How to determine market share

Hello,

How does one figure out the average market share for a typical small business of type X (e.g. software development) in one's local area? Is there an online database or something?

Thanks.

What goes into a revenue table?

Hello,

I'm putting together a small business plan for a software business. When thinking about revenue, I've come up with this table:

revenue table (first draft).jpg

This is only a first draft. I'm not sure how accurate the figures are.

What I'm wondering is: are there any other significant costs I failed to include in the table?

Off the top of my head, I can imagine that I will need to pay for any expenses my employees need to do their job. Developers will probably need software packages and tools to help them develop, marketing will probably need to pay ad agencies to run our material, and so on.

Typical, what does a revenue table like the above include that I left out?

Thank you.

Attached Images

• revenue table (first draft).jpg (21.5 KB)

Business startup between two people going south.

Hi there,

This is my first time here. So I hope I have posted in the correct forum.
Since time is money, I will try and explain everything as clearly as possible
in the hope that someone may try to offer their own opinion/experience.
I set up a company (sole trader) to avail of a business grant. The company
is a food company (raw produce). We have been in operation for over 18 months.
Unofficially, I set up the company with another person. We decided to go on a gentleman's
agreement of a 50/50 split. However, very quickly I realized I was doing the lion's share of the work.
I started to put in more money, secure loans in my name and in fact everything is in my name.
The issue I have is that my business partner doesn't realize how much work goes in to everything.
I did all the research, designed the business' infrastructure, sourced the materials, equipment, designed the logo, marketing
etc etc..
We needed to expand so i secured family loans and business loans and since I am a sole trader they are all personally guaranteed.
My business partner cannot commit to the business as they have kids and have to collect them from school etc. Therefore over a given year
I do more sweat equity about 70% more than my partner. All in all I feel it's slowly becoming my business in that I have accepted all the
responsibility. My business partner hasn't got a clue what is involved in running a business and thinks it's easy. I have tried to share
certain responsibilities on the admin side but they were unable to do it. So I had to jump in and take over otherwise it would have been too late.

This is a very, very labor intensive business and I need my business partner in that capacity. We are not taking any money from the business
as of yet but next year my money runs out. I have a far greater need to drive the business forward than my partner does as my business partner's spouse
is working. This is holding the business back in some regards as the risk for my business partner is not there financially...
It came to a head recently when I became exasperated by this issue and got in to an argument about not pulling their weight. That led to all sorts of
back and forth stuff. My business partner accused me of trying to take over the business...I said I didn't but I just capitulated because I know if
they walk I am in dire straits... The business is picking up quickly but all the money is being plowed back in to ensure next year starts at best as possible.
I also should add that I deal with all the customers, doing all the accounting, banking, insurance, purchasing etc...
How should I approach my business partner with a new "deal" in that I feel that they should only get 20% rather than 50% considering what work goes in. My business partner said that if officially they became a full partner childcare would need to be covered as well as other expenses but the business can't afford that right now...

Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading.

Xinchao.

Hello! from Philippines here

I'm Veneric, a registered nurse in Philippines and currently an affiliate marketer for web hosting. I just want to share my business ideas here.

Market research - advice and help required!

Hi fellow founders! :) I just started working with a new exciting B2B company and just to get the inspiration flowing, I´m doing some market...

New HUGE business partner, please help!

Hi fellow founders! :) I just started working with a new exciting B2B company and just to get the inspiration flowing, I´m doing some market...

Working with a HUGE B2B Company, please help!

FOR ALL MY FELLOW FOUNDERS AND DECISIONMAKERS! I just started working as a marketer for a new exciting B2B company and just to get the inspiration...

Working with a HUGE B2B Company, please help!

FOR ALL MY FELLOW FOUNDERS AND DECISIONMAKERS! I just started working as a marketer for a new exciting B2B company and just to get the inspiration...

Hi guys!

Hi guys! Excited to be a part of this amazing forum. Hope you are all having an amazing day!

Establishing appropriate title for key employee

Need some help here...I'm having a hard time coming up with a proper title for an employee. She is by far one of the smartest people I have met. She wears many hats and we're not sure where we'd be without her contribution. Here's a description of her duties, efforts, and workload. This is a specialty retail environment and a new business.

She's salary and often puts in 50 hours/week. That's in the building, so not including time spent at home researching/making phone calls/answering emails/planning/writing etc. So potentially 60 hours/week. It's safe to say she works as hard if not harder than the owner. Her job includes ordering product, establishing prices, overseeing some operations, some management of other staff, product research, customer service, creating sales, this list actually could go on much longer than that. She's the highest paid person on staff, higher than the owner. She's a critical employee and considered to be an expert in the field. She could easily go somewhere else and make a significantly larger salary in a more organized work environment with less responsibility and stress.

What job title would you give someone like that? I want the job title to encompass all that she does but it's so difficult to come up with something.

Any ideas?

Easy loan offer

Hi
For all your loan needs, make your request here (http://ift.tt/2vCw1Sr) and you will be satisfied in a short time.
Whatsapp : +1 405-331-5919
Email Address : contact@dank-finances.com

Easy loan offer

Hi
For all your loan needs, make your request here (http://ift.tt/2vCw1Sr) and you will be satisfied in a short time.
Whatsapp : +1 405-331-5919
Email Address : contact@dank-finances.com

Easy loan offer

Hi
For all your loan needs, make your request here (http://ift.tt/2vCw1Sr) and you will be satisfied in a short time.
Whatsapp : +1 405-331-5919
Email Address : contact@dank-finances.com

Easy loan offer

Hi
For all your loan needs, make your request here (http://ift.tt/2vCw1Sr) and you will be satisfied in a short time.
Whatsapp : +1 405-331-5919
Email Address : contact@dank-finances.com

Easy loan offer

Hi
For all your loan needs, make your request here (http://ift.tt/2vCw1Sr) and you will be satisfied in a short time.
Whatsapp : +1 405-331-5919
Email Address : contact@dank-finances.com

Looking for lawyers/attorneys that has experience in M&A ventures

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if there is any lawyers/attorneys out there that have any experience in this niche? I'm looking for lawyers/attorneys that have bought/sold businesses in the past or know someone within their circle of influence.

Looking forward to hear from all of you soon, thanks.

Looking for CPAs that has experience in M&A ventures

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if there is any CPA out there that have any experience in this niche? I'm looking for CPAs that have bought/sold businesses in the past or know someone within their circle of influence.

Looking forward to hear from all of you soon, thanks.

How to let a partner go without rocking the boat?

For the past two years, my friend and I have been in the works of creating a corporate entertainment/team building company. Let me give you a basic...

Looking for business to buy

Hi,

I am looking for a business to buy .. any recommendations where to start ?
tried reaching out to business brokers but getting no response .
ideally looking for a business owner retering .
searchibg websites like bizben or bizbuysell ... any other creative ideas ?

New member

Hi everyone,i just joined the forum and i'd like to make some new foreign friends as it could really help me with my career. I'm gonna start a new career tomorrow in a trading company as an international sales person and im not really sure if i could handle that or if i know enough english.so im gonna ask my questions here and i appreciate your helps in advance.

Employee Equity Sharing

Hello,

My name is Ryan. I run a small video production company in Denver, CO. I started the business 4 years ago, however since day one I've used the business as more of a side hustle than a full-time job. Last year I decided I wanted to take the business to the next level so I began putting more time & work into it (while working a full-time job). We did a little over $100k net last year and this year we're on track to doing a little over $200k in net.

I want to continue this pattern of growth & have started to invest more heavily in marketing & advertising. I've also quit my full-time job to run the business full-time. Up to this point I've worn most of the hats in the business while hiring video & sales contractors/freelancers when I need the extra help. I believe I'm at the point where I've taken on as much as I can handle by myself and I'm ready to bring someone on that can help my business grow. My idea is to hire my best video contractor (by far) as the "Head of Video Production" for the company that way I can focus on the high level goals for the company (marketing, sales, and other strategies that will help the business grow).

My question is what do I offer this contractor in terms of salary &/or equity so that he is enticed enough to want to leave his current job and join my growing company? This contractor's current job pays about $75k w/benefits. This person would be a pivotal piece of the company that would not only enhance the quality of work, but also free up my time to focus on high level tasks that will grow the business. My idea is to offer him a few options:

(based on projected $500k annual net income)

OPTION 1: $30k + 10% equity ($500k net income = $80k / $1mil rev = $130k)


OPTION 2: $50k + 5% equity ($500k net income = $75k / $1mil rev = $100k)


OPTION 3: $70k + 2.5% equity ($500k net income = $82,500 / $1mil rev = $95k)


Do these seem like logical options? If not, what do you think makes most sense?

Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance!

New Member

Hello to each and everyone, I am very new to this and would like to introduce myself.

I am Oliver Jones, and working on my SEO websites. I am looking for some tips for off and on page SEO that will help my website to rank. I am hopeful that everybody will be able to help me.

Thank you very much, everybody.

Hey :) from restaurant manager to tech startup co-founder

Hi everyone! My name is Per-Gustaf and I work as co-founder of a rather new company called stam.io Firstly, I would like to note that I am...

Instagram account

24.4k with a very high engagement Instagram account available for sale at a negotiable price of 150$,

Contact at
nickrobs12@gmail.com
Pm if interested

Instagram account

24.4k with a very high engagement Instagram account available for sale at a negotiable price of 150$,

Contact at
nickrobs12@gmail.com
Pm if interested

Fallen On Hard Times

I had a thriving web based business that I built up over 15 years or so. I was making quite a bit of money. The model of the business was selling expensive products in a very small niche via leads I generated on my website.

It failed for several reasons. The company I represented made me change to domain because of a trademark violation. Also financial and business mismanagement on my part. I hired a 'partner', he was really a friend and I was so burned out by years of 7 day 24 hour weeks that I hired him to do stuff that I should have done with better time management etc.

My credit card processor canceled me because I had a bunch of chargebacks in the end.

I live in a grown up farm town that doesn't have many technical jobs. It's mostly a medical, farming, retail, retiree sort of community. I want to stay here as my wife is divorcing me and I have a small grouping of good friends here. I'm 61. That makes job hunting difficult.

I'd be happy right now if I could do something on the web that made 500 dollars a month and I could grow. Meanwhile I could get a job at Home Depot or something like that to fill in the financial gap.

I'm a very senior salesman having managed distributors in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America for 10 years. For 12 years I was a field salesman covering the Eastern Seaboard of the US (Main to Miami). Those kind of jobs tend to go to 35 y/o 's these days.

If anybody has any suggestions on how to approach this mess let me know. I haven't had an income this calendar year.

What is wrong with my website?

Hi guys,

I own a small moving company based in London

Because in 80% of the times when we move clients they also need cleaning services a I decided to start a cleaning business as well.
I chosen the name of the company to be Eva Cleaners (my wife's name is Eva), ordered a website and start distribute leaflets.
So far there are not many cleaning jobs - most of the jobs are coming from clients of my other company but they are not enough to pay the bills.

I rely on the website to get cleaning jobs but despite the traffic is pretty good ( Eva Cleaners gets around 800 - 1000 visitors/month) the calls are very few - no more then 10 - 20 calls/month. So I start thinking there is an issue with the website.

Can you please check the site and share your thoughts?

Are you gonna make a booking if you were looking for cleaning job?

If not - what is bothering you?

Can you suggest what you dislike in design/content/navigation?


I will appreciate your help
Peter

Change my personal name due to divorce in my LLC (Sole MBR)

Hello,

I divorced and had my maiden name legally restored. How do I go about getting it changed in regards to my Tax ID number? I am and always have been a sole member LLC. TIA!

Server Move

Hey All,

Just wanted to let everyone know that tomorrow (Tuesday August 22, 5:00PM Eastern Standard Time) my hosting company is moving this site to a new server. You shouldn't notice anything while it's going on, but since the IP of the site will change, it's possible for a few minutes your browser will take you to what will be the old server instead of the new one.

It's possible you might post something during the time when all the changes have been made, but your browser reads cached DNS records and you end up on what will be the old server. That time should only be a few minutes, but if you post something during that time, it won't be be on the new server.

If for any reason you post something and then it disappears, you may have to post it again. If I can I'll try to find any posts that have gone missing, but it's possible I won't be able to access them.

5:00 PM EST is when the move is going to start and it should be over within an hour. Again, I doubt you'll notice anything and the issue I described shouldn't last for more than a few minutes. You may want to hold off posting during that hour and if you do post, copy what you wrote, in case the post doesn't come along for the move.

I doubt this will be a huge issue, but I wanted to let you know in advance. My apologies for any inconvenience.

Can a single member LLC have an AMBR?

Hello,

I recently started a business in Florida and I have a question about the structure of my LLC. When I filed for the LLC, I intended to create a single member LLC that could be treated as a disregarded entity for tax purposes. However, I also wanted my wife to have access to the LLC in case she needed to act on my behalf in an emergency. I listed myself as MGR, and listed her as AMBR. In hindsight, I feel this may have been a mistake based on my intentions. Does my wife's status as AMBR make the LLC a partnership, or can a single member LLC have an AMBR and still be treated as a disregarded entity? Thanks!

My small business is helping other small business with funding and guidance.

My name is Braxton and I own Six Star Brokers - we provide capital for small business owners in the United States. I joined up on the forum so that I...

Reporting Income for StartUps

Question on how to report income when you're just starting off a business. I didn't file taxes last year and I'm starting a business this year. When...

Should I get my business license?

Hey everybody. Right now I work a full time job as i purchase all of my necessary equipment and save enough money to get my automotive business going. My question is, should I get my business license for the side jobs that I do? I want to keep everything legal, and also, the tools that I am purchasing aren't exactly cheap. A friend of mine told me that if I got my business license and filed taxes accordingly, that I could write off my tool purchases. I only make a few hundred dollars a month doing my side work, so would it be worth it to go ahead and get my license? I am planning on having my business up and running in the next 6 months. Thanks for any help.

How to advertise a craft soda store?

I want to start a small retail store with over 300 kinds of craft soda and a small selection of old fashion candy. I think social media is a must...

Professional Business Plan/Proposal Writer

So, I started my business writing on fiverr and I realized a lot of people are giving amateur business plans to people who don't know their ways...

Hello from Reno!

Hello SBF'ers! Just joined the forum. Was recommended to join here. Looking forward to sharing and learning with you all! - Jon

A few merchandising questions

Continuing to work with my SCORE mentor's suggestion to grow myself into a brick and mortar store (to supplement the online channel), I've been learning about merchandising. He advised me to work on planograms and floor layouts for my future shop in order to more accurately estimate how much square footage I'd need to lease. So I have a few questions about planograms:

It seems to me that I'd have to know the display size of each product, so that I can fit it into the plan. Since much of my stuff is drop-ship, I think I could go to competitor stores and take notes of the sizes as they have them displayed. Is this something that people commonly do, like checking competitor's pricing? Or is there a better way to do it?

Online searches for how to create a planogram seem to assume you're starting with a store that's already in existence so you know the shelving size/layout and floor plan. Since I don't have that, can I start with a blank space? Say I'd draw a front door and then plan out my space from that, drawing the primary walking loop, merchandise areas, and finally the planograms for each area. That's kind of inside out from what the online sources say to do.

Is it advisable to buy planogram software to do this? Or are tools like Visio and/or Excel perfectly adequate in this stage of the game?

Hello all! Young entrepreneur

Hello everyone, I'm a young entrepreneur that started my own business at the age of 18. The company is named Acentius and provides business...

Looking for the best overall sourcer / wholesaler in Asia

I am hoping.to sell on Amazon soon and I am a bit confused about certain wholesalers in general in Asia. (I cannot find any inexpensive ones in other parts of the world). I am on a disability pension and unluckily cannot afford as much money as many others can.

Before I go on I have heard that in some cases individuals on these websites can scam you - take your money and not send product , send you an inferior Product or some other scam I feel I haven't got a lot of choice as money is tight. At the moment I can afford may be $ 400 worth of product and I would like to get 100 of them or thereabouts. At the moment I am looking at micro sd cards , flash drives , or possibly external hard drives. I may branch out into laptops or tablets if all goes well and I can make enough profit to be able to afford to do this.

There are three companies that I have found in my searches and I am hoping to get some feedback from all of you are there on which of the three may be the best overall as far as honesty , reliability and it in general over all trustworthiness.

The three company that I have found are :

DH GATE , GLOBAL SOURCE S , & ALIBABA

Thank you to anybody who replies to this post.

In the midst of planning the start of a restaurant

Hello all, new to the forums here. A little background to start off... A few people and I are trying to start a completely new venture into the restaurant industry. We fully know that the most restaurants fail within a year or two and that it is usually a struggle to succeed, unless you have a particular niche. What we want to do is a restaurant that serves elevated pub food (but not exactly gourmet) with an arcade that is separated from the restaurant. This arcade will cater purely to adults of legal drinking age. There will be no minors allowed in the arcade section. The arcade will consist of retro games (yes, like the barcades) up to some of the more modern/current arcade machines, including Playstation VR and Oculus Rift/HTC Vive on PC. I won't go into all of the particulars for now as this is not the main focus of this thread.

One very important point before the reason: We do not have any funding as of yet. Once our business plan is completed, we will be going to investors/sponsors, possibly even trying Kickstart/Indiegogo.

The main reason for this thread is to see if there is an answer to this question: What should be done first when in the initial planning stages of a restaurant without funding? My associates are all saying that we should find a location first because we cannot write a business plan without knowing the size of the location, and therefore would not know what can go into it. I agree that before figuring out the financials, the location should be known. However, we've now been looking for locations for about 3 weeks without much progress. I think that we could be making progress on writing out what we would envision with different amounts of space.
Since we do not have any funding and none of us will likely be able to take out a large enough loan to make a difference, I believe we should be focusing on trying to write as complete of a business plan as possible. Since only two out of four members are looking at locations, the entire process has started to slow down. We have to constantly wait for realtors to get back in touch with us and then try to schedule a time for all or at least two of us to go and look at a location. I understand very much the importance of finding the right location, but it also seems to me that using the excuse of not finding the "right" location is severely pushing back whatever momentum we had to start.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and your responses.

Hello from the UK

Hello Everyone, I've been online since the 1990s and started an online business in 1999. I've got experience in several online business areas...

hi

hi everyone my name is sarah from indiana i am interested in learning more :D

Hello everyone, Thanh from Seattle

Hello everyone,

I wanted to start networking with other small business owners. My background has been in logistic operations, financial systems, and now making my transition into a small business owner investing in various income producing assets. My skills include analytical skills surrounding finances, operations, and credit management. I'm looking forward to contribute to the group and help anyone I can in my scope of knowledge. Looking forward to connect with everyone.

Starting a diagnostic centre

Myself and my husband are both radiologists and we plan to start a diagnostic centre with USG, X-Ray, CT & MRI along with a. Pathology lab. A distant...

Local SEO strategy for classified site

Hello Friends,

I am working on local listing site callme.co.in. It is a local listing site to add free business detail. Anyone please tell me some strategy to get traffic to my site. What things I need to do?

Question about Convenience Store Products

As I've mentioned on my intro thread , I'm thinking about getting into the convenience store/gas station business ,which is why I have a question regarding the sort of products that bring in the money at such places .

I know that junk food , soda , lottery tickets , etc. , bring in a lot of money for this type of business , however there may be a few other bread and butter items I may be overlooking . Does anybody have any experience with what sort of underrated bread and butter products are important for a convenience store's revenue ?

Thanks ahead of time .

Electronically Streamlining Repair Orders/Invoices

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. Excited to be a part of this community. My husband and I own and operate Midwest Barbeque...

Showing a startup journey in a vlog

My friend and I have decided to start a business. I decided to document everything and will post one video every week. The videos will be both...

I started a vlog about my entrepreneurial journey as a marketing device

My friend and I have decided to start a business. I decided to document everything and will post one video every week. The videos will be both...

Are your business cards working for you?

I have been using business cards for a number of years with my glass art, but have found that it seems to be an expense that isn't paying off. I have not wanted to do this for my speaking/author side. i am curious to know if your business cards are working for you and what industry you are in. I look forward to hearing other points of view.

Hi Everyone

I am new to the forum, am looking forward to learning loads and creating connections with like minded people. I am a glass artist, speaker and writing my first book. Along with being the main provider for my two young boys. We are currently based in Perth Western Australia. I am really excited to grow with the support and insight from this community.

ESL Speakers, Looking for Feedback -- New Proofreading Business

Hi all, I recently launched a new proofreading business at writesaver.co (https://writesaver.co), and would love some feedback, especially from...

analyze my finances please!

I opened my store almost a year and 10 months ago. I cater to early development and special needs. I took a business loan but have since racked up some credit card debt to make sure I always have enough inventory. I carry 60-70 different companies and am on prepaid terms with all but 1. My sales over the past year have not being covering overhead and now I'm running out of cash and every month is becoming a bit of a game to make sure I have enough for each bill. It's getting bad and I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I've tried to cut other costs but there's not much to cut. I also run and manage my business completely alone (while being a mom of three). I started looking into debt consolidation, other loans,etc. but it seems to not be possible with the low sales. Here are some details, hoping someone can help suggest something.

Rent 1957 (going up 3% in oct)
Gas & Elec- up to 150
Verizon - 159 (hoping to get a better deal with spectrum in a couple months when contract is up)
insurance - approx 128 paid over 7 months (start again in Sept)
Garbage collection - 43.55
Merchant account fees (based on percentage of sales btwn 40-80)
Website - around 340 in December (I barely push the website because I feel like I lose money when I make a sale with higher shipping costs)
Loan payment 544
credit card minimums 608 & 80
Annual sales tax approx 2400, 150 for a permit for AC, account fee 650-700

Loan balance approx 36k,
credit card 1- 27,467 (interest comes to approx 330)
credit card 2- 8,127 (0% until Oct 2, 2017)
Monthly reoccurring payments set to credit card:
shopkeep - 79(just went up to this)
ADT- 63.25

Now for Income:
Net sales from aug '16-july '17: 29073
Tax return: 10,000
Rental Income (charge 15/hr for basement space for groups): 1881

My cash balance is dangerously low, maybe a couple thousand so I rely on sales now to pay for the next bill.
My inventory is pretty high - Almost 20k value (between 70-100% mark up -although shipping costs kill me)

I started doing activities and charging a small fee (so far I probably just made what I spent). I have some free activities that often generate sales but its difficult to run when I'm alone so I usually as the woman who rents to help me work the event and I dont charge her rent for a day. I also try to have sales but it doesnt often bring in too many people although my most recent did because I put on the ad they must mention it so I can track it and I did get a few people for it. As far as advertising, I paid monthly my first year for the local parent magazine and it was so expensive,I would ask all my customers how they learned about me and it was usually word of mouth. We have flyers in centers and schools and I plan to print more soon and have my mom deliver to ever pediatrician office and businesses with the same market. I often attend fairs with just an information table and maybe activities. One issue I have had is my schedule, as mentioned I'm a mom of 3 (One I had in January so I actually took a 10 day maternity to have a csection) but I noticed my busy hours are between 12-2 so my schedule has been 11-5 with slighty shorter on the weekend. It's very difficult to be there longer with my husbands schedule, my moms availability to baby sit and making sure I still have time with my kids. My new schedule for the fall will be (Closed Su, M/Tu,W 10-5/Th 12-7/F,Sa 11-3).

Please if anyone has any input, specifically on my debt, but other criticisms and suggestions welcome, I appreciate it. I don't have anyone in my life I can talk business with. Thank you!

analyze my finances please!

I opened my store almost a year and 10 months ago. I cater to early development and special needs. I took a business loan but have since racked up some credit card debt to make sure I always have enough inventory. I carry 60-70 different companies and am on prepaid terms with all but 1. My sales over the past year have not being covering overhead and now I'm running out of cash and every month is becoming a bit of a game to make sure I have enough for each bill. It's getting bad and I'm not sure what the right thing to do is. I've tried to cut other costs but there's not much to cut. I also run and manage my business completely alone (while being a mom of three). I started looking into debt consolidation, other loans,etc. but it seems to not be possible with the low sales. Here are some details, hoping someone can help suggest something.

Rent 1957 (going up 3% in oct)
Gas & Elec- up to 150
Verizon - 159 (hoping to get a better deal with spectrum in a couple months when contract is up)
insurance - approx 128 paid over 7 months (start again in Sept)
Garbage collection - 43.55
Merchant account fees (based on percentage of sales btwn 40-80)
Website - around 340 in December (I barely push the website because I feel like I lose money when I make a sale with higher shipping costs)
Loan payment 544
credit card minimums 608 & 80
Annual sales tax approx 2400, 150 for a permit for AC, account fee 650-700

Loan balance approx 36k,
credit card 1- 27,467 (interest comes to approx 330)
credit card 2- 8,127 (0% until Oct 2, 2017)
Monthly reoccurring payments set to credit card:
shopkeep - 79(just went up to this)
ADT- 63.25

Now for Income:
Net sales from aug '16-july '17: 29073
Tax return: 10,000
Rental Income (charge 15/hr for basement space for groups): 1881

My cash balance is dangerously low, maybe a couple thousand so I rely on sales now to pay for the next bill.
My inventory is pretty high - Almost 20k value (between 70-100% mark up -although shipping costs kill me)

I started doing activities and charging a small fee (so far I probably just made what I spent). I have some free activities that often generate sales but its difficult to run when I'm alone so I usually as the woman who rents to help me work the event and I dont charge her rent for a day. I also try to have sales but it doesnt often bring in too many people although my most recent did because I put on the ad they must mention it so I can track it and I did get a few people for it. As far as advertising, I paid monthly my first year for the local parent magazine and it was so expensive,I would ask all my customers how they learned about me and it was usually word of mouth. We have flyers in centers and schools and I plan to print more soon and have my mom deliver to ever pediatrician office and businesses with the same market. I often attend fairs with just an information table and maybe activities. One issue I have had is my schedule, as mentioned I'm a mom of 3 (One I had in January so I actually took a 10 day maternity to have a csection) but I noticed my busy hours are between 12-2 so my schedule has been 11-5 with slighty shorter on the weekend. It's very difficult to be there longer with my husbands schedule, my moms availability to baby sit and making sure I still have time with my kids. My new schedule for the fall will be (Closed Su, M/Tu,W 10-5/Th 12-7/F,Sa 11-3).

Please if anyone has any input, specifically on my debt, but other criticisms and suggestions welcome, I appreciate it. I don't have anyone in my life I can talk business with. Thank you!

How to get back in the workforce if self employment doesn't work out

I know we all hope that we'll always be self employed, but life and reality have a funny way of happening in spite of what you want.
I think all the time about what I'd do if I had to get a job. Resume'? Haven't needed one in over 10 years.

Came across this Fast Company article about getting back out there with some advice from 4 people who had to do it.
http://ift.tt/2wi5tGX

Do you guys think if you had to, that you could get right back out there?

Hey everyone :))

Hello,

I am a Czech girl and I work for a trading/consulting company in Shanghai. I personally help foreigners to set up their business in Shanghai's Free Trade Zone. I also help to export/import products from/to China (for short time and low costs through our trading company)

I believe there are people in this forum who have problems and questions about exporting/importing from/to China.

For more details, feel free to contact me at: simona@opportunityguide.cn