The Entrepreneur / Business Owner's / Self Employed Lounge

Thank you for all of your input.

Your are right than for one of the businesses, the ski school, I am out there doing it because people want to ski with me and I like to do it but I also have a team of instructors who work for me doing that also. It’s important for me to be out and about on the pistes just to be seen but i could see in the future a situation where people would have to pay a premium to ski with me.

In answer to other questions, it’s not so much that I’ve chosen my markets badly, this is an area I’m good in and yes one of them in particular takes up a lot of personal time but it’s more the case that other opportunities have started to present themselves and I feel obliged to not leave money on the table. In fact for a couple of the new opportunities I would be harming my other businesses if i didn’t take them.

The nature of these things is that they require a fair bit of owner input initially.

In terms of outsourcing, i already outsource all of my accounting and book keeping, I have a team that works for me in one the other businesses that means that I don’t have to be that hands on there and I’m tempted to outsource some social media advertising.

I value your further thoughts and there are some interesting points above that I hadn’t thought of.

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Ski pro, have you jumped into additional businesses because you have maxed out the potential of the first business (either due to demand or seasonal limitations)?

If so, there's reason to go in more directions.

If not, you should be putting 100% of your energies into focusing on your most viable and scalable business.

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(06-08-2018 12:23 PM)Suits Wrote:  Ski pro, have you jumped into additional businesses because you have maxed out the potential of the first business (either due to demand or seasonal limitations)?

If so, there's reason to go in more directions.

If not, you should be putting 100% of your energies into focusing on your most viable and scalable business.

The other businesses are complimentary and feed each other. If I had not taken the opportunities, others would have which would have been bad, you can think of it as keeping competition out.

I see where you are coming from, the businesses that I am in aren’t that scaleable, I know and acknowledge this situation but it’s the nature of my niche in the industry for now.

You can still take on other opportunities even if the current couple of businesses aren’t maxed out yet, you can’t control the timing of when other opportunities present themselves.

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(06-08-2018 02:39 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  I see where you are coming from, the businesses that I am in aren’t that scaleable, I know and acknowledge this situation but it’s the nature of my niche in the industry for now.

That goes back to not picking your market wisely.

It takes time and energy in building a business. You understand that otherwise you wouldn't have asked your question. Why continue putting that energy into businesses that aren't scaleable when you can put the same energy into something that is and with it a bigger payout?

Many large companies decided to expand by purchasing other companies that seemed complimentary. Many of those companies ended up selling those acquisitions in order to focus on their core business years later.

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Hey guys, I’d like to take everyone’s advice. I have a background in the insurance/office work. I have managed to save $200k by hustling and some luck. I’m looking at all possibilties right now as I’d like to start building my financial independence as I’m in my late 20s and i want to slowly work less over time and let my money work for me.

My options are to go to st louis and buy properties with my uncle if he agrees to partner with me. Or start a franchise if my uncle and i are able to find a profitable venture in the qsr segment as he owns a popeyes.

Long shots:

Go back to school and get more accounting courses to pursue a CPA.

Go to SEA to teach english and look to do something else entrepreneurial such as e-commerce or learn SEO/something in online marketing.

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Nobody can answer your question really as one man's junk is another man's treasure in business as in everything else.

Congrats on building up that bankroll though.

Parting with it is going to test you mentally you know!

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Congrats man. With that kind of bankroll I would look into muti family properties or apartment buildings and look into the Airbnb model. I know people who bring in 4K+ Per month in revenue of one apartment

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(03-24-2018 02:11 PM)Truth Tiger Wrote:  TL;dr at the bottom

Being an entrepreneur turned self-employed business owner for 15 years and having met / worked with many entrepreneurs / founders, I'd say there are some very important steps you can take to maximize your time and money. You're young, which is an advantage, but it also sounds like you're impatient which can be a disadvantage depending on how you utilize the energy behind your impatient and desire to do SOMETHING.

Making things go boom is doing SOMETHING, but usually not something constructive.

I think the most valuable step you can take is to do some personal development and self-assessment to understand your personality. Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Play to your strengths, but don't ignore your weaknesses as those areas can and will bite you in the ass sooner than later. The best SOMETHING you can do is to look into the mirror and understand yourself. Are you REALLY cut out to build your own business? Very few people are. The ones that don't drive themselves crazy and end up in the poor house have tremendous resiliency. That doesn't come from school, or YT vids, or books, or talking with friends.

You learn customer service and connecting with people through doing customer service jobs.

You learn product development and the product life cycle by being involved in new product introduction, design, manufacturing, the engineering change process, beta testing, customer feedback, and going back through that cycle.

The number of people who want to develop an app or some product that's the Next Big Thing™ is endless. But many don't have the emotional and mental fortitude to build a solid foundation and good habits before trying to bring new life into the world - and by new life in this context, I mean to give birth to your idea and seeing it grow in the world. You become a parent to whatever idea you create and it's a big responsibility. It can be really joyful and fulfilling, but don't kid yourself that this isn't serious. In some ways, it's harder than being parent to a physical child because when your kid's asleep you can rest but often as an entrepreneur, when the world is asleep your ideas are still going and the demands of a business are endless.

Suits is correct, patent protection for a novel idea is very important. You can file provisional patents that aren't uber expensive but you'd really want to consult a lawyer before trying to DIY. Most tech companies live or die on their IP (and even more importantly, their ability to DEFEND their IP). Otherwise, as was pointed out, what's to prevent another company from taking your idea and running with it?

What helped me tremendously was finding a mentor. In fact, you might have mentors for different aspects of your life and business - I certainly have. Look into the historical relationship between master and apprentice; it still works today. Ways to find a mentor are infinite: networking via Meetup.com, LinkedIn, looking at local businesses, making contacts through your professors / parents / friends, random conversations with people at restaurants/bars/etc. Even members of your family and social network that have been in business and can add pieces to the puzzle of your understanding of the road you're embarking on.

You'll want to demonstrate an abilty to STFU and listen, a willingness to assist them if they need help (sometimes without pay), to earn access to their knowledge and experience. Appreciate your role as an apprentice and understand what that means. No one OWES you success, or their knowledge. What are YOU doing to give back for what you're receiving? How are YOU showing gratitude to people willing to help you become successful? What does GRATITUDE actually mean to you? One day you may be in a position to answer the very questions you're now asking. Think about that.

How are your sales skills? Are you comfortable engaging with people, making them laugh, listening to them and getting them to listen to you (without forcing a topic on them)? Can you tell when people are tuning out, or when they're hooked and want to know more? Can you 'game' people about your ideas like you would to deepen a girl's interest in you?

What hats do you plan to wear in your business, assuming you want to be the CEO / Founder and not a partner? 'The E-Myth' (Entrepreneur Myth) points out that a founder has 3 aspects in various levels of strength:

The Manager
The Technician
The Entrepreneur

Each are crucial to a business's success and it's vitally important to understand how much of each vital aspect you're naturally able to manifest. I orient more toward the latter two, and had to learn (the hard way) how to manage people and by extension manage my time, my energy, my money.

I was much more the starry-eyed dreamer in the early days of my business and I didn't know how to focus on what would really grow my sales, my reach, my audience. I made great products but didn't know how to get them into more people's hands. So until I was honest and able to self-assess (and have others point out my failings) I wasn't able to truly move my vision and business forward. My personal life also suffered - I don't see someone being a success in business if they haven't learned to manage their own life outside the business. They can often run into each other and the way an outsider sees your business can easily reflect the quality of your life.

Look at any business we see in the news to see the truth of that. Business is an extension of the founder's personality, that of the leadership team as the company grows. Honest inner self-assessment, even talking with a school counselor, or finding your local entrepreneur group in your city (most big cities have support groups) are all good starts.

This probably sounds un-fun, maybe partly woo-woo, and like work you either think you've already done, or don't have to do. I don't know, but let's see how you respond. If I knew at 22 what I know now 20 years later, I'd easily have a multi-million dollar company, maybe a few - one I'd have sold and another I'd be managing part-time while traveling the world expanding my business opportunities. I love what I know and am creating in the world, but it's been a hard road because a) I resisted discipline for a long time and still somewhat do and b) I didn't pay close enough attention to good advice. I didn't understand my strengths and weaknesses well enough to create a solid foundation early enough. It's okay, good things are happening, but I've missed out on years of potential financial growth. But I'm a lot better-rounded as a person than I was in my 20s or 30s.

If you're not meditating 20 min a day, and not walking 30 min a day, you're short changing your mind, body, and soul. Meditation helps you understand how you think, examine thoughts, emotions, motivations, and also get in touch with you eternal Self - your soul. When you walk, your synchronizing mind and body - it's not about working out, it's about letting your creative energy move through you in a rhythmic way that only walking can do. The exercise aspect is important, but walking is symbolic too. You're moving forward into the world while bringing your ideas with you - literally.

When you are making a product or service you're asking someone to trust that your motivations include taking care of their needs, even if they don't know WHAT they need - but you have a vision and you see an opportunity. When you look at someone and beyond seeing your next sale, you see a living miracle of a human being, you are honoring their essence which is the same as your essence. You create a bond that will carry you through hard times. You will create an initial group of early-adopters who will have your back. WHEN (not if) you screw up, they will stick with you. They will champion you through speed bumps. They will offer you money, and advice, and jokes, and maybe a couch to crash on or a room to rent. The human connections you make through following through on your passionate vision are the most important aspect of business. Business isn't about ideas, or dollars, it's about heart. An idea that benefits people, makes their lives better / happier / easier will bring money.

TL;dr

Understand your inner world, develop good lifestyle habits, be honest about your strengths and weaknesses as entrepreneur / manager / technician, connect with mentors, continue saving money as you can, and be honestly interested in people. Do all this and keep sketching, drawing, imagining, white boarding, sharing your vision.

Aaron Clarey / Captain Capitalism has a YT channel that's worth checking out re: entrepreneurs. He also offers Asshole Consulting and will tell you the straight shit. If you haven't already emailed / worked with him, you need to. Ignore everything I said if you wish, but he's been on the fat end of the big desk when people ask for money to start or fund their business. He's heard and seen all kinds of ideas, schemes and cuts through the bullshit. Like I said, I tend to be more on the idealist side, but I also love people more than Clarey seems to.

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Ive been bouncing around marketing strategy ideas the past week. The web development market is huge, filled with both clients and competitors. As much as I dont wanf to limit myself in terms of potential clients, all the research Ive done has told me to identitfy a niche and hustle that.

It originally feels like a bad idea to go from 100% potential clients (broad, non specific strategy) to say 10-20% (niche and specialization). But from the marketing point of view, it makes complete sense.

Thinking of say....FB ads...im hard pressed to come up with some demographics and keywords to target that aren't already saturated with competition. I'd be a small fish in a big pond. And id spreading my limited resources too thin, as I'd have to have separate campaigns for SEO, custom development, framework (wordpress, joomla, etc) development, general design, general consulting, etc. It sounds like a nightmare to manage to with limited resources and more importantly, makes it that much difficult to establish a reputation of an authority.

But theres the flip side to that, which ill call fhe "gold plated bathtub" approach (from some youtube video, ill find out if anyone is interested). When you niche, you can niche too hard. In this example only taking on clients specialize in construction, and then just bathrooms, and then just bathtubs, and then just gold plated bath tubs. Sure you may be able to own that niche, as their will be probably no competition that positions themself to cater specifically to that market, but now my limited resources are being aimed at a market that may only have a handful of potential clients.

Therefore Ive settled on a market that has two levels of specificity. Marketing to people doing X in industry Y. This has made my brainstorms on FB ads much easier as now i know exactly what interests, demeographics, and keywords to target. It also has the added benefit that I used to be that "Person X doing Y", so I know how to truly relate to them.

So marketing wise, that will be my target niche. However I'm still struggling with the question of should my web presence (i.e. my website/blog) cater only to that niche, or should it be more of a generalist appearance with a section/page catering to the niche. Im basically thinking, market towards the niche but don't limit myself to just that niche.

To avoid the case where client A tells his friend, potential client B, about my great work but then says I only work with clients like client A. Id rather client A tell potential client B that while I specialize and do a lot of work eith clients like client A, I also can work with clients like client B.

So i guess after this vomit of thoughts Id ask you guys: identifying a niche is important in terms of marketing, but how much focus should I put on catering my presence towards that niche?

Currently my strategy is general web agency website presence with a specific separate landing page 100% catering towards to niche.

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My gut is that advertising and SEO campaigns are more for END USER customers.

If your customers are businesses and you are making websites, word of mouth, cold/warm emailing/calling, has got to be the better option.

Also, clients might be in the market for, say, Magento ecommerce website, but they aren't going to search for that in many cases. They want an ecommerce website, and many clients do not know/care about the tech under the hood.

Unless they are large, and have tech staff already who is searching for an external vendor. In which case are they really going to just be googling?


Edit: the above probably needs a ton of caveats, but I'm talking about if you are getting started offering custom b2b services, SPEAKING is really the way.

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I haven't had a job as an employee in just over 10 years. Yes there have been some hard times but I wouldn't trade it for anything.

For today's young men I simply cannot imagine why you would want to put up with anything even remotely close to an SJW workplace.

Everything you put up with, you indirectly give your blessing. Aside from the money making potential, growth potential, and freedom in doing your own thing, don't you want to avoid this type of thing? Yes it's Canada and it's a woman but you get the point. Source: http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=58553

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(06-13-2018 05:39 AM)Atomic Wrote:  Ive been bouncing around marketing strategy ideas the past week. The web development market is huge, filled with both clients and competitors. As much as I dont wanf to limit myself in terms of potential clients, all the research Ive done has told me to identitfy a niche and hustle that.

It originally feels like a bad idea to go from 100% potential clients (broad, non specific strategy) to say 10-20% (niche and specialization). But from the marketing point of view, it makes complete sense.

Thinking of say....FB ads...im hard pressed to come up with some demographics and keywords to target that aren't already saturated with competition. I'd be a small fish in a big pond. And id spreading my limited resources too thin, as I'd have to have separate campaigns for SEO, custom development, framework (wordpress, joomla, etc) development, general design, general consulting, etc. It sounds like a nightmare to manage to with limited resources and more importantly, makes it that much difficult to establish a reputation of an authority.

But theres the flip side to that, which ill call fhe "gold plated bathtub" approach (from some youtube video, ill find out if anyone is interested). When you niche, you can niche too hard. In this example only taking on clients specialize in construction, and then just bathrooms, and then just bathtubs, and then just gold plated bath tubs. Sure you may be able to own that niche, as their will be probably no competition that positions themself to cater specifically to that market, but now my limited resources are being aimed at a market that may only have a handful of potential clients.

Therefore Ive settled on a market that has two levels of specificity. Marketing to people doing X in industry Y. This has made my brainstorms on FB ads much easier as now i know exactly what interests, demeographics, and keywords to target. It also has the added benefit that I used to be that "Person X doing Y", so I know how to truly relate to them.

So marketing wise, that will be my target niche. However I'm still struggling with the question of should my web presence (i.e. my website/blog) cater only to that niche, or should it be more of a generalist appearance with a section/page catering to the niche. Im basically thinking, market towards the niche but don't limit myself to just that niche.

To avoid the case where client A tells his friend, potential client B, about my great work but then says I only work with clients like client A. Id rather client A tell potential client B that while I specialize and do a lot of work eith clients like client A, I also can work with clients like client B.

So i guess after this vomit of thoughts Id ask you guys: identifying a niche is important in terms of marketing, but how much focus should I put on catering my presence towards that niche?

Currently my strategy is general web agency website presence with a specific separate landing page 100% catering towards to niche.

Find a niche and stay in it. Includes your website branding and copy. Own that niche.

If you get a client not in your niche that was recommended to you and you get it, consider it a bonus.

All of your marketing has to be congruent to your niche.

Feel free to pm me for more info, I’ve just finished extensive reading and research on this topic.

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Last Saturday I landed a six digit contract with part up front for 2-3 months work. Another promised if our work here is good. We shook on it but I won't know 100% until tomorrow (more specifically, he had to get the okay from all parties involved. No talk of paperwork). Nervous about this until the money is in my bank account but I don't want to push it. Tips? It was his proposal, but should I draw up the paperwork for it myself?

I had to push back my product until early July but presumably because of the pre-launch numbers I have and the quality of my product page (best product video in the niche, viral ads at 30x industry standard, immaculate copy, but most of all being able to make a product), as well as a little bit of luck and some game, I was able to land this deal.

We were supposed to meet on wednesday but our meeting was delayed. Otherwise I would be in DC this weekend for Rooshfest.

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(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)storm Wrote:  Last Saturday I landed a six digit contract with part up front for 2-3 months work. Another promised if our work here is good. We shook on it but I won't know 100% until tomorrow (more specifically, he had to get the okay from all parties involved. No talk of paperwork). Nervous about this until the money is in my bank account but I don't want to push it. Tips? It was his proposal, but should I draw up the paperwork for it myself?

I had to push back my product until early July but presumably because of the pre-launch numbers I have and the quality of my product page (best product video in the niche, viral ads at 30x industry standard, immaculate copy, but most of all being able to make a product), as well as a little bit of luck and some game, I was able to land this deal.

We were supposed to meet on wednesday but our meeting was delayed. Otherwise I would be in DC this weekend for Rooshfest.

I don’t know what it’s like in the US but if you shook on it, here in Switzerland that is a done deal. Wait and be cool.

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(06-15-2018 04:56 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)storm Wrote:  Last Saturday I landed a six digit contract with part up front for 2-3 months work. Another promised if our work here is good. We shook on it but I won't know 100% until tomorrow (more specifically, he had to get the okay from all parties involved. No talk of paperwork). Nervous about this until the money is in my bank account but I don't want to push it. Tips? It was his proposal, but should I draw up the paperwork for it myself?

I had to push back my product until early July but presumably because of the pre-launch numbers I have and the quality of my product page (best product video in the niche, viral ads at 30x industry standard, immaculate copy, but most of all being able to make a product), as well as a little bit of luck and some game, I was able to land this deal.

We were supposed to meet on wednesday but our meeting was delayed. Otherwise I would be in DC this weekend for Rooshfest.

I don’t know what it’s like in the US but if you shook on it, here in Switzerland that is a done deal. Wait and be cool.

Saying in the U.S., "Verbal Agreement ain't worth the paper it's written on."

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(06-15-2018 05:09 PM)YoungBlade Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 04:56 PM)Ski pro Wrote:  

(06-15-2018 12:08 PM)storm Wrote:  Last Saturday I landed a six digit contract with part up front for 2-3 months work. Another promised if our work here is good. We shook on it but I won't know 100% until tomorrow (more specifically, he had to get the okay from all parties involved. No talk of paperwork). Nervous about this until the money is in my bank account but I don't want to push it. Tips? It was his proposal, but should I draw up the paperwork for it myself?

I had to push back my product until early July but presumably because of the pre-launch numbers I have and the quality of my product page (best product video in the niche, viral ads at 30x industry standard, immaculate copy, but most of all being able to make a product), as well as a little bit of luck and some game, I was able to land this deal.

We were supposed to meet on wednesday but our meeting was delayed. Otherwise I would be in DC this weekend for Rooshfest.

I don’t know what it’s like in the US but if you shook on it, here in Switzerland that is a done deal. Wait and be cool.

Saying in the U.S., "Verbal Agreement ain't worth the paper it's written on."

I've been in your position before and there's nothing you can do except follow up. I don't know how many times I've had a biz deal or sale verbally agreed to, with me fantasizing about what I was going to do with the money only to have it fall apart and get nothing.

Unfortunately in this day and age handshakes mean nothing, hell even written agreements don't mean as much anymore.

But what you have going for you is that it was his proposal, so he has an interest in making this work and as long as you're the only one he's entertaining for the job you're in a good spot.

What you have working against you is him running it by all parties, which I assume means his partners. All it takes is one veto from one of his partners to kill it, and I personally use the "I need to run it by my partners" line to either stall for time if I need it, or as a way to eventually say no to the proposal, while using my partners as a smokescreen to save face for my denial.

But if its his proposal it wouldn't make much sense for him give you the run around and you can be somewhat confident that he's going to try to his best to sell both you and his proposal to his partners.

But it's out of your hands now, so there's nothing you can do but remember abundance mentality is key for both girls and business.

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Has anyone here registered a trademark in China and/or the US before?

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Just another question to throw out there. Does anyone know how to create codes for Call to action videos ?

I am trying to make my site more interactive. It looks like the only way I can create one of those and embed it on the site is by paying for it via Divilayers & vimeo

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Codes for call to action videos?

Depends what you mean. I'm guessing your talking more in the terms of what is known as a modal.

The html/css/js to create them are fairly simple. Here is a real basic example: https://www.w3schools.com/howto/howto_css_modals.asp

If you want to use a video as content for the modal you can copy and paste the embed code from youtube (or wherever its hosted) in the modal content.

But their are wordpress plugins, for free, that will make it easier if you arent comfortable with custom coding.

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Thanks for the reply Atomic.

Yes basically an interactive call to action video that will link on to our free service.

The modal definition seems to cover it.

I'll see if this link helps.

Cheers !

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(06-20-2018 02:04 AM)Suits Wrote:  Has anyone here registered a trademark in China and/or the US before?

I've registered a few Trademarks in America both at the state and federal level. For federal trademarks with the USPTO (US Patent and Trademark Office) you want to start by searching the following link to see if anyone has registered or has a pending registration for a similar trademark.

http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f...i57onh.1.1

Most fellas are smart enough to file a USPTO action on their own, but what gets complicated is if someone contests your filing, or if the USPTO declares that your trademark is too similar to an already registered mark. If that happens you're going to need a lawyer to save yourself the trouble.

But I can't speak for China, but in America similarity is the standard that your mark is judged by. The more similar the design, pronounication, or spelling of your mark to another registered trademark, means you'll be denied trademark protection.

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For US entrepreneurs...

The Supreme Court just ruled that states can force collection of sales tax. Expect most states to jump on this wagon and pass legislation before the end of the year. This will be a shit show since Congress probably won't set any guidelines to make this a easier process.

This has pushed me to look closer at Puerto Rico. With the tax advantages, this may be a no-brainer now.

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(06-20-2018 04:43 PM)Constitution45 Wrote:  Thanks for the reply Atomic.

Yes basically an interactive call to action video that will link on to our free service.

The modal definition seems to cover it.

I'll see if this link helps.

Cheers !

Just was using modals on my site. It can be done with basic html/css just be careful if you have a lot of information heavy modal links on one page. The default structure pre loads all the modal information, and just displays it on an "open". There are some easy was around this, which are worth exploring if you notice your page load slows down.

Anyone know anyone that relocated to puerto rico?

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Thanks I have a developer on hand. It is simply the case of connecting the video to the code that is necessary, so they can place on their backend of the site

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I'm so overwhelmed by the number of new clients that I am living a nightmare. I don't even have time to bill everyone properly and I've ended up seeing clients for free because my billing is a mess.

It's a nice problem to have, I suppose (as opposed to not having clients at all), but I need to do some major business process automation and adjustment very quickly.

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