Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (August 05, 2020) Entrepreneur |
- Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (August 05, 2020)
- My 1 year journey
- 3 year update: Started a candle business with $50
- First week success story
- If you get your hands on $10k to 100k what kinda of business would you start?
- Which bank supports a business bank account without an EIN
- Stuck in the Rat Race
- A collection of the worlds best SMS Marketing case studies
- Proposed partnership
- Going viral. Luck or skill?
- Aliens.
- Proposal pitch: should I include the cons and be fully transparent?
- Advice on sharing idea to manufacture
- How to get your Instagram verified for business or personal brand
- Gary Vee Social Media Manager Interview
- New blog
- Need help with looking for vehicle wholesaling insurance for my business in GTA area
- What do you think the next big thing is after Drop Shipping in e-commerce?
- Awesome psychological facts that can help your self-esteem as an entrepreneur
- Mixed worker co-op/public or privately owned with automatic required buyback?
- Founders who had a baby during their startup, what changed?
- Fighting the Antagonist Mind
- To get better product feedback: Design a testing journey
- How to Get Initial Momentum to Not Get Pushed Out of the Market Early On?
- I'm looking for an online job, Im not looking for 4000 dollars a month, I'd be totally okay with 150-200 a month My best skill is photography but I could do other jobs as well. I'm from Serbia, I am 16 years old.
| Wantrepreneur Wednesday! - (August 05, 2020) Posted: 05 Aug 2020 06:10 AM PDT Please use this thread to ask questions if you're new or even if you haven't started a business yet. Remember to search the sub first - the answers you need may be right at your fingertips. 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]  |
| Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:14 PM PDT So after my 15th birthday I decided I wanted to make some money. But I couldn't do part time jobs yet due to laws in Switzerland. So I started to freelance a bit and gathered about a 300 bucks. My parents said I should just save it for later, but I didn't. I was just browsing the internet for a while I fell on an app with a great concept but which was poorly executed. I told myself if I made the app there would have been no issues. The idea came to me, a week later I hired a developer on Fiverr to create the app. And he did an amazing job at it. I went and published the app on the play store and used the remaining money to advertise it. I used the earnings from the app to make a new app. I also found a free lance job as a social media manager which pays well too. I also started a small business of reselling Japanese goods with my friend(we do proxy shipping).I don't know how all of you calculate net worth. But I was able to save over 2k on my bank account. And one my app was valued/appraised for over 5k. I plan on continuing to do this and one day maybe create an app development business. My goal at the moment is to earn an average salary as passive earning from my app while studying (I plan on going to university). I currently earn about 300-500$ with apps, freelance, and proxy selling all together. I have to admit covid helped me get all the free time I needed to get into this. Thanks for reading my 1 year journey. I will turn 16 in 5 days exactly. [link] [comments]  |
| 3 year update: Started a candle business with $50 Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:53 AM PDT Standley Handcrafted back again. First year post https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/831ilr/i_started_a_candle_business_as_a_side_hustle_with/ Two year update https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/bukou5/update_last_year_my_side_hustle_made_1000month/ Since last year things are still on the upward swing, even with COVID and lockdowns. As of last year I had the facebook candle group with 12,000 members, that has since grown to almost 52,000 members and growing stronger every day. When I made the post last year I just started to do the traveling candle classes which turned out to be a really big hit. We did a class in Atlanta, Chicago, then L.A. before things shut down. Since the shutdown my partner on the classes and I moved those to virtual only now. For the in person class we were charging $300 a ticket which included the full day workshop and hands on with four types of waxes, wicks, jars, and oils. It was growing nicely but the profits was just ok. The expenses for in person classes was high. From plane tickets, hotels, food, driving, conference room, the profits were nice not really worth all the effort that was going into class itself. Coordinating the supplies to show up just days before the conference and have them sit in a hotel conference room and hoping nothing was missed was stressful. Plus we could only pack the class with about eighteen people otherwise it was really crowded. Since the lockdown we moved this all day conference to a zoom class and now we ship all supplies. We reduced the ticket cost to $175 and expanded the tickets to twenty five people. This move has been so much nicer for not only us but the people making the candles like it so much better. They can now sit in their own homes and make the candles as they wish. I made a full set of videos talking about the waxes and how to make each set and then the day of the conference we set up a five hour zoom call with all twenty five people and just talk about everything. As for the youtube channel I keep trying to grow and keep content flowing, this is better some months than others. The revenue has doubled since last year, making over $2000/month now which is incredible. Not quitting my job or anything but it pays for all the supplies I need to keep making more content. Not too mention vendors and sponsors are reaching out a lot more now. The website is still a weak spot for me. I make a lot of sales on the site but I still have not overhauled it like I really need to. I mentioned it last year and it has not changed. I need to hire an extra person now but I'm still not sure where, how, if it would work. This is where I need to hire someone, just like I mentioned last year. lol Website overhaul, pictures, etc. I know I can do all this but I spend all my free time doing other things that are higher on my triage list of priorities. I also started to do some consulting for new candle makers and have also released six e-books for beginners. The ebooks have done really well and I have more planned. I made these mainly because people kept asking for them. I have all this content in the facebook group and on the videos but people wanted a paper form with everything in one place. This is an area that I would not of thought about unless I paid attention to the community and what they wanted. So much of this journey has been listening to what people want as I create it, the videos, books, classes, candle kits, etc. My first "real" candle book is almost done and currently looking for ways tp have it published. Amazon of course but it would be nice to find a place to print hardcovers and have a real publisher. Someone I thought would have my back forever told me "It's a stupid idea and it will never work." and "You're a dreamer and I fucking hate it." [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 07:34 AM PDT I quit my full-time job last Friday and less than 5 days later we have two signed contracts on the books! The first contract is with a channel partner that will potentially increase our revenue per customer by 50% and reduce customer costs by 25-30%. This is a huge win for both sides and strengthens our position in the market. The second contract is for custom ESG scoring metrics by industry. This will be proprietary IP that will exponentially increase our value and the value provided to the businesses. We are still pre revenue, but we have over 20 businesses lined up once the scoring metrics are complete we can begin to submit signed agreements. Less than a month away from first revenues! [link] [comments]  |
| If you get your hands on $10k to 100k what kinda of business would you start? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:02 PM PDT The title says it all if you can get your hands on no less than 10k and no more than 100k what kinda of business would you start. Best idea gets nothing 🥳 [link] [comments]  |
| Which bank supports a business bank account without an EIN Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:04 PM PDT Hi everyone, I think the question is in the title: Which bank supports a business bank account without an EIN? Intention is to run it through the SSN to not have to do separate taxes. The idea is to set it up as an LLC [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:27 AM PDT Guys, I'm a guy that read books, my friends consider me a very intelligent and wise guy. My dream is to have my own business but I feel stuck in the "Rat Race". I feel stuck in my thoughts, I read books and feel like I have to start something but I don't stick to it. Is there anyone here who has been in this situation or gone through it? Do you guys have any advice? [link] [comments]  |
| A collection of the worlds best SMS Marketing case studies Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:22 AM PDT Why we created the greatest SMS marketing resource in the world. We've been building in the SMS eCommerce space for the past 2 years. We were previously operators of a brand using SMS as a key part of our online strategy, and later pivoted to create the most powerful conversational commerce solution available after seeing how important 1:1 connection is and the lack options available. Throughout this time, we've seen hundreds of different examples of SMS marketing (both good… and very very bad) but without any real structure or review process. We wanted to dig deeper into the tools used, the different elements to each SMS strategy, and ultimately where are the stand-out examples? We've spent the last few months building detailed case studies and the tools used across the best SMS marketing examples in the world. Our key takeaways from building that website. Out of all the SMS strategies we researched, we created 11 detailed case studies. We would have hoped for more, but we found it extremely tough to find brands that were executing on a high level. Most of the examples we came across had no indication of any sort of 2-way conversation or consisted solely of spamming offers to any available number. This was surprising, and really communicated the sheer size of the opportunity for brands to execute their SMS strategy to a high level and stand out amongst the crowd. Delight customers, care about your brand touch-points, and connect 1:1 with your audience. Out of every SMS strategy research, there were only 3 brands excelled The only 3 brands (out of hundreds) to really stamp their authority and execute on their SMS strategy were Judy, Verb and Empathy Wines. Interestingly, the each shared 3 key elements. 1.) They provided value to their audience before anything else. Before any offer or sales-y message, each of these brands created engaging and useful content to their subscriber base. This content mostly focused on either providing the most value from their products (Verb and Judy) or a high-level 1:1 connection to answer any questions or queries (Empathy Wines). 2.) They didn't spam their audience with offers. The bottom line is important, lets not forget that, but these brands really see the long-term value in building trust and brand equity before any sort of sale request. If the content and experience is amazing, the sale will follow. 3.) They each created their own persona and tone of voice. Every message and every touchpoint was carefully crafted to create an experience that "wow'd" the customer and built trust. These brands didn't use bland bot-flows, but rather rather created engaging, friendly and approachable persona's across their SMS comms. In the end it wasn't about messaging their brand - because it felt like you were messaging a friend. There is more than 1 or two ways you can create an amazing SMS strategy - you just need to find one that fits your business. Every brand has a slightly different way of executing and focus for their SMS strategy. There is no one-size-fits all. You need to breakdown elements of your business like your product velocity, your current brand equity, the content and story you can tell, and your current customer support solution. However, if you lead with the points mentioned above of leading with value to your customers, being mindful of sending spam offers, and creating a brand persona that communicates your business clearly - you're on the right track. Did we convince you to try SMS marketing? If so, give yourself a head start and don't make these mistakes: 1.) Don't use a shared short code. Most solutions offer this and while it seems "easy", it creates an experience where customers can't reply back and have a real conversation with either your team or your chatbot. It's lazy. Use a Toll-free number if you're in the US, or a +44 long code if you're in the UK or Europe. 2.) Don't think of your strategy as "Do I go SMS or Email?". This is not the argument - it is not one or the other. Your SMS strategy excels with immediacy, intimacy, and quick conversation. Email is still great for long-form storytelling and cinematic content. 3.) Create specific content or a strategy for your SMS number. Having customer support or marketing is great for an SMS strategy - but this is table stakes. To really stand out create a specific series of content built directly for SMS Like Equal Parts Text-a-chef series or an exclusive group feel like Fern's waitlist. Now, don't you want to see all of those case-studies we've been talking about? You're invited to checkout www.smsmarketingexamples.com. (+ We're on Product Hunt today). You'll find the good, the bad, and the really ugly ($340m raised and the worst SMS experience we've ever seen 🤦♂️). If you don't want to head to our site, no problem - we'll continue to share any insights we find along the way. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 02:07 PM PDT My employers pay an outside contractor over 600k yearly for specialized software licensing. I will be meeting with them in a month to pitch severing that contract and allowing me to create substitute software. I hope to pilot this software in one location before moving to the company's other four locations. This software is directly linked to the company's success which makes it easy to prove merit but risky. If successful at the four locations, it could be marketed to other companies. I currently make 75k a year and need to keep that salary. I want this product to be created under a separate company which I will be sole or majority owner. My skill set is niche so they would not be able to find someone else to do this. I am well liked and trusted by the CEO. What kind of ownership or payment structure do I offer? I need to continue being paid while being able to focus full time on creating this software. It is a significant risk for the company to trust an unproven program. They must to be enticed by the prospect of selling it outside the company. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 01:38 PM PDT Bit of background, we're a couple of early to mid 30s tech founders. Used to work together, at different times, each invested in the other's startups, have had independent exits. We both suffered the same post-acquisition lull, and the frustrating itch to do something else that comes with it. We agreed that we'd try a venture together if the stars and the planets aligned, lots of ideas but rubber didn't meet the road, until... One day we're trying to arrange a joint families' holiday together and realised that we were getting buried with tasks we needed to get done by our better halves. Book travel, book accommodation, bring travel cot, food shop, wine, travel insurance. We noticed that most of this was taking the form of individual todo lists either on notes or someone's reminders etc, but all the communication was happening on WhatsApp. So we built a todo list management service (app-less) that runs as a chatbot on the WhatsApp platform. It was kind of just a fun project, something we've found useful ourselves. Anyway, we shared a prototype version of the service with around 20 people in our network give or take, friends and some family... and this somehow that snowballed (more on how/why in a moment) into over 2,000 users of the service within 5 weeks. Those 2000 users went on to create (almost) 10,000 todo-tasks, about half of which have since been marked as done as of this writing. So how did we go from 20 to 2000? Actually pretty boring, we just added a simple mechanism to allow a user to share their task list with one of more of their contact's in WhatsApp, and it kind of had a mini-viral spurt from there. This is probably where you're expecting the post to end on some kernel of wisdom that sounds repeatable, like "if you build it (well), they will come"... truth is we just got a super lucky head-start in seeding our user base prior to MVP launch. And of course, there's still a long way to go for us. But the question remains, is it better to be lucky than good? TLDR: had idea, built proto type, shared with friends, had mini-viral spurt. no real lesson learned, just a lingering question how much luck vs skill? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:43 AM PDT I'm a computer scientist by training, working at one of the top 10 universities in the world (in other words, I'm not totally nuts ;)). I have an idea that I think could be both profitable (data/analysis/API access sales) and engaging with the wider community. As such, I have a couple of questions: 1 ) How many of you are software developers (professionally) and would be interested in working for a company that had a "tinfoil-hat" aspect to it? 2 ) Would the talk of "aliens" or "ufo's" be off-putting to investors, despite being able to demonstrate market viability? [link] [comments]  |
| Proposal pitch: should I include the cons and be fully transparent? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:34 PM PDT This isn't exactly a startup, but rather a company-wide entrepreneur pitch competition to improve something in the company. I was a top 3 finalist, and I made sure I followed the rubric to a tee. I included both pros and cons, then discussing how to overcome the cons step-by-step. The other two people didn't mention the cons as much, with one guy in particular having a trainwreck of a presentation (openly taking about sensitive company information in a public event, being confused about the slides, having to pause in the middle, etc). He had a solid idea, but it was somewhat vague and he didn't address any cons. Guess who won first place? That's right, the guy with the trainwreck of a presentation. And I won last (third). I have no problem not winning, but I do have a problem with a person winning with a vague idea. This isn't the first time this has happened to me, either. I've pitched in a different competition while disclosing all pros and cons in a transparent manner, while some other guy comes waltzing in with a vague idea and also won. I know it's hard to pinpoint what could have gone wrong without listening to the pitches (I can go into more detail if necessary), so here's a question for you guys: is it wise to be fully transparent with your pitch? Should I anticipate problems that may come up in the future with this business plan, and then address them in the pitch? Or should I not include them at all, and see if they ask me about it? In other words, is it better to incorporate solutions to possible negative feedback in the pitch, or will that do more harm than good? I know it mostly depends on your audience but I'd be curious to hear what other people think. [link] [comments]  |
| Advice on sharing idea to manufacture Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:20 PM PDT Hi all, I'm about to start the manufacturing stage of my product idea, it's the prototype still. I've design it, currently we have the renders and almost all the specifications. But one question lurks in my mind, How much information do I share with the person that I'm going to hire for the manufacturing or more specifically for the assembly of the prototype? As a first step I want to speak to 2 or 3 possible assemblers, but then again I don't want to share my Idea, I feel like they could steal it or something, and that is what I want advice on, I don't know if I'm overreacting or how could I approach it? Have you done something like this? If so what is your experience on sharing the details of your idea to an outsource? May be I just stick to one assembler and make him sing a NDA instead of sharing the idea with 3 different persons. thanks all [link] [comments]  |
| How to get your Instagram verified for business or personal brand Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:15 PM PDT Hi! I work in social media and actually apply for verification for a lot of clients. Any profile both for Facebook and Instagram that is not classified as personal can apply for verification. Usually contacts are assigned per region to each category, so I can assist you by taking on your application. Requirements is that you simply have to prove the account is yours by providing a scan copy of your drivers license or passport and, explain briefly why the account needs to be verified (this i would help you with). Number of followers is irrelevant and I charge a fee for helping you draft the write ups and expediting the process. DM if you're interested [link] [comments]  |
| Gary Vee Social Media Manager Interview Posted: 05 Aug 2020 12:08 PM PDT Hey all! I interviewed Gary Vee's former social media manager, Calvin Hamilton, for my podcast. He ultimately started his own company, notus, at 21 years old. It's a really interesting story that I think anyone in business could benefit from, plus he has some great tips on growing your own company! Link below if you're interested! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gifted/id1520679701#episodeGuid=Buzzsprout-4849487 [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:53 AM PDT I would like to invite everyone to check out my new blog. First time doing this, so I would appreciate any visits and reads. [link] [comments]  |
| Need help with looking for vehicle wholesaling insurance for my business in GTA area Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:48 AM PDT My partner and I opened a car wholesaling business. We are in a process of receiving the license to buy and sell cars to dealerships. We will require to have a dealer plate to move the cars from point A to point B and insurance. I called multiple companies and they do not entertain the insurance for this type of business. I am looking for some help with recommending a broker or insurance company to set up the coverage and get the business up a running. I really appreciate everyone's help! [link] [comments]  |
| What do you think the next big thing is after Drop Shipping in e-commerce? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:46 AM PDT What do you think? Since drop shipping was such a massive impact in the world of ecommerce what do you think is next? [link] [comments]  |
| Awesome psychological facts that can help your self-esteem as an entrepreneur Posted: 04 Aug 2020 11:14 PM PDT
[link] [comments]  |
| Mixed worker co-op/public or privately owned with automatic required buyback? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 11:36 AM PDT Goal: Worker vestment, outside investment Target investor: Someone interested in generating and maintaining local wealth. Prerequisite knowledge: Some understanding of the functioning of co-operatives, particularly worker co-ops. I'm imagining a combination publicly/worker owned restaurant funded by a form of financial instrument that I haven't come across. It goes like this: Shares are automatically granted to workers at the beginning of their employment, as well as continually earned over time such that the longer one is employed, the more they own. Shares can also be purchased, however, either as soon as they are purchased, or as soon as one stops investing (including via employment), a countdown for those shares begins with the end result being that a passive investor's stake in the company will be automatically bought out either by the restaurant or some other active participant. I've envisioned this on something like a 7 year cycle, with 1/7 of the ownership portion being bought back each year according to its valuation at that time. Undecided how to limit repurchasing if at all. So the main points are: [link] [comments]  |
| Founders who had a baby during their startup, what changed? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:21 AM PDT Any answers are welcome. My wife is expecting in January and I'm interested to see what sort of affect it will have on myself, energy levels, will I want to push harder, etc. Your experiences are welcome! For context, my team is a little over 30 people, we grow revenue about 10% month over month, and run a very profitable 7-figure SaaS platform (all bootstrapped). Things are stable and growing but we all still push 110% without getting too comfortable. Throwing a baby into the mix isn't expected to change anything for me, but I just have no idea! Maybe I'm a little naive, but I know I'll be making adjustments and different sacrifices. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT Despite working on the VoxRec Speech-to-Text iOS app for over a year, I have not posted anything publicly since its initial release in December. A big part of a project's success is when other people know about what you have built, yet for many past projects, I did not do this, which I believe contributed to their demise. I convinced myself that this time it's going to be different. This time I'll document my journey and share it with the community. This project is about learning (marketing, ASO, growth hacking, ...) I have documented it quite well but never shared anything. My Antagonist Mind always pushes back with limiting narratives in the context of
When I wanted to write about getting the first paying customer, my mind said
On the other occasion, I thought about writing a post on getting the first "genuine" paying customer who followed the whole funnel and purchased the highest plan, but my mind said
Maybe a great cautionary tale would be about how I got scammed by a reputable (or not) Kickstarter agency, but then I thought
After 4 months of experiments, I changed the product positioning narrative and went from 2 DAU for the first 4 months to 100 DAU in 40 days. What did my mind say?
VoxRec is transcribing over 2.5M words per month!
Reaching $1000 MRR with profit!
I love my mind! But this has to stop and it's stopping today! My Antagonist Mind has to take the back seat and accept that it's OK to make mistakes, it's OK to fail, it's OK to say something stupid publicly, as long as it's OK to learn, get better and move forward. So, today, with you fellow Redditors and entrepreneurs, I celebrate the above milestones while also pushing through to be more comfortable sharing the journey and the learnings along the way! Per aspera ad astra! Do you have any tricks you use against your own mind to do the important things that you just don't feel comfortable doing? [link] [comments]  |
| To get better product feedback: Design a testing journey Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:59 AM PDT Sometimes, people reach out to me, ask to try and give feedback. I bet many of you experienced that too. The thing is when looking at a new website/project, I don't know what to do, or what feedback do they need. I'd try to give feedback on the design, the content, and try to find typos. Which is not enough. (I often hesitate to invite people with no interest at all to try the product, to filter out dirty data. I have some pretty weird experience) Design a testing journey for your usersIn case you need specific feedback, you should design a "journey". A guide leads users to go through and try all necessary features. For example: sign up -> activate account -> create x -> publish x. Then ask them about the experience, any unexpected bugs, any funny buttons, and so on. A while ago, a friend asked me to try and give feedback on his new website. With the spreadsheet, I knew what to do and was able to give specific feedback Try it next time you need feedback. P/s: He got funded +$1.1m last year, and I learned how to ask for better feedback [link] [comments]  |
| How to Get Initial Momentum to Not Get Pushed Out of the Market Early On? Posted: 05 Aug 2020 09:54 AM PDT This is something of a spin on the "they will steal my idea" post. Let's say you have an idea for a website/service and it's not entirely original but say a different angle than what's out there. So you create the website/service and expose it to the public; although at this point it's still in it's infancy stages/growing/hasn't gained its momentum yet. What stops someone who's bad at ideas but really good at marketing/advertising/PR from seeing your website/service copying the idea and then out marketing/advertising/PR'ing you? Well, I know nothing does. But since your website/service is so new, it doesn't have the brand awareness tied to that idea -- e.g. someone could copy Patreon to a tee but at this point they're popular enough that it doesn't matter. This is a problem I've been wondering how to tackle for a while with any idea that is basically providing a service or a twist on an existing service which doesn't have a large barrier to entry for copycats (e.g. not based on some proprietary software or expert knowledge or skill). There is certainly a period in the beginning where you need to on-board enough users and get enough popularity so you either won't care about the copy cats, since your brand is now virtually synonymous with the service/idea, or they won't be able to catch up in time before you grow big enough to not care about competition. Now you'd think it would be better to come out of the gates blazing, trying to shout your idea from the rooftops to build momentum, but if you're not that great at advertising/marketing all that yelling might just attract the attention of a few copycats and not enough actual customers. On the other hand, I suppose you could run the website more "low-key" -- e.g. relying more on organic traffic from people actually searching for the website/service on places like Google, and then hoping it grows that way -- then by the time it's really noticed it's already quite large. To summarize, when releasing a new website/service without a real barrier to entry, how do you best gain momentum, brand-awareness, and customers in the initial stages before someone who's a better hype-man can copy your website/service and out market you, thus becoming the "face" of your idea/service before you even had a chance? And especially when you do not have a large advertising budget. I suppose I should look at case studies from successful startups which aren't owned by pre-existing companies or backed by investors. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Aug 2020 03:55 AM PDT I have variety of water drop photos as well as artistic photos that would suit living rooms, offices, etc. [link] [comments]  |
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