Business Contents Archive

Why do you run a small business?

So I'm having a bit of an existential crisis. My small business is on the verge of a big contract that will change my life permanently. A lot of income. It's very exciting. But, money doesn't bring me much happiness. I'm already quite successful and own all the things I want. I hate travel. I have no family nor really want one. It'll allow me to be finally secure and buy a nice house, but beyond that I don't see much use for it. I started a small business because I was so tired of having my skills abused by companies and terrible managers. And guess what, I was capable of a lot more. I love what I do now. But it's hard to work 14 hours every day not knowing what it's for. What the end goal is. So why do you do it? I could use some perspective. Thanks.

Need advice - I run a 100k instagram, time to earn some money?

I run a 100k travel instagram together with a buddy, we have bought a domain and are now looking to earn money. Is there anybody out there who has some good advice on what we can do? We have thought about selling story highlight spots for different hotels/airbnbs with a 1-3 posts a month, doing affiliate travels on the website, selling ebooks and doing blog. It is a occupied space so any unique ideas or input here would be highly appreciated!

Any way to recoup credit card chargebacks?

I’m a bookkeeper for a small business and I wondered if anyone has any info on recouping losses from fraudulent cards being used and getting the chargeback after we ship our items out. We’re located on Ohio. I have pretty strict policies for credit cards to prevent fraud, but unfortunately some still manage to slip through! We just got about $2500 in chargebacks all from the same guy and shipped to the same place. He ordered through different salesmen over the course of several weeks. (The end of Feb and beginning of March) When I look up through Beenverified, The phone number comes up as the persons name who ordered but the address shows a different name. We have proof that the items were all delivered to the same address. Is there anything we can do? Looking online doesn’t seem to bring up much for the small business owners who are getting screwed. Just help for everyone else! Thank you!

Online store for bamboo products?

Bamboo is kind of a wonder material. Cheap, very strong, very environmentally friendly and can be worked to make pretty much everything regular wood/plastic can, but better in basically every way. With that in mind, I'm currently assessing the feasibility of creating a bamboo homeware/product online store. I'm thinking of buying white label bamboo goods from China, then shipping them individually as things sell, in custom branded packaging. Does it make sense? How could I maximise my chances of that working out? Is that dangerously close to dropshipping? Please share your thoughts! Thanks!

Is a DBA or LLC better for a small business?

I wanted to finally start up my small business and get my name out. I wanted to make sure my name is protected and no one would be able to have that name before I start since I want my business to be unique. I read up about it but my mind doesn’t allow me to understand things sometimes and I couldn’t get a grasp of it. I just want to make sure I have the rights to my business and name.

Need your advice/ideas

I have planned to startup a cycle renting company in my college (pretty large campus area) but I'm stuck at a place for very long time about how can user lock unlock the cycle digitally? If you guys have any idea on how can I keep the cycles locked for others and only user can unlock it use it and then put back to the station. Hope you guys understood

Do I need some other document besides a seller's permit to be tax exempt from purchases?

Hi everyone, I just formed my LLC on April 25 and applied for an EIN number with the IRS. After that I applied for a seller's permit today at the tax office. Do I need any other documents to be tax exempt from purchases I intend to resell? Thank you!

Client Question

Hi! I don’t know where else to ask this. I have a businesses that sells to a very niche market, specifically to restaurant franchises that have between 10-30 locations. How would I go about compiling a list of possible of possible clients that that specific criteria?

Moved, how do I remove old Facebook etc from google search?

I’ve deleted my Facebook and Nextdoor accounts, both personal and biz, but they are still showing up first thing in a google search with the previous phone number etc. so you can imagine the same logo but with a different phone number could put a lot of people off! How do I get rid of non existent pages that still come up in search?

How to get some global clients for my small website business from India

I just started a website design company which has a less budget 249usd for a decent website with no recurring costs on hosting you just pay for domain every year and that's it

Website from scratch or on Wix?

I am about to start a retail shoe store, with which I want a fully functioning website that will be chock full of information, as well as serve as a source of sales that will be directly tied to my inventory. My friend is just starting out as a web designer. He is one of the most capable and intelligent people I know. He is willing to make me a website for cheap (I offered him double what he offered) and to be available to manage bugs and issues until it's up and running to a point where he is hardly needed. He says that getting inventory to automatically update can be done with addition of APIs through major POS companies, and that it will be a much smoother experience than a website designed on Wix. I would like to know if anyone has experience with building the website for their own business, and what the upsides would be to using a custom website as opposed to an already founded website builder like Wix, Shopify or WordPress. Any insights would be appreciated!

Pricing question for wedding

I run a small woodworking business. I recently started making and selling bars. They are on wheels and look really sharp. Someone contacted me asking if he could rent one for his wedding. Wedding is close by. I’m just curious what would be a fair charge to deliver and pickup this bar and let them rent it for a wedding. The bar sells for $1800-2000 new. Material cost about $325. I was thinking $200, wife said that’s way too low. Buddy who managed a bar said $500 to rent, $1000 if they want it delivered and picked up. I know wedding related stuff gets crazy expensive, just trying to get fair value for my rental. Thoughts?

SBA Loan Issues

So I'm trying to debt consolidation through SBA. One company decline for a late payment in my file. The other said that because I have OnDeck and Fundation loans, that the SBA would decline based on that type of loan. They also said I can't get a 7a with a existing small SBA line of credit. Are these things true or just scare tactics? I work with the first company who never said a single word like the second company was just trying to put me back in a 6/12/18 loan for consolidation and completely ignored my SBA needs so I hung up.

How does amex handle chargebacks for services not rendered due to the customer not showing up for the service?

I have someone on here telling me that if my no-show/late cancellation fee is 100% of the service amount Amex will agree to the charge back if the customer doesn't receive the service due to the customer not showing up for the service, because the charge is over 20% of the service amount.

Request signing an NDA for demo/beta testing?

I have a product I've been working on and it's now in a MVP stage. I have reach out to a previous manager to get his two cents, and I'd like to demo it to him and maybe use him as a beta tester just to get some feedback. He is the first on a list of people I'm planning to reach out to review my product at this stage. Is it recommended to sign them up on an NDA before proceeding? what should be my considerations on whether or not it's worth it?