Someone opened a liquor store right next to mine. Can I do anything? small business |
- Someone opened a liquor store right next to mine. Can I do anything?
- Disgruntled client gives chargebacks for every transaction throughout the relationship
- I finally had the courage to go for it.
- I think that many of my emails are going to my clients' junk folders and I'm losing business hand over fist!
- How to get people to buy products on your website and not leave empty handed.
- Please help me with a business name
- What if you don't have your own place?
- Looking for a name for my new business
- Am I Underpricing?
- Side hustle burnout
- Email Options?
- Respect and hiring the best?
- Question for Business Owners and Executives:
- Shipping audit
- Been learning how to trade for months but no significant progress
- What is the best way to process large payments from clients?
- Mentor?
- Looking for a workflow management software for a small team that meets these requirements
- juggling a 9-5 whilst having a small business
- $10k in the Hole w/ Acquired Business - What Could I Do?
- Best paid ads route for local service businesses?
- A client wants me to quit my job and work for them full time at 150% my current compensation. Is this a perfect opportunity to start my own business or am I throwing my career down the drain?
- BUSINESS PHONES
- Can a well researched/written business plan be enough to convince a bank to give you a loan to start a business?
- Benefits for Small Business
| Someone opened a liquor store right next to mine. Can I do anything? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 02:51 PM PST Our liquor store has been in business for over 50 years. However, a few years ago, someone opened a liquor store literally right next to mine. That has brought down my sales significantly. The individual is a tycoon who opens the same businesses next to others to kill their business and take over. Is there anything I can do? [link] [comments] |
| Disgruntled client gives chargebacks for every transaction throughout the relationship Posted: 18 Dec 2021 09:51 AM PST As stated in the title, we have about a four month relationship with a client where we provide technical services for her online business. It has been a complicated relationship from the start, and the client is quick to threaten with legal action when there is even a slight deviation from their expectations, whether that be deliverables or timing, etc. Without going into a long, drawn out story, the client was enraged when they were unable to get us to complete tasks for them on a given weekend. This was compounded when the client noticed an oversight on our part in that we never passed formal ownership of the deliverables over to them on a previous engagement. By the time Monday morning had rolled around, the client had initiated chargebacks on literally every transaction they've had with us, with the reason listed at our payment provider as "Never received product". Needless to say, this has been devastating to us from a business continuity standpoint. I'm connected with their attorney, and they claim that the chargebacks are being reversed, and we're working through an amicable release agreement, but considering the client's history I do not trust that this will go smoothly. All of that above to ask: Have any of you experienced something remotely similar to this in the past? How hard is it to overturn the chargeback? How thorough should I be in my response? Any tips? Thank you in advance. [link] [comments] |
| I finally had the courage to go for it. Posted: 18 Dec 2021 06:22 PM PST I'm finally the owner of a small business! I sell cold processed soap bars. I am now proud on her of Agent Clean lol. I always thought that was funny especially since I shave my head. It's the first time I've ever done something like this and I'm extremely excited I can't describe it it's crazy! I just really started 2 days ago and I've already got nine orders and they're rolling in! Can't wait to see what the future of this is going to be. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 07:27 AM PST I use MS Office 365 for my work admin, but I think that a decent number of my emails (sent to individuals, not mass marketing emails) are landing in junk folders. I've spent time making sure that SPF and DKIM settings are correct, but am still sure that my emails are landing in junk folders and as a result, I'm losing business hand over fist. Is there anything I can do, or is this just 'the way that it is'? [link] [comments] |
| How to get people to buy products on your website and not leave empty handed. Posted: 18 Dec 2021 03:37 AM PST Consumers don't want to take the time to do some deep diving of the shopping cart procedure, surrendering contact info for hidden shipping knowledge and random newsletter popups that nearly always lead to zero. Also, if the site is not optimized to get what they want, probably they'll leave the site too, increasing the bounce rate. For me, these are two reasons why people abandon a website and don't finish a purchase. After that, they'll have to unsubscribe from the ensuing barrage of a sequence of newsletter marketing emails. So to test that theory, I made a simple Shopify site that has good store automation and that has buttons that check shipping costs on any of the items. It didn't ask for emails or names, phone numbers. All it ever asked was a zip code and an address (business or residential). I didn't have to make email campaigns or any of them, only really needed to purchase something. Theoretically, this was a lot easier and makes purchasing something a lot more comfortable without surrendering your personal information that will probably be used for data mining and for marketing stuff. I installed the HotJar heatmap plugin so that I know where people are clicking. Again no data mining, This is just so that I can change the layout of the website depending on where people are on the site and where they are clicking. The more I modify the site to the customers' needs, the lower the bounce rate. I placed the ModeMagic plugin that automates inventory, discount, and sale updates so that badges for discounts, new arrivals, and stock notifications are updated automatically. So far, it has shown to be very effective in attracting client attention. JudgeMe - I still do ask for reviews. I know which review is legit and which isn't. Negative reviews are the ones addressing problems to the site but some can also be trolls just spamming negative reviews. This is my theory at least. Here's a question for you all. With the above applied, would this would easily encourage people to make a purchase on your website if more small businesses offered this easy choice? [link] [comments] |
| Please help me with a business name Posted: 18 Dec 2021 07:22 PM PST For context, in my country the home food industries is booming, sellers sell their foods thru apps like doordash. So i've been thinking to sell sandwiches and burgers. Any name Suggestions that relates to the word bread/toast? [link] [comments] |
| What if you don't have your own place? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 07:57 PM PST I'm still living with my parents mid 20's... Working full time trying to save as much as I can. Mid~ 2021 I came up with the idea to start a lawn care business. In case it doesn't work out, all of the tools I have bought can be used for my own house, whenever or if I can ever get one. Problem is I'm not very good and the tools I have are entry level... But to the topic, I'm trying to take up as little space in the garage as possible for these tools. If I ever want to actually get anywhere I'm going to need a trailer and a real mower. This will take up a lot more space and will have to dance the vehicles around the driveway to get the trailer. IDK, I guess my question is how do you go about trying to make a business when you don't have your own place and minimal resources? [link] [comments] |
| Looking for a name for my new business Posted: 18 Dec 2021 07:56 PM PST Hey Team! Recently I started a small soap & hygienics company & have been wanting to change the name to something more… marketable. I thought it'd be fun to ask Reddit what that name should be?? Any advice is appreciated! (: [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 09:12 PM PST I'm a middle schooler using tape and parchment paper to make stickers custom. I am selling for 1$. Is that too cheap? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 08:04 PM PST I opened my small business end of 2020, strictly online with high hopes of "making it big". I live in a small apartment and thought I'd use my garage to run my business out of but lack the drive to get it going. I mostly go in spurts of marketing on social media, I feel I have a strong sense of imposter syndrome and when I think about working in my business, I freeze up. Looking for advice mainly - I've tried self help books, I can make it 1/3 through and generally it drops off my radar. I've thought about personal or business coaches but get scared of forking up $$ on something that may not pan out. Thanks for reading this far. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 07:13 PM PST I am debating where to set up my new business email address. I'm considering gmail for its connectivity with things like the cloud and calendars. I also like the idea of a website related email. (Ex. myname@website.com) Any thoughts or experiences? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 03:10 PM PST 1) How do you hire the best? 2) How do you get them to respect you? [link] [comments] |
| Question for Business Owners and Executives: Posted: 18 Dec 2021 06:48 PM PST When a business development/sales rep from a company reaches out (phone or email, or stopping in), what is most efficient way for him or her to convey value to you? Describing what it is they do and letting you decide if it matters? Or describing the value it brings to you first? Or both? Context: I'm in sales and want to make best use of mine and potential clients time. I'm not about wasting their time or mine. Looking for advice directly from the source of those who receive calls from sales reps on a routine basis as to what causes you to give a rep your attention or time? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 06:34 PM PST Does anyone use an auditing company they can recommend or has anyone ever sued UPS/FedEx for fee misrepresentation? [link] [comments] |
| Been learning how to trade for months but no significant progress Posted: 18 Dec 2021 10:04 PM PST Am trying to learn trading but I don't have funds to pay for mentorship, so I decided to start doing something by my self. Have been on this for the past 5 months but still find it hard to analyse and get an entry, sometimes it triggers my entry and stop me out. Pls any recommendations on what to do? 😔🤔 [link] [comments] |
| What is the best way to process large payments from clients? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 09:48 PM PST Hi all! I run a large scale remodeling company and regularly collect payments from customers in the 10k-15k range, currently we are having customers cut us a check in the business name and we are having to wait 3-4 days for our business bank account to process and deposit the check, this has been messing with our cashflow as we are always getting paid in a week and 3-4 days, it's getting hard to pay my 1 employee and to take a paycheck for myself and my business partner. I know there's got to be a better way to process large payments and deposit them faster than this, does anyone have any advice for this unique problem? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 09:30 PM PST I reached out to a really accomplished businessperson and asked them for advice. They said they'd be happy to help. Well my cofounder and I agreed that we'd love a mentor. But my cofounder's kinda lazy. He's been helpful, but not that much. So anyway, I was thinking of asking my mentor to meet with us as a team, but I worry that my cofounder will steal my mentor or say things that damage my mentor's perception of me. My mentor is really valuable to me. Am I being unreasonable to keep my mentor a secret? [link] [comments] |
| Looking for a workflow management software for a small team that meets these requirements Posted: 18 Dec 2021 09:08 PM PST My partner is an accountant that runs a small firm and they're hitting a scale that needs better workflow management than just lists and the QuickBooks integrated to-do features. A lot of this is probably pretty niche, and I have a software background so I can help with Zapier integrations or any other connective stuff - so hybrid solutions can work here. Some of this can probably be addressed by behaviour and process, but I'd like to see as much of it as possible be automated. Standard task-management
Task Duration Estimates, Real Time Spent Estimate how long a task will take (in hours, typically) when creating it, then when marking as done input real time (would be nice-to-have if it integrated with Quicktime/TSheets or another employee time tracking software). Use this data for future instances of recurring tasks or similar tasks, and to help with capacity planning. It would be nice to be able to prime this with old timing data as well. Priority and Deadlines Some tasks have firm deadlines, some have soft deadlines, some are just kind of ongoing. Some deadlines shift based on client communication. Some tasks also have varying start conditions (dates, client submitting data, etc.). All of these factors should be taken into consideration and tasks prioritized by the system (or suggested priorities generated at least, which can be overridden). A major pain point has been "I can't figure out what's the most important thing to do right now so I end up spinning my wheels." Capacity Tracking/Planning Based on some % efficiency and hours available to each staff member (based on schedule, vacation, etc.), be able to plan when certain things will get done. This should be used in generating the to-do list for today, providing client estimates, and surfacing warnings if something is getting too close to the deadline based on the duration and other priority items. Additionally, if an item has to be moved, the software should be able to illustrate the impact of that ("Client, if you don't get <file> to me by <date>, then this report will be delayed by <time> as I have set aside time to work on your file this week and will be busy with other stuff later.") Dependency Tracking Certain work has multiple, dependent tasks and that should be taken into account for the schedule and to-do lists. Say Employee A has a task to complete the bookkeeping, then Boss has to review that work by the 10th to send a summary to the client. If Employee A is done by the 7th, then the review task will be added to Boss's to-do list, and tentatively scheduled sometime before the 10th. It rises in the priority until the 10th when it's at the top of the list due to the deadline. If Employee A hasn't finished it by the 9th, then Boss gets a warning that the task is at risk. Notifications of Pending Stuff
Templating
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| juggling a 9-5 whilst having a small business Posted: 18 Dec 2021 03:00 PM PST so i currently have a business that racks in a decent amount of money each month to pay my bills but not necessarily rack in money to fund a life I want I live at home so I don't have to worry about rent. My income is quite inconsistent each month because it depends on my posts doing well on social media. I really would like a second income but i think it's too risky for that second income to be a risky income such as investment and i am thinking to perhaps get a 9-5, a couple points i would like to make and get someone's opinion on:
i really do believe in my business and try my best, constantly trying to learn about marketing and improvements with my brand, i work everyday non stop but its just not bringing in money that can help me progress in other areas of my life such as moving out, nice things for myself. any help/thoughts i would appreciate [link] [comments] |
| $10k in the Hole w/ Acquired Business - What Could I Do? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 03:17 AM PST About 18 months ago I purchased a local coffee brand from people I knew in my local business community through networking. The business was 3 years old at the time. I believed I could repackage the product with better design (design is my "day job" as a full-time entrepreneur specializing in service marketing rather than e-commerce) and build a systemized online platform to sell the product, and when combined with a good product I could eventually scale the business. So for ~$8,000 I bought the name, any packaging they had, and a couple pieces of small equipment. Also a list of ~50 previous customers. I have a very tasty single-origin coffee product in whole beans and, mostly, 100% recyclable K-Cups. The roast is not too dark, not too light, and when fresh roasted & ground smells absolutely amazing. It's been my daily coffee for over a year (yes, consuming my own merchandise… someone has to, plus it is great not buying coffee to fuel my day job). Unfortunately, I had to also invest in fresh inventory so buying green coffee beans, having them roasted, having some of them turned into k-cups, and buying additional packaging + website + some ad spend. I've had a handful of customers. A couple repeat buyers, only one of which is from the list of previous customers. But I've invested around $10,000 in the business to date and monthly revenues average around $30-$60/MONTH. No one bought my Black Friday promotions, I've gained no new customers since July. There's about $2,500 of inventory left to sell and the season is coming up where I could buy fresh beans if demand increases to even as little as $500/month steadily. I know I could cut my losses and shut it down, just drink the rest of the product for a couple years and write it off as a hard-bought lesson. But I would like to open the floor to recommendations. I'm back in bootstrapping mode, I'm out of capital and hoping for an EIDL loan advance. Can you think of any creative ways to pull this business up by its bootstraps and scale out of the $10,000 hole? [link] [comments] |
| Best paid ads route for local service businesses? Posted: 18 Dec 2021 12:43 PM PST Hey guys, looking to learn from people with more experience than me in this field From the following, what would you say is the best route to go with paid ads?
Currently having issues with Google so looking for alternatives to generate more leads to my Garage door repair business, please only comment if you speak from experience [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 17 Dec 2021 01:06 PM PST About 6 months ago, a client approached me with an idea to leave my job of 8 years as a Senior Strategy Specialist at a marketing agency and work for them in-house. He wanted me to work full time (W2) and offered 150% of my compensation at the agency. I, on the other hand, was thinking that I could use this opportunity to start my own agency. As a result, I negotiated a 1099 contract with a guaranteed option to convert to W2 after 12 months. My reasoning is that I wanted to retain some independence to try to use the opportunity to start my own business/agency. He agreed. So I set out on my entrepreneurial journey; I registered my business, developed my website, opened business bank accounts, set up accounting; basically everything is ready for my first client. Now it's time to make the best or worst decision in my life. It's now or never because my contract starts Jan 3rd and the client has already indicated to my employer of their moving on. I need to submit my 2 week resignation/notice on Monday and I have only this weekend to make my final decision. I am nervous, maybe even scared! That's because although my guaranteed compensation from this project plus my savings would be enough to cover at least a year of my expenses, this could be my career down the drain if it doesn't work out. I am 40 years old with 2 kids. I keep asking myself if I am making the right decision? What if I fail to get more clients? Would you make the same decision if you were in my position? Backstory: I had brought this particular client to the agency 8 months prior to his offer. After leading his account for those initial 8 months, we hit numbers that he had not been able to hit in the first 3 years of starting his business. For example, here is a snapshot of his 2021 Q4 Ads performance. There is still some work to be done to hit his goals; CRO on his landing pages is an example. He (and I) think that we can hit his goal of $1.5 - $2 million revenue in 2022 if I could focus on his account without the constraints of the agency, hence his offer. Besides, his team (management, sales, operations) and I work very well together. EDIT: 12/18/2021 I have had some folks here asking whether I would be able to handle all the aspects of his account by myself considering that I have a support team at the agency. The answer to that is yes, for the most part. I have an extensive and diverse background and experience in marketing spanning over 16 years. I started out in marketing engineering, traversed across account management, marketing data/insights analysis, CRM systems, CRO, Google + Facebook Ads, social media strategy, experiential, branding, copywriting (for email marketing, ads, blogs); hence I naturally ended up overseeing strategy. Moreover, I was already leading every aspect of his account anyway from strategy to implementation. Besides, I'd hire a support team along the way for those areas I need help with. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 01:03 PM PST I was thinking of getting a cellphone under my LLC. How's that work? Anyone have one? -D [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 11:06 AM PST I have mediocre credit but have finally gotten all my debts handled, and disputed any old negative items. I have a decent savings and a relatively low net worth <$120,000 I paid for someone to write a thorough business plan for a specific franchise I have been interested in. I am in the process of having a uncle of mine who works as a head executive for one of the top banks in the world who he specifically focuses on business lending/business credit cards etc and has been in this sector of work for several decades now. He has agreed to help me refine my business plan and make it very strong but given that I have no past experience owning a business, or anything like that with a credit score of 650 and currently around 55k/yr job I feel like this won't be enough for a bank to consider me for a $150,000-$250,000 loan What are some ways that may help my local credit union/bank consider giving me a loan or will my business plan really be my selling point here outside of my own credit worthiness? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 18 Dec 2021 04:40 PM PST Any recommendations about how to go about sourcing and providing benefits for a small family business? I personally don't need benefits as I get them through my spouse, but I feel like I need to begin offering them as I want to grow and attract talent. I run a small construction business in NYC. Thanks in advance. [link] [comments] |
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