Left our 9-5s, invented a product, hit our goal on Kickstarter in under two hours and now are at over $150,000 in 12 days. Here’s what we did Entrepreneur |
- Left our 9-5s, invented a product, hit our goal on Kickstarter in under two hours and now are at over $150,000 in 12 days. Here’s what we did
- Guide: How I perfected my cold calling, and it might help you too
- I always feel like I won't be able to make it because of huge competition.
- First Company - subscription based
- 6 months into taking my side business full time and we've doubled our revenue!
- How did you make your first $10,000?
- Planning on buying an heavily discounted RV And rent it out
- Would you consider using another online platform similar to this subreddit that allows users to share ideas, network, meet cofounders, and provides tools to help start a business?
- Recommend me an Indian SEO Agency!
- Solopreneur started a few years ago with $500 self investment and now over $1mil ARR. Any tips for scaling? What new hires or areas should I focus on for maximum growth and return on investment?
- New community where entrepreneurs work on each other’s projects free of charge.
- How to avoid shitty, scammy digital marketing and social media agencies
- Small business threatened by delta variant
- I built a missed connections website for Los Angeles
- I have a challenge for myself to help you for FREE
- How do I get bookkeeping experience?
- How does taxes work when selling on Facebook Marketplace as a 16 yo?
- We went from idea to MVP in less than a week, so excited to have finally launched my startup!
- Mental health application to fight anxiety and depression
- Business Learning Opportunity for Young Entrepreneurs (13-18 year olds)
- About to launch my side hustle, would appreciate feedback and advice.
- Options for cash and asset strapped startup?
- Manufacturers lists/directory
Posted: 03 Jul 2021 06:56 AM PDT We have been building in public since the beginning so I'm sharing this while it's still happening. Our goal has always been to build something long term, but Kickstarter was the choice for us that made the most sense to start. Still have 21 days to go in the campaign and then the real work - production, shipping, fulfilment - begins. But after a successful launch and start to the business, thought I'd share some takeaways with this sub. Bit more backstory: my partner and I both left our 9-5s in February to focus on our business full time. We make portable blackout curtains — originally created this for his insomnia because nothing else worked and quickly realized it could be helpful to a lot of people (troubled sleepers, travellers, night shift workers, new parents, people renting their apartments). Why Kickstarter? We chose to start on Kickstarter because we have a large MOQ and the platform would allow us to place our first order(s) without giving up a significant percentage of the company to fund inventory or taking out gigantic personally guaranteed loans. We spoke to so many helpful Kickstarter entrepreneurs who've been through this before, some who've raised millions on the platform and continue using it to this day, others who launched one product there to start their business and have since shifted to full time ecommerce. Responses on "would I do this again" were mixed - lots of good and bad with Kickstarter as anything else. We heard many times over to be really careful with margins as there are many, many hidden fees and horror stories of people raising over $1 million and being underwater after. It made sense for us and thankfully we were able to use a spreadsheet created by an 8X+ Kickstarter founder to feel comfortable on margins. We've had our product ready for a while, launched June 22nd and started prelaunch work in April. Prelaunch Without question the reason we were able to have a successful launch was because of all the work that went into our prelaunch. We've been building in public since the beginning and that helped generate some momentum within our personal networks, but we tried to be as comprehensive as possible to increase the likelihood our launch was a success. Here are the other things we did:
Launch
In short, it's been a ton of work but totally worthwhile. We've learned a ton and will continue doing as much as we can to finish the campaign and roll into production smoothly. Some *very* stressful moments (including needing to delay the campaign launch under 24 hours before going live b/c of a bot error on Facebook ads that disabled our whole account) but we've gotten through them and keep marching on. Lots of Kickstarter-specific learnings as well, will probably do another write up on those in the future. Entrepreneurship is fun :) edit because I forgot to say what our product actually was and have added that [link] [comments] |
Guide: How I perfected my cold calling, and it might help you too Posted: 03 Jul 2021 04:13 AM PDT Hi all! Hope you're crushing it in July; I know it's a tough time of year. I created a post on how I cold call, and I'd love to hear your tips and tricks too. I understand some may disagree with my methodology, and that's okay. Let's keep it civilized. Make sure you at least read conclusion and TL;DR if you're busy. Cold calling is a unique weapon in the salesperson's arsenal. I send emails, texts, Linked In messages, and heck, even hand-written letters, but nothing compares to picking up the phone and making the call. It's like bringing a bazooka to a knife fight. Here's my take on a perfect B2B cold calling script which you might find helpful too. Alternative types of communication are all one-way. Through mediums such as emails, texts, social messages and letters, it doesn't require the other person to "buy-in" to the communication. Consider that for a moment. Those contact efforts are easy for the prospect to put-off, save for later, ignore and forget. They definitely serve a purpose, and I believe a great salesperson uses all forms of communication available, but nothing will replace a phone call. Phone calls are a personal, two-way, real-time interaction. I've achieved more in a single call than weeks of touches via other channels. Honestly, while prospects seem "annoyed" at cold callers, they also can appreciate the effort of a human wanting to get in contact with them, especially after multiple attempts. But there is a right way and a wrong way to execute a cold call, and it can be confronting for both the salesman and the prospect. Immediately, people raise their defences when they receive an unsolicited call, so we need to disarm them and instil trust. I'll explain the theories behind each section of my call so you can tailor it to your industry and company. I've conducted a lot of research on how to perfect cold calling, because it's arguably the most important call in your relationship with a prospect. It's the "first date" of the business world, so you'd best impress! The Cold Calling Open/Introduction Hi John, this is Michael from XYZ, have I caught you at a bad time? Let's break this down.
The Reason The reason I'm calling is because we're helping the big law firms in Adelaide with their property valuation needs, and I thought you might be interested too. Then stop talking and wait.
Qualify The aim here is to "investigate" by asking questions. While my hypothesis is that we can help them, I want to make sure they're a good fit for us. There's nothing worse than a bad customer, or wasting time with someone that the product/service isn't going to suit. Using a date as a scenario, imagine if you just talked the whole time about how good you are. Personally, that would be an awkward situation. The typical salesperson (myself included) is a type-A, extroverted personality who enjoys conversing, talking and having a laugh. Our job is to ask questions, and then shut up, listen, and absorb what they tell us. If they say they're interested Great. If I could ask you real-quick, how many family law clients do you have at the moment? On average, what percentage of those would need their property valued? Who do you typically use for property valuations? What's your experience been like with those firms? Sounds like we might be a good fit for you. Lawyers find us useful because we service a bigger area across the state, and we also value all types of property. So we're able to save you time because we're more of a one-stop-shop. If they say they're not interested Oh, that's okay, I understand. If I could ask you real-quick, is it a timing issue or something else? If it's a timing issue, organise a time then and there of when they'll be able to give their full attention, and lock them into a meeting via email calendar. If it's something else, you should have your objection/complaint responses ready. Then, depending on how that goes, you can re-direct to the questions from the "interested" category. Closing on a Meeting I'd love to meet with you and learn more about what you do, are you free sometime next week? Preferably Monday morning or Tuesday afternoon if that suits you?
A better way to make sales scripts While scripts can boost your sales, conversations aren't linear. It can be difficult to work off of scripts on paper, because when you ask the prospect questions, the responses can vary. This is why I created SalesWolf.io, so no matter what direction the conversation takes, I can maintain control and work toward the goal. Conclusion To be a cold calling master, you need to be enthusiastic and deliberate in the words you speak, while engaging the prospect in a two-way communication. Being short, sharp and shiny is effective; don't beat around the bush. Keep the goal of the call in mind and never forget: people do business with people! TL;DR - simplicity, deliberate, short, sharp, shiny, script, questions, listen, close meeting and be an empathetic person If you want to make your '5 hour work week dream' a reality then check out my friend's reddit post. Let me know if you have any questions! [link] [comments] |
I always feel like I won't be able to make it because of huge competition. Posted: 03 Jul 2021 06:47 AM PDT There are so so so many people with so many business. For example if i decide to sell phone case cover online i feel like there are already so many people doing it and i will be hard to recognize. There is so much competition who will recognize me?. Or do youtube it will be hard because so many people are on youtube. Or sell cloths. Do yall felt that way on some level? What mindset did you had to change it? Because of this i gave up my music selling business because the market became so so soooo saturated. It was really hard to market and be recogize [link] [comments] |
First Company - subscription based Posted: 03 Jul 2021 01:40 PM PDT Hi everyone First time posting on here , I am based out of Ontario and me and a couple friends have been working on a subscription based baking kit company. we have a finished website and product - now I am having trouble on where to go from here we don't have much capital and we have tried instagram ads (very basic) and haven't recieved any orders yet. I plan to reach out and run promotions through affiliate links I am just looking for any tips or any direction that anyone can recommend. Also I would like any feedback where my website can be improved ! www.canadabakes.ca thanks in advanced! [link] [comments] |
6 months into taking my side business full time and we've doubled our revenue! Posted: 03 Jul 2021 01:39 PM PDT In early January 2021, I decided to make my app, Lumia Stream, my full time job. This is an app that I've been working on on the side for two years prior to this decision. It was an extremely hard choice because I was at the top of my field making more than what Lumia was bringing in, but I loved the app that I was making. I really believed that if I invested a bit more time into it, it would be much bigger than what it is and so I took the plunge into the world of entrepreneurs. 6 months later, we've hired 3 other people and have grown both our user base and subscribers 2x. The best part about all of this is that we still haven't done even a tiny bit of marketing and haven't taken any investor money yet. I'm wondering if it's worth it to start talking to investors and start digging into hiring a marketing firm to push the business even further. Should I be open to talking to investors at this point or should I wait until the valuation of the company is at it's full potential [link] [comments] |
How did you make your first $10,000? Posted: 03 Jul 2021 02:41 AM PDT I'd like to hear some stories on how you guys made your first 10k, 50k, and 100k. Whichever amount applies to you, how did you do it? What's your story? [link] [comments] |
Planning on buying an heavily discounted RV And rent it out Posted: 03 Jul 2021 09:48 AM PDT Purchase price after everything is $115K and lowest I've seen listed is around $140k comparable model. Rent it out on rvshare which I estimate will net $20-30K a year. Sell it in 3 years for $100k. Seems like a decent roi but I'm not sure how much depreciation it will take. I know these things depreciate alot but since I'm purchasing at such a discount it seems worth the investment. Any thoughts or anyone experienced with rvshare/Airbnb/outdoorsy. Feedback is appreciated. [link] [comments] |
Posted: 03 Jul 2021 11:16 AM PDT |
Recommend me an Indian SEO Agency! Posted: 03 Jul 2021 08:41 AM PDT As above. I would like to spend no more than $500 per month as we are just starting! Looking for referrals from other entrepreneurs, not interested in being directly contacted by SEO experts. I want to hear who you've used to succeed Thank you guys! [link] [comments] |
Posted: 03 Jul 2021 01:22 PM PDT Running on about 35% gross profit margin with no debt from a mix of B2B (brick & mortar) and B2C e-commerce. Looking to scale my team and sales. What new hire or areas should I focus on immediately to get the best return when scaling out of a solopreneur? Any other tips for scaling? The Market I'm in is very large with a high ceiling. Since I started with very little and have no investors I'm afraid of spending in the wrong areas while scaling and burning through runway/cash. Appreciate some detailed advice, thank you! [link] [comments] |
New community where entrepreneurs work on each other’s projects free of charge. Posted: 03 Jul 2021 12:56 PM PDT Hey folks! I'm here to share Project Hub, a collaborative community where people offer their services and skills at no cost. The idea is to collectively work toward making each other's dreams come true! We already have a number of professionals in fields like tech, business, art, law and more! We're based in Discord. You'll have to establish that you have something to contribute to gain access, but once you're in you can just @ a group you need help from! And of course, if you just want projects to work on, you're welcome to join and contribute. [link] [comments] |
How to avoid shitty, scammy digital marketing and social media agencies Posted: 03 Jul 2021 12:27 PM PDT Like the title says - this is probably the best info gleaned from years working in agencies, at iHeartRadio selling radio and digital, and working for clients doing media buying and strategy. Let me know if you have any questions! [link] [comments] |
Small business threatened by delta variant Posted: 02 Jul 2021 11:17 PM PDT Hi all I'm a South African business owner looking for advice/suggestions. My boyfriend and I acquired a hair salon in Feb this year. Things are going well. But the announcement of level 4 lockdown and the delta variant has me concerned. I'm not sure if the beauty sector will be told to close but I have a high suspicion we may be headed that way. We're a very new business and don't have enough money to continue paying rent without getting the usual foot traffic. And I'm concerned about our employees losing income. How do I get funding? Or donations? What funding options are available? Everything I come across wants to be part owners if providing funding. And I'm not keen to get another loan from the bank. I'm black and female if that helps (only relevant because some funding exists for black women that I may be unaware of) Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
I built a missed connections website for Los Angeles Posted: 03 Jul 2021 11:35 AM PDT Hi all - I recently launched a missed connections website for Los Angeles: http://missedyoula.com. My idea was to create a missed connections site where visitors don't have to deal with the hookup posts you find on Craigslist — and to market it to young professional audience. Ultimately, I want to make missed connections more mainstream. I launched it with a post on r/LosAngeles and it got upvoted to the top of the subreddit, with over 100 comments, most of which were positive, and I got over 3.5k visitors that day. So it does seem like there's at least a bit of interest. My questions for you guys:
In any case would love your thoughts! [link] [comments] |
I have a challenge for myself to help you for FREE Posted: 03 Jul 2021 11:11 AM PDT Here's the challenge: if you're selling an item but have trouble marketing it, let me help! I'll market it in a way that is completely free to increase your sales. I require no pay to start and all I ask for is your item and information such as price and other essentials. PM for more info. [link] [comments] |
How do I get bookkeeping experience? Posted: 03 Jul 2021 11:09 AM PDT I am interested in becoming a bookkeeper. I'm a 21 yo hs grad with no college edu yet. I am interested in bookkeeping and want to take the route of getting certified with AIPB, but I know for the exam you need experience to get certified. That confused me since I thought certification was required but I guess it's preferred, my concern here is how do I get experience bookkeeping without certification? How does that work? [link] [comments] |
How does taxes work when selling on Facebook Marketplace as a 16 yo? Posted: 03 Jul 2021 10:53 AM PDT I've been selling items on Facebook Marketplace locally for about a year now, but I'm planning on expanding my items to people around the country. I'm worried that I'll have to file my taxes if I start shipping my items on Facebook Marketplace. I've heard that I have to make a certain amount before I have to file my taxes, but I really don't understand all that. Could someone maybe explain a dumbed down version of it? Thank you. [link] [comments] |
We went from idea to MVP in less than a week, so excited to have finally launched my startup! Posted: 02 Jul 2021 07:12 PM PDT As the title states, I finally launched my startup. It's been a crazy year of a lot of procrastination, and putting it off but it's finally here. I've had many ideas over the year, and one I was sitting on for quite some time. I ended up putting that start up to rest as I didn't have the knowledge or capability to continue it. It was hard but for the best. All of sudden with this startup, we went from idea to MVP in less than a week. For anyone interested, it's called Over Easy News. Business news made over easy with a side of knowledge. It's a newsletter that drops 3x a week that delivers easy to read business news all while teaching about business. I came up with the idea literally a week before launch. I brought it to my wife and asked her what do you like more news or education? She choose education and I responded, "ehhhh... I like news better." Sure enough later that night at work it hit me, "why don't I just do both!" And so that's what I did. I quickly builded the site couple days later and got it up and running. Articles are being written almost everyday now by me and its going great. We launched on product hunt yesterday. We did ok, better than I expected and are just happy to have launched! This sub has given me a tremendous amount of motivation over the years! :) My one advice to everyone is if you have an idea, make your MVP and launch!!! Do NOT wait!!! [link] [comments] |
Mental health application to fight anxiety and depression Posted: 03 Jul 2021 10:01 AM PDT I have been working on mental health and emotional thought management for past 6 months, I followed many people and read many books learning about emotions and therapy. What I have discovered is therapy is too costly for my problems which I face on a daily basis, anxiety of failure and depression from wasting time and such things, it's not really affordable. That's when I have made a simple web app using which I can track my emotions and thoughts and statistically measure my growth, and strategically find my own flaws in thought patterns. I'm finally launching Aureliocbt, to public after 6 months of learning and building. It's a web only app which is based on science of Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). These are the exact techniques used by CBT therapist which I have just trans-coded into an application form. I hope it helps you with your anxiety, depression and other emotional issue. Please visit the website ==> Aurelio This is my first app launch. And I know my app is not perfect but I am working day after day, dedicating my time and energy in making it as much useful as possible. I would love to get your feedback. Please use it and send me feedback here or send on my e-mail [remidi@hey.com](mailto:remidi@hey.com) because it would help me a lot. You can contact me in above mentioned channels for any query related to therapy, my journey, pricing, .... anything. I'll reply back within a day or so. Looking forward to hearing from you. Signing off. [link] [comments] |
Business Learning Opportunity for Young Entrepreneurs (13-18 year olds) Posted: 03 Jul 2021 09:34 AM PDT Tiger Global Case Competition is a perfect opportunity for students wanting to learn more about business. It gives students the opportunity to develop and test their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit on the global stage! So what is a case competition? A team of students is supplied with a business scenario of a real company facing challenges. Students step into the shoes of management consultants to identify the most prominent issues and craft a solution. Each team has a certain amount of time to develop a strategy to address the key issues and present to a team of judges. The team that presents the best solution wins the competition and has cracked the case! Case competitions are the perfect stepping stones to a career in any industry. Big corporations and startups alike need skilled problem-solvers. For the first time, ambitious high school students have the opportunity to join a virtual case competition from every country around the world! Not only is it a global case competition, but workshops and masterclasses from professionals will also be provided, you will learn about business, marketing and economics. Hence, you do not need any prior experience to sign up, just a group of 2 to 4 students. You can learn more about the completion through their website https://www.casecomp.org/ and can register here: https://www.casecomp.org/registration-typeform USE THE CODE 'TGCC115' TO GET 33.3% OFF REGISTRATION FEE [link] [comments] |
About to launch my side hustle, would appreciate feedback and advice. Posted: 03 Jul 2021 05:14 AM PDT Hey guys, Just like the title says, I am working on my side hustle. I have been daytrading for over a year now, and decided a while back to create a course to help people struggling to start. I realised that many course out there give the theory to trading, but no actual solid, applicable advice to the mechanics of trading. Not one course I have done so far (I've checked out many) gives actual reviews of brokers for example, or tells you how to use certain everyday features of trading, such as options flows and screeners etc. So I decided to make a course that gives absolutely everything a person should know. Anyway, the website is http://nathan-muldoon.com/, Facebook page is financial trading course, and insta is financial.trading.course. I would appreciate any advise for selling a course too, or any feedback. Thanks, NathMcLovin! [link] [comments] |
Options for cash and asset strapped startup? Posted: 02 Jul 2021 11:16 PM PDT Hey guys, As the title says, I'm looking for funding options for a startup. We're lacking in cash and assets, but are looking at a model with a massive ratio of income to startup capital. I've run the numbers, and we're looking for around $15k USD to get us operational, after which we could pay more than $1,500/mo if necessary in loan payments. I'll be extremely grateful for any kind of feedback on resources, ideas, or general feedback that can help me get this sorted. We've got around 10k in assets that we're willing to leverage, but the bank isn't willing to talk without an income stream (I've been going full-time on this project). Thanks in advance, EDIT: We've already acquired the commercial property, and are only waiting on a mandated HVAC system upgrade to meet regulations and some internal construction. We have about a month to get things running or we're going to be looking at dissolving before we get off the ground. [link] [comments] |
Posted: 03 Jul 2021 07:30 AM PDT Hi Everyone, Does anyone have a complete list of manufacturers in the USA by NAICS or SIC code by chance or know where I can purchase one fairly inexpensive, all I need is the company name, URL and would be an asset but not necessary the company address? [link] [comments] |
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