Official Entrepreneur/Business Thread vol.1

[johnnyredstorm]

Im starting a 3d printing service at my university this coming semester, along with 2 other guys. We currently run an entrepreneurship club that focuses on disruptive technology and we have convinced two of our schools faculties to lend us their 3d printers since we have the technical abilities and time to operate them properly and with out us they would just be collecting dust. we dont really need these additional printers (although more is always better in this case) as we each own our own printers but we wanted to gain control of as many school printers as we can in order to eliminate any potential competition before starting our service this january.

our target market is going to be engineering students and various other classes where 3d printing can be used in the creation of class projects. from here we will be able to get a better understanding of the most efficient ways to interact with our customers and create a streamlined online ordering interface which will allow us to scale in the future. the goal is to set up our first 3d print shop at our school but eventually branch out to other schools in the area and even local tech hubs. 

what i really look forward to in this startup is creating a positive change in the world while promoting our company name. we have been in contact with a local hospital and as a way to not only do something really cool for people in need but also use it as a method of getting media coverage and brand recognition, we are going to be giving out free custom fit prosthetic hands for people that need them (costs like 15 dollars per arm in material costs to print). we are also looking to make a bunch of microscopic lens that you can slide on to your iphone that allows iphone (we also have models for a bunch of other popular brands of phone) cameras to take pictures at 100x, 350x and 1000x magnification. we are going to donate a bunch of these (costs half a dollar in material costs to make) to local grade schools in hopes of promoting interest in science. 

when it comes to entrepreneurship its great if you can build a profitable business and thats what you should always be striving for, but its always been the freedom to try and make a change in the world that excites me and motivates me to work harder than the competition

this sounds dope 3d printing is amazing technology. really fascinates me.

 

[mplsdunk]

Look, you want to open a stip club right?  You're going to need to buy or rent a property.  Renting is going to be expensive as hell when they find out what type of establishment you are running.  Insurance is going to be a grip as well.  You're going to have to get a license for booze from your county/state.  And you're going to have to find some muscle.  Next you have to market your new strip joint and you're going to have to have some decent chicks working in there at first to get people in the door and to take business from other ventures in your area.  All I'm saying is if you want to dive into that life, you might as well get a few current 'working girls' under your wing or break some new ones into it.  From there you build your clientele, meet some of the 'players' in that industry, start bringing in some side change to pay for this club you want to open etc.  In turn you get cash and more and more girls under your management and you have an easier transition once you do decide you are ready to open your club.  That's how I'd finesse it anyways.   

Repped

Do you know any strippers or people who run strip clubs? Just saying... Do you really want to deal with that?

 

[pointguard]

 
Im starting a 3d printing service at my university this coming semester, along with 2 other guys. We currently run an entrepreneurship club that focuses on disruptive technology and we have convinced two of our schools faculties to lend us their 3d printers since we have the technical abilities and time to operate them properly and with out us they would just be collecting dust. we dont really need these additional printers (although more is always better in this case) as we each own our own printers but we wanted to gain control of as many school printers as we can in order to eliminate any potential competition before starting our service this january.

our target market is going to be engineering students and various other classes where 3d printing can be used in the creation of class projects. from here we will be able to get a better understanding of the most efficient ways to interact with our customers and create a streamlined online ordering interface which will allow us to scale in the future. the goal is to set up our first 3d print shop at our school but eventually branch out to other schools in the area and even local tech hubs. 

what i really look forward to in this startup is creating a positive change in the world while promoting our company name. we have been in contact with a local hospital and as a way to not only do something really cool for people in need but also use it as a method of getting media coverage and brand recognition, we are going to be giving out free custom fit prosthetic hands for people that need them (costs like 15 dollars per arm in material costs to print). we are also looking to make a bunch of microscopic lens that you can slide on to your iphone that allows iphone (we also have models for a bunch of other popular brands of phone) cameras to take pictures at 100x, 350x and 1000x magnification. we are going to donate a bunch of these (costs half a dollar in material costs to make) to local grade schools in hopes of promoting interest in science. 

when it comes to entrepreneurship its great if you can build a profitable business and thats what you should always be striving for, but its always been the freedom to try and make a change in the world that excites me and motivates me to work harder than the competition

So eventually you want to become sort of what alibaba suppliers do by having someone contact you online and you manufacturer and send them there product right? So you eventually want a huge factory if my understanding is correct.

 

[wj4]

You would be surprised at how many businesses can be started on less than 100$ and run monthly no more then 1-200 dollars. Read the book the 100 dollar startup,the author profiles entrepreneurs who started businesses on less than 100 and have made at least 50k. I'll post the book free here when I get to my laptop later.

Nothing surprises me much anymore after meeting a homeless who became a self made millionaire, man

If there's a place where anyone can make it, it's in the US.

Thanks for the suggestion. It'll be book number 8-9 on the queue. To the dudes who are crunched on time, you would be surprised how fast you can chew through a book even if you just dedicate 5-10 mins to it daily. I do this while I eat my breakfast. Trying to cut out TV for the most part now.

very important (of course depending on what you do the importance can vary). after the stage where you have made a product that you think people will like the next equally as challenging step is convincing people that its better than the next product without any brandname to fall back on. gotta nail that elevator pitch and describe what you do and why its important to someone in a few sentences. as a startup you cant afford to blow money on hiring a sales guy so you have to do all the pitches yourself. 

check this video out, its pretty basic but it gives a good outline of the topics you brought up in your post

I do a lot of public speaking so I'm pretty confident in myself. I only asked because I may consider a lateral move onto a sales position at my current gig.

Do you know any strippers or people who run strip clubs? Just saying... Do you really want to deal with that?

It's rough. Back when I was in my early 20s, I was destined to open a club because I thought it would be easy money. Then I did for research into it, and found how volatile it is.

 

[pointguard]

Nothing surprises me much anymore after meeting a homeless who became a self made millionaire, man

If there's a place where anyone can make it, it's in the US.

Thanks for the suggestion. It'll be book number 8-9 on the queue. To the dudes who are crunched on time, you would be surprised how fast you can chew through a book even if you just dedicate 5-10 mins to it daily. I do this while I eat my breakfast. Trying to cut out TV for the most part now.
I do a lot of public speaking so I'm pretty confident in myself. I only asked because I may consider a lateral move onto a sales position at my current gig.
It's rough. Back when I was in my early 20s, I was destined to open a club because I thought it would be easy money. Then I did for research into it, and found how volatile it is.

Homeless to millionaore? Whats his story?

 

[wj4]

Homeless to millionaore? Whats his story?

Met him through my Ethics professor. The professor is zen like and knows a few homeless to millionaire folks.

This one picked up an apprenticeship as a handyman so he can have shelter. He honed the skills. He found a niche in making blinds/shutters that seal off wind. Started offering that service, and expanded into other home renovation services.

The other impressive one is a friend of mom. He came from Thailand in the 70s. Worked at a swapmeet, lived inside his car. He now owns a pretty successful import/export company.

Granted, both got lucky (since I know other guys who failed at business who are learned), but they serve as inspirations to me.

I've only started to keep in touch with business and positive minded folks in my mid 20s. So this goes back to my advice to you guys is to find like minded individuals and keep in touch with them. Block out the nay sayers, not to be confused with the ones that give you constructive criticism. I love NT and been browsing since 2001, but in general, cats here dislike seeing other members succeed and try to get some laughs in.

 

[pointguard]

Met him through my Ethics professor. The professor is zen like and knows a few homeless to millionaire folks.

This one picked up an apprenticeship as a handyman so he can have shelter. He honed the skills. He found a niche in making blinds/shutters that seal off wind. Started offering that service, and expanded into other home renovation services.

The other impressive one is a friend of mom. He came from Thailand in the 70s. Worked at a swapmeet, lived inside his car. He now owns a pretty successful import/export company.

Granted, both got lucky (since I know other guys who failed at business who are learned), but they serve as inspirations to me.

I've only started to keep in touch with business and positive minded folks in my mid 20s. So this goes back to my advice to you guys is to find like minded individuals and keep in touch with them. Block out the nay sayers, not to be confused with the ones that give you constructive criticism. I love NT and been browsing since 2001, but in general, cats here dislike seeing other members succeed and try to get some laughs in.

Not just NT thats life 

 

[wj4]

Not just NT thats life 

Goes without saying. Not sure how long you've been on here for, but NT has been used as a vehicle to make a few people very affluent, both publicly and privately.

 

[pointguard]

Goes without saying. Not sure how long you've been on here for, but NT has been used as a vehicle to make a few people very affluent, both publicly and privately.

Examples? Not saying  its not true I know Ben Baller but that's all I can remember.

 

[mplsdunk]

Couple YouTube cats I know. I don't know of anyone else.

 

[durantula]

Will definitley be keeping up witht his thread

 

[wj4]

Examples? Not saying  its not true I know Ben Baller but that's all I can remember.

You probably wouldn't know them. I don't even remember their OG SN's since they're not active anymore. A couple are still deep in this sneaker thing, they continued to get connections, and invested 6 figure into their stores/businesses and are doing extremely well.. I met these guys back in 2001-2002 when we still had summits, and a couple of them held me down and gave me rides to pick up kicks before I had a car and license. Back then the vibe was very different Average age had to be older, and cats were down to help each other out. This was when I was in the 10th grade.

I went on a hiatus for a couple of years so don't know much from 2010-2012 or so.

Point is surround yourself with uplifting people goes a long way, even on social media.

There are a lot of crafty folks on NT, most just don't post much. The board has a lot of power. I have no doubt Nike has folks monitoring certain sub sections themselves.

One of the guys I met back in the day is doing pretty well now with tried and failed/succeeded ventures. We bonded over sneakers and cars initially and always talked about registering in a Gumball race or a Goldrush or something of that nature. If/when it happens, NT logo would be somewhere on the vinyl

Apologies to get a bit off topic, been bored the last few days. Ordered the book by the way on $100 Start Up. It got decent reviews on Amazon, which was the green light.

 

[pointguard]

You probably wouldn't know them. I don't even remember their OG SN's since they're not active anymore. A couple are still deep in this sneaker thing, they continued to get connections, and invested 6 figure into their stores/businesses and are doing extremely well.. I met these guys back in 2001-2002 when we still had summits, and a couple of them held me down and gave me rides to pick up kicks before I had a car and license. Back then the vibe was very different Average age had to be older, and cats were down to help each other out. This was when I was in the 10th grade.

I went on a hiatus for a couple of years so don't know much from 2010-2012 or so.

Point is surround yourself with uplifting people goes a long way, even on social media.

There are a lot of crafty folks on NT, most just don't post much. The board has a lot of power. I have no doubt Nike has folks monitoring certain sub sections themselves.

One of the guys I met back in the day is doing pretty well now with tried and failed/succeeded ventures. We bonded over sneakers and cars initially and always talked about registering in a Gumball race or a Goldrush or something of that nature. If/when it happens, NT logo would be somewhere on the vinyl

Apologies to get a bit off topic, been bored the last few days. Ordered the book by the way on $100 Start Up. It got decent reviews on Amazon, which was the green light.

tYeah I'm sure there are many people on this forum who have what it takes. 
 

And you know I posted the book free earlier on this tnread for free right?

 

[girlslovewaffles]

If you're not down to work a 9-5, I'd avoid starting your own business - you'll be working way more than 9-5.

 

[mr jordan04]

If you're not down to work a 9-5, I'd avoid starting your own business - you'll be working way more than 9-5.

How dude posted above, most people just see the new Benz, Rolex, and vacations the person goes on. Little do they know they guy has $178 in his account and bounces checks monthly. There's a lot of time, work, and brainpower that go into a business. Don't be fooled by the material things you see some of these business owners wearing or talking about.

 

[FThe45th]

P4L

NT lets start a business

 

[pointguard]

In the process of taking my company to the next level right now it's ran reasonably well but I want a company that can potentially be acquired in the future , my next goal is to study CRM , Cloud Computing , Cyber Security , etc. If anyone's interested in the resources I'm using let me know and I'll share.

 

[thatmartiankid]

Great idea and perfect target market in Manhattan.

Diff sector kinda but some kids on my middle school football team the parents put them in the program at chelsea peir(I cant think of the name) for speed and agility training. Spending lots of money just so they can have the best shot to lower their 40 time by a fraction.

Best of luck to you. I work in the Healthcare sector as well and trust me these park ave drs with self pay patients are making bank and only seeing 8-15 pts a day.

Can you explain more about the healthcare sector you work at and some info of those self pay patients in park ave? thanks.  I plan on going into pharma in the future and hopefully getting my MBA in pharmaceutical management.  I'm still doing lots of research because I finally found what field I'm interested in. Currently still doing my undergrad in Finance/Marketing Management.

 

[iamdef]

A LOT of gems being dropped in here

I've "owned" a few clothing/shirt lines in the past and now working on my photography business. The photography game is starting to look like the clothing/shirt line game now since every sneakerhead is flexing on IG with their bokeh photos of DB Jordans lol It's so easy to get distracted trying to show people you're just as good as those who have 2k+ followers on IG while also not following behind them trying to keep up with them instead of focusing on your game.

I'll be going back to my fashion photography next month and fashion production in the next couple of years. I just gotta get over this marketing hump cause I've been blaming me not getting rolling on not having a strong follower base to push me into a more public eye. I think I'm finding out its also my poor/subpar marketing, may have to spend money on more FB ads to get more likes on my page cause that sure did seem to work

 

[pointguard]

 
A LOT of gems being dropped in here

I've "owned" a few clothing/shirt lines in the past and now working on my photography business. The photography game is starting to look like the clothing/shirt line game now since every sneakerhead is flexing on IG with their bokeh photos of DB Jordans lol It's so easy to get distracted trying to show people you're just as good as those who have 2k+ followers on IG while also not following behind them trying to keep up with them instead of focusing on your game.

I'll be going back to my fashion photography next month and fashion production in the next couple of years. I just gotta get over this marketing hump cause I've been blaming me not getting rolling on not having a strong follower base to push me into a more public eye. I think I'm finding out its also my poor/subpar marketing, may have to spend money on more FB ads to get more likes on my page cause that sure did seem to work

Getting a professional website done will help you a lot with marketing and seperate you from the kids who just take pictures with a dslr and post on instagram and call them selves "photographers" . What's your IG name ?

 

[wj4]

If you're not down to work a 9-5, I'd avoid starting your own business - you'll be working way more than 9-5.

Yep. Same goes for corporate America too. There's a reason why most management positions are salary. We work wayyyy more than 40 hours.

tYeah I'm sure there are many people on this forum who have what it takes. 

 
And you know I posted the book free earlier on this tnread for free right?

Yes. Call me old school, I actually like owning books and building a library out of them. It was $15 or so...not a big deal.

 

[iamdef]

 
Getting a professional website done will help you a lot with marketing and seperate you from the kids who just take pictures with a dslr and post on instagram and call them selves "photographers" . What's your IG name ?

I remember way back when I was going to get one built from the ground and getting quotes of 700+ and was scared away lol

I think I'm going to clear out my photography IG after I get my laptop back from the shop and start posting only my best pics. You can really see how my skills grew in the progression on my IG

personal "iam_DEF" photography "frgnallgnc"

 

[pointguard]

 
I remember way back when I was going to get one built from the ground and getting quotes of 700+ and was scared away lol

I think I'm going to clear out my photography IG after I get my laptop back from the shop and start posting only my best pics. You can really see how my skills grew in the progression on my IG

personal "iam_DEF" photography "frgnallgnc"

Nice! I loved that Deer pic.

 

[iamdef]

 
Nice! I loved that Deer pic.

Thanks man. I'm trying to get away from just doing digitals and getting printwork as my main product.

I found a guy on IG that is pretty well known with his photobooks and I bought his Chief Keef book to get a look at how he consructs his books and the condition of em so I can use it as a template/inspiration point

here's his site: http://www.frank151.com/book/

 

[sole searchin]

P4L

Dental related business, but those books will be read.