[Nemencine]

Hey there,

If anybody knows of resources discussing how to scale a business-- i am in the beginning of scaling one -- the potential hurdles and headaches, with solid actionable info. I will really appreciate it. The business is already successful... what i need is not *how* to start a successful business; what i need is *how to scale an already successful business*-- To take it to the next level, so to speak.

The list of resources could be:

• Books
• Videos
• Newsletter
• Blogs
• Forums
• Websites
• Seminars, Webinars, Podcasts, etc.
  

With the deepest of respect and sincerest thanks beforehand, may i suggest that only provide resources you are actually informed and knowledgeable about, otherwise, it will be a costly waste of all our time. If you are going to suggest anything, please make sure it is something that either you have firsthand experience with, or the chronicling of firsthand experience of somebody that actually did it.

I don't want resources by some academic with no practical experience, because this is not some fancy intellectual exercise: this is my business we are talking about here: it is real sweat and labour to me.

Again, from the deepest bottom of heart, i appreciate any help that i can get.

Sincerely,

Nemencine

[Old Fritz]

How about this book?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-Abo...0062273205

[Jack198]

(08-28-2014 12:11 PM)Nemencine Wrote:  

Hey there,

If anybody knows of resources discussing how to scale a business-- i am in the beginning of scaling one -- the potential hurdles and headaches, with solid actionable info. I will really appreciate it. The business is already successful... what i need is not *how* to start a successful business; what i need is *how to scale an already successful business*-- To take it to the next level, so to speak.

The list of resources could be:

• Books
• Videos
• Newsletter
• Blogs
• Forums
• Websites
• Seminars, Webinars, Podcasts, etc.
  

With the deepest of respect and sincerest thanks beforehand, may i suggest that only provide resources you are actually informed and knowledgeable about, otherwise, it will be a costly waste of all our time. If you are going to suggest anything, please make sure it is something that either you have firsthand experience with, or the chronicling of firsthand experience of somebody that actually did it.

I don't want resources by some academic with no practical experience, because this is not some fancy intellectual exercise: this is my business we are talking about here: it is real sweat and labour to me.

Again, from the deepest bottom of heart, i appreciate any help that i can get.

Sincerely,

Nemencine

PM sent.

[Dr. Howard]

I've got nothing here, really scaling up is not something I've done nor have my clients gone beyond more than 1 location.

[Nemencine]

Old fritz. thanks. i will check out the book; Jack198, thanks for the PM, i have replied to it; Dr. Howard thanks for the thoughts anyways.

The inimitable YoungMobileGlobal send me this link: https://www.udacity.com/course/ep245

I am sure i will find it useful too. i appreciate everybody's response.

regards,

Nemencine

[monster]

the E-myth Revisited

[Nomad77]

Without knowing the nature/type of business couldn't really give any practical advice.

[BadgerHut]

With Nomad, hard to say without knowing the domain or business model. Fortunately your thread link provides the answer - computer refurbishment.

Now, what exactly do you mean by scaling? Simply pushing more computers through the existing demand channels? Opening new demand-side markets or angles for the same refubs? Do you want to add

But recall that no matter what you "sell," you are really selling a customer experience and good customer service...in the same way that game is about giving a woman an exciting, interesting experience with you, an experience without which she won't care about your core intrinsic qualities, material assets or whatever.

So the major risks of scaling can center around (a) providing that customer experience when you have to spread yourself across more customers, or (b) if you hire customer-facing employees, making sure they can provide the customer experience that you already provide.

Again to your specific concern; going from a cottage industry model to an assembly line means more throughput and frees you up to pursue other business leads, but also means a total change in your quality assurance process, and you will almost certainly have to devolve some customer service work to someone else as well, no way you can address that many customers yourself. What do you want out of the scaling? Just more revenue, or efficiency/productivity gains?

[Nomad77]

You don't need to think too hard about this, it should happen automatically. If you are selling all the computers you can make then you need to increase your supply. You increase your supply by buying more used computers and hiring a student to help you do the work. You just keep repeating this cycle and pretty soon you will have a big business. The hard part is increasing sales. If you can do that then everything else is relatively easy.

[BlurredSevens]

This is a great subject to discuss. I looked at your thread about your side business, and already the wheels are turning in my head. You are absolutely in the right place to begin scaling: you had an idea, and now you have proven your concept. The next step is to hit the accelerator and give it your best shot at bringing things to the next level.

I am currently scaling my own company - it is the polar opposite of what you're doing, but all businesses have commonality and can learn from each other.

Unfortunately I am taking off for the holiday weekend in half an hour, and don't have time to give a full fledged response right now. I'll simmer on this subject for the next few days and will respond in full next week!

[wi30]

Your next step needs to be setting it up as a legitimate business. I don't know if you are in the U.S or not, but definitely set up an LLC. You can learn the specifics later, but incorporate as an LLC and have the pass through taxation structure of an s-corp (I used legalzoom.com for all my structuring/legal needs. It was very simple and straightforward.) That way you are not personally liable for any unforeseen lawsuit and will not be taxed twice.

Your profit margins are high. Your next and biggest challenge is going to be managing cash flows. You are basically going to have to duplicate everything you do, but through multiple competent employees. This will require setting up at a warehouse and factoring in all of those expenses.

In theory, it will basically be a bunch of workers doing what you currently do, but in a warehouse on an automated schedule. You will have to run the numbers to make sure profits continue to exceed expenses. When all the logistics are solved (warehouse, employees, supplies, etc.) your business should essentially run itself.

For example, say you have five competent employees. For all the man hours you said it takes to go through the computer parts, it is multiplied by 5. So instead of moving 50-100 computers every couple weeks, it's going to be 250-500. Your costs will increase due to labor, rent, electric, etc. but the growth will outweigh that. When you have 10 employees you will be moving 500 to 1000 every couple weeks. With 20 employees 2000-3000 could be an average. Yet you would still be paying the same monthly rent, electric and other basic warehouse costs until you outgrow the property.

I also don't know how involved you want to be. Once you get a warehouse with a couple employees, you can be as hands on or as hands off as you like. You can get to the point where a general manager literally does all of the work and you just take your cut. Or you can guide the company to six and seven figure heights.

I would guess that you are selling these computers on eBay or a similar site. You could set up your own website and create a brand around your refurbished computers. All it would require is a domain name that would match the brand name you create for your business. You could still sell on Amazon, eBay, or anywhere else, but your own website creates legitimacy.

[Nemencine]

First off, lot of thanks to everybody that took time to offer their opinions and thoughts.

To those wondering what the structure of the business is. This is the structure of the business:

Obtain used computer/parts -----> cannibalize them into different parts, test their functionality -----> sort and categorizes the functional parts -----> Use these functional parts to build refurbished computers from scratch -----> sell these refurbished computers.

That is it in a nutshell.

For employees i prefer university students with concentrations in engineering, hard sciences, computer/IT. They are innovative, cheap, flexible work schedules, always having new ideas to teach you. The cons: they are perennially unreliable.

I will be moving to a warehouse near a technical/engineering college, this will put me in close proximity to the talent pool of university students to tap as employees. Also, the warehouse is close to the post office and a shipping docks/agencies-- which will come in handy for the shipment of my finished products. I already have detailed schematics of various workstations, storage structures, even the lighting setup for inside the warehouse.

With all these comes the increase overhead costs that will eat into my profit margins as Wi30 pointed out here.

MY MAIN TARGET:

I prefer selling to 3rd world countries buyers than over ebay/amazon because of (1) less headache and (2) massive volume. If you are selling 200 computers online, that is a 200 potential, different customer headaches to deal with on ebay. That means i have to put more effort into CRM.

However, If you are doing batch sales of 200 computers for a single buyer in 3rd world countries, for those 200 computers you only need to deal with one person = one headache. On top of that, that is 200 computers at a clip = that is serious volume. BADGERHUT, your comment about customer service deterioration as a business expands beyond cottage services into an assemblyline throughput process is spot on... and it goes to my preference for massive, big lot 3rd world buyers over online sales that will strain customer service the more you expand.

That is not the only advantage of 3rd world buyer over online sales... as i expand, i need to do more market research and increase inventory levels... this will be kept at minimum by going with a 3rd world buyer. Why? I am only reacting to what type of computers they want, i am not wasting time/money doing market research or stocking up too much on inventories. If they want something, they simply tell me; and i simply go and find it for them: in essence, they are the ones doing the market research for me.

The main drawbacks of 3rd world buyers is the problem of volatility which will only increase with business expansion. I could get an order for 150 computers this week, then 3 weeks later get an order for 80, then 2 days afterwards an order for 300.

The reason is because my buyers are constantly looking for business opportunities in their respective 3rd world countries.. The size of the opportunities they find varies. You can imagine how this kind of volatility will impact how to structure employees work hours, training of employees, the number of employees, short term and long term current asset/liability planning, outlays, forecasts, inventory levels, etc

There is a reason i was very specific with my requirement for software database. . I need detailed data to run inferential statistics, moving average analysis to smooth out the outliers.

Respectfully, Nomad77, it is not something that happens automatically.. it is not a linear progression relationship. It happens in quantum jumps; and I want a lean, mean machine that is optimized to the max. That is why i appreciate recommendations such as "the toyota way", "good to great", kaizen, six sigma.


I need to automate the process with dependable, well trained employees so that i can free myself to pursue more leads to find more buyers to drive volume...which means i cannot depend entirely on university students as i expand further and further, and this will raise my costs. I need the automated process to free up my time to pursue hot leads for cheap inventories to fill those orders volume. I want to be the lad they go to all the time-- because i will always have their needs met; come rain, snow, blizzard, tornadoes, earthquake, you name it. They need something and nobody else could find it? Nemencine will get it for you. I want to be that lad. In business, you get contacts from other contacts you've developed good working relationship with, which in turn get you more contacts..... Naturally, i will try to do all these while keeping overhead at minimum...

As WIA succintly put it: You have to dial down your process, expand your intake, throughput, and back end. Of course, the devil is in the details.

Wi30 made some really good points in his posts.... not just on the issue of S-CORP vs C-corp, and taxation issues... i am a hand-on manager type.... i wonder though if legal zoom will be solid enough to prevent any future headache, perhaps, it is simply better to get a solid lawyer to begin with. Of course, i will find any SCORE organization to leverage their experience and expertise.

BADGERHUT, i agree that regardless of what you are selling, you are selling the experience: prompt attention to customer complaints, dependable turnover time, ability to fill whatever orders at the cheapest price possible, maintaining good personal relationships with my buyers from 3rd world countries, familiarizing myself with their different cultures, etc.

I will definitely look into the E-MYTH BOOK recommended by MONSTER and HARVEY SPECTER and certainly looking forward to "BLURREDSEVENS" insights.... and i agree, the issue of how to scale a business is something that is relevant to many different businesses(computers, realestate, softwares, blogging business, forums, etc.

Once again, big thank yous to everybody.


regards,

Nemencine

[El Chinito loco]

Nice business and what you do is real similar to what a friend of mine does except he works with industrial equipment which can easily run in the 10k+ range for each piece.

Have you looked into long term business contracts or corporate sales? If you get a few businesses to use you as a primary supplier and if you can provide better value than the big brand competitors then you have a chance at making serious bank. Maybe you should look into being unique enough to do rebranding as the next step.

Your initial business isn't too different from what Michael Dell did.

From what I read he started out servicing then refurbishing. After that he brokered deals with suppliers for low cost P.C. hardware and assembled his own. Then he started rebranding and offered service/warranty that was better than competitors at the time. He was essentially selling competitive service/warranty which is why Dell got so big.

Anyone can build or refurbish a P.C. these days so I would think that focusing on marketing superior service/warranty side of things may be how you grow your business.

On the other hand your primary bottleneck is labor related which is a tough nut to crack especially in the U.S. Another potential problem with this is that anyone you hire and is smart enough to do this is also smart enough to realize that they can just imitate your business model.

[anonymous123]

Nemencine,

I actually hear about business ideas and am asked for my opinion all the time (like, all the time). I usually dislike most of them and can point out a major fatal flaw almost instantly. The good news here is that I really like your business model.

Understanding that the topic is about scaling the business, I think the first question you have to ask is if the underlying business itself is meant to be scaled. This is not as easy to identify as it sounds, but from what I've read I'd say that this business passes this test. (And, I've met an entrepreneur that did something very similar and made a lot of money...I just happened to meet him because he bought my house).

Next, where is your business now? I understand if this is private and don't want to post it here, but this is very important. Your business fundamentally can scale, and if you are in the early stages then I'd think it best to see how much money you can make doing exactly what you are doing now. Crank up sales first. If you put too much time and resources into building the scalable foundation, you could completely crater under these efforts in the hopes to "go big."

Now, if this were something like a software platform I'd probably have a different view and think that you need to launch with a serious foundation lest you get crushed by the next guy shortly after launch (and read any of my analogies to tech as just a point of reference as this is one area of business where I claim zero expertise).

You crank up the sales by doing whatever it is you are doing now (provided that this thing is actually going and not in the "idea" phase), and I don't think it would be very hard to attract an equity partner that would help you scale very quickly. And, despite any negativity towards private equity many may have, I'd think a business like this actually would benefit mightily from having a group of task masters armed with a war chest to help build out the "scalable" platform you desire after you have proven out the business concept with organic sales and growth.

[Note: I think you may get more traction on this in the Lifestyle forum. I don't think many books will help you, but you may get some good nuggets from people on the forum with business experience. I can only speak for myself, but I mostly only look at Lifestyle, Everything Else, and Game because that is what interests me.]

[Nemencine]

@El Chinito loco and @ anonymous123,

@ EL CHINITO LOCO

The idea of providing cheaper but solid, refurbished computers + warranties to small enterprises did occur to me.... i wasn't so keen on it because getting a brand new computers in a 1st world country is just soo cheap and accessible, why would a business enterprise in a 1st world country bother with a refurbished one?

In a 3rd world country on the other hand, they don't give a shite. The ugly reality is that contractors over there will get money from their own government to furnish a school with say 500 or so computers. Instead of buying brand new computers as expected by their government, you know what they will do? They will get in contact with somebody like myself to get them refurbished computers instead, and then pass that off as the brand new computers. These contractors will then turn around to bill their government for the price of a brand new computer, while supplying the school with refurbished computers. Of course, all this after bribing the right government officials/inspectors. That is how they make most of their money. Cronyism, bribery, nepotism, no-bids contracts, skulduggery, over-charging/double-charging/triple-charging, under-the-table wheeling and dealing, just name it and trust me, they've figured it out.

With 3rd world dealers if anything happened to the computer, they will just turn around and bill their own government for more computers because that is more money for them. In fact, if i were to offer warranties i will be the fool because they will just charge me(along with their government) at the same time. Right now, if any computer breaks down they simply re-charge their government. If i am offering warranties, they will charge me on top of charging their own government. This goes to your question of selling superior warranties...a computer is more likely to breakdown in a 3rd world country than in a 1st world country, if i am selling any warranties, let alone superior warranties, that will severely eat into more profit margins.

I simply don't sell warranties/guarantees to 3rd world customers.

These are not western european businesses we are talking about here, these are 3rd world contractors/businesses. There is no oversight or consumer protection agencies or better business bureau or EPA or TTA or XXX, etc. whatever the fuck acronym. It is the wild, wild west, so to speak. I only offer warranties/guarantees to online buyers and local buyers... for 3rd world countries, i don't offer warranties at all because of their shenanigans.

On Micheal Dell business model.... i never really read that much about him..., i know that his company is suffering because his business model of people-powered customization was geared towards desktop. Now though, people don't go online to custom-built their own laptop like they used to do with desktop. Especially, since people are pretty much phasing out desktop in favour of laptop, particularly in 3rd countries where they simply skipped the desktop to laptop.

To give you a comparison: in 3rd world countries, they didn't even need to build landline(land phone) infrastructure because they just leaped directly to cellphones, bypassing landphones... the same with computers... they simply bypass desktops directly to laptops, netbooks and tablets. Granted i know very little about Micheal Dell's business model, and it is something i will look into.

El Chinito Loco, you are right about potential labour bottleneck due to the inherent volatility of orders. A 3rd world contractor can get you an order that will double(100%) your entire monthly proceeds this week; only to follow that up with one that is at 50%; then followed that with another that is at 300%. Of course, since you have to get these done at specific dates you can imagine the irregularities/volatility this introduces into your business.

These countries are volatile: business wise, political wise, etc and that reflects in a lot of things; to smooth out these volatility is the reason why i was very specific in my list of requirements for database software. This will allow me to use the tools of statistics to analyze the data patterns to design better forecasts, outlays, etc for the business.

Of course, the perfect unicorn scenario for me will be to have a dependable, trustworthy business partner in each of those 3rd world countries: Somebody that can help me use cheap, technically trained 3rd world university students as labour to repair and build the computers. My job here then will consist of just getting my hands on the computers from 1st world country and shipping it to him--- basically a supplier. That will STRATOSPHERICALLY BOOST my profit margin because overhead costs will be outsourced to 3rd world country economics scale. The problem with this is -- you are looking for a unicorn: 3rd world operators will screw you over any chance they get. It is what it is.

Thanks El Chinito Loco, i will definitely look into Micheal Dell's business model, i am sure there are things i can still learn from him. Doing a quick search, i came across this Direct from Dell: Strategies that Revolutionized an Industry . Are you familiar with this book? Do you know if it is any good? or is it just a fluffy piece to puff up the man?



@ ANONYMOUS123

Thanks for the words of wisdom. I am more than willing to learn from others that have done it before...

What stage is the business now?

The business is profitable. I make from it more than i make as a scientist, however, it is still at the cottage stage. I have 1.5 employee + myself = 2.5 people. I have more hot leads than i can follow through with, but i cannot execute on them because i work full-time as a scientist. I turn down clients because i don't have the time to fill their orders. The business has grown to the level where i need to leave my scientist job. My mind is already made up on leaving my current job and focusing on doing this business full-time.

Here is how i plan to do that: use all my saved vacation time to work on the business full-time to get a feel for that is like; then 3 months afterwards, followed that up with leaving my job under the good pretense of serious family emergency -- an emergency that will take me outside the country for a couple of months. I am an immigrant and i know just how to convincingly sell that story to my superiors at work. A friend of mine recommend using a work-disability leave to take 6 months off to focus full-time on the business. He even introduced me to an Indian medical doctor of his that is willing to assist me.

Why the pretence? The simple answer is insurance purposes: i don't want to burn my bridges at my science work unless i have to, thus i need plausible reasons to come back if the business fails. Like a put option in a bullish stock market trade. Nothing is 100% guaranteed in life, hence the need for contingencies. This is how my brain works anyways-- considering probabilities and developing contigencies for situations. I need to see what i can really do with the business for at least six months of devoted, focused, full-time work. Come hail or high water, this phase of the plan will be executed before years end. It is time to jump full-time into the business.

That is why I agree with you, anonymous123, about cranking up sales to the max: it is one thing for a business to be a part-time cottage activity(even if i make more from it than my scientist job); it is another to have a fully audited accounting report on the business after running it full-time for a year-- that is more of a true test of my merits.

In case you are interested, here is a post where i did a quick back-of-the envelope micro-datasheet for DJ-Matt questions, showing the online sales/auction sides of the business. This may shed further light on the business.

It goes without saying, and it cannot be repeated often enough, just how much of value i found in your inputs and everybody's.

regards,

Nemencine

p.s. moving this thread to lifestyle section? that depends on tuthmosis and roosh. i will inform them.

[Jackreacher]

Hey bud took me some time to get back to you after I got your PM. I wanted to see what type of business you had and give it a little bit of thought before I suggested anything that might help with the scaling of your business. The one book that comes to my mind and I give Roosh the credit for discovering it is Antifragile By Nassim Taleb



It's such an excellent piece of work that I would not recommend any other book(I'm against reading into too many things before performing a desired action), especially if you're looking at expanding the business. This book will give you a definitive outlook on if you should expand, how to expand your business, and what you can do to cover your ass if things go south. It'll change the way you think about business completely(it did for me). Read it like the bible, let the information in it sink in so you can utilize it effectively, it's a pretty dense book but if you stick to it I'm very confident that you won't have to ask for any more advice in this regard.

Best wishes

[Jack198]

Per Nemencine's request, I'm posting what I passed on to him via an earlier PM:


I'm an attorney and I used legalzoom to write my will. Not sure if that's sad or efficient, but I think it says a lot about their products - they are pretty good. I wish I'd thought of that guy's business model! That said do some basic research before filling out forms you do not yet understand.

Filing for an LLC in your Secretary of State office shouldn't cost you more than a couple of hundred bucks and you can do that yourself, but Legalzoom might make that easier since it is one stop shopping.

Once you have the LLC you can set it up to be taxed like an S corp and get a tax ID number from the IRS. Remember though, if you go with a full on C-corp (or any kind of corporation) versus an LLC (Limited Liability Company), you're going to have more maintenance and formalities to make it work (regular meetings, bylaws, board members, etc.) Even if it's just you, the corporation model has to be followed or if there is legal trouble the court will say it's a sham corporation and treat you like a sole proprietorship - you don't want that!

Bigger businesses can make better use of (and have greater need for) the corporation model. They also use Delaware for their corporation since Delaware has the best laws and dedicated courts with judges who really know their stuff (you aren't going to wind up in a business court with a judge who's been doing divorces for the past decade till he got transferred). But for most businesses, especially smaller ones that don't plan to issue public stock, an LLC is a lot less headaches.

Whatever you do, once you set up your LLC or corporation, make sure you never co-mingle personal funds with those of your business entity or that too will shitcan your business status and render you a sole proprietorship as well as exposing your personal assets to liabilities incurred by the business. Lots of basic books on this common subject as well as on the internet.

[anonymous123]

Nemencine,

If you are looking for a book reference, then I have a similar passion that Jachreacher has, but for the book "How to Get Rich" by Felix Dennis. This was my bible. It was really the book that helped me overcome the fear of leaving the corporate world (and like you I had a lot to lose as I put a lot of effort into my education and could command a ridiculous amount of pay as a W2).

But, leaving the W2 is the first and most important step and Felix puts a lot of effort into drilling this point home. (Bonus, the guy has actually won some writing awards and has made a ton of money as an entrepreneur).

I find myself at a crossroads myself, and that feeling of being a "little lost" before starting to head in a different direction has reared its ugly head on me. So, I will likely need to revisit pastor Felix's writings soon myself.

Transitions can be tough. On my end I've sunk way too much time lately into banging hot chicas and drinking. On the positive side, my conversion rate with chicas is absolutely freakish. On the negative side, I really need to get some sort of routine going. I don't know why the heavens keep showering me with boobies...but, it isn't even the sauce I need right now.

Oh well. (and despite my complaints...I'm sitting in a hotel in SF now while I write this...and Miss Big Boobie Blonde that I met on Friday night will be here in 4hrs and will be taking me to the airport in the morning...and this is after I shut down my hot Brazilian that is normally awaiting my return to this city).

It is a tough job, but someone has to do it.

[BlurredSevens]

As I see it, here is the process for building and scaling a new company:

Stage 1. Develop an idea
Stage 2. Research if there is a market for it
Stage 3. Test the shit out of that idea
Stage 4. Release your product: see if a lot of people buy it or use it
Stage 5. If people are buying, raise money from Angel Investors ($500k-$1M)
Stage 6. Use that money to staff up and continue testing market, product, etc.
Stage 7. If success continues, go to VC's and raise real money ($5M+)
Stage 8. Continue staffing up, expanding, testing. You are now at scale.
Stage 9. Sell, get acquired, or continue to run your business.


Right now you're at Stage 4. You have a business model that works and is profitable. With more capital, you'll make more money. That's the kind of thing investors like to see, and is much rarer than you might think. So, now it is time to give your business an influx of cash. That is the "quantum leap" you mentioned earlier.

Getting your first round of funding has two benefits. The second is the most important:

1. More capital = more freedom to experiment, hire, and refine your business model.

2. You'll get access to and guidance from businessmen with vastly more experience than you. These are the guys that have done what you're trying to do, and they will help you scale, staff up, get to more markets, and help you avoid common mistakes made by first time entrepreneurs. I can not understate the importance of having this type of expertise on your side of the battle.


Other considerations:

Delegate: You can't effectively manage more than 7 people. You will need to hire managers, and delegate responsibility to them. In my experience, competent managers are the secret to scaling successfully.

Get a lawyer: There are more ways to get screwed over than stars in the sky. A lawyer will help you avoid the largest exposures.

Get a bookkeeper: It's a pain in the ass and very time consuming to do accounting yourself, and chances are you're doing it wrong anyway. Don't get shut down because of avoidable accounting errors.

Ownership: Don't give away large percentages of your company like they were candy. This is a common mistake. Investors will want % ownership, and this is normal, but don't get screwed. As soon as you own less than 51% of the company, you no longer own the company. So, you have 49% to give out, and you'll need it as incentive when you're at scale and need to recruit big talent to your team.

Hiring: The people you hire now will be your core team, and should be with you until the end. Take your time; hiring talented people is extremely difficult and time consuming, but always worth the effort.


Conclusion:

If I were you, I'd be trying to get in front of Angel Investors to pitch your business, and see if they will invest. If they don't want to, they will candidly tell you what's wrong with your business. It's the best advice you will ever get. Take your time in this process and make sure you do it the right way. You don't want some chump investing $50k and taking 10% of the company. Considering you already have annual profits of $100k+, you're going to be looking to raise $750k-$1M, and the Angel will probably want 20% or more of the company. Talk to your lawyer before accepting any offers, and don't be afraid to say no.

Lastly, since no one ever told me this: right now is the most important crossroads of your life. I once made the decision to take my side project and go into it full time, thinking I could bail if it didn't go well. But that chance doesn't ever happen. Once you're in, you're in it until the end. So accept that, and BE in your company. Don't think that in 6 months you'll go back to your science job if it doesn't work out, because with that mentality, it won't work out. In entrepreneurship, there are no contingency plans. And of course that is part of the fun.

Good luck.

[Libertas]

Nemencine, have you been to any of your local SCORE seminars?

I've been to a few regarding starting a business (which I want to do in the long term) and I found them quite helpful. They're worth looking into. I'm sure they have some helpful answers for you.

[Nemencine]

I missed your question earlier, Libertas.

Yes, i went-- it was very helpful. They covered a lot of ground, on top of that, i will soon be getting my own business MENTOR from a local SCORE.

Once again, i appreciate everybody's input, it means a lot to me.

There is just soo much resources out there, failure is really not an option.

regards,

Nemencine

p.s. For those interested, here is a "DIARY OF OPENING A NEW BUSINESS" on the millionaire fastlane forum. The lad in question chronicled all the ups and down as he is starting and growing his business along. From 5 figures to 7 figures. It is a 27 pages thread and counting...

(09-03-2014 07:10 PM)Libertas Wrote:  

Nemencine, have you been to any of your local SCORE seminars?

I've been to a few regarding starting a business (which I want to do in the long term) and I found them quite helpful. They're worth looking into. I'm sure they have some helpful answers for you.

[Jack198]

SCORE is now on my bucket list - thanks. And that fastlane site is worth a look too.

[Gringuito]

Nemencine,

I haven't been here in a while so I'm late to this thread. How's your mentor working out for you? This is the best way for you to learn the skills you need. One important thing for you to remember is what your skill set is. Are you the best person to be running the day to day operations of the company when it has 1.5 people, 15 people, 150 people. You seem to come from a technical background as did I. As your company grows you need to evaluate yourself to make sure you're the best manager for your employees. That doesn't mean giving up control or bringing in VCs and an outside management team.

If you're still looking for advice, let me know.

[Vaun]

I think you need to do some real analysis. Trend analysis.

Google Trends - search all of the keywords related to your business. Look at their trends and related keywords, explore every related keyword and their content.

Google AdWords - start a small budgeted AdWords campaign with all of the potential keywords related to your business. See which ones get the most traffic. Let Google help you discover new keywords with their Keyword Tool that you didnt think of. Spend only $100-$200 on this. Taylor the SEO of your business to the most popular keywords.

Discovery - find every business related to yours and study them. Do SWOT analysis on all.

Be careful of reading advice books. They can derail your vision by adopting someone elses.

Whats your scale plan? How can you get your product in the most hands of the most people, in the shortest amount of time? How can you serve the largest amount of people with the lowest cost possible? What can you build to automate or accelerate the client interaction process?