How do you start your own business?

[Rakehellion]

Preferably one that doesn't require much capital. Say I wanted to start building websites or open a lemonade stand or host a beauty pageant or something, how would I attract customers? When is it appropriate to hire employees? How do you keep revenue steady in the long term?

 

[lxskllr]

Probably the most reliable way is to start small, and grow organically. Lemonade stand starts as a cheap food truck. People come and realize how superior your lemonade is, and you expand by buying another truck/employee. Word really starts getting out, so you buy a store front in a not great part of town, but not the ghetto either. You then get a store front in the touristy part of town, and on and on...

 

[DaWhim]

find a service or product that's in demand or solve problem, you have a business.

 

[holden j caufield]

I'm not sure how feasible it is now but when we had the older iphones and 1 cracked. I found a local guy who repaired iphones out of his house. He said he couldn't keep up with the demand and made more than his old job. When I was there talking to him, his phone kept constantly getting texts so I'm inclined to believe him.

I think to protect yourself you need to get LLC of some sort. Provide a service that someone needs. I'd imagine there are 100 guys like him in the city but he advertised on his car, had a website with good template that looked better than a beginner page, had an actual domain email addy and not something stupid like beastmode1995 at yahoo.

Funny I had a dozen choices and his was the only one in 10 miles with his own email and not some yahoo/hotmail. I figured this set him apart.

 

[manimal]

I have started and run over a dozen companies over the years.


Do something you love and know...


Dont open a cupcake place when you barely know how to cook. Dont open an italian restaurant just because you love olive garden either.


Most of the successful small businesses start as a passion. If its not your passion you will regret the long hours and the extra work your gonna have to do.


PM me if you ever want some help.

 

[mmntech]

I'm asking the same questions myself. I want to get into social media marketing. I was good at it at my old job, and it's a booming industry right now. Broadcast is dead. Might start with some freelance community management but I'm not sure how to make money doing it.

I think to protect yourself you need to get LLC of some sort. .

Anybody who owns a business needs to incorporate. That way if something happens (lawsuit, bankruptcy), creditors can't touch your personal assets.

 

[Humpy]

In my experience you start a company after the point where you are good enough at something that a bunch of people want to pay you to do it for them. You should have a good reputation, a decent sized customer base, relationships with suppliers, before you do the easy part of filling out the organizational paperwork and getting a bank account and insurance, etc.

The other way is to have an idea and a pile of money that you are willing to risk.

 

[brianmanahan]

when an entrepreneur and a minimum viable product love each other very much...

 

[brianmanahan]

my goal for side businesses is to make the income process completely hands-off - no day-to-day operations required to keep it running.

i.e. ads on websites, or ads on youtube videos.

 

[Rakehellion]

my goal for side businesses is to make the income process completely hands-off - no day-to-day operations required to keep it running.

i.e. ads on websites, or ads on youtube videos.

That's a business. Otherwise you're merely self employed. I've got some operations pulling a few thousand a month, but I know very little about running a business.

 

[Rakehellion]

In my experience you start a company after the point where you are good enough at something that a bunch of people want to pay you to do it for them. You should have a good reputation, a decent sized customer base, relationships with suppliers, before you do the easy part of filling out the organizational paperwork and getting a bank account and insurance, etc.

The other way is to have an idea and a pile of money that you are willing to risk.

If you have a customer base, then you already have a business, don't you?

 

[Hugo Drax]

Open up a "Down lo" Gay hookup spot, with rooms that look toilet stalls with prop toilets, and glory holes.

Charge for the hour. Have entrances so that the guys entering can choose to see what they look like or not. This way lets say a Republican congressman can enter one room, A Catholic priest can enter the other room.

neither know what they look like but they can partake in safe anonymous gay sex. They just pull the slot up where they can insert the penis etc...

Then they can go back to work and no one the wiser.

I bet you would make a killing if you open one up in Washington DC.

 

[HeXen]

I want to make and sell soft pretzels. But I have a track record of eating it all before I get around to selling them.