NooB Monday! - (February 24, 2020) Entrepreneur |
- NooB Monday! - (February 24, 2020)
- Selling my first product on Amazon, Lessons Learned
- How do I find a mentor?
- How do you actually come up with realistic business ideas?
- The genius of no name's branding
- Selling my 15th product on Amazon
- 160+ hours building this website. Can you guys give me some feedback because I look up to you guys:)
- If one has an entrepreneurial streak, is it better to go it alone, or work with a franchiser who will act as the gatekeeper to what is acceptable?
- How do entrepreneurs create so much content for their website?
- Legal trouble?
- A PSA for those starting your own business.
- The pitfall of referrals. Relying on them won't let you grow.
- You would like some feedback on your website? Me too.
- Lead gen method (works well for digital marketing agencies)
- Being an entrepreneur can be pretty fuckin hard sometimes. Please comment if you can relate.
- If anyone is interested please reach out
- Business idea: subscription service for freelance photographers/videographers. Thoughts?
- I wanna dive straight into an online business I can grow into a passive income or maybe even my main income if it has the ability to grow that much. Im 18 years old and would like to be my own boss, time and effort won’t be an issue where would some people that were in my shoes recommend?
- Any good business plan software? Stay away from BizPLan, shady
- How to Avoid and Get Out of an Entrepreneurial Rut
- Scraping data from the California Secretary of State - Javascript Web Scraping Guy
- Follow up with generic email boxes?
- Seems hopeless
- I really want to have a successful business and it’s kinda getting me down
- Is shopping from your local brick and mortar stores easy?
- Entrepreneur
| NooB Monday! - (February 24, 2020) Posted: 24 Feb 2020 05:12 AM PST If you don't have enough comment karma here's where we can help. Everyone starts somewhere and to post in /r/Entrepreneur this is the best place. Subscribers please understand these are new posters and not familiar with our sub. Newcomers welcome! Be sure to vote on things that help you. Search the sub a bit before you post. The answers may already be here. 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]  |
| Selling my first product on Amazon, Lessons Learned Posted: 24 Feb 2020 08:45 AM PST This is probably for my own documentation, and thought this sub would enjoy. The really important stuff is Bolded for your convenience 1) Discovering a product without any those "Scouting" Apps: I was broke, so I didn't have $500 to have someone to help me find a product, I needed to find it on my own. Admittedly, I was a BestBuy worker, and so, so many people came back after buying their Macbook came for adapters. The new Macbook had only one type of connecter (Type C), and if you wanted to use anything with the old tech (Normal USB) , you needed an adapter. And that was expensive at BestBuy, so I competed. At first, I thought I should buy the entire docking station, and sell those. Here is an important lesson; if Chinese sellers are selling something that is close to the retail price, abandon it. They have realized the market, and won't sell for cheap. Back to the drawing board, I started using tools already on Amazon
2) Ordering the product I found a Type C converter, and bang, went for it. So I headed to AliBaba I would no longer recommend buying from China. Due to the corana virus, your packages will be held back. Also on a moral note, I recommend you stop because of their treatment of Ughyrs, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Let alone the ignoring of IP. So buy from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Turkey. First thing I did was contact 6 suppliers. And see what they had to offer. On top of it, I began to watch videos of anything related to Type C. I stumbled on a Linus Tech Tip video. He talked about how type c connectors that have a seam in the middle are signs of bad quality, and the ones that came a whole piece, are much better quality. So I went back to my suppliers, and they all admitted that the ones they sell are the ones with seams. Just because a seller on Amazon sells something more expensive then usual, does not mean it is automatically better quality. Negotiate, Negotiate, Negotiate! I was able to bring down my prices down by 2/3' d's. They make crazy ROI's on these things. It's acceptable, the more you order, the more leverage. Download WhatsApp for easier communication Refer to yourself as a Employee at your company, not a sole worker, much harder to negotioate If competition sells something for cheaper, screen shot it, and show it to them Here are the rules to tell your Supplier to prepare for Amazon;
Threaten to use AliBaba's protection policy if the order does not come as required, before buying, you have an area for notes. Add your requirments on the note section. On mine, I added on the note section that they will come without Seam, as well, they will work for Macbook. Another thing I needed to make sure, is that you can fit 2 side to side on both Macbook Ports (Learned that from reading the bad reviews on other products) Pay a little more, and use U.S shipping. My product was smaller, so It was no issue. Dealing with a chinease shipping company is a night mare compared to U.S ones. I recommend UPS, but Fedex and other are good as well. 3) Product is here, prepping it I did not know of the UPC code requirement, so I ended up buying them, printing them on stickers, and staying up 2 nights sticking 1,000 stickers of barcodes on 1,000 products. Make sure you adhere to the Shipping guidelines of Amazon, bag them as they say. 4) Product is shipped to Amazon, what now? The product took about 2 weeks to be available. Reason for this is because Amazon takes your packages, and uses Algorithims to see who will most likely buy it. Then sends those to nearby warehouses. You don't know where they would go. I first signed up to the "Light weight" Program DO NOT SIGN UP TO THIS PROGRAM. The program may seem to be cheaper, but in fact, you lose one-day shipping. Especially when you are dealing with a big competitor, this will basically break your product. ----------------- Pricing My Product, wasting $500 in ads ------------------- First thing I did, is price my product cheaper then the competition, sales where slow. So I watched the Gurus and, then, understood the Whole Amazon scam. I made around $700 in sales in my first month with ads. After all said and done, I lost $300 that month. I bought my products for $450, and lost lot's of money. But it was kinda okay, since it gave me the momentum to be seen, and start selling without ads. So all those guys on Youtube "OMG MADE $5,000 on a $400 INVESTMENT" They will all show you the sales number, but never the Ad Money spent. AMAZON has a support team that you can take advantage of that will help you price, and recommend how to move forward, take advantage of them. So now, I began to price my product low, and always changed the price on a daily base. I know it's exciting and scary but CALM DOWN, don't change your price every day. Wait at least a week to see trends. What I was really happy for, was when my competitor began lowering their price. A MAJOR sense of accomplishment. That this company acknowledges you as a threat, feels good. Then, began realizing that I am still losing money, what Amazon standard fee of $40 a month So, let's break it down. Fees: 2.71 Price: 4.99 Profit: 2.28 40/2.28 = 12 So I needed to sell at least 17 to break even. I wasn't making that. So now, I decided to settle for $1 profit. And after 3 months of working, I finally turned 1 profit. This is getting really long. So I'll stop here, and answer questions as they come [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2020 04:17 AM PST Would love a business mentor to challenge me, help me with difficulties ect.. How do find someone to build this with? [link] [comments]  |
| How do you actually come up with realistic business ideas? Posted: 24 Feb 2020 06:23 AM PST So I'm in tech, more specifically data-science/machine-learning. I've always wanted to go into entrepreneurship. The money is attractive but honestly it's more about building something from the ground up for me. A couple of years ago (when I was a lot more naive) I was coming up with ideas all the time. A lot, where useless but I'd still develop the product hoping one day it could grow into something with real value. Since then I've become a lot more careful with my thought process. I think this has been beneficial, it has been easier to weed out the bad ideas. However, as a result I'm worried I've become too cynical. I don't come up with any ideas anymore because I'm too skeptical of my own ideas. I'm getting older and don't want to live in regret. So do you guys have any recommendations of ways you filter been the bad and good? Thanks for reading! [link] [comments]  |
| The genius of no name's branding Posted: 24 Feb 2020 10:25 AM PST no name is a "no nonsense, no frills" supermarket brand in Canada. Nothing special. A lot of discount brands share these "values". But they all communicate them through similar slogans, packaging, and comparison ads. So no name went the other way. What happens if you strip away all the fancy-dress from a brand? You're left with the bare bones. Stark simplicity. The packaging is lowercase Helvetica over a yellow background. The website says "website". The Twitter page says "twitter page". Their sole ad campaign of the last decade saw them matter-of-factly label Toronto's subway station: (see image) Ironically, no name's "anti-brand" approach has attracted a cult following. Since 1978 the product line has grown from 16 to 2,900 items. A simple picture of biscuits on Twitter gets 6,000 likes. Their customers demanded merchandise and it sold out overnight. (see image) It's football club brand power from a household product line. What can we learn from no name?The first lesson is separation: To quote Ted Morgan, "positioning is like finding a seat on a crowded bus". Most brands walk on the bus, glance left, glance right, and end up sitting on top of each other. no name marched straight up to the top deck, found an empty seat, painted it yellow, and no one else can sit there. You escape competition through separation. The second lesson is limitation: Limitation is the essence of branding. no name's focus is singular. They don't pretend to be lots of different things. They stand for something simple and narrow: The rejection of superficiality. The final lesson is consistency: Once you know what you stand for consistency is how you imprint yourself. Consistent tone, Consistent aesthetics. Consistent messaging. no name tells the same joke over and over again, and it gets better every time. It reminds me of a running gag on Jimmy Kimmel Live where Jimmy bumps Matt Damon from the show every night. The first time you're unsure, the 50th time it's the best thing in the world (play video). That's the power of consistency. Limitation, consistency, and separation is how brands are built:
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about marketing I share more real world marketing examples at MarketingExamples.com [link] [comments]  |
| Selling my 15th product on Amazon Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:13 PM PST This post is inspired by an insane amount of misinformation I see from people who have failed on Amazon. I've been selling for 4-5 years full time & last year made about $1.3 million with a 30% profit margin. There are thousands of people who are more successful than me on the platform and I still do not consider myself an expert. But I do know a few things:
There are a lot of different strategies when it comes to product selection and you will find your own niche with experience. Do not sell things that are extremely common. Wine glasses, kitchen gadgets, neck pillows, etc. Make your product better (or at least different) than the competitors). The cheaper it is, the easier it is for a bunch of assholes to come in and start selling the same thing.
You will lose.
Your photos NEED to kick ass. Your keyword research NEEDS to kick ass. Your title, bullet points, & description NEED to kick ass.
Yes, it sucks. But plan on spending at least 10% of your sales price on PPC. If you sell an item for $25, expect that you'll spend an average of at least $2.5 for EVERY sale. Not just your PPC sales, but on average for all PPC + Organic.
Get professional photos, get a sample & inspection, pay for Jungle Scout & a keyword software, etc. You won't be successful by half-assing it. There are tons of other things that you'll learn or can read anywhere online, but these are the main areas I see people fail with on here. Edit: Sorry for the formatting, I typed this all on mobile after being triggered by the other Amazon post. No offense to the other OP. [link] [comments]  |
| 160+ hours building this website. Can you guys give me some feedback because I look up to you guys:) Posted: 24 Feb 2020 06:10 AM PST Spent 160 + hours putting this website together. What do you guys think? Rip me apart. This website is intended to see how many people get to the check out page. I'm going to use a Facebook pixel to see how many people land there. Then gauge whether or not this idea is going to be validated via sufficient traffic to checkout. Also, I'm a newbie and I know I spent way too long putting this website together. Here's the website:) Also, please let me know if you're using mobile or desktop as I will be advertising solely on mobile. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2020 04:01 AM PST One of the reasons that entrepreneurs fail in business is because they lack funds. But what about if an entrepreneur buys into a franchise that operates in the same business they are in? With the necessary advantages in having company support and brand recognition etc, surely an entrepreneur can then opt to release new products via the franchise's network, thus giving them more exposure and leverage. At the same time, the franchiser can act as an investor / venture capitalist. Or is this a wishful scenario? [link] [comments]  |
| How do entrepreneurs create so much content for their website? Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:30 PM PST Hi guys! I'm new here so apologies if this question has already been asked. But how do people create so much content? I run a graphic design business online and mainly do photography, print design, web design, online marketing strategies and social media. I have one client for now but it's already a lot of work. The thing is I know exactly what I need to do to grow my business because that's what I sell. But crafting strategies and then doing all the content by yourself is so exhausting I spend all my time doing that basically. Writing blog posts is the worst. I see people online who constantly put out great content and I wonder... how do they do it? If it was just one I guess it would be okay but I have to do it for 2 businesses currently and I'm thinking if it's this hard how will I be able to grow my business? If you've got any tips for that I'm really interested. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:45 PM PST I started selling chips and snacks and whatever on uber eats My friend has a store and I set him up to deliver on uber and he let me set up another restaurant name for the same location on uber so we would have two names My favorite pokemon is lucario so I thought of calling my virtual kitchen "SnackyM" and the logo A lucario eating a cookie Can I get in legal trouble for this? I see people do similar things like sell t shirts of pokemon and dragon ball and they dont seem to get in any legal trouble? So what are the chances of me getting in trouble [link] [comments]  |
| A PSA for those starting your own business. Posted: 24 Feb 2020 04:50 AM PST Be very careful when outsourcing your work/projects. A lot of sellers watch a YouTube video and then think they can deliver projects. Unfortunately, it takes a lot more to be successful at anything. Example: Someone will watch a YouTube video about designing logos in Adobe Illustrator and then sell their services on Fiverr.
The last 7-8 orders I placed on Fiverr were canceled by sellers or staff because the seller was either lazy, didn't have the required skills or hid vital information from the listing. Fiverr is one of the worst places to get work done. When an order is canceled you cannot leave a negative review on the process. In fact any order that is canceled by the seller will have the negative review removed so sellers are only left with positive reviews. Similarily to TrustPilot. You can also buy reviews for Fiverr and TrustPilot so pay close attention to the wording. Even if the flag says US, the grammar will say India. Always use a platform like PayPal (Goods and Service) or Fiverr to make your payments. Never use something like Payoneer (common amongst freelancers) because once you pay, the money is gone. Lastly, beware of any emails you get. Watch carefully for the language used. Read between the lines. This is the latest email I got from a vendor. The previous one I got used icloud as their "marketing strategy". They do not list the company's name, use free email like Gmail domain (always report this as spam), and have bad grammar. The most egregious ones are in the digital marketing business. For a starting business, these setbacks can have compounding issues. You are waiting for projects to get delivered. They don't. You are expecting the deliverables to be useable. They aren't. You thought you found someone you can count on for repeat work. You didn't. Time is the most valuable resource we have and avoiding these obstacles will help catalyze your business' growth. [link] [comments]  |
| The pitfall of referrals. Relying on them won't let you grow. Posted: 24 Feb 2020 07:55 AM PST My story I grew my web development agency solely on referrals. After we delivered to our first happy US-based client, we got another 5 leads from one referral and converted 3 of them. One day, even though our clients were satisfied and enjoyed working with our team, things stalled. Nobody knew why. It was a tough situation as being on a roll encouraged us to hire more people. Now, salaries have to be paid, but there is not enough revenue to keep the wheel turning. I want to share with you what I learned, but first, let's examine why relying on referrals is tempting and gives lots of (apparent) comfort: Why we all love referrals?
Having all these merits in mind, how come referrals are not the best way to grow a business? After all, it guarantees both good sales conversion, and you are feeling happy and proud. I've been in this trap. The problem You have literally zero control over the process. Some people may know other entrepreneurs who might need your service/product. Noticed in the last sentence "may know" and "might be"? These are all highly uncertain events, and there's no way you can increase the odds that someone knows another person who needs your business (at least in a direct way). The second issue pertains to the segment of clients. Most likely leads you get are horizontally aligned with referrers in terms of status, wealth, and needs. To be more brutal, a client with a project budget of $1,000 is more likely to refer you to a person with a similar budget than to someone who is looking to invest $500,000 in your service. It makes it difficult to jump up the ladder and land higher profile clients. On the other hand, once you get a few clients that belong to your dream segment, the value of referral goes up accordingly. Before I wrap up, I want to make clear I'm not saying referrals are generally a bad thing. They're wonderful, but only as a supplement to your core sales and marketing actions. It's always better to deliver outstanding results and be referred by your clients than not. But keep in mind referrals are sirens that lure to get you to rest on laurels. Focus on building durable, repeatable sales, and marketing strategy and always look for clients outside your existing circles. [link] [comments]  |
| You would like some feedback on your website? Me too. Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:36 AM PST A little while ago I saw a post where a person would give feedback on a website based on the first twenty seconds of visiting the site. I believe that this is a great way to check if your intended message is being received. So I got my own idea. Why not give feedback on each other's site? So, if you give me feedback on my site I'll respond with feedback on yours. Note that this isn't meant to be self-promotion. This post is purely for helping each other. Therefore don't promote your business in any other way, shape or form. My site: www.ridicule.design What do you think? [link] [comments]  |
| Lead gen method (works well for digital marketing agencies) Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:31 PM PST Hey everyone, I've been doing a form of lead gen for b2b companies the past few years. My methods work well within digital marketing - I have a case study/testimonials from a few agencies. I've been living off of this business for the past two years; however, some terrible, unprecedented things have happened this month and I'm really worried about upcoming bills. To make things short, are there any agency owners who'd be interested in learning more about what I do? Feel free to reach out and I'll send you a case study. Normally I charge quite a bit for my work; however, I'm willing to make my rates much more affordable for the time being. We could even work out a deal where I teach you how to do my lead gen methods in-house. [link] [comments]  |
| Being an entrepreneur can be pretty fuckin hard sometimes. Please comment if you can relate. Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:35 PM PST Hi guys. This may be a bit of a rant so apologies in advance. I'm a solo entrepreneur with a personal brand and a small, very niche business. I'm the only person doing anything like my business, and it's an entirely new concept in a unique field. (Sorry purposely being vague here haha) This year my business has seen a LOT of success. I went through a major life change about 6 months ago, and while it was difficult- it was very positive for my life. As a result of this change, I quadrupled my client base, started seeing income I had only dreamt of before, and expanded the business into another state. I started outsourcing and actually growing it. I am starting to become known in my industry and people look up to me. Also, since the business is based online, I've spent most of 2020 so far traveling and doing things I have always wanted to do. Things are going super well. Especially considering my life even a year ago (don't want to get into that haha), I'm really proud of myself. Except, sometimes it's hard to balance it all. Today I was in my hometown seeing family and friends. I'm just getting back to my home now (about 90 minutes away from family) and just feel so guilty. My brother has a new baby, who I hadn't met until today. One of my childhood best friends is moving and I had to miss her going away party. I made it up to her by scheduling another time to see her, but still. My parents seemed sad because they hadn't seen me in a while. The logical part of me knows they all understand that this is the season of life I'm in, but I can't help but feel very guilty. I feel like I'm not showing up 100% in all areas of my life because I'm focused on my business right now, and that makes me feel bad sometimes. I am so proud of my accomplishments, but I also feel exhausted trying to do and be everything all the time. Anyone else felt the same way as you were growing your business? [link] [comments]  |
| If anyone is interested please reach out Posted: 24 Feb 2020 02:12 PM PST Hi everyone I'm a newbie here. I've never heard of reddit until 3 days ago when one of my fellow vet friends told me. I'm a veteran that started a company that specializes in building Yachts and does boat repairs as well. It's a great opportunity for anyone who's interested. I'm looking for help funding my shop and supplies so I can start working. Ive already saved $7,320 so far, my goal is 10,500. I'm not sure how this works with replying? Message me if interested :) [link] [comments]  |
| Business idea: subscription service for freelance photographers/videographers. Thoughts? Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:52 PM PST So apparently there's a common understanding in the freelance photography/videography business that they don't like doing the "business side" which is like negotiating pricing, what's needed, Art direction stuff for potential gigs, so I was thinking of offering a subscription service that will have a dedicated account manager do all the negotiating and set up for you so it's as easy as telling the photographer/videographer all the details and where he/she has to go, needs, etc. It also takes away from the perception that you have to pay commissions per gig you receive to your agent, but for this type of model, you'd only pay the monthly subscription, no matter how many gigs you get. Included in that would be managing current client base and finding new clients. Target market would be photographers/videographers who really do it as a part time job and time and money are valuable to them where they shouldn't have to waist time trying to do the business talking. I don't have exact pricing yet, but thinking of somewhere around $19-$29/mo Do you guys think this is something people would want? Any feedback would be helpful!! Thanks a million! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:45 PM PST |
| Any good business plan software? Stay away from BizPLan, shady Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:38 PM PST First off, fuck BizPlan. I signed up for BizPLan, and forgot about it. They don't send any invoices every month when they bill you and you have to personally request invoices to be sent to you. And they have a strict "no refund" policy, even applies if you pay annual upfront. Pretty dirty man Anyone know any good software for creating a business plan? [link] [comments]  |
| How to Avoid and Get Out of an Entrepreneurial Rut Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:32 PM PST Tricks you use to motivate yourself will eventually stop working. Here's how to stay ahead. [link] [comments]  |
| Scraping data from the California Secretary of State - Javascript Web Scraping Guy Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:15 PM PST This is to follow up on my previous post where I talked about scraping business listings from the Oregon and Idaho secretary of state. This post is regarding scraping business listings from the California Secretary of State. Here is article and the code. Note: I just saw a comment that said that California has an API that can do the same thing, making me feel silly. If this is the case, you should definitely use the API over web scraping. [link] [comments]  |
| Follow up with generic email boxes? Posted: 24 Feb 2020 01:12 PM PST Do you send follow up emails to email addresses like info@abc.com? I have been given these email addresses by reception but have received no response to my initial emails. Should I keep emailing them? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:48 AM PST Where do you go to find an angel investor for an already established business? Loans aren't an option and weve gone the family and friends route... looking for about 500k total in investments. [link] [comments]  |
| I really want to have a successful business and it’s kinda getting me down Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:34 AM PST I'm 17 at the moment and really want to run my own successful business when I'm older. I've got to choose what I'm doing at university over the next few months and I really don't want to. I don't know what I want to do and I'm sad about it, but I do know that I wanna do my own thing and not be tied down by a salary and a 9-5, because I'm fucking sick of that with college. I can work hard to make my own thing, but I just don't know what that thing is, and I don't want to commit to something at university because I don't know what I want to do in the future, but feel I should go. Any words of advice? Thanks a lot [link] [comments]  |
| Is shopping from your local brick and mortar stores easy? Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:27 AM PST We're building a mobile marketplace where users can quickly see what is in their local stores, add to cart and pick up in store - without visiting the merchants website or calling them. Would love some insight into if this would be helpful to you.
Thanks so much, alternatively these questions can be answered here - https://tmrwd.typeform.com/to/xIIZdf [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 24 Feb 2020 11:14 AM PST Hey everyone! Excited to announce my site is live. Right now we're on boarding cbd and industrial hemp businesses to reeferretail.co It's main objective is to help provide transparency and education to consumers so they can make cbd choices they are comfortable in. The website is designed to help businesses market themselves, and sell more product. How? We let companies post certificates and 3rd party lab results to differentiate themselves. Due to the fact the site will host many companies and I have strong experience in sales and marketing (and work in SEO right now) I expect to be able to increase traffic regularly. I wanted to post here from the beginning so you guys can follow along. I would be happy to answer any questions! There's also no products or companies on there yet so I'm not advertising by posting my link (I hope) lol [link] [comments]  |
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