Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - February 26, 2021 Entrepreneur |
- Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - February 26, 2021
- Started a LLC, want to approach my current employer about changing from employee to independent contractor and am looking for advice.
- Business idea: IT maintenance for small businesses
- Lack of authority with my employees
- thinking about buying car wash business
- An interview with Tomás Sabat, a co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Grakn, a knowledge graph database
- Redesigning our website after 5 years and don't really know where to start!
- I have a digital marketing agency
- Personal development application
- create a marketplace with webflow
- Do you know of a 'checklist for entrepreneurs'?
- Would having good metrics and strong focus test results = high chance of success?
- Buying strategic businesses
- Thinking about retailing wholesale fashion
- What's your experience and recommendation with online coaching?
- I want to start a second affiliate for my roofing company
- Using a freight forwarder from China, what trade terms from the supplier?
- What's exactly does success mean for you?
- Finding purpose after exiting your company
- What does this clause mean in a credit application?
- Professional, unique and affordable logo designer for your business
- Making a Marketplace but struggling to find a good logistics solutions.
- Business plan for an app (UK)
- Marketplace vendor verification
| Accomplishments and Lesson Learned Friday! - February 26, 2021 Posted: 26 Feb 2021 02:00 AM PST Please use this thread to share any accomplishment you care to gloat about, and some lessons learned. This is a weekly thread to encourage new members to participate, and post their accomplishments, as well as give the veterans an opportunity to inspire the up-and-comers. 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: 26 Feb 2021 07:10 AM PST Back story; Started as an independent contractor 25 years ago and then accepted a full time job with the company. Was given a base salary and a 3% commission. Company was then sold to a holding company where it was consolidated with three other similar companies and then sold again to the largest company in the industry. My position and pay structure remained the same. Three years ago they forced be to switch to a salary plus bonus where I had to meet a sales goal to get the bonus. Since then I have met my company set sales goal and my income has been about the same under the bonus plan as it was under my old commission plan. Until now. We got a new CEO and COO last year. My new sales goal was increased 50% for 2021. My sales rise and fall with the federal budget. When on commission, my yearly earnings swung upward or downward by more than $100k. I had a small base so I wasn't a financial burden in years when there were budget cuts and sequestration. I will not meet this 2021 goal without a miracle. Therefore I will not be getting a bonus this year. My bonus is about 40% of my income. So I want to approach my employer about going from employee back to independent contractor like I was 25 years ago with a straight 5% commission plan paid quarterly. I run the government sales for the company and have been responsible for negotiating our contracts with GSA and dozens of other government agencies. It's a highly specialized sales program and no one in the company has the knowledge or experience to step in were I to leave. I know everyone is replaceable but they would have to find someone who has the same skill sets and industry experience. That person doesn't exist. They would have to either hire a person that knows government contracting and then train them on our thousands of products and corporate policies, or hire from our industry and then train them on government contracting law, rules and regulations. Either would take a year or longer. In 25 years with the company, I have booked over $125M in government sales. I generate the leads, quote the customer, and close the sale. All in accordance with the federal rules and regulations. We have about 1k employees and my sales usually represent about 2% of the company's total, although there have been years when it's been as high as 5%. I have already formed a LLC and got my new company certified as a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business. My employer is a large business. My new company would have a huge contracting advantage as there are mandatory set asides for my business classification. So I'm looking for advice. The company only has dealers and employees. They got rid of all their independent contractors a few years ago, but we have new management since then. I want to do the same job I'm doing now but representing them as a contractor, then also sell their products through my new company with a 10% margin when the project is set aside for small businesses. I do not know how they will handle my request. How should I approach them? Do I lay all my cards out on the table up front or hold back information on my new company? Do I present my proposal to the VP of sales, HR or the CEO? I have drafted a PowerPoint presentation with what I want to do and have made a business plan outlining my goals. They know my abilities and I am in good standing with them, but I'm concerned that if I don't present this in the best way, after seeing I have set up a LLC, they may terminate me on the spot. Any advice from people who have made this type of transition would be greatly appreciated. [link] [comments]  |
| Business idea: IT maintenance for small businesses Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:53 PM PST Hey guys, I've been working in IT for a few years and I see a lot of small businesses who can't afford to have a permanent IT department asking for tech service: mostly problem fixing, cleaning drives, antivirus installing, the things an IT department does usually. The thing is people mostly hire a tech guy AFTER these events ocurr (virus infecting, webpages not working, etc) so they lose money, and time while their websites are down or not operating efficiently. IT companies and freelancers also charge a lot of money to do these simple things. My idea is to create a small company hiring a bunch of IT guys who can work from home for a monthly salary, and basically provide a permanent IT service to those small businesses. I would charge a monthly fee and each company would have one tech guy available to them at all times that does all the optimizing, cleaning, antivirus managing,PREVENTIVELY, just like an IT deparment from a big company making sure everything runs smoothly. I'm not sure how many businesses can one tech guy handle at the time (we are talking about small businesses mostly, so it shouldn't be too hard). The IT guys get plenty of work and they don't have to freelance while businesses save time and money by sort of having an IT deparment without all the costs that having an actual IT department would demand. What do you guys think? Is there anything like this where you guys live? Is it Viable? It's just an idea for now, but I've done some numbers and I think there's a market here (I'm from a Latin american country) for this kind of service. Any criticisims and ideas are welcome. Cheers! [link] [comments]  |
| Lack of authority with my employees Posted: 26 Feb 2021 02:34 AM PST Does anyone has this problem that employees don't fully respect you? That is it hard to make them working and performing on daily tasks? Have you hired organizational psychologist / management consultant in order to get more authority and learn how to communicate with your employees to make them working? [link] [comments]  |
| thinking about buying car wash business Posted: 25 Feb 2021 07:43 PM PST Hi i would like to know if anyone owns a car wash business or knows anyone. How is this business and what are the profit margins like. what were some of the things you liked and disliked about that business? Can you make a decent living running that business? i am looking into an 8 car bay car wash business thinking about purchasing it. [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 25 Feb 2021 09:53 PM PST We are back with 11th video, and the third interview with an open source startup.We talk to Tomás Sabat, Co-Founder and the COO at Grakn Labs. Grakn builds a database to organise complex networks of data and make it queryable. The company has raised over £6M from Animatrix, Beacon Capital, Newable Ventures, Chicago Booth Angels, and others. [link] [comments]  |
| Redesigning our website after 5 years and don't really know where to start! Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:58 PM PST www.floafers.com is the website and we need a COMPLETE revamping of our website. Being tasked with getting this implemented I figured this was the best place to start with trying to get some direction on where to start, and maybe get some critical feedback. If this isn't the right place I apologize! [link] [comments]  |
| I have a digital marketing agency Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:02 AM PST Basically, I'm looking for people who can help me to get clients. It'd be comission based. Can anyone help me to find a right place for that? [link] [comments]  |
| Personal development application Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:38 PM PST Hello everyone! I am a postgrad student at UCL, who has recently started a company to help (mainly) young individuals learn new and important real-life skills – which most universities fail to provide. This is done by creating individual courses through an all-in-one platform to boost personal development that conveniently stores and tracks all learnings and progress. Could you people perhaps give some feedback on the landing page - or perhaps subscribe for free beta access if you find it interesting! Landing page and free early beta access on signing up: https://www.thekeepingupproject.com/ Alright, so what is our mission? Simple. We want to help young people accelerate their development and become the best version of themselves! We do this by offering courses in for instance:
Perhaps this can be interesting for you. If you have a question, please DM me. I would love to come in contact with you all! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thekeepingupproject/ Twitter: Facebook: [link] [comments]  |
| create a marketplace with webflow Posted: 26 Feb 2021 01:29 PM PST Learn how to build a marketplace with Webflow with nocoded. https://www.nocoded.co.uk/courses/marketplace-pro #marketplaces #webdesigncompany #nocodelowcode #webdevelopment #startingup [link] [comments]  |
| Do you know of a 'checklist for entrepreneurs'? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:37 AM PST Other high-skilled jobs such as surgeons and pilots have checklists to guide them through the process. Even for highly creative, uncertain work, checklists can keep the basics in check. & I mean, if any group has already created a tool to make their lives easier, it's going to be entrepreneurs! However, the only search results I'm getting are a range of useless listicles with items such as 'learning is essential' and 'it's all about the numbers'. I'm talking about a Surgeon's checklist, with actionable items and resources to find out more for each part of the process. I'd like to know (ideally) if you know of one that already exists. If not, would you be interested in one? TechNation's 95-part 'mini MBA' is really useful as a breakdown of the knowledge an entrepreneur needs to have, but not necessarily the process they need to follow. [link] [comments]  |
| Would having good metrics and strong focus test results = high chance of success? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:12 PM PST If you have strong marketing roi, good product focus testing results and good profit margins are these stats (among other stats) enough to show that a company will be successful? Or is it more about absolutely hitting the Marketing, and Product out of the park? [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:09 PM PST I am interested in buying strategic complementing businesses to help build an existing business of mine. For instance, I'd like to acquire some smaller distribution companies in my niche but retain local staff and management. Has anyone here done anything similar? Did you find it was worth it? [link] [comments]  |
| Thinking about retailing wholesale fashion Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:58 AM PST Hi Over the last couple of days, I've been dabbling about going into wholesale retailing. I've stumbled across multiple sites that have sparked my interest, however especially one in particular; clothing-wholesale.net. Due to their minimum orders being 500 Euros, I've been looking into whether they're legit or not, which is honestly quite a tough job for me. Has anyone had any prior experience in this industry and perhaps with the site? I just want to make sure before I put in an investment. Cheers Bazigas [link] [comments]  |
| What's your experience and recommendation with online coaching? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 11:40 AM PST I'm looking for those with experience using a coach, to share what they've learned or found valuable, who they recommend, and why (no friends/family recommendations please). [link] [comments]  |
| I want to start a second affiliate for my roofing company Posted: 26 Feb 2021 10:52 AM PST I started my company two years ago (January first 2019). We specialize in installing or replacing roof windows, either slope or flat. (Velux is the main brand we work with) Business is going good. I hired my first employee in April last year. Second was in August, third in January and monday next week my forth. Then a fifth end of March. I still have to find the sixth employee and I am looking for somebody who will do the paperwork and a salesperson, because I'm doing all that by myself now. The plan is to start another affiliate in a nearby city in January 2022, but I don't really know how to start. I'm just a roofer who is good at his desk and in sales, but business wise, it's a bit above my league. I'm used to follow my order book. I hire when there is enough work, so I think I will look for a salesperson in that other city first or maybe doing those sales myself first and see where things go from there. Should I start another LLC or keep finances under the same roof to keep my financial power towards banks and big partners? Is somebody experienced in the matter? All advice is welcome! (Sorry for my bad English. It's not my native language.) [link] [comments]  |
| Using a freight forwarder from China, what trade terms from the supplier? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 09:32 AM PST I'm ordering a new product that is fairly large. All of my Alibaba orders in the past have been small, but these will need to go on a pallet once I start moving up in quantity. Starting off with a sample so I can see if a pallet would clear customs (I'm ordering aftermarket car parts, there are a lot of laws on trademark infringement and DOT certifications). A single box or two won't draw attention and the value is under $800 so I'm pretty sure it will slide right through even if it turns out the supplier wasn't as honest about their product as they could have been, but I'd rather not have an entire pallet of illegal car parts sitting in customs if it turns out that the product doesn't match the description. Supplier does not offer DDP terms or I would just do that for the sample, plus I want to get a feel for using a FF before I start putting 5 figures on the line with no clue what I'm doing. My freight forwarder has quoted me for DDP delivery to my warehouse once I get the items to their location in China. I'm a bit confused on trade terms though. I'm guessing I need to be paying for either EXW or FOB from the supplier. It seems to me that FOB would be overkill, as I'm already paying my freight forwarder to export the item and get it through the border in the US, but then I don't know how exactly the process of going from the supplier to the FF works and everyone I've talked to is being rather vague. Or I'm just stupid. Serious possibility of that. So, TLDR, when I'm ordering from a supplier and using a freight forwarder, what terms to I request from the supplier to ensure that everything gets from them, to the freight forwarder, to me as quickly and as cheaply as possible with no hangups? [link] [comments]  |
| What's exactly does success mean for you? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 12:55 AM PST Hey! I know it's different for everybody but I just wanna know ppl's thoughts on this. [link] [comments]  |
| Finding purpose after exiting your company Posted: 26 Feb 2021 03:44 AM PST I exited my company over a year ago, and was surprised to find that it didn't actually solve all my problems. Instead of all my friends lifting me up on their collective shoulders while my competitors looked on in envy, it was…complicated. While a celebration in one sense, exiting a company also began one of the hardest years of my life. I've learned I'm not alone in this experience, but I never see people talk about it. So for those privileged few who have climbed their mountain, here's what I've learned. How purpose changes after an exitSigning the paper felt like I'd been punched in the gut, which surprised me. The new CEO had been in-chair for going on two months, both of us well into settling into our respective roles, so signing the paperwork should have been a mere formality. But it wasn't. The moment I signed that resolution, officially removing myself from the CEO seat, I realized I had no idea who I was or what I was doing in the world. For the last decade, I saw in hindsight, it had all been so clear. I was the founder & CEO of my company, and my job, what I woke up and did every day, was whatever my company needed to hit the next milestone. But that wasn't my job anymore. And sitting there in that boardroom, I realized I had no idea who I was anymore, or what to do with my life. "You must give up the life you planned in order to have the life that is waiting for you." — Joseph Campbell —— For a founder, an exit is the culmination of the journey. The final success in a string of them; the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We chase the exit unquestioningly, so focused on attaining our goals that we never stop to consider what might come after. Whether a $100m win or a fire sale, a celebration or a failure, what nobody tells you about an exit is that the leaving is its own special kind of challenge. Special, and yet surprisingly consistent from person to person. Here's the typical process:
How we deal with those question marksSome founders confronted with this vacuum of purpose, they jump immediately into the next thing (usually one which will leave an even bigger dent in the Universe). If you exit your consumer app and can find purpose in a yet bigger consumer app, bless your heart, please run with everything you've got. Come read this article after your next exit. If you find yourself struggling, on the other hand, know that you're not alone. Many founders struggle with step 3. I did. I experimented, jumping into each project with the same gusto, but I kept finding that I couldn't recapture that sense of unquestioning purpose. Try as I might, it just felt different. What's going onThe salient issue, I learned, is that we evolve. As we mature our mind processes the world through an increasingly complex lens (more about this here), and part of that increase in complexity is a change in the way we construct meaning. Usually this is a gradual process, but for founders exiting companies, life can change in an instant. Initially, we find purpose "out there." We select our life from a menu of available options (maybe: "founder"), and with that life comes a built-in purpose (maybe: "freedom" "success" "impact", or similar). Whatever life we choose, the purpose accompanying that life is an inherited, cultural one. Even though it feels profoundly important, it's not ours. It's society's; we're just trying it on. If we're lucky enough to succeed in our purpose, which for a founder is often an exit, the surprising let down of that success calls into question the whole operation. We have a sense, for the first time, that the pot of gold at the end of the next exit/rainbow might be a similar disappointment, but we're not sure where else to look. So we drift, interested in stuff, tinkering, but never quite able to embody a cause like we did the first time. Nothing is wrong with us. In fact, I've come to learn that what's happened is we've won our freedom. But freedom, when tasted for the first time, is disorienting as hell. "The purpose of life is a life of purpose." -- Robert Byrne The shift in how purpose is constructed When we step outside of the framework of meaning that we inherit from society, when we see it as separate from us, its opinions (at least potentially) different from our opinions, for the first time we are free of it. We can live beyond the system of values that we inherit as young adults, and determine for ourselves the purpose of our lives. But with this ultimate freedom, comes the ultimate responsibility. We're responsible for what our lives mean, and nothing anyone else says, nobody's opinions or recommendations, whether we're lauded or shunned by society, none of that is a viable crutch any longer. It's on us. The implication is that we can no longer find purpose out there, as we once did. That process is broken, because anything we find will, by definition, not be ours, and so will ring hollow. We can no longer accept society's definition of success as our own, so we can't find purpose anywhere, no matter how hard we look. This doesn't mean we can't have purpose. It means the process of getting to purpose has changed. We can't find it anymore. We must create it. As Irish poet David Whyte beautifully phrased it: "Our work is to make ourselves visible in the world. This is the soul's individual journey, and the soul would much rather fail at its own life than succeed at someone else's." Incidentally, David Whyte's work deals with this in profound ways for the creatively inclined. If that's you, see footnotes. If you're more of a concrete thinker, here are the two processes laid out next to each other to illustrate contrast. Finding Purpose:
Creating Purpose
Once you've seen through the game, purpose (and for that matter, meaning itself) is no longer an exercise in discovery. It's self-expression. Meaning is derived from that act of self-expression itself, from the meaning you imbue to it alone and not any objective, socially recognized measurement. And whether you solve the problem you set out to is irrelevant. Success is in your dedicated attempt (this last one can be hard for the achievement-oriented among us to grasp, so consider that Dr. King didn't end racial discrimination. He objectively failed at what he set out to achieve. And yet, we feel his impact in our souls. This is the power of the right attempt). The question I asked myself throughout my journey became: "How can I, Ryan Vaughn, be the most useful to the world and its inhabitants?" "The Dead Sea in the Middle East receives fresh water, but it has no outlet, so it doesn't pass the water out. It receives beautiful water from the rivers, and the water goes dank. I mean, it just goes bad. And that's why it is the Dead Sea. It receives and does not give. And we are made much that way, too. I mean, we receive and we must give. In the end generosity is the best way of becoming more, more, and more joyful." -- Bishop Desmond Tutu The power of community during the "???"It took me a year to figure this out. A year of searching, evaluating, meditating, hanging out with monks, and trying on new purposes, each of them feeling like they should be enough, but none of them feeling quite right. This is normal, and an important part of the process. Reaching the goals at the far end of your imagination is supposed to change you. As Pema Chodron says, it's best to "lean into the sharp points," and let them do their work. For most of that year I felt like I was the only person in the Universe going through this. And then I reached out to a few friends in my tiny little town who had recently exited companies. Nobody had ever mentioned anything about this, but when I asked 60% of them were struggling with something similar. Most of them had never talked about it to anyone. With a few emails I set up what I called "Founder's Dinner," which was a forum for a dozen exited founders to talk openly about post-exit life in a safe space. This series of dinners transformed 10-year business contacts into deep friends who support me and my Work to this day. Everyone's journey was different, I learned, but each one taught me something. And processing my own journey with a community was so much more effective than doing so between my ears. If you find yourself going through this — buying fancy cars, traveling off into the woods to take psychedelics or however you're managing — I encourage you to reach out to folks in a similar situation, even if it seems like they've already figured everything out. Exited founders don't talk about this much (you're supposed to be so happy that it feels weird talking about being sad), but it's very common. And in my year of searching, the community of those Founder's Dinners I created was the best force multiplier I found. The more one forgets himself—by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love—the more human he is and the more he actualizes himself. What is called self-actualization is not an attainable aim at all, for the simple reason that the more one would strive for it, the more he would miss it. In other words, self-actualization is possible only as a side-effect of self-transcendence. -- Viktor Frankl Not a cry for help. An acknowledgement of pain.The worldly rewards can be substantial, so no exited founder is looking for people to feel sorry for them as they figure out how to live post-exit. I am an incredibly privileged person speaking to incredibly privileged people, most of whom know just how privileged they are. Nevertheless, along with the rewards, it is worth being honest about the existential vacuum of purpose that often follows an exit, if only to help folks navigate the transition more quickly and get on with doing the work that they're meant to do. Ryan Vaughn's purpose (2021): To help founders grow into extraordinary leaders and build life-giving companies, by becoming the fullest version of themselves. [link] [comments]  |
| What does this clause mean in a credit application? Posted: 26 Feb 2021 05:57 AM PST I'm reading through a contract for a credit application and am having a difficult time understanding what the below clause means. It is a personal guarantee clause that I will repay any payment personally that my company has to make for credit that is extended to my company. What confuses me is that it says that I "waive all notice of acceptance of this guarantee". The undersigned guarantor or guarantors each hereby expressly waive all notice of acceptance of this guarantee notice of extension of credit to applicant, presentment, and demand for payment on applicant, protest and notice to undersigned guarantor or guarantors of dishonor or default by applicant or with respect to any security held by the Company, extension of time of payment to applicant, acceptance of partial payment or partial compromise, all other notices to which the undersigned guarantor or guarantors might otherwise be entitled and demand for payment under this guarantee. Any revocation of this guarantee shall be in writing and delivered to the Company. [link] [comments]  |
| Professional, unique and affordable logo designer for your business Posted: 26 Feb 2021 05:33 AM PST Hey, I'm a professional graphic designer with the experience of 5 years with a long list of satisfied customers. A business logo appears on all of the company letterhead, communications, marketing and advertising pieces of a business as a graphic representation or symbol for the company. Essentially, the logo is typically the first thing a reader may notice before reading the text, and as a graphic designer with a good experience on logo design I'm willing offer my services to anyone intersted! I will provide the following : • High quality and unique design • Fast delivery time • Very fast replies • 24/7 availability • Friendly communication • Complete satisfaction Please consider hiring me, you definitely won't regret it Feel free to get in touch if you have any questions My previous works : http://artopediadesign.com My instagram : https://www.instagram.com/_arto.pedia_/ My discord : Artopedia#7396 Delivered files would include PNG, AI, PSD, EPS and SVG. Note : I hope it's okay to post here I'm just trying to reach out to anyone intersted since entrepreneurs may be in need of a someone who can help out. Thanks for your interest! [link] [comments]  |
| Making a Marketplace but struggling to find a good logistics solutions. Posted: 25 Feb 2021 03:31 PM PST Hello guys! I'm planning to open an online marketplace where people can sell their own products but I don't know how to handle the shipping process. For example Amazon, eBay before checking out it will tell you the price of the shipping. How I can do that as well? Thank you in advance! [link] [comments]  |
| Posted: 26 Feb 2021 04:53 AM PST Hi everyone! I am currently in the validation stage of an app I am looking to build (a rental marketplace of some sort). I am a non-technical founder but have some technical knowledge and will be able to build a MVP using a no-code builder. My question is: I am writing a business plan to help with execution etc and it's also something I want to do so I know what rough costs are from the start. What costs do I need to consider in my business plan? Where will I find such estimates? Is it only by talking to these people (developers, designers) directly? I ask this as I tried researching costs for building an app and have had diff. values come up - same for a business logo. Of course, as mentioned I am still in the validation stage (have a landing page, building a community who I can hopefully engage and use for user research to build a MVP web platform to begin with), but just want to get to grips with potential costs. Any useful insight you may have will be useful - thanks! [link] [comments]  |
| Marketplace vendor verification Posted: 26 Feb 2021 04:45 AM PST Hello guys, Im working on creating marketplace but still struggling with vendor verification process such as ID photo verification. I checked online there's companies will collaborate and do it but it's costly. They take about $1.5 per verification and that's bit expensive because I'm just starting to build the marketplace. Is there's a better way to do it even manually will be fine. Thank you! [link] [comments]  |
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