Create Your Own Job

Create For Cash is pretty straightforward. Anything you create and make money from. That could be a business, a product, a service, a piece of art, or an old tennis shoe. As long as it makes money. Don’t get me wrong, poetry and sandcastles are great, but if I can’t figure out how to make money from them I won’t put them on this site. In other words, it’s about being your own boss and creating your own job. Oh yeah, and making money.

How to Avoid Risk in Starting a Business

There is always a risk when you start a new business, but there are also many rewards to being a business owner and controlling your own destiny. Many people avoid starting their own businesses because of the risk. But you can start minimizing risk in small business by being prepared and knowing where the landmines are. You don’t have to be overly cautious, just know that a certain amount of risk is to be expected with a new venture. So, how do you avoid risk in starting a business?

Look into the future and try to predict what could possibly happen. You can’t predict everything, but cover as much as possible. There are a few things to consider before you open your doors for business.

How to avoid risk in starting a business

Get everything in writing

Even if you are working with your family or best friend, you need to have it in writing. This isn’t to say that they will turn on you, but it will help everyone sleep at night knowing it’s formal. Just the act of writing a contract and putting down on paper what you expect from the arrangement is helpful to clarify who does what. It avoids misunderstandings later. If you stand to lose a large amount of money in the future, then a contract is necessary.

Make sure you are properly insured

Anticipate what could go wrong and prepare accordingly. You at least need to have general liability insurance and product liability insurance if you sell a product. Disability insurance will cover part of your income should you lose the ability to work.

Set up the correct business entity from the beginning

Get the advice of a qualified attorney and accountant and do it right to start with. Use separate entities to protect your assets.

Manage cash flow

It’s easy to underestimate how much you will need. It seems like it will always keep coming in when times are good, but you need to prepare for downturns in the economy, the loss of a key customer, changes in technology or your industry or any other event that could cause your cash flow to dry up. Figure out how much money you have now and how much you would need to have coming in if anything changed. Have a backup plan and make sure to keep at least three to six months of money in the bank just in case you need it.

You can’t eliminate all risk, but if these things are in order you will at least have a good chance of minimizing risk in small business.

Cause Marketing for Small Business

Aligning your business with a social cause and cause marketing builds goodwill and improves your image. Corporate philanthropy isn’t a new idea. It’s been going on since the late 1880s when titans of business such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller gave large donations to charity. And some of our terminology isn’t new, either. The term ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ was officially first used in 1953 in the book “Social Responsibilities of the Businessman” by Howard Bowen.

Cause marketing for small business

Being a good corporate citizen (or a caring small business) is a smart move. Because a significant number of consumers will choose to do business with a company over a similarly priced competitor largely because of their involvement in certain social causes.

Cause marketing as competitive advantage

In fact, 70 percent of consumers say they’re willing to pay more for products and services from businesses that support worthwhile social causes, according to research from the PR firm Edelman. And more than half would even help promote them through social media. You can also use a social cause as your company’s competitive advantage. Ideally, you want customers to think about your brand whenever they think about the social cause. And if that cause is something they strongly support and believe in. Provide them good value, and you may have a loyal customer for life.

Competing with causes

Here are some companies who are using causes as a competitive advantage:

Duracell

It makes sense that a company that makes reliable batteries would support areas hit by floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Their social program is called Duracell PowerForward, which has trucks that can reach any U.S. destination within 24 hours. Duracell builds trust within communities by providing assistance in the face of events. Like the recent devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico. Now, when customers think of the Duracell, brand they think of them in a positive light. And they think of them as a durable battery.

Warby Parker

Warby Parker isn’t just known as a company that sells fashionable glasses in an innovative way. They’re also known as a company that gives back, thanks to their buy-a-pair / give-a-pair program. Working with their non-profit partner, Vision Spring, they give away glasses to people in developing countries.

Wells Fargo

Up to 1.5% of Wells Fargo’s revenue each year goes to charitable causes such as food banks and startup incubators. They also give 2 paid days each year for their employees to volunteer for charities.

TOMS

Like Warby Parker, TOMS shoe company is well known for their buy-a-pair / give-a-pair program. They also provide safe drinking water and medical treatments for people in third world countries.

Ben and Jerry’s

They’ve always incorporated a social cause into the culture of their business model. According to Ben Cohen, “Business has the responsibility to give back to its community”. He’s also used the phrase “caring capitalism” since the 1980’s. Like many companies today, Ben and Jerry’s started their own foundation which began with a commitment to give 7.5% of its annual pre-tax profits to community organizations across the US. Today, the foundation typically awards about 2.5 million dollars a year in grants. Do people buy Ben and Jerry’s because of their social causes? Or because they make really delicious ice cream? I’d imagine it’s both.

Seattle Kitchen

Seattle Kitchen is committed to giving something back to the community. And not just a little. According to owner Tom Douglas’s Seattle Kitchen website: “Tom has long maintained that, as food people, we need to feed people whether they can afford to eat in our restaurants or not. This principle has inspired his long-term leadership with organizations such as Share Our Strength and Food Lifeline, where Tom has dedicated over 30 years and millions of dollars towards ending hunger. Along with Tom, our family of coworkers also share in the priority towards giving back.

Volunteering

They do this by volunteering time and skillset to organizations such as Teen Feed, FareStart, Midsound Fisheries Enchancement Group, Mary’s Place and more. “We believe that a community is made richer by supporting the arts. We work closely with the Seattle Theater Group to help fund the programming at the Paramount and Moore theaters as well as music epicenters like KEXP and Seattle Opera. Our environmental work is focused on local wild salmon habitat preservation and raising awareness around the threat of Pebble Mine in Alaska.

The PCC Farmland Trust is another important beneficiary since without farmland, there is no food. Lastly, education and nutrition programs for K-12 public schools receive support from our teams. We continue to work closely with the Seattle Public School’s culinary programs and Career and Technical Education classes to inspire potential job paths within the restaurant industry.”

Charitable Agents

Charitable Agents is changing the real estate industry by donating a fixed commission to a charity of the pre-or-existing homeowner’s choice. Brothers David and Avi Tal founded MyAgentFinder.com back in 2011. It’s an online platform connecting home sellers with vetted real estate agents. Then they created “Charitable Agents” – something that sets those who participate apart from other realtors.

According to their online press release: “After three years of growing its database of REALTORS and reaching over $100 million in real estate transactions, the two designed the Charitable Agents model to extend their tried-and-tested system into the realm of social responsibility. In a typical real estate transaction, real estate agents are paid a commission for representing either the buyer or the seller.

Charitable Agents’ network of more than 20,000 top-rated REALTORS, from all major domestic brokerages, have pledged to give 10% of their commission on a transaction to non-profit organizations affiliated with the site, as part of the agreement. With Charitable Agents, REALTORS go through the same process as they would with any lead-generation system. But with the added benefit of offering their clients the opportunity to donate funds to a specific charitable organization, following the close of any deal.”

Pride, Inc.

Businesses in Bismarck, North Dakota have gathered together for a charitable cause which helps the community and also promotes their businesses in a good light: Pride, Inc. Pride, Inc. provides quality services for adults and children with disabilities, and has helped thousands experience life to its fullest. In 2001 Pride started the Celebration of Trees event.

According to their website: “The trees are sponsored by local businesses and with the help of organizations that can connect us to members in the community. Such as: Burleigh and Morton County Social Services, Abused Adult Resource Center, Pride Youth Mentor Program, Bismarck- Mandan Public Schools, Community Action, Carrie’s Kids, Pride Manchester, and Make-A-Wish Foundation. The trees are donated to families who may not have a tree to decorate their home. All proceeds from the sponsorships of the Celebration of Trees are kept in the community. They’re used to help meet the needs of the individuals receiving services from Pride, Inc.”

Corporate social responsibility

Corporate social responsibility can help your business through customer and employee engagement. And by being a brand that your customers trust and remain loyal to. Even in the face of disruption.

Unique Holiday Promotions

christmas promotions — unique holiday promotions

From Black Friday to Christmas small businesses can count on a big percentage of their yearly sales. According to the National Retail Federation “holiday sales in November and December have averaged about 19 percent of annual retail sales over the last five years, but the figure can be higher for some retailers.” This is why it makes sense to try out some unique holiday promotions to boost those sales even more.

Here are some small business owners who created their own unique holiday promotions:

Unique holiday promotions

We created an online Easter Egg hunt on our website. It gave customers who visited our salon a 50% discount on in-store haircare products.

We wanted our store visitors to be aware of our website and encouraged them to visit a landing page with instructions. This page ultimately made them navigate through 4 different pages to find clues. On the last page, it contained a coupon code for them to use in-store.

It helped increase our online awareness and sparked in-store sales.

Shayy Patrese

https://www.hairbyshayypatreseinc.com/

One day only

I can still feel the essence of success with a unique holiday promotion at my clothing business. Last year, a few days before Christmas, I started a promotion for my customers only for one day. I tagged it as “Private sales day” just to make them feel unique. Allowing them to get the products from my store at a better price on a specific day.

To get the most influx, I launched it in the late afternoon by sharing it with the community. And tagged it with a short interval of time to create hype. The most important thing that I did to make it unique was to introduce a complimentary discount card with every purchase valid for the next five visits.

As the promotion started, I ran out of stock within a few hours and had to book orders of several clothing articles with the delivery option. Afterward, the discount card worked for 2 more months, creating a repeat business option. My revenue soared tremendously.

https://realpeoplesearch.com

The most unique holiday promotion that we used at our company was “Spin for Prizes”. We had a wheel that was filled with different prizes. The customer had to spin the wheel to determine their prize. Prizes included hot chocolate, popcorn, candy and some grand gifts like a Gift Certificate and Amazon vouchers.

Get creative with prizes

We had to get creative with the prizes, and we decided to get people involved in the campaign. We would ask them to upload a picture of themselves with their friends, and we would ask them to cover their faces. The spinning wheel contained prizes that cater to different age groups. Candy, popcorn, hot chocolate, bags of chips etc. We would also put different slogans on the wheel which they could spin for. We had phrases like:

“Spin for some extra holiday spirit.” “Spin for the best gifts.” And “Spin for your chance at a Grill and Grill’s Gift Certificate.”

We also came up with some interesting ways to get people spinning. Then we had a few staff members dressed up as Santa Claus. We would ask the people to vote on who would be Santa. It was a great hit, and it got people to spin more.

New Year’s resolution giveaway

New Year’s Resolution Giveaway Reach out to your clients, asking them to provide a quote on how you’ve helped them this past year, and how your product is going to help them meet their 2022 New Year’s resolution. For every client that participates, offer them something in return, like a valuable guide, resource or infographic. Use these testimonials in a social campaign, on your website, or to send to specific leads. Doing so can help boost your credibility and future sales.

Mystery Rebates From Santa The same idea can be used when putting together a promotion for your business. Instead of advertising a traditional rebate (like a $50 gift card after your purchase, for example) opt for a mystery rebate within a certain price range. Explain that one lucky customer will get the largest rebate — which will entice customers to take the chance and make a purchase. Use holiday imagery to advertise and make it seem like Santa is the one handing out the rebates. There’s a lot of options you can take to make the messaging fun and on-theme.

A Surprise Holiday Offer

To encourage more sales during the holiday season, offer a discount on an additional service if customers request a quote or sign up for your platform. Inversely, if your main product or solution is pricey, create an offering that’s significantly less and use it as a marketing tool.

An example of this approach would be to offer a free or low-costing webinar right before the holiday (surprise!) and then during that webinar, promote one of your service lines or product packages. This approach is more attractive because you aren’t asking for anything upfront and deterring people immediately with any overwhelming costs. Instead, you’re getting them engaged by way of an informative, surprise holiday offer (webinar), and using that opportunity to build trust with them, making them more inclined to consider taking you up on the real promotion at the end.

Referral discounts can come in very handy while boosting the number of orders during the holiday season. By providing discounts to customers who refer and arrive through a friend’s referral you can grow your orders exponentially. Leverage marketing channels that aid referrals like Facebook and other social media to help spread the word about your discount.

Give to get. Sharing is caring. Offer a gift certificate or coupon for a dollar-off amount in all orders purchased during a certain period of time, which works best on Thanksgiving we suggest. That way buyers can buy a gift for their loved one, or get themselves a gift with the coupon after the holidays. Or many brands choose a social charity campaign to contribute to the community and give visitors a great cause to shop. A successful charitable giving campaign is not only about raising donations (although that is important), it’s also about building relationships and community ties. It’s the premise for you and your customers to give and to get.

Film an exciting and engaging Christmas video

With video, you may get a lot of exposure and even virality via organic reach or virality if your video is catchy enough. You and your organization deserve to be the subject of a holiday-themed film, but it doesn’t have to be (then you can use the video all year round). Show your customers that you are a caring and trustworthy firm by sharing it on social media, adding it to your “About” page, and including it in your signature line. Gaining customer confidence is an easy way to increase your conversion rate and your revenue.Kylie WiserFounder, Everblossom Co
https://everblossom.co

Christmas themed landing pages

Create Christmas-themed landing pages and seasonal content for your online business, as one suggestion I have for a unique holiday campaign. Getting a new client in today’s competitive retail industry is very challenging. Particularly during the Christmas season when tens of thousands of new businesses open every day. “How do we capture the attention of shoppers?” is the question. Making oneself unique is a terrific strategy to increase interaction by adorning your online business with seasonal themes or providing holiday content. Because most people start buying for the holidays before Thanksgiving, establishing your holiday theme should be planned ahead of time and started by early November. It’s your opportunity to launch all holiday-hot-sales products with fantastic bargains and excite clients, with a customized landing page for festive offerings.

Mike Chappell

Co-Founder & COO, FormsPal

https://formspal.com/

Free Christmas webinar

Developing a unique holiday promotions marketing strategy to attract customers, particularly during the upcoming Christmas season, is a tough challenge. We are occasionally inundated with ideas, yet it is difficult to act on them. What we normally do is create a Christmas free webinar. We give back by providing the opportunity to learn while also motivating them to work hard and achieve their objectives. We will undoubtedly surprise them with more than just a webinar at that time. But also with numerous wonderful offers such as raffles and instant games.

Kevin Joubin

VP Growth Marketing at Branded Research, Inc.

Website: https://gobranded.com/

What kind of unique holiday promotions will you create for your business?

Pros and Cons of a Business Plan

What are the pros and cons of a business plan? I asked a group of business owners and here are their answers:

Leisurehiking.com

I am a serial entrepreneur with both successes and failures under my belt. I have even lost 2 x million dollar companies, the last one due to Covid (travel industry). Entrepreneurship surely is a rollercoaster…

Here is my view on the pros and cons of a business plan:

As a serial entrepreneur, I can say that except for my first business, I have never done business plans. Despite the first and only business plan being both lacking and incomplete, I built the business from an investment of $3000 to almost $2 million over 6 years.

I identify with Mark Zuckerberg’s “Move fast and break things”. I believe that business plans are for the most part, a waste of time. Get going and take action, then course-correct. Having said that, I do believe that business plans have their place, especially in larger ventures. However, just because I don’t believe in business plans, does not mean that I am not analyzing before I start a new venture. Far from it. I research heavily! I simply do not spend time making elaborate business plans and use them as guiding documents for running my business.

Marketing plans, however, are a totally different story! I use Allen Dib’s 1-page marketing plan framework in my businesses.

Thomas Sorheim

Founder of Leisurehiking.com

Web: https://leisurehiking.com/

Mirrorcoop.com

I’m John Linden and I am an interior designer from Los Angeles(www.mirrorcoop.com). When I started my business 7 years ago, my partners and I developed a very detailed business plan. We projected revenue, expenses, cashflow. We looked at where we wanted to be in 3-5 years.

And we did it all on paper and used it as a road map for our progress.We hired an accountant to do projections and answer questions throughout the year. He was vital in making sure our projections were accurate – which helped us reach our goals or course-correct when we were off track.In the end, I’m glad I had a business plan!

It helped me make decisions and set goals all along the way – from finding investors to deciding whether each opportunity was worth pursuing or not. Today, I still refer back to it (even though things have changed so much since then). Now, I don’t know if a business plan is essential for every startup.

If you’re in the early stages of brainstorming an idea with a couple of friends/co-founders, maybe it’s not worth writing one up. But for those who are serious about getting your idea off the ground as a legitimate business – it might be worth giving it a shot.

Also, there are plenty of free templates online to help you get started. Don’t pay someone to write one for you – many times these plans will turn out very generic and non-specific! Write your own or ask people you know for feedback. You can also find templates at your local library.

I do remember one thing that helped me when writing my business plan: I wrote it from a customer’s perspective. Where do you see yourself in 3-5 years? What problem are you solving? How does your product/service make someone else’s life easier or better? If you can answer those questions, then the details about prices, revenue projections, etc.will fall into place.

John Linden – Designer

(424) 252-2359

www.mirrorcoop.com

Income.ca

“When I first started my company, one of the first things I did was create a business plan. Looking back, although making the business plan was time consuming and not always accurate, I believe the positive impact of the plan helped my business to become more successful. The business plan helped me to understand where to allocate my finances and which parts of the business would need more investment.

By knowing what I needed to achieve before I could begin making a profit, this made the high initial financial investment seem less painful, because I had a goal I was aiming for and a clear way to achieve this goal. The business plan also helped me to focus on my target audience more efficiently. I was able to shape the business and advertising in a way that made it more appealing to my core demographic. If I could go back in time, I would definitely still create a business plan. I believe it has played an integral role in the success of my company.”

Randy Charach

https://INCOME.ca

GreenPal – Uber for Lawn Care

Our business just surpassed $20 million a year and annual revenue.

I remember the first year we got started eight years ago my two cofounders and I spent three months writing our business plan.

Writing a business plan in futile yet indispensable exercise. The excise is a forcing function to cause you to really understand if you really want to proceed with the business endeavor.

However, no business plan survives first touch with actual customers.

Its important to organize your thoughts, and your plan of attack, however, much of what is assumed and forecasted in a business plan for a new start-up are just placeholders and hypothesis.

My advice to start up entrepreneurs is to spend less time planning, and more time building something to get into the market place to begin testing assumptions.

Bryan Clayton / CEO
bryan@yourgreenpal.com / 6154974175 (M)

GreenPal
1-866-798-4485 (O)
1312 5th Avenue N Nashville, TN 37208
http://www.yourgreenpal.com

Resinartsupply.com

I bootstrapped my e-commerce business in early 2019 without a business plan growing 100% year over year to $1 million in revenue. Not having a business plan or investors allowed us to adapt and bring products to market faster than our competitors. WhileI don’t think a formal business plan is necessary when capital isn’t being raised it is still vital for entrepreneurs to understand their value proposition, potential market share, and margins to ensure there are sufficient demand and profit for their product or service.

Amazon listing: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0826KNT8W

Website: ResinArtSupply.com

Founder, ResinArt

Levi Parker

660-265-9803

Digital Harvest

I have a successful digital marketing company today and made a comfortable living with my previous two ventures.

I have never used a business plan and believe they are a waste of time. Several business plans were written in both my undergrad and graduate programs, and most of what goes into them is completely made up. The only real important part of a business plan is the marketing plan which details how you will bring your product/service to market, position it, price it, etc.

Companies live and die on sales, and marketing is responsible for bringing in the prospects to sell. It doesn’t matter what your projections are for revenue, or what the SWOT analysis says about your company/industry unless you’re able to generate sales.

Once you start generating sales, all the other plans go out the window because nothing teaches you what you need to know to operate your business like real-world experience.

Avram Gonzales
Chief Strategist, Digital Harvest

P (505) 365-1545

E avram@digitalharvest.io

W https://DigitalHarvest.io/

Viva Flavor

I run an online food and drink business that I launched in 2019. I’m very much in favor of producing a business plan, even if you’re bootstrapping the entire operation and aren’t seeking outside funding.

When you launch your first startup in particular, the post-launch excitement can quickly give way to self-doubt. The benefit of a business plan is that it gives you a personal contract of sorts that you can refer back to. You know what the business objectives for success are, and you’ve assigned hard numbers to your output goals.

Having this sort of “emotionally neutral” reference point is a powerful tool when the early days enthusiasm runs out. If you haven’t met those targets, you haven’t earned the justification to doubt the viability of the business.

Bio: John Bedford is the founder of Viva Flavor, a site dedicated to helping amateur cooks explore the world of food and drink.

Name: John Bedford
Title: Founder
Company: Viva Flavor
URL: https://vivaflavor.com

SportzPoint

Being a startup, my business needs lots of business plans. However, here are the pros and cons of a business plan.

The Pros of a business plans –

It provides us with a overview of what my business should or might look like in near future.
Business plans outlines the work we need to do make something happen.
It also provides us with a list of things that we should cut out from our business.
A long term business plan also gives us a roadmap to future of our business plans.

The Cons of a business plans-

Time consuming. Sometime while planning for the future we tend to lose our focus on the present.
Having static business plans gives us no options to overcome they failure, if there is any.
Sometimes, business plans makes us stay within a roadmap, which hinders our will to think out of the box.

The Conclusion: With all the cons, I still think having a plan is important. Though, being flexible with the plan is the most important thing. Going with the need of the hour is what a startup needs. Moreover, if we waste too much of time planning something, it might be an issue for a small business to flourish. It can also cause some financial criticalities too.

So, I rather think about small plans and small goals. I try to tick them off, then move on with another target or goal. This gives me more time to focus on current things. Also I only try to achieve the goals which will have a long term impact on my business.

Koushik Biswas,

Founder,

SportzPoint.com

Certain Pay

My mentors have both said this about the pros and cons of a business plan:

Pros:

Allows you to think creatively
Allows you to create a plan
Forces you to map out your attack
Gives validity to your cause
Helps you and investors see the big picture

Cons:

No one will read it

Lol, that’s the long and short of it. Most investors don’t care about a business plan. They care about the team they’re investing in and want to know they have a plan. The ProForma is more important, and if it’s formula-based and the entrepreneur/team can think “big picture” in unison, it allows them to pivot faster given unpredictable variables.

adamniec.phonesites.com

Adam Niec

Co-Founder

Certain Pay

My Digital Business Card

When it comes to the pros and cons of a business plan, entrepreneurs have different ideas about whether they work or not. What do you think?

How a Fulfillment Company Can Increase Your Sales

Any small business owner who sells products and has bootstrapped their business probably started out shipping their products themselves. If you’ve done this you know that means buying shipping products like boxes and envelopes, packing items yourself, driving to the post office, and then standing in a long line to ship them. You also have to fill out paperwork for customs if you’re shipping to other countries, and sometimes other paperwork is involved. A fulfillment company can do all that for you and more. A fulfillment company can increase your sales.

Warehousing inventory

Another thing a bootstrapping entrepreneur with a product knows about is warehousing inventory. Ask anyone who’s done it and you’ll hear stories about boxes being stacking in living rooms, offices, basements, and closets. I can tell you from experience that it takes up a lot of space. There was one room that I couldn’t even walk in for months. This is one of the things product entrepreneurs complain about, even ones with lots of space in the basement.

Fulfillment company can increase your sales

But at some point your time will be worth more and it will make sense to start using a fulfillment company to do your shipping and warehousing. If you find the right fulfillment company it will actually reduce your warehousing and processing costs and free up your time to do other things, like marketing and sales. They understand shipping and can use the best, most efficient ways to ship. They also get discounts from shipping companies because they ship in large volume. This is less expensive than having to get your employees to do the shipping for you.

A good fulfillment company will provide you with references and won’t have any hidden charges when they give you a quote. Give them as many details as you can about your shipping habits and how you expect your business to grow. They should be able to grow with your company and be flexible. They will be able to make suggestions about the best ways to ship and expand your business. It’s a lot like being a partner with your business, so you want to make sure you choose the right one.

Another important thing to think about when deciding on a fulfillment company is their location. You want to find one that is centrally located to make shipping more efficient. If you will be shipping to Canada it’s important to find a fulfillment company that’s located closer to the border.

Here is an entrepreneur who has improved their business by using a fulfillment company:

My name is Calloway Cook and I’m the President of Illuminate Labs. Here’s our experience with our fulfillment company Shipmonk:

We’ve Gotten Great Service From Shipmonk

We signed up with Shipmonk when we first launched our products about a year ago. Initially, we decided to partner with them because their price points were very reasonable. We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how great their customer service is. I can always get someone on live chat or the phone to resolve any order or wholesale issues.

I’d recommend Shipmonk to any other eCommerce entrepreneurs. I’m not financially incentivized to refer companies to them; we’ve just gotten great service at a great price point.

Calloway Cook

President

Illuminate Labs

No matter who you choose, do your homework before making a decision. But once you are set up with a good fulfillment partner, you’ll see that it will make your life easier in the long run.