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i'm with you on the "building a brand from scratch" part. time consuming and requires a lot of dedication, but man aint that some of the best %%%* ever. the possibilities...
Official Entrepreneur thread...vol. I'm a BOSS!
- Thread in 'General' Thread starter Started by truthgetsbusy,
- Start date
i'm with you on the "building a brand from scratch" part. time consuming and requires a lot of dedication, but man aint that some of the best %%%* ever. the possibilities...
truthgetsbusy
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glad to see some good discussions in here. Keep it up
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on the side I buy undervalued commercial real estates
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I feel like a well-planned barbershop is a gold mine
there's so many revenue streams that can be created
there's so many revenue streams that can be created
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bump this needs to stay around
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anyone here familiar with SBA loans? my friend and i are in the market to start a food truck business in los angeles since that's what's poppin' these days down in socal. i have the money to fund it but my friend does not so i want to keep everything even between the two of us. we're looking at the SBA express loan for an amount of $30000... interest rates are looking to be around 8-9%, which is pretty high IMO. the biggest thing is our company is startup so we have absolutely no company history that the banks can look at. all they have is our personal credit history and the business plan that we have drafted with our projections; we have first-month projections, first 6-months, first year, and 2nd year.
my question is, are there any other places we can go for a start-up business loan? anyone with experience, please let me know as i'd love to find out. thanks.
my question is, are there any other places we can go for a start-up business loan? anyone with experience, please let me know as i'd love to find out. thanks.
truthgetsbusy
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I got some questions for you guys already established....
What form of business did you pick (sole propritorship, LLC, corp, etc.) and why?
Im not sure what to pick...im starting a basketball training business kinda like personal training?
What form of business did you pick (sole propritorship, LLC, corp, etc.) and why?
Im not sure what to pick...im starting a basketball training business kinda like personal training?
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I'm not a lawyer or experienced entrepreneur, but based on what I remember from my business law class, I'd go with an LLC, especially because of the fact that you're business is recreational. If you have a sole proprietorship and one of your customers gets injured during a training session, he/she could conceivably sue you for their injuries. If they seek damages and you're a sole proprietorship, they could take your personal assets, not just the business's assets.
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^ Right, get an LLC. Not that much more anyway.
truthgetsbusy
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Yeah I kinda counted out the sole proprietorship due to the nature of my business. I'd hate to have my personal assets gone cuz of a petty lawsuit. Thanks tho. Anybody with a LLC shine some light on it please
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i recommend legalzoom.com, they make forming an LLC easy as pie.
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anyone own a restaurant/food shack ? or a bar ??
if so how do you like it/not like it ?
if so how do you like it/not like it ?
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This is probably the most ill-advised comment I've read all day.
First. When you're a business owner, you don't want to work 24/7. You NEED too. Your on the clock all day, every day. Here's a perfect example. This morning, I got a call from my ADT security company at 7:30 in the morning saying there was a possible break-in because something triggered the alarm. So the police were notified and I had to jump out of bed to my car and meet them there ASAP, at 7:30 with no shower, brushing teeth etc. Come to find out, a paper-thin poster had fell off the window and the motion from poster falling triggered the sensor
On the way to my store, I was like this:
Well I got there before the police did and I immediately went:
So to recycledpaper, I take it you have a lot to learn about being an entrepeneur. You can't just hire anyone to run your hard-earned business. You can't just trust anyone. A bad employee can be the downfall of your business. That is why you'll usually see family operated franchise business. Ill stop right here.
this depends primary on the business.
i own a small time construction based company and just sold my first rehabbed foreclosure.
theres weeks i work every single day from 630 am to 7pm...theres weeks i work 2 days.....
i dont know how some 'business owners' (yes i know every situation is different) put in 24/7 for years just to make 80k or so a year. when you take in every hour you do work related stuff youre batting like 15/hr
but yes, if you wanna 'make it' you need to put in any and every minute you have (at the start atleast)....
btw, how did it set off the motion on the window? they use 22/2 gauge wire to the 'sensor' (two pieces) so unless you had a bootleg installer something isnt right.
truthgetsbusy
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So i think I'm gonna use legalzoom.com....good looking out
truthgetsbusy
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Damn I think I'm starting the cheapest business possible since I don't need any equipment/rent/supplies to start business really but just forming the LLC and trademarks are expensive...at least to me.
Anyway, did you guys apply for credit cards to use with your business? and/or did you just start a bank account?
Anyway, did you guys apply for credit cards to use with your business? and/or did you just start a bank account?
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For those who already have their own business set up, running, and the whole 9 yards - do you use your business for tax write offs? Someone mentioned to me real quickly that having your own business you can write things off such as cell phone plans, apartment / house utilities (working from your "home office"), business lunches / dinners, purchases (laptops, office furniture, etc). Since it was a brief conversation, I'm still confused to how all that works. Anyone with more insight on this?
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Im in the process of starting a website now, but we just launched and got some minor setbacks we have to fix. Man this is difficult at times, but if you have a passion for your business you can deal with it. To any young entrepreneurs or want to be entrepreneurs support each other and keep strivin. The fact that we are in a free country able to start a business is a miracle in itself. Don't take it for granted, keep focused and stay patient. At least that's what I tell myself lol.
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they are expensive but if you feel you need the liability, there's absolutely nothing that can be done about forming an LLC. if you want to minimize the financial risk (starting the LLC and then the business failing), you can do more homework/research so you feel confident going into your business. although, this should be done regardless. trademarking isn't 100% necessary for a start-up. technically, any sort of intellectual property that you use and can prove you came up out of scratch is legally entitled to you... trademarks and copyrights just give that extra "protection" so if you ever go to court, you can just bust out that argument in your defense.
as for credit cards... they have ridiculously high APR so no, stay away from them unless you need a quick credit boost that you can pay back 100% by the balance due date. i HATE HATE HATE people who carry balances on their credit cards, whether or not they can pay it off or not. how people can be that stupid to where they're carrying $5000 balances on cards with 25% APR is beyond me. if you are looking for a loan, i'd consider looking into SBA loans (government backed). the restrictions are few and interest rates are pretty low. most banks don't loan unless you've been in business for at least 3 years because they want to review your account statements and have something to base your company on. just go to a bank, open a business bank account, and ask about SBA loans.
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only certain things can be written off... of course you can "fake" some deductions but if you're a big company, these things will come back to bite you in the +*+. my philosophy is to keep everything as straight forward and honest as possible. keep good records of everything, don't lie about something just to save $ on your taxes. if you're lying, maybe you can get away but if you don't, the consequences are far greater. plus if you're raking in the dough, why be so greedy that you can't pay the appropriate taxes?
i can give you some examples of what can be written off as a business expense. i have a blackberry plan that's around $80 a month. i estimate that half of my time on the phone is for business purposes, the other half is for personal use. i can deduct 50% of that $80 monthly bill as a business expense. is there a way for the IRS to find out for sure? yes, but they'd have to analyze all your incoming/outgoing calls and its a pain in the +*+, they're not gonna bother. things like this have some flexibility. in terms of entertainment/food etc, you can deduct 50% up to a certain value. i don't know this in detail so you'll have to talk to a CPA. i have yet to cross this "value" so i keep deducting all my restaurant expenses lol. in terms of gifts for your customers/wholesalers/dealers/whatever, you can deduct a MAX of $20 per gift. if you got them a damn laptop for $1000, sorry but you can only deduct $20 lol.
as for rent and utilities, again you can deduct based on the % of square footage you use. if your monthly rent + utilities for the whole house is $2000, and the rooms you work in measure 500 square ft and the whole house is 2000 square ft, that's 25% of the whole house, so you can deduct 25% of the $2000 ($500).
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Make sure your business is offering a product/service that is more valuable to your customer than the time, work, and $$$ you are asking for in exchange.
Example #1.
Service = automatic car wash, wax, dry.
Your Price = $4.00 (average joe can earn this working 30 minutes @ minimum wage)
Do It Yourself Price = soap, laundry (dirty clothes/towels), 20-30 minutes labor.
Example #1.
Service = automatic car wash, wax, dry.
Your Price = $4.00 (average joe can earn this working 30 minutes @ minimum wage)
Do It Yourself Price = soap, laundry (dirty clothes/towels), 20-30 minutes labor.
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Bookmarked.
I'm trying to open a store in a about 2 years.
I'm trying to open a store in a about 2 years.
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My dad writes off a ton of stuff in his small buisness. Everytime we go out to eat, his gas, trips, etc.
But my stepdad owns 3 pharmacies and he works long @$*+%%* hours. Idk if I could do it.
But my stepdad owns 3 pharmacies and he works long @$*+%%* hours. Idk if I could do it.
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if you open up a franchise lets say starbucks
how much would you have to pay up front to get it started?
lets say i have 25k saved?
how much would you have to pay up front to get it started?
lets say i have 25k saved?
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25k saved? yeah don't even think about starting a starbucks. you can't even a regular coffee shop let alone franchise a starbucks
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Does a Laundromat or barbershop brings a decent amount of $ to the table?
