(Part 2) Top products from r/smallbusiness

So I feel like I have some advice to offer here. I work at a farmers market and the booth next to mine sells candles. I would say they make about $200-300 a day. I personally don't buy candles, but I'm obsessed with wax melts and know many other people who are as well. There's honestly a whole weird subculture around it and I've been known to spend $50-100 on them at a time when ordering online. I have three drawers full of wax melts and some of them are so sought after that there are selling and trading groups on Facebook.

The booth next to me at the farmers market sells their candles for $15 each or 3 for $35. Lots of people will really fall in love with two scents and then they can't help but spend another $5 to get a third. They do a great job of marketing. All the candles are just in clear, cylinder jars. They're not colorful, just white soy wax. They use cedar wicks. Their scents are really fun and unique and have cute names like Netflix and Chill, Gummy Bears etc. I feel like they have a variety of scents that appeal to people of all ages, but their branding is clean and basic enough to also appeal to anyone.

Looking at your page I don't even see what kind of wax you use. I don't know what your wicks are made of. I don't know if you're using essential oils, which you've blended into these fragrances or what your methods are for making these candles. I have to be honest, people care about these things A LOT. Hell, I've even heard people ask how soy wax is made. These people have all the answers to these questions and people really do want to know.

I'm not going to lie, I'm in my 30s and if I saw your candles I might not even stop to look because they look old fashion to me. They look craft mall/Americana/shabby chic at best. That's my cold hard truth to you. Also the scents seem to be mostly dupes of mainstream fragrances or just really basic stock fragrances. So they just don't seem special. Nothing on the website tells me why they're special. You don't even have like "your story" or anything on your page that I can find. Also your photos are grainy and dark and just not very appealing.

As for the wax melts, I know they're not the most exciting thing in the world, but some companies make them into that. My favorite wax melt company is The Bathing Garden. (www.thebathinggarden.com)
This is my last order from them. When I get these packages, it's like Christmas morning. They charge $3.75 for each clamshell. Everything is beautiful. The fragrances are limited edition and all beautifully crafted and blended. There are new themes and some fragrances are rereleased annually. Here's the kicker- they're so busy that the turn around time is SIX WEEKS. When I first heard this I thought what a horrific business model. I can't imagine waiting a month and a half to get an order from them. When I got that first order I about died. Everything was amazing. I've never smelled such smells. Since that first order I've almost always had an open order with them. I just got that order and I'm now waiting on another order I places maybe three weeks ago.

They do a fragrance of the month and it's hard for me to resist because its just there for the month and then it's gone. They describe their fragrances in great detail and give them fun names and create every clamshell into a work of art. It feels valuable when I get it. It feels and smells worth every penny.

I will honestly say their website kinda sucks and it's worse on mobile, but their stuff is so fabulous that word of mouth creates all the buzz they need.

Also my best friend makes perfume which she sells online. She custom blends her fragrances and they are released seasonally in themes. She offers sample packs and full size products. She is very successful even though people can't smell her items before spending money on them. Her descriptions are very through.

Start with better photos. That's super important. Get this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005CX9S8A/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_MjtgzbWTZ49MH

The weird backgrounds aren't doing your stuff any favors. Maybe include some props depending on the fragrances. I sell nail polish online, which I make. Sometimes props can be fun. You can see that this photo was taken in the lightbox and it's fun and bright.

I hope this wasn't too harsh and is at least some what helpful. I've been selling nail polish online for four years and did over 11k sales on etsy last year. I woke a full time job and most weeks I only have one solid day to work on my polish business. I would say that branding and unique offerings/names are at least 80% of why my business is successful. I make it all really personal and informational and entertaining to buy products from my shop. Which is what I want when I buy something online.

There's a lot of free digital opportunities available to you, you just have to know how to leverage them. First off, you need a responsive website and a free Google Analytics account. If you don't know how to get that, it's easy enough to look up and learn yourself. Google has lots of learning videos on how to use Analytics. https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/

Things that are nice to have: event tracking on buttons or call to actions, a dedicated phone number to track conversions on (you can set this up through Google for free). A CMS that allows you to easily make changes to your website based on the information you see in Analytics.

What else? Monthly email campaigns, Mail Chimp is free and has templates. Get people to sign up for your newsletter on your website by offering an incentive like "20% off when you sign up" and include a phrase they have to mention in their welcome email.

Do extensive profiling on your target demographic. Where do they live, how much do they make, what are they interested in, do they have generally have kids, do they own a house, do they have pets, do they shop at whole foods or at a cheap store, are they value shoppers or are they brand whores, what other services are they likely to use?

Save that info.

Optimize the assets you have to be better found online. Use the H1 title tag for page titles and H2 for section headers. Simple yes, widely done by SMBs? NO. Make sure you have meta tags filled out for every page that are relevant.

Write one blog a week on a topic related to what you do. Write on Medium, submit articles to y-combinator, do thought leadership exercises and posts on forums (don't be sales-y, try and help people, it goes a long way).

Offer a free download in an email (of a PDF, something to get someone to click).

Use whatever website traffic you get to analyze the behavior flow and click events on your website. Keep track of your conversion rates on buttons. If some are low performing, make changes to your website.

Offer "free training" or whatever else is included in what you do.

PPC: If you really know your demographic, PPC can be very powerful, even on a limited budget. Make sure you are using the right keyword groupings, if something isn't working well right away, kill it. I see ads on instagram for software and it has a dog in the picture as the main focus. I use instagram for dog stuff. Clever. Very clever. Be that clever.

Facebook ads are great because its SO easy to see if something is working well. I have never had a mediocre ad. It's either wildly successful or it instantly sucks and I take it down. Use the canvas ads, they are VERY interactive and you can tell a story.

Keep producing content. Make a buzzfeed list of something somewhat related to your industry that people can relate to. Share that on all your social media accounts. I got LOTS of followers that way. Lists are great. Lists with the current year in the title as a blog post are even better.

I have been a Marketing Director for years, and recently started my own business. I have a $400 monthly budget (for my own business) and am currently using that successfully to build brand awareness, gain traction and get referrals. Let me know if you have any questions.

I also recommend reading this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5G89YEVQ59YTNM41FSTK

Online courses are really hit or miss. Most college courses on "business" don't really teach how to start or run a small business. They either teach big business... how to work in a large corporation... or how to create a startup. Both of those are markedly different from starting and running a small business (even an online one).

There are some great books about starting and running a small business, though. Here are a few of my favorites:

Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs

This is an excellent book on business finances for the non-accounting types. I took accounting classes in college but never really got what all the financial reports really meant to my business' health. This will teach you what's important in the reports, what you should look out for, and how to read them. This is critically important for a small business owner to understand, even if you plan to hire a bookkeeper and accountant.

The E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber

Awesome book about building systems in your business to really grow it to the point where it's not just a job for the owner. It's easy to read and probably one of the top 5 business books of all time.

Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey

This is a good book and covers several different aspects of entrepreneurship from hiring and managing employees to marketing, setting the vision, etc. It's hokey at times, but is a good read.

The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen Covey

Not necessarily a "small business" book, but easily my top #1 book recommendation of all time. It's hugely applicable to any professional, or anyone really. I re-read this book every couple of years and still get more out of it after almost 20 years.

Getting Things Done by David Allen

THE productivity book. Even if you only absorb and implement 25% of the strategies in this book it will make a huge difference in your level of productivity. It's really the game-changing productivity system. This is one of the biggest problems with small business owners - too much to do and no organization. Great read.

I hate to send someone to my direct competitors, but it sounds like you really would benefit from starting a relationship with a local accountant/CPA firm. They can typically help you with all of the above along with more traditional "business setup" services.

I would love to say "hey head over to our site and we'll get you all sorted out," but it seems like your type of company would get more out of an accounting firm than from us. Feel free to reach out though when you are in need of forecasting services.

As far as how to learn the financial side on your own, I found this book to be pretty helpful when starting out.

Good luck!

I would optimize your website for sales! Here's a few ideas off the top of my head.

1. When I came, I had to physically look for the sales button in the middle of the navbar - This should stand out, at the end of the bar different color or in an entirely different location like fixed somewhere.
   
2. Your setup isn't very good for SEO - Top p[age slider etc... It could be optimized a little more!
   
3. Homepage needs products. What should people buy, what is most popular, top seller, weekly promotion, something that shows you guys are selling.
   
4. I see you have a Twitter - Awesome. Now, get Facebook, Pinterest (this one for sure. If you brand your profile right, every girlfriend will be giving this to her BF next holiday) Instagram, Snapchat, etc. You could even run some ads on here, there's subs that would be receptive of the right promotion. You're selling a male lifestyle, so platforms like instagram and snapchat are going to be huge for building an image around your lifestyle. I use FB to earn shares and likes with content, inevitably the word of mouth of the internet. I use Twitter for hashtag exposure and getting discovered by completely new people, or connecting with people otherwise impossible. Snapchat, IG, great for building an image.
   
5. If you haven't already, break down your target market to a tee. Then separate marketing duties and find out the optimal way to use those tactics to reach the consumer, or perhaps the person who will be shopping for the consumer - ie. Mom, wife, girlfriend, friend
   
6. Partnerships. What goes with a good beard? Good coffee, good scotch, a classy barber, some cufflinks.... Find some partners. Network, become friends, rub each others backs.
   
7. Sponsor some people. Youtube channels, guys with bad ass beards - Who's the ones that care about their beards in quantities? Perhaps fashion oriented guys, maybe it's students, whisky lovers, business owners, whatever your focus is, reach them with industry influencers.
   
8. Remarkable content is king, still. What is your target interested in? Write a weekly piece that offers content they like. Style guides. Mens accessories. 5 beard styles that get you laid. 10 of the most successful people with badass beards.
   
9. Speak to your customer. You are not selling what you do, but why you do it. It's all about pushing the lifestyle. If you reach your target with a lifestyle that applies to them they will give your product a try. This TED talk changed my life - https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action?language=en. This book as well - https://www.amazon.ca/How-Brands-Grow-What-Marketers/dp/0195573560/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459360271&sr=8-1&keywords=how+brands+grow
   

In general every path is different, so take all advice with skepticism. Study of entrepreneurship has shown that reality differs from traditional teaching. For example, business plans tend to be used after the fact for improvement rather than seriously up front. This is covered well on Effectuation. The E-Myth books cover important basics, though most of those books say the same things and it does not always apply. Paul Orfalea's Copy This is pragmatic and inspirational. An old but still good book with various lessons about doing business is Startup by Jerry Kaplan. The book Founders at Work has lots of real stories that drive home how much work startups are and how different and in a way alienating the work can be, as starting something is not like having a job.

For ideas and inspiration in general the Change This site can be a good source. Good luck!

You should do it! I just launched a cosmetics business this year, but I first got the idea way back in 2008, when I first learned about indie makeup. I thought I was too busy with school, but now I realize if I'd started working on it back then, even just a few hours per week, my business would be further along today.

Your first steps are writing a business plan, developing your products, and learning about FD&C cosmetic regulations, so you can sell your products legally. For the last step, I recommend these 2 books: Soap & Cosmetic Labeling and Good Manufacturing Practices by Marie Gale. Some people have mentioned liability issues, you can get liability insurance relatively inexpensively if you join a trade association for small businesses (for example HSCG) and purchase it through them.

You also mentioned buying and reselling products from other brands. I used to work as a buyer for a cosmetic retailer, and I can tell you, it's not easy. In order to get wholesale prices, brands need to approve you as a retailer. And beauty brands, especially popular brands are very selective about who they allow to retail their products. You'll also need to meet their MOQ's (minimum order quantities) which are sometimes thousands of dollars. If you take this route, you'll probably have to start by sourcing small indie brands, and then work your way up to the bigger brands as you gain credibility.

This was the best way to get most entrepeneurs up to speed in financial analysis: The Portable MBA in Finance and Accounting. http://www.amazon.com/The-Portable-MBA-Finance-Accounting/dp/0470481307 there is a pdf download through womlib.ru for free as well (google it)

My strong suggestion is that if you are comfortable with excel, that you look for a restaurant business plan template and use it for a guideline as you fill in the data. A professional accountant may or may not be interested in explaining how depreciation expense flows through the statements and its tax impact, but an intro to accounting class at a community college will cover topics like that.

I can build interactive statements from scratch (blank worksheet), but it is a skill that took years to learn - it is something that you should not be focused on while developing your business. A talented bookkeeper should be able to do the basics for you without costing you CPA hourly rates.

An unsolicited response to an unasked question: does the bank that you are speaking with have a history of financing restaurant startups? Banks will sometimes lend against your home equity if you have 720+ fico score. Some specialty lenders will lend against established cash flows for business expansion or equipment purchases. I have never heard of a traditional bank lending money to finance a restaurant start up. Make sure that you are setting your expectations realistically.

How are you marketing your business currently?

Here's some good books to read although they're geared more towards managing and motivating a workforce. Others may have better recommendations for books on growing as a startup or small business. Ultimately, you need to focus on marketing your company and targeting your ideal customer.

Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet
https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Ship-Around-Turning-Followers/dp/1591846404

How to Become a Great Boss by Jeffrey Fox
https://www.amazon.com/How-Become-Great-Boss-Employees/dp/0786868236/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-2&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss

How to Be a Great Boss by Gino Wickman
https://www.amazon.com/How-Great-Boss-Gino-Wickman/dp/1942952848/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484506909&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+a+great+boss

Good to Great by Jim Collins (I just started this)
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1484507074&sr=1-1&keywords=good+to+great

EDIT: Here's another one.

Traction. Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman. I haven't read this but the CEO did and we use the structure and methods from this book to run our company. https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Get-Grip-Your-Business/dp/1936661837/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Your idea of expanding your current content studio sounds exciting, however there should be clear reasons why you need to divide your brand into subsidiaries.

Here are the questions that can help you:

1. Are you willing to give up control of a particular component of your business, for instance the editing team, to someone who will run that studio?
   
   
2. What would be the motivation behind dividing your studio into subsidiaries? The usual case would be to focus on growing other bits of the business. However, remember that as subsidiaries, you are potentially creating competition for resources provided by the umbrella brand, and if a competitor offers a cheaper rate in a particular business (ie. production), then it makes financial sense for Subsidiary A1 to work with External Company B, rather than with Subsidiary A2.
   
   Hope this helps.
   
   (Everything you need to know about building a business: The Strawberry Startup)

If you're looking to understand everything at a super high level, I'm currently reading The Personal MBA. There's nothing new about any of the concepts but it's a good foundation for anything you would want to read afterwards.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046ECJ8M/

Also, this guy posted on reddit a while back with his website featuring business book summaries; I thought they were pretty useful:
http://www.blockshelf.com/

It really depends on what the language of the non-compete is. Are they basically a local company? Do they limit the non-compete to a geographical area? Do they specialize in one type of marketing? Do they limit the non-compete to those types of marketing? As somebody who worked at a marketing firm, left, and started my own gig, I would say don't sign it. As others have stated, a non-solicit agreement makes more sense.

If they are serious about the non-compete, offer to sign it for a $10,000 bonus. Nothing is free. They don't get to dictate your actions for 2 years after you quit working for them without paying you something beyond your salary for it. At least, not in my eyes.

Don't think it's a yes/no question. Negotiate. If you don't feel like you have good negotiating skills, check out the book Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. But you have to be prepared to walk away and find a different job. It's a calculated risk and you know best whether it's worth it or not.

If you are going for a internet business or any product-oriented business here a are the best books



BEST ONES

"The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" (Eric Reis) - 2011

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898/

"Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works" (Ash Maurya) - 2010

https://www.amazon.com/Running-Lean-Iterate-Plan-Works/dp/1449305172

"Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days" (Jake Knapp - Google Ventures) - 2016

https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/150112174X/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1550802301&s=gateway&sr=8-1

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ALSO GO FOR (these are the ones that started organizing the Startup world)

"The Four Steps to the Epiphany" (Steve Blank) - 2005

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0989200507/

"Business Model Generation" (Alexander Osterwalder) - 2008

https://www.amazon.com/Business-Model-Generation-Visionaries-Challengers/dp/0470876417/

Good luck u/GameofCHAT selling a business is a lot of fun and will hopefully net you guys some cash while making you much better at building your next business.

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If the buyer knows that you intend to wind the thing down, it puts you at a considerable bargaining disadvantage as he knows that you are basically working to minimize your losses. I think that the last bit of /u/drunkengolfer's post is the most salient. Your buyer will be looking at this transaction through the lens of what it would cost him to acquire that many customers. You can charge a premium for bundling them together, but that's likely the extent of it.

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Curious to ask, has he made an offer? Has he acquired other cleaning service books of business in the past? If that's the case, you should have no problem getting him to put out the first few offers and negotiate with himself. "How do I know what's fair here? Help me understand," etc.

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Also, read this book ASAP. Calibrated questions and mirroring (tactics from the book) are very much your friend if you're going into a situation where you have a disadvantage in terms of experience and sophistication.

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https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805

Fwiw, I sold a business on a similar scale (less than 100k) last year and have bought two others since.

I believe beard oil is considered a cosmetic, so you'll need to follow practices as such. I highly recommend two books by Marie Gale.

Soap and Cosmetic Labeling: How to Follow the Rules and Regs Explained in Plain English
https://www.amazon.com/Soap-Cosmetic-Labeling-Explained-English/dp/0979594561

Good Manufacturing Practices for Soap and Cosmetic Handcrafters
https://www.amazon.com/Good-Manufacturing-Practices-Cosmetic-Handcrafters/dp/0979594545

It's also highly recommend to carry liability insurance. Indie Business Network offers $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 plans. You may also find better rates through your own searches.

The way I see it; it sounds like you have a staff member abusing your lax policies and shouldn't work for you.

Jim Collins says "Your people are not the most important asset to your company, the right people are" and I couldn't agree more.

Ask yourself, if he quit today would you be relieved?

Would you hire this staff member again if given the opportunity?

Id give this a read first: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0046ECJ8M/

Then take a crack at making a business model canvas yourself: https://strategyzer.com/canvas/business-model-canvas

Then maybe make an honest financial forecast, or if not; make some kind of SMART goals (http://www.hr.virginia.edu/uploads/documents/media/Writing_SMART_Goals.pdf). I need to make a total of X at Y profit in three months, or I need to stop. Something like that.

Always find ways to limit your risk, and talk to an experienced CPA in your country to know how to handle the tax-risk. I know with AUS you need to keep your GST/VATS reporting up to date and very clean. Plus your own super-annuation/tax stuff.

I'm not from AUS, but I do a lot of work for people in that country from the states, and I know a little.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

The Strawberry Startup

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

If you're only going to read two, I'd recommended: E-Myth and Positioning.

The first will teach you how to think about, structure, and systemize a business.

The second will teach you how to create products / services that customers actually WANT and how to market to them. It captures very succinctly everything I learned about developing products and brands at P&G.

Credentials: I've worked in the consumer product industry for 10+ years and have started multiple businesses of my own.

It's a tad geared towards software and B2B SaaS, but it can apply to anyone: Four Steps to the Epiphany

It focuses on finding your customers and developing products for them. Reads like a textbook from college somewhat, but my #1 go-to business book by far.

https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Numbers-Commonsense-Understanding-Financials/dp/0738202568/ref=nodl_

Here’s the link. I’m not affiliated with the author in any way. It’s just one of the first books I read about business and takes a no-nonsense easy to read approach.

Spin Selling

Also, agree with successissimple on Million Dollar Consulting if you're selling services.

For some interesting insight on how the process works I recommend reading The Wal-Mart Effect. Fascinating, and disturbing how much influence they have. When you say "large retailers" you may not mean as large as Wal-Mart, but you can still get an introduction to how cut-throat retail can be. https://www.amazon.com/Wal-Mart-Effect-Powerful-Works-Transforming/dp/0143038788

The one by Cialdini.

https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/006124189X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1570653170&sr=8-1

I picked a copy up used on amazon or ebay for less than $10 delivered.

Get yourself a portable photo booth with lights. They are $40 on Amazon and will dramatically change the look of your photos https://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Photography-Studio-Lighting-AGG349/dp/B005CX9S8A?ref_=bl_dp_s_web_3092063011

I'm in the middle of reading this book now. Take a look.

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https://www.amazon.com/Managing-Numbers-Commonsense-Understanding-Financials/dp/0738202568

Why Employees Don't Do What They're Supposed To Do...And What To Do About It

I've read a ton. For some reason the only one that comes to mind is SPIN Selling

Selling coffee beans with skepticism
Nietzsche's Roast
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YR2LXYH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_QHA4DbFPZ16DG