Basically, any money you put into the business with personal funds is a loan into the business to be paid back. Lets say you put in $10. At the end of the year you profit $100 dollars. That $100 goes back to you as owner, however only $90 of it is considered taxable money since the 10 is just a payback of the loan. That's the simplified version, assuming you're an LLC or S-Corp. Talk to an accountant to get advice relevant specifically to you.

Is there some area of your SAP experience that would really resonate with a particular business and a particular problem? For example, if you're a SAP BW expert, you may be able to identify large retail clients who need to use analytics to identify which products and locations are doing best (or worst). If you're looking to help existing SAP clients move to HANA, are you able to create a roadmap to help them overcome the very first hurdle in making the move? Or you could aim at a particular position within a particular industry. For instance, you may be great at implementation of SAP HR for manufacturing businesses with over 300 staff. Of course, you're not bound to go into a business centred around SAP, but if you draw on your existing experience to know who you work with best (and who you'd rather avoid), that can be an easier step than starting all over. I wish you all the best as you head into a new business. It can be very helpful calling on the help of online communities (such as Clarity.fm), mentors or local meetup groups.

At the foundation: Affiliate marketing can be termed as marketing a product or service better than the merchant itself. But what I have seen (from the Affiliate Management side) on what distinguishes high performing affiliates from lower ones: They show a different side of the product or service, incoporate it into a larger service offering, and/or push for real value to their audience. That, in turn, builds a loyal audience base because of their unique or specialized position on these products or services. My suggestion, take a look at Zac Johnson: http://zacjohnson.com/ He has some great tips; from starting out picking a niche to scaling your current, successful affiliate marketing tactics. Good luck! If there is anything else I can help with, I am only a call away:)

Statista is a good source. For example, one of their reports states that for global internet users, the largest percentage people of who have made online purchases (58 %) were in the fashion-related category. Here's a good start on all ecommerce stats for apparel. https://www.statista.com/search/?q=apparel

Upwork is a terrible idea. Everyone there is broke. They're struggling to find clients themselves, and have no money left over after they possibly keep their heads above water to invest in your services. Find a better class of freelancer for your clientele. I don't think the startup/VC people are going to care, even though your idea makes some sense (in that helping their fundees market better = more customers = faster payback/growth), because people don't connect the dots. You should niche down, not be 'for everyone', and focus on one kind of customer for now. Eg. Ghostwriters. You can always branch out later. But to keep yourself sane, it's a good idea to learn one niche and work it over and over again, quickly re-using what you've learned, rather than having to slowly learn a new niche with every new customer. Good marketers do this: a bizdev pro who helps plumbers uses their experience about that industry repeatedly, getting through the projects with ease, rather than the grinding of gears trying to learn, say, the landscaping, then the homebuilding, then the paving industries. I haven't seen your financial info but I doubt you're in a position to go after paid advertising yet. You need at least US $3000 to literally throw away and not be crippled by the loss of in order to be able to risk on paid ads and 'figure it out' as you go. Pick a niche, market yourself as the clear and obvious choice to help them get more and larger clients, and repeat, repeat, repeat. Do not reinvent the wheel. Do not look for 'challenges'. Look for work that is easy for you. Otherwise, you will exhaust and frustrate yourself. Might be time to go get a Dan S. Kennedy book on your marketing plan...if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can get it for $0. This, by the way, is the #1 thing I see missing from service providers and their marketing plan: FOCUS.

If you have a business you should really have a business savings account. Although they may offer very similar features, it is better for your own internal accounting to separate the 2. Also if you have a business savings then the name on the account is your businesses name, which is definitely a better route if people are paying your business. Specifically in terms of pros/cons of actual features, at a high level they are more or less the same.

If you have an idea of ​​creating a great online betting platform and are looking for software for your startup website, you can turn your attention to these products https://nuxgame.com/products . This company is exclusively engaged in the development of software individually for each online casino. They have a lot of reviews and suggestions that you can read, as well as chat online.

How to best market your product will depend largely on what your product is, and how far along you are in having a 'minimum viable product' (MVP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product). For instance, word of mouth advertising at your college may be the best route, but below is a general description of the lean startup approach: 1) If it's a web-based startup, generally the cheapest way to start marketing is to set up a 'landing page', which is a simple page which shows the key features of your service, and gets people to sign up. Here are some services which make it easy to make a landing page: https://www.weebly.com/ http://cindr.com/ https://www.squarespace.com/ https://webflow.com/ https://www.leadpages.net/ http://unbounce.com/ https://www.launchrock.com/ http://themeforest.net Free photo resources: https://unsplash.com/ 2) Once you have your landing page set up, set up tracking analytics for it. You can use: - Google Analytics - Mixpanel + Popcorn Metrics (easier than google analytics) - Piwik, etc. 3) Once you have your landing page and analytics set up, start advertising on relevant platforms, e.g. Facebook (allows you to target very specific demographics), Google Adwords, etc. Look closely at your analytics to see how many people are going to your site, are they signing up, how deep down your sale / sign-up 'funnel' are they getting. To advertise on Facebook you'll need to make a little banner image to use as an ad. To advertise on google you just need a text description. If you set up a lot of different ads, it would be good to use UTM codes ("urchin tracking monitors") which will allow your analytics to track each individual from each different ad through your funnel. In addition to Facebook and Google advertising there are lots of other cheap ways to advertise, including getting press (e.g. use HARO), and sending emails to blogs as you mentioned. If you'd like more in depth or specific advice relevant to your specific product let me know, best, Lee

Here are some tips: 1) Start with a short 1 sentence intro. 2) Get right to the point quickly in a clear and easy to understand way. Eliminate all long winded and/or confusing language. 3) Most people will be very wary of clicking links in a cold-call email. Partially because it would take time, and partially because of scam wariness. To get around that negative bias, include a professional looking screenshot of your SaaS and anything else that would convince them that you're legit and that they'd want to use it (1-2 screenshots, 1-3 main features, 1-3 positive reviews, logos of any online news/blog coverage). Have all of this be in-line, not as attachments. To facilitate their demo call booking, use YouCanBookMe (https://youcanbook.me/). They'll see a simple calendar with times they can book for a demo, without any need to email or call you back to set up a time. 4) If allowed in this project, look into other routes other than emails. For instance: A) Post it to relevant subreddits (https://www.reddit.com/r/doctors/, etc.). B) If possible, mail a small gift (e.g. a small chocolate) to your potential leads, and have a note on the chocolate with an intro and a link (use an URL shortener) and/or QR code. Even if they don't go to the link on the note, you could do a follow up email in which you mention that you previously sent them the gift, which will increase your success. If you'd like to discuss other techniques more tailored to your specific product let me know, best, Lee

If you are conducting business then definitely open a business bank account for that. The primary reason is simply to have a separation of concerns. It's a huge hassle to have to have sort through a personal bank account to find all your business items when you need any kind of financial reporting. I don't have 4 distinct reasons to give you aside from the one big reason and that is that it just makes keeping track of business revenue and spend a lot easier. As far as tax deductions go you basically have a categories you can file expenditures under that qualify for deductions. Just add those all up for each category at tax time and deduct. Of course you will want to discuss the finer details of that with a business tax professional/CPA.

Your question is very thin on details. You will have greater success of experts answering if you include more detail in our specific about what you're looking for.

Yes it is possible. It is not uncommon for an LLC to have a managing member that owns a nominal interest of 1% while the remainder of the LLC units are owned by limited members that do not have management authority or actively participate in the operations of the company. If the LLC member is authorized under the LLC operating agreement to manage the affairs of the company, then they should be able to open a business account on behalf of the LLC. The bank may request a copy of the LLC operating agreement to verify that you have the authority to act on behalf of the company.

Work with your Tax Preparer. I'd suggest H&R Block Executive Tax Services to ensure all your filings are correct.

There is a thing called big data and small data and you gather these type of demographic information from research on competition, neighborhood demographics, lifestyle, family routines in and out of a home, sometimes jargon and slang can be key identifiers of niche groups, there is no single way of doing this but you do need to have a process in place that you can track your own work and see yourself getting to small demo each time. Look into Blue Ocean strategy practices, at Unthink, we use this to create campaigns for our clients even if we don't achieve blue ocean we get off the beaten path typically used by competitors and this has helped us achieve competitive advantage for our clients.

Disruption is your answer. You have to make the product disruptive or the product be competitive with disruptive pricing. Some entrepreneurs have this myth that if they convince the potential investors to use their products then they can get the investment, however this is wrong. If you make cigarettes and your investors don't smoke then they will still invest in it, if it sells. I can help you in making it disrupting, generating traction and hacking growth and then raising funds from the investors. Let' set up a call.

AdsML http://www.adsml.org could be relevant. Their website looks like there's nobody home but the xml tech behind it would still be valid, however and is described on the site. As CEO of an online advertising software company, we contributed expertise, defining concepts and working out methods with industry partners. Call me for more info.

This is an easy question to answer. Stop meeting people for coffee and instead send them to your Clarity.fm link. I give lots of free advice on my YouTube channel, I don't need to spend time re-telling general advice and ideas that they can learn on their own time. http://www.youtube.com/c/DavidBarnettMoncton This does several things: 1. Eliminates people who aren't serious 2. Gets you paid for your time 3. Eliminates the 'time suck' of travelling to and from cafes 4. Actually gets people to listen and value your advice. I've been doing this for years and it works great. I always preface things by saying that if the conversation leads to project work for me, I'll credit back their cost of the Clarity call on my eventual invoice to them. Arrange a call if you'd like to discuss further strategies. I've been working as a consultant for years. David Barnett

Hello! My name is Humberto Valle, I am a strategic marketer with expertise in Blue Ocean competitive strategy and have previously made a living selling my paintings through galleries, side walks and online. I'm also currently helping a gallery in Texas and Mexico run promotions for their shows which happen 3x per year. What you want to do first is gather input from the community, you can do this through facebook groups, meetups, facebook page, local newspaper printed ad for group meeting, etc. This is basic but you need to start small and gauge the involvement and interest of the community in which you want to set up. In your case, this could be the city in which you want to show first, I recommend your home town for accessibility. - get clout with local galleries, artists and museums by reposting their content online. Is useful if you are doing so through a page that provides them an idea of who you are and what you are trying to accomplish. - approach them, many of them will have 'growth' exposure plans of their own - you can leverage these by offering your help and offer to provide more on their behalf with the resources you have available for your own efforts, prepare to have printed promotional material for those events and occasions if you are given the go to join them. -take as many pictures as possible, as you promote your next event you will need images and videos to entice your next audience to your next show dates. - share stories that belong to your displayed artwork, people go for stories, so give it to them. - Recruit someone else to help you, wether is digital and you to in person, or an assistant to be doing the admin/paper work of it (there is typically a lot of it) find someone who can pick up where you lack strength or interest. - Talk to artists, there is sometimes drama found locally and or the art scene might be too structured for new comers to easily promote - so find that out first so you don't step on any toes. - plan ahead, each event should always have a minimum of 3 months to execute a promotional campaign, not including the planning and setting up prior to that. Plan your business model and your support/team accordingly. These are some basic starting points that you need to master before you launch yourself and completely be overwhelmed by the effort and attention needed. I hope it helps, again my name is Humberto Valle. I am an expert strategic marketer and founder of Unthink Digital Marketing, which has now 2 offices and we help small business clients internationally. www.unthink.me

May I ask how niche the directory website is? With selling anything at all, it's about uncovering the need for the exact target market. So are you clear about what the value is to the client? What expensive problem are you solving for them that isn't already covered by local directory listings? And do they see it as an expensive problem that they're willing to pay to solve? If it's local retail business that you're targeting, it would be important to test the market with some face-to-face conversations. (In retail, from my experience, 20 minutes is about the maximum time to speak to the business owner, and it's important to get them at the right time of day. For example, a pizza shop owner is likely to have more free time in the morning, but a dry cleaner, in the early afternoon.) It really comes down to the business problem that you're solving for them, and whether they are ready and willing to pay for that. Testing the waters first can save you from creating a great product with no one wanting to buy it, and I'd hate to see you go through that.

Best way? Figure out a process to get consistent referrals from other professionals. I made a video about this situation, in the video blog here: http://www.jasonkanigan.org/your-confusing-title/ Second-best way? Narrow your ideal customer definition, and go get them. Who values uncovering their unconscious behavior and changing them to conscious decisions? Who values that? Not many people, IMO. But I do know one niche that does: some high level executives. They know mindset is #1 in determining their results. The good news here? They know the value of doing so, and will pay for it. Unlike the regular public, who love 'free' and struggle to pay for anything because they don't have any money nor a belief that investing in themselves is important, your executives will 'get it'. In fact, I'd niche down even more, to executives in a certain industry who are making so much a year. Talk less about you and more about the situation your ideal customer is in. That's your marketing. Most sellers do it completely backwards.

Trying to save money and time by going with a pre-made solution is going to pay you back with frustration later. Best bet is to always build from scratch or build from available components that you can configure the way your particular software needs to work. I would look to open-source javascript frameworks like Meteor JS which is made for rapid development and has access to a huge ecosystem of pre-coded libraries and components for just about anything you need.

Yea, not really a great option. Most of them want real money for "sharing" your project with "this list or that group, etc." and really aren't promising cash on the barrelhead. Crowdfunding is hard work. Period. The bigger the email list you have of people that "KNOW, LIKE & TRUST YOU" the better you will do, if you can muster the gumption to reach out to them. Did I mention it is hard work? {grin} Having said that, I built a planner from my efforts based on a number of successes (going back 5+ years starting with raising $2K for a startup idea) and of course a few failures. I am willing to share of my insights. Schedule a call and let us chat. P.S. My latest effort (last month) raised 250% of goal: $25K.

First of all, you are not alone! Almost anyone with a successful business has left a trail of half-finished ideas and projects. Sometimes we realize we don't have the skills to execute our ideas, or we don't have the capital, the resources, whatever. Your question makes me think it's not that you don't have the skills to execute your ideas, rather it's that you run out of steam or get nervous. If this is the case, you might need an accountability buddy - someone who will meet you for coffee, listen to your ideas, and help you figure out how to make them happen. My friend and I meet up once a month and update each other on projects on which we are working. I feel guilty when I don't have updates for her, and this motivates me to get stuff done. This is more of a mental hack for yourself, but it totally works! You might also look for a Mastermind group in your area (or virtually) which can help you feel like you're part of a community and not going it alone. I've learned a lot from peers who are going through the same thing I am. Happy to chat more if you want help thinking this through!

Don't delete them: segment them. Move them to another list for their own retention campaign. Send them a series of 3 messages saying that you've noticed that they haven't read anything from you lately, and you want to make sure that they're still interested in receiving information from you. If after that, you still haven't heard from them, delete them. In addition to keeping your costs under control, it will also improve your open/click rate with your sender, which, depending on which service you use, may be important, as it's often taken into consideration if you get a lot of unsubscribe requests or spam reports.