“Don't waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.” - Mario Quintana Entrepreneur |
- “Don't waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come.” - Mario Quintana
- Could anyone recommend a good animation video marketing agency or freelancer?
- Why can’t I buy cigarettes, shower gel and water on a monthly subscription?
- How to Set Up and Run the BitMEX and Deribit Market Maker Crypto Trading Bots, Configure + Optimize
- How do i market a website in the west?
- How Flair, a $100k/month eCommerce company is adapting to Covid-19
- I want to start a school.
- Starting a web solutions and IT consulting company during COVID-19 outbreak
- Networking amid the COVID19 pandemic!
- COVID19 Business Subreddit
- The number one trait that every entrepreneur needs to achieve his goals and dreams.
- I just launched a hilarious productivity service that forces Entrepreneurs to finish their daily tasks or get fined!
- How to earn
- How can we pivot in trading and fashion business to prevent layoffs?
- What are things to think about for a product design?
- What are the essential books every Entrepreneur should read?
- Passing the Quarantine time the right way
- Critique My Site - Back On The Job Hunt
- How to posting in multiple facebook groups without disable account ?
- Monetize Your Skills With Online Courses
- Can you collect unemployment if youre laid off, but own a side business that isn't yet profitable?
- I'm an Entrepreneur, Investor, more specifically a specialist in building Sales teams and programs. My partner and I took our client from 38 Million in 2017 to 68 Million in 2019. Our next endeavor is to invest in another company and help them do the same. Maybe yours! AMA.
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:15 AM PDT I know, marketing is important af, and needs a lot of skill, time and maybe money.but I see a lot of young entrepreneurs who spend a lot of time and energy talking about marketing and how to get rich before they even have a vision or product.save a lot of money, time and stress by spending more time, quality and energy in your product.thank you guys EDIT: the quote is not my message, it just inspirited me and got me thinking With spending more time on the product, Looking at the potential and market of the nieche is od course included. [link] [comments]  |
| Could anyone recommend a good animation video marketing agency or freelancer? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 12:58 PM PDT Hi everyone, I'm looking to expand my digital marketing efforts for my small business, and I love those animation marketing videos that give a 101 overview of your business or some aspect of it. I've searched the internet, but I'm still struggling to find a reputable source. Would appreciate if you know anyone that specializes in this! Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Why can’t I buy cigarettes, shower gel and water on a monthly subscription? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 04:23 AM PDT Yesterday I had a random thought. There's plenty of products in the market that people buy repeatedly, on a predictable cadence and of the same brand and size. These include:
I'm wondering if there's a reason why we haven't seen subscription packages to such products? E.g. I pay on a monthly basis and I get offered a discount if I commit for a set period of months. This should help brands further mitigate the risk of losing a customer and, most importantly, provides a higher degree of liquidity. The only brand I'm aware of that does something similar is Dollar Shave Club, but I'm surprised that we haven't seen a plethora of similar concepts with different products. I'm sure I'm missing something as many might have thought of this already. What though? [link] [comments]  |
| How to Set Up and Run the BitMEX and Deribit Market Maker Crypto Trading Bots, Configure + Optimize Posted: 29 Mar 2020 02:39 PM PDT |
| How do i market a website in the west? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 02:35 PM PDT I am a webdev in asia who is making a website that will help small businesses, how do i market it in the west? Or how do i deliver the beta version to the early adopters? [link] [comments]  |
| How Flair, a $100k/month eCommerce company is adapting to Covid-19 Posted: 29 Mar 2020 02:08 PM PDT I did an interview with Daniel Myers, Founder of Flair about the changes the company is seeing in the marketplace: demand, user acquisition and logistics and how the company is adapting to them. The full transcript of the interview is below. You can also head here to get the audio and some extra details on Flair's product.
Can you give a brief overview of the product Flair sells? Flair builds home comfort products. We build a smart vent system that you can install into a home relatively quickly and easily by dropping in our vent in place of your existing vents. We distribute air to different rooms at different times depending upon the points that users set on a per room basis. We also build a smart thermostat that works with those smart vent systems. It integrates with other smart thermostats you may already have, but also works with the world's most popular air conditioner, called a 'mini split,' which is typically operated with a handheld remote. So we replaced that [the remote]. We're the "Nest" for mini splits. You manufacture in China and sell all across the U.S. How is Covid-19 affecting your business? We've been pretty lucky with our logistics. They're staying busy and shipping a lot of product for us. Our manufacturing is interesting because we tend to do these really large manufacturing buys. So we're not always manufacturing in a continuous manner. We time our buys with our forecasts, and even seasonality to a degree, because obviously HVAC heating and cooling tends to be a very seasonal business. So we've been okay on manufacturing. We have a foot in two worlds. We have a foot in the consumer world and we have a foot in the heating and cooling industry. The heating and cooling industry is traditionally a professional installer going into homes and setting up air conditioners. I think right now people are pretty leery of person to person interaction, especially people outside of their core home and family. The signal we see from the marketplace is that the direct to consumer is a really nice way of avoiding those kinds of concerns. I think we're in a pretty luxurious position where our products can be sold through professional installers, but they can also be self-installed. That's a really strong point for us because it makes us, I wouldn't say immune to Covid-19, but it certainly helps us weather it a little bit more comfortably. I would have a hypothesis that as people spend more time at home they may find more time for home improvement projects. Have you seen any data to back that up yet or is it something you'd expect to happen to over the short-to-midterm? The simplest tool we've got is Google Analytics on our applications to see who's using it and at what frequency. They're certainly paying more attention to their home comfort from what we see. And then on top of that, there's definitely been an uptick in our consumer sales because I think people are at home and really want to be productive and they want to be comfortable when they sleep. Sleep and immunity go hand in hand, so I think people are looking at life holistically and how much their indoor climate really makes them productive, healthy and comfortable. We're seeing China's manufacturing capacity is ramping back up to 100% but logistics, especially air freight, is costing 3-4x more. Are you seeing that as well? We typically avoid using a lot of air freight for a variety of reasons. Occasionally if we really run low on some particular model and we don't want to run out of inventory, we may send a small percentage of a build through the air and then send the rest via ocean freight. But so far we haven't really needed to use air freight. That said, we've got a few friends that have definitely seen it. I think if you are trying to fly things in from China right now, just getting it on the flights can be tricky and you certainly are going to pay for it. So if you can get it on a boat I think that's the way to go. On top of that, boats are nice because goods that are flown in don't take long to fly. However, by the time it's aged on that boat the goods are effectively not going to be risky [from Covid-19] in any way. Have you had any customers ask about your process around packaging and fulfillment and any extra measures you're taking with Covid-19? We haven't seen too much reach out from customers around that. But you know, one of the first things we did when this whole thing started developing was we went to our 3PL, essentially our warehouse that ships things out for us, and we asked them, 'Hey, what is your procedure in place? What is your plan if an employee is sick? Give us your view of how this plays out for you as a logistics provider.' I have to say we were really happy with their response because they had a plan and had implemented all sorts of programs like hand-washing and distancing. Things that, in hindsight of course, they need to be doing but by the time everybody was talking about it, they were already doing it. We pay a lot of attention to what the carriers themselves are doing--UPS, FedEx and those sorts of companies. But you know, they're so big that I think they've had plans for awhile. As your demand evolved to become more eCommerce focused, how has your customer acquisition changed? With HVAC companies, obviously it's kind of an ecosystem. There are distributors, there are installers, and there are, of course, homeowners. We find we often have to connect the dots for that industry to make sure that if a homeowner comes to us and says, 'Hey, I need somebody to help install this,' then we need to find them an installer. Then the installer needs to be able to go to their supplier and hopefully this supplier has a product in stock. And so it's a fairly involved process and requires a lot of human interaction. So, like any good startup, we're constantly experimenting and we started with these experience experiments to see how we could understand the interest for these HVAC contractors and be assistive to them to help pull our product through that channel. It was a great experiment because we found out that we really can do it, but in the time of Covid-19, while people are trying to lower their exposure to others, direct-to-consumer just makes a lot more sense all around. So we've shifted a lot of our attention to delivering our message to homeowners who will just buy and install directly. I think that is just better for everyone right now. I have to say I can't wait to be back working with the channel and that [HVAC] ecosystem because I think those kinds of relationships really last. So the sooner that we're able to get back working with them the better. But in the short term, it's really nice to be able to say, okay, we're just going to work on delivering our message to consumers and continuing to grow there. As I presume most, or a lot of, companies are turning to eCommerce right now, have you seen the costs rise on Facebook, Instagram and Google? I don't think that's something we've really seen. I don't know if that's a function of who and how we're marketing. Maybe that's because so many of the people out there buying ads right now are pulling back on some of their ad spend since their core business is enabled by brick and mortar and essentially not operating. So I think there's an interesting shift that happened where I think certain companies are really hitting the gas that are perfectly set up for this. We're an eCommerce-focused business and then there are other companies that use online ads to push people to their physical stores. It's really hard to see how much either one of those is really moving the costs of advertising and marketing. One of the ways that we've built our sales systems, that is a point of pride and strength, is we really focus heavily on engaging early on with social media, but our long term relationships tend to be a lot of email interaction. So that's another way, if you don't want to be advertising via expensive ads, spend on social media. It's very common that our customers buy a couple of units and then buy a few more afterwards. It's a really nice way of avoiding any kind of turbulence in the advertising market. Since customers buy more units over time, I'm guessing there's a lot of word of mouth with your product. Have you tried any referral programs? Yeah, we do that. It works pretty well even though we haven't put that in front of people very centrally, that's something we could probably improve on. I think the referral happens very organically because somebody comes over to somebody else's house, they see our product on the wall or installed on the floor and they're like 'What is that thing?' It just organically happens where people are talking about the product because it's such a novel set of products. So we get a lot of organic referrals and we see a decent amount of usage from referral programs. It's also quite common people buy a few units for a test too. They want to see that it works in a way that they're expecting. Once they are happy with the product, they're like, 'Oh, I'd love to add this kind of control that I've got to the rest of my house.' Not everybody wants to buy a whole home system upfront. So it makes a lot of sense that people buy a few pieces at a time. We've got customers who install one device and we've got customers who install 30, but I think it's a much smoother onboarding experience broadly if they can buy a smaller number at first, get familiar and then order more. Can you talk a bit more about how you financed the company initially and how you see that process evolving going forward for however long this potential downturn in the economy lasts? So we really got going with the help of some fantastic angel investors early on. Other folks that got involved were big venture funds and groups that have a little bit more 'dry powder.' I expect that as we raise subsequent rounds of financing, certainly within this climate, my suspicion is that angel investors are going to be much more exposed to the broader market changes than venture capital funds who typically have a fund allocated upfront. I think they're [venture capitalists] going to pull back and probably invest a little bit more slowly, and make sure their portfolio companies are going to weather this thing, but at the same time I think it also cuts down on a lot of noise. We're a company that has been built in many ways out of revenue rather than strictly investment, which is not necessarily the Silicon Valley model of startups. But what that does for you is it gives you an advantage at fundraising time where you don't necessarily need to go raise a ton of money. But I would say I think it's a really powerful position to be in if your entire business model is not dependent upon fundraising and you've got options in terms of just leveraging your revenue to maintain things and hold onto your employees and all of your core investments that you've made over time. Now that you guys are remote can you talk me through the tools the company uses for the day-to-day running of the business?
Have you got any advice for other founders who are just starting out? Focus on customer support. We were almost blindsided by how high touch customer support was. Now, our product admittedly is a home automation product, so inherently with that comes a lot of questions. But ultimately I think the amount of support is something you'll want to really pay attention to and invest in. When you deal with a company who's really paying attention to you, who's really making sure that you have a good experience, it's night and day. Even if the product fails miserably but you have a good experience with customer support, you'll get past it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 01:46 PM PDT Hello those of reddit I had an idea pop into my head and I want to know the logistics of it. Essentially I want to start a private school. I don't fully agree with the current school system and want change. Currently I'm about to enter my first year of college. I understand this will take years and years of preparation if plausible. So now I ask these questions: Where does one ever start with creating a school? What courses would help me get to where I want to be? Is there any reason to have doubt in my mind? Guidance and advice. [link] [comments]  |
| Starting a web solutions and IT consulting company during COVID-19 outbreak Posted: 29 Mar 2020 09:58 AM PDT Me and my brother are starting a new design and consulting business remotely, but since the UK is on the lockdown, we are concerned that many small-medium businesses (our target market) are going to be reluctant to engage in new business contracts. Do you think we should just still try to go for it or wait it out a little bit? [link] [comments]  |
| Networking amid the COVID19 pandemic! Posted: 29 Mar 2020 01:39 PM PDT Thought that this may be of interest to the community. Lunchclub is an "AI superconnector that makes introductions for 1:1 video meetings to advance your career." I've used it once so far and really enjoyed the conversation I had w/ a startup founder. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to network/meet investors/find team members amid the COVID19 pandemic. You can register here and skip the 20,000 person queue. Upon joining, I recommend you select the nearest metropolis to you or you may have to wait for your town to reach a certain # of users. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 01:18 PM PDT Is there a COVID-19 Subreddit strictly for Small Businesses? [link] [comments]  |
| The number one trait that every entrepreneur needs to achieve his goals and dreams. Posted: 29 Mar 2020 01:06 PM PDT |
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 11:47 AM PDT To start with, this is quite an unusual service. So, as an entrepreneur, I noticed that I am always fond of procrastinating and often times, I could be very lazy most especially when I have no one to nag or force me to finish my tasks for the day. As a result, my productivity level reduced drastically. So, I thought of hiring an accountability coach but the one's I contacted were too expensive for me. And productivity apps? Oh, well they weren't so effective because I still skip my daily tasks. Hence, I thought it'll be a great idea to come up with a service that forces you to complete your daily tasks. So, this is the way it works
However, in legitimate cases whereby the person was unable to complete his/her task for a very good reason like health etc, we waive it and followup later on to know if it's a task, he/she would still like to complete. I know this sounds silly but honestly, if you're a chronic #procrastinator like me, you'd definitely understand the struggle. I don't know but what do you all think of this? Do you think this will work or not? Ugh. Fingers crossed. Oh and feel free to check it here at https://avinola.com and let me know your thoughts. :Please be nice:) [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 10:29 AM PDT So am a student and am trying to earn GOOD money am working as a photographer to earn some money to start something. Idk what to start though i was thinking of car flipping but that Aint easy so i need y'alls suggestions [link] [comments]  |
| How can we pivot in trading and fashion business to prevent layoffs? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 09:42 AM PDT Hi all, We have one trading and one fashion company. Currently, both our businesses have dropped down to 0% due to the lockdown implemented. Another one of our sister company is in the same boat but have pivoted into importing masks and other medical equipment to sustain over this time. They're hosting it in an amazon-like warehouse, that is unaffected by the lockdown (their own warehouse is closed) If we don't start doing business again, I'm afraid layoffs will start. What products and or services can we jump into or pivot into right now, to keep an income going? Looking at the situation, only our background of trading matters. We have the people and manpower that can all work remotely - but none have advanced skills in techs, just in sales, trading and import-export [link] [comments]  |
| What are things to think about for a product design? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 09:18 AM PDT When it comes to product design thinking, what are good resources or tips you might have when designing a good product, in this case an app? [link] [comments]  |
| What are the essential books every Entrepreneur should read? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 05:32 AM PDT There are plenty of good books out there which cover various similar topics. But what I would like to know is: what do you believe are the essential books on each respective topic? " Ten Types of Innovation: The Discipline of Building Breakthroughs " was recommended to me, and sounds like a decent place to start. But to people more well versed than I am - is it? [link] [comments]  |
| Passing the Quarantine time the right way Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:50 AM PDT I know it is very tough for people to follow the lockdown/quarantine time. People are doing all they can to find little joy from whatever possible way they can while still staying home. I am using this time to accquire the skills that will help me in future. One of the skills is Digital Marketing, I believe entrepreneurs must learn this skill. Now there are many online courses on the internet that you can look at for mastering this. But the one I highly recommend to you is a specialization from University of Illinois, 100% online! Do check this out if you are also interested in learning DM from scratch. Stay Home Stay Safe! [link] [comments]  |
| Critique My Site - Back On The Job Hunt Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:12 AM PDT I recently was let go due to Covid, and I'm back on the hunt for my next position. I'm hoping to use this site on my resume and for freelance. Please provide any and all feedback. [link] [comments]  |
| How to posting in multiple facebook groups without disable account ? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:55 AM PDT How to posting in multiple facebook groups without disable account ? [link] [comments]  |
| Monetize Your Skills With Online Courses Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:51 AM PDT Hey guys! Just sharing an idea to make some extra cash. I may have been living under a rock, but I had NO IDEA that you could earn an income from creating an online course. Have you tried that yet? If yes, what was your experience like? I personally found Udemy a great place to start as they handle the admin for you. However, when you have an established audience, Teachable is a great place to go too. Just sharing this, because I know a lot of us are stuck at home looking at ways to make additional income. Fun question, if you could create a course around one of your skills, what course would you create? [link] [comments]  |
| Can you collect unemployment if youre laid off, but own a side business that isn't yet profitable? Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:24 AM PDT My workforce is laying off 50 percent of our team. I also just started a business (small e-commerce business), which is a registered LLC. We had $5000 in sales our first month but we've out every dollar of it back into the company and take no salary or paycheck from the business. I'm worried I'll be ineligible for unemployment if I get laid off. Anyone know this one? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 29 Mar 2020 06:16 AM PDT My partner and I have been building sales teams for the past 8 years. We recently joined a company in 2017 to build their sales department. They were at a place of stagnant growth and needed someone to come in and recruit sales leaders and reps, train them, and create a culture and environment that will continue to grow itself over the long haul. We are coming to the close of our time with them and its been an amazing ride. Now we are starting to look at whats next. We are in a new position now. We have cash to invest, and expertise to share. Our new goal is to invest in startups that have a similar situation to the one we recently joined - Great Product, Great Operation, and Great Leadership. I often see posts on here asking about Angel Investors and how to get them. The goal of this AMA is two fold. 1- To share what I've learned with this community. 2- To offer an open invitation to message me and get a chance at bringing on my partner and I as Angel Investors. I hope this brings about a great discussion and that I can offer some value to everyone. AMA! They say the proof is in the pudding. Here is a screenshot of my Salesforce report showing annual revenue from before our arrival and up to the current date. As well as my W-2 showing the compensation earned from the company we have been working with - https://imgur.com/a/bmvfWFW [link] [comments]  |
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