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David C

I help you buy, sell, plan, value a business

Well, ask yourself who would want to get in front of physicians? I know a doctor who likes to go to Las Vegas for continuing education classes. There is a company there who offers this training. I bet they'd love to either sponsor this kind of publication or make you a sales affiliate. Really, the possibilities are endless. Once you've got the audience you can sell access. Hope this helps. David

Jared Iverson

Startup Law. Capital raiser. Sales. Founder.

Because of the nature of your consulting business (web development) you have the advantage of being able to effectively offer your services remotely. I think more important than deciding between a large or small city, is finding a city where you would enjoy living and building a network. Is there a city where you have a critical mass of friends, family, potential business partners? Is there a city you'd simply be happier in because it fits your lifestyle, whether it's access to outdoors or city living? Do you have a more specific market segment you'd like as your clients? Do you want to service just tech startups? Health tech startups? Larger companies? Unless you plan to really narrow down into a specific niche, like consulting just for the aerospace industry where the companies are usually found in a specific city or region, web development offers you a lot of geographic flexibility. More and more companies like Automatic or Zapier have completely remote teams and the trend towards that is only accelerating. Choose a city where you'll be happiest and most likely to be able to participate in the lifestyle the city provides. Not only will you be more productive if you're happy, you'll have more opportunities to grow your network organically by meeting friends through your hobbies or social activities that then turn into clients. I'd caution against being overly analytical or coldly rational when making this decision. Follow your gut. Choose a city you'd love to live in and grow a business in. I know wildly wealthy and successful entrepreneurs in cities both small and large.

Stoney deGeyter

Author, Speaker, CEO

Content optimization is about producing content that your audience find valuable. You can start with optimizing existing page content rather than focusing on producing new content on your blog. Here, optimize titles, descriptions, headings and messaging for topical/keyword focus. You can also look at the architectural issues of your site such as spiderability, broken links, navigational issues, etc. These can all get you some tracking with rankings when focused correctly.

Fendy Sutji

www.palmoilproduct.com

You can Validate your idea with free and paid method: Free Method - Post your landing page to forum that related with your product category example:Product Hunt ,Hackers News is ok i think Paid Method -You can run ads on Facebook ,Twitter and google Ads with your Coming Soon landing page or you can run your project on indiegogo and kickstarter to validate your idea plus get your financing if reach your goals

Lee von

Unique Insights, Creative Solutions

Treat the event like a lean startup landing page. Get people to sign up for a "waiting list" to use your service. Have one or two easily accessible ipads on the side of your booth nearest the walkway, so that people can easily sign up. The ipads should have a nice landing page on it that shows some basic background, a waiting list sign up, and it should say "We're right here to answer any questions!" to draw people in to talk to you. You'll instill confidence in potential customers by how well you present yourself (in conversations with them, in the clothes you wear, etc.) and your booth. You might use a small subset of your sign ups as beta testers that get to see and fiddle with the website before the official release. Don't use them to look for bugs, but have a questionnaire that they answer about what features they like most, etc. Have a newsletter (every week or every two weeks) be sent out to all the emails you collect. Each email should highlight one or two features or progress of your site that has just been completed ("we've just partnered with xyz!", "now completed: feature xyz", etc.). This should be done in a sequence and spacing that presents well, and doesn't have to accurately reflect the exact time and sequence of when things were actually completed. If you'd like finer grained advice based on your actual website and potential customers let me know and I'll see how I can help, Lee

Federico H

Clarity Expert

Hello, As I see it, you need to develop a business strategy for the season by taking advantage of your the resources you already have. Obtaining additional funds will help you to alleviate your financial constraints, but from what you have told this doesn't appear to be the most attainable solution to your problem. For developing a business strategy with the objective of keeping your shop open during the winter, there are some aspects you could take into consideration: 1) As the demand is low during winter, you will have excess capacity, which is actually the source of your problem. You may think of offering very aggressive promotions for both existing and new customers, with very low prices on the services and goods. Your primary goal is to cover the operating costs, not obtaining a profit. 2) You may provide free services to attract customers, such as workshops on bike maintenance. You may also consider exploring strategic alliances for these activities. For example, you could organize activities sponsored by one of your providers, in order to educate your customers on the advantage of his/her products and on how to use them properly. 4) If you have enough space, you could setup an indoor training business. This could also be achieved through strategic alliances, for example with bike instructors. 5) You may sell your goods with a minimum margin above the replacement cost, specially the one with low turnover rate. 6) After 6 months, you probably already have a customer base. Try to think what value proposition you could offer to them, based on your knowledge of their needs and the resources you already have (the shop, the know how, your stock). There are a number of techniques to develop ideas about business models, such as the Business Canvas and the Lean Canvas, which provide you with a structured approach to think about your value propositions, your customers, your resources and other critical aspects of the business. Regarding the additional funding, you may try Crowdlending, not to cover your entire expenses through the winter, but to alleviate your financial stress. In order to get better chances with Crowdlending, I think it will help you to have an appealing business concept with a reasonable ROI, as opposed to simply requesting money for working capital.

Attila Szigeti

I will share my startup studio expertise with you

As someone who is deeply involved with startup studios, here are a few hints. 1. First, calculate your optimal scale of operations. In our startup studio this was about 12-15 people core team + dedicated ceo-s for each startup experiment 2. Raise funds for the studio, for at least 12-18 months. Your options: - use your own money - do agency work - get direct VC investment (hardest one, you will need traction) - get corporate financing 3. Raise funds for your startups that are ready for it. More on the topic here: https://medium.com/@aszig/startup-studio-advice-2-how-to-raise-funds-for-a-newly-created-venture-builder-cfff0602d14#.4it9foo5h

Padraic Ryan

Professional E-Commerce Designer/Developer

You will find a number of third party services that will offer you discounted USPS shipping including stamps.com, shippingeasy.com, shipstation.com, etc. Note that many of these services are getting bought up by stamps.com, which actually may end up benefiting everyone as they will have more leverage to get better rates from USPS. You'll also be able to get a discount when you use some shopping carts like Shopify.com. Bottom line - shop around and see which one will give you the best rates - the higher the volume, the better the rate!

Max Blackmer

Agile Technologist scaling to Enterprise

Asterisk is a good choice for integration as it is customizable to meet the needs. If you want to break into larger business you may also want to consider Cisco Call Manager with its API access. This is widely deployed in corporate America in mid to large corporations.

Madeline Johnson

Marketing Strategist

Ah, Tinder for introverts? I have used SurveyMonkey before and I am using it now to test an online/on demand PR course that I am filming. Yes, it is a great idea to test with SurveyMonkey and it is a very easy site to use. You can add the link to your survey on all social media and in an email. I would start by emailing all of your contacts. However you may want to consider giving your testers something to try. Have you developed a prototype? I also recommend finding out what people think about your idea via meetups and events and by creating an opt-in page. Let me know if you need any help.

Rebecca Caroe

I know how to find customers for your business

First things first - you have 2 ways to monetise. 1 - build an audience 2 - get paid to write (not necessarily on your site). 1 - How to get readers and build an audience If you have an audience then advertisers will pay to promote to your audience. It's important that you ensure your audience find the adverts relevant and appropriate or they will unsubscribe. As a fashion blogger you can often get free product (clothes) from retailers in exchange for your writing about them. I recommend you then sell the clothing to raise funds. When you're a very good popular blogger you can charge money, till then, ask for product. The easiest way to get paid is to install Google AdSense on your site and in your email newsletters. I use FeedBlitz.com as my newsletter distribution service and they also insert adverts (from a different service) into the newsletters. 2 - Get paid to write - go research the online freelance marketplaces like Upwork.com, guru.com, freelance.com and find paid writing gigs. You can often re-purpose writing for your own site at the same time. I often re-use Answers from Clarity.fm for my own blog. Here's a good list of places to learn more http://www.bloggersclub.com/ is an agency representing bloggers to brands. http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/sites-to-get-paid-blogging/ Read anything by Neil Patel on how to grow your audience http://neilpatel.com/2016/01/17/six-figure-consultant-4-proven-services-every-blogger-can-offer-to-make-money-online/

Lee von

Unique Insights, Creative Solutions

Whenever you assign them a task, break down the task into small chunks. Make the chunks as small as you can (within reason, and to the extent that your knowledge allows), and tell your devs that if any chunks seem large, that they should further break those chunks down into bite size pieces. For instance, for the overall task of making a new webpage, _you_ might break it down as follows: 1) Set up a database 2) Make a form that takes user email, name, and phone number and adds them to database 3) Have our site send an email to everyone above the age of 50 each week When your devs take a look at it, _they_ might further break down the third step into: A) Set up an email service B) Connect it to the client database C) Figure out how to query the database for certain users D) Have it send emails to users over 50 You can keep using Asana, or you could use something like Trello which might make more sense for a small company, and might be easier to understand and track by yourself. In Trello you'd set up 4 columns titled, "To Do", "Doing", "Ready for Review", "Approved" (or combine the last two into "Done") You might want to tell them to only have tasks in the "Doing" column if they/re actually sitting at their desk working on it. For instance: not to leave a task in "Doing" overnight after work. That way you can actually see what they're working on and how long it takes, but that might be overly micro-manager-y At the end of each day / week when you review the tasks completed, look for ones that took a longer time than average (since, on average, all the tasks should be broken down into sub-tasks of approximately the same difficulty). Ask them about those tasks and why they took longer to do. It may be because they neglected to further break it down into chunks as you had asked (in which case you ask them to do that next time), or it may be that some unexpected snag came up, or it may be a hard task that can't be further broken down. In any case, listen to their explanation and you should be able to tell if it sounds reasonable, and if it sounds fishy, google the problem they say they encountered. You'll be able to get a better feel of their work ethic and honesty by how they answer the question, without worrying as much about what their actual words are. Make sure that when you ask for more details about why a task took longer, you don't do it in a probing way. Make sure they understand that you're doing it for your own learning and to help predict and properly plan future timelines.

Eric Silverthorn

Mobile App and Server Backend Development

You should consider purchasing a company already in business that provides those services in one of the "business friendly states", Delaware, Texas, Nevada. Doing so will set you apart from your competitors and will give you credibility based on the reputation of the company you are purchasing.

Ryan Rutan

Founding @Startups.com, Clarity, Fundable and more

Side Note: I would have loved to have done this for my wife's wedding bouquet - and even more recently for the flowers my daughters carried as flower girls in a dear friend's wedding. Very cool concept! People are far more likely to believe what they can see. Produce a short video that shows your process - from start to finish - so they can see the magic happen. It can be quick clips of each stage showing the exciting moments (like putting the flowers in, and sealing the glass). This doesn't need to be (and probably shouldn't be) more than 30 seconds. Example Storyboard: Scene 1 - We take amazing flowers (3-5 seconds) Scene 2 - and preserve them by "xyz" (10-15 seconds) Scene 3 - and seal them in glass to keep them beautiful forever. (10 to 15 seconds). Hope that helps! Cheers, Ryan

Taylor Mitcham

Clarity Expert

Take a SMALL deposit upfront (the actualy - not marked-up cost - of the materials. That way if they skip out on you at least you didn't lose anyting. Second, you won't give them back their car until they pay, so you always have their vehicle as collateral. The point at which you buy materials will depend on how long the lead time is before you get them, and how quickly you're guaranteeing the service. In this day and age, the faster the better. How long will it take you to paint the vehicle? You should schedule their appointments before they pay. You can start with a free "consultation" where they bring their car in, you walk them through the process, and explain to them how its going to work. I would have the option to accept deposits online, but anything outside of that, I would not. In person, you need to be able to accept cash AND credit...especially credit. My suggestion is to have a process like this: 1) customer calls asking for a paint. Likes what you say, agrees to use your service 2) Collect the deposit 3) Go get the materials 4) Schedule a time for them to drop-off their vehicle AFTER you've purchased the materials so there's less downtime 5) Paint the vehicle 6) Customer picks up the vehicle and pays I'm more than happy to speak with you on this further. Feel free to schedule a follow-up call and I can walk you through this step-by-step: https://clarity.fm/taylormitcham

Max Blackmer

Agile Technologist scaling to Enterprise

Most payment processors on the internet have a Recurring Billing option to bill for a specific interval for a specific recurrence count. I recall Authorized.net specifically does it and can meet PCI compliance. Most processors offer recurring option but may not provide a daily option. You may need to a custom solution such as Authorized.net Customer Information Manager (CIM) for dynamic recurring billing (you bill your customers different amounts or on different days each month).

Business planning

How do I start a company?

3

Answers

Lee von

Unique Insights, Creative Solutions

How to start a company: 1) Come up with an idea (one that can make money) 2) Build a prototype (hardware, software, whatever) 3) Get evidence that people want it 4) Further refine the prototype and start selling it 5) When you've sold your first thing you now have, "a company" At some point in that path you'll probably want to A) Register your company (usually before step 4) B) Get a cofounder (usually some time before step 4) C) Get investment (usually not until after step 3) to be able to grow faster

Andra Baragan

Conversion Rate Optimization Expert

Hi there. It depends a lot on your budget and what is needed. If you are looking only for some initial site audits, which would include full qualitative and quantitative research, testing ideas, identifying low-hanging fruits, funnel drop-off points, etc or if you also want someone to implement the experiments. The reasons for a high bounce rate are many but the first place I would look at would be the relevance between your clients' landing pages and the banners/content that are bringing the users to the site. Also, do they have a clear Unique Selling Proposition on their landing pages? Is it clear what the site is about and what they will find there? If you are looking for more information and ways on how you can reduce their bounce rates, please feel free to message me and I will be more than happy to help.

Attila Szigeti

I will share my startup studio expertise with you

Team is the most critical component for a venture builder organization. You need to hire people who have the right "studio mindset", who accept your vision and operating procedures and who can work on multiple startup initiatives in parallel. Also here you can find some more hints about CEO selection for the portfolio companies: https://medium.com/@aszig/startup-studio-advice-1-how-to-build-the-founding-team-of-a-studio-938efd0caffe#.4hb3n7jy8

Jason Kanigan

Business Strategist & Conversion Expert

Depends on how you plan to get hired. If you go the traditional route, which I say is akin to using stones and clubs in today's era, then you want your resume littered with keywords the HR departments of the large companies you're targeting are looking for. If you want to do something that will take a bit more effort, but will get you a much better-fit role, create content and get it in front of the people who have the power to hire you. I describe this second approach, which I have used to get four custom-made job offers and roles created just for me, in this radio interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW7VITbQPzU Speaking plainly, there are a ton of "you IT guys" running around out there. So your first job is to Stand Out. Stand out to employers. If you don't do this, you never get the interview. They have to want to meet you. And a run-of-the-mill resume isn't likely to accomplish this. Make a list of employers you'd like to work for. They should fit a profile: size, industry, top officer style, culture, etc. Then create your content, and start marketing it--get it in front of the executive who has the power to hire you. LinkedIn is a good way to do this. Here are a couple blog posts describing the rest of the process: http://www.salestactics.org/?s=job+hunting Most of all, Have Fun! Yes, it is a job to get a job, but this way you are meeting the kind of people you want to meet, and showing them how you uniquely create value. As they keep seeing your content, their minds will begin to turn to "How can I make use of this person within my organization?" And that's when the seed of the idea of customizing a role for you appears.

Lloyd Lofton

Clarity Expert

Did you lose your passion for your startup or have you not been rewarded with the success you thought you should have attained? There is nothing wrong with moving on to another project, sometimes it's the "next" thing we do that brings success however oftentimes when I work with individuals who are starting the issue is unreal expectation and not recognizing the small success. I do believe we frequently know what the answer is we just don't want to make the decision. We are afraid of what we may lose instead of what we stand to gain. Trust yourself and keep falling forward friend.

Conversion Rate Optimization

App stores conversion

3

Answers

Lee von

Unique Insights, Creative Solutions

There are a couple possibilities: 1) The perception you're creating with your ad, and the perception you're creating on the app store page are not matching up. So the type of people that are being attracted to your ad, are not being attracted to your app store presentation. Meanwhile, people that would be attracted to your app store presentation are never getting there because they're not attracted to your ad. This discrepancy between ad and store presentation could be due to many things including bad looking screenshots (or just different from what they pictured from the ad), bad reviews (or no reviews), etc. 2) There may be some inherent flaw in your product that doesn't appeal to humans in general. An example of this could be a cost that is far above what most people would be willing to pay. If you'd like advice more tuned to your actual product, send me a link and I'll be happy to take a look at it.

Lee von

Unique Insights, Creative Solutions

You can try here, there will most likely be some 'experts' in the mix of people that check it out. https://www.reddit.com/r/AlphaAndBetaUsers https://www.reddit.com/r/NewProducts Also, I would do a search through Clarity for 'wordpress' or 'video' and book a call with someone that's an expert in the field. Send a link via a Clarity message and they might have time to check it out briefly before your call, and then they can also go through it with you on the call. Other than that, you could google blogs about wordpress plugins and contact them. best of luck, Lee

Facebook Marketing

How do I post a Facebook ad?

5

Answers

John Meese

Always Be Teaching

Here's a good guide to get you started: https://adespresso.com/academy/guides/facebook-ads-beginner/create-first-facebook-ad/

Anna Lundberg

Business Mentoring | Personal branding | Ex-P&G

Hi, there are a few different possibilities I’d look into, based on this limited information: First, I’d double check that you set up the ad campaign so that you’re paying by CPC (and not CPM), and that you’re looking at website clicks specifically and not clicks overall (the latter includes, likes, comments, etc). Are the ads in the same ad set? Are they running at the exact same time? Against the same target? Facebook ads are priced on a bidding basis, and the number of advertisers you’re competing against may vary. Second, consider the amount of text on the image: If you have more text on the image, Facebook warns that the cost of your campaign can be higher. Finally, take a look at your relevance score: This is a score on a scale of 1 to 10 for how relevant Facebook thinks your ad will be to the targeted audience, and your cost will be higher if relevance is lower. Get in touch if you want to dig into the details of your results together and plan an effective strategy for your next campaign!