Official Entrepreneur/Business Thread vol.1

[sea manup]

hiretheworld.com is another good site for freelance logo design

theres also fiverr.com if you're super cheap. you get what you pay for though 

 

[mplsdunk]

I'm in mn. The food will be home style for the most part. Should be fun I'll never have a free moment once it's up.

Ah I see. Only been to MN once and that was Eden Prairie for a job. Friendly folks.

I ask since I wanted to know how you would cover insurance for your workers since you need to provide for them.

I assume this would have to be a seasonal thing? Since you guys get mad snow and all.

That's out in the burbs. I'm like 20 minutes away.

I don't remember how much the insurance was specifically. But the break down is this. You pay them 12 an hour they cost you about 13. My boy handles all that.

We're going all winter. Or at least until people stop coming. You never know what's going to happen here with winter. It was 40 today and no snow in sight.

It's going to be a one or two man operation for the most part.

 

[pointguard]

More geared towards tech startupss but there's still useful information for business owners of all industries in Paul Graham's Articles: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html  

 

[tay1]

 
One of the sites I use for college textbooks: http://bookboon.com/    but are you interested in more owning a business or working in one in an upper management position?

I'm more interested in owning one.

 

[sea manup]

 

 
One of the sites I use for college textbooks: http://bookboon.com/    but are you interested in more owning a business or working in one in an upper management position?

I'm more interested in owning one.

dont go to business school if your goal is to start your own business, huge waste of time

instead learn everything you can about whatever your product or service is. hardest part of any business is finding something that people actually want to buy, the actual business part is easy

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Basically could start with sports since I'm a sports writer and I wanna do these random sports articles on athletes I find intriguing. Not a breakdown of games or anything (although that could be good for a podcast) but just like a stroll down memory lane and analysis of athletes. I also trade stocks so I wouldn't mind discussing the tribulations of trading, that days activity or whatever.


Obviously I could do a blog but blogs are meh.

i know you already write for BR and BR sounds a lot like what you're talking about

what aspects of BR are not living up to expectations for you to feel the need to start your own thing?


for easy to make websites check out wordpress or squarespace. start small, nothing wrong with a blog. do your thing, get it out there for people to see, encourage community feedback and find people that are also passionate about the topics you cover. ask them if they wanted to give writing a shot and as your community and writer base gets bigger and bigger eventually your one man blog can turn into a content company.

gotta plant and water a seed before you can have your tree

Honestly takes forever to get paid. And it's a slow process to move up the ranks from part time where you make like 300 a month to a real wage. I honestly just want something of my own on the side. I've always been fascinated with running my own company. I think I might just write an ebook for random athlete articles in a similar vein to that Kwame Brown article and just compile them all together and self publish it on Amazon. Just looking for more ways to get my work out there.

 

[tay1]

 
dont go to business school if your goal is to start your own business, huge waste of time

instead learn everything you can about whatever your product or service is. hardest part of any business is finding something that people actually want to buy, the actual business part is easy

I'm not going into business school for that. My focus is on something different, and I don't plan on opening a business within the next 5 years or even a little longer. I just want to understand the ins and outs of how businesses operate.

 

[sea manup]

 

 

Basically could start with sports since I'm a sports writer and I wanna do these random sports articles on athletes I find intriguing. Not a breakdown of games or anything (although that could be good for a podcast) but just like a stroll down memory lane and analysis of athletes. I also trade stocks so I wouldn't mind discussing the tribulations of trading, that days activity or whatever.


Obviously I could do a blog but blogs are meh.

i know you already write for BR and BR sounds a lot like what you're talking about

what aspects of BR are not living up to expectations for you to feel the need to start your own thing?


for easy to make websites check out wordpress or squarespace. start small, nothing wrong with a blog. do your thing, get it out there for people to see, encourage community feedback and find people that are also passionate about the topics you cover. ask them if they wanted to give writing a shot and as your community and writer base gets bigger and bigger eventually your one man blog can turn into a content company.

gotta plant and water a seed before you can have your tree

Honestly takes forever to get paid. And it's a slow process to move up the ranks from part time where you make like 300 a month to a real wage. I honestly just want something of my own on the side. I've always been fascinated with running my own company. I think I might just write an ebook for random athlete articles in a similar vein to that Kwame Brown article and just compile them all together and self publish it on Amazon. Just looking for more ways to get my work out there.

im no expert on all the platforms of online publication but check out wattpad.com i know that several people have gotten their books published on there after building up a solid fan base. it seems to be more geared towards fiction though but still worth checking out to get a better understanding of different platforms to get your work out

sounds like you want to do what bill simmons did with grantland? 

also if you do start your own company that's like BR, you have a huge advantage when developing your website since you knows what BR writers like and dislike about the website so you can create your product in a way that fixes those issues. 

 

[dipsetgeneral]

Need this thread to start a business. Tired of working a 9-5..

 

[johnnyredstorm]

Yeah definitely a Grantland type with the uniqueness of each article instead of a game to game analysis.

That's the thing I've got a good grasp with BR so I feel like I have an ok base on the model. Just need to learn more about SEO and what not.

I'll check out WattPadd since fiction's actually my bread and butter. I wanna make it as a novelist more than anything. Sports has always been a hobby to me which is why I don't mind too much working through the ranks and paying my dues in the interim.

Thanks bruh.

 

[wj4]

I'm not going into business school for that. My focus is on something different, and I don't plan on opening a business within the next 5 years or even a little longer. I just want to understand the ins and outs of how businesses operate.

You can intern in your free time then. Anyone can use free help. I grew up on NT....I regret wasting so many bored summer/winter breaks doing nothing. If I can go back, I would intern in every field I can/found interesting.

RE: textbooks, I would honestly just get a couple of textbooks to understand the fundamentals, ie fixed cost, break even point, variable costs, etc. Opt to buy the older edition because they're cheaper. The only things change are examples, but rarely do the actual text.

business books come and go. One of the first business books I bought in the mid 2000s was on how Blackberry found success. Welp, look at where they're at now. I see these books like sports analysis. If Kobe makes that 3 with 3.1 seconds left to win the game, analysts would phrase him for it. If he misses, they would've said he got lazy and should've gone for a lay up with that much time left. It's easy to reflect retrospectively.

dont go to business school if your goal is to start your own business, huge waste of time

instead learn everything you can about whatever your product or service is. hardest part of any business is finding something that people actually want to buy, the actual business part is easy

I disagree with this though you certainly don't need one to succeed. I thoroughly loved my MBA program and would still go through it if I can. My first master's program is questionable...at this point, I probably would've skipped it since it was for a field I don't particularly love though the pay is decent.

In an entrepreneurship class, we all had to help local businesses who were failing. I had to help a restaurant. The guy put his life saving into it, and was losing everything. Worst case scenario: he would be on the streets. He had a degree in Biology. He had no business plan, no marketing strategy, nothing. I had to revamp from the ground up. It's scary how many small biz owners do things blindfolded.

Need this thread to start a business. Tired of working a 9-5..

Then you need to stop buying those Jordans every month, bud


In all honesty though, people just see the end result and the salt kicks in...oh look at him in that 458, swerving the steering wheel to show off the Rolex, I wish that was me, etc.

When you start a business, you are finance, you are marketing, you are human resources, you are everything, but you are the last one to get paid. When you have a steady job, you are guaranteed a paycheck, with most likely a decent package including paid time off, dental/vision/care, and 401k matching.


Most people succeed because they have something passionate they want to turn into fruition. Making money is the by product.

 

[mplsdunk]

Network your *** off. No way in hell I would be able to start something this expensive on my own. Sometimes there is power in numbers. Depending on the people.

Even of you're by yourself.
Branding
It
Accounting
Construction

Every step cost money and it's nice to have friends in all fields to help you out.

 

[wj4]

Network your *** off. No way in hell I would be able to start something this expensive on my own. Sometimes there is power in numbers. Depending on the people.

Networking is key. It's a way of life for me. I break bread with everyone.

You gotta use your own money to show potential investors that you're dedicated to it. I'm 50/50 regards to going in business with friends. I've seen it pan out both ways....some cases they work, some cases they clash, business parts way and so does the friendship.

 

[mplsdunk]

Yeah. Like I said it depends on the friend. Mine is my roommate and very good friend. He's already well off. Cool cat money doesn't phase him because he's already had it. I just got him to fund me in a food truck a

What happened with me was I was bored during construction and got a job in a brand new restaurant (for networking) after I ate there. They just seemed real cool and knew their stuff. A few months later I decided to propose a partnership. We have a truck and farm. They have a prep kitchen and restaurant. Since we're both two start ups it's going to be great to use eachothers resources and cut costs. That's the plan at least.

I'm not trying to get rich off food. I just want to work for myself and my friends. Not some old man who I don't know. That's what I'm about. I just helped this place open and it was complete organized chaos. And I'm going to do it again this spring. I love it.

 

[wj4]

Something I've been thinking lately: how important do you think sales skills are for a start up? To pitch to potential investors, Angels, etc. A lot of firms put sales and marketing together. I am a pretty solid presenter but I've never had sales experience. You obviously want to do your due diligence but if your job is to close deals, it's probably easier and comes natural.

 

[pointguard]

Networking is key. It's a way of life for me. I break bread with everyone.

You gotta use your own money to show potential investors that you're dedicated to it. I'm 50/50 regards to going in business with friends. I've seen it pan out both ways....some cases they work, some cases they clash, business parts way and so does the friendship.

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.

 

[sea manup]

Something I've been thinking lately: how important do you think sales skills are for a start up? To pitch to potential investors, Angels, etc. A lot of firms put sales and marketing together. I am a pretty solid presenter but I've never had sales experience. You obviously want to do your due diligence but if your job is to close deals, it's probably easier and comes natural.

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

 

[sea manup]

 

Networking is key. It's a way of life for me. I break bread with everyone.

You gotta use your own money to show potential investors that you're dedicated to it. I'm 50/50 regards to going in business with friends. I've seen it pan out both ways....some cases they work, some cases they clash, business parts way and so does the friendship.

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.

im guessing these are pretty much all software based startups. for people interested in starting a website i highly recommend the book "viral loop", not sure where to get it for free so if someone can help out that would be great but heres the amazon link:

Amazon product ASIN 1401323499

 

[sea manup]

dont go to business school if your goal is to start your own business, huge waste of time

instead learn everything you can about whatever your product or service is. hardest part of any business is finding something that people actually want to buy, the actual business part is easy

I disagree with this though you certainly don't need one to succeed. I thoroughly loved my MBA program and would still go through it if I can. My first master's program is questionable...at this point, I probably would've skipped it since it was for a field I don't particularly love though the pay is decent.

In an entrepreneurship class, we all had to help local businesses who were failing. I had to help a restaurant. The guy put his life saving into it, and was losing everything. Worst case scenario: he would be on the streets. He had a degree in Biology. He had no business plan, no marketing strategy, nothing. I had to revamp from the ground up. It's scary how many small biz owners do things blindfolded.

sorry should have specified, an undergrad in business isnt too useful. but thats also mostly because most business students have no idea what they want to do in life so they just go through the motions not really caring about what they learn in business school only worrying about grades and not actually learning anything. but yeah if you're talking MBA hopefully by then you have figured out what you're interested in and can dedicate your time to learning something you like and can make a living out of in the future.

for me at least, i enjoy that kind of stuff. never really been a fan of classroom learning so hands on stuff is perfect for me, of course everyone is different. in the entre class i took this past year we learned about the best practices for each of the stages of starting a company from interviewing the users, to building a team, to creating a business model, to overall problem solving.

 

[pointguard]

 
im guessing these are pretty much all software based startups. for people interested in starting a website i highly recommend the book "viral loop", not sure where to get it for free so if someone can help out that would be great but heres the amazon link:

Amazon product ASIN 1401323499

Before I read it thagt's what I thought too " It probabaly doesn't apply to me because their all software,websites,or apps " but the people he profiled did stuff that anyone here on niketalk could do immediately but won't because most people don't take action all they do is comment on threads like these talking about their dreams and ideas and try to justify not getting started with the cost even though there's countless examples of people starting business with just as much or less money then themm but heres the book for anyone interested : http://www.mediafire.com/download/h...Create+a+New+Future+(HowEntrepreneur.com).pdf

 

[sea manup]

 

 
im guessing these are pretty much all software based startups. for people interested in starting a website i highly recommend the book "viral loop", not sure where to get it for free so if someone can help out that would be great but heres the amazon link:

Amazon product ASIN 1401323499

Before I read it thagt's what I thought too " It probabaly doesn't apply to me because their all software,websites,or apps " but the people he profiled did stuff that anyone here on niketalk could do immediately but won't because most people don't take action all they do is comment on threads like these talking about their dreams and ideas and try to justify not getting started with the cost even though there's countless examples of people starting business with just as much or less money then themm but heres the book for anyone interested : http://www.mediafire.com/download/h...Create+a+New+Future+(HowEntrepreneur.com).pdf

thanks, ill have a look. is it anything like the lean startup? 

which is pretty much throwing together a MVP (minimum viable product) and putting it on market in order to get instant feedback and start developing your product rapidly towards consumer needs without much funding.

if you dont mind me asking are you working on any projects yourself? would be cool if we could all share what we are doing and give eachother feedback. I'll do a post on a small business im starting next month later today 

 

[pointguard]

 
thanks, ill have a look. is it anything like the lean startup? 

which is pretty much throwing together a MVP (minimum viable product) and putting it on market in order to get instant feedback and start developing your product rapidly towards consumer needs without much funding.

if you dont mind me asking are you working on any projects yourself? would be cool if we could all share what we are doing and give eachother feedback. I'll do a post on a small business im starting next month later today 

Just finished lean startup 3 days ago 

It's completely different then 100$ startup. 100$ startup uses real lfie examples of over 50 people not just the IMVU example he used in The Lean Startup.  I like both approaches to starting a business but I would recommend going the 100$ startup route if you've never started a business before . The lean startup model is way more advanced.

And im the OP I gave a profile of my compnany in the first post of this thread but if you have any additional questions just ask.

 

[sea manup]

oh sorry didnt even see you were the op 

sounds good, ill give $100 a look 

 

[sea manup]

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

 

[flyny]

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