What I’ve learned in 20+ years of building startups

1. Fail Well. You’ve heard it a million times before: ideas are easy; execution is hard. Execution is incredibly hard. And even if something works well for a while, it might not work sustainably forever. I fail a lot. I’d say my ideas are successful maybe 2/10 times, and that’s probably going easy on myself.

2. Keep Going. The difference between overall success and failure, is usually as simple as not quitting. Most people don’t have the stomach for point #1 and give up way too quickly.

3. Saying No. Especially if you didn’t have a particularly good month and it’s coming up on the 1st (bill time), it’s hard to say “No” to new income, but if you know it’s something you’ll hate doing, it could be better in the long-run to not take it or else face getting burnt out.

4. Work Smart (and sometimes hard). I would hazard to guess that most of us do this because we hate the limitations and grind of the traditional 9-5? Most of us are more likely to be accused of being workaholics rather than being allergic to hard work, but it certainly helps if you enjoy what you do. That said, it can’t be cushy all the time. Sometimes you gotta put in a little elbow grease.

5. Start Slow. I’ve helped many clients start their own businesses and I always try to urge them to pace themselves. They want instant results and they put the cart before the horse. Especially for online businesses, you don’t need a business license, LLC, trademark, lawyer, and an accountant before you’ve even made your first dollar! Prove that the thing actually works and is making enough money before worrying about all the red tape.

6. Slow Down Again (when things start to go well). Most company owners get overly excited when things start to go well, start hiring more people, doing whatever they can to pour fuel on the fire, but usually end up suffocating the fire instead. Wait, just wait. Things might plateau or take a dip and suddenly you’re hemorrhaging money.

7. Fancy Titles. At a certain stage of growth, egos shift, money changes people. What was once a customer-centric company that was fun to work at becomes more corporate by the day. Just because “that’s the way they’ve always done it” in terms of the structure of dino corps of old, that’s never a good reason to keep doing it that way.

8. Stay Home. If your employee’s work can be done remotely, why are you wasting all that money on office space just to stress your workers out with commute and being somewhere they resent being, which studies have shown only make them less productive anyway?

9. Keep it Simple. Don’t follow trends and sign you or your team up for every new tool or app that comes along just because they’re popular. Basecamp, Slack, Signal, HubSpot, Hootsuite, Google Workspace, Zoom (I despise Zoom), etc. More apps doesn’t mean more organization. Pick one or two options and use them to their full potential.

   

10. Keep Doors Open. While you’ll inevitably become too busy to say “Yes” to everything, try to keep doors open for everyone you’ve already established a beneficial working relationship with. Nothing lasts forever, and that might be the lesson I learned the harshest way of all. More on that below…

What I’ve learned in 20+ years of building startups: A personal note that might be helpful to anyone who’s struggling

Some years back (around 2015), we sold the company my partner and I built that was paying our salaries. During those years, I closed a lot of doors, especially with clients because I was cushy with my salary, and didn’t want to spend time on other relationships and hustles I previously built up over the years.

I had a really rough few years after we sold and the money ran out where I almost threw in the towel and went back to a traditional 9-5 job. I could barely scrape rent together and went without groceries for longer than I’m comfortable admitting.

There’s no shame in doing what you’ve gotta do to keep food on the table, but the thought of “going back” was deeply depressing for me. Luckily, I managed to struggle my way through, building up clients again.

What I’ve learned in 20+ years of building startups – Conclusion:

Navigating the world of startups requires a balance of resilience, strategic decision-making, and adaptability. The lessons learned over two decades in the startup ecosystem are not just strategies but guiding principles for sustainable success and growth in the dynamic world of entrepreneurship.

If you’re curious about how I make money, most of it has been made building custom products for WordPress.

Source: r/Entrepreneur

What I’ve learned in 20+ years of building startups – References:

1. Entrepreneurship Blogs and Websites: Look for blogs from successful entrepreneurs or business coaches. Sites like Entrepreneur (entrepreneur.com), Forbes Entrepreneurs Section (https://forbes.com/entrepreneurs), and Harvard Business Review (hbr.org) often have valuable articles on startup strategies and entrepreneurial journeys.
2. Startup Case Studies: Websites like Inc. Magazine (inc.com) and Fast Company (fastcompany.com) frequently publish case studies and stories about startups and entrepreneurial experiences.
3. Business and Tech News Websites: Platforms like TechCrunch (techcrunch.com), Business Insider (businessinsider.com), and The Wall Street Journal’s Business section (https://wsj.com/news/business) are good for staying updated on the latest in startup trends and business strategies.
4. Remote Work and Productivity Tools Blogs: For insights on remote work and productivity tools, check out blogs from companies like Basecamp (basecamp.com), Slack (https://slack.com/blog), and Zoom (blog.zoom.us).
5. Online Business Forums and Communities: Websites like Reddit’s Entrepreneur subreddit (https://reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur) or startup-focused forums on sites like Quora (quora.com) can provide real-world advice and experiences from various business owners.
6. LinkedIn Articles and Thought Leaders: Following successful entrepreneurs and business thought leaders on LinkedIn can provide you with a plethora of insights and firsthand accounts of business experiences.
7. Business and Entrepreneurship Books: Websites of authors who have written extensively on startups and entrepreneurship, such as Guy Kawasaki or Seth Godin, often have blogs and articles that are invaluable to entrepreneurs.

Examining the Fragmented Data on Black Entrepreneurship in North America

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• Hiring someone's replacement without them finding out?
  by /u/dirtysanchez0609 on May 9, 2024 at 12:13 am

  So I own a whole home service company, hvac, electrical, and plumbing. I'll make this short if you have questions I'll answer them in the comments. But basically the only plumber we have now I need to fire. But i can't let him go until I find a replacement. What resources are out there or ways to post that we're looking for a plumber without him finding out. The way I described it sounds shady of me I know but I don't see any other way. submitted by /u/dirtysanchez0609 [link] [comments]

• $120k rev first 2 months of the year. Now freaking out.
  by /u/ambitiousrammy on May 9, 2024 at 12:08 am

  I run a software development agency in NYC focused on MVPs and AI for enterprise. I started the business September 2023 and did not get any clients until January 2024. I've had 3 clients in total through my network. I am worried now because I haven't been able to crack a sales funnel that consistently brings me leads. How do you deal with this as an entrepreneur? You start a business, it gains momentum through your network and then you are losing it. Anyone runs a successful software development agency in the states that could share some insights in their business development process? I appreciate all the support and help. submitted by /u/ambitiousrammy [link] [comments]

• 29M looking for mentor.
  by /u/GroundLoose8215 on May 8, 2024 at 11:58 pm

  Hi, I live in a small town in Ontario, Canada. I am looking for a mentor, I am obsess with learning and coming up with business ideas, etc. My problem as you can tell is getting then off and running. I am a family man, with 1 toddler, and a wife. I work full time evenings at a government job and watch my toddler during the day. I max get 5hr of sleep. I run a side business in videography and photography , mainly wedding but with everything going on with the economy I feel a shift in this field and I have gotten the lease amount of gigs since I started offering my services for weddings in 2020. I am going to keep plugging away with this business as I own all my gear. Looking to either work on focusing on business and trying my luck there. I am also interested in starting a painting business, and or contracting business where I find leads for certain trades and I send them to local businesses where I charge 10-15% surcharge for the client. I'm not afraid to do the work, put the little time I have into it aka things will change once my toddler is in school. I am tired of being broke and not getting anywhere and feeling unfulfilled. Clearly I'm the issue and my habits don't promote my dreams. I love learning, reading, lectures, etc. But all the info being absorbed means nothing without putting it to action. I would love to find a mentor, someone who can give me insight, someone I can run ideas, etc to. I'm not trying to get rich fast or get rich, just looking to improve my financial life, family life, quality of life, etc. and pursue my purpose of being an entrepreneur as it's been my dream since I was a little kid. I ran lemonade stands, sold veggies from my garden, etc. I appreciate you taking the time to read my post. submitted by /u/GroundLoose8215 [link] [comments]

• Could my employer sue me if I open shop and compete against them while maintaining employment?
  by /u/TodaysTrash12345 on May 8, 2024 at 11:43 pm

  I'm going to keep this intentionally vague, but will provide clarity if needed. High level, assuming I do not have any kind of non-competitive agreement, does what I'm propose below open to potential lawsuits? Could I be held liable if they found out? I.e. malicious intent, damages, etc. *I work for a family owned company, been around since the 80's. My role is primarily finance & strategy. *They produce and sell physical products that have decent margins and sell almost entirely DTC through Amazon. *I've had a a few good ideas to expand our business and grow sales profitably that were backed by other VP's, but the owner is very stuck in their ways and are not open to suggestions unless they comes up with it. I feel like there's a lot of meat on the bones that we're just throwing in the trash. *It's a very competitive space, and demand is almost perfectly elastic. *There's a very low barrier to entry for new competitors who want to enter the space. With enough industry experience, and a bit of startup capital anyone could enter this market relatively quickly. *My company has no proprietary knowledge, and nothing I would be doing would be considered a trade secret. They've just done it a long time and have gotten efficient at selling and advertising their products. *I'm an upper level manager of the company (think Director/VP level). *I would not use any company resources, time or even consulting current employees. *I would take extra efforts in layering LLC's so that a simple google search of the ownership couldn't be tied back to me. submitted by /u/TodaysTrash12345 [link] [comments]

• Starting a $70k/yr agency - lessons on getting the first few clients
  by /u/lilbean1s on May 8, 2024 at 9:45 pm

  Hello! First and foremost, I want to say that I am by no means an expert, I’m just here to share my story and what has worked for me thus far. Hopefully I can provide you guys with some value. So, around a year and a half ago I decided to start freelancing with web development. I was self-taught, and at the time I was a barber. I was fed up with using clunky tools for scheduling/managing my appointments, so I decided to code my own. Around the same time, I started to run ads on google directing traffic to my business, and I had great success with it - between 3-5 new clients per day in the first month. I witnessed firsthand the power that an optimized website and marketing could have on a business, so I figured it would be worth a shot to offer this service to local businesses like mine. After walking into similar businesses and pitching my story, I finally got my first client. By word of mouth and more cold approaches, I slowly got more and more clients that liked my work. A key lesson I learned starting out is obvious, but I wanted to emphasize it here: establish confidence with who you’re talking to. This can be done in so many ways, but in my case, it was twofold: I had results. I quite literally showed them my google ads campaign’s results and the amount of website clicks/bookings/calls I was getting. Being honest and having results is perhaps the most useful thing I did. My offer was unique. Starting out, I wasn’t sure how successful I would be, even if I had my results in front of their faces. So I made them an offer they couldn’t refuse. I chose to go with performance-based pricing, so that if they didn’t get the results we agreed upon, I wouldn’t get paid. This meant I had to back up my talk. Lastly, I decided to incentivize referrals. If my clients landed me a new project, I would give my clients 10% of whatever I ended up charging them. This also was a huge boost I hope you found some of this info useful! In short, solve a problem you have, optimize, and help others do the same. submitted by /u/lilbean1s [link] [comments]

• How do you deal with the Hedonic Treadmill?
  by /u/firsthandbreaker89 on May 8, 2024 at 9:24 pm

  From Wikipedia: "The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes. According to this theory, as a person makes more money, expectations and desires rise in tandem, which results in no permanent gain in happiness." I can't speak for everyone but I personally definitely got into entrepreneurship to chase money and power. I've gotten some modest level of success, but the corresponding gain in happiness has been very brief. Has anyone found the "key" to permanent happiness? submitted by /u/firsthandbreaker89 [link] [comments]

• What would you say are some of the advantages of hiring a remote developers?
  by /u/goat_creator on May 8, 2024 at 8:52 pm

  Startups, entrepreneurs, small businesses, what are some of the advantages you've had working with a remote developer? At the advent of the pandemic, most people went from the traditional method of building a team (offices). With the rise of remote work, many companies are turning to remote developers. Are the benefits of remote devs real, or just hype? and how has it benefited you so far? submitted by /u/goat_creator [link] [comments]

• Why is everyone a 22 years old millionaire these days ?
  by /u/ecopetroleum on May 8, 2024 at 8:24 pm

  It's becoming hard to get a grasp of what entrepreneurs are actually making. I remember 5 - 10 years ago when making 10k / month online was considered a massive success. Gurus used to talk about how it took them "decades" to get to that level. Nowadays it seems like every youtuber is a 23 years old agency owner making $ 150 000 / month. Google their name, even on reddit, plenty of people can "Attest" that they "are legit and the real deal". Am I missing something ? submitted by /u/ecopetroleum [link] [comments]

• Anyone have experience with Anytime Phones?
  by /u/firesignmerch on May 8, 2024 at 8:10 pm

  As a traveling entrepreneur I love Anytime Mail. The company just launched Anytime Phones. Have you tried the service yet? (It appears competitive to Google Voice) submitted by /u/firesignmerch [link] [comments]

• I launched a trustless ponzi on r/cc 13 days ago and it doesn't show signs of stopping
  by /u/swagamoney on May 8, 2024 at 6:56 pm

  So I soft-launched an Arbitrum app on the crypto sub that lets users host or join trustless ponzi games. You "invest" ETH and earn up to 100% ROI that's being paid by subsequent "investor" deposits. The catch is that your funds are only released when you hit the 1-100% ROI threshold (set by the game host). If the game expires before that - you lose your deposit. What I did differently from similar games in the past is that I made a jackpot function that pools all of these unreleased funds and gives them to the last player to join the game. It incentivizes players to join indefinitely as the jackpot grows exponentially. The catch is that each new deposit resets the 10-hour game timer. And because of that reason this one game is now live ever since launch (over 13 days). It won't me allow to insert an image but it's called "smol profits" on the platform Every time I think it will finally end someone joins and resets the timer. The last player to deposit a min. of 0.003 ETH is looking to cash 0.316 ETH or more than 100x at the moment. Or a 100% return on his deposit if enough people join after him. How do you think this plays out? Can this be a sustainable product? (I'm getting half of the host fees as the platform fee) P.S. the app is called ponzimarket and these are the contracts - https://github.com/swagamoney/ponzi.contracts (app link is there too) submitted by /u/swagamoney [link] [comments]

• Levelsio failed over 60 times, now he's making millions - why you shouldn't expect to triumph on the first attempt
  by /u/polisantiago on May 8, 2024 at 4:58 pm

  We've all seen the amazing success stories of entrepreneurs who struck it big with a new product or startup. But what the headlines often leave out is the long journey of failures and painful lessons that came before that breakthrough success. Take the example of Levelsio, a serial entrepreneur whose current ventures are now generating millions in revenue. But it wasn't an overnight success story. LevelSio revealed that he failed over 60 times with various business ideas and startups before finally hitting it big. Those past failures involved startups running out of cash, partnerships gone sour, poorly timed product launches, you name it. Levelsio experienced every type of entrepreneurial setback in the book. At times, he doubted whether he'd ever make it. But Levelsio kept persisting and learned invaluable lessons from each failed venture. He improved his skills in areas like product-market fit, marketing, etc. His grit and willingness to learn from mistakes ultimately paid off in a big way when the right opportunities and experience finally came together. Today, Levelsio's main ventures include: Levels.io shop ($11K/month revenue) TherapistAI.com ($3K/month) ApplicantAI.com ($1K/month) PhotoAI.com ($58K/month) InteriorAI.com ($45K/month) NomadList.com ($35K/month) RemoteOK.com ($42K/month) Collectively, these businesses are generating well into the millions in annual revenue. Not bad for someone who floundered through 60+ failed startups early on! The key takeaway: Very few entrepreneurs or innovators find stupendous success on their first attempt...keep trying! submitted by /u/polisantiago [link] [comments]

• I've spent the last 3 years studying Apple, Ogilvy, Liquid Death, and other best businesses - here are 10 NON-OBVIOUS psychology principles used by them to make billions of dollars every year
  by /u/Limejhit on May 8, 2024 at 4:02 pm

  Let's start by stating: "People don't buy products. They buy emotions" "95% of our purchasing decisions are emotional" -Harvard Business School The real WHY of WHY PEOPLE BUY is often hidden deep in psychology in the unconscious parts of our brains. Marketing tools are just the tools to influence the human psyche in one way or another, with psychology in its core. I play with behavioral science (psychology in marketing) on a daily basis, so I thought I will share 10 cognitive biases (mental shortcuts) here, so you can implement them in your business today to make a few extra bucks: 1. Risk Compensation Theory People adjust their behavior based on perceived risk. The less “risky” you make doing business with you, the higher your conversions. 🧠 Make it less risky Offer guarantees Outline a clear refund/return policy Give a lot of social proof to reduce perceived risk 2. Labour Illusion People value things more when they see the work behind them. "Effort is the universal currency of respect" 🧠 BUILD IN PUBLIC Constantly showcasing your startup journey, its ups & downs, and the new features you added to your products or services creates the perception there's a lot of work put into your business. Long waiting periods for service are unavoidable? Show your process. Educate your client on the craft performed during that period. Do you use any unusual material in your product? New, creative production process? Educate with a few extra words 3. Life Event Effect People are more likely to change their habits during a major life event In fact, those who have undergone a major life event are 3 times more likely to switch brands 🧠How to use it? Identify the life event most relevant to your category. Then use ads. Facebook lets you target people when they move to a new house, end a relationship, start a new job, or start university. Major life events shake up purchasing behavior. 4. Storytelling Effect People prefer and better remember stories than facts alone Watching, listening, hearing, or reading a story activates the same regions of the brain as those engaged when actually performing these actions in real life. 🧠 Don't show your product. Tell a story "The most powerful person is the storyteller." - Steve Jobs Research - Rob Walker story: In 2009, Rob Walker bought 200 objects from eBay for a total sum of $129. He then asked 200 authors to create a story for each object. Rob then sold those 200 objects with included stories on eBay again. He sold them for $8000. That's a 6202% increase in value. 5. Pratfall Effect A simple blunder or mistake of a person can improve the attractiveness or likability of that person The same goes for a brand. But here's the catch... Your brand needs to be well-perceived in the first place. Admitting to your flaws, when your brand is perceived as not reliable, only makes things worse. 🧠Be vulnerable • Embrace your imperfections VW Beetle campaign in the 1950s and 60s At that time American cars were supposed to be big, and stylish, not small and ugly. Yet the VW Beetle became a massive hit from its brilliant advertising campaigns. The campaign addressed everything typical American consumers didn’t like about the beetle. With headlines like: "Lemon", "One of the nice things about owning it is selling it", "And if you run out of gas, it’s easy to push", "Nobody’s perfect", or "Live below your means". 6. Foot-In-The-Door Technique People are more likely to agree to a large request by agreeing to a small one first Upsell whenever you can, but in a friendly, not pushy manner 🧠The easiest upsells Sell more of what you just offered them Sell something better than what you just offered them Sell something complimentary 7. Inaction Inertia Effect When missing an offer once you are likely to miss an offer twice When people see that you're giving big discounts frivolously every month or week, they tend to ignore them after a while. The perceived value of your product lowers with each discount 🧠Strategize your discounts Short-term gains are cool, but have you ever implemented a long-term pricing strategy? • Every person is different. Create an email sequence that will split your contacts into specific groups. Then customize the discounts for each group 8. Stepping Stones Any task you want your customers to do, needs to be broken down into smaller, attainable steps, otherwise, a person will get discouraged 🧠Viral refferal program When creating a referral program the most important reward is the first one. The first reward has to be both achievable and attractive to motivate people to participate. Harry's referral program collected 100k emails within a week, using this prize scheme: 5 users referred - Shave cream 10 users - Truman Handle Blade - Razor blade 25 users - Winston Shave set - Premium Handle 50 - One year free blades 9. Decoy Effect People change their preference between two options when presented with a third option (the decoy) that is “asymmetrically dominated” 🧠 3-tiered pricing pricing explained • 1 price = 2 choices: to buy or not • 2 prices = 3 choices: buy the cheaper one, the more expensive one, or not buy • By adding the third price, a much more expensive one, now the second price (the previous expensive one) looks like a bargain 10. Default Effect People tend to accept what we are given and stick with what we have When a company or brand makes a particular option the default or standard option, it is more likely that people will choose that option over other options that are presented. When we are not sure what to do and lack expertise in the area we consider the default as a form of advice and we stick to that. 🧠Make the usual no-brainer offer the default option A large national railroad in Europe increased its annual revenue by an estimated $40 million by changing its website to automatically include seat reservations unless customers explicitly opted out. Prior to the change, only 9% of tickets sold included reservations, but after the change, 47% of tickets sold included reservations. That's it If you want more I have a FREE NEWSLETTER where I share over 140+ more biases like these ones, but in a more extended versions submitted by /u/Limejhit [link] [comments]

• An idiot admires complexity. A genius admires simplicity.
  by /u/johnrushx on May 8, 2024 at 2:44 pm

  I'm 35 years old, married with kids, and working from home in a small Turkish village while having a little home farm with veggies and rabbits. I run 24 products with no employees. I'm obsessed with productivity and simplicity. ​ Complexity isn't an asset; it's your liability. All my simplicity hacks: 1. Solo teams. One person - one task. No meetings, no discussions, no arguments, no drama. 2. Google Sheets. The simplest & most powerful human invention. I use it for accounting, planning, documentation, backend, and database. It's easy to use, share, edit, clone, automate. 3. Less features. I don't copy an existing tool & add more features on top of it. Most products are difficult to use because they have too many features for too many audiences. I pick one audience and remove everything that is irrelevant. Often, that's 90% of the stuff gone. 4. Multi-functional people. I don't have people doing just one job. My DevOps guy does support, accounting, paperwork, finances, and more. His output is, in fact, better than what I had back in VC-funded startups with dedicated employees per job. 5. I adapt for simplicity. For example, I use Mercury Bank because it's simple to use. Other banks have more financial instruments, but I'd have to spend more time setting them up and operating them. 6. My org setup is flat & simple. I have no system. It's me, and everyone else reports to me directly. There are no more managers. Everything is done via Discord chat. Every "job" has a channel in Discord where we discuss it. There are no emails or PM software. There are only chats and Google Sheets for structured data. 7. I have zero employees. Only contractors. So that I don't have to bother with all the paperwork, their holiday pay, and other stuff. 8. I work from home. No office to rent and maintain. 9. Simple websites. All my websites have very simple landing pages made using my own simple website builder. I spent less than an hour making them. I've never made an advanced website with fancy animations and flashy elements. It's the #1 procrastination trap 90% of founders fall into. My simple websites bring hundreds of thousands in sales, while those fancy sites sit on zeros. 10. Simple products. I never spend time making custom designs. Design isn't how the product looks! Design is how the product works, so I put a lot of effort into UX but never into UI. I copy the existing patterns and use random popular UI libraries and default colors. 11. I only hire when it hurts. More people = More liabilities. Find them, screen them, onboard them, and ensure they're happy and know what to do, among other things. I either do new tasks myself or throw them onto existing team members until it really hurts and I have to add one more person. I don't think there is a more effective organization on earth today than my org. 12. I buy my time back. I don't waste my time doing things I can pay for. So many founders spend days doing things they could pay $ for. Time is your key asset. Save it at all costs. 13. NoCode vs High Code. I'm a coder; I know Assembler, C++, Delphi, PHP, ASP, C#, JS, TS, Python, NextJS, and more. But I still go for NoCode SaaS for most of my MVPs. Because I'm not falling for "I can code this one on a weekend..". The key advantage of NoCode comes after release when I have to iterate fast. 14. Avoid obstacles. I avoid everything that may turn into a never-ending mess. Despite the common belief that founders must be brave at taking challenges, I actually avoid challenges. My goal is to be like a river that finds the easiest possible path forward towards the sea. I do take my battles, but I choose them wisely. That's it. What's your productivity or simplicity hack? submitted by /u/johnrushx [link] [comments]

• What's the most cost-effective option for email marketing service catering to around 1500 users? I'm specifically looking for Cheap email marketing solutions
  by /u/josh252 on May 8, 2024 at 2:09 pm

  Hi all, My team and I have recently launched a service website and are keen on initiating bulk, personalized email campaigns to reach our prospective customers, prioritizing Cheap email marketing solutions. · I'm on the lookout for a cost-effective email marketing tool. While options like Mailchimp and AWS are popular, affordability is a key factor for us. · How can I ensure that our emails avoid the dreaded Spam/Junk folder? While I understand it's often inevitable, I'm eager to learn strategies to minimize this risk. · Additionally, I'm curious about the feasibility of creating personalized email scripts. Is it possible to automate this process effectively? Marketing isn't my forte, but I'm dedicated to learning and improving. Any advice or insights from seasoned marketers would be immensely valuable to me and my team! submitted by /u/josh252 [link] [comments]

• What are some of your favorite applied sales strategies?
  by /u/Technical_Visual_272 on May 8, 2024 at 1:24 pm

  Whether it's using a system of tools in a particular way or even just a simple sales script submitted by /u/Technical_Visual_272 [link] [comments]

• I feel like I am wasting my 20s
  by /u/Minimum_Cartoonist42 on May 8, 2024 at 12:51 pm

  I've been hanging around here, soaking up all your awesome success stories, and I've gotta say, you guys are seriously inspiring. But now, I'm itching to get in on the action myself. I'm a 24-year-old woman with loads of time on my hands and a hunger for experience and growth. I don’t want to waste my 20s. I feel like I'm wasting my sharp mind, and I'm desperately looking for something to channel all my energy into. I have been actively searching for full-time Virtual Assistant roles, and I thought of no better place to post than here. I have some experience with social media management and lead generation, and while I may not have a ton of experience yet, I'm eager to learn, highly trainable, and I've got a keen eye for detail. While financial compensation is important due to my obligations to pay my bills and support my family, what I'm really after is the chance to learn from someone more experienced than me while supporting their journey and helping them achieve work-life balance (WLB). So, if you've got any projects that need an extra set of hands, repetitive tasks that keep dragging you down, or tasks you’re itching to delegate, hit me up. I’m your girl! submitted by /u/Minimum_Cartoonist42 [link] [comments]

• What anchors you?
  by /u/flypinkocean on May 8, 2024 at 11:59 am

  I found love from my life partner (feeling supported that I don’t actually need to succeed in my business but just give my best) and religion (praying, conversation with God and myself helps). What works for you? submitted by /u/flypinkocean [link] [comments]

• I have nearly £3000/mo of product sat on my desk and I have absolutely no idea how to sell it.
  by /u/vegandtwomeat on May 8, 2024 at 11:15 am

  I'm a fairly competent developer and I've written an entire pet-tag service from scratch, trying to plug some gaps that I've seen with current offerings. I've designed and purchased 1200 physical tags from a supplier on Alibaba, which are now sat on my desk. They're retailing for £2.89/month (or £1/month for extra tags per order) and I've got various offers/discount codes. Once PayPal take their cut, I'll get about £2.45/mo... so on my desk sits potentially £2940/mo (in an ideal world where none ever get cancelled, no extra tags are purchased etc, but still a decent side-income when these cost me about 20p each to get printed and shipped), and that's if I never sold more than those 1200... I'd like this to be an ongoing, growing venture. The tags themselves are stylish, modern, about the size of a £1 and contain a QR code that takes you to the pet profile with things like name, temperament, vet details, owner details (if they choose to share). When scanned, a GPS location of the phone scanning it is sent to the pet owner via text & email, the scanner can also contact the pet owner direct from the tag without ever revealing their info. We inform all vets in a 15 mile radius if your pet is lost, we auto generate lost pet posters for the owner to print or share online, we offer 6 free replacements per year etc... almost ALL of this is handled by automation (which I have a background in) & AI so my interaction with the system is minimal, other than to watch over it, respond to customer emails and physically post orders. I use PayPal to handle the subscriptions so that customers can transparently and easily cancel at any time (just going on our competitor socials shows a huge number of people struggling to cancel and just getting charged every month). Obviously that £2.45 profit on each goes toward web hosting costs, ongoing coding & security audits, text & email services that I use etc first, and then the moment I can afford it I want to start paying a professional web dev agency to co-manage the codebase & security as well as paying accountants, virtual PA companies to help with customer care etc, something else which is super important to me and that a lot of my competitors seem to lack. I know it's tiny numbers, but I've given about 30 away so far which are all being used by local folk; I set up a waiting list for a couple of months and they absolutely flew out and I've had nothing but overwhelmingly positive feedback on them, which shows me the product & service must be at least half decent. I've also sold 16 locally through posting on our local Facebook pages, friend referrals and recommendations etc, which tells me people are happy to pay monthly. So here's where I fall down, and that's sales on any kind of scale... there's 17 million pet owners in the UK, so even just getting in front of a small percentage of those. I haven't got a clue HOW to get them out there in front of potential customers, other than paid ads, and that isn't viable currently. I was selling a similar product (Dementia/ICE tags) using Meta ads and had a decent amount of success (generating about £300/month recurring revenue from those) until around Feb when the whole Meta ads system seems to have taken a total nosedive. Currently ~£500 in the hole on Meta ads and not a single sale on my pet tags. I'm trying to run Google Ads but once I start adding negative keywords of my competitors (Crumb etc) then imps/clicks drop off a cliff and Google is really struggling to spend my budget. Again, so far, no sales from Google Ads either. So I'm interested in what kinds of older-school, organic sales channels I might look into trying? So far I've emailed just under 2000 pet walker/groomer/services companies across the country and had a lot of "good luck" replies but no sales or joint promotion ventures. I've approached pet shops in my area & beyond to stock them, but all of them either currently stock competitors or won't stock subscription based items. Any direction or pointers would be much appreciated. I'm not looking for any quick fixes, if I can shift this initial 1200 within say, a year, that'd be great. Thanks in advance for your time! submitted by /u/vegandtwomeat [link] [comments]

• What's the most appealing aspect of buying an existing business rather than starting from scratch?
  by /u/nunziopresta on May 8, 2024 at 11:12 am

  Looking forward to reading your comments. submitted by /u/nunziopresta [link] [comments]

• I will Roast Your Landing page & Provide Page Design, Usability, and UX Report using AI (Free for today)
  by /u/trippy_hustler on May 8, 2024 at 9:57 am

  Hey r/Entrepreneur folks Here's the thing: Today, I'm setting aside some time to roast your landing page and offer a Personalized User Experience & Website Usability Audit report for the website absolutely free of charge. I just need some genuine feedback on the report and any ideas for improvement. Expect detailed reports similar to these: Sample Website Audit 1: Sample Website Audit 2: Just drop the URL of the website you'd like audited, and I'll reply with the audit report. Your support and insights are invaluable. Hoping that this audit report sparks some inspiration for you. And, of course, I'm eager to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Thanks in advance submitted by /u/trippy_hustler [link] [comments]