Kiwis bosses who started their own business - Sperg about hatred for your customers, competition, employees. Share ideas, questions, stories related to being a big bidness owner

[The Hardest R]

Rushing into hiring is rarely a good long term decision, and will lead to you having to overlook things

It is always better to take the time to fill the position with the right person.

 

[Exterminate Leftists]

Beyond the beginnings, I think red flags in general are still important to monitor and bring up whenever necessary. When people grow unsatisfied, you can usually see changes in their behavior, mindset or presence. It may not affect productivity and it's tempting to say nothing. But if it builds up, you will lose on the opportunity to fix it before it's too late.

What sort of steps would you take to rectify an unsatisfied employee? I know that is a broad question, but for example, a business owner that doesn't seem to care. How does a manager succeed? Finding new employment? Two times in a row I have entered at the lowest level in a specialized business and worked my way up to manager only to have the business owner stop caring about important things that are required for operations. Is it a problem of my boundaries? Am I too eager to seek new challenges and ways to occupy my time? It seems that I get myself into these places where I have the responsibilities of the owner without the benefits of the personal time.

 

[rel=alternate]

What sort of steps would you take to rectify an unsatisfied employee? I know that is a broad question,

It is indeed very situation dependent. And to be honest, it is also something where you need to manage your expectations. In the examples you give below, the owner does not care. Then, the more you ask, the more you are just annoying.

It's more about understanding what issues they have and how things can be adjusted to improve on them. Or sometimes come to term with the fact that some things can't be fixed, but give each other enough time to move on smoothly.

but for example, a business owner that doesn't seem to care. How does a manager succeed?

I guess it really depends on how little they care, and in which ways.

If you have nobody above you but the business owner, I guess it starts with improving things, taking minor executive decisions and explaining how they benefited the owner.

You build this trust, and then you ask for more leeway to do greater things.

If your owner, on the other hand, does not let you do anything, you have no other choice but to quit to progress. They will drag you down with them.

Finding new employment? Two times in a row I have entered at the lowest level in a specialized business and worked my way up to manager only to have the business owner stop caring about important things that are required for operations.

What does it mean exactly? Are you indexed on performances?

Is it a problem of my boundaries? Am I too eager to seek new challenges and ways to occupy my time? It seems that I get myself into these places where I have the responsibilities of the owner without the benefits of the personal time.

Do you mean that they just keep the machine running and give you no perspective for growth? Do they stop caring or do they not care about your input?

I think it really comes down to where you work, and what your expectations are. If you work your way up to being the right hand man below the boss, you would expect he would set you up for something at some point.

If he does not and you want to grow, you find ways to do so elsewhere or differently. You just learn at no expense.

Figure out what you're good at, implement it, get better at it. You don't have much to lose, you're just building a portfolio. Next time, you don't need to work yourself up.

 

[rel=alternate]

Grant writing is soul crushing because no matter how objective they claim the process is, it still comes down to getting a letter of recommendation from the right person, a scoring system that you are not allowed to see, or another criteria the grantor made up on the spot that of course you’re not privy to seeing before they make the award.

Wait until you see in the fine prints that if you don't fulfill the conditions, they want the money back.

 

[Halo Cipher]

Any advice for starting a consultancy style business where you're essentially selling your knowledge to people? Any "advice" I can find right now is just a funnel to buy someone else's course or book or whatever.

 

[rel=alternate]

Any advice for starting a consultancy style business where you're essentially selling your knowledge to people? Any "advice" I can find right now is just a funnel to buy someone else's course or book or whatever.

Not to be dismissive, but I think you might not have the necessary knowledge and skills you're trying to sell to others.

The reason you are only finding scams is because you should not need any help to market yourself.

If it's the right fit, consultancy should come as evident. You should not have to work too hard to find an entry to market if you know what you're talking about. It's a simple process really. Identify inefficiency, and offer your services. If you're right about what you say and have a track record, it's as easy as this.

The whole point of hiring a consultant is that they have experience in identifying issues and setting up or perfecting processes. And this only comes with experience.

Typically, you would go into consultancy because you know many businesses experience issues you can help them figure out and put infrastructure and processes in place to help solve or maximize potential.

Assuming you do have the required skills, networking is the way to go. Stay close with your customers, invite them to events, have them recommend you and recommend them when you can or when it makes sense.

If you do have some skills that can useful in consultancy, but you lack the experience, don't bother trying to go on your own. Apply at a consultancy company. They pay extremely well, and they will form you to be a beast. This will also help you to build a network if you do decide to go on your own eventually.

 

[Halo Cipher]

Thanks for your response and perspective. Maybe I phrased it wrong, I was meaning with the addition of content as I enjoy writing and wanted to supplement consulting services to keep it interesting for myself. The addition of the content side is probably what's steering me wrong with research and I just need to focus on service for now.

 

[rel=alternate]

Thanks for your response and perspective. Maybe I phrased it wrong, I was meaning with the addition of content as I enjoy writing and wanted to supplement consulting services to keep it interesting for myself. The addition of the content side is probably what's steering me wrong with research and I just need to focus on service for now.

If you mean copywriting, it's dead. Only scams.

It was already dead-ish a few years back, but with AI and recent algorithm changes, it's dead dead. Unless you can provide translation I guess. But even then, it's crowded as fuck. People will fucking write for free if you let them put their name on it.

And nobody is hiring a consultant for writing. I think you are mistaking it for a freelancer. And in this case, whenever I need one, I go through platforms. Because they make it easy for me to keep track, and they provide reviews.

These platforms are super overcrowded with very cheap people. You might get lucky and get a good project one day, but the road up will long battling against the competition of Indians to build a profile.

 

[Halo Cipher]

My vagueness due to opsec is kicking my ass here, sorry. Not copywriting, just wanted to make supporting stuff for clients they can take away to keep everything fresh and useful for them in the long run. I'll focus on just the consultations for now and worry about that later. Thanks all the same.

 

[rel=alternate]

My vagueness due to opsec is kicking my ass here, sorry. Not copywriting, just wanted to make supporting stuff for clients they can take away to keep everything fresh and useful for them in the long run. I'll focus on just the consultations for now and worry about that later. Thanks all the same.

I think your opsec efforts are killing you indeed. I have no clue what you are talking about. PM if you want something specific I guess. Even though they are not private, as far as I know staff can read them.

If you want to build a customer base and you have a skill it's not hard. You know who your customer is and what difference you provide.

Now, you need to just identify the people in this industry who are missing out on what you can provide. Reach out, and explain. Don't be afraid to be too explicit in case they do it themselves. They won't. They were not even aware there was a fix to an issue they barely knew about.

And again leverage contacts, put people together, try to build a network. Even when it brings you no money short term, it will benefit you long term. People often underestimate the value you get back from small gestures.

 

[drfuzzyballs]

So my rubber band guns got taken down from ebay, I only imported the brightly colored ones but they have to be a specific shade of orange now.

Thank you government I will have to sell them at a yard sale.

 

[The Hardest R]

I know of several niggas doing consultant work but they know exactly what their niche is and they already had people who were ready to hire them before they even considered doing consulting work. You also need either a couple steady, reliable clients or an extensive network of people that know you and would reach out to you if they need your skillset. If you’re not in that position, I advise you to reconsider going the consulting route.

 

[The Homelander]

Curious as to how the business is doing OP (If it's doing at all)

 

[DSHK]

My plan for the future is to work as an engineer in my companys machine shop then use a loan to buy an existing machine shop once I know what Im doing. Anyone have experience with getting business loans?

 

[cybertoaster]

What a fucking psychotic business mindset to have here in Silicon Valley and to be honest this is not how I got rich.

I don't get this part, can you elaborate?

Reputation is the most important thing your business can have

I used to think that but after influencers and crypto well I don't know if consumers got dumber overall but these last few years is like you can sell anything short of literal crap in a box and if it got a nice logo, landing page and you pay the flavor of the week social media retard to promote it you're in. I see the same borderline scammers doing a new startup or crypto or kickstarter and nobody cares even when just putting their name anywhere you get a ton of results of their past schemes.

Unless you mean B2B in which case yes, your reputation will make our break you.

I've started and sold a few businesses in the last dozen or so years -- mostly in Internet software and services.

B2B or B2C? what kind of products? like tailored solutions or you're doing the "micro companies" like that digital nomad guy?

Some of the best advice I ever got from Dad: Son, you want to work in X business? Find one get hired in a starting position and spend a few years working your way up and don't just do your job learn how your bosses job works, and his boss's job, if you get promoted that's great, but your goal is to learn the biz inside and out and then go off and start your own.

So did you do it?

3 years college + internships to obtain a license and hundreds of thousands of dollars to open up a business. Just to end up competing with some gook bitch and her sweatshop in mainland China. Regulations don't apply to me she says, my business isn't in Canada she says. Starting at $9.99* the infuencer says, shipped straight to your door worldwide he says.
View attachment 6427601

I've no idea who that is.

 

[The Hawk Tuah Girl]

Anyone got a clue about doing business, in tech even better, in South East Asia? Specifically, Thailand or Singapore?

I got someone who found a business there and it's gone well enough that he's opening an office in Singapore for it. For a few years, I've been thinking about starting a tech business that serves medium scale enterprises, custom internal tooling as contract instead of by employees.

Medium sized businesses have the money for it but are usually too occupied with growing in other directions that they don't get it done until they get to a certain size when it becomes necessary, so done by contract should be cheaper and appealing to them.

There's other people doing this too, I mean there's multi-billion dollar corporations that offer some system or the other and train your employees for it.

Anyway, I can probably start out with a couple more people and myself. Thailand is cheap and all, and there is some kind of tech scene there, but for my niche, I don't think there's enough workers competent enough for it there, my clients would also not take me as seriously due to Thailand's reputation, plus the law and order situation I'm not really familiar with.

Singapore has pretty much everything except its damn expensive in every way, labor is not unaffordable if it weren't for everything else. Doable, but again, not sure if the risk will be worth it cause I can probably support myself and it for a couple years until I'm on fumes. I've got a lot of clients that I can reach out to but none that I know for sure will take it up, its all a maybe, but I also haven't looked at any potential clients in SEA. I don't think I'll find many.

Well, lemme know if you've done business there or are doing it anything I should be aware about. Google Reddit is just about what I expect already.

 

[Blue Flying Leaf]

Good luck

 

[Troon_Patrol]

So did you do it?

Yes. I would say I'm financially in the top %20 of my age/location demographic based on my net worth. I never had some fucking 200K student loan either.

Oddly enough when I was learning my trade to an autistic level there was some burnout 15 years older than me working at the same company same exact job. He of course had seniority over me. I found him to be complete fucking loser, played WoW for 6 hours a day immediately after work, lived rent free in an apt as his family owned the building, no wife or kids. He Tried to go off an start his own biz and failed miserably. His work ethic was shit and more than anything he didn't handle finances well at all but of course but he had to have the brand new iPhone. Apparently he had taken a large contract and was told they would not report his income from their end to the IRS and for whatever reason (I suspect he did shit work or just pissed them off) and they reported what they payed him to the IRS and he simply didn't have the money being a W-9 independent contractor, not deducted automatically like an employed W-2. He realized he couldn't handle running his own company and returned. When I left the company he was depositing/cashing his checks out leaving 3 dollars in his bank account as the IRS supposedly had given him final warning they would go after his assets and was genuinely afraid they would contact our employer and start garnishing his wages directly.

 

[rel=alternate]

I used to think that but after influencers and crypto well I don't know if consumers got dumber overall but these last few years is like you can sell anything short of literal crap in a box

Selling crap is more of a business model than it is a business in itself though. You can just move on to the next piece of crap once you're done. There is no objective of long term sustainability for the brand.

It's very capital intensive though, and you're probably failing a lot and compensate with some hero products.

Ultimately, there is so long you can grift for if you don't deliver.

I got someone who found a business there and it's gone well enough that he's opening an office in Singapore for it.

I might be wrong, but this might just be tax related or something else.

There is no barrier to setting up a business in Hong Kong. You don't even need employees, physical premises or residency.

For a few years, I've been thinking about starting a tech business that serves medium scale enterprises, custom internal tooling as contract instead of by employees.

Are you sure medium scale is the right customer? This sounds pretty expensive.

Custom internal tooling feels to me like this would be a significant burden on your part to deliver too. You can hardly have a demo product. I think most people would not pay upfront before at least having an MVP.

This also introduces a level of complexity and reliance on you if you intend to replace employees as well, which you will struggle to convince people is better.

It depends on the cases, but you'll also find that these way these companies are scaling in different ways will probably make your job harder.

Not impossible, but either you build it up by starting with the common tech solutions people already use or you go the relationship route, which will take a significant amount of time.

I would develop simple and common solutions, give them away for cheap and build the brand up from there. You make it accessible to small businesses who can't afford it at all, but in a limited fashion, and you grow with them as they grow. Once you have enough contact and brand awareness, the custom solution will suddenly be a much easier pill to swallow.

It obviously depends on what you want to do, I could be way off.

 

[cybertoaster]

Yes. I would say I'm financially in the top %20 of my age/location demographic based on my net worth. I never had some fucking 200K student loan either.

I meant the advice about going into a company, learning how its done and then doing your own thing and becoming a competitor, did you do it? how did it go?

but of course but he had to have the brand new iPhone

The amount of people with the latest most expensive iphone model, wearing yeezys and other artificially expensive apparel I seen stepping out of a rusted dodge neon or some other shitbox its insane. Same with people buying $100k trucks while they have missing teeth...

Selling crap is more of a business model than it is a business in itself though. You can just move on to the next piece of crap once you're done. There is no objective of long term sustainability for the brand.

With tariffs this model might end since it was only thanks to dropshipping and white label stuff from china that most of these companies could exist. But my point stands, like my grandpa would go ballistic if he bought something and it broke within the year, even worse if it couldn't be repaired. Now that's normal, used to be people wouldn't buy again from any brand that sold them a defective product (hell I still do that) but now its like nobody cares, they care more about the brand itself than if the product its good at all and if the brand is going viral because some influencer got bribed to shill it then they'll buy it, and if turns out to be shit it doesn't matter because its chinesium crap sold at 20x the FOB price, you got your money so you just leave and start another "company", rinse&repeat.