Hey all. What are you tips for finding a decent telephony service that can handle a couple of phone lines and also has digital comms services? (chatbots, team communications, etc).
Thank you so much!

Hi, we have franchised a car/residential window tinting and car audio business. The name alone has been getting us some business in our local area, I also get some business off of Facebook ads. Corporate handles Google Ads. I am looking for other ways we can effectively advertise this business, free ways are a plus. Anyone have any ideas?

I have a wine and spirits online store.

I only ship items via adult signature required.

A customer emailed me saying the package says it was delivered but it wasn't and she wants a refund or replacement.

I have proof of delivery and a signature on file. It is a single family home. It was delivered to the correct address provided and someone physically signed for it.

I feel we filled our part of the transaction. It was successfully delivered to the address provided. Some websites seem to imply that the seller is responsible still. But we are not amazon.

I don't feel that am I responsible to send another item that was delivered and signed for. How do I even know she is being honest.

What would you do?

I haven't given her a definitive no, but I implied that I wasn't going to fill her request. I sent her proof of delivery and told her to contact FedEx.

Hello everyone!

I am hosting a donation-based event for Christmas. It will include activities for kids, including pics with Santa.

I was going to buy a polaroid camera for these, but was wondering if anyone knew where/how to print frames with my business's logo on them to put the pics in? I've looked online but this is surprisingly hard to find. I also need it for this weekend, so I'm definitely running a little low on time here. Thanks in advance!

Does anyone have any recommendations for flannel bags that are made in United States? It can be shipped out quickly? I don’t need a logo or printing- however I am definitely interested in doing that in the future. I am attaching an image of what we are trying to get any help would be amazing and I appreciate all of you!!!

The bags would be black and be around 10 inches wide and 9 inches long.

What have you done to seamlessly organize your business and personal finances?

Hey hey! As a newer business owner (acquired a business about 6 months ago), I'm hoping to begin utilizing LinkedIn a bit more as a resource - a place where I can ask questions and learn from other SMB owners about management, comp, market trends, etc.

While absolutely none of this will have sensitive or disparaging information about my employees, and I definitely err on the side of transparency with my employees (answering their questions with a genuine explanation from an owner's perspective), I do imagine it'd be the most helpful if I could ask/engage with this content somewhat anonymously from my employees.

I'm not connected with any of them on LinkedIn, but I am connected with the company page obviously (as are a few of them). We're a small blue collar company, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say they might not all be avid LinkedIn users.

Any tips on if there's a good way to do this?

"Articles and Activity" are current turned off for public visibility

I used to work as a Web Designer and Developer. I have now started my own agency called Brandzyo. Initially, we are focusing on providing SEO services for organic clients.

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Website: Brandzyo.com (Currently working on content and portfolio)

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Hey all, this is gonna be a long one but bear with me please, I could really use some advice. My dad owns his own retail business, and I’ve grown up in/around it and have been a lot more involved in recent years. I enjoy the industry and participating in it is also one of my favorite hobbies. I say that so you can hopefully understand a little better why I want to make this work so much. I very much enjoy working the retail side of things as well because I love being able to expose/introduce customers to products that I myself am passionate/enthusiastic about.

That being said, the more I work behind the scenes with my dad, the more I seem to realize how flawed his business model/approach (or lack thereof) is. Our biggest issue (to me) is product turnover rates. He loves using 70% of our typical monthly purchasing power to buy inventory that takes wayyy too long to turn over. The reasons why it sits around are typically either lack of demand, or he overpaid by a painfully high margin so we can’t sell it at a reasonable price and make any money. He also isn’t very technologically inclined (at all), so he isn’t the best at price-checking when looking at purchasing products, so way too often we’ll be stuck with a product that has a pitifully low turnover rate, and the cherry on top is that he’ll overpay by anywhere from 10-60% for a product that we can never move.

I have been working my ass off to do what I can (and have been pretty successful) to both increase sales and profit margins. Despite my efforts it seems like we’re always out of money to purchase more product/replace goods sold with. Everytime this cycle repeats I just feel so defeated. I go in our warehouse and it’s chock full of inventory that is just sitting there.

I’ve tried talking to him about remedying these issues but every time he either goes “oh yeah I know you do everything right and I do everything wrong”, or (much more rarely) he’ll acknowledge the issue and say he’ll work on it (plot twist he never does). He’s also extremely stressful when he communicates which makes taking to him difficult for me.

He used to have a MUCH larger business in the same industry but it was pretty much dissolved when he and my mom divorced. He was very successful with that company, but that was decades ago. SO much has changed in the industry since then and he seems to have no desire to change with it. I’ve been trying to scale the business but I can’t seem to get anywhere. Idk if it’s me, him, or both of us.

I’ve contemplated abandoning this altogether due to the affects that the stress from dealing with everything has on me, but idk. If I were to bail idk what he would do. This could be completely wrong but I don’t think he would’ve survived the last couple of years without the changes I’ve made. Online sales and new relationships with manufacturers that allow us to partially cut out distributors and middle men have increased our sales and margins despite a VERY slow last 2 years for the industry as a whole.

My other concern with bailing would be what I would do for work. I would like to have my own business doing the same thing I’m doing now with him, just basically with him out of the way. Issue is that this industry has a very large financial barrier to entry, and overcoming that would be more effort than it’s worth to me. I’d rather go get a sales position with various companies in the same industry so I can still do what I love without the stress that dealing with overhead creates. I’ve had a worryingly increasing amount of panic attacks (pretty much every 2 months since July 2023). This might be getting too far off track but I still live with him and my brother, and Everytime they’re both out of the house I’m much more productive and way less stressed. Idk if moving out is the answer but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I don’t have a ton of money rn and would have to sacrifice a lot of the equipment I use to pursue my hobby, but I think I could make it happen if necessary.

Really just looking for any guidance or constructive outside opinions, thanks all!

Hello , i have 30000 usd to invest .. i am in east europe, What to invest… what kind of product ?

Hello, I've been running my small business for a few years and it's honstly felt more like a hobby. I sell acylic paintings, dolls, resin art, and my main products are hand made jewelry. I really enjoy my little shop but other then the occasional craft fair, I dont feel like a real business. I want to generate more frequent sales online in between craft fairs. I've sold prints but the company wasn't very good and didn't sell any of them because of the low quality. Any advice is welcome. I was thinking about starting a red bubble account with my acrylic paintings designs and other 2D art ive done . Thank you!

A year ago our effective rate was 2%, now it's 3%. Business is located in SC, we do 1 to 2 million dollars worth of transactions in a year. I suspect they are just creeping up their rates, but I wanted to check here first before I shop elsewhere.

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Hi, I am a 30 year old puertorrican trying to start a business, but i still don't understand Freelance VS. LLC, and how taxes work as a Freelance and how it works as an LLC.

I know if I open an LLC my assets are protected and i have to file the BOI form.

What i do not know is, how much money i can make without having to pay taxes until I am able to open an LLC.

Do I have to register a name to do freelance?

Do I need an EIN for freelance or it only appliesto an LLC?

If i decide to do freelance, how can i open a banck account that is only for my freelance business?.

Someone that knows about this, please guide me, I have made so much research, but still in doubt.

Thank you.

What good resources are there to keep in mind when starting out? I'm the hyper analytical type and my SO is the other end of the spectrum. So I'm worrying about what is going to happen next April and meanwhile he thinks it's all going to be a piece of cake (neither of us are accounting or tax pros...I've filed our taxes on turbo tax in previous years when we were both w2 employees). This is our first year starting up a small business.

Additionally we are in the weird position (maybe not too weird but I don't know) of me being a full time W2 employee of another org and him being self employed. So in terms of taxes I want to make sure we are filing in a way that's not basically going to bowl us over because of my income (because his thinking is that all of his revenue is going to get offset by his expenses this year since we only just started up, but that doesn't factor in my income at all). Is it better to file separately instead of filing jointly? Or will that screw us over even more?

Are there any other avenues rather than handing all our data over to a CPA or tax professional? I've been worrying about that too since I'm the documenter and he isn't...but I haven't had the time to keep track of what he is/isn't saving. Full time job plus part time support of his business and then keeping the house running leaves little extra bandwidth.

Our business is via e-commerce currently so there's built in tracking there. But I'm not looking forward to picking apart what was a business expense on our multiple card accounts because even though I insisted on having a business checking and business credit card he's gone and made charges to our personal accounts too (ADHD) because in his opinion his major equipment purchases are more than enough to offset the income and therefore I shouldn't need to split hairs on things like analytics subscriptions and Internet bills, materials, etc.

Can someone tell me who is on the deep end here or if we are both on opposite ends of something that is more in the middle? And where the heck I would start if I want to take some sort of basic accounting course?

Is it still possible to open a thrift store in today economy? Tell me your pros and cons

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Hello! New to this thread, thought I could ask some questions. My friend and I started a retail business together and each invested about 7k to start it up. We both spent hours upon hours working on it and she was not enjoying herself while I was. At first we tried to split the work but it became too much and she had other activities she wanted to do on the side instead while I wanted to turn this into my job. We weren't making a profit the first year and not really paying ourselves. She's no longer investing money into it currently, and the company is now only under my name. However our CPA suggested she become a silent partner and get a small share of the profits each h year in return for her investment. Again she's no longer investing money or contributing with the work. How much do you think would be fair as a percentage of the profit?

She did not want just the 7k back she wanted more than that for the hours she put in however the business is still very small and cannot do that which is why we thought maybe a percentage ea h year would be good. The business did about 15k in sales in 2022 and in 2023 we are on track to do about 35k in sales so not super big.

This year I qualified for the Marketplace credit and had insurance through there for myself and my kids. Next year, I will no longer qualify. I can get insurance through my business as a group. This is a double question - for this year, am I able to deduct any of the marketplace insurance (myself and/or my kids) off of my taxes for the business? Next year with the group insurance, will it be 100% deducted as the children are under the business as my dependents under the group?

What would the ideal business be for a student athlete who was 2 hours a day to work on this? I read that starting with freelancing is the best idea. Any other recommendations?

Hey!

Anyone here owns/manages a senior care agency? If so, would you be willing to give some feedback on a project of mine?

Thank you

Hi, I’ve started a remodel/renovation business partnership within the past 3 months.

I’m having trouble starting out finding clients and securing deals. I’ve had a few reach out to my ads and quoted a few, but never heard back.

We have had *some work, but none from advertisements. (Subcontracted for a company and built fences for 2 of my partner’s friends/family.)

So far here’s what we’ve done- -Business license -Insurance -Facebook ads -Google business entry -Passing out business cards -Made a website -Emails to realtors -Reached out to homebuyer companies to Become a vendor (was approved but haven’t heard back in terms of jobs)

Any advice from people that have been in the same boat would be greatly appreciated

Hi, I’m hoping to find some guidance here. I’m looking to start up a candle, jams, and knitting home business. I’ve been making these products as a hobby forever, but recently just thought about profiting from it. My startup budget is low entry and as I make sales, plans will of course change as well. I have already completed my business plan, but now it’s about the action to making it happen.

1. I am looking for an easy way to get things started with business registration without breaking bank. I know of zenbusiness and tailor brands, but they’re quite pricey. Is there one that is more economical and accomplishes the same things?

2. I need colored product labels. Would it be more cost efficient to order online labels through professional services or create my own labels using a label printer? I’ve searched online for label printers, but again they’re easily over $1,500. Is there a colored label printer that’s more affordable and does the job? Or am I better off ordering through online services?

Just trying to save a buck where I can I suppose. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi everyone, I just wanted to share a Christmas-themed sticker pack with 54 illustrations in case anyone is looking to update their marketing collateral for the holiday season

Everything is free for your personal and commercial projects (no attribution required). Here is the link: https://www.hobi.design/prop/christmas-stickers

You can download the PNGs directly or open the file in Figma (no sign-ups or email needed).

This is part of a design library I've started and I am adding more and more stuff every week. Please feel free to take a look at this.

Thank you and enjoy the holidays!

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My dad has a manufacturing printing business (box manufacturing and packaging). It's doing well and good but the growth rate is stagnant and low. I think most of the time is wasted by dealing with labour so.

1. where can I find a foreman who looks after petty things and deals with labour
2. how can I find potential small brands who can and would love to avail his services??

3)for overall growth what steps should be taken??

I’m in a 3-way partnership with a 34-33-33 split. One of the members is thinking about leaving the company and would like to get bought out. It is not a business that would allow me to buy him out with one big lump sum, and the partner that’s leaving understands that. So what I’m thinking about is paying him a % of profits for x number of years. Business makes $250-300k a year before distributions. This partner has not participated in this business for 4-5 years now. What do you think would be fair? Or maybe you have a different way I should approach this?

Thank you!

Has anyone been using PayWindow payroll software? The owner recently announced his retirement with no plans for anyone to take over. Wondering what other users are finding for possible options.

PayWindow was a standalone program run on your system... ie: not an online web-based service. Ideally that's what I'd like to continue doing. It wasn't high end fancy, it just worked. I'd really rather not be moving my clients to online payroll services where they can be marketed to by potential competitors, and I would tend to be more at mercy to price increases. PayWindow was cheap... $45 a year for the program, unlimited clients/employees. Most online options are going to be that much or more per month... and per client. I certainly don't expect $45 a year going forward, but based on 20 payroll clients, going from $45 per year to $8k or more is problematic.

Howdy yall! Sorry if this isn’t the place for this. I’m a musician in CA and as well as manage my own personal endeavors as a private instructor/freelancer, I have a group that I need to distribute paychecks to. I guess my question is, as far as tax purposes go, what would be the smartest move: filing all paychecks to the group under my solo LLC, or should I form a partnership/LLC for the group and do things that way?

A little info: the group is a rather large group with upwards of 10 people, and we do a mixture of bar, private event, and university gigs.

I’ve been a freelancer for a while, but I’ve never managed the books for a working music organization before, so I’m certainly in need of some guidance. Once again, I’m not sure if this is the right place for this, so sorry in advance if it isn’t!

I have $100K in liquid cash to invest in a new venture. I'm thinking I should try something else out with it as it won't be missed if it's loss (obviously not wanting to take uneducated and unneeded risks though). Willing to entertain any thoughts, businesses, invesmenoor services. Thanks for any input!

Looking for book recommendations for someone who has an administrative background, who is taking over a small home service business. Ideally something that covers the fundamentals, but isn't trying to be an MBA synopsis.

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Any help or suggestions are appreciated! Thank you!