PSA: Getting reviews from clients you don't know and for things that don't relate to your business? Probably the New Google Review scam.... small business |
- PSA: Getting reviews from clients you don't know and for things that don't relate to your business? Probably the New Google Review scam....
- google reviews not showing up
- How to buy Whiteclaw at wholesale prices?
- How to make customers choose you over other competitors?
- Any ideas on how to start a small business for a small investment?
- Accounting Software
- Gusto is refusing to implement payroll tax deferral for employees
- My friend is starting a small business, I'm working for her but I don't think she's ready. Looking for opinions.
- Question about transfer of business from father to son via Loan
- helpful apps for business
- Im 13 and I’d like to start my own small bakery business.
- Facebook Deativated My Ad Account Over 10 Times...
- Videographer’s- What To Charge for 2 Day Event?
- Need help with merch question!
- Can I use My LLC for two different reasons?
- Instagram Checkout
- Y’all were so amazing helpful, I need you all again!
- Looking for sites to sell my art as a student
- LLC Advice Sought
- Thoughts? Building an e-commerce website for my upcoming brand launch, and eco-responsibility is important.
- Question about Yelp for Biz Quotes
- Does anyone use Bench Accounting?
- Critique my site please!!
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:49 AM PDT My wife has a small business and very recently it started getting bombarded with 3 and 4 star reviews. Now most people would go "so what" and sadly that's been Google's somewhat defacto response, especially as you can only flag it as "no relevant to my business" and they simply just decline to remove it. But this was weird becuase in 10 years, the business only had about a dozen, albeit 5 star, reviews...then suddenly nearly that number again within weeks. Now the problem in my Wife's case was that every review prior has been 5 star and this deluge of 10 or so 3 and 4 star reviews, dropped her overall rating which is turn means less traffic. The problem with the reviews is that they were from "people" completely unknown to her, talked about goods and services the company doesn't even offer and talked about staff members who don't exist. The names weren't even close. She found out that is a rampant, but new form of scam by reputation management companies: They create fake reviewer accounts, then copy reviews on yelp and tipadvisor from other businesses and post them on google. The "reviewer" will typically only post 2 or 3 reviews in the space of days then completely stop. The point of this, is that the fake reviewer then posts one glowing 5* review for a certain real business, which has paid a dodgy reputation management company to get them 5* review. The reason is that a single glowing 5* review from a new account will get filtered, so all these random 1-4 star reviews are to give a air of legitimacy to these fake reviewer accounts so the 5* review sticks. We found this out as people are posting the same problem on the Google My Buinsess forum, and someone there was able to show us that of those 10 new reviews, ALL 10 OF THEM were copy and pastes from Yelp and Tripadvisor reviews from other businesses, but the fake "reviewers" all had one thing in common: each had a 5* review for a local HVAC company (not even the same industry as my Wife's company). She submitted these to Google and they are now in the process of removing them. So if you start getting reviews from people you don't know, talking about things that don't match your business, it's likely not a "mistake" from someone who just reviewed the wrong business, it's a new form of astroturfing from companies selling fake reviews. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:10 PM PDT I have 29 google review for my business but only 21 are shown as the total. If you count each individual review it has all 29 but the total on the main page of my review shows 21. Whats going on here? [link] [comments]  |
| How to buy Whiteclaw at wholesale prices? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:28 AM PDT Hey there r/smallbusiness, I only just joined this sub, but I was hoping some of you might be able to provide some insight. I'm interested in buying Whiteclaw at whole sale prices for my business. Would Whiteclaw itself be the entity I should try and buy from or is there a distributorship that sells White Claw and instead I should approach them? Additionally, I would want to be shipping it overseas so besides for any regulations and taxes associated with the country I am trying to ship to, what sort of process am I looking at from the US side? Thank you for any input! [link] [comments]  |
| How to make customers choose you over other competitors? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:26 AM PDT I know competition always exists but I'm trying to think of points on why a customer would choose me over someone else. I'm just a small guy trying to grow but I'm against more experienced and bigger companies. Just wondering what points I could use to attract customers to me and then pick me. [link] [comments]  |
| Any ideas on how to start a small business for a small investment? Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:15 AM PDT |
| Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:05 AM PDT Hello, I own a small business, I write down all my sales/expenses in excel and I reached a point that excel is not enough for me, Im looking to convert to an accounting software, non self hosted. I don't want any invoicing features or what not, I just want to write down my sales and expenses, free is preferred. thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Gusto is refusing to implement payroll tax deferral for employees Posted: 06 Sep 2020 03:02 AM PDT Gusto is refusing to allow employers to defer payroll taxes for employees. In my opinion this is ridiculous because many of us are already collecting those payroll taxes and then deferring them on our end until Dec 2021 and 2022 - I'm getting a break so why shouldn't my workers? That was kind of the whole point of the executive order about this topic to start with. I know of two other business owners using Gusto who have posted their disappointment or called Gusto out for this willful inaction on their blog post about the topic and Gusto removes the posts since it makes them look bad. Posting here to vent and to ask other people using Gusto to please contact them and ask them to implement this feature so that business owners can actually make their own decision. Gusto shouldn't be deciding which tax laws to follow and which to not follow - whether they like it or not it's the law and our employees should be allowed to take advantage of it if they understand the implications of deferral and if the employer is willing to take on the risk. Should mention that I do love Gusto apart from this issue. Not meant to promote or not promote the company - but more to make other small business owners aware of this issue before you go to run payroll this week and discover it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:05 PM PDT An ex-schoolmate (fashion school) wants to launch her brand and has started a business, asking me to work for her as a dressmaker. It's only me and her. She looks super hyped and told me she's investing a lot of money in this business. Everything started on July and she told me she wanted to start the shop/atelier in September. I started working at the end of August, knowing and telling her we wouldn't have made it in time for September. She denied. Now, we don't have a place where to work (we're using the lab at my grandparents' home but it can't be forever ofc) cause she doesn't look like she's actively looking for one; she told me she already had a communication agency from early August but she didn't and she contacted one few days ago; we don't have sewing machines and stuff, we're using mine; she's pretty much copying clothing from fast fashion stores but is pressuring me because she wants her clothing to be perfect, original and unique (it's her who design, my job is to only make patterns and see); she didn't make me a contract yet, despite what she told me in July; we're obvious not selling yet and we don't even have a FB page or whatever. My hourly pay is very low too (4€ per hour) since she's just starting the biz. I'm working, but I'm kinda apathetic. These last fours days I've got a bad flu with high fever and I haven't been able to work. She often texts me or calls me asking for help and tips and stuff, but during these days I was pretty dead and didn't answer much. She said that she doesn't like that because it looks like I'm losing interest. I didn't want to talk about it in that moment so I just said it was not true, when it's obviously true for the said reasons. Since she's a "friend", and I know the importance of dreams, I gave her my word to work for her long term in July, but she's very disorganized and I don't think she's respecting me enough. Should I walk away from her project (she can't go on without me, she said, because she doesn't know other trained dressmakers), after having explained my reasons, even if I gave her my word? [link] [comments]  |
| Question about transfer of business from father to son via Loan Posted: 05 Sep 2020 07:16 PM PDT Hello, I want to pick everyone's brain to see the what is the best way to proceed here. I have been working for my father's small business for over 10 years now. We have an avg annual revenue of ~$2.5mm & assets of ~$750k. He is beginning to take steps towards retirement and has offered to sell me the business. We have roughly $450k in outstanding inventory, so he's just asked for that amount and he will transfer 100% ownership to my name. My question is: is there anyway for the business entity, not me personally, to take out a loan that isn't an SBA loan that covers the $450k asking price? Essentially, I'd like to avoid taking out a personal loan to pay for his exit and transfer liability onto the company. We do not foresee having to close our doors, but if we do I'd like to avoid taking out the loan as an SBA loan as to avoid having to claim bankruptcy if things went awry. I'm not looking for any fraudulent to pursue this, only completely legal. Maybe it doesn't exist, but I figured it's worth asking. Thanks. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:45 PM PDT use this for payment & sales + order bumps • Convert Kit List-Building, digital product Back End sales • Leadpages- Landing Pages, custom trees, opt-ins, events pages & websites • Kajabi - Memberships, courses, & series • Acuity-Scheduling, forms, and consultation • Deadline Funnel- Creates Sense of Urgency & Drives Sales. [link] [comments]  |
| Im 13 and I’d like to start my own small bakery business. Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:28 PM PDT I'm 13 and I'd like to start selling bread and I'm from Washington State. Here you need a cottage food permit to sell home made food items But it costs $230 and I don't think my parents are willing to pay for that... Are there any ways I can get around that or any way to sell my baked goods without a permit or license cause I need the cottage food permit AND a food worker permit and those things need to be renewed regularly I think... thank you! [link] [comments]  |
| Facebook Deativated My Ad Account Over 10 Times... Posted: 05 Sep 2020 10:21 PM PDT Hey Reddit friends. I'm new here but have been in the entrepreneur space since 2014. I have a marketing agency and an online program with over 1000 members where people can partner with my agency. My biggest pet peeve with marketing is that I can't get over how annoying Facebook can be when it comes to disabling ad accounts. Especially with anything e-commerce related I've had my accounts shut down maybe a dozen times. So I pretty much figured out a script to trick the Facebook bots to reactivate business managers and ad accounts 99.99% of the time. What I realize is that it doesn't matter if you have spent $1000s of dollars or millions on ads. They usually don't care. Facebooks number one concern is to make sure they carry a positive reputation with their user base. It makes sense. If you don't have a user base, you don't have a platform that advertisers want to spend money on. This is especially frustrating for all of us who have had their ad account or business manager disabled or deactivated with literally no explanation of why. Especially when your business depends on ads to make money. If your ad account goes down, it can cost you a lot of money in lost sales. Facebook treats its user base better than the advertisers that pay them. The reality is that their users are more valued than our money. Their algorithm acts in ways that can't be explained sometimes. They do have their terms of service that can be seen here. But even when following them, I've have my account disabled. I've had my ad account drop sometimes in the middle of MASSIVE campaigns that cost me literally thousands in sales (ex. black Friday) Some of the reason your ad account could be disabled:
Before sending the script, you should do a couple of things to improve your chances of having your account enabled. First, take the Ad blueprint test. Next, view the actual ad policies again and again. There are times that I thought I did nothing wrong but then I went into detail on each one and noticed that there was something small that I messed up on. And finally, check through your ads to make sure you put working links in the CTA portion of the ad. Sometimes you might have mistyped the link, etc. So here is the theory behind the script. Facebook wants you to basically take all the blame, even if you did nothing wrong. You can scream and shout at them (like I did many times) and demand they activate your account because YOU DEPEND ON THIS INCOME. But they don't care. Here is what you have to do:
So how you use the script is when you go to appeal the decision copy and paste this script into the box instead of typing up some response about how sad you are etc. etc. Again, it is pretty much a known fact that Facebook uses only bots to review and respond. So let's use it to our advantage and frame our messages in a way that appeals to them. They track certain keywords, tone, and language to make decisions. So go ahead and use this script. Good luck out there! For anyone who prefers watching instead of reading, here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76ogFbvI7k&t TLDR: Facebook sucks sometimes, use this script to get your ad account back up. [link] [comments]  |
| Videographer’s- What To Charge for 2 Day Event? Posted: 05 Sep 2020 05:48 PM PDT I have a growing media business and have been tasked with filming a 2 day (8 hours each) event. This will be by far my biggest project undertaken. I just finished filming & editing a 3 hour event (condensed to 2 after editing) which took me an entire week to complete. So my question is this- for others that own their own media company, how do you go about your pricing? I don't want to overcharge, but I also don't want to undercharge for a task this big. I will more than likely have to hire a video editor to have both days complete before the next event (occurs monthly) A few details I've thought about • has to cover my monthly income for me to make it my main focus. • I'll need to recoup a % of what I'm about to spend on "new" equipment for this event (camera, mics, lens, tripod/video head) • I'll need to pay a video editor to make sure it's ready in time which ultimately limits my total profit margin, but could be worth it since I won't have to touch it at all. Any advice On pricing will help out. I have a rough idea of what I want to charge, but with it being a yr old business, They may not be in the position to do so just yet (won't know until I ask next week during a meeting) Bonus Q, I'm looking into the Canon C100 or C200. Any recommendations? I don't have any experience with either one of them, but leaning toward the C100 due to price & accessories included from what I've found. If there's a better option out there around the 3-6k price, I'm open to it, but have only shot canon since 2012. [link] [comments]  |
| Need help with merch question! Posted: 05 Sep 2020 09:08 PM PDT So I sell art and I am having such a hard time trying to figure out the best way to do this. I want to sell hoodies and T-shirt's but I am a very small business so I cannot just buy a random amount of stock/sizes? I've sold a few articles of clothing in the past but it was very limited. I did sell it all tho. For reference, I already have a website, using Squarespace. I've already gone through the trouble of designing it and gone through 2 domains and pay for it monthly, etc. I'm not really trying to set up a whole other red bubble type thing. I also like to be able to control the design and quality of products, and I in general just want everything together on MY site. I thought maybe I could do preorder, but I also hate the idea of having to have my customers wait 3 weeks plus to receive an item, and worry that preorder would discourage purchases (speaking from my personal experience-I like that instant gratification lol). So is there any other way to do it? Or am I being too stubborn? Also, I am planning on using printful, I've used it before and like what they have to offer. However would also like advice for future reference as I screen print shirts, and have to buy all the supplies to make it. I'm just lost as to how I go about figuring out the numbers/how much to produce for stock being such a small brand. I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this and any advice/opinions! Thanks :) [link] [comments]  |
| Can I use My LLC for two different reasons? Posted: 05 Sep 2020 09:04 PM PDT Hello, I own an LLC in the State of New Jersey, and I incorporared it with an EIN. It's main reason is to own assets (apps) and generate through ad revenue, and that was the purpose I filed it under. Now, I am trying to get ad monetization for a website. I don't want to admit it out loud, but this content is NSFW. It would work to generate ad revenue through Cost Per Click/Views/Impressions. Being NSFW, I fear it brings more attention to the site, and might be involved in legal suits comparatively more than a simple conpany that holds apps. Now, I can pay $500 to hold and create another company, but since I have not even made a penny, I don't feel it as reasonable. Maybe until I make $500 from the Website, I will. Anyway, is there any legal ramifications if I filed for the LLC to make money through App revenue, and then put add in a website that makes money through ad revenue? Keep in mind I already have a website for my apps/company. Thanks a ton! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 04:35 PM PDT Does any any one have Instagram Checkout ? I heard that all merchants in the US will have access Sep 1 - 8 Note: Instagram Shopping & Instagram Shopping are different, the shopping feature allows customers to go to your website and the checkout feature allows customers to buy directly on Instagram. [link] [comments]  |
| Y’all were so amazing helpful, I need you all again! Posted: 05 Sep 2020 07:04 PM PDT I posted the other day how I quit my job and needing a little guidance on what to do next. I decided to pay my website fee, halfway through a new blog post, and put some new designs of t-shirts on my site. Would love for you guys to take a look at it and let me know what you think. I suggest the desktop version as the mobile I'm still working on. I blog and YouTube about vestibular migraines, a condition I never heard of when I got diagnosed and it kinda blew up. My one video has almost 30k views on it. I figure it keeps me busy while I try to figure my life out. Also I wanted to add something funny to the story. I went and picked up my last checks from my employer. As soon as I got there the GM snagged me and brought me to his office where he asked me to stay 😂. My old manager and all of us had a meeting where I told him exactly how I felt. He didn't like that. Oh well.... at least I got to say my truth. [link] [comments]  |
| Looking for sites to sell my art as a student Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:09 PM PDT Hi, I'm an aspiring artist currently on my first semester of college(graphic design and animation) At the moment I'm looking for ways to sell my art as a student, I've got my attention on the site redbubble, but i want to know if there are more options similar to red bubble that you guys may have a better experience at, for those who don't know redbubble is basically a page where you upload your art, and they mass produce it onto products,(ie. mugs, t-shirt, stickers, etc.) If anyone has any suggestions please comment them, thanks in advancement. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:07 PM PDT Hey all, I'm looking for some advice on starting an LLC. I've been doing technology consulting for a couple years now as a freelance side job. My regular job is at a university so this is a related field. I've always just operated under my own name and I had one main client that gave me a 1099, so that worked out well. With the COVID crisis, that contract did not get renewed but I now am looking at the possibility of a new client who would want me to do a project that would be a bit more complex. In addition to that, my wife is looking to pursue a professional certificate that would allow her to get into a tech career. She is good at what she does and I think that she would excel on the tech side as well. Because of this, I'm thinking that it would be a good idea to start an LLC. My wife and I could be partners on it and we could run my current freelance business through it. If she starts getting business, it would be useful for her too… and hopefully as we build things up we can quit our day jobs and work for ourselves. What advice would you give us? Should we hire a service to register the LLC for us? Should we look at a particular state? What do we need to know? I'm literally on a fishing expedition here as I get started researching the topic - so any advice would be appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 02:15 PM PDT Are website CO2 calculators like this one legit? https://www.websitecarbon.com/ [link] [comments]  |
| Question about Yelp for Biz Quotes Posted: 05 Sep 2020 01:58 PM PDT Hey all, i've been searching for a bit and can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I was curious if there was a way to change the questions that yelp asks when getting quote requests from my business. I remember looking at quotes for a business not related to mine and them having such a great quote system. Mine doesn't even ask for a date for service (I'm a photo booth, so that's a pretty relevant question) Any help would be super appreciated, thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Does anyone use Bench Accounting? Posted: 05 Sep 2020 11:05 AM PDT I run a digital agency (Myself and a couple of 1099s). I'm not an accounting pro by any means but I'm looking to bring on a service and saw them. Can anyone speak on their experiences with Bench? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 05 Sep 2020 03:04 PM PDT Hi all, I've spent the last few days and evenings putting together my first word press website, IMO it's about 75-80% complete and I understand its an ever evolving process, if you have a few minutes of your day it would be great if you could go through my website assessing the layout, content, images and links etc. Let me tell you abit about me and the business, https://www.timetosellmycar.co.uk/ Currently I serve in the Royal Navy as an engineer and still have a couple of years left on my contract so this is very much a side project for me right now, with a view that when I leave the forces the fundamentals are already in place so I can rapidly grow the rest of the business. When I am in UK as a hobby/small business I enjoy trading cars, so see this as a good way of getting hold of good stock, giving it a once over then rectify any small defects the car has ie. car park dents/scratches or mechanical issues such as a brake pads needs replacing, give it a good valet/machine polish and wax, sell it on and hopefully make a few quid in the process. I've been doing this for a few years with reasonable success and now see having a website as a credibility step to take it further. My plan really changes as to what happens in my day job, obviously! I can see myself have my own forecourt in the next 3-5 years ideally 20-25 cars and most of the stock being sourced from this site among other methods. Currently, most of the profits go towards increasing the quality of stock I can source. I see this very much as an avenue for learning new skills and challenging myself in ways my current career couldn't i.e. building websites, marketing them and improving my sales techniques, which I really enjoy. This is why, so far I haven't outsourced or paid anyone to assist. As I get further down the line its likely that I will look to. Aspects I know need improving are: -Grammar and spelling (yes, somehow I passed all my English exams at school but it was almost 15 years ago now, thankfully I'm much better at maths and engineering than I am at spelling and grammar) this'll get sorted before I start marketing the site which I plan to be mostly via social media PPC, Google PPC and SEO. (also aspects I'd like to learn) again eager to hear your thoughts on good routes to take. -Having a landline number and address to seem more professional, looking into getting a virtual landline service activated soon. -Marketing terminology, buzz words, catchy slogans etc -The Logo currently is just a placeholder right now ( will probably outsource this to a creator on fiver or similar) as are several bits that are out of place on the site -I want to improve the media side of it i.e. more and better quality images, a youtube video embedded on the site introducing myself, guiding the customer through the journey and putting a name and face to start building trust. So please have a critique of it and feel free to be as blunt as you like. Tell me what you like and what you don't like and who know's, maybe you'll help mold the final version! As mentioned my expertise is in engineering but also I am hugely into health and fitness so in the spirit of sharing best advice if your looking to getting in the gym or maybe you wish to lose a few pounds/kilo's feel free to let me know and I'll be happy to point you in the right direction. [link] [comments]  |
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