• Breaking News

    Thursday, April 30, 2020

    Home Unlabelled Thank you Thursday! - (April 30, 2020) Entrepreneur

    Thank you Thursday! - (April 30, 2020) Entrepreneur

    April 30, 2020

    Thank you Thursday! - (April 30, 2020) Entrepreneur

    Thank you Thursday! - (April 30, 2020)

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:09 AM PDT

    Your opportunity to thank the /r/Entrepreneur community by offering free stuff, contests, discounts, electronic courses, ebooks and the best deals you know of.

    Please consolidate such offers here!

    Since this thread can fill up quickly, consider sorting the comments by "new" (instead of "best" or "top") to see the newest posts.

    submitted by /u/AutoModerator
    [link] [comments]

    My 5 Lessons from 2 Failed Startups (attempt to post No. 2)

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 07:28 AM PDT

    Yesterday I made a post here, and even though the comments and reception were overwhelmingly positive, the mods decided to remove it. I tried to get in touch to ask why and didn't get a reply, but I assume it's because I linked to my Medium blog post. (IMO that's quite stupid. If a link doesn't add value the post will be downvoted, I don't see a reason for the mods to act as if the sub members are children, but fair enough - not my sub, not my rules.)

    So, because I don't care about the Medium traffic that much and because my main goal was to share my personal experience with likeminded people, I'll post again today with the whole gargantuan text copied here.

    (I'll still give the original link at the very bottom because the sub doesn't allow pics in the text post, and I specifically made comic strips to make the post easier to read and hopefully funnier (and there are a couple of screenshots). Feel free to ignore it.)

    - - -

    5 Lessons from 2 Failed Startups

    7years ago, on my last year in university, I unwittingly embarked on a startup journey. Here are the five most important lessons that I picked up the hard way.

    (comic 1)

    The main reason I wrote this piece is so that I don't repeat the mistakes I list below, but I'm publishing it in hopes that my experience will have a positive externality — that someone out there will internalize these lessons without paying the cost of money, time, and tears.

    FIRST STARTUP What it was: the first premium educational platform for a popular competitive video game (Dota 2); My role: main content guy — I wrote most of the content and worked directly with our influencer partners, but with time got more and more involved; Timeline: created platform and developed content; launched successfully and found decent traction; slowly faded into obscurity due to lack of sufficient funding;

    LESSON 1: Be prepared for different levels of success

    Naturally, when we started the project we had great expectations for its future financial performance. We also kept in mind that it could crash and burn, as we knew most innovative products fail.

    The two options in our heads were either:

    1. great success — the business supports itself just fine and grows
    2. or total failure — we close down and search for "real" jobs.

    What we failed to anticipate is the vast land in between those two extremes. That's where we ended up. When we launched we started making enough money to indicate we are onto something, but not enough to fully support and grow the business.

    (comic 2)

    When you hear something along the line of "90% of startups fail", you imagine that 10% of startups hit the jackpot while the other 90% lose their money and close their doors instantly. However, this statement lacks a time dimension and a grayscale between the whiteness of success and the blackness of failure. It could be useful to investors, but it is misleading if you are a founder.

    I'm sure some startups lose their money very fast and are left with no choice but to close operations. Yet, I'd wager a big chunk of the unsuccessful 90% spend a long time trying to navigate mixed signals from the market. The problem is that in such conditions decision-making is not straightforward. Are you wasting your time, or are you on the brink of something worthwhile? Not an easy call to make.

    When faced with such decisions, pessimists quit too early, while optimists tend to believe success is just behind the corner perpetually. Both mindsets are wrong.

    If you quit too early, you are cutting short the chances that you'll hit a lucky breakthrough.

    But if you fight for too long, it could get you stuck in a terrible limbo people in the startup community call "the land of the living dead". You make ends meet, barely, but in reality, you are just wasting your time, potential, and testing the patience of all the people with a stake in your success or failure (people in both your personal and professional life). A business is, generally speaking, not a worthy cause for martyrdom.

    In our case, we ended up in the second option. We had over-promised so our investors and business partners were unhappy with the performance, yet we were not ready to give up yet because we still saw a lot of potential.

    At the same time, without the full support of the inventors and partners, we had no chances to succeed. We spend over a year in this state. You need to be realistic about these things, and in startups, the business of selling dreams, this is harder than it sounds.

    Plan for success, plan for failure, plan for everything in between.

    Retrospectively, what we had was a successful proof of concept which required further funding to grow and become a real business. Our failure to anticipate this outcome meant that neither we nor our partners or investors were prepared, which spelled the slow and agonizing death of the project.

    If you're a founder, you need to be granular in defining success and failure. You need to have a timeline everyone agrees upon (not only the founders but all stakeholders) and a definition of different levels of success so that nobody quits too early or leads a lost war for too long.

    For example: Great outcome: X months after launch, we're making enough money to support the business. We agree to reinvest and grow it slowly to avoid dilution (lifestyle business route) or to fundraise to grow fast and search for an exit (startup route). Good outcome: X months after launch, we're making money, but not enough to support the business. This is expected — proof of concept. We're in the process of fundraising. If we succeed to fundraise until month Y (money runs out) — great. If not — we close the business. Bad outcome: X months after launch we're making very little (if any) money. We pivot if we still have resources, if not — we close the business.

    LESSON 2: Find a mentor

    The three main components people talk about when evaluating startups are usually the team, the product, and the market.

    It's hard to argue if any of the three is more important than the others. Usually, you need all three to be good enough to reach success.

    In our case, we were lucky enough to have a favorable market — demand for what we were offering and lack of any real competition.

    The product was so-so: it could have been much, much better considering our lack of experience & resources, but it was good enough to attract the early adopters and with time it could have evolved.

    The team, however, had 0 experience.

    We did this straight out of university (I worked on the project part-time until I finished my masters). The founder was the technical guy and he was a junior developer at best. I was the content marketing guy and even though I had some marketing courses in uni (which mostly focus on traditional, big businesses), I had 0 real-world experience.

    Our lack of technical/marketing experience proved not to be fatal — we were learning on the go and managed to push out a working product and to reach our customers. We had vision, passion, some domain knowledge, and the willingness to work hard.

    What was fatal, however, was that we had 0 experience running a business. Honestly, we had close to no knowledge about startups and what to expect of these kinds of projects. Doing the actual work takes thousands of hours, and the minutes spent making a bad decision can easily invalidate all your efforts.

    If present-day-me could advise and mentor this startup, I'm certain it would have become a successful business.

    (comic 3)

    If you are a young entrepreneur, you need a mentor. An official one, with a small share in the business in order to have skin in the game. Ideally — an entrepreneur who has some startup experience behind his back or at least someone who has been deeply involved in such businesses. Turn to your local startup community and it won't be that hard finding someone interested: after all, most people like giving advice as well as getting free shares in companies.

    [If you don't have an official mentor, at least make sure you're getting mentorship from other places intimately familiar with your business (investors, startup groups or communities, etc.).]

    Embarking on your first startup journey without a mentor is like trying to become an MBA star without ever having a basketball coach. Unless you are incredibly lucky, you will simply fail. You'll make fatal mistakes like the one above (and many more I can list, but it would take forever). Frankly, even nowadays, being much more experienced, I doubt I'll ever work on anything innovative without a mentor.

    SECOND STARTUP What it is was: a monetization platform for video game influencers and content creators in the same niche My role in it: founder Timeline: fundraised (a bit more ambitiously this time, $90k); created platform and developed content; launched and found 0 traction; turned the website into a profitable gaming blog for a year; tried to pivot in the meantime, unsuccessfully;

    LESSON 3: Market expertise doesn't trump startup common sense

    As you've probably noticed, startup one and startup two are connected. What happened is that the founder of startup one finally had enough and bailed. I still had a chip on my shoulder, however, and managed to convince one of the old investors (and a few new ones) that there is merit in having another go at the market with a new (more ambitious) concept. Naturally, things didn't turn out as planned.

    "Fail fast, fail cheap, and leave yourself time to pivot."

    That's probably the most frequently repeated startup advice. And probably the most valuable one you can get. The one that you need tattooed on your forehead if you're a founder.

    So, even though I was aware that the biggest startup mistake is to spend all your resources developing something no one needs, I made exactly that mistake. Like many a startup, I burned through 90% of our bank to acquire the validated learning that there's no demand for the product we're making.

    What led me astray was the belief that I was an expert on this particular market niche and knew intimately its needs.

    (comic 4)

    The confidence I had, obviously, was false.

    What's true is that the previous startup validated that the market actually exists, which is a good start.

    What's not true is that the previous startup validated in any meaningful way the new product we're developing. We had a new concept, a new marketing approach, etc. Equally importantly, the market had changed since the first project — competition was starting to pop up, etc. I was probably one of a handful of people on the planet intimately familiar with this small market niche, and yet my ideas weren't bulletproof anyway.

    After we launched and saw 0 traction, I tried to pivot with a new idea based on the market feedback. The problem was that I had to validate it on my own with no budget and no team. I couldn't do it properly, and I still don't know to this day if this idea would have worked out if I had more resources to test it.

    Looking back, if I had focused on being an expert on running a startup as much as I did on being an expert on the market, things could have turned out quite differently. I could have tested the waters for plan A with 20% of the budget. That would have left me with enough resources to try out at least three more different approaches. We were working from Eastern Europe (Sofia, Bulgaria) and mainly with freelancers, which meant that our burn rate was quite low.

    Failing fast and cheap would have made the company four or five times more likely to succeed. I suspect that this number is even higher because the accumulated expertise by smashing your head into the wall (market) repeatedly means that plan B is usually better than plan A, plan C would probably be better than plan B, and so on.

    Every startup needs to be lean (test your assumptions with minimal resource investment) and agile (be ready to continually change your concept/priorities base on market feedback). This is simply not negotiable if you want to succeed no matter how much of an expert you believe yourself to be.

    "Startups almost never get it right the first time. Much more commonly you launch something, and no one cares. Don't assume when this happens that you've failed. That's normal for startups. But don't sit around doing nothing. Iterate." — Paul Graham

    LESSON 4: Don't regret correct decisions that didn't turn out your way

    After launching and finding 0 traction with almost no money left in the bank the realization where things are headed hit me hard. I wasn't ready for a second failure just yet, however, so I poured all my efforts into finding a source of income for the business to give us some breathing room.

    Content marketing was my biggest strength, so I made a content strategy and started churning out articles. I managed to grow the traffic of the website significantly (reached 240k unique monthly visitors at its peak), and at the same time, I was doing cold outreach to any viable business that might want to advertise with us long-term.

    (Google Analytics Screenshot)

    I deliberately made some of the content well suited to advertise a certain type of business in our niche. Eventually, I managed to close a deal with such a business, which gave us just enough income to keep our head above water.

    During this time, an unexpected opportunity presented itself. A new game closely related to the one I was writing about pupped up and started gaining popularity (Auto Chess, which later turned into Dota Underlords). I was in a great situation to start writing about it and to turn our website into the main authority site on the subject, and slowly but surely I managed to rank our website in the first place in Google SERPs for most relevant keywords.

    (SERP screenshot)

    The hope was that the game was going to continue to grow (and our traffic along with it). This, in turn, would allow me to land bigger advertising contracts, giving me the needed funds to bootstrap a team and continue the validation experiments related to this new market and our newly acquired audience (I was trying to get the business into a positive feedback loop).

    Then this happened:

    (steam charts screenshot, player base falls)

    Dota Underlords (the game we attached ourselves to, our market) fell from over 200k to about 10k concurrent players. Naturally, as I had invested most of my time into Dota Underlords content, our traffic started falling as well, which invalidated the authority site plans and made new advertising sales much, much harder.

    You could argue I should have diversified our content to avoid this situation, but the reality is that you have limited resources and you need to plan how to use them. The business was created as a startup, it had investors, which by definition demands at least some level of ambition. Surviving as a niche gaming blog wasn't going to cut it for the people involved, so I decided to go all-in on the opportunity I saw.

    It didn't work out, but that's OK. As mentioned, most startups fail. Sometimes they fail because of avoidable mistakes (as demonstrated above), but sometimes they fail because the educated bets they make don't work out.

    Making educated but risky bets is what startups do, so don't regret the second kind of failure when the risk is anticipated.

    LESSON 5: Accept full responsibility

    (comic 5, this one's not that funny :( )

    It's quite easy to blame the circumstances when you're looking back at past failures. It's a great way to protect your ego. Going back to my own journey as an example:

    • Startup environment: access to mentorship, funding, and know-how would have been much better if I was located in Silicon Valley. Yet, I tried to play the game of startups in Eastern Europe. Paul Graham sometimes mentions the concept of the Milanese Leonardo. In two words — there is no such thing, all great 15th century painters come from Florence, not Milan. So where are the Milanese painters? The theory is that the environment in which you develop trumps any kind of talent and probably even hard work. Maybe I'm a hardworking genius, but simply failed because of the unfavorable environment half-a-planet away from the Valley.
    • Influencer partners: our two key influencer partners for the 2nd startup project bailed just before we launched. Surely they are to blame for the failure at launch, not me?
    • Crisis in Ukraine: speaking of partners, our main business partners for the first startup were a Ukrainian esports organization. Shortly after launch, the political crisis in Ukraine happened and naturally, they were unable to fulfill all of their promises related to our project (they had bigger problems of their own). Surely we couldn't have predicted geopolitical events while managing an esports startup?

    I could go on, we're all masters at making excuses. However, this is a fool's game. Analyzing your past circumstances is important, but only in the light of taking valuable lessons into the future. An excuse means you learned nothing from an important event.

    All of the above seems like it's something I don't have control over, but I'd argue that's not true.

    • Environment: I didn't want to move to SV, but there are other ways to solve this problem at least partially. E.g. I could have reached out to people to ask for remote mentorship. "We have funding, we're building this product, we want mentorship (weekly/monthly Skype calls) and we're ready to give you a small share in the company to commit." That's not a bad offer and a viable way to make a connection to the real startup world.
    • Partners: I could have done a thousand things to keep them more interested or involved in the project to minimize the chance they'll quit. Even that aside, I could have made sure we're not as reliant just on those two and involved more partners in advance.
    • Crisis: sure, I couldn't have predicted the geopolitical events, but I could have prepared for potential problems with our partners (same point as above). If someone is so important for your business that you fail if they underperform, you better have some plan to mitigate this risk. As a startup founder, you constantly operate in a high-risk environment. It's your job to protect the project against the most critical and most likely of those risks.

    Past failures are a blessing — put them on your shoulders and they will make you stronger.

    Future failures are the ones you want to avoid, and your past failures are the best tool for the job.

    - - -

    If you were crazy enough to read all of it, I hope it was useful.

    (Here's the original Medium link if you want to see the images, feel free to ignore it. If it gets removed again without an explanation I give up.)

    submitted by /u/dotahaven_MrNiceGuy
    [link] [comments]

    I finally moved on from my failed 5-year old project

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:01 PM PDT

    This month, I decided to shut down my 5-year old project and start something new.

    Back in 2016, when I was just fresh out of highschool, I started a project (events platform, similar to Eventbrite) with an older friend. We thought we had everything to succeed: he had an app for parties invitations, which actually had a pretty significant amount of users, he had contacts and I had the technical skill to build the platform.

    I spent about 10 months getting everything ready — at the beginning, I was going to college, though I quit mid 2016. We had events, multiple tickets, payment integration (credit card and bank slip, which is widely used in Brazil), everything we needed to calculate how much we should pay each user (the event holders), the authentication app to be used by the event staff, etc.

    Well, the time came: we were ready to launch. But... we had no events. We talked to a few people and we were able to get an event on the site. Sadly, most of the sales were done physically instead of through our site.

    We kept improving the platform and we managed to a few events there, but trouble started to come up: first of all, frauds. Credit card frauds are very common in Brazil. People would buy tickets, go to the event (or sell them) and then initiate a chargeback with their credit card's network. It's pretty tricky to win one — we needed some proof they went to the event, such as a video recording, so, usually, event platforms in Brazil just refund the money. After that we implemented Sift Science to help us get rid of frauds. It did decrease a bit, but we were still losing some money.

    A couple of months later, we were holding a bit event. We had ~ R$ 30K sales in less than 24 hours, which as a huge milestone for us. The platform was holding everything up just fine and we were pretty happy. Except that 24 hours before the event, the performers had some issues and wouldn't be able to come to Brazil. The event was postponed. We had to develop some new features very quickly — not everyone should be refunded, only those who clicked the "Refund" button on their order page. Refunding bank slips was also not easy -- we had to manually transfer the person's money.

    After that, they decided to go with another platform and we lost that client. We kept holding a few events every month, but we were always losing money. Always.

    Fast forward a couple years, we developed some exciting features, including an unique system to sell tickets physically, which is still common in Brazil. We managed to get a client that'd bring us ~R$ 600 in profit every month, but besides them, we basically didn't have any relevant event on the platform. Even though we had that physical selling system, we weren't able to get clients — maybe my partner couldn't sell, maybe we just weren't worth the hassle of changing platforms, whatever. Point is: even though we've had something unique in the market, we weren't able to make money. At this point I was already tired of the project and was just doing it because... well, because yes.

    Meanwhile, I were always doing some freelance on the side to maintain myself, and our project was always on the red. Besides working several hours a week on it, I had to pay server costs, software costs, etc. We should have shut that down on 2017, when we had already launched for over a year. I guess the idea of failing is what kept me from shutting it down. I didn't want to accept that it failed, and today I see that this is okay. Not everything works out.

    So, fast forward to this year, we decided to go all out: I redesigned the main pages of the app, we hired a sales guy to help out and we tried actively selling it again. It wasn't working out and with the Coronavirus pandemic — which means there are no events right now —, I accepted that it must be shut down.

    Honestly, it's very hard to accept that the thing you worked on for years didn't give you a single dime and is now shutting down, but right now I'm happy to have done so. It didn't work out, but I learned a lot and now, when I start something new, I already know what I have to do in a lot of situations.

    We haven't shut down the server yet but we've already stopped accepting new clients. We refunded everyone that had an active order and events can't be created anymore, and this is a relief. That means I have to stop giving maintenance to something I didn't like working on anymore.

    I've learned that I must fail fast — I didn't enjoy working on the app anymore in 2017-18. I should've quit then. I could've started another project back then, and, perhaps it could've worked out.

    My point with this text is that you don't have to always succeed. Not everything works out — most people only expose the good that works to them and that can make us afraid of failing. The number of people who can make a business work out on the first try is low — they are the minority. So, if I've taken anything from this, is that I should accept when something doesn't work out and move on, and, if possible, fail fast instead of dragging it like a zombie for years.Something is not making money for a month? OK, that happens. A few months and draining a lot of your time? That shouldn't happen, but some businesses take awhile to generate revenue. It's been a year and you didn't make a single dime? Move on. You don't have to kill the project if you really think it has a future, but at least don't spend much time on it.

    Now I'm building a new SaaS product — an app focused on remote work and asynchronous communication. One of the biggest issues I've faced as a developer and also working on this project is communication. I think we are the most productive when we don't have to wait for people or anything else and can communicate asynchronously, so I'm building something like Trello on steroids, focused on broader discussions instead of several small tasks and comments. I plan to keep posting here as it goes, and will also post updates on my twitter. For the first time in years, I'm excited to code for myself again!

    submitted by /u/lyotox
    [link] [comments]

    Coder wants to make an MVP

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:46 PM PDT

    So basically I want to make an MVP so I can quit my day job. My largest issue is finding time to code and not burning myself out on life aka striking a balance of making MVP progress and maintaining mental health. Any advice?

    submitted by /u/OklaPie
    [link] [comments]

    How to deal with days when you just don't feel motivated

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:00 PM PDT

    When you start a business, or any kind of big project, there's always a honeymoon period. During this time, no obstacle can stand in your way, whatever you're marketing is exactly what everyone needs and wants and no one can tell you any different, and you can move mountains to get around every obstacle that stands in your way. That never lasts forever though. Eventually you wake up one day and just feel like "I don't want to do this today." I think those days are totally OK. If you ignore that feeling too much, then eventually you have to come around and pay the piper one way or another.

    My personal technique for dealing with these days is to focus on things that I like to term "ancillary productive". Spending an entire day playing video games would be completely unproductive. Spending my day watching educational videos, making videos, and talking to people about business is not necessarily productive. Compared to playing video games all day though, it's ancillary productive.

    That's honestly my big secret sauce tactic. I have more things that I do and other thoughts on the subject but you all now know my main one. If you're interested in more of my thoughts on the subject, I actually made a video highlighting 5 tips in total for how I personally deal with the days when I'm less than motivated and simply need something of a day off. https://youtu.be/UNxcrNkgWcQ

    submitted by /u/Bodywithoutorgans18
    [link] [comments]

    Selling SaaS company for peanuts

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT

    Hey everyone,

    I built a SaaS product a couple of years ago and I never put in the time/money to market it properly. It's an email marketing and web scraping tool geared towards Amazon sellers.

    I never mess with it and as a result have lost a lot of business. I just don't have the time for it. So I'm at the point where I'm just going to terminate it, but I'd honestly rather give it away to someone as it's got potential.

    If you're interested in learning more, DM me. Here are the requirements though:

    • must be based in the US
    • Must speak fluent english
    • Must show me that you can handle the business*

    It was developed from the ground up, so if you have programming skills that's a huge plus or you'll need to have a developer handy. Also, I want to make sure that you are capable of running it.

    I think it's got potential to provide decent passive income if you know how to market it.

    ​

    Thanks

    submitted by /u/FlandersFlannigan
    [link] [comments]

    Machine learning - What did you always want to know, but couldn't find the right answers?

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 06:30 AM PDT

    I run a machine learning and AI consultancy. I also write about the subject on Medium and have a blog (you can see in my profile). My passion is the combination of high technology and entrepreneurship and I am constantly looking for ways to combine both.

    If there is anything about machine learning you were curious to find out, especially in connection with business, please feel free to ask, I will answer. This will also give me an opportunity to see what I should be writing about in my blog.

    submitted by /u/pinter69
    [link] [comments]

    Alibaba Piaggio Ape

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:54 PM PDT

    Looking for software

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:48 PM PDT

    Im starting an appliance service business. I will be a single user, so i will be taking calls in the field and entering into the program. I need to be able to store model and serial numbers, and service performed, along with being able to send invoices, or at least pdf of an invoice... Ive called a couple of the big dogs in the field and one is 6000 plus monthly charges for different mobile applications, and the other said they wouldn't even send a demo since the program was designed for multiple users...

    Any ideas??

    submitted by /u/Visionbuilder
    [link] [comments]

    For those of you who have been successful in your entrepreneurial journey thus far...

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:46 PM PDT

    I'm sure you have brain stormed dozens of not hundreds of ideas. I too have a list of quite a few ideas. I organized the list into 4 groups ranging from my favorites and what I believe to have to best potential down to my least favorite and probably least potential. In the most potential group I have 2 ideas. In the group right below that one I have about a dozen ideas for products and businesses.

    Being an entrepreneur without much experience, would you recommend I dive head first into the ideas I think are best or should I try some of the 2nd tier ideas to gain experience first?

    submitted by /u/TyDingo
    [link] [comments]

    EIDL Funds Disbursed thru 4 24 20

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 03:28 PM PDT

    Marketing/Sales Needed for Freelance Developer

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:44 PM PDT

    Hey r/Entrepreneur,

    I'm a developer in need of work right now and I wanted to float the idea of teaming up with someone who is better at the sales/marketing side of things. My LinkedIn is in my profile description for anyone who wants to check out my CV. In a nutshell, I have about 7 years of experience in all areas of tech and I can do literally tons of projects for individuals or businesses (Bonus: I have a PhD in mathematics on top of being a developer, so I can also do data science, machine learning, etc too). What I lack is a good sales/marketing game and it hurts me on the freelance circuit. I was curious if anyone out there who could sell my services would be up for teaming up. You get me development work, I do it, and we split the pie (Second Bonus: my wife is an engineer and works with me too, so we have a team of two people who can actually get stuff done, plus she is very good at styling and frontend to compliment my strong backend skills).

    I'm trying to find better gigs than what one can get on sites like Fiverr and Upwork, those seem to be for people without much experience, and the amount of sales involved hurts me there too. Hit me up if anyone is interested in teaming up and has a plan to get clients. I'm sitting here putting in applications for remote work and trying to find clients, but I wish I was grinding out deliverables. If you can talk to clients and line up work, we can be a good team. Thanks for reading, I hope all you are doing well in these tough times, keep your heads up guys!

    submitted by /u/fullstack_guy
    [link] [comments]

    Is college worth it for business?

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:36 PM PDT

    I'm 17 and have $7.5K saved up from working full-time for a while. I have a 4.0 weighted GPA and am getting a full-ride to my community college if I decide to go.

    During quarantine I've just been reading a ton of finance and entrepreneur books, watching free college lectures on YouTube, and taking cheap business and marketing courses on Udemy.

    I don't think I'm going to college, but I figured if I have the opportunity to go for free, I might as well try it out for a bit. I already have a lot of plans if I don't go to college, but should I give college a try or not?

    submitted by /u/love2shit
    [link] [comments]

    What would convince you to give a stranger some control of your business?

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 02:29 PM PDT

    There's a local, family-owned business in a small town I want to get involved in. Based on my research, the industry is stable, the local market is growing, and there's little competition. Barrier to entry is high and I have no experience, so I don't want to start from scratch. The current owners are in a situation where they probably need help, but they are also stubborn, viewing the business like their baby. Aside from financial help, what would convince someone who's grown their business for 10 years to agree to take on an investor or even a partner?

    submitted by /u/playsmartz
    [link] [comments]

    How to Start AND Finish the Things You’ve Always Wanted to. The War of Art Book Review

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 10:43 AM PDT

    A couple months ago I made a post about my favorite books of all time. Typically these kinds of posts are far from my most popular however their valuable nature keep my desire alive to continue to post them.

    This post quickly began filling with hundreds of comments many of which were suggestions for other great books.

    A very frequented suggestion was The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

    ​

    This book was on my shortlist for the next up to read so I figured there's no time like the present and ordered the book on Amazon. It's a quick read at less than 200 pages and tons of white space. In 3 sit downs over 3 days I finished The War of Art marking my favorite spots along the way.

    I figured "hey I might as well make a post about this book as well"

    ​

    Making a post would:

    Cement my knowledge gained

    Spread what I had learned

    Act on the core subjects of the book (you'll see what I mean)

    ​

    The War of Art Summary

    Video link for those who prefer to watch/listen instead: https://youtu.be/XgbpzGSeOAY

    ​

    The War of Art's central theme is overcoming "Resistance". Defined in this book as anything that keeps you from producing your art. Your art can mean anything from literal art you create like paintings or a novel to starting a business or leaping into anything you're afraid of.

    ​

    My Key Takeaways:

    ​

    Trouble.

    The book begins with breaking down all of the various ways we unwittingly delay creating our art whether that be self medication, procrastination, sex, you name it.

    ​

    One that really stood out to me is "Trouble" as a way to let Resistance win.

    ​

    Pressfield says "We get ourselves in trouble because it's a cheap way to get attention. Trouble is a faux form of fame." he goes on to say "Ill health is a form of trouble, as are alcoholism and drug addiction, proneness to accidents, all neurosis including compulsive screwing-up, and such seemingly benign foibles as jealousy, chronic lateness, and the blasting of rap music at 110 dB from your smoked-glass '95 Supra. Anything that draws attention to ourselves through pain-free or artificial means is a manifestation of Resistance."

    ​

    I really sat and thought about that last line and how obvious it is in retrospect. Think about the time in which you felt the most weak or small. That is exactly the time in which you act out, get in trouble, or seek cheap validation by buying a new car or showing off on social media.

    ​

    Living With Freedom Isn't Easy.

    Pressfield states, "The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them."

    ​

    I read and read over this page probably 5 or 6 times really letting the words resonate. What I take from this is unless you are strong enough to set your own boundaries and limitations the world, society, or your own sub-conscious will set those boundaries for you. And let me tell you those boundaries that are set for you will place you in a small comfortable box just small enough to limit growth and experience.

    ​

    The Sign of The Amateur.

    The War of Art later discusses the differences between the amateur and the true professional. The amateur has grand fantasies of success and the end game. "I'm going to sign on 500 clients, sell the business and retire happy!" These people rarely succeed. The true professional understands that there's a simple formula for success:

    Success = (Hard Work) x (Time)

    ​

    The Artist (Professional) Has to Love Being Miserable.

    The professional knows that true happiness and fulfillment comes from the work itself and occasionally work is misery. The professional understands the despair and loneliness that can come with hard work.

    ​

    The Professional Conducts Business in The Real World.

    The professional knows there isn't always a level playing field, sometimes others have a leg up or the Universe has simply deemed you unlucky for the day. The professional understands that rain or shine it is his duty to put in the best work he can. Sometimes you will be handed lucky breaks. Sometimes you will be dealt a shit hand. It is your job to work regardless.

    ​

    Asking For Help.

    The professional doesn't let her own ego get in the way of mastery of her craft. She understands that she is in the pursuit of perfection, not there already, and never will she be there. She understands that others may know more than she does and can help her reach the next levels.

    ​

    Fear That We Will Succeed.

    This one seems like a paradox until we really analyze it. Our ego is so inclined to stay in the comfortable realm of who we currently are. We need to realize who we are means nothing. Who we are is simply who we are today. It doesn't have to be who we are tomorrow or next year. It's scary to think of possibly becoming more than your self-limiting beliefs. It's scary to be in charge and take charge. That's why it's worth doing.

    ​

    What's a Hack?

    Pressfield states a hack, "..is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn't ask himself what's in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for."

    submitted by /u/mmaher13
    [link] [comments]

    Seeking out clothing manufacturer in Asia with low MOQ

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:28 AM PDT

    Hello! I am thinking to start my own personal brand which sells fashion clothes for ladies. I have some design in mind and have tested out with a few potential customers. I am seeking out manufacturers who can help to produce it. Ideally in Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, and China. Would really seek help from the wise community here!

    submitted by /u/UpsetTop
    [link] [comments]

    PayPal, BlueSnap, and other payment gateways?

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 01:30 PM PDT

    I have a multivendor website in development, and we're to the point where the devs need to know how the payments are going to be processed.

    My website is for a niche interest and allows users to sell PDF instructions at their chosen price (which I'm assuming would typically be $5 or less per PDF).

    I'm new to all this and am honestly flustered by trying to make heads or tails of the information each payment gateway offers about their services. What they do offer feels like reading legalese, and talking with them on the phone has them sending me back to their webpage. I feel like I don't even know the right questions to ask to avoid pitfalls from their services.

    My take away so far: PayPal offers support for micropayments for transactions under $10. Anything over $10 requires a separate PayPal account. BlueSnap is supposed to have good support for international transactions and multivendor marketplaces.

    I guess what I'm asking is if anyone has experience or suggestions that could help me make a decision? I don't want to lead my devs down one path, then have to pay them to start all over again because I chose the wrong service.

    submitted by /u/ashtoneinhorn
    [link] [comments]

    How can I prevent roadblocks and overwhelm from choosing a new technology? (Just spend all day trying to pick a new email platform and popup plugin)

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:58 PM PDT

    I feel so inefficient when I have to make decisions such as selecting a new technology/platform. It feels like I'm not getting enough done and I'm too slow in making decisions. How do you guys speed this up? Any recommendations?

    I'm deciding what email platform to move to next (currently at MailChimp with almost 2000 subscribers, so I'm almost out of the free version). There are so many options, so many reviews, and often the features section of their websites is misleading and untrustworthy (such as MailChimp claims they do Abandoned Cart, but I heard you can only send these to subscribers, not transactional emails like many other platforms offer).

    I don't want to make a bad decision so I take too long with research. I end the day feeling overwhelmed and like I got nothing done.

    Recently, I've been focusing on improving my productivity and efficiency and this issue feels like a massive time waster.

    So maybe choosing an email platform is a big deal that deserves a lot of time. But choosing a pop up plugin isn't such a big deal and should be fast imo. But again there are a million options, most very expensive for such a small feature, most I won't be able to tell if it really works for me unless I try it out and see what issues I run into. This all just feels so SLOW and wasteful!

    What really sucks is that after all that time invested, I rarely feel like I can make a better decision, I just feel overwhelmed and like I have to manually try each one to really know (but for choosing an email platform, that's ridiculous).

    How do you guys make faster, better decisions? How do you prevent option overwhelm?

    I really appreciate your thoughts, thanks.

    submitted by /u/bananalevelup
    [link] [comments]

    How to expand a small business?

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:54 PM PDT

    Hello 👋🏻

    I own and run a small business with my mum. I continue to work full time, so I help out where I can. I have mentioned going down from 5 days to 4 days a week to help, but she wants me to continue in my field of work.

    Over the past few months, our business has had contact from at least 10 other businesses asking about wholesale. Every time we have turned them down over - we don't have the man power to take on a lot of work and $$$ of products. My mum doesn't really want to be offering 50% - 40% off the products we make because of how much time goes into making them. Fair enough

    I have thought of working more in the business and scaling down my full time job to help. Only problem being is that I often have terrible motivation at home. I would rather hire an outside person part-time to help my mum. However, she isn't ready or wanting to do that at the moment. She says it will be to complicated to work out - I'm guessing payment, contract etc. I also think a bit of it is because of her social anxiety around having a stranger working at the house (we are home based).

    Sales seem to be doing good. The months seem to average around 4-5k - some can be less and some can be more. It really depends. We often don't have a lot of stock because we make everything by hand and we class things as "made to order 2-3 weeks" because of this issue. Ideally we want to have stock ready to go.

    I would love to hear any tips/recommendations on what I should do, things I can read up on for beginners wanting to expand, or maybe some example stories of those who have expanded?

    Are we holding the business back from potentially expanding? I know my mum would love to be in a position to not have to work. It is just convincing her how to get there is the hard part.

    submitted by /u/courtzybear
    [link] [comments]

    Looking for software with specific capabilities for my start up.

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:48 PM PDT

    Hi,

    I recently started a digital marketing agency, and as part of it, I have contractors that can complete certain work for clients. I'd like to utilize some sort of messaging software/system to allow the contractors and clients to communicate, without us relaying messages back and forth, but with the ability for us as business owners to view the chat logs and monitor communication to ensure they aren't poaching clients from us.

    If anyone has any good recommendations, I'd appreciate it.

    Thanks!

    submitted by /u/Cainisable
    [link] [comments]

    Starting a Construction Company

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 12:23 PM PDT

    Does anyone have any experience starting a construction company?

    I've been working as an engineer at a construction company for about 8 years and am interested in trying my own venture. I really enjoy working in the industry, but I'm beginning to question if the corporate drone life is for me.

    I'd like to specialize in concrete work, as that's what my experience is in. Looking for any advice you can offer about getting started, getting work, hiring, etc.

    Much appreciated!

    submitted by /u/youngernastyman
    [link] [comments]

    Senior developer discussing an app idea with Baylor University student

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:20 AM PDT

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-djO8Y8K4

    "Skill Barter" - A platform that allows professionals to trade technical labor.

    This is a highlight from an interview that I had with Baylor student Andrew Case. We discuss an app idea that I've had over the past few months. This is the first of hopefully many videos where I interview students or people just starting their career in web development. Future episodes will include complimentary beer/margaritas for guests and a more structure to the topics of discussion. Please let me know any feedback or reach out if you have any interest in a Zoom call.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qY-djO8Y8K4

    submitted by /u/Thunder_Cats_Hoe
    [link] [comments]

    How to get mail addresses to colleges

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:16 AM PDT

    I want to promote my service to colleges around the country, what's the best way to get their mailing addresses?

    Do I have to go one-by-one or are there databases for stuff like this?

    submitted by /u/AnotherNoob74
    [link] [comments]

    A New Way to Launch Minimum Viable Products in E-commerce

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:14 AM PDT

    A quick article on how Dropbox and Kettle-and-Fire's method of validating their businesses informed the launch of my previous e-commerce company. How that went (with some numbers), and then a new way to implement these learnings for existing brands looking to continuously test new products.

    https://medium.com/preproduct/a-new-way-to-launch-minimum-viable-products-in-e-commerce-459fdcfa7172

    submitted by /u/oli_woods
    [link] [comments]

    Made a discord server!

    Posted: 30 Apr 2020 11:06 AM PDT

    The Network Network (Subject to change)

    The Network Network server is a lot like this subreddit. A place for people to interact more directly, bounce ideas off of each other and even hire one another. Trying to build a more direct connection between people with a entrepreneurial mindset because you never know what can come out of it!

    Once it grows a bit, I plan on adding a verification method and shops so that freelancers can market their skills. Along with boards for those interested in building strong teams to come together with common goals. If you do join, be sure to dm me if you'd like a bigger part in it, or leave a suggestion in the suggestion channel! Looking forward to talking to everyone that joins :)

    https://discord.gg/5Wuwve

    submitted by /u/LoyDevoe
    [link] [comments]
    Read more
    at

    No comments:

    Post a Comment