddit, should I dissolve this partnership? Is there anything I can do to keep the brand engagement built over the past few months? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 01:28 PM PDT So several months ago i did an annual review of my business. In the comments someone mentioned measuring the metric of Sales per Labor Hour. I want to say thank you for that! It was something i was unfamiliar with, but looked into to learn more. Since i began monitoring it, i learned how poorly we did in years past, averaging $35-$40/SPLH. August we averaged $$44, $46 in September abd $48 in October. Its really helped out with profits big time. EDIT: It Also helps that October 2019 sales were up 27% and FY 19-20 are up 18%. But still nice to have a better grasp on labor. So i recommend anyone who isnt familiar with the metric, take a look into it! Thanks Reddit small business community. [link] [comments]  |
| Hopefully starting a local lipgloss business! Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:12 AM PDT Hi all! I felt the need to share this somewhere...lol. I plan on starting a lipgloss business and sell to those around me and then hopefully starting to sell online. I've always loved makeup and I've always been complimented on how well I choose color palettes, etc. So what better idea than to maybe do something I love love love on the side! I just wanted some advice, does anyone know where I can get lipgloss tubes online in bulk for sale? Also, any advice for selling to locals? I plan on delivering my lipglosses to whoever orders and all of that good stuff [link] [comments]  |
| I want customers, in person, to sign electronically. Posted: 03 Nov 2019 12:34 AM PDT I want to switch from customers signing a physical document to electronically signing a pdf on a smartpad or ipad. EDIT: Any recommendations on such software? - I don't really need the feature about sending documents via email to be signed. A software that lets customer electroncially sign on a document. EDIT 2: I should mention that I have tried looking for such a software but all I find is software offering "SEND document to customer and let them sign". I don't need the send part :\ just need them to sign it in person without asking customer to create an account or something. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:42 PM PDT I just rented a 850 sq building to open a small business and contacted my local gas company, which was being used by the previous tenant to come and turn on the gas. Everything seemed fine. I created an account and the guy came the next day and turned on the gas within min and did a leak check and said everything was fine. 2 weeks later I get a bill for $6300 saying I used 9999 CCF of natural gas. I barely used the heat at all during these 2 weeks. I checked to make sure my gas meter was in good conditions and it was. Their customer service is close during the weekend and I will call Monday but it gave me a heart attack like the stress opening this business was is not enough I have to deal with this now. Anyone had any similar experience or might have any idea what could cause this discrepancy? [link] [comments]  |
| Using Alibaba RFQ to produce fashion products? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:15 PM PDT Hi all, so I have a fashion brand that I've been working on for several years now and up to this point have been doing a majority of the production in-house and with various POD platforms. I want to start branching out and getting pieces more professionally manufactured with factories to my specifications and am having a hard time finding information about doing this. I have a degree in fashion design, as well as experience working as a tech designer for other brands, so I'm easily able to come up with the designs and make professional flats/sketches of everything I want designed along with measurement specs and so on. However, I am at a loss when it comes to communicating with factories themselves, and I have looked all over reddit and youtube and google for information like this but found very little. Most of the "relevant" information I've found has been from people who use alibaba to produce non-fashion items to re-sell on Amazon which isn't quite pertinent to what I'm trying to do. So this post is to find someone who has experience with fashion garment/accessory production through alibaba, or to see if anyone can point me in the right direction to find this kind of information. I have done some research on producing through Alibaba, and last night I filled out an RFQ with Alibaba for a belt design I want to have produced. However it's been nearly 24 hours and haven't gotten a single response- (though I realize it is the weekend and I may have to wait until Monday to hear anything from anyone.) I'm not sure if I gave them the right information in the RFQ form or if there was something unprofessional about my message/images that has turned off the manufacturers from wanting to work with me. Ideally I would like to produce cut and sewn garments and accessories (shoes, belts, and bags) in smaller quantities- up to 50 pieces, and in multiple colorways and sizes. If anyone has any advice or experience in this area I would love to hear from you and ask some questions, thanks so much in advance for any help I get from this post! EDIT: Also, if someone knows a better place to ask this, do let me know- though I thought this community would be great since I'm a small business looking to grow. :) [link] [comments]  |
| Offered opportunity to take over small consulting firm (<$5M) - What do I ask? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:50 PM PDT Hey guys I've been offered a chance to take over leadership from a small well regarded consulting firm. The niche is a good fit. I know them as a client and I generally trust them. What non-financial questions should I ask? What should I look out for? What are the traps to avoid? What financial questions should I ask? Particularly ones that are not obvious. Personally, if this works out I will get to skip the next 10 years of building my own firm and get straight to well established firm, which would then give me the flexibility to grow things. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:12 PM PDT When I hear about scaling a company it is very vague what that looks like in reality. For a business to scale, it should already have a proven business model, and it should be able to reinvest capital for stronger capabilities? Better engineering team, better branding and marketing outreach, more assets, and more capital? What does it truly mean to scale? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:05 PM PDT The current facts:
What I need help with; - I'd like to offer my delivery services to other pet businesses that don't deliver. ++++ How would I charge for that? ++++ Should I offer to pick up from there location or should they drop it off at my facility? ++++ Affiliate program??? ++++ Would this make me a fulfilment center of sorts? Why: - I'd like to offer this for client acquisition from other pet businesses, as I'm planning to offer a customized meal delivery for pets (ran a test group did very well, just waiting to get a bigger facility).
I'd love to hear your thoughts or ideas, I'll be also reading through old posts on this sub as well. If I've been unclear or left out anything, please let me know. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Running a business and finding love Posted: 02 Nov 2019 05:22 PM PDT Hi everyone! As a busy and ambitious business owner who puts most of your time and energy into building on your business dream you might find it challenging to also have your ideal dating life and meeting your dream partner. You might also feel like you don´t want to miss out on such an important and beautiful part of life. That is how I used to feel because I used to struggle with this part of my life. I hate seeing people miss out on such an amazing part of life just because they have an ambitious work life. The most common challenges people have mentioned when I have talked with them is the following: 📍 - Not having enough time for it. 📍 - Finding the right person for you, who understands your busy work life and way of life in general. 📍 - Communicating your needs that comes with being a business owner. 📍 - Having boundaries between work and your private life, dating life included. 📍 - Actually prioritizing your dating life or finding that one special partner. Do you agree? Sorry if this is a bit off topic but I strongly believe that work-life balance is very important for us business owners. Feel free to send your answer in a direct message if it is too private. Looking forward hearing your answers! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:51 PM PDT Will I earn $50 if I sell/create css templates? I really want to buy sims 4 :(( [link] [comments]  |
| What types of products should I add to my web store? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 05:05 PM PDT I run a clothing brand called Stansberry at shopstansberry.com. Can someone take a look and tell me what I should add in terms of products? What's popular? What's essential? [link] [comments]  |
| Gotta vent. I had a total brain fart with a client and now I look like an idiot. Posted: 02 Nov 2019 04:39 PM PDT Hey, you guys! Please allow me to vent. :( I deal with a lot of government agencies on behalf of my clients for my work. This one particular state is a pain in the ass to deal with--they take months to respond, have super strict requirements for requesting certain document, and are generally just super unpleasant every time I interact with them. Sometimes depending on the records clients need, they will require originals (or copies thereof) of the requestor's vital records. For example, if I am requesting a client's grandfather's birth record I will need to show copies (or originals) of his own birth, his parents' birth, and his grandparents' marriage in order to show cause. Anyway, months ago I put in a few requests for this client and I enclosed copies of his originals in the request. I received a letter back in the mail stating the requests could not be fulfilled due to a name discrepancy (a married name but, this is easily fixable). There was nothing else in the returned letter so I freaked out, thinking the agency lost the originals. I turned everything upside down in my office for my clients' original documents, thinking I had made copies thereof and kept the originals for safekeeping while the request was processing as I usually do. But they were nowhere to be found! In a panic, I e-mailed the client to let him know that I lost the originals and apologized profusely... ... and then I looked around some more and realized I had already sent him back the originals months ago because he asked for them. In the interim between making copies and making the request from this agency, he asked for them back and I sent them to him. I totally forgot. :'( So now after doing this for 13+ years I made a thorough ass out of myself lol. How do I come back from this? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 04:29 AM PDT My grandfather runs a small contracting business. He currently uses a program made in the 90s (I know). He's finally decided to upgrade his PC, but the old program won't run on Windows 10. Essentially he just wants a program that will store client contact details, allow him to make notes of previous phone calls and that will remind him when he hasn't spoken to someone in a while. While I wouldn't describe him as techphobic, I think getting him to use a complex and feature rich program would be a losing battle, so I'm really looking for something as simple and obvious as possible. Does anything like this exist? Thanks Edit as I think people are overthinking slightly: This is a 70-something year old man whose part time business is negotiating contracts between a set of cleaners and various office/apartment blocks (and then taking a %). 90% of standard modern small business practices are going to be way beyond him. Ideally I'd like to find something simple enough that he can't mess it up by pressing a wrong button and sending junk to a client. [link] [comments]  |
| Best business checking account that supports sub-accounts? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:26 AM PDT Hi - I'd like to have at least 5-6 sub-accounts under one log-in with ease in creating these sub-accounts, similar to Ally and Capital One 360. However both banks do not support business checking accounts. Any recommendations? [link] [comments]  |
| Why small businesses shouldn’t be afraid of software. Posted: 02 Nov 2019 06:44 PM PDT I'm crossposting an article I wrote on medium, cause I think you guys could benefit from it. What do I mean afraid? Let me preface this with some stats. More than 95% of small businesses don't think custom software is for them. And less than 50% even uses any software outside of email. This is completely irrational. Every single business can benefit from software to automate the mundane, streamline or even get some insights. As far as I know, there are no exceptions. I have researched this topic on several forums and I have the definitive list. Here is why people are terrified of software. Don't be scared to talk to software developersSoftware developers sometimes seem like they are from another planet talking in a foreign language. As a developer myself — this was a very thing to understand. But as soon as it clicked, I went through a rabbit hole of how to communicate effectively. A lot of developers and development companies know this and will help you out. Software is not that expensive.Some solutions that appear easy to non-developers are very complicated and therefore expensive. But a lot of solutions that businesses are wasting money on would be quick and return themselves in no time. However, there are things you need to look out for. There is no reason to sign any paper based on development hours. Companies who unscrupulously dangle an almost completed project and ask for more money. Are no other word than shameful. Always look for a company that will develop your software for a flat fee agreed upon before the project starts. I encourage you to think of some repetitive tasks or something your clients keep asking for. Talk to a software development company, get a consult and a quote (they are usually free). And you will be surprised, how affordable and easy it is in most cases. General fear of technologyThis is completely fair, but as our parents used to say — you have to suck it up. Real-world is increasingly inseparable from the digital world. Your business needs to have an e-presence, algorithmic help or it is a certainty that it will fail. Full disclosure — I work for a small business software development company — Tingfish.com. I have been a developer for a long time, so this is an article about something I deeply care about and know a lot about. [link] [comments]  |
| What is your success story after having pulled the plug on a slowly dwindling business? Posted: 02 Nov 2019 12:56 PM PDT I've been running a weekly subscription content business for ten years now. The model is kind of outdated with changing algorithms. Business has also dropped by about 40% over the years due to this. I'm also burned out on it, have grown to hate it, and don't feel good about providing a service I have grown to hate. It's steady income, about 1/3 of my total, I depend on and my remaining customers are happy. However, I am pulling the plug Monday and have some higher paying custom gigs lined up with a couple of clients. I'm going to put more energy into a neglected site that gets decent traction to see if it can earn more. Yet I'm terrified!!!! I will miss knowing that money is going to land in my account on a regular basis. Hoping people have stories they can share of success improving after cutting off a dead limb. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:43 AM PDT Let's say I decide to start an online media publication (e.g. news site). Under the group (let's call it Media Publication LLC), I would like to have example brands like Traveler's Blog, Tech Central, etc. From a registration standpoint, am I required to register each of those brands as a new business? Or can they be encompassed under one brand? In the case of hiring writers, they would all be working for "Media Publication LLC" but would be publishing to various brands depending on where they want to work under. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:33 AM PDT Found a coffee vending machine for $50. Dude says it works and everything, had it in his auto shop but needs the space. So i figured for $50 i literally couldn't lose money unless its a total pos. Which id check before i buy. (But its only 50 bucks still). So is this worth buying? Very new to the vending machine deal...so how would i buy supplies for it? Its one of those that auto drops the cup and stuff. Any insight on anything about the subject is appreciated! [link] [comments]  |
| Seeking advice and stories about scaling your personal business. All input welcomed Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:10 AM PDT My wife is currently running an art business and in the past year the amount of time she's been working has shot up dramatically. What I'm worried about is that her time isn't being compensated appropriately. She started selling her art (both commissions and original pieces) in March of this year and is currently at about 10k in gross sales, with about 3500 in business expenses. She is absolutely busting her ass on this, and the past couple of months she's been pulling down about 2k gross, which at best is about 12.5/hr, but that was also with 500 in expenses, so 9.40~ and that also isn't including the fact that she's liable for SE tax. And that's numbers assuming she's only working 40 hours a week, which is definitely an underestimation. The fortunate thing is her having this income also opens us up to take additional deductions that we otherwise wouldn't be able to. We're doing fine otherwise financially. I'm fortunate enough to make a really solid living in tech. She's just expressed that she wants to contribute to our finances in a more meaningful way. Other info: She has about 20k instagram followers with an above average engagement. That's her typical channel for new commissions. Her website gets very little organic traffic, most tends to come from instagram. She is in two galleries currently, one of which has been extremely fruitful. The other we're considering taking her pieces out of and sending to another gallery that has shown interest. Her profit margin per unit is anywhere from 80-90%, but there is a fair bit of overhead just in accounting software, travel, and materials that aren't expressed on a per unit basis. A fair bit of the 3500 expenses have been startup costs. She has placed well in a handful of art shows, which sometimes come with small cash prizes. Basically the spot I think we're both in is that we don't see how this scales with current pricing. She isn't able to (and frankly I don't think she should) work more, but would like to spend more of her time working on actual art rather than social media management, client engagement and finances. We would like to get her to a point where she's making just the median salary for a professional artist of around 50k~ (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/arts-and-design/craft-and-fine-artists.htm). I think we need to implement a variable pricing model of some sort, but neither of us is sure how we should go about implementing this. We welcome any and all ideas and experiences from anyone who has grown their own business before. Thank you in advance. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 02 Nov 2019 10:32 AM PDT ($400 from me) after he said he paid already. Since I paid I have not received any LLC paperwork showing I'm part of the company & any of the clients he was promised he had wanting to book my models have suddenly been very hard to get ahold of. What should I do? I kinda want my $400 back & to just walk away from this. It hurt my bank Acct to give that up but I was trying to think of the overall picture. Any straight forward advice is appreciated [link] [comments]  |
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