Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (January 03, 2020) Entrepreneur |
- Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (January 03, 2020)
- A list of 90+ free places to post about your startup/launch
- I Landed My Very First Client! ....not without dealing with a creep first
- How I Got My Patent By Myself - Without Paying a Patent Lawyer
- Somebody Make This - A Collaborative Itinerary Planner For Travelers
- How does one go about selling a coffee shop?
- Help us choose a name
- Specific to-do list question
- How to stop all these goddamn Robo calls to my office
- How do you find instagram influencers to advertise with?
- Are podcast still relevant in 2020?
- Is entrepreneurship even worth it?
- Is it better to train inexperienced people than hiring experienced ones and pay more?
- Ideas for a goodie bag to give out to my detailing clients after a job?
- I'm an entrepreneur, and I want to share advice. Don't wear pink shades. Read.
- I have a concept with two physical imprints that I want to offload
- New idea - automate your follow up calls
- App or system to streamline goals, allotted funds, deadlines, etc.?
- Money storage
- Should I get accredited by BBB?
- VHS to digital conversion side gig.
- How much of business is taking smart risks?
- Building A Brand From Dropshipping
- Need help figuring out how to single out my line of ideas.
| Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - (January 03, 2020) Posted: 03 Jan 2020 05:11 AM PST 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. [link] [comments]  |
| A list of 90+ free places to post about your startup/launch Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:19 AM PST Here is a list that I made for my own beta Product Hunt launch for Sizle in December after going through a lot of the old lists that exist online and finding the most up to date ones. There is probably a better way to format this but hopefully it helps! If anyone has any suggestions to improve the list that would be great :) https://sizle.io/how-to-maximise-traffic-to-a-bootstrapped-product-hunt-launch/ [link] [comments]  |
| I Landed My Very First Client! ....not without dealing with a creep first Posted: 03 Jan 2020 07:21 AM PST I recently started a residential and commercial cleaning business with zero experience up front and I landed my first client sooner than I could have ever expected. My Background I am 28 and have worked office 9-5 type jobs my entire life. I've always been a good employee and hard worker but never have I ran or managed a business before. Needless to say I didn't exactly know what I was getting myself into. Starting My goal was to only do the bare minimum first before starting. That way I could test the waters of this industry and figure out the rest once I had money coming in. I came up with a name for my business - which was a result of sitting down with a pen and paper and writing down every good, bad, and terrible name I could come up with. I got a list of about 30 - 5 of which were actually good - and 2 were both good and available. Logo - This was the most fun part, even though I'm not an artist whatsoever. I drew a basic idea of what I was thinking and paid someone on Fiverr to spruce it up. It cost me literally $7 to make my logo and I love it. Business Cards - Once I had my logo created I used the online tool on Vistaprint and designed a simple card and ordered 1000. Super easy. Website - I've never designed a website before so I used Wix to make a simple 3 page site. It's not glamorous but again the goal was to do the bare minimum to start. Purchased Supplies - For less than $500 I bought everything needed to clean a house and look professional. Feeling Defeated Now it was off to the races, telling everyone I knew about my new business and getting some marketing in. I had purchased a dog kennel from someone off Craigslist and mentioned my cleaning business. He seemed interested. About a week later he had messaged me inquiring about rates. We agreed on a price and day. I couldn't believe it! My first client. Then.... He sent a follow up message "Would you mind wearing something sexy?". I felt so defeated.. thinking "is this really how it's going to be..? should I just give up". I never responded. I talked about it with my boyfriend who gave me some good advise to save that message because when I do succeed I'm going to look back at it with pride. After about a day I was back in the mindset that I was going to make this work. Back At It I made an account on Thumbtack, made my profile and bio professional looking and set my prices higher than the average. Within a few days I got my first lead. I quoted her and she went with it for $80/hr! My first client! I ended up cleaning her house which went extremely well except for the fact I purchased a broom that I can only guess was made for a child (note to self: buy new, adult sized broom). Summary I know this is a tiny little success compared to most of the people here on entrepreneur but I wanted to share this part of my story for anyone, especially other women who have thought about starting their own business. I thought it was important because I still work a full-time job, have family commitments, and have never done anything like this before like a lot of other people. I'm intimidated every step of the way yet it all seems to pan out okay if I keep at it. With the help of my boyfriend we have decided to document this journey of my starting a business on YouTube. The first two episodes are a synopsis of the above information, but feel free to follow along on this little adventure of mine if you'd like :) https://youtu.be/aEkFXh6WZ8o [link] [comments]  |
| How I Got My Patent By Myself - Without Paying a Patent Lawyer Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:34 AM PST TLDR: I was awarded a U.S. utility patent for my invention. I acquired the patent by myself, without paying a patent lawyer. Later I sold my patent for big bucks. Subsequently I wrote a book about my experience. I wrote the book to help people who want to be an entrepreneur - and it is free to you today and tomorrow (Friday/Saturday) in Kindle format. Full: I recently received an email from someone who read the book - and they were very excited about the section on patents and trademarks. (They have an invention - which hopefully soon will be "patent pending"). Since I consider it a useful chapter (all the chapters are useful) - here is the beginning of it so you can decide if you like it. - - - - - -- - - - - The work for my GPS tour guide system required recording hundreds of audio files. My friend is a drummer and has a recording studio in New York City, so he was the obvious choice to do the work. On more than one occasion, he said to me, "You really should get a patent for this." It seemed a little silly to me, since to me the GPS tour guide was an "obvious" invention. One of the requirements for obtaining a patent is that your invention is "non-obvious." So, I was not sure if my invention qualified for a patent. However, one day I decided to research patents. It turned out there were other patents in the same field as mine. In fact, there was one titled "Position Responsive, Hierarchically-Selectable Information Presentation System and Control Program." This patent was for a GPS tour guide system just like mine, except for use in vehicles. (Interestingly, it did not belong to the man who started GoCar GPS tours in San Francisco.) My system was for pedestrian use, which was an important distinction. From this I concluded that my system was patentable. However, I still hesitated for many reasons. I did not know how to get a patent, and it seemed like it would require a lot of work. It would take up a lot of time—and there was no guarantee that it would be of any value. I put the idea of getting a patent on the back burner. I decided that maybe I would work on it later. However, my subconscious was already at work. I told it that this was an important topic and needed an answer. The idea about the patent soon popped back into my head. "OK, what do I need to get a patent?" I asked myself. I knew there were patent lawyers who I could pay for help. But I also knew they were expensive. You can easily pay one over $20,000 to file a patent for you. I did not like that idea. Meanwhile I thought, "Patent lawyers did not used to exist. You used to be able to get a patent without their help. The U.S. Patent system is the same system it always has been, so I should be able to get a patent without a patent lawyer. How do I do this?" This led me to quite a bit of reading about patents and patent lawyers. I found helpful information on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website (uspto.gov). Then I read and studied many patent documents to see how they were written and what information was contained in them. Eventually I saw patterns in the documents and how they were constructed. Since these were real patents that were accepted by the U.S. Patent Office, I knew if I wrote my patent in a manner similar to them that my patent would have a chance of being accepted (or "allowed," to use the same term that the patent office uses. They "allow" you to patent your invention). That is what I did. I "modeled" my patent document to look like and sound like a patent that already existed. I copied the style, tone, and format of the existing patents. I wrote new material that explained how my invention worked and placed it into my new patent document at the appropriate places. I replaced the material that explained the previous patent document's invention with my explanation of my invention. This made sense to me and worked out well. Solve a Problem—Get a PatentTo solve the GPS interference problem, I spent hours running around Manhattan with a handheld computer and a GPS receiver—measuring where the device worked well and where it did not. I got a "feel" for how good (or bad) the GPS signals were in NYC and realized a GPS tour guide system would work, but not the same way as the vehicle-based system. The vehicle-based system says, "OK, you are here, so you need to hear this information." Because the GPS signals are not perfectly accurate in NYC, this system will not always deliver the correct information in NYC or any other location with tall buildings, large trees, etc. My pedestrian-based system says "OK, you are somewhere around here, you should select the appropriate information from this list." The system bases the list on where the GPS system thinks you are located. Finally, because in NYC, where the GPS thinks you are is always "close enough" to where you actually are, the list includes the point-of-interest in front of which you are standing. Problem solved. Since I solved a problem with a previous patent, my new system was patentable. All I had to do to receive a patent was document the system in a patent application and submit it to the Patent Office of the United States of America. - - - - - - - - - If you like the above, the rest of the chapter is in the book. You can get to the book (which is free in kindle format at the moment) if you follow the "Buy Book" button after you Click this Link The book is called "How to Make a Million Dollars" and I'm proud of it. I wrote it to help people with the entrepreneurial spirit. [link] [comments]  |
| Somebody Make This - A Collaborative Itinerary Planner For Travelers Posted: 03 Jan 2020 07:45 AM PST Hello there! I had submitted a post here on /r/Entrepreneur last week where I had promised to share one new business idea each week. As the saying goes "ideas are dime a dozen, it's the execution that matters". However, if you are someone who is still looking for the right idea, perhaps my posts will give you fresher perspectives to find your own million dollar idea. So the idea for this week is a collaborative itinerary planner for travelers. Quoting from my recent blog post on this topic:
Workflow
If you are interested in pursuing this idea, please find the tools you could use to build the app as well as my personal marketing ideas that can help you find users here: https://rafrador.com/travel-planner/ [link] [comments]  |
| How does one go about selling a coffee shop? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 06:11 AM PST I have a couple friends who own a coffee shop and have recently decided the coffee life is not for them any longer. They want to just shut the doors, but I feel like there may be something of value that may be sellable. A little info on their current circumstance: They have been in a position where they have been breaking even, but can't turn a profit due to some debts that had been accumulated, partly due to this venture, but also one from before. They've been at this venture for 6 years now. What I think they have that's of value: All the equipment, tables, chairs, etc. A/V equipment, the space is set up where if a person were to want to start a shop, it'd be all set up and ready to go. They have a facebook page with about 4,000 followers, 4.8 star review. Yelp & Google also have similar stories. If a person were to assume the business name, it'd also come with a professionally created logo and branding. It's a small community, so their name has been pretty well established. They are going to sell the equipment regardless, but was wondering if the above is at all interesting for a potential buyer. Also, how would one go about finding resources to sell? A realtor of sorts? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jan 2020 06:07 AM PST Which name sounds better for an easy to use but highly secure file transfer platform? (the bold is our major selling points)
Any other options? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:04 PM PST None of the to-do list apps out there seem to do what I want. I just tried to create what I need in excel and it isn't working, and it's driving me nuts. Anyone have a recommendation for a program that can easily do what I need?
If anybody knows of anything that can do this easily and effectively, PLEASE let me know. I'm going a bit bonkers here. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| How to stop all these goddamn Robo calls to my office Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:04 PM PST I get anywhere from 1-18+ robo calls from these cocksuckers trying to sell me next day, high interest business loans. I've tried everything... "Oh I'm so glad you called! You seem really interested in signing up for classes..." To "Fuck dude, you've already called me 6 times today..." I'm at my wits end with these guys. Any options that have worked for you? As far as I've read being on the Do Not Call list doesn't apply to businesses, and have these douche bags now call from "private numbers" anyway. [link] [comments]  |
| How do you find instagram influencers to advertise with? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 07:28 AM PST So I hear a lot about people making posts or paying influencers to advertise products for prices around $50 to $100 but I am new to understanding or finding out where people can make such deals happen or how it works generally and how to make sure the influencer is real and not fake number of followers etc? Anyone have experience be so kind to share? Hope to repay you back in future! [link] [comments]  |
| Are podcast still relevant in 2020? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 01:20 PM PST I have been listening to a lot of Gary Vee lately after just discovering pod cast recently and wanted to know if it's a still decent side business ? Has anyone successfully started a podcast in the last 3 years? [link] [comments]  |
| Is entrepreneurship even worth it? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 01:07 PM PST In the recent months of my life, I've come to the realization that the idea of being an average schmuck scares me, Infact I'd go as far as to say it terrifies me. One of my goals for my life is to become above average, that means living in an above average home, driving an above average car, and living an above average lifestyle. I'm not asking for a multimillion dollar mansion with 3 Rolls Royces and a jet to travel the world, all I'm looking for is to live comfortably and happily. That being said, I came to realize that the only way to get to that position is to either be really smart and good at a skill you can use to secure a job in a high paying position, market a talent you may have, or invest your money into a business that you can grow. Unfortunately for me, I'm quite stupid, bad at whatever I do, and uninterested in allot of things. So not only is it that entrepreneurship might not be for me, but I might not be able to find a job based around something I'm good at that I also enjoy. I started reading the posts on this subreddits, ranging from success stories to failure stories to advice on how to grow a business. So far I've concluded that over 90% of business ventures fail and that damn near everything is saturated. Whenever I look into the ideas I've had, I conclude that they are all oversaturated, and that the amount of money I could earn would be peanuts in the long run. Now I understand that most successful business owners started off earning peanuts and effectively less than minimum wage, the question then becomes if it's worth continuing to invest your time, money, and energy into said business venture. That is where my question comes in, is really worth investing your time, money and energy into a business idea? I know that even if I were to fail at all my ideas, I would still learn something about owning a business, even if it's just a small side hustle. But my goal is to become above average, and I recognize that i have to take above average risks in order to get to that position. But even at that, is it still worth pursuing entrepreneurship if your business shows little to no signs of growth or scalability? Is it worth pursuing entrepreneurship if you lack any marketable skills? Is it worth pursuing entrepreneurship if you can't come up with any good ideas? Is it worth it? [link] [comments]  |
| Is it better to train inexperienced people than hiring experienced ones and pay more? Posted: 02 Jan 2020 11:36 PM PST Freelancer here in the process of becoming a Virtual Agency. I know a lot of the ins and outs of my business, including the quirks my clients have and can't pay a lot. Is it best to hire a junior Dev and train him or make an extra effort and hire a more experienced guy and leave him to his own devices? My ultimate goal is to move myself to sales. [link] [comments]  |
| Ideas for a goodie bag to give out to my detailing clients after a job? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:34 AM PST I own a mobile detailing company and want to set myself apart from our competition. One of the ways I plan to do this is to have a goodie bag to give to our clients. I want to include air fresheners with our logo on it but also some other little things pertaining to what we do. Any and all suggestions would be great preferably low cost items. Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| I'm an entrepreneur, and I want to share advice. Don't wear pink shades. Read. Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:17 PM PST Hi, I've been an entrepreneur for the last 5 years or so, well running a single business and that's my sole source of income. I just want to share with whoever is just starting off, it's actually pretty difficult to start something off and end up actually making something. The reason I made it work was because from my previous 9-5 job I had access to a network of potential customers who trusted me already. Starting from absolute 0 not knowing what to do at all, what kind of business, I don't think chances of succeeding are high, to be honest. I can't imagine myself starting something from ground 0, it seems absolutely impossible, or let's say, it's not likely to lead to formation of business, odds are not in your favor. However, when you already know people, for example you build trust and relationship with people through your job, again depending on what job that is, not every job provides such chance, you might be able to, with right communication skills and right amount of capital, to launch something. Then based on that network, based on the testimonial provided by the existing network, it becomes quite possible to acquire new trusting customers. Starting from 0, I wouldn't recommend it, it's most likely going to lead to failure. Even with my approach, it takes a special job and special network of connections to be able to build some initial base of customers. I'm not saying you can't do it, I'm just saying that odds are really that failure is more likely. It's very unfortunate, but it's reality. In this day and age, it's really tough to build something. When I was starting, there was not way I would get it going without that existing network of high-paying customers. Also being knowledgeable with all required permits and documentation, taxation requirements is very important. You should know that because to save some costs, maybe you will be doing that yourself at the first stage, and it should be done the right away to avoid problems. Anyway, my advice is very realistic. I think personally it can lead to higher chance of succeeding in this. Try to build a career where your position will be somewhere in the higher echelon of the organization, for example earning a title of an SVP or a VP of operations, where you will actually have some access to networking with clients and organizations procuring services of your organization. That type of network might become clients of your organization once/if you launch it. I wouldn't recommend just starting from 0 because failure is quite likely. I was a senior vice president of the organization when I decided to pursue my own business. Once I started I already had contacts with other large organizations, which trusted me enough to sign an agreement and procure a service. Maybe this helps. [link] [comments]  |
| I have a concept with two physical imprints that I want to offload Posted: 03 Jan 2020 05:57 AM PST I started a retail concept and opened two shops in my city. I already have a separate, successful concept running, and have been working to start these new shops and get them revenue generating. What I've learned about myself since opening the new stores is that I don't want them. I'm not really cut out for multiple shops across two concepts, and I'd rather just focus on my original company. I'd like to offload the new concept with its two stores, and I don't even care to try and make money on them; I just don't want to deal with them anymore. Call it being burned out or whatever, but I'm ready to cut the cord. What's the best way to go about finding someone to just "take over"? Assign the leases, and the loan used for startup, and just move on? [link] [comments]  |
| New idea - automate your follow up calls Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:06 AM PST New idea - platform that automates your follow up calls Thinking of developing a platform that helps you automate your follow up calls after your email campaigns are sent. Focusing on B2B cold marketing, cold emailing, cold calling, small businesses only. It would work similarly like mailchimp or mailerlite for emails. Process would look similar to this - you have already emailed your prospects and come to our platform to further explore calling your prospects as one of your sales methods in an overall campaign. You choose call goal out of few provided - to check if a person received an email and whether they'd be willing to reply with any questions etc, to offer a free product sample, to arrange a meeting for a product demo etc So basic normal follow up goals on slightly warm leads already. Something around those lines, quite basic, but something that normally takes time, effort and cost you a lot more than $1 per call. Your further success would depend on you as a user as we would act as a resource centre with tools, tips, guidance etc for you to utilise those calling campaigns. So again, similar to mailchimp You could choose something like minimum 5 calls a week, 10 calls a week or 20 calls a week with a recommended minimum period of 3 moths. We would charge $1 per call. You would receive 1 hour weekly to communicate with your caller and train and update them. You would receive all your call records every day, but it would depend on you how to work with them, how you train your caller, how you navigate and invent new ways to make people buy into your offering, improve your offering, contact list quality, scripts etc I came up with this idea after selling candle products to small independent gift shops, garden centres etc where you have hundreds of potential customer and it's so easy to automate your email campaigns and you can see who opened them etc but then you either do not follow up with a call, or it takes so long that until you call all your perspectives it's already days or weeks after your email send out and they are not warm anymore. Plus sometimes you call and all you get is a request for a product sample which you send, again wait, then follow up with a call again. So such platform would help you save time, further automate your sales processes, increase your conversion rates etc So what do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| App or system to streamline goals, allotted funds, deadlines, etc.? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:14 AM PST I thought you all might be the right group of people to ask. I'm prone to taking on too many things at once, it's simply my nature, and I can only be as efficient as I can plan to be. But with ADHD effectively planning things is sometimes tricky. Is there some kind of app or other system that helps structure and streamline goals? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:45 AM PST Does anyone know any good ways of keeping money stored online where u cant touch it either through an app or site. [link] [comments]  |
| Should I get accredited by BBB? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:43 AM PST This morning I got a call from BBB. They want my business to be BBB accredited for a fee of $50 per month ($600 per year). I am into Web and Mobile App development. Is it a good investment for generating leads? Should I pay? [link] [comments]  |
| VHS to digital conversion side gig. Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:12 AM PST Now that I've converted all my family video tapes to a digital format, family members' friends started wanting me to do it too. Decided to do it for $15 a tape. It converts in real time, so a VHS tape with 5 hours of footage on it, takes 5 hours to convert. So I put a tape in, start it up, and just let it run. Then I come back, trim off any excess or blank space from the beginning and end, render the video file, and upload to Dropbox for the person to download. Question is, should I charge when the tape ended up being blank, or only had maybe 1 minute of footage? It still took 5-6 non-hands-on hours, and maybe 20 minutes of hands on actual time. I have stacks and stacks of tapes and have started to order more equipment, including extra VCRs and MiniDV players/Hi8 players, so people can rent those things from me so they can go through their own tapes to figure out which ones they want converted. I got one tape that was labeled with all these different family events, but the entire tape ended up being TV show recordings, so I'm sure someone recorded over family memories with TV shows from the 90s, oooof. It feels weird to charge them, but it could end up eating a lot of my time. I should at least update my agreement to include being charged for tapes that end up being blank, or having very little footage on them. [link] [comments]  |
| How much of business is taking smart risks? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 09:06 AM PST I remember people saying that their businesses grew once they had the guts to do things they had no 'right to do'. On a podcast there was a couple that landed a deal with Apple to bundle their education cd's with the apple computer, neither of them had any experience with filming or distribution. A business takes risks like hiring a top team expensive team that they know will do a A+ job on the internal design work. Spending the money people that know what they are doing. Making that leap to do a far out there strategy, and really be more forward with their risk. Is this along the lines of what you say big growth in business is about? [link] [comments]  |
| Building A Brand From Dropshipping Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:41 AM PST Hey guys, I am looking for feedback and input. A few months ago I started to outsourced/hired someone to do some 'lead generation' for me. Currently I have them pulling in IG handles, follower counts, First & Last name of users. So far the network of users has a reach of about 8M followers that is leveraging nano/micro influencers (individuals with less than or equal to 25k followers). The idea I had with these lists of influencers was to build a branded dropshipping business that would build and grow into a full fledged business in the next few months/years. The industry I was looking at getting into was fitness activewear. I know this is saturated and that there are companies like Gymshark that are killing it but figured since the industry is rapidly growing that I would give it a shot. After all, as an entrepreneur you have to be willing to try and learn from what you do. There are two ways that this could go.
The pros to a branded store with generic products, like any dropshipping store is that there is a low cost and low barrier of entry which allows for more money for advertising/influencers. The pros to a branded store with low inventory sourced branded products, is that it will be the brand through and through but the con here is that there is more upfront costs and less for advertising/influencers. Ultimately, I am a big believer in POCs (proof of concept). I believe these are great ways to see what the market will tell you and whether its something people want or not. I did this last year with a blanket company and looking to scale that up more this year! So my question for you all is do you think this is a viable opportunity? Would you recommend doing option #1 or #2 regarding the store? Would anyone be interested in potentially partnering up for this? Thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Need help figuring out how to single out my line of ideas. Posted: 03 Jan 2020 01:09 AM PST I'm a young man, and I have high hopes for what I see. But I keep jumping from small business to small business to get money for my actual passion, but I cannot seem get it straight, so any help is appreciated. Here are my "side hustles" Landscaping + General Labor (it's snow season now) , Laser Design Cut lanterns and accessories, and selling on Amazon. Except perhaps the laser, none of these I have a passion for, I simply need the money to start something I actually enjoy. I have a couple in mind, but most need around 50K+ investment. So do you think I should continue working these small gigs? Or start working on the bigger projects and ask for investors ? [link] [comments]  |
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